Highpony badger

Matt Rutherford

Sitting down next to Brittany after she settled, Matt smiled back at Brittany when she thanked him, feeling his chest puff with pride; not that he was proud of himself, but that he was proud to have done something for Brittany.. It was a weird feeling and something that he hadn’t actually had since he was dating Libby.

“And it’s hopefully only going to get even better,” Matt smiled, before turning to the blonde to find her looking at him, her eyes wide with a perplex expression on her face. Whatever this was.. Whatever was going on, it felt right. With this, along with his career somehow falling into place, it was as though it fit. She fit into his new life. He had spent so long floundering and not knowing who or what he was, he was finally starting to just do whatever he wanted to impulsively. It was the new Matt.. The brave man.

Without saying a work, Matt turned on the log to face Brittany fully, gently moving to cut her face with his hand, slowly leaning in to place his lips against hers.

Brittany Pierce

As Matt sat down next to her, it almost felt like simply his presence warmed the area around them. Brittany couldn’t help but have this fascination, when it came to Matt. Everyone knew the feeling of getting bored with listening to someone else just talking and talking with really saying anything; But Brittany had this idea that she could easily listen to something as simple as his voice all day, and still not wanting him to stop. 

Brittany smiled at his words, “I know my imagination is pretty hardcore, but even I can’t imagine this to be even more so”, she said, as Matt caught her eyes. The blonde’s smile softened, but stayed warm and as she looked through her long lashes she even felt slightly    What.. Nervous? Brittany never really got nervous around boys, but maybe that was because it had been a long time since she had really met one who could make her feel this way.

Matt Rutherford

Matt opened his mouth to respond to her comment about her being pretty, wanting so badly to say that he was looking forward to it, but the shyness he thought he’d definitely left back at Hogwarts when he graduated flared up, and instead, he nodded his head with a genuine smile. ‘Nice one’ he internally mocked himself, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at his reaction.

Though, by the way she reached out for his hand, his reaction seemed not to do as much damage as he thought it did. Feeling his heart swell, Matt gratefully took her gentle hand, lacing their fingers together as they head out of the tent and towards the clearing. The forest was covered in the dusk of approaching night, silenced from any noise other than the distant sounds of insects and the rusting of the dense trees.

“It’s not too far from here. I’ve been reading a lot about it from a book McCoy had laying around.” Matt spoke as they walked quietly through a makeshift path made from a clearing of trees, Brittany’s hand nestled gently in his. It felt good.. Normal; which was strange considering that just a few weeks previous she had technically been his student. He had always found her interesting and engaging, and he wasn’t sure just when, along the way, he started to feel for her.

Lost in his own thoughts and occasional glances to the pretty girl beside him, they soon reached the clearing. Reluctantly dropping her hand, Matt quickly located a log that had obviously been used as a seat before by fellow unicorn watchers, lifting it into his strong arms to move it to a better position, for them to sit.

“Here,” Matt smiled, offering out his hand to guide Brittany to sit down, not being able to resist just a moment to be a gentleman.

Brittany Pierce

A warm feeling filled every inch of Brittany’s body, as Matt accepted her hand, and their fingers laced together. Her eyes automatically fell to their hands, before she looked back up at Matt with a smile. As they started walking towards the clearing, Brittany enjoyed the smell of the dusky forest, and how the night made the forest seem just as beautiful, but in a different way. If Matt hadn’t gone with her, Brittany wasn’t sure she could even have been appreciating the beauty of the wildness, because she had been to focused on not being scared. It felt nice, as they walked in silence; hand in hand. Brittany hadn’t really thought about it, but suddenly she was surprised how normal it felt, as if she could just stop right there and bury herself in his arms, and she would feel safe. 

Brittany looked up at Matt, smiling. “I bet McCoy has some great books, I would love to get my hands on”. Brittany wondered if she would ever end up on a shelf of a respected teacher, such as McCoy. Who knows, if everything fell into place, Brittany could get published for her research, but now and here wasn’t the right place to think about her future     Rather enjoying the moment, with Matt. 

It seemed childish in it’s way, but the blonde couldn’t help herself, as Matt dropped her hand for a moment to lift a heavy object, she caught herself feeling slightly turned on and a bit flustered. She looked out over the clearing and exhaled, a wide smile still in place as she looked back down at Matt, who had offered his hand. 

Brittany’s eyes were locked on Matt’s as their hands reunited gently, as she sat down next to where we would join her. “Thank you”, she said with a low voice, feeling her heart beat heavily in her chest. “It’s even more beautiful than I imagined”, she said, before looking at Matt again. “And I imagined it to be the most beautiful place I would visit in a very long time”, she said with a laughter.

Stella Pierce

For the last half-hour, Stella had been propping her elbows up on her mirrored dresser, staring into her reflection as she contemplated changing her appearance in some way. Maybe it was time to get a haircut or something. No matter how happy she wanted to be, she always just never really did. It wasn’t that she felt sad, but she always felt this weird pressing feeling on her chest - like there was something bothering her, or like something was about to happen. She had an awesome family, a great best friend, she just had a popsicle earlier that day, she was relatively relaxed, and it was her summer holiday! What was there to be upset about? She zeroed in on her thick eyebrows and immediately felt self-conscious. Had her forehead always been that big? Merlin, her nose was so wide. She felt her hands come up to dart over her face, biting down on her lower lip disappointingly as soon as she felt a bump. Sure, it wasn’t visible yet, but it probably would be in a few days. 

Eventually, Stella just gave up on trying to fix her appearance, tearing her ponytail holder out of her hair and flinging it onto her bed, eventually following the action by flopping down onto it, face-down. As soon as she heard a rhythmical rapping at her door, Stella huffed and didn’t bother telling whoever it was to come on in, instead just twisting over so that she was facing the ceiling. At the sound of her sister’s voice ringing through the room, the fourteen-year-old sat up and looked at Brittany who was already approaching her. “Hey,” Stella greeted Brittany as she patted the spot next to her. “What’s u-” Stella started before ducking her head and grinning at the fact that she was practically about to say the same thing as her older sister.“Nothing, really.” Stella remarked with a little smile, glancing up at Brittany as she spoke, “just being bitter and hateful in the confinements of my room. So, you know, the usual.” The younger blonde added, the bite in her voice disappearing as soon as she made eye contact with her sister.

Brittany Pierce

As she sat next to her little-sister, Brittany joined her grin as they to sides of the same coin. “Oh, that sounds sort of boring”, Brittany said as if it was Stella’s normal respond. “Good thing I decided to graze you with my awesome, maybe you’ll catch some of my confidence”, she said with a warmer smile, as she shrugged and ran a finger through her curly high-pony. Brittany couldn’t help but feel a bit sad, knowing Stella wasn’t being totally sarcastic about the self-loathing. It wouldn’t help just complimenting her little-sister on everything Brittany found so incredibly beautiful about her; like her big bright eyes, her curly, slightly messy hair or her personality that was everything anyone could ever ask for in a friend or a sister; Stella wouldn’t believe her sincerely if she just went on a compliment-rant. So Brittany didn’t, instead she said something else. Her smile being warm, but voice serious so Stella knew she wasn’t being her usual goofy self, Brittany laid her head on Stella’s shoulder and turned her head so she was still looking up at her. “You’re the only person in the world, that will grow to be even more beautiful than I already am”. She removed her head again, and bumped her shoulder into Stella’s. “That says something”.