unsteady

Shane huffed when Eros refused to let her go, to let her leave, and clenched her jaw as he interrogated her despite the fact that he slightly slurred his words.  “No, he didn’t say anything,” She murmured in response, turning her head to look at the boy in question, watching him talk with one of the pretty Gryffindor players.  “It doesn’t have anything to do with what he said.  It’s just…”  The blonde struggled to make her raging inner thoughts into words, before she turned back to glance at the Hufflepuff, desperately willing him to understand.  “You know how you look at someone when you like them?  Or even when you think they’re distractingly pretty?  You look when you think no one’s looking, but they always catch you at some point.”  Eros knew what she was talking about; he’d caught her looking at his best friend at least a dozen times.  “Except…I’ve never caught him looking, Cha.  Not once.  And it’s so stupid how I’m just now realizing that - there’s got to be a little bit of a spark to get someone to like you.”  Her lower lip trembled until he grabbed her wrist and Shane struggled to snatch it back.  “Eros, stop TOUCHING me.  I don’t LIKE it.”  Her voice was louder than she intended, drawing several curious stares from those nearby.

“What happened then Shane?” Eros asks, his eyebrows furrowed as he tries to work thorough the mess in his muddled brain. Getting this drunk was not a smart decision, he concluded. His brown eyes widen as he listens to her, head tilted to the side, not enough to knock his crown off his head. “I mean, some people get that feeling, but Apollo’s an odd one. I don’t know what goes on in his head, Shane, honestly. If i did, I wouldn’t spend so much time trying to figure him out.” His lower lip settles into a pout as she finishes, sighing softly. “Neither you nor I can force Apollo to feel something for you Shane.” He says softly. He’s taken aback slightly when she yells at him, golden armor clinking slightly. “Then stop trying to run away from me when I’m trying to HELP.” He says back, dropping her wrist. “I’m trying to be a good friend and make sure that you’re okay. I get that my best friend is being a dick right now, but I’m not okay?”

“take back to hufflepuff? how could i do that if he’s not in our house–” she wasn’t really sure what eros was implying, but she figured it’d be best that she keep it under wraps that she found his best friend apollo very cute for the time being. she wasn’t sure how to feel, really. they really only started talking tonight, but she knew for sure that she wanted to talk to him again. maybe she could ask him to go flying with her? or would he rather relax and– whoa, cassa. back to reality.

“i’ll tell you later, okay? i’d rather not have you go on an i-told-you-so spiel right now. do you want to dance?” little -to-no segue, of course, but she definitely needed the change of subject. she needed to stew on how she felt and what she personally wanted before anything else.

“Oh so you DO have someone in mind!” Eros exclaims, leaning closer to the older girl, eyes gleaming. He loved intervening in Cassa’s love life, like any friend would do, and he had mentioned his best friend to her multiple times. He hoped that Apollo was the one to catch her eye. He had caught a glimpse of them talking to each other earlier. 

“Why would I go on a- oh my god it’s Apollo.” He states, grabbing onto her arm excitedly. “CASSA! Tell me everything!” Eros is nothing if not a gossip, and he wants to know absolutely everything about what happened between them. “We dance, you talk, got it, hmm?” He raises an eyebrow.

When Eros put his hands on her, the blonde that was one of the few people smaller than the Hufflepuff Chaser flinched, tensing more than she already had been under his hands.  “I don’t need you to fight for me, Eros.  I don’t need you to give me advice.  I don’t need you telling me I have a shot with your friend.  I just want to retreat back to the damn library and pretend to be invisible again,” she replied, her voice thick as she struggled to hold back everything.  She didn’t know why she was taking this so personally, or why Margaery’s words had stung so much.  Probably because she knew, deep down, that there was more than a hint of truth to them.  She attempted to shrug out of his grip, though the stern glare she gave him was ruined by her watery eyes.  “I don’t know how to dance.  Go find someone else.  I’m sure there are plenty of people here waiting for you to flirt with them.”

Eros blinked down at the younger girl, brown eyes hazy from the alcohol in his system as he tried to make sense of what she was saying. “Wait back up. What’s Apollo got to do with this? Did he say something? He can be a dick sometimes.” He frowns as he looks at Shane, plump lips pursed in a pout. “No. i’m not letting you leave until you talk to me.” He’s persistent, one of the many traits that put him into Hufflepuff. “You don’t have to actually dance. Just come sway. i’ll do all the work. I don’t WANT to flirt with anyone. I’m too drunk for that shit right now.” His brown eyes, heavily lined, flick over her body, looking at her with worry evident in the chocolate brown color. “Seriously, Shane. Talk to me.” He grabs her wrist, tugging on her to try and move her off the dance floor. 

Shane felt raw and exposed after her encounter with Apollo and then Margaery, the other witch casting a tripping jinx that had her stumbling into Eros and then having the boy scold her for it.  The same boy who had encouraged her to go after Apollo, which, for a moment, she was idiot enough to think would work until Margaery pointed out how desperate she looked wearing a costume so outside of her character.  Well, not exactly outside of her character.  Shane was a comic book nerd, and her costume reflected that, but she was showing more of her skin than she was comfortable with and just felt so…visible for perhaps the first time ever.  As she corrected herself by planting her hands on his chest and straightening, unshed tears twinkled in her eyes.  “Yeah.  Sorry,” she murmured, though what she really wanted to say was that she didn’t care about his fucking cape, and that she hated him for making her think Apollo could ever be anything other than a housemate and teammate that hardly knew she was alive.  Catching her bottom lip between her teeth, Shane shook her head.  “I’m glad you’re having fun, Cha.  ‘Scuse me.”

Eros squinting, barely making out who it was in front of him, whose warm hands were on his chest. “Shanie!” He exclaims, not letting her go. “Hey!” His smile is almost blinding. “Wait, no don’t go. What’s wrong? Who do I gotta beat up? Who broke your heart? I’ll fight them I promise.” He’s trying hard to be tough, but she’d be able to see just how tipsy he was by the way he acted. Eros was already oddly affectionate with his friends, but he knew, at least while he was sober, that Shane was not a fan of touching. But here he was with his hands on her arms, keeping her in place in front of him. “You should dance with me! Come on! I’ll let you wear my crown! It’ll look super good on you I promise. I’m not leaving your side until I see that smile again, kay? Now come ooooooonnnnnnnnn.”

“of course, eros.” cassa smiled, patient as ever, as she reached out to help straighten his cape. “you look like you’ve been having fun. did you dance? fall in love? all of the above?” she teased a little, but all in good nature. she genuinely liked eros and hoped he didn’t mind her checking in on him every now and again. “your cape didn’t get dirty, did it? i know a charm to clean it up, if it did.”

The cape covering Eros’s shoulders was a deep red with gold trim, which had caused his brother to give him SO much shit for, but Eros knew his costume was awesome. He’d been planning it for ages, since the last Halloween ball, and he didn’t want to disappoint. He only had so many of these left to impress people with. “Cassa Cassa Cassa, I have done all of the above multiple times tonight and probably will again. Anyone catch your eye here hmm? See and cute boys you’d want to take back to Hufflepuff?” He wriggles his eyebrows playfully, adjusting the golden crown on his head. “S’not dirty. Think Pols did a charm on it. He’s a good wizard.” How eloquent. 

Halloween (it kills me to write that bc Samhain :(((() 

Shane and Eros are not exactly strangers.  They’ve been competing against each other for years on the pitch.  Beyond that, she is familiar with the Hufflepuff’s almost every expression because, well, because he is Apollo’s best friend and she spends an uncomfortable amount of time looking at her teammate when she thinks he isn’t paying attention.  Eros, however…she knows that he has caught her looking at his friend more than once, especially if the way he has wiggled his brows at her on such occasions is any indication.

It is free flying time, meaning Quidditch players and casual flyers alike are out en force on the pitch, and she is just lacing up her boots when Eros descends, talking a mile a minute and almost tripping over his broom in his haste, which she can’t help but snort at.  As he continues to speak, she wonders more and more whether he’s actually talking to her - after all, they’ve never had an actual conversation - and not simply talking and she just happens to be in his line of sight.  “Eros, do you want me to actually answer all of those questions?  If so, you’re going to have to repeat them at a reasonable speed,” she declares, straightening up to look at him.  All traces of her stammer are gone, the blonde utterly and completely relaxed out on the pitch.

Eros loves the fact that she harbors a little crush on his best friend, because well, to put it lightly, most of the attention is on Eros in the friendship, with Apollo a quiet bystander, never really getting any attention from people. She’s pretty, but sometimes Eros finds himself thinking that they’re TOO alike, that they won’t speak a word to each other because they’re too shy. He’s never voiced this to anyone. 

“of course I mean for you to answer them Nox! Why would i be asking if I didn’t expect an answer? Do you think I just talk out of my ass half the time?” He does. A hand runs through his sunny blonde hair, dramatically sighing. “I swear you’re as bad as HERMES sometimes, but you actually know what you’re talking about. Little H just pretends to understand when I talk about Quidditch.” His twin is what Eros calls “athletically challenged” though the younger of the twins could easily have been an athlete like Eros if he had wanted to be. But Hermes was more musical, and it was one of the things the twins did alone from each other.