most ardently

aesthetic moodboard - bash landry & lily whittaker

“he was her warmth. she was his peace.” @bashlandry​

No one truly enjoyed hanging around their workplace, but Haruto thought he deserved some time to rest his feet before heading home. That was the downfall of riding his bike to work– he had to ride it back, after his body had been beaten down by the task of standing for eight hours. Finally, he had a chance to enjoy an iced coffee and to come down from the day. 

Until a well-dressed man spoke. Considering he was also in the shop, Haruto considered that he wasn’t a solicitor. “I– uh,” often his co-workers gave each other their drinks for free, but if this guy was willing to get him a croissant… “Yeah, I’ve got time,” Haru finally uttered out. Pulling his chair over he asked, “What journal is this for, Coffee Drinkers monthly?”

. 

Octavian knew that it was an unusual topic in his field of work, but was he truly ever one to conform to the norm? “I’m in clinical psychology, doing postdoctoral research. It’s actually unlike some of my other work,” Octavian explained with a slight shrug, knowing how ridiculous it might’ve sounded that a man who defended a dissertation on mental health provider bias towards men of color was now writing about why people gravitate towards coffee shops. “It’s more of a passion project, so to speak. Why people go to coffee shops over other locations. Is it the coffee itself, or something else? The atmosphere, the crowd, the location? Are you a regular here?”

Why the local coffee shop is the place for everyone. Even though he was typing away at his laptop, Octavian’s eyes surveyed the patrons of the specialty shop. Some were like him, also on their laptops, alone or with others, likely hard at work. Others were engaged in chatter with their friends, teen girls coming in together to order multiple of the same fruity beverages or pairs catching up over lattes after work. Then there were those alone, whether spending an extended period of time or simply needing a quick pick-me-up before going to their next destination. 

Pausing mid-sentence as his fingers hovered over the keyboard, Octavian slid his blue-light glasses off and looked over at a person sitting at the table next to his who didn’t seem awfully busy. “If you're down to answer a few questions for an article I’m writing, your next drink is on me. Maybe even a croissant too. It’s for research, about why people enjoy coming to coffee shops and hanging around.”

Taking the device as it was passed to her, Sanem focused on the profile of the current man in question — Matheus — her best friend had been seeing. Intrigue mixed with a moderate scrutiny flashed in dark eyes, gleaning what she could from the info written and scrolling through a few pictures. ❝ I can see another reason why you don’t mind the age gap much, he definitely wears forty-one pretty well. ❞ Teasing the other woman with a smirk easily tugging, nudging her a little. ❝ But in all seriousness — it does sound like there’s a lot of pros thus far, which I’m happy for you on, what’s got you feeling that potential about him ? ❞ She inquired, passing the phone back over to Lily, still unable to help feel a faint underlying ambivalence mainly as far as the other was concerned. Of course she’d always be ready to support whatever endeavor was made, in and out of love, nor did she ever put her judgement into question. Maybe it was simply a factor of having Bash in mind, also a good friend of hers, the two ending things not all that long ago. But it’d been mutual as far as she was aware, plus like she’d said, things were still early. ❝ Oh he will absolutely be meeting me before, I won’t run a background check like someone we know, but passing the best friend test is law. ❞

Light laugh billows out, smile widening at the animation Lily had taken on then, both about the new house and honeymoon. ❝ Honestly it might take the whole house tour, possibly then some to even go over the highlights of the rest of our trip, between Cappadocia and Bali alone. ❞ Difficult to contain the the way the lilt in her voice graduated in brightness. ❝ But okay — I mean the backyard is at the top in favorite spots, as far as my own though, ❞ Motioning excitedly for her best friend to follow along before reaching the space in the house that was meant as a practice room for her routines. ❝ Positive this will come as no surprise, little at home dance studio, still putting some finishing touches on it including the soundproofing. ❞   

.

“He does, doesn’t he? I only hope that we look as good in our forties.” What did Lily see in Matheus that made her think there was potential? She didn’t even really know him on that level yet. “He’s on the same page as me about a lot of things. He has a career, ambition, he’s a genuinely kind person.” She knew that Sanem was still in contact with Bash, and Lily did not expect that her best friend would sever those ties. “I'm ready to close the Bash chapter of my life, and I think it’s been that way before we officially ended things. Maybe one day we can be friends again, but as of now the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach might be best.” Lily was lying to both Sanem and herself by implying that she’d forgotten about her former partner now that it had been weeks since they’d last spoken. A laugh escaped her as Sanem hinted at Landon’s peculiar antics, shaking her head. “You say that like your brother doesn’t already know what hospital Matheus was born in, what airline he flies with. Or whatever information he arbitrarily decides he needs to know about an individual. How much does he know about you through these, um, practices of his?”

Enough about the past, time to talk about the present. “How’s it being Mrs. Pellisier-Reid now? Have you done the whole legal name change?” Lily knew secondhand how extensive the process was, fully intending to keep the Whittaker name when and if she ever got married but supporting the unification of Sanem and Allison through a shared last name. Following her best friend through the house, Lily sighed as she thought about how lovely it must’ve been to get away for a while following their nuptials, to escape the small town of Crescent Harbor. “I want to know all about it, Sanem. I still feel kinda guilty for the whole Paris thing, even though I convinced Landon to back off a bit,” the brunette winced, brown eyes surveying the architecture and interior design of the Pellisier-Reid home before stopping, admiring Sanem’s home dance studio. “Babe, this is incredible. It truly does have your energy coursing through it!” Lily explained, carefully gliding along the floors. “Teach me something, or re-teach me an old move. Let’s break in the studio,” the brunette pleaded, moving to tie her long waves into a messy bun. 

After seeing her text while sitting at that bar in Canada Bash had almost completely forgotten about it until he was int he car on the way back with Nate - something he absolutely hadn’t expected to happen. Even though the message had said she could leave it at Ravi’s or anything along those lines, he listened to Nate’s advice to talk to her himself and figured he could get his stuff at the sametime, so now there he was; on her porch with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, swinging a little on his heels as he waited for her to open the door. 

His lips pressed together while he tried his best to keep his heart at a normal pace. Tongue darted out to lick his lips nervously when he heard her call from inside and about a minute or so later he was staring right down at her, a box of items pushed into his arms, pulling his hands from his pockets to grab it while his brows raised. ❛ Kinda… Forgot. Sorry, ❜ he explained in a mutter, a little surprised as he looked down at the box, checking what was inside because honestly he’d forgotten most of it was at Lily’s. Was she in a hurry? Pissed off? Fuck, she was pretty. ❛ Uh— thanks. ❜

Bash swallowed hard, blinking at her question.❛ No… Walked, ❜ he shrugged, the box following his movements. A fucking uber? Why would he take an uber? He’d had a lot on his mind lately, that was for sure. Walking always felt nice to clear his head and to be honest, he wasn’t completely sober so he’d left his bike standing but Lily didn’t need to know the reason why. ❛ I’ll walk back, it’s fine. ❜ Shaking his head, his eyes left the soft features of her face for a moment to gaze into the hallway behind her, spotting a fresh bouquet of flowers. It was definitely possible she’d bought them for herself, right? Still, his stomach turned a little at the thought of her already moving on and a soft sigh left his lips when he looked back to her. His hands were itching to hold her and not the damn box he didn’t really give a shit about. It was just stuff. 

❛ How’re you? ❜

.

“It’s okay,” Lily responded, biting her lower lip as she gave him a nod. He didn’t owe her anything, just like she didn’t owe him the same. They were exes, and once this exchange was complete, would go their separate ways for good. “I’m just glad you were able to make it over, I just thought that some of this was important stuff that you might want to hold onto.” There were some of his shirts and sweatpants that he’d left by her, as well as the bathrobe that Lily had gifted him for Christmas a few months prior. If he hadn’t picked it up, Lily would’ve either given it to Ravi to hand off or simply gone through Bash’s things and gotten rid of them herself. She didn’t need a reminder of their relationship every time she stepped out of the shower or made coffee in the morning, with his bathrobe hanging on the door or the coffee mug sitting among hers. 

Was he really planning on walking back to the downtown area, or was he going to see a friend nearby? It wasn’t Lily’s business as to his plans, nor as to why he’d rather walk than get a ride. “Well, I should let you get going. Take care, Bash,” the woman spoke, knowing that she would never be truly ready to let go of their love but it was the only choice right now. As she was about to turn around, she heard his voice yet again. She was expecting him to wish her well in return and walk off, not ask how she was doing. Was he actually interested, or was he being polite? Before Lily could even answer, two balls of fur barreled towards the door and barked excitedly at the sight of Bash. Wincing at the intrusion, Lily bent down and gently tapped the corgis on their backs. “Back inside, you’re not going on a walk till later. I’ll be right back in.”

The dogs moved back inside the house, albeit laying in wait by the door. Seeing that Belle and Bambi’s curiosity wasn’t going to dissipate, Lily sighed and turned back to face Bash, remembering his question before the canine relay to the porch. “I’m... I’m doing well. How are you?,” the brunette finally responded, sighing as she smoothed out her skirt in front of her as she chuckled nervously. Lily didn’t know if delving into details was appropriate, nor did she know if she wanted Bash to be privy to such information. He didn’t need to know that she reconciled with Elise, nor that she was seeing someone else already. “I’m not gonna lie, this is awkward. Us trying to make small talk, we... we don’t have to do this. I’m sure you’re not enjoying it any more than I am.” They had been somewhat friends before dating, and Lily was maybe open to rekindling that platonic connection at some point. But it was far too early now, and the wounds from the breakup were still too fresh for her to consider it. 

“Okay, this is him,” Lily encouraged, pulling up Matheus’ Tinder profile and passing the phone to Sanem so she could see photos of Lily’s latest interest. “Okay so he is eleven years older than us, but I think some life experience is good to have and the age gap between thirty and forty-one isn’t that big in the grand scheme of things. He works in tech, and he’s probably the only guy I like who my parents would also approve of.” It was as though Lily was trying to convince herself more than Sanem that Matheus was a good fit for her and that dating again was the right move. “It’s too early to be sure, but I can’t help but feel as though there’s potential there. I’m seeing him again tomorrow after work, I’ll keep you updated on things. Of course you’ll get to meet him before anything official.” It had only been a month since Lily ended things with Bash, but it also felt like their separation was a long time coming. Maybe she was ready for this new relationship after all.

“Enough about me and this new guy, take me on a tour of the house! I want to see everything, and also hear about the rest of the honeymoon once Landon and I were back stateside,” the brunette prompted, clapping her hands excitedly at the prospect of seeing the new Pellisier-Reid residence. Although she’d purchased her own home impulsively, Lily couldn’t deny that having a space to make her own certainly had an appeal to it. “Show me your favorite area of the house, or your favorite piece of décor. Something that makes you feel like it’s your space.”

Octavian’s supervising psychologist was supposed to accompany him to this meeting, but the senior researcher had been pulled into another engagement and asked her fellow to handle the preliminary discussion with their partner. He might have agreed out of professionalism even having known the identity of their collaborator, but it certainly didn’t help his nerves as he entered the room and saw Amy sitting there. It brought back memories of coming home after an afternoon doing research under his professor in grad school to her sitting at their dinner table, or him running to meet her for a meal after class. How things had changed.

“Hey,” was the greeting that Octavian was able to muster as he approached the table, giving her a respectful nod. In another instance, they would’ve had a much more personal reunion but he had to keep the professional setting in mind. In this context, she was a colleague before she was his ex-fiancée. “We’re working on a project, tying art therapy to clinical neuroscience here at Crescent General. Seeing how it helps dementia and amnesia patients,” he began, placing his laptop on the table and going through some slides on a presentation. “It’s not my specialty, which is why we’re looking for collaboration from others in the field such as yourself. And I honestly think that we’d work well together on this,” he stated coolly. They had broken up two years ago and hardly seen each other since, surely they could work together for a couple of months for the hospital’s sake.

“My therapist told me that I should try painting or drawing. She never specified drinking while making art, but she also didn’t say to not drink while doing it,” Lily stated with a shrug, taking a sip of the glass of merlot in one hand while she made strokes with the paintbrush in her dominant one. “I’m not good at this, but at least I can blame it on the wine. What are you drinking? I might try a glass of rosé for the next round,” the woman mused, leaning back and looking at the landscape that they were attempting to paint. “I wonder what’d happen if we go off book and just start painting whatever we want instead of the painting we’re supposed to be replicating...”

BASIC STATS

Full Name: Octavian Eric Summers

Nicknames: Tavian

Date of Birth: December 21st, 1989

Place of Birth: Crescent Harbor, Washington

Nationality: American

Ethnicity: African-American, White

Religion: Agnostic

Western Zodiac: ☼ Sagittarius | ☽ Libra | ↑ Scorpio

Sexuality: Yet another hetero

Relationship Status: Married to his work Single

Education: Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Minor in Environmental Health (University of Washington); Master of Science in Clinical Psychology (University of Washington), PhD in Clinical Psychology (UC Berkeley)

Occupation: Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Crescent General

Height: 5′ 11″

Weight: 180 lbs

Hair Color: Dark Brown

Eye Color: Brown

Moral Alignment: Chaotic Good

Myers-Briggs: INTP - The Logician

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw

Enneagram: Type 1 - The Reformer

Ravi: When did this even happen?

Ravi: And no. He didn't tell me.

Ravi: Listen, Bash IS a difficult position, please don't break up with Stella too, she needs you.

Ravi: [sends photo of Stella with him pulling her lips down to look like she's frowning]

Lily: Earlier this month, right before my birthday. I don't want to go into detail out of respect for your friendship with him, but we're both alright. We just weren't right for each other.

BASIC STATS

Full Name: Lilian Grace Whittaker

Nicknames: Lily (pretty much what she goes by), Lil, Lilith

Date of Birth: May 10th, 1991

Place of Birth: Crescent Harbor, Washington

Nationality: American

Ethnicity: English, Scottish

Religion: Protestant (non-practicing)

Western Zodiac: ☼ Taurus | ☽ Aries | ↑ Scorpio

Sexuality: Bisexual

Relationship Status: Recently Single

Education: Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies, Minor in Marketing (Vanderbilt University, Magna Cum Laude, 2013); Master of Business Administration (University of Pennsylvania, 2015)

Occupation: Wedding and Event Planner

Height: 5′ 4″

Weight: 125 lbs

Hair Color: Dark Brown

Eye Color: Brown

Moral Alignment: Neutral Good

Myers-Briggs: INFJ - The Advocate

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Enneagram: Type 2 - The Helper

ABOUT

(trigger warnings for implications of infertility/pregnancy complications as well as emotional abuse)

It felt like something out of a romance novel: a woman with a glass of wine in one hand, the other holding a pen to the pages of a journal as she sat on the sofa while the sun shone through the windows. Lily had recently taken up journaling, an old hobby she’d abandoned in grad school. One corgi curled up at her feet and the other on her lap, she felt truly at peace for the first time in weeks. A ring of the doorbell alerted her and the dogs to the door, who could if have been? Lily wasn’t expecting any deliveries, and Matheus wasn’t supposed to meet her until the next day. Cautiously checking the cameras to see who it was, her heart sped up in her chest as she saw Bash Landry standing on her porch. 

Hey, I hope you’re doing well. I put together a box with your stuff that’s still at my place, I can leave it by Ravi if you want to collect it there or you can let me know if you want someone to get it from my home or office. Just let me know so we can make arrangements. Thanks, Bash.

That was the last text she had sent, no response had been received from him. Not until she looked through the peephole and saw him standing there on her porch. Was he as nervous as she had been? That was why she’d suggested that someone else facilitate the exchange of belongings between the former lovers, but it seemed like Bash wanted to get it over and done with. “One minute,” she called out, quickly running upstairs and retrieving the light box of Bash’s clothing and other items that he’d left at her place. Making her way downstairs, the woman inhaled before opening the door, the sight of him in front of her rendering her speechless. How had he been? Was he seeing someone new like she was? Most importantly, was he happy?

Instead of asking the questions, Lily hastily pushed the box into his hands, letting go and stepping back to put some space between them. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you still ignore texts,” the woman joked dryly with a shrug. How could she both have so much she wanted to say to him, yet not want to say anything more? “I think I got everything in there, thanks for coming by...” the sentence trailed off, with her unsure of what else to say. The wounds from their breakup were still fresh; she may have been the one to cut ties, but she would argue that Bash placed the scissors in her hands. It was just their time to go their separate ways - so why did it hurt so much?

“Did you take an Uber?” Lily asked, not seeing a waiting car within their vicinity nor Bash’s trademark motorcycle. “You’re welcome to wait on the porch for your ride, if you want...” she trailed off, the polite hostess inside of her having been conditioned to invite him inside. But her home was her safe space, and Bash was no longer someone she wanted to have a presence within that. Nodding with a tight-lipped smile and squaring her shoulder, Lily turned and was about to head back inside, assuming that Bash would be fine for five minutes on his own. 

Ravi: Ok, sry, I think I missed something here.

Ravi: Can we start with 'boundaries' and work our way down, please?

Lily: Considering that Bash and I didn't have a particularly amicable breakup, I figured that having me around might put you in a difficult position with him.

[5 minutes later]