She looked around, trying to figure out which game she could kick his arse at the fastest. She could kick his arse at anything, but the faster they played, the faster she could rub it in his face. Her eyes lit up when she saw skeeball, and pulled Lorcan over to it, tilting her head in it’s direction before asking “You ready to lose?” She then realized she was still holding his hand and looked down at it. She reluctantly let go, her face red as she giggled nervously.

He had secretly hoped she wouldn’t notice their hand-holding but was a little disappointing when she did let go, but only a little since the blush that appeared on her face was adorable sight, still wanting it to last far longer than it actually had. He allowed himself a moment to enjoy it and save it into his memory before giving her a smirk, “The question is are you ready to lose?” He emphasized the you by pointing a finger at her.

Lily reached up to place her hand on the side of Lorcan’s face condescendingly. “That is the cutest thing you’ve ever said,” she said, patting his face lightly before giggling and grabbing his hand, pulling him towards the games. She realized too late that she was now holding his hand, something she hadn’t done since they decided to try going on a date. It felt different than it did before… but she liked it.

He momentarily held his breath as she placed her hand to the side of his face. He was sure that she had done this before in the past at some point, but bow that they had expressed their feelings to each other it was different. Just like how when she took his hand his heart leapt in his chest. “Bring it Weasley.”

Lily smiled at the compliment, feeling her cheeks get a bit hot. “Thanks, Lor,” she said before looking around. “So! What do you wanna do first? Cora and Aura had their other friends they wanted to hang out with for a bit, so it’s just you and me until I’m dragged away.” 

He knew that if they had decided to dress as the trio that they would more than likely plan to walk around together as a group, after all going about on their own wouldn’t give the same effect. “How about you and I go and try our hand at some games, you know I love beating you,” he teased lightly.

“But it would’ve been different,” she argued with a playful eye roll. She decided that it didn’t matter now and dropped it, since he said everything but the words “I promise.” She wasn’t expecting the intensity of the words on his lips, so much so that she thought she might have misinterpreted his lip movements. She nodded, trying to keep her smile from getting too big. “Then yes. I’d love to go on a date with you, Lor.”

Having gotten that out of his system he felt like his whole body do a collective sigh of relief. His muscles relaxed and though his stomach still felt jittery he was relatively calmer. It was then that he realized he hadn’t exactly answered or promised to do what she had asked of him. Of course he would, heck, he would perform an unbreakable vow if he had to, just to prove his commitment to the whole situation. But instead he did something he hadn’t done since they were little, lifting the pinky up of his free hand and holding it up to her. “I promise I won’t let this, whatever it may lead to, break us apart. You’re far too important for me to allow that to happen.”

Lily knew the question was coming, yet her heart jumped as if it was unexpected. She wanted to say yes, of course, but she had to get something straight first. “Lor, you’re my best friend,” she started, keeping her eyes on his. “And I really like you, but I can’t lose you, no matter what happens. Can you promise me that? Even if the date is a total shit show, we’ll always be able to come back, right?” As much as it would hurt, she wouldn’t date him if she thought there was a possibility of losing him, since that outcome would definitely hurt more.

He gave a small chuckle and ran a hand through his hair, “I thought that it was kind of obvious I wasn’t about to let that happen after basically giving up hope and hiding my feelings.” But if she needed further reassurance, then he would provide it. “I’m not about to go and ruin what we have. You’re my best friend and just the thought of losing you kills me. But the pain of not being able to be with you, like my heart wants to, kills me too.”

That was a lot for Lily to take in. “The date was fake?” she repeated, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.She had a lot of conflicting emotions about that, since it was kind of a jerk move, but it did mean he cared a lot. Plus, what he said next practically made up for it. Her heart was pounding out of her chest, and she looked down at their held hands to try and collect her thoughts. Lily finally looked up at him, and the beating in her chest only got worse when she realized how close they were. “Don’t… don’t pull any more of that shit again, okay?” she giggled, not letting him completely off the hook, but her smile gave away the fact that she wasn’t that upset.

“Yeah,“ he admitted, bringing a hand up to rub the back of his neck, “It was Dominique’s idea, but I feel like a bloody idiot for going through with it now. Especially after everything that happened.“ Well, not entirely. If that single event had somehow managed to lead up to this particular moment they were having, then maybe he didn’t completely regret it. He was thankful that she didn’t seem all too upset about the situation, her smile sending a new swarm of butterflies through his chest. For the first time in his life he felt incredibly nervous, “S-so, would you, like to go out? On a date?”

With the initial weight off her chest, Lily’s usual “no beating around the bush” attitude and bold nature returned. “No, I didn’t, because I like you, Lorcan,” she said outright, though fear did hit her stomach fairly quickly after she said those words. Now, the niffler was a hindrance. She couldn’t sign, and she was far more comfortable doing so, especially with conversations this important. “I… I had to make sure it was real and I wasn’t just sad about Jack before telling you, because I didn’t want you thinking that you were some second place or something because you’re not, at all, and…” Now that she got started, the words just kind of flowed out of her like a waterfall. “It’s scary, because you’re my best friend in the world and I don’t want to fuck that up, because just the thought of losing you makes me sick and…” She shook her head. “I said too much, didn’t I?”

All attempts to control the remaining Nifflers that were in his hands ceased at the sound of her confession. He suddenly felt extremely happy, completely overjoyed. And somehow, the small creatures could feel that, stopping what they were doing enough for him to quickly turn and place them in their cave filled with twinkling trinkets. He needed both hands for what he was about to do. facing Lily again he reached for her hands and held them tightly. “You don’t think I know that? Merlin Lily, I like you too. So much I thought I had to go on a fake date with Dominique to see if I could get you jealous. The last thing I wanted was have that asshole break your heart. I had even given up at some point because I thought that if you didn’t like me that it wouldn’t matter how bad it hurt to see you with someone else as long as you were happy. I deeply in like with you...so much it might even be more than that.”

“It just would’ve been… I don’t know, I probably would’ve yelled it at you,” she admitted, shaking her head. “Everyone who I talked to that day I ended up yelling at.” She played a bit with the coin so the niffler would move his eyes around adorably, leading Lily to giggle once before sighing again. Somehow, the little creature in her hand gave her back her usual bravery as she looked up at her best friend. “I lied to you before, and I’m really sorry. That day I confronted you about Dominique… I lied when I said I didn’t know what I was feeling, I was… jealous.” The last word was the hardest one to say, but it did feel like an elephant got off her chest when she said it.

There was a small swell of something he wasn’t sure of, relief, maybe joy. A mixture of both? Either way, it had the effect of sending a fluttering feeling in his chest as he  attempted to breath normally. Jealousy. She was jealous when she saw him and Dominique together. But then again that still didn’t necessarily mean she liked him right? Maybe it was just because it had been with Nicki? “Jealous. So you didn’t like Dominique getting the chance to hang out with me?” he asked as he kept his eyes on her, a niffler managing to climb up to sit at his shoulder and hug his neck.

Ouch.

“Hey, that’s not fair,” she argued before taking one of the nifflers from him to lighten his load. She took a galleon out of her pocket for the creature to play with so she could focus on the conversation. “I didn’t… look, I wasn’t afraid of what I would say before. I didn’t have anything to hide before, and now…” Well, she came this far, might as well explain a bit more. “If I was going to say what I thought I would, then… then I didn’t want to be forced into it. I wanted to say it when I was ready. Does that make sense?” She knew she was being cryptic, but she would explain more as soon as her usual courage came back… hopefully.

He willingly allowed her to take a Niffler from his hands, his eyes darting occasionally to her hands. He couldn’t help but think she looked rather adorable with the tiny creature in her hands. No, he had to focus on the conversation at hand. Looking back up at her he chuckled and gave a nod in response to her answer. “Right of course. Though I don’t see how your answer wouldn’t have been pretty if I had caught you.” Unless it meant she’d say something that would break him. Not that he didn’t already somewhat feel like that every time he pined for her.