(Untitled)

[little_moons]

I can't really explain why the fuck I decided I needed to do this, but it's too late to back out now. We could've spent the day just like any other, the five of us plus two extra, and maybe the girls wouldn't have noticed. But it seems more and more important every day, in ways I can't really put into words, to make the best of the time we've got

Comments

[with_diamonds]

Though Lucy had been quick to accept the invitation, it wasn't until she was already at the Winchester, fully at ease, for once, instead of working, that she realized she didn't remember the last time she'd really done anything remotely traditional for Thanksgiving. The most recent that stood out was the year before she'd graduated, before Daniel had died and Max had been drafted and everything had gone to hell, but those memories, now, were about as unpleasant as they were hazy. She'd met Jude that night, and he was the last person she wanted to be thinking about when technically going out with Bruce for what was probably the first time. The difference between this year and others in recent memory was that, this time, she actually felt like she had a lot to be grateful for. She wasn't about to take that for granted.

Not as good at cooking as she was waiting tables, she'd had to show up empty-handed, but didn't feel guilty enough about it to let it affect her mood any. She didn't know everyone there, not even close, but she was smiling anyway as she wove through the crowd, intent on making the absolute most of it. There was, after all, no guarantee that it would last.

[defected]

All things considered, this wasn't all that bad for his first Thanksgiving on the island. It wasn't bad even when the last near-decade of his life was added to the equation; he hadn't celebrated Thanksgiving since he'd been in college, and even then, it had been a meager event put together by those few in this fraternity who had elected to stay behind for the holiday. This was, in comparison, quite an improvement.

It was also the first time in far too long that Bryce has anything to be thankful for on a purely personal level. On that note, he turned with a smile to where Lucy was standing and held out the second of two drinks he had found for them. "Happy Thanksgiving."

[with_diamonds]

"Happy Thanksgiving," Lucy returned, smiling easily, instinctively, at the sight of Bruce. These days, at least, she wasn't so much the sentimental type, but if hard-pressed, she wouldn't have been able to deny that, this year, he was chief among her reasons to be thankful. She had spent so long here being so far from happy; that was finally turning around, and a lot of that had to do with the fact that she'd pulled herself together and started moving on. Whatever else this holiday brought to mind, that outweighed all of it.

Taking the glass he held out to her and raising it in a mock-toast, she took a sip, then asked, "Having a good time?"

[defected]

"You know what? I really am. I haven't celebrated Thanksgiving like this in... well, let's just say it's been a while." The fact itself may have been sad, but Bryce didn't let it dim the smile he gave Lucy. It was a truth he didn't feel needed to be hidden from her, but that didn't make him any more inclined to delve into the details. "What about you?"

[with_diamonds]

"Yeah, the last time I celebrated was... a year and a half before I showed up here? And let's just say it wasn't nearly as enjoyable as this," Lucy laughed, nose wrinkling a little. All things considered, it hadn't wound up that bad, but the low-key nature of this - as well as some of the company - was much better. "I'm glad you could make it."

[defected]

"I'm glad you invited me," he replied, truthfully, giving her another smile. It wasn't unexpected, all things considered, that they would at the very least be seeing each other today, but Bryce had never anticipated spending Thanksgiving in such an environment. It reminded him of home, or what a home should feel like, easy as it was to forget for someone like him. This was the rare occasion when the unexpected and unanticipated turned out for the better rather than the worst, and for that he could certainly be thankful.

"Do you know all these people?" he wondered, with little attempt to mask his curiosity. She had been here far longer than he, and his interest in her should be, by now, quite obvious. It was only natural that he wonder about her life as well.

[with_diamonds]

"Oh, God, not even close," Lucy said with an exhale of a laugh, shaking her head. "By sight, most of them come in here once in a while, but I don't really know them." Most of that was due to the tendency she'd developed of keeping her walls up, keeping people out; when it came to those she was already close to, she held on as tightly as she could, but after so many losses, it was hard to want to get close to people. Bruce had been the exception, and for that, she was unmistakably grateful. Whatever risks there were in getting involved again, they were decidedly worthwhile. "But yeah, I... couldn't think of anyone I'd rather spend Thanksgiving with."

[defected]

"Me either." There were previous few occasions on which Bryce Larkin ever spoke truthfully, from the heart and without thought or filter, but he did so now. Little he had ever done felt as natural as uttering those two words, or slipping one arm around Lucy's waist and pulling her close, laying a kiss at the top of her head and then resting his lips there. Few things felt as right as this did, and it was times like these that kept Bryce from pulling away, suddenly afraid that he may have gotten too close, that he was putting both their lives at risk. He'd never been one to bother with philosophical questions, rarely preoccupied with questing the meaning of life - he was too busy living it - but if forced to point out any single thing worth living for, little seemed more worthwhile in this moment than the way Lucy made him feel.

[with_diamonds]

She had missed this, Lucy realized, leaning into his touch, a small, warm smile lifting the corners of her mouth. Not with him specifically, obviously, but having someone close like this. It was exactly what she'd spent a full year trying to avoid, but she was quickly becoming more and more certain that there was no sense in it, that she'd made the right decision in starting something here. For the moment, not caring that they were in public, she stayed just as she was, more interested in keeping him close than in mingling or going for food, content to let the moment last. "Guess that works out pretty well for both of us, then," she said, head tilting slightly so she could look up at him without putting any distance between them. "I never even liked this holiday in the first place, but I... kind of see the point."

[defected]

"You mean you don't consider our ancestors' conquer over and devastation of an otherwise innocuous native culture worth celebrating?" He said so with a small, sarcastic smile, the comment itself little more than a joke. Bryce was nothing if not patriotic, but he also wasn't blind. He knew that the country he'd sworn to protect had a colorful history at best, but that was all best left in the past, whereas he had a future to protect. Besides, in his experience, people rarely became spies out of a deep desire to follow orders from corrupt governing bodies; to do the bidding of fat, wealthy men who dished those orders from cushy seats behind fine oak desks.

If he'd been fighting to protect his government, Bryce would have been out of the game long ago, either by choice or accident, that particular motivation far from effective enough to keep anyone alive. He fought, instead, for people like Chuck and his sister, her husband, and even that mildly obnoxious Morgan character, for those who didn't know and never would have to know just how dangerous their world truly was. That he'd been even slightly successful - excluding Chuck himself, of course - was just another fact for which he could be thankful today.

[with_diamonds]

"Exactly!" Lucy said emphatically, grinning anyway, one finger held up as if to make her point. It had long since stopped being an actual point of contention for her - and even then, it had always mostly been mentioned in joking, anyway - but it was always the issue she'd had with the holiday. (That, and the fact that Carrigan family holidays never went particularly smoothly, usually for reasons that had to do with her brother and his latest antics.) Now, she couldn't help but laugh, leaning slightly against him as she did. "You know, I'm not sure it should technically even be a holiday here anyway, but I'm not complaining."

[defected]

"Probably not," he agreed, "but I'm glad it is." Given how little he talked about himself or his family, Bryce was sure that Lucy had deduced by now that he didn't have any, or at least that they weren't an easy topic of discussion. Hesitant though he typically was to volunteer any information, there were certain truths he didn't feel the need to keep from Lucy, and chief among them - for the time being, anyway - was the fact that she had done so much for him without even realizing. "Thank you," he said, leaning close to whisper in her ear, as if it were some big secret between them.

[with_diamonds]

The proximity of his mouth to her ear sent a slight shiver down Lucy's spine, and she smiled contentedly for it, relishing every second of the rush it provided, one unexpected, though not unfamiliar. As far as she could see, it ought to have been the other way around, but she wasn't going to object, not now. Maybe that was why they seemed to work so well together; they fulfilled the same purpose for each other. "Whatever you're thanking me for, you're welcome," she murmured, reaching up and over to rest a hand on his shoulder. "And... Well, ditto."

[defected]

Although his face was already close enough to hers to touch, that small shift of Lucy's made it so that her own features were now in clear view, the most inviting of which were, at least momentarily, those lips. He wasn't the type for public displays of affection (unless they benefited the mission) but in that moment, Bryce found the impulse impossible to control, and he lowered his neck and pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. "I'm glad we agree," he murmured, not yet inclined to pull away.

[with_diamonds]

The kiss came as a surprise, but hardly an unpleasant one. Lucy smiled against his mouth, fingers slipping up to his jaw, nothing but affectionate. It was impossible, she found, to react any other way. She'd once thought herself long since past this, getting so caught up in someone else that the location ceased to matter, but more and more, she was finding that for all her earlier trying to prevent ever feeling like this again, it was something that she liked, the only loss of control she had ever been comfortable with. "Me, too," she replied quietly, not about to be the first to pull away. "Works out pretty well for both of us."

[defected]

"I'd certainly say so," he smirked, his nose momentarily grazing hers. He allowed space to come between them at last, not out of desire, but because he had a feeling people would begin to stare given good reason. There would be time, he reasoned, for this sort of thing in private. For now, however, he wasn't about to let them become That Couple, despite how strong the urge as to toss those worries aside and kiss her once again.

"Are you hungry?" He asked, finally, almost desperate for a change of topic.