This is sorta like family time....!

[bel_chocolate]

WHO: Ai and Willem
WHEN: Late evening
WHERE: Charleston Apartments, specifically, Willem's apartment
WHAT: Ali goes to thank her bro for the present and they end up bonding....kinda

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[oranje_windmill]

Willem knew he should probably be doing something productive with his first evening off in forever. There was a pile of laundry in his bedroom waiting to be put away, leftovers from an earlier take out run sitting on his counter waiting to be put in the fridge, and stacks of papers and notebooks sitting on his coffee table from the end of semester madness that should be sorted and put somewhere

[bel_chocolate]

"Hey." This was about as awkward as she imagined it would be, quite possibly even more so, which was quite a feat in and among itself. She shuffled from one foot to the other for a moment before pushing the bottle she was holding into the other's arms, wishing she'd just not done this. It seemed somewhat stupid now. "Here. Thanks for the gift...it was...nice."

Why was it she never knew what to say around him? She was never this awkward normally. In her attempt to not make eye contact she'd looked past him to see his rabbit playing around in the living room and despite the awkward atmosphere she found herself smiling, possibly her one true smile that'd she'd ever had with her brother in company. Then she remembered that he was still here and glanced up at him.

"I guess I'll get going then." She turned away slightly to make her way back to her apartment, figuring that was it.

[oranje_windmill]

There was a bottle shoved into his hands, than she was rushing through a thank you for the gift he’d given her on St. Nicholas Day and an indication that this was a return gift. It was awkward, as anything between them always was, and then...

She smiled. Not a smirk or a strained imitation, but one of the first true smiles he’d seen from her while she was in his presence. True, she was smiling at something behind him, which he took to be Nijntje, but it was something. And it jolted him into action.

“Wait,” he said as she turned to go, “did you want to come in? I’ve got dinner left over if you’re hungry.”

[bel_chocolate]

Halting at the sound of his voice she turned back to him, surprised (but...pleasantly so). She'd been thinking that'd be the end of it, and while some part of her wished it had, she found herself happy that it'd happened anyway. Though she couldn't explain why.

"I...if you're sure." she tested, just in case it was a fluke of sorts, she didn't know with her brother, then again she didn't know him too well to begin with. Sad thought, but true.