gooseberryhigh | (no subject)

Who: Phineas Bones & Sofia Delgado.
When: Tuesday, Jan 30th.
Where: The Dance Studio.
What: A little bit of dancing, & a little bit of dancing around the truth. Sofia is honest. Phin wants a pair of moonboots.
Warnings: PG-13 fluffstorm.

After having a blast dancing with Cole and Iliya, Sofia waits until the boys are out the door before sliding across the shiny floor and flopping down in front of of Phin. She’d been watching him out of the corner of her eye, grinning any time she caught his gaze while he was drawing. It surprised her that he had volunteered to come dance with her, but it caught her even more off guard when she joked he’d steal all of her time and he offered to draw in the corner instead. Maybe it meant nothing. They were still friends after all the sex stuff, and friends enjoyed just being in each other's company sometimes, right? Still, a part of her hoped she wasn't the only one who was… feeling things. Saying anything about it and risking losing someone who now meant a lot to her, though, terrified her more than the ghosts wandering around.

“What have you been drawing?” She cocks her head to the side, trying to take a peek at it. “Or have you been writing me a love letter,” she teases. She enjoyed their little back and forth banter they had involving sappy things, even if a part of her did have to hide the hearts in her eyes.

Phin turns his sketchbook around for Sofia to see. It's a series of scribbly sceneries from around the school, with a final in process that looks something like the dance studio, albeit in shades of pink and sunset peach.

The opposite page has some kinetic lines that are somewhat reminiscent of the movements Sofia and the others had been taking on the floor, which he'd only been half watching -- except for meeting her smile here and there, nodding his head exaggeratedly to whatever music they'd been bopping to.

"Not the type," he says now, turning his book back to himself. "Say, what's your favorite color?"

She doesn't take the sketchbook away, just places her hands on either side of and allows her fingers brush over his. Her stomach turns into knots and she immediately feels stupid. Subtly touching Phin in ways he probably didn't notice or care was beginning to be her new thing. Like she was taking what she could get to be close to him to satisfy the pang in her chest.

"You're definitely a gifted artist, Phin. Maybe you should study some sort of wizard art? And I like dark vibrant blue and, like, a dark berry or wine." she says, thoughtfully. "Dark and vibrant colors are my forte, I guess." she slides next to him and leans back against the wall, pulling her one of her knees up to her chest with a sigh. She's a little tired and hot from all the dancing so the cool wall against what little bare skin is showing feels nice.

"D'you think so?"

It's not that Phin doesn't realize he has talent -- he's sure he must, for anyone to be amused by his doodles whatsoever -- and it's not that he doesn't study on his own, but he's never considered proper schooling for art before. Not really. It'd be too much like officially following in mum's footsteps, maybe. But there's something in the way Sofia says it that makes him smile, just a little, and when she comes to sit against the wall next to him he shifts slightly closer to her luminous warmth.

He turns back a couple of pages in his sketchbook, showing her a new illustration -- this one, a series of crowns and tiaras and shining circlets. "Want to be a queen for me, then? I'm doing that show what Yancey wrote up in the journals. Doing regalia, I suppose, like this.” He taps a finger against a particularly dramatic-looking diadem. “Can't model everything myself."

"Not that you really need school," Sofia says, pointing back to the drawings in his book as if saying 'obviously!' and though her eyes are fixated on Phin flipping through pages and not paying attention to anything else, her body somehow senses him inch closer and allows her head to fall gently against his shoulder.

"These are beautiful." she slides her hand under his arm and pulls his index finger down to his lap to it stops blocking her view of the other drawings. Dramatic and very Sofia-like, as if he'd drawn the diadem just for her. "If I'm a queen does this make you my king?" she keeps her chin rested on his shoulder, looking up at him with big brown eyes. She knew her flirting was getting dangerously close to sounding like a clingy-not-girlfriend, but the words were just slipping out too easily. "And are you in charge or am I?"

"I'm in charge of styling, clearly," says Phin, indicating his outfit, which -- as usual -- has no business being called an outfit. "You can have everything else."

Unperturbed by her closeness or the closeness of her words, he picks his pen up from where it's rested in his lap and scribbles a note or two next to the diadem sketch.

"Think we'll do garnet," he murmurs. "With clear quartz. Thank gods you look a silver to me, cos gold's a bit dear for school if you ask me. And thank gods mum's in jewelry or it'd all be out of tin cans from the bloody grotto."

Very interesting, though. Maybe he ought to do that anyway.

Sofia snorts, maybe a little too loudly to be at all considered cute. The way Phin dressed didn't bother her any, but he was definitely not capable of dressing anyone. Probably not even a child. His ideas for the diadem don't sound awful, though, and she does look radiant in silver, but after focusing on that for a hot second her mind's gone off to thinking about those other things he said she could have. 'You can have everything else' were his exact words, she believed. Which basically translated to 'you can have whatever you want,' so she was going to take advantage of that.

"Come dance with me," she whispers against his ear before pushing herself up off the floor and skipping over to the stereo to put some music back on. Whatever it was started out slow, but Sofia could swing her hips to just about anything. She twirled around the center of the room, arms in the air as she called out for Phin, "Come onnnn."

Phin plays at moving extremely slowly and begrudgingly as he sets his notebook down, but joins Sofia on the floor readily enough. He's a decent dancer, surprisingly or unsurprisingly. Not like her, though.

"I dunno if I've seen you like this before," he says, attempting a pirouette like the one from his talent show act. He wobbles a little, then waves a hand at the studio in general reference. "Even last October, when you won me."

"Seen you proper dancing, I mean," he adds.

Phin was a good part of the reason she was starting to feel good again, though she wasn't sure if that was something she should admit or not. She didn't know if she'd scare him off or make him uncomfortable by letting him know how he made her happy. It sounded too much like a serious confession.

"I'm in a particularly good mood and I suppose that hasn't happened in quite some time." She lifts one of his hands in the air and slowly spins herself around, allowing her body to fall dramatically against him at the last second. "Maybe you're just bringing out the absolute worst in me," she says with a silly roll of her eyes, though there’s a grin playing on her mouth.

"I have been told I'm a horrible influence. You certainly won't be the first person I've ruined entirely."

Phin rolls against Sofia, a little teasingly, then takes her by the hands to try and spin her around. Their height difference is never so apparent as a time like this; he thinks if he spun her hard enough, he could lift her off her feet entirely, like a doll.

But of course, he won't. It's not really a moment for horsing around, not entirely.

He thinks of teasing her about how small her hands are, but it already makes him laugh to think of the way she might respond, so he doesn't. Phin falls pleasantly quiet, letting her manipulate him as she wishes.

"Are you sure I ought to take you to the dance?" He asks after a moment, looking at her with feigned (quite serious) concern. "You might never bounce back."

Sofia bites down on her lower lip to keep from groaning. Usually she was the one doing the teasing to people, but Phin was able to get to her way too easily. Damn karma.

She turns her back on him and drops down to the floor before rolling back up again, but it doesn't quite have the same effect when your victim towers over you. She looks over her shoulder and scowls. "Should have worn heels," she mumbles, then spins around to face him again, laughing at his cute expression. She knew better than to believe he was actually worried.

"I'll still bounce in ways that you enjoy." she throw her arms around his neck and hops up on him, locking her legs around his waist. "As long as you want to keep me around once I've been completely ruined. I'm not so sure, though." Now it was her turn to look worried, only hers was more genuine.

Phin's strong enough to hold her up, thankfully, but can't help a little sound of surprise at her sudden weight against him. Wrapping both arms around Sofia for support, he rocks her in what he hopes is a soothing manner, resting his chin against the top of her head.

The look on her face seems a bit serious, is all. He can't be sure why exactly.

"What about the plans we've just made for running off?" He speaks into the air over her head, tone softly chiding. "D'you think I'd go it alone? I'll have you know I'm a massive coward."

Sofia does find the movement to be soothing, even allowing her eyes to close for a moment to calm her nerves before Phin has her giggling again.

"Would you really run away with me?" she asks, leaning her head back so she can look him in the eyes. She'd been serious when asking before, but she doubted he knew that. "I have no reason to go home after this, nothing to really work towards. Hell, I still don't have a senior project bubbling around in my mind so I may not even graduate, and maybe this is just a stupid idea only children ever discuss, but.." she purses her lips and breathes out a small sigh through her nose. "I like you."

Phin blinks a little, surprised. I like you.

It's obvious, of course, and he knows it -- you sort of have to like a person, to behave the way they do toward one another -- but it's probably the first time either of them have said something like this aloud, unless it's happened before and he can't remember. Which is, frankly, a decent possibility. (And he almost wishes they were drunk now).

He doesn't know what it means that those three words -- I like you -- strike him as far more difficult to respond to than promising to run off with a girl he's known only a handful of months, but he smiles at her despite the odd tightening at his heart. It's a feeling he's not sure how to label. At least that makes it easier to ignore.

"I would," he says, truthfully. He'd never say no to an adventure anyway. It's not as if what he does really matters, in the end, so long as it's interesting. And Sofia is interesting. Practically everything she does is interesting.

Phin lets her down so her feet can touch the floor then, but keeps his arms looped lightly around her waist. He cocks his head to the side, regarding her carefully. "You ought not to give up on yourself though, really. I know everyone must say it, and it's..." He rolls his eyes. "...But honestly."

Phin isn't freaking out and pushing her away, so that was a good sign, but she notices he wasn't exactly acknowledging what she'd said either. Unless agreeing to run away with someone was confirmation. Merlin, this was overwhelmingly too complicated for her anti-feelings brain to handle.

"Is it really considered giving up on myself if I decide running off with an extremely hot guy sounds infinitely better than being a normal boring person with a job?" She grins up at him. "Maybe I'm just choosing to live an exciting life full of wonder. Or maybe I'm batshit crazy and am trying to lead you off somewhere I can have you all to myself." She rocks onto the tips of her toes, getting as close as she can to his face without them touching. "Would that scare you?"

Phineas laughs and shakes his head at her.

"Well, you should always do precisely as you like, of course," he concedes. "You're right. Perhaps you've got it all figured out."

It's a statement that betrays his own selfishness, but he says it with sincerity. It's something he does believe, and of course he must agree: it's hardly giving up, to pursue excitement. It's all the same in the end.

"Though I'm afraid you'll be disappointed, if you think I'm always so entertaining," Phin remarks after a moment, swaying them from side to side. He pretends to consider things, furrowing his brow, and shrugs. "But I'm not an easy scare, at least. You could make a project of it."

Sofia gives him a sly smile and shrugs her shoulders. She wouldn't say she had things figured out, but her idea definitely sounded more fun.

"What? You really think you could disappoint me?" That surprises her to hear, but then she remembers exactly how easily she'd get bored with people before Phin and it all makes sense. "I'm not going to make a project out of you," she replies with a look of sincerity on her face. She knows he's trying to be funny, but she has to make him understand she's completely serious about her dumb feelings and isn't fucking with him.

"When I said that I like you, I meant that I--I care about you more than a normal person should. I know that's messed up coming from me, I'm supposed to be a no feelings slutty mess of a girl, but--" She can't look him in the eyes cause she feels so embarrassingly stupid and overwhelmed, so she stares down at her shoes instead. "You make me... happy."

"Right..."

Phin falters again at her words. He finds himself absentmindedly rubbing his fingers across the small of her back, thinking through what to say -- but then, all it once, it seems simple. Caring about people is supposed to be, right? For normal people. Normal people care about each other. Friends care? Definitely.

He reaches up to gingerly touch the side of her face, a little unsure when she won't meet his eyes. (Actually, maybe this isn't simple at all.) "That's -- well, that's a good thing, isn't it? Hardly messed up, to be happy. Ever."

Phin shrugs at his own rambling. "What I mean to say is, happy's fine, if I make you happy. Happy's brilliant. And I care about you too, obviously."

She finally peeks back up at him through her lashes, nodding slowly even though a part of her wonders if he still doesn't exactly get it. But he says he cares about her too and that makes her smile. "I think you've actually made me a better person in some way. I'm definitely less of a paranoid wreck after all that shit that happened last year," she admits.

"So, if I start shooting death glares at anyone else who tries to touch you.." she pauses, trying to fight back a shy grin as she remembers back when she cussed out Ramon. "You're not gonna tell me to calm my possessive jealous ass down and go away?"

Phin raises his eyebrows at that, but laughs. "So long as you aren't rushing anyone with your teeth bared. We're civilized people."

It only occurs to him a moment later that this might be leading into a talk about exclusivity, or even... actually asking, in her own way.

Might be silly to feel a bit shy at that when you're willing to promise escaping across the pond with someone to ruin or glory, but his heart still thuds in his chest. In a good way. In a bad way. Several ways. There’s a stupid chill to it, but for the first time it doesn't make him think so much of Elspeth, exactly. Just the shape of her absence, which has grown rather smaller lately. Maybe a bit darker, like all the other things he really ought to talk to Sofia about.

Anyway, he should probably ask her what she's getting at or what it means, precisely, but he doesn't -- half because he's irresponsible, and half because she's very cute when she grins at him like that. It’s distracting, and it makes him feel like everything’s just fine. Thusly, he only smiles back and adds:

"I still reserve the right to tell you if you’ve gone mad, though. Which I will.”

"I mean," she begins to say in a teasing manner, but finishes with a shrug and a smile instead. She wasn't going to KILL anyone.. unless she needed to.

And to be honest, she doesn't even know what she's doing. She knows she doesn't want share Phin with anyone, but she also doesn't want to exactly tie him down and make him her boyfriend, either. Especially if he's not into it.

"You sure I haven't already?" she looks down at her feet, suddenly feeling that annoying twinge of insecurity come back. She hated it. But then another thought occurs to her and she finds herself having the confidence to meet his gaze again. "What do you want, Phin? Just start saying the first things that come to mind."

"Certainly not. I know mad, believe me."

Phin's smile is slightly bittersweet at that, but he makes a noise of amusement at her question, especially when she turns her eyes up at him again.

"To have fun," he says at once. "To make things. Good things. ... A pair of moonboots. A set of charcoals. To be a better duelist. And to kiss you." There's a tilt to the head again, reminiscent of Lucy when eyeing something particularly shiny.

The reassurance unties the knots in her stomach, but there's something in her chest doing flips as he talks about what he wants. In particular, that last thing he mentions. She slips her hands on his shoulders and pops on to the tips of her toes, attempting to bump her nose against his.

"What are moonboots?" she teases, though she doesn't bother waiting for an answer before kissing him.

Phin returns the kiss softly, meaning to be very gentle, but can't help deepening it after a moment. Then he realizes what she's just asked, and must pull away to answer because it's very important:

"Moonboots. Says it right on them. They look well daft, quite eighties." He says this as though it's a good thing. "Saw a pair in a charity shop once. Dunno why I left them there." His mates only ever seemed to convince him to leave behind actual treasures, honestly.

"Anyway."

Back to kissing. The studio's nice and empty, after all.

Sofia dramatically sticks out her bottom lip and whines when he stops. She wished she hadn't asked because they honestly sounded lame, but the way he talks about them is cute so she finds her lip sticking out even more because d'awww -- and then they're kissing again.

"Don't think anyone would hear us in here," she mumbles suggestively.

"And there it is," Phineas teases, breath against her lips. "You're becoming predictable, Sofia."

He laughs under his breath, anticipatory, then picks her up again in a sudden, jolly movement. Hopefully they land somewhere soft.