Shell Shock at Shell Cottage

Dom had to watch Declan pull this woman away, getting a look from the other woman that made Dom's blood boil, her skin crawl. She knew Declan wasn't going to just... run off with her or anything. She knew he wanted to be with her. But the smugness on Danica's face was challenging, and Dom couldn't help but feel like maybe there was cause for her to worry. After all, Danica very overtly wanted Declan, wanted what he wanted, commitment and the whole shebang. And she wanted... she wanted...

She wanted him to wait while she figured out what she wanted.

She dropped her head and examined her hands, her hands that now looked like those of a woman. When had she grown up? She always felt like a teenager and now, here, dressed to impress and with an older man wanting her to settle down, she remember that she wasn't supposed to feel like a teenager. When the hell had she grown up? And could she go back?

When his eyes met hers, she tried to shake the sad, distant expression that had overtaken her. She took in a breath and allowed her lips to stretch into a smile, though it was certainly not a natural one, still pursed with uncertainty. He approached her and seemed to sense her sudden need for distance, stopping before he reached her.

He was too good for her.

She closed the distance between them and snaked her arms around his neck, leaned up, and pressed a kiss to the side of his mouth. She leaned back and whispered, "Let's get out of here. Let's go get drunk. Yule Ball drunk. And just... forget all of the other shitty people in the world."

Declan was slightly surprised when Dom stepped forward, but not as much as he would have been a couple of weeks ago. Now, he was just glad that she believed him, that she was finally showing affection towards him in front of others. Perhaps it was a step in the right direction. He wasn't going to get his hopes up too high, though. He hadn't even been able to tell his family that they were trying to be together. He'd wanted to, but had followed her lead instead.

One arm curled around her waist and the other reached up between her shoulder blades, holding her against him. His eyebrows lifted at her request, his mind going directly where it shouldn't have. A little part of him thought that, perhaps, she had wanted exactly that to happen. He wasn't sure, but it amused him either way, obviously.

As strange as he felt, as sorry as he was for potentially mucking up part of Dom's parents' day, it was Dom who wanted to leave. She wanted to be with him, at least in some way, and he couldn't help but laugh. "Well," he began, glancing around. Erik was shaking his head, as though he just could not understand what on earth was happening. Declan felt that maybe someone should tell the Hufflepuff to keep his nose out of the business of others, regardless of how confused he was about things with Vic. "I think that could be arranged."

He chuckled again, feeling oddly like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. Maybe it was Dom or maybe it was just that he didn't have to worry at all about the day, anymore, but something distinctly Gryffindor ran through him. Wrapping his arms further around her, Declan lifted her clean off the ground. Declan pressed a kiss to her jaw before disapparating, taking her along with him.