Green grass and summer breeze help the mind stay at ease

Maura's heart was beating against her chest in nervousness something she never had before.   Feeling her hands shaking she grabbed some grass beside her trying to keep her hands from shaking, but not such luck.  Why was she so nervous anyways? Not like he was going to deny her or tell her that she was the ugliset thing in the world and didn't want to see her anymore, her mind was just going crazy and thinking the worse.  She was just thinking the worse,  but that didn't ease the nervousness that she was having.



It been awhile since she found out the trurh about what Ryo was and the truth about why he was the way he was with Hit, despite all that she stayed.  Why you might ask, because she cared about him deeply, was it love? of course not but she did care deeply about him.  That was something more then what she felt about other guys,  she wouldn't give them the time of day.  She still didn't know how Ryo got her, but now she rhiught about it he had her the moment he told her about Max being a dog.  What was weird she didn't seem to mind, she couldn't helo but not to smile at that day.


Maura was afraid of love,  although she didn't want to admit it she knew that it was true.  She been hurt, which lead her being the way she was, but Ryo saw right through her and broke all her walls she had up.  Although who knew if she'll love Ryo, she already had strong feedings for him and cared about him deeply so who knew.   Her cousin always told her that her and Ryo were end game, although she didn't want to admit it.  She didn't really kmow what end game was until Nate told her,  she wondered why it was still called end game.


Maura looked at him curiously her head tilt slightly, this is the longest he looked at her since they been here, although she seen what seem to be nervousness in his eyes.


Maura looked at him shocked,  was he saying what she thought she was?  Wait...a minute someone pinch her to make sure this was real, she was clearly dreaming.  "Yes I know Ryo,  I been patient this long with you, a bit more won't kill me." chucking slightly at her little joke.  "It'll be hard but what relationship isn't hard,  but we'll make it work." Her heart was beating rapidly against her chest.  Looking down feeling him grabbing her hand, it was the first time he touched her since her birthday party.

Looking at their hands for a minute, her chocolate brown eyes looked up at him.  "Yes I will Ryo." smiling at him.

This entire thing felt like a dream, a dream that he wasn’t sure he’d ever want to actually be woken from. Things were going right for once and he didn’t want to mess anything up. He couldn’t help but he slightly pessimistic about the entire situation because good things never lasted for him. When he thought about it, though, he realized that most of the time it was his overthinking that caused things to go wrong.

He became so focused on the little details that shouldn’t matter to him, that it caused bigger problems for him. Just like when he met Hit; or when she found out about him being a vampire, more like. He’d been so worried about himself that he hadn’t thought about his sister going into a fenzy since she was younger than him. That had been a pain because she had ended up depending on a thirteen year old at the time, to help her through the night. It had been such a mess but he’d eventually gotten over it and thanked Hit for helping his sister.

He supposed the situation hadn’t been all bad, though. He’d gained a great friend from it.

Ryo couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face when Maura replied. He felt like his face would eventually freeze like that if he didn’t do something about it, but it was hard to. He hadn’t felt this happy about anything in the longest time and it was strange to be able to feel this way to him. He closed his hand around Maura’s gently, so as to not hurt her. He sat down, placing himself slightly closer to her than he’d originally been and he almost awkwardly leaned toward her to place a kiss on her cheek.

“..thanks.” He whispered softly, his head having moved down to her shoulder. His forehead leaned against her shoulder, he continued, “..for saying yes and for sticking around, I mean. I know I can be hard to deal with. You even for the stamp of approval from Hit, and she’s even harder to please than I am.” He half joked. Hit was just very protective of him and his sister, even though they were older than her.

“I want to make our first official date special.” He said, raising his head from her shoulder to look at her once again. “But I’m giving you the choice of what you want to do. We can do the usual movie and dinner thing, go to a carnival that’s coming soon, or anything else you want. It doesn’t even have to be in the country, if you don’t want it to be. I’ll take you wherever, we just have to plan it ahead of time.” He told her, the smile still on his face.

The whole situation felt like a dream to Maura,  she decided if this was a dream she didn't want to wake up. Only in her dreams that something like this happened,  only in her dreams that people cared about her.  Ok...so her parents and Nate did,  but it wasn't like Ryo did.  She had to be dreaming,  but if she was she had to be dreaming since the day she met him.  To her this was a dream come true,  she liked Ryo for awhile now probably longer then he probably liked her,   but she hoped and longed for this day.


As many dates her parents set up on, there was no one that evermade her feel like Ryo did.  He made feel wanted and complete,  although he never told her  but he made her feel beautiful.  What was weird that he liked her for her, he didn't try to change her or get rid of the sharp edges of her.  Maura didn't care if he was a vampire,  she liked him just for who he was when he was with her.   That was the person she fell to like and liked more then just a friend, the person she told him and Hit she liked.  


Maura smiled seeing him smile,  she didn't think she actually seen him smile like this, it was actually nice that he was smiling at her.  "Oh he smiles,  he actually knows how to smile it's a miracle." although she was just teasing him like he does with her at times.  Although she never seen him smile like this, and it was quite nice.  His hand was big around hers but she liked the feeling,  smiling she kissed his cheek.


"You don't have to thank me, I would've waited for you for as long as you needed, I should thank you for giving me a chance." smiling feeling his hair soft hair against her cheek. Maura laughed.  "You're only that way because you were afraid of getting hurt again, but I won't hurt you I promise, just don't hurt me I been hurt as well."  That was true, she been hurt deeply by her ex, but that was in the past. She wasn't worried about the padt anymore, she was morr focus on what was happening now.  As of right now, she wanted to remember this moment for as long as she can remember.  


Maura looked at him. "You don't have to make it special Ryo, just you being here or anywhere else is enough for me." She didn't need fancy places to make her happy, she was happy with a picnic in the park here as long as she was with him. " A carnival sounds really fun actually,  it been ages since I been to one plus riding close to you on rides will be fun." smiling back him.

“Hey of course I do. It just takes the right person to get me to show this side.” Granted it wasn’t a lie, but the only other “right” person who could get him to genuinely smile was Hit, but this was a slightly different situation. This was a different kind of right. He couldn’t really remember if she’d ever been with him and Hit when they’d been messing around and if she’d ever actually been able to see the fun side to him.

He supposed it didn’t really matter though, because she would have plenty of time to get used to all the different sides to him.

He just hoped she never had to be around when he needed to feed. He didn’t need a repeat of the past. No, that wouldn’t happen. He was older now and he could control himself. He just had to keep telling himself that and everything would be okay. As long as he willed it to be.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. That’s the last thing I’d ever want to do.” He reassured Maura. Ryo wasn’t the type of person to play games, especially not after everything he’d been through already. He had never really thought about it, but he’d gone through a lot for a twenty-six year old. Ryo’s gaze fell to their hands that were still linked together and he gave Maura’s hand a squeeze. “Okay, well go to the carnival then, it’ll be around soon but I’m not exactly sure when. I’ll find out and let you know.” He nodded, half to reassure himself of the plans he’d just made practically by himself.

As he looked at her, he started to lean in to kiss her but he hesitated and stopped at a peck on her temple. He felt himself get embarrassed at the fact that he was being shy about kissing his now girlfriend. He felt like a teenager with his first girlfriend again.

Oh Merlin.

She laughed.   "I knew that you did, I just never really see it before until now, and I was just teasing."  still giggling some she looked up at him.  "You do have a nice smile though,  glad I'm finally seeing it at last."  Although it was probably the same with her some as well, she smiled but the only person who made her genuinely  smile was Nate her cousin and her best friend.  Despite how she looked, she wasn't as reserved as people thought she was she just had a hard time letting people in.  It wasn't that she didn't want to,  it was she was just scared of getting hurt, but pain was a part of life but didn't mean she liked it.  Although she was sure Ryo seen her smile all the time, he was the only person besides Nate that could make her laugh and smile.


Although  that didn't matter anymore, he was making her smile and laugh and wasn't even trying to do it at the least. After trying to keep her walls up around her she finally decided to let him see the real her, the one that was sweet and innocent as well as vulnerable. The side she didn't like showing cause she thought it made her look weak and pathetic which was something she wasn't.  At first it scared her to show him this side but afer awhile she learned more about him and realized it was only fair to let her guard down.


She knew how vampires were, but to her Ryo acted so human to her that she would've thought he was a human if she didn't know better.  Although she knew how vampires were when they needed to feed, her best friend Anya wouldn't let her anywhere near her when she was that way which was only a couple of times she remembered.   She would understand if Ryo would become like that, although she didn't know everyone was different including vampires.  She wouldn't call her a expert on vampires,  she just knew how her best friend was, now with Ryo it might be another story but she wasn't worried.  In all the time she knew him, she really didn't notice much difference in him.


She nodded and smiled. "Good then you know that the last thing I'll do is hurt you as well, you had enough pain to last you a lifetime." From what Hit told her he been hurt bad, she wanted to ease that hurt and hopefully make him forget that he ever been hurt. She hated games and she wasn't the one for games, they were childish and pathetic and her opinion but people were that way unfortunately.  Maura nodded and smiled.  " Ok, I can't wait I know it's going to be fun and no rush as soon as we kmow we can go." squeezing his hand back.

She looked back at him and smiled, it was like time was standing still as she looked at him like itnwaa only them in the park.  Maura was scared nervous and shy herself,  this was the first real relationship she had in awhile, she really didn't kmow what to do much.  Well...she did from all her dates,  but she didn't know how to act around someone she actually liked and cared about.  Oh merlin, how was she going to get out of this and not be so shy around him?  For heaven stakes she knew him for months, and now sje was acting shy around him? that wasn't like her at her.

He started to wonder how long it would take for the news to get back to Hit. Hopefully, if he didn't say anything to her directly, it wouldn't get to her at all. But him now being taken after being single for so long was bound to stir up some commotion, be it at the Ministry or at his shop. Both being places Hit visited regularly. At least it would serve to warn him of just how much people liked to stick their noses in his business, even when he tried to keep a lot to himself. Not to mention that Hit was pretty nosey herself when it came to something she really cared about. So even if she did find out somehow, without him mentioning it, then that just showed how much she cared for his well being. He knew he should be thankful for having a friend like her that was always watching out for him but at the same time it was a little weird. And he could see how people would get weirded out by it because she was about eight years younger than he was, and she was always looking out for him (not like he didn't do the same), and she tended to be overprotective of him when certain people came around.

He stopped his thoughts about that short as he looked at Maura. He shouldn't be thinking about that kind of stuff now, of all times. But it didn't stop him from mentioning it, "Y'know, I'm curious to see how long it's going to take for Hit to learn about this." he said nonchalantly. He tilted his head back to look up at the tree that was providing them shade, and he stared at the leaves as they moved in the wind. "I give it a week, tops." he added, knowing his friend would go to the ends of the earth and back to find out about the relationship that she had been cheering on since before it was even a thing.

Ryo couldn't help the sad look that flashed across his features when she mentioned him going through enough pain to last a lifetime. Oh, yeah. He forgot that had been a thing, he'd asked Hit to talk to her about that. Those emotional wounds never seemed to heal as well as he'd like to tell himself, and he knew that. But it was always easier to just say he was okay and that it hadn't been anything serious, even though he had been serious enough to want to marry the person that hurt him to the point of not wanting to be with anyone else. "I know." he said softly. "I know you aren't like that and you won't do that. That's why I'm telling you I won't hurt you either, because I trust you. You'll just have to deal with me being an emotional wreck sometimes, even though guys shouldn't ever really be like that." he told Maura, a dry laugh escaping his lips. Even he wasn't sure how she was supposed to take that but he was going to assume there was nothing bad meant by it. "And I'll make sure that I don't do anything stupid to ruin this. Just.. make sure you tell me if I do anything wrong, since I'm not good at any of this."

He could tell that he was starting to ramble on about things that, even though they were important, shouldn't be talked about at that exact moment. So he decided to stop himself from making a fool of himself while he still had the chance and he continued looking at the tree's leaves rustling in the breeze. He just wanted to give himself some time to process the things being said to him, and give her time to process what he was saying. Especially when he was going a million miles an hour. Ryo sighed, nodding at her last statement about their date. "Okay, well, it'll be here for a while once it gets here, so we'll just have to make sure we have the time to go, at least once."

She was actually wondering herself how long it was going to take for people to figure out that they were together and she was no logner single, it wasn't like it was a secret or anything by any means. Although Maura was beyond glad to no lomger be single it meant no more stupid dates her parents set her up on that ended horribly or didn't go well. Although she knew how her parents and Nate was, it wouldn't be long until they knew that she was now Ryo's girlfriend.   She hated that they were right about her and Ryo,  it wasn't because she was with him but because they were right.  They kept telling her there would br a day when they were a couple and they'll be counting the days until they were she couldn't believe that they were right.


Not to mention with the jobs they have it wouldn't be lokng until people knew,  nothing stayed a secret there long she knew that for a fact. People were nosey and always got in people's lives and business, Maura thought that some people needed to mind their own business and stop getting into others. She didn't care about her friends and loved oned, but others they needed a life besides getting in her business.  Although she was glad for the friends she had, they cared about her and supported her through everything and she was lucky to have them.


She laughed. " Oh I don't think it'll be long to learn about this, I don't think it'll be long. " she smiled and shook her head at the thought of Hit finding out about them.   " I give it less then that,  I give it five days at the most she has her ways of finding things out I seen."  looking at the leaves on the tree she sighed happily to herself.  It was nice to have him sitting beside her holding her hand it was a nice calming and relaxing feeling.   She knew that this was a small thing that they were doing, but she liked it.   The small things were sometimes the things that you remember the most out of anything.


She looked at him sadly seeing the sad look that flashed across his face.  "I...I'm sorry I shouldn't have brought that up at all." looking at him sadly she frowned at him.  Wounds never heal completely,  they left scars on you and your heart that lasted forever she knew that for a fact.   She smiled. " I'm glad you trust me, I trust you more then anything and I never trusted anyone much before." biting her lip as she said that she looked up at the sky.   "I was always scared to let people in afraid I'll get hurt again,  I keep up walls and rough interior and acted like I never been hurt." the truth she was hurt and badly.  "It's ok if you are Ryo we all go thorugh that even you guys." as she said that she laughed a bit.  "I'll try, I'm not good at this either, so we'll figure it out I mean I been on horrible dates but they didn't mean anything to me." sighing she kept looking up at the sky.


She looked from the sky and smiled.  "Ok I can't wait until it does, it's going to be fun I just know it." she didn't know for sure but with Ryo everything seemed fun and adventurous.   She didn't care what she did with him as long as she was with him, although she knew that they were going to have a blast at the carnival.

Ryo nodded. "You're right, she certainly is special." He laughed softly, knowing that the second Hit saw him, she would probably want to know about what was going on with the two of them. He sighed. Nothing really felt all that different now that they were officially.. together, but he supposed that was to be expected when they had already been somewhat close to begin with. He was sure he would be up all night thinking about it later, though. Right now, it didn't look like he thought much of the situation, even if internally he was trying to wrap his head around the idea that he wasn't completely on his own anymore. ...Not that he ever was completely alone, but there was difference in the loneliness he was currently thinking of with the one anyone else would immediately think of he'd said that out loud.

There were just some things that his friends couldn't take care of and even though he liked to think that he was perfectly fine on his own, he knew that he needed to find someone to fill the hollowness he sometimes felt. He couldn't expect Hit, who was always around him, to fill that kind of position in his life when he thought of her as a little sister, and she thought of him as an older brother. So, while he tried to convince himself otherwise many times, he was glad that he ended up meeting Maura when he did and that she was able to work her way into his heart. Even if he didn't know how everything would turn out, he was glad she was going to be there, even if it only turned out to be for a little while.

Merlin, he hoped it wasn't only for a little while.

"I know that these next few weeks are going to be some of the busiest, what with the holidays and all coming, so I'm not sure how often I'll get to see you." Ryo commented, almost pouting at the realization he'd just made. Though, the Ministry wasn't exactly what he'd been talking about. Along with being a Spirit Specialist for the Ministry of Magic, Ryo was also a shop owner. During the holidays, all the shops in Diagon Alley were very busy, no matter what kind of shop it was since everyone had different likes and wants, as well as needs. Being the owner if Eyelops was certainly tough during the holidays, but this was going to be his second year as the owner so at least he was going to have something to go based off of, unlike last year.

"But I'll be damned if I don't do everything in my power to at least try to make it happen." he added, nodding to himself in reassurance. Maybe I'll have Hit help me out with that too. He shook his head at the thought, she was going to be busy with her own work as well as schoolwork to be able to help him. She would probably still try to, though.

Maura laughed.  " She definitely got some spunk to her that's for sure,  but she knows what she wants. "  still laughing softly she smiled. She knew that her family would want to know if she was still single or not, she loved her family but sometimes they were nosey really nosey.  Nothing felt different now they were officially together now, well... not yet but she didn't know how different things would be for them.   Although they were already somewhat close to start with,  but you know what they say friends make the best boyfriends.  She knew that she was going to spend all week wondering how and why Ryo chosen her, sje was nothing spell.

Maura never really had many friends, she was a loner and reserved and didn't trust anyone.  It was all because of what happened to her that lead her to not trusting anyone but herself and only herself.  Although when she met Ryo she tried to keep her walls up around her to keep her from getting hurt, but he broke down her walls she tried to keep up.  She was glad for Ryo and how he made his way into her life and heart,  she was starting to open up to him. She never opened up to anyone but her cousin Nate, he was her best friend even if he was her cousin.


She looked at him and frowned.  " I know,  the holidays seem to bring out the most of people, I know with you running your shop you're going to be busy."  she said knowing how crazy shops can be this time of year.   She knew just working at her mum's candy store how crazy things were, diagon alley was worse.  " It'll be ok, we'll work this out for the both of us we have before."she said giving him a soft warm smile.  As well as their jobs, she knew that both of them were going to be busy this time of year, it was always crazy. Although she loved her job and helping her mother even if it was crazy at times she wouldn't trade it for anything.  


She smiled. " I know that you will you're not the person wbo backs down on anything. " She knew that just by knowing him as long as she did, but she was still learning more about him.   Although he probably knew more about her then she knew about him,  but he was opening up to her.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that..” Ryo said, his mind starting to wonder to thought of his best friend. Hit was a strong, independent girl but she was still young. She still needed guidance and it was something her family had never really given her, especially not after she started her time at Hogwarts. Still, he had to say she was a remarkable young girl, considering she’d been through a lot and she managed to keep herself grounded. It was almost time for her to finally graduate and he was sure she would try to find her own place almost immediately after she graduated.

Ryo knew how it felt to be rejected by family. It was tough.

On the outside, it didn’t seem to bother her but as her best friend, Ryo knew it hurt her a lot. It sucked that all he could do was listen to the problems she had and never be able to take much action on it. But something was better than nothing and he knew she appreciated him even listening to her.

“Yeah,” Ryo nodded. “And now that Hit’s at the ministry, I’m not sure if she’ll be able to help me out like she did last year.” The vampire sighed. She’d been a big help to him the previous year with keeping everyone that was working in order, and while he was going to have the time off, he wasn’t sure if Hit was going to. The departments were all different, after all. Hit just happened to be one that was busy no matter what since it involved law enforcement. However, he would think an intern would get time off, especially on a holiday like Christmas.

He supposed he’d have to ask.

“Anyways,” Ryo said, shaking his head. “What are you going to be doing for the holidays? Plans with your family?” He asked, looking over at Maura.