Of Monsters and Music

Ghost Town - Kanye West

And nothing hurts anymore I feel kinda free

The date was... theirs.

It started with an argument over which movie to watch. Chase argued for the action movie and Rory wanted to see the new Disney movie, but they settled on the Avengers movie that had come out a few weeks prior, even though Rory had already heard a lot of the spoilers.

It was Chase's first movie, after all.

Upon entering the cinema, Chase was enthralled by the projection. There was no magic, just science, and it fascinated him. Rory giggled at the wide-eyed, unabashed awe on his face as he watched the film. In fact, he was so enthralled by it that he didn't pay attention to how much popcorn he was eating, and suddenly, the entire bucket was gone and Rory was staring at him with much less adoration and much more frustration. In retaliation, she grabbed Chase's frozen coke and attempted to drink all of it in one go just as the main character in the film had their main comedic moment, and she ended up with both the worst brain freeze of her life and half a mouthful of icy soft drink up her nose. Chase had cackled and Rory had whacked him in the arm weakly as she coughed, which only made Chase laugh harder. The old woman several rows in front of them turned around and glared.

After Rory's throat had stopped involuntarily spasming, she looked over at Chase to ask whether he was liking the movie, but he'd disappeared. She looked around for him frantically, wondering where he'd gone considering she was closer to the aisle than he was. Maybe he'd had second thoughts about their date after all. She eventually caught a flash of orange-red above her and looked up in horror to find Chase hovering in front of the projector, staring at whatever he saw through the little pane of glass with excitement evident in the flutter of his wings.

She felt an odd sense of relief at the fact that Chase hadn't run away, but at the same time, her heart dropped to her toes. Thankfully, the cinema was empty aside from them and the old couple at the front.

"Chase glamour," Rory hissed.

"But it's not," he whispered, excited and oblivious. "It's that electr-"

"No, I mean you," Rory replied. "You need the glamour, Chase."

The lady in front started to turn around again, ready to shush them, and Chase dashed back down to his seat, throwing his arm around Rory's shoulders and a glamour over his wings. Rory's jaw clenched and her hands tightened on the armrests as she leant into Chase's side, continuing the act. Surprisingly, instead of shushing them, the lady cooed. Once she turned around again, Rory let out a long breath and slumped into her chair in relief.

Chase sent her a winning smile and Rory braced herself to tell him off, but he just grabbed her hand and pressed the back of it to his lips. After the initial shock, she was reminded that Chase's older brother, Cal, was an elegant, gallant Fey prince and that Chase had grown up learning everything from him.

Rory's heart dropped to her feet again - this time in a good way - and she slowly let a small (definitely a little gooey) smile spread over her face.

They both loved the movie, and Rory couldn't have been happier about it. They ranted about it all the way out of the theatre and halfway back to the Door Trek door.

Upon reaching the street across from the door, Rory grabbed Chase's wrist as she looked both ways - a reflex she'd developed ever since Chase almost ran out in front of a truck as he followed his runaway skateboard. Usually, Chase would just roll his eyes but let Rory hold onto his wrist as they crossed the street before shrugging her off as soon as they'd stepped foot back on the sidewalk. This time, however, when Rory was about to let go, Chase wriggled his hand in her group and entwined their fingers.