Prince of Ruin

Chapter Twelve: Theodore

By Wednesday, we actually had a pretty decent routine going. We would wake up in the morning, part ways to get dressed for work. We would meet up at the breakfast table where she always had waffles. I mixed my breakfast up a little. Monday I'd had oatmeal, but Tuesday I'd had pancakes. Wednesday I had a bowl of fruit with bacon on the side. Coco had waffles with butter and syrup.

And every day she happily devoured them like they were her last meal on earth.

After breakfast- she would go back into the kitchen and come out a minute later holding cups of coffee- she said the coffee we had was better than what she had at her office- and she got me a cup because- according to her- she was used to doing everything in pairs.

This morning, we apparated to the the office and almost immediately a paper airplane nearly took her eye out. She managed to catch it in her fist just in time.

She handed me her coffee, which I took without thinking, and she opened the letter with a frown.

"Oh."

"What?" I asked, concerned.

"It's from Baz. He's not feeling well." She took her coffee back and held the note out to me to take

'Coco, wont' be in the office today. Under the weather (It's just a cold, calm down) don't wait for me at lunch. Love, Baz'

I stared at it a moment then folded it back up and held it to her.

"We could do lunch." I offered. She gave me a suspicious look as if I was plotting something nefarious. No, she was the one I was looking out for, she hadn't gotten her revenge yet for me holding her under the water.

"Fine." She answered after a full thirty seconds of us staring at each other without saying a word.

"Great, I'll meet you at your office and we can go from there." We parted ways and i started debating about where we should go. We could have gone to the cafeteria, that would be the easiest but I didn't want to go to the cafeteria, that would feel like a normal day. If I was going ot take her out for food then I wanted it to be somewhat nicer. I thought abut the bistro where I used to go with Daphne and I put that out of my mind. It had taken far too many lessons for me to learn to stop replacing Daphne in my mind and in my old routine with Coco. Neither of them appreciated it and I was starting to feel like a bell end for it.

When the time came, I headed to The Prophet offices and found that Coco was already sitting on the bench outside of the office waiting for me.

"Ready?" I asked. She looked lovely as always. Usually she went for a tighter, more sultry office outfit but today she'd actually worn slacks, with a tucked in button down. It was a more masculine look but she still pulled it off flawlessly.

We hadn't had any incidents since the one we'd had after work on Monday. Every night Coco still built the pillow fort between us and I did have to admit there was an upside to the barrier, as every morning we would wake up with either of us pressed against our side of the pillow wall.

"Let's go." She took my arm as if I was going to apparate, but I didn't, I led her out the front doors and we headed down the road. It was in the opposite direction of the place I usually went to with Daphne. This place was all about Italian food.

Judging by the way Coco's eyes lit up when she saw the sign- I would say I made the right choice.

"Pasta." was all she said. I laughed and she tensed. I could see her in my periphery, turn to look at me. "You're not making fun of me." She realized.

"I'm not." I agreed.

"Good." Her shoulders relaxed a little and I opened the door for her to walk in.