𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐩𝐞 - j.egan [masters of the air]

∣ 012; l o n d o n

(warning: sexual content)

. *. ⋆

October rolled around quicker than Eloise could have anticipated. She wouldn't say she was angry about it—she was relieved.

She had made it to another month.

She had made it through 9 more missions. Her next mission tomorrow— October 9th— would be her 50th mission.

But that was, of course, the last thing on Eloise's mind at the moment.

She wasn't thinking about the mission tomorrow or the missions to come. There was no thought about the raging war in her mind, and she would like to keep it that way, at least for tonight.

Tonight was her escape— she had very few hours to make the most of her time in London with John. She wasn't going to think of the war. She was going to pretend that she wasn't fearing for her life. Eloise was going to pretend that she wasn't terrified by the fact that she might die during the war. She would ignore the fact that she had the possibility of living through the war.

She was terrified of both outcomes, but there was no way to escape the two— both had outcomes that left her mind spinning.

Eloise was afraid to die, yet she was afraid to live.

Only her actions would set her fate in stone and that rightfully terrified her— her life was resting in the palms of her hands, yet her hands were broken and were giving out, the beating of her heart slipping through her fingers. She was one action away from perishing— again, she was ignoring that very obvious fact.

She clinked her shot glass with John's.

Simultaneously, they tilted their heads back, the unpleasant taste of the liquor burning the inside of their throats.

Eloise made a face, which John laughed at, setting his glass on the table.

"I don't get how the taste's still botherin' you. That's your third shot."

"I apologize, Egan, for not being immune to the taste of alcohol."

"Yeah, you should be apologizing," he grinned, watching Eloise grab the clear bottle of liquor. She poured them another shot as she sent him a look, resulting in another laugh being brought out from deep in his chest.

Eloise looked down to the shot and then back up at John— her eyes searched his, a glint of something different in her gaze.

"We've never really talked about our families. Do you have any family back at home?"

"Yeah. Two sisters. Parents," John offered. Then, he smiled, "What about you, El? I feel like I should know this by now. I know you've got a younger sister, but that's about it."

Eloise nodded, fingers toying with the shot glass, "Yeah. You know about my younger sister, Sylvia. I've got two younger brothers— Hudson and Daniel. I've got my parents."

"How do they feel? Y'know, about you being here."

Snorting out a laugh, Eloise sighed, "They aren't very happy. My parents were livid, actually— my brothers thought I was stupid. Sylvia was the only one who seemed sorta excited. Not about me leaving, but about me making a change, I guess. Not sure."

"Do they send letters to you?"

"Yeah. Well, I mean, Sylvia does— my parents do every few months to see if I'm still alive. But Sylvia and I write letters every few weeks. Actually, I'm working on another letter to her. Her birthday is coming up. I already sent her a birthday letter, but I was going to send another one with a four-leaf clover I found," Eloise smiled at the end. "She loves four-leaf clovers. I'm going to finish it up sometime this week."