Venturously Yours,

Cooperatively Fighting

Silence met him.

Octavius flushed when he realized what he said out loud. Yet it was out there. The instinctive response that just bubbled out of him. No boundaries. No filter.

Just simply the truth.

He waited for her to say something, a word. A sign. Yet she gave him a look as blank as his drawing sheet.

He tried not to fidget, keeping a cool facade over him. When internally he was boiling like a live lobster ready to be cooked in the steaming bowl of hot bubbling water. Cmon, say something.

Then, finally she moved.

Except she moved around him, side stepping and instilling her key into the lock. As she stepped into her apartment, he thought she would slam the door at his face without saying anything but it didn't happen.

That's a good sign. Right?

Walking behind her, seeing her move around her space. He finally zeros in the whole apartment. It was snuggly and homey but there was a strange sense of emptiness he sniffed.

She then took a deep breath and turned. From the look of her face, he wasn't going to like her answer.

"Look. I am going to say this once and be as polite as I can, though I have no reason to." Her insinuation made him wince.

He opened his mouth to reply, explain himself but she held up a hand to stop him.

"I'm not done. What we had is nothing more than a meaningless fling. You didn't need to come all the way over from Germany to reason yourself. I have no entitlement over that. I don't want to end on bad terms so we can remain friends but that's about it."

Octavius blinked.

Wow.

This was an utter load of rubbish. He saw the crack of hurt flash in those eyes. Nothing about them and what they had was meaningless. He knew why she said it. To hurt him and he deserved it.

However, he would not stop with that. No way could he be just be friends with this woman but if he pushed the matter of giving him a second chance, he would fail.

Change of decision: He can become friends. At least, that's the only way of showing her to see how good they worked. He would slip into those new built warrior walls around her as a friend.

He was being manipulative, he knows this but he can't just stay friends with her. He knew how she tasted. Everywhere. He can't simply put it behind him like he did with other women before.

No fucking way.

"Okay. I accept."

Eliot felt her mouth flung open. Just like that? No arguments, no finding a way to ask for another shot. She was suddenly wary of his acceptance of her deal and she decided to voice it.

"What are you playing at?" Her eyes skewed at him, looking for a slip.

"Nothing. You want friends. You got friends. Now where am I staying?"

She sputtered at what he said. "W-what? You are not staying here! Go back home! We ended on good terms and now bye-bye!"

"As a friend, can I just say how fucking adorable you are right now?"

He clicked his tongue and turned around, inspecting his surroundings. If one would look closely, the burnt hurt to say 'friend' flushed his skin.

He didn't like it but this would have to do.