Ava knew that her brother and cousin were just being protective. They loved her. And she knew that they would just love ffleurbert and see what a sweet and good guy that he was. Because he was. Boys were boys though and it had Ava rolling her eyes. It was a bit awkward to be caught kissing ffleurbert by her older brother and cousin but it wasn’t like it was bound to happen.

“That wasn’t snogging, little butterfly, that was just an apéritif!”

She had no idea what that meant but it sounded nice, and it had her giggling. Giggling enough that she was blushing and causing all kinds of scowls to appear on Gormley and Theos’ faces. “Like you haven’t snogged before,” she told them with a grin. “Aww, is this embarrassing for you?” she asked them, her baby voice coming out. Now she got them smiling.

“As ever, you are right, my dove.”

The pet names he used on her had her giggling and feeling all warm inside. She loved it. And it had her pressing a kiss to his cheek and snuggling in closer to him, not caring one whit that they had company. Even if it was her older brother and cousin.

“My intentions have never been less than honorable. You have my word as a ffleurbert on that…”

As he spoke, Ava nodded. “Trust me, trust him,” she told Gormley and Theo. “He’s a keeper,” she said, brushing her skirt off as she accepted her boyfriend’s hand an stood. Theo and Gormley made a face at the mention of snogging though they had done their duty and were now laughing it off as Ava walked by, sticking her tongue out at them.

“We’re close,” she told ffleurbert, as way of an apology for her family’s behavior. “We really are going to snog?” It was probably a stupid thing to ask, but she was really hoping that wasn’t a lie. Enough so that she led him inside and up several flights of stairs until they were sneaking into a shadow-hidden alcove that Ava often like to use as her “thinking space.”

“Well, I think we will be plenty alone here. I don’t think even Theo and Gorm could find us here.” Ava grinned. Actually, in all her years of coming here, they had yet to come across her here. She was surprised she hadn’t thought about it before.

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