You can coax the cold right outta me,drape me in your warmth on Library

Dorian Montoir

March 18, 2018 7:14 AM

You can coax the cold right outta me,drape me in your warmth by Dorian Montoir

Dorian was feeling low. It had started the previous day in Defence Against the Dark arts, he supposed. Or maybe before that and that had just not helped… It wasn’t like he was still mad about it or anything. He knew it had been an accident, and that Nathaniel had been both mortified and incredibly apologetic. But he had had a day where he’d effectively been punched in the face, and that was never going to be great for anyone’s mood. And especially not for someone for whom school was usually the safe, calm place where he didn’t have to worry about such things… They were past the midway point of term, and he knew the weeks would slide by and before he knew it he’d be heading home, and all his complicated feelings about that – about how guilty he felt about not being happier at the prospect, how he felt he was letting down his mother and Émilie by not being able to look forward to it with his whole heart, all the anxiety he felt about having to be around his brother – were resurfacing. He would have liked nothing more than to spend the evening with his friends. Well… He wasn’t sure he could be buoyed by Tatya’s enthusiasm right now. It sometimes worked, she could be very good for low moods. But he wanted comfort and sympathy and gentleness. He wanted Jehan. However, Dorian had his shift as a library monitor and he wasn’t one to shirk responsibilities he had taken on, as he knew that was bad and irresponsible. And it was a principle he very much hoped he would have been committed to even if he hadn’t arranged his library duties to coincide with the times that Jehan was unavailable anyway, due to baking club and orchestra.

Dorian slunk into the library, looking preoccupied with less than happy thoughts. His personality had two markedly different modes most of the time – when with his friends, he was cheerful and animated, smiling easily, whilst with people he didn’t know so well, that person tended to hide away, and he was decidedly more quiet and reserved, though in neither case did he appear miserable, as he did now. On his own, he could sometimes slip into introspection, and it wasn’t unheard of to find him dwelling on less than pleasant things, although it was rarer, and not a side of him most people would immediately think of. To add to his bad mood, a sting of cold air hit him as he entered the library. It had been verging on sweater weather all week, though being Canadian he was staunchly refusing to be the first to cave in. He had forgotten the library’s tendency to be a couple of degrees cooler than everywhere else. He hunched in on himself, further adding to the sullen air. It was going to be a miserable couple of hours, and he felt further disappointed because he normally quite enjoyed his library time, and it seemed such a waste to be stuck in this awful mood.

It was almost unbearable to know that he would round the next corner and see the table where the Club of Tongues usually met sitting empty. He wished again for some company. Especially that of his favourite person… He couldn’t help but imagine rounding the corner and seeing Jehan sitting there, even though he knew that wasn’t going to happen And, in his mind, the rest of the library was empty, and his responsibilities could wait, and he could just sink into Jehan like he did when they were in MARS, and everything would stop feeling so awful. A hug would bring him both comfort and some much needed warmth. Coming up to their usual table, his first thought was that the universe was teasing him. It was not, of course, a hug, which could not exist independent of the person giving it, but draped over the back of Jehan’s usual seat was something he very much needed. But he couldn’t just borrow some random sweater he found lying around the library. He would have to leave it at the librarian’s desk and carry on shivering. But as he got a closer look, he realised that the universe had not been so cruel after all. It was cable knit, the pattern familiar as he ran his fingers over it, and royal blue, a couple of shades darker than its owner’s eyes in a way that made them stand out all the more. He knew this sweater. He knew its owner wouldn’t mind, and would rather he was warm. He pulled it on slowly, taking a moment as it went over his head to breathe in the comforting, familiar smell. They were almost exactly the same size, and it fit him perfectly. His arms slid into the sleeves, and then he wrapped them around himself, finding the comfort and security he had been craving. His gloomy air vanished. His smile was almost the one he had when Jehan was in front of him, the one that no one else got; the delicate, happy smile of someone who felt warm both outside and in.

Had anyone else had an eye on the table, they would have been able to confirm that Dorian’s initial fear had been correct. And that, until just before he had rounded the corner, the table and all of its chairs had indeed stood empty.

13 Dorian Montoir You can coax the cold right outta me,drape me in your warmth 1401 Dorian Montoir 1 5

Dorian Montoir and Jehan Callahan

April 06, 2018 10:57 AM

Put me at ease by Dorian Montoir and Jehan Callahan

(OOC - cowritten)

There was something therapeutic and soothing about putting books away. It felt like making a little corner of the universe neat and tidy, and it gave Dorian’s brain some much needed down time, where he wasn’t trying to stuff additional words or concepts into it. Once he’d found Jehan’s sweater, he’d been able to stop feeling all hung up on missing out on being with him, and just quietly get on with his evening. He would see Jehan at the end of it, his friend always waited for him in Cascade Hall with a share of whatever he’d made in baking club, and once Dorian had got out of his funk, it had become something he could look forward to, instead of something he was pining over not having there and then.

Shift finished, he started walking towards the Cascade Hall. On rounding a corner in the corridor, he saw a familiar, slightly curly head just ahead of him. He almost called out, but then thought of something better.

“Hey,” he said when he was close behind Jehan, because he didn’t want to make him jump by just grabbing him, but before Jehan could turn around, Dorian had wrapped his arms, still clad in Jehan’s sweater around him. “You leave anything in the library? Except for me,” he teased. He wasn’t quite sure that sentence structure worked, but he hoped it made enough sense, and he’d got braver about trying word plays, and things that he wasn’t quite sure of around Jehan.

Jehan had just finished baking club, and was about to go find Dorian, when he heard a voice and felt arms wrap around him from behind. “Hey,” he returned, knowing it was Dorian, before turning round to hug him properly. After the fiasco that had been the MARS room ball discussion, Jehan had stopped hugging Dorian so much for a few days. However, he’d missed his best friend’s hugs, so that plan had quickly gone down the drain. Besides, he was over Dorian, right?

Jehan frowned slightly at Dorian’s question, confused. “No, I don’t think so,” he replied. “Except for you, of course.” He laughed slightly at that, appreciating the more jokey side of Dorian that had come out in the last few months. Then he noticed something slightly unusual - although hardly a surprising thing for Dorian to do, really, when you thought about it.

“Are you wearing my sweater?” he asked, running his hands over Dorian’s arms and the familiar woolly sleeves.

Dorian smiled as Jehan turned and hugged him. And there was no one else around, so there was no need to let go in a hurry. There had been a strange couple of days a while back where Jehan hadn’t been so huggy. When Dorian had hugged him, his returning hugs had seemed sad. But he’d shaken off any questions Dorian had put to him, assuring him he was fine, and after a couple of days everything had gone back to normal. It had bothered him, and it still bothered him that he hadn’t known what was wrong, but he had tried to put it out of his mind now that everything was normal again. He knew he had off days, and so he supposed Jehan might too, although he didn’t like the thought.

Jehan also appeared to appreciate his little joke, which made his smile grow all the more. Although he didn’t immediately work out why Dorian was asking, and it took Jehan an extra moment to notice the sweater.

“Yes,” Dorian confirmed. Having the sweater and Jehan’s arms around him meant he was feeling very cosy. Although when Jehan started to stroke the arms, he felt a little shiver run down his spine, appreciating the affection. Although was Jehan stroking him, or the sweater? He could understand why Jehan would be fond of this particular garment - it was very soft. It was another reason Dorian liked it so much. He thought there must be some kind of charm on it to make it extra comfy. When Jehan wore it, he could lean against his shoulder, and the wool was never tickly or scratchy, it was just… nice. “I found it in the library,” he explained. “And I think that you would not want me to be cold and miserable?” he confirmed.

“Of course I wouldn’t,” Jehan agreed, smiling at Dorian. “So I suppose I’ll have to let you off for stealing my sweater.” He winked at Dorian to show he was joking. He didn’t really mind that Dorian was wearing his sweater, especially if the other boy had been cold. Dorian was his best friend, so as far as Jehan was concerned, his sweaters were Dorian’s too. But how had Dorian stumbled across it?

“I don’t steal,” Dorian replied with mock indignation, “Silly Jehan, you forget how to speak English?” he teased, “Here, I speak more sensible language for you. Ce n'est pas un vol parce que je le rendrai. Be noticing… rendrai,” he emphasised. “Meaning?”

“You’ll return it,” Jehan replied, always appreciating Dorian’s efforts to make him improve his French.

“Oui. Will return,” Dorian grinned. He had been meaning to draw Jehan’s attention to the tense marking rather than the actual verb. He would give it back. Eventually. But not right now. “But is maybe cold on the way to Teppenpaw too,” the fact that his cheeks were lightly flushed belied any actual ongoing need for the sweater, but he knew they only had a little time until curfew, and that it was never enough.

“I wonder why my sweater was in the library,” Jehan mused. “I thought I left it in my room. Maybe it got bored of being in there, and decided it wanted a change of scenery.”

“Mmmhmm,” Dorian played along, when Jehan suggested the sweater had gone walking. Jehan was wonderful, and he was smart, but he was a daydreamer, and forgetting a sweater in the library didn’t seem entirely out of character if he’d been too wrapped up in tragic deaths or line in a poem he found particularly profound or questions of whether it would be more fun to have a kneazle that talked in riddles or a chorus of singing pygmy puffs - Jehan’s thoughts were wide ranging, from the deep and intellectual to the strange and surreal, and Dorian appreciated all of them. “Or it comes to keep me company because I miss you. If I am this much powerful, then next time you come in person when I wish for you, please.”

“We should become telepathic,” suggested Jehan, getting excited by this new idea. “There must be a spell for it, and it would be more comfortable than you just accioing me whenever you want my company.” He felt a rush of affection for his friend at the thought of being missed so much that Dorian managed to summon his sweater. He wrapped his arm around Dorian’s waist, squeezing his friend before leaving his arm there loosely.

“You already know everything I think,” Dorian promised Jehan, the statement both a reflection of his own willingness to share, and Jehan’s ability to understand him. “And no accio. I will never be so rough with you. Just… like disapparate, apparate again, and then you are with me.” Certainly, telepathy would speed up their communications over the holidays - the post was frustratingly slow - but there were things it could not replace. “I do love most about you your mind, but there are other things I want too,” he mirrored Jehan, sliding one arm around his friend’s waist. He ran the fingers of his other hand gently through Jehan’s hair. He wanted to hear all Jehan’s thoughts whilst snuggled up next to him, not echoing in his mind whilst he remained alone. “We cannot do this by the télépathie,” he reminded him.

Jehan enjoyed the feeling of Dorian’s hand in his hair, cat-like in his appreciation of hair stroking. Dorian was right, telepathy would be cool but no substitute for snuggles, which were definitely the entirety of what Dorian had meant by ‘other things’. If it had been a week ago, he would have perhaps tried to interpret the sentence slightly differently, but now he knew that Dorian didn’t like him in that way. Which was a good thing. 100% a good thing. After all, Jehan was over Dorian, and loved him very much but in an entirely platonic way.

“Well, I’m here now,” Jehan pointed out, the previous lack of an accio-ed Jehan and the shortcomings of telepathy not being a current concern. “Do you fancy cake in Cascade Hall?” He gestured to his bag, containing his baking club goodies, which he always shared with Dorian.

“Sounds very good,” Dorian smiled, setting off down the corridor with his friend.

13 Dorian Montoir and Jehan Callahan Put me at ease 1401 Dorian Montoir and Jehan Callahan 0 5