a sky full of stars. [tag; elijah]

This place was too cold.

Eloise had always been susceptible to the cold but she didn't know if it was London or the old building but she was feeling it considerably. Snuggled up in bed next to Dorian, the wintry sunlight filtered in through the cracks in the bedroom curtains. Outside, everything was covered in a fresh layer of glistening snow. Christmas wasn't far off and the temperature had plummeted. Growing up in Bordeaux, she wasn't used to wearing much more than a cardigan but this cold was different. It was a damp, horrible cold. The type that seeped into and settled in her very bones.

Her toes were frozen. After a few unsuccessful attempts to rouse her boyfriend from his slumber, Eloise wrinkled her nose in distaste before slipping out of bed and padding around his bedroom. She bent at the waist to slip on a white button down shirt of Dorian's, the hem coming down to her mid thigh and dwarfing her miniature frame. Next, she tugged on one of his jumpers over the top and a pair of his clean socks. There. Cosy warm. He wouldn't mind.

It was early, a little before eight in the morning and she could hear the Muggle traffic trundling along from the street outside through the thin glass of the building's windows. Her long blonde hair was messy and sticking up at funny angles, due to all of the rolling around and the countless times her boyfriend had run his fingers through it. Eloise wasn't sure if Dorian knew but he had a cute habit of playing with her hair as he slept.

The vet had met his room mates before. A few weeks ago, she'd played poker against them and beat them every time. She was sure the only reason she was allowed back in was because she provided them with food. Their kitchen, however dinky, was considerably bigger than the one she was used to working with back in Paris.

Closing the door gently behind her, Eloise schlepped to the bathroom so she could quickly use the loo and wash her face. Uttering a yawn, she wandered through the town house, hearing snores as she went. It was kind of cute. She'd never had a room mate before and Dori didn't count because they weren't really living together. They tended to spend a week in one another's homes with a few days in between because she couldn't help but feel she was smothering him. He was a young man and he needed his freedom.

Eloise was still tired but she was smiling. Now warm and with a good night's sleep, she drifted through the house dreamily as she reached the kitchen to flick on the kettle. There was no point in trying to wake Dorian before ten in the morning, so she planned on making herself a cup of tea and reading whatever book had been left in the living room until it was time to make breakfast for everyone. Pancakes or bacon? Maybe even both. She'd made a point of bringing food with her, just in case the boys weren't looking after themselves properly.

She wasn't alone in the kitchen, however. A tall man was already at the sink and Eloise gave a sleepy smile as she crept towards him. She must have woken Dorian up by mistake. Her slim legs wandered closer and still half sleep, she stepped in front of him and leant up, cupping his face as she pulled him into a kiss. Gently, her pale fingers stroked his dark curls as she kissed him again, her finger tips sliding over the planes of his jaw and down his neck. She must be tired because he didn't feel like he usually did. Something was a bit off.

Dropping back to her diminutive height in her socked feet, she offered him another smile. "G'morning," she said with a yawn as she opened her big emerald green eyes and then fear seized her heart and she let out a blood curling scream.

That wasn't Dorian Delerue.

It was his room mate, Elijah. Eloise let out another scream, horror and fear etched clearly on her pretty little face as she dropped him like a hot potato and jumped backwards as though she'd been burned. Her heart was hammering against her chest and her eyes as wide as dinner plates focused and she was suddenly awake. "You're not Dorian!" She yelled at poor Elijah, slapping a hand over her traitorous lips as her nerves jangled. Oh no. She'd accidentally kissed someone that wasn't her boyfriend.

In all fairness, in her dazed state, the two men did look a lot a like. They had the same hair cut, same build, same height. Eloise hopped from one foot to the other, one hand still over her mouth as she let out another muted scream of sheer horror. Panic, dead and fear coursed through her veins, closely followed by shame and embarrassment. Dorian was going to hate her. He was doing to break up with her. She'd have to go back to Paris and spend Christmas by herself with a broken heart. She felt sick. The noise she'd made was sure to wake someone else up.

Elijah was tired. Incredibly tired. He’d been up late working on some sketches and animating a new comic for the Prophet into the wee hours of the night. He loved his job, and it was always incredibly worth it, but it made mornings hard, even on the weekends. He was probably a workaholic, but the wizard didn’t really mind. He didn’t have a flare for being social or making lots of friends, and he never had. Why he hadn’t been able to sleep in longer, like the rest of his mates in the flat, Elijah wasn’t sure. But he knew one thing, he was awake enough already that he wasn’t going to be able to fall back asleep any time soon. So with a sigh, the brunette got up, stretched, and began to amble towards the kitchen where he had plans to put the kettle on, and make himself a cup of tea to pass the time, and maybe he’d grab a book or something. He wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t like he had plans to keep him from doing what he wanted when he wanted to.

Just as he’d managed to get his sleepy limbs to cooperate and to begin filling the kettle, then set it on the stove, and get the stove going, Elijah’s morning took an interesting turn. He’d been just about to turn the knob on their old gas stove when his brain dully registered that someone’s hand was on his face, a split second before it registered, more urgently, that someone was kissing him. Eli had never kissed a girl before. Even at his age, girls tended to find him weird and or creepy because of his penchant for drawing pretty things, women included. That or they thought he was rude, which Elijah couldn’t and didn’t really argue with. He was rude, more often than not. Sometimes on purpose but more regularly it was because he hadn’t and didn’t take the time to catch on to the more proper social conventions. He could be polite when he wanted to, but that was saved mostly for special occasions, or important moments.

But much of that was besides the point at the moment as the mystery hand and lips were joined by this someone tracing his jaw, and fingers stroking his hair. Elijah’s mind was racing. Who could this be? He didn’t have anyone interested in him as far as he knew, and he wasn’t even sure that he knew anyone at the moment that he might have even considered fancying himself. Still not having moved, or reacted to the ministrations of the stranger, Elijah’s eyes flew wide open as the answer hit him. Eloise!. Bloody hell. Dorian’s girlfriend. Squeaking in horror as she finally let him go, Elijah backed away from the pretty, petite blonde, simultaneously knocking over the tin of tea he’d pulled out from the cabinet.

It was clear by the way they were now gaping at one another, it was a surprise for both of them. He winced at the pitch of Eloise’s scream, but did nothing to stop her. He could only gape at her. A very small, non panicked part of his brain was glad when she let him go, and backed away from him, but all he could still manage was to gape at her. What had just happened? What would he tell Dori? Thoughts raced through the artist’s mind at a million miles an hour. But he was almost tempted to laugh hysterically when Eloise pointed out the fact that he wasn’t Dorian, instead he settled for some shaky sarcasm “Oh, really? I just couldn’t tell this morning. Thanks for letting me know!..” They were both panicking. But nothing could stop any of it now, based on all the noise, the whole rest of the house would be thundering into the kitchen any minuet now.

Despite the panic running through him, when Eloise screamed again, he had enough sense to hiss, irritably “Will you stop screaming?! D’you want the whole house to know, or would you rather it be just us and Dorian?!” So much for a relaxing morning.

Eloise felt cold. As she stood in the middle of the kitchen floor, something that felt like a drip of icy cold water slipped down the middle of her spine. She felt sick. Honestly? She could have hurled on the floor right this instant. Her body suddenly felt heavy, her limbs were like lead. Her finger tips tingled as she shook visibly. A mixture of the cold apartment and pure despair was causing it; she looked, ironically, like a  wobbling bunny. Which was exactly what she was.

She stared at Elijah, her eyes growing wider and bigger at every passing second. He hadn't kissed her back so he wasn't an accomplice. She didn't know if that was a good thing. His friendship with Dorian would remain in tact so all of the blame would fall on her and quite rightly.

In all fairness, the two boys did look alike. Tall, same build, same sodding hair cut. Eloise had been hazy and as she began to wake up, her head started to throb. The burst of adrenaline was ebbing away but her heart was beating horribly fast, dangerously fast. If she could, she wanted to run to the bathroom and scrub her lips clean off. If she could, she'd pluck them off her face and toss them out of the window onto the busy street below.

Elijah looked as perplexed and as horrified as she did.

His hard words hit her and she flinched as though she'd been slapped. Eloise was a quiet, well mannered young lady and no one had ever taken that tone of voice with her before and she was all in a tizzy and her next words were out before she could stop them. "I thought you were Dorian!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms up in distress, colour flushing to her cheeks before her hands raked back through her hair as she pulled down on the locks hard, her knuckles turning white and her breath coming in small, ragged puffs as she struggled for breath.

Would she stop screaming? "No!" She yelled back at Elijah, her tiny hands balled into fists at her sides as she angrily hopped from one foot to the other. Kissing was so intimate. Delicate. Lovely. The fact that she'd shared a moment with someone other than her boyfriend would haunt her for ever. She felt dishonest and stupid and unworthy of Dorian's affections. They'd only been dating for a few months and now she was going to balls everything up. Again. Was the universe out to get them or something?

Eloise squinted at Elijah and to her horror, his face merged into Dorian's and she let out a squeak and clapped her hands over her eyes. "Oh no, no, no, no, no, no," she breathed, eyes as wide as dinner plates as she began to hastily pace the kitchen floor, the tiles cold underneath her feet as she tried to process her betrayal. She didn't fancy Elijah. She wasn't sure she even liked him. He didn't say much to her, he kind of kept himself to himself, he was a bit standoffish, actually.

"Oh I'm fairly certain they'll all find out eventually!" Eloise hissed back, her voice almost as loud as it normally was as she glared at Elijah before she groaned. Then an idea came about. "I have to tell Dorian," she said suddenly, raking her hands through her hair. The longer she left it, the worse it'd be. She didn't want Elijah to have to lie for her, that wasn't fair. She didn't have time to collect all of her things from the apartment. She'd have to send Adrien, her older brother, over here to pick up her belongings. There were a few clothes, a bottle of perfume, a hair brush and some underwear. She had to get out.

Eloise felt as though the walls were closing in on her. Pushing. Squeezing down. Everything was going dark. She was getting tunnel vision as the colour drained out of her face. "I can't breathe," she wheezed, fanning herself with her hands as she panted. She felt hot. Red hot. The thin material of Dorian's shirt she was wearing felt like a thickly knitted jumper and it was suffocating her something ruthless.

"I think I'm having a p-p-panic attack," Eloise managed to stammer out as she felt her knees buckle as the full weight of what she'd done came crashing down on her slender shoulders. Oh yeah. It was a doozie. She could feel her erratic heartbeat in her throat as a film of sweat began on her forehead. She was shaking and she began to cough. She couldn't believe she was going to lose her boyfriend over such a dumb mistake.

Dorian was not a morning person. Ever unwilling to leave the warmth, the self-made cocoon of blankets. Especially in the winter. Eloise trying to wake him was only met with a half groan and then he burrowed further into the blankets, knowing simply by the way the sun shone on the backs of his lids that it was way too early to be contemplating an awakened state. It was only when he heard loud voices coming from the other room, something unusual for both his girlfriends and his roommate, that something in his subconscious gave him a not-so-gentle nudge to get up and find out what was going on.

The floor was a shock of icy coldness and he grumbled at the feeling, refusing to put on slippers or socks. As he awoke further, he frowned, first thinking that Eloise had gotten hurt. He was sleepy, but he ambled out of his bedroom after pulling on a pair of flannel pajama pants and into the kitchen. "Tellmewhat," Dorian mumbled in response to Eloise's comment. He was rubbing his eyes, trying to wipe away the bleariness to focus on his girlfriend and his roommate. It took a few moments for him to fully push the sleepiness away and realize that Eloise was... upset?

He frowned at Eli, trying to figure out what his part in all this way, trying to figure out what in Merlin's name was going in the first place. Dorian took a few steps toward Eloise, intent on asking her, but when he saw her knees give way, his heart leaped from his chest and he reached out his long arms to catch her. He cradled her petite body against his, arms surrounding her protectively as he rubbed one of his hands up and down her back soothingly. For a few moments, he murmured reassurances to his little blonde. Feeling her shake in his arms did untold things to his stomach and his nerves.

Finally he rose his gaze to Elijah over Eloise's head and his blue eyes hardened. "What's going on?" he asked with an edge to his voice that wasn't normal for Dori. Eloise's reaction was worrying him and he didn't know how to handle it.

“I’m not!” The words leapt out of his mouth as Eloise continued to panic and process everything that had just happened. He and Dorian did look alike, so a part of him understood why she might have mistaken them as each other, but what he didn’t quite understand was why she was still making noise. While he had nothing to worry about in terms of explaining himself, Elijah had enough empathy to feel slightly bad for Eloise. She didn’t deserve this any more than he did. Under normal circumstances the whole thing would have left the artist laughing, but at the moment the wizard almost felt compelled to help the poor woman.

Sighing and ruffling up his hair Elijah was about to reach out to Eloise and try and console her. He wasn’t going to let her face Dorian all alone. He was rather careless when it came to other people, but Eloise seemed nice, and Dorian really liked her, and because Dorian was one of the few people to understand his personality, the ex-claw felt like it was his best option. But before he could even really move, the woman had collapsed, and Dorian was there looking rather scary.

Blinking owlishly Elijah failed to stifle the nervous fidgets of his fingers. The man also had to suppress the urge to back away from his roommate. He didn’t like the way he was looking at him, even if he understood on some level, why Dorian might be thinking he’d done something. It was his turn to turn into a nervous wreck. Blushing Elijah forced himself to stop shifting his weight from one leg to another and look his friend in the eye “Well, er...you’re not going to believe this, but Eloise thought I was you...” He trailed off, wanting a moment to gauge the other wizard’s reaction before he continued on “She didn’t mean to, and I didn’t kiss her back or anything...But we both got quite a surprise..”

Clearing his throat uncomfortably, Eli ruffled his hair again before shrugging helplessly and glancing at Eloise to see if Dorian’s presence had helped any “I think what caused her to faint a little was the though of losing you, so I don’t think you should be mad at her, if anyone, I’d rather you be mad at me..” the man didn’t particularly like putting his own neck on the chopping block, but Dorian was one of the few people Eli wanted to be happy, and that meant keeping Eloise around, so he’d do what he could. He thought for another moment before adding “And I’m real sorry, about the whole thing. I didn’t see her till, well..y’know..” Elijah was incredibly uncomfortable all over again. The next chance he got, he decided, he’d be scuttling off to his room like he’d never been in the room at all. Tea or no tea.

Excellent. She had tunnel vision.

The walls were closing in and they were closing in bloody quickly. How could she be so utterly and ridiculously stupid? Dorian and Elijah did look a lot alike. Similar height, build and hair styles but what she'd done was unforgivable. It wasn't just a kiss, it was a proper kiss. The type she greeted Dorian with every single morning they were together; soft, slow and heartfelt. Eloise lifted a shaking hand to her mouth, feeling sick. She'd ruined that now. How was she supposed to kiss her boyfriend like that again now?

Making a weird noise halfway between a squeak and a sob, Eloise covered her eyes. All she could hear was her own blood pounding in her ears and it was making things a heck of a lot worse. She was an awful person. She couldn't meet Elijah's eyes, she couldn't be any where near him at the moment. She didn't know Dorian's friend very well, except he was quiet and tended not to be around when she was. Hot. She felt hot. Swallowing, she fanned herself, forgetting she was wearing nothing more than an oversized tee shirt.

Shiiiiiiit.

Hearing Dorian's voice, her head snapped upwards as her heart dropped to somewhere that felt like her knees. Her big green eyes flicked back from his to Elijah's and back again and she felt a wave of sadness. Her eyes were as wide as dinner plates and she'd gone pale of a sudden, her mouth dry, her pupils dilated as she continued to shake. The thought of losing Dorian was too much and it was clear to see. She looked smaller, paler, colder. Having no time to rebuff her boyfriend, he caught her just in time as she collapsed into his waiting arms heavily, her body soft and pliant like a rag doll as Elijah spoke.

The vet closed her eyes tightly, thinking this was going from bad to worse with every possible passing second. She didn't like the tone the artist had used, especially when the other boy hadn't done anything wrong at all in this instance. "It's not his fault," she managed to cough out, clumsily trying to right herself, one hand on Dorian's chest as she pushed weakly, trying to free herself from his embrace. No. She didn't deserve his sympathy or his love. She'd betrayed him and his hold, once comforting, now made her feel nauseous.

With a groan, she stumbled sideways, her head in her hands. Elijah was so sweet, explaining things for her. "No," she said sharply. "It's my fault. It's all my fault. Everything. Don't blame him," she said, her voice cracking as she pleaded with Dorian, feeling the coldness of the kitchen now she was free of his arms. Right. Here goes nothing.

"I thought Elijah was you," she said slowly and carefully, looking at Dorian and looking so utterly and completely distraught. Her lower lip wobbled and a single tear escaped her left eye and slid down her cheek, marring her porcelain skin as it did so. "I was half asleep and he had his back to me," she said, crying freely now. "And I kissed him." It was out now and how awful it was in black and white. She didn't bother to wipe her eyes. She reached out to touch Dorian, her fingers inches away before she dropped her hand. Nah. She wasn't worth his time any more. "I didn't mean to, I swear," she said with wide eyes, her slender body still shaking. "I honestly thought you were making tea," she implored her boyfriend. It was clear she was telling the truth. No one had ever looked so utterly distraught before.

"He didn't do anything," Eloise was quick to defend Elijah. "He actually pushed me away and I'm so, so sorry. I'm so sorry," she said, her voice hoarse as more tears flowed again. "This is all  my fault. I'm a horrible person. I'm the worst," she sobbed, one hand over her mouth as she tried to control the whimpering. "I made such a terrible mistake," she whispered.

Without saying anything else, Eloise sprang into action. Like a bunny, she scampered off. Her feet went skidding on the kitchen floor as she sprinted away to Dorian's bedroom with one thought in mind; she had to get the Hell out and now. He didn't want to see her. He didn't want to work things out. He hated her. Elijah hated her. They both thought her actions were inexcusable and honestly, so did she. She was abhorrent. Slamming the bedroom door behind her, she ran around the room, throwing all of her belongings into her bag.

She needed to remove all traces of her so Dorian would be okay. Usually, she left some things here. A bottle of perfume, underwear, a dress, a scarf but no. "Shit," she swore, getting more and more frustrated as her cheeks turned pink. She couldn't find her perfume. "Where are you? Ow!" She howled as she stumped her toe on Dorian's dresser, collapsing on the floor again as she sobbed. Maybe she could escape out of the window. It wasn't a big drop to the floor. Yeah.

Dorian watched, both curious and peeved, as his roommate blushed and stumbled over his words. Either it was too early in the morning for Dorian to deal with this or something strange was going on. He almost wished he had just stayed in bed. Oh, wait, no he didn't. He felt Eloise quiver and shake in his arms and that scratched like something ugly inside him. Dorian continued to hold her even when she tried to push away from him, rubbing his hand up and down her back trying to console her even though he was clueless as to the reason. As Eli and Eloise both continued to stutter and stumble over each other, Dorian nearly rolled his eyes. But then, Eli said it and the words hung there in the air.

"She kissed you?" Dorian asked Eli, his brows knitted together. Then just as quickly he turned his gaze toward his little blonde, frowning even more as she pushed away from him because his body missed hers already, "you kissed him?" He was more confused than anything. He was still sleepy and hadn't had tea yet and his brain was still fuzzy and it took him a while to piece together what they were both saying. And then Eloise continued to lay it all out for him and he could picture it clearly in his mind. He glanced between El and Eli and he couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth. He and Eli did look similar and for some reason, he found the whole situation very, very funny.

He tried, oh how he tried, not to smile in face of Eloise's tears, but he couldn't help it. The more she tried to defend herself or defend Eli, the more he found it amusing. He wondered if she was still sleepy or exhausted from last night because instead of finding the humor in it like he had, she was distraught about it. Dori knew he was supposed to comfort her, he wanted to comfort her, but that didn't mean he still didn't think it was funny either. "Oh comehere," Dorian said indulgently as he reached out an arm, wanting to pull her close. He wanted to wipe her tears away, tell her it was ok, and then get her to see just how ridiculous this whole thing was.

But she started moving before he could get to her. And she was fast, gone before he could even blink. Dorian glanced down the hall after her, knowing he would follow, but looked back to Eli and said, "you wanna handle this one?" He smiled and he was obviously joking, a subtle signal to Eli that he wasn't really upset. With a nod and a 'I don't understand girls' shrug, he went down the hall after his girlfriend.

"Eloise," he called out to her as he followed her, clearly wanting to talk, but he was met with a slam of the door instead. It was a good thing his nose wasn't a centimeter long otherwise it would have gotten hit with the door. Dorian sighed and with a secret smile, knocked lightly on the door before turning the knob slowly. He knew she was upset and he wanted to talk to her, but he was sensitive about privacy and if she really didn't want to see him, he would have backed away. Or, you know, sat outside the door until she wanted to let him in. Luckily, the door was open and Eloise was too upset to tell him to get out.

"Hey," he said softly as she raced about, throwing things. He was confused more and more as every second passed by. And then he saw her fall and he rushed over, kneeling in front of her and pulling her into his arms even if she didn't want to be there. "Hey, its ok, its ok baby," he murmured to her as he pulled her to him. "I'm not mad, it's ok, calm down." He rocked her gently and eyed the bed longingly. He really just wanted to take her back there and get some more serious cuddling done. After a few minutes, he pulled back from her while still keeping his arms around her and looked down into her green eyes. He didn't like the way they were tear-streaked and his heart tightened painfully because part of himself thought it was his fault.

For some absurd reason, a slow smile crept up onto his face and against his better judgement, he thought a joke might lighten her mood. "So who's the better kisser?" he asked, a twinkle in those baby blues of his, a smile on his lips.

He was making this so horribly hard for her. Eloise wasn't worthy of his love. Of his affection, support or comfort. How did he not realise this? She so badly wanted to cling to him, to snuggle up. Her body went soft and pliant against his. She was still so tired and confused and it was far too early for this. "Please don't," she whispered, her voice cracking as she tried to step sideways, placing her hands on Dorian's chest and shaking her head. Her eyes were so wide and so sad, she didn't know what else to do.

You kissed him?

Eloise winced. It felt as though her heart was cracking in two, having it laid out so bare in front of her. Swallowing, Eloise nodded. Yup. She'd kissed him. As she stood, it replayed over and over in her mind. How could she be so stupid? Her eyes flicked back and forth from Elijah to Dorian, her lower lip wobbling as she continued to shake. In the cold hard light of day, the two boys did look…different. Taking a step back, she groaned. She didn't feel anything for Elijah. She didn't even know him that well. To her, he was quiet, perhaps a little sarcastic but the only thing she felt around him was awkwardness. Tenfold.

"Why are you laughing?" Eloise asked her boyfriend, smacking away his arm as her cheeks flushed pink with anger. Dorian did the same thing when she was screaming at him for missing their date. It was amazing that she seemed to be forgiven already but she didn't deserve it, nor did she want it.

Dashing around Dorian's bedroom like a whirlwind, Eloise flung various belongings into her bag. Her hands were shaking and she couldn't think properly. He knocked but she ignored him, her breath coming in small, ragged gasps as she heard her blood pounding in her ears. Before she knew it, her face was in his chest and she flung her arms around his neck, crushing him fiercely. "No it's not okay," she told him desperately, her eyes wild as she stared at him. "Dori, I kissed your room mate," she told him again. "How is that okay?" Because it totally was not okay.

As Dorian loosened his grip, Eloise placed  her cool, clammy hands on his face. "I'm sorry," she told him earnestly, sliding her thumbs across his beautiful cheekbones. The bedroom was quiet and it was nice to just have a minute or two with him.

"What?" Eloise asked suddenly, hurt and confusion clear on her pretty face. Who was the better kisser? Was that a joke? Oh. Despite of herself, Eloise managed a grin. So cute, he was so cute. There wasn't a comparison. Not at all. "Oh I'm not sure," she said casually with a shrug of her shoulders, playing coy. "Let me check." With that, she cupped his face, leant in and kissed him. Her hands slid up the back of Dorian's neck, her fingers curling around his hair as she shifted a little to deepen the kiss. This entire thing was utterly pointless and totally avoidable and looking back, it was kind of funny.

Breaking the kiss, she moved back a little to kiss his nose. "Dunno," she said, smiling but breathless. "Might take me a bit of time to make that call," Eloise joked before she froze. "I've got to go," she said suddenly, scrambling to her feet. Hastily, she pulled off her borrowed tee shirt, leaving her in her underwear as she quickly pulled her dress over her head. Raking her fingers through her hair, she scrambled back onto the bed, leaning over the edge of it to kiss a probably confused Dorian before skidding back into the kitchen.

"Hi," she told Elijah with a small smile, keeping a polite distance from the artist as she awkwardly shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "I'm sorry. You know, about kissing you? And then yelling at you. I didn't mean it. I was hoping, maybe, there's no hard feelings?" She asked Elijah cautiously, holding out a small hand for him to shake.

Dorian, at a loss of knowing nothing else he could do, continued to rub her back. I kissed your roommate. How is that okay? He frowned and her question made him question himself. Am I not reacting the way most guys would, he doubted himself and then made an effort to explain. "Well its not okay. I don't want you to kiss him, I mean. But I know you didn't do it on purpose, right?" Dorian said, explaining it to himself even as he spoke aloud to her. Then he smiled, small and hopeful, brows quirked as if asking if his explanation made sense.

When she held his face in her hands, he just wanted to kiss her. He always got that inexplicable urge when she was this close. And Dorian wasn't the type of guy to hold back on affection. So he pushed forward and kissed her forehead and then her nose and then gently pressed his lips to hers, softly, slowly. He leaned back with a happy, content expression. Not exactly how he had expected his morning to go, but honestly? Dorian wasn't the jealous type and Eloise was earnest and honest enough for him to think this whole situation adorable.

He really tried not to crack up laughing as she filtered through his joke, but couldn't stop the smile that tugged at the corners of his lips. Her words might have had him worried and for half of a second, he was worried. But he saw that gleam in her eye and he couldn't help but smile bigger as she kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hauled her closer. He felt like he could never get enough of her and when she moved back, he was missing her lips already. He blinked dreamily at her and his thoughts were definitely heading in the direction of getting her back in bed. Dorian was leaning forward as a laugh left his lips, determined to kiss her until she could 'make that call', but within the next second, she was gone.

He had to blink a few times to realize she really was rushing back out of the room. She really could move fast! Dorian grumbled to himself about her always running away from him and lumbered to his feet, dragging a hand over his chest and scratching under his ribs. He didn't know where or why she was gone, but a large part of his brain was hoping she would come back with food. Dorian came into the kitchen and caught the tail end of Eloise's apology. It made him smile softly as he leaned against the doorjamb that led from the hallway into the kitchen. He crossed his arms in front of him as he watched his girlfriend offer a handshake to his roommate. She could be so bizarre at times, but so cute.