tune for the taking [edith]

Edith stole sideways glances every few seconds, double checking that Elias was still there and that she hadn’t been making up the whole thing. Making toast was such a normal occurrence for her. It seemed so strange that now she was making toast after being kissed into near oblivion by her best friend, but she could worry about that later. They somehow managed to keep their hands to themselves throughout the two minute cooking process, even keeping their distance as Elias worked around her to help get things prepared. She ate her toast quickly, hardly even tasting it, and completely neglected her tea, just ready to get back to other things.

“Sorry,” she said immediately as she discarded her last corner of uneaten toast. She brushed the crumbs from her hands quickly and turned her full attentions back to Elias, resuming her position from moments ago, her arms around his neck, though it was his turn to be pressed up against the cabinets. “I just wanted to be able to focus,” she smirked, hoping she hadn’t upset him too terribly much by not sacrificing eating in favor of him. She stretched up and kissed him again, feeling that this was a much better means of apology than actual words, anyway.

But before she could get too far into it, to really, really enjoy herself, even consider the possibility of leaving the kitchen with him, there was a familiar tap, tap, tap on the window. It took every ounce of energy that she had to peel herself off of him and look around, and she didn’t get much farther than loosening her grip on his neck the slightest bit and craning her neck as much as she could. It was definitely an owl at the window; as Edith wasn’t exactly the type to receive personal letters, it couldn’t be for anything good.

Her face fell as she apologized to Elias once more, finally letting go of him to handle whatever was happening at the window. She took the letter and scanned it quickly, sighing in all the proper places. “I have to go back to work,” she said, cursing herself for even opening the letter in the first place. “I’m sorry,” she repeated. But of course she was the one to ruin things again, it was only natural. Why had she wasted those precious minutes making toast? “We should definitely continue this later, yes?” She grinned at the formality with which she had just asked Elias to make out some more, but there was no taking it back now.

But just in case ‘later’ wasn’t in an hour, Edith wanted to make sure that she would have something to hold her over. She closed the space between them quickly, almost jumping on him with the force she used to wrap her arms around him, lean up and into him, and kiss him soundly. She had half a mind to just call in sick for the rest of her days at the Ministry, to try to convince him to do the same, but until either of them had the guts to do it, this would have to suffice.

Edith finished her food before he did, eating quicker than he would have believed possible. Toast was hard enough to eat to begin with, but Edith had cleared her plate faster than he would have expected possible, even in the current circumstances. She must have been hungrier than he had been acknowledging, and he felt a bit guilty as he watched her for delaying the meal. But before he could get too far in his worries, Edith was up again, moving him away from the counter where he was eating and pulling him right back into the close position they had held only minutes before. She had wanted to focus? On him? Before he could work out whether he was in trouble or not, Edith was kissing him again and he let his worries melt away.

It was over before it had hardly begun, and Elias looked around, confused. When were the interruptions going to stop? First he wanted to talk, then she did, and it seemed like in spite of all the closeness, none of it had lasted long enough. Elias half-followed her over to the window, not wanting to hover but also not willing to let her get too far. It was hard not to be clingy, but he felt that after so long apart they had quite a bit of lost time to make up for. Plus, all the kissing was making him a bit light-headed. It seemed lately like being around Edith was enough to make him forget all of his inhibitions and act like a bit of an idiot. It was just all so new.

Her words were disappointing, but he did his best not to show it. He'd already interfered with her day once, and he didn't want to do it again and push his luck. "Of course," he promised, holding out his hand to her to say goodbye. Instead of accepting his gentle gesture, she tackled him, making him take a step back but bringing a laugh to his face. "You're cute," he muttered as she finally pulled away. He had no idea what they would have time to do by the time he got off of work, but they would find something good -- he believed in them.