Dresden Academy

"Hey."

"Hey," he said in return. He recognized her voice before the number. He'd grown accustomed to picking up his phone no matter who might be calling. It was the nature of his job on campus and how other kids knew him. He was Tim and he always picked up the phone. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." She didn't get into a fight, after all. Well, not a physical one, at least. "How about you? How's your face… and the rest of you."

"All healed up. The beard hid most of it. Told the kids that I fell off my bike. They think I'm some sort of off-road maniac now. Ego's still bruised," he added after a pause. "I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have punched him, not if he means anything to you. It was stupid and aggressive and I feel like a neanderthal for doing it."

She shrugged, then remembered he couldn't see it. "He deserved it." She didn't know what Luka had said or done to make Tim hit him, but she didn't know Tim to be the least bit violent so he must have deserved it. And she was mad enough still that even if he didn't deserve it, she felt that he did retroactively. "And besides, I... kinda slapped him, so... make room in the cave, there's another neanderthal in town."

He was quiet for a long time, unsure of what to say, where to step. "I miss you," he finally said, breathing it out as if he'd been holding his breath for something. Maybe he had been. Whatever this was with Adelaide, it was important enough to him to punch someone over. Not in her defense, and certainly not in his, but in defense of the connection between them.

"Me too," she said, barely above a whisper. "I really wanted to hang out with you at the party."

What are we doing? What do I mean to you? He bit his tongue holding those words back. Wasn't this what caused the whole disaster in the first place? The not knowing? The not asking? "Addy," he started, then stopped. He didn't know why this was so hard. Now that Abby knew and hadn't thrown as much of a shit-fit as he'd expected, why couldn't he just tell her?

She let the dopey grin at hearing him say her name ride her face, because she was alone and no one would ask what she was enjoying so much. Even if someone had been there to ask, she wouldn't have been able to explain it because all he had done was say her name. No context, no follow-up. Just his voice. "I'm glad you're okay," she said finally, scrambling for something to tell him so she didn't just sit there in silly, smiling silence on the line.

"Me too. I mean... I'm glad you're okay." Just tell her. Get it out. Get it over with so she can shoot you down and you can end this. Considering she had a boyfriend, unless this little incident caused a breakup, he didn't think she'd go for him. And the long distance. And his sister being Abby. Oh fuck. "Addy..." I like you. See Tim, not so hard. "Addy. The reason why I punched him... I have feelings for you." Lots of them.

There was another long silence at her end as those words sank in. She'd wanted to hear that so badly, for such a long time. She didn't even know she'd been holding her breath until she let it all out in a rush; a stunned-sounding sigh into the phone. "Tim..." She swallowed. "I have feelings for you, too."

His nerves were wracked, waiting in silence. Then she was breathing his name and reciprocating his words. He shouldn't have been stunned, not considering their constant flirtations. He was quiet again, bowled over by so many emotions that he couldn't say a word. "Wow," he managed.

"I didn't think you did," she confessed quietly, a little ashamed. It was nice to be wrong.

"No. I did. I do." He felt like such an idiot. "There's just a lot to it." He didn't think he needed to mention any of those thing: the distance, the squibness, the Abernathy glaring over their shoulders. "I should have said something this summer," he confessed.

But he didn't. Luka did. She sighed. "Party would have gone a bit differently," she tried lightly. It was almost funny. Almost. She'd be laughing if she didn't have to think about whatever had to be done about this situation with Luka. They probably weren't dating anymore. She didn't even know if they were still friends. The whole thing had been such a stupid idea.

"A bit," he replied. "God Addy, I'm so stupid. I just thought... I didn't think." That was the final answer to this problem; he didn't think the benefits could possibly outweigh the consequences. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know." And for once that wasn't shyness or playing coy; she really didn't know. It wasn't quite as simple as apparating to his side and playing happy couples, as much as she wouldn't mind doing that right now. It was awkward. She lay on her side, having slowly moved over the course of their conversation from sitting upright at the end of her bed, to being on the very edge of her seat somewhere near the middle, to finally spread out along the full length of the mattress. "Heaven forbid something be easy."

He sighed, his lips twisting into a frown. "Well. I guess. You sort out what you need to and if you want to be together than we'll be together. Everything else preventing us be damned."

The last thing he said brought a little smile twitching at the corners of her mouth. "Do you really want to be with me?" She'd found along the way that having feelings for someone and being in a relationship with them didn't always go hand in hand as much as she had believed. Each could happen without the other.

Even if it kills me. Which in itself was an odd enough thought, but given all of his own reservations about even telling her it seemed as though they had plenty of obstacles. "I do. If you want to. I'll make this work."

She grinned and buried her face in her pillow. "I'm so glad we talked," she squeaked, feeling as though her heart might just burst.

He sighed happily, an altogether unfamiliar sound from his body of late. "I'm just sorry it took so long," he said after a moment of debate. He couldn't apologize for that enough, even with all of the reasons that prevented him from saying something sooner. "Call me again soon? Or show up," he said, remembering that she could just apparate into his bedroom and they could have some face-time.

"You know I will," she promised. In fact, she'd been there just days earlier; right after the fight. She'd hid out in his dorm, curled up in the corner and sniffling like a baby. It hadn't really made her feel better, but it calmed her down and certainly didn't make her feel any worse. "Real soon."

He smiled against his phone, hoping she could hear the twist of his lips in his breathing. "I look forward to it," he said genuinely, unable to hang up just yet.

She giggled softly and then slowly calmed, thoughts turning serious. "I should probably go... do stuff."

He laughed as she did, then quieted. "Yeah. Probably."

"I'll talk to you later, okay?" First though, she had to hunt down Luka and get some sort of... closure, or whatever, on what had become of their relationship.

"You better." He grinned at the ceiling. "Bye," he added gently.

"Bye," she whispered back shyly, smiling into the mouthpiece of her phone for a second before pulling away and hanging up. Time to face the music.