Dresden Academy

Who: Luka, Chloe and Dmitri Nikitin, Adelaide Legaux
What: Parents Weekend! A super awkward lunch and then a fight and then some cute.
Where: Luka's dorm room, a restaurant in Canada, St George's Way
When: Lunchtime, Saturday 24th September.
Rating: PG?



Luka spent much of Saturday morning trying to sort his head out. Arnaud was good enough to clear out of the room and mingle with some of his other friends and their families. It gave Luka just enough time to plaster a fake smile on when his parent's arrived to pick him up for lunch.

He'd been planning on introducing them to Adelaide, which was practically like proposing marriage at this stage of the game. Luka never introduced girls to his parents. Of course, Adelaide probably had no idea what Luka was really thinking about their relationship.

At the moment telling Adelaide what he expected from their relationship (and that it even was a relationship) was about the last thing on his mind. He straightened out his shirt one last time, wondering if the knock at the door was her or his parents.

Addy poked her head in cautiously, though she’d never known Luka to be getting ready at the very last second. There was still always the possibility she’d need to back out very fast, as she’d learned after one too many times of her brother saying ‘we’re going at x time’ but actually meaning ‘I am going to start getting dressed at x time and we’ll leave after that’.

“Arnaud’s not coming?” She asked, after observing that Luka’s roommate wasn’t in the room. That was mildly disappointing, as Arnaud was very good at letting her know when she was getting too obnoxious, which was a very handy thing to have someone do when there were parents around.

"Oh, no," Luka replied rather breezily. "He's probably hanging out with other friends." Or getting baked behind the Herbology lab with Crinshlow. "Just you, me, and the parents." He rocked back on his heels, but it didn't help to ease the tension in his body. This was going to be a hard lunch for more reasons than Luka wanted to consider. "They should be here soon."

“Oh.” That was... okay then. She leaned against the doorway, thinking that probably should have dressed a little nicer. On the other hand, Si would have taken that as a surefire sign that she was Up To Something, when really she just wanted to get away from him for a while. Well, from the entire University dorms at the moment, really.

She watched Luka for a moment. He seemed a little... less laid back than usual. Probably worried she was going to say or do something retarded in front of his parents, which wasn’t an entirely unfounded fear. “I’ll be good,” she promised.

"What? Oh." He shook his head clear of thoughts. "You don't have to do that. Just... Be yourself." He didn't think he could deal with Addy acting all weird when he was beyond stressed out already.

He was relieved when a knock sounded at the door. He rushed forward and gestured his parents in. "Mom, dad, this is Addy."

Chloe rushed forward to greet the girl with open arms. She wasn't Luka's usual mark, which she considered a step in the right direction. "It's a pleasure to meet you." Dmitri nodded quietly from the door with the slightest of smiles. It was a glowing welcome by his usual standards.

Addy’s eyes widened at the hug; it was a far more enthusiastic greeting than she’d ever received. “Um, hi! Nice to meet you too.” She smiled a little nervously at Dmitri. The contrast of Chloe’s affection and Dmitri’s distance was quietly demonstrated, just as Luka had mentioned in casual conversation. They seemed friendly enough-- at least, until she said something offensive, which was usually the case. She had the forethought not to do it so quickly this time though; opting out of saying something awkward just for the sake of saying something and just shooting a quick glance Luka’s way to see if this was normal.

Luka cast her a quick glance to let her know this was beyond typical for his parents. "Shall we?" he asked before his dad could crabbily bark out that it was time to eat.

"You can apparate right?" Dmitri asked gruffly. That was one of the few things he insisted on in Luka's education. He wasn't sure if his son's little girlfriend, or whatever she was, had taken the training yet. He hadn't bothered to ask any questions about Adelaide.

“Yes,” she answered simply, wondering what on earth it mattered. By the time they got off campus they’d be so close to St George’s Way that apparating was pretty pointless. “Beats Floo-ing places, right?”

"We're taking you some place special," Chloe insisted. Dmitri frowned because it was someplace very special indeed. It wasn't something he wanted to share with his idiot son and the not really girlfriend.

"We still have to walk to the edge of campus before we can apparate out," Luka pointed out.

"Then get moving." Dmitri nodded them out the door curtly.

At the edge of campus Chloe grinned. "Take my hands, we'll side apparate so you don't get lost." She opened up her palms to Adelaide and looked pointedly at Dmitri to do the same with his son.

Both men were rather loathe that Chloe put them in this situation, but the alternative of Dmitri taking Adelaide was even more horrifying. With a blink they were standing someplace else, out behind a low slung, but very elegant looking building. "Here we are," Chloe said cheerily.

Addy had absolutely no idea where they could be, all she knew was that wherever they were, it was nowhere near Dresden Academy. The air had a different sort of smell to it, and it was slightly colder. “Where are we?” She looked around as though it might help her gather her bearings, but it was of no use. This was definitely some place she had never been before.

"Canada," Dmitri said shortly and slapped his son's hands away.

Chloe was practically bubbling. "This is where Dmitri..."

"Took her to dinner once," he cut his wife short. In fact it was the restaurant where he had proposed to her and he had no idea why she insisted on bringing Luka and his little friend for lunch here.

Chloe rolled her eyes at him and led the group around to the front of the building. They were inside and seated, menus placed before them in French. The other denizens of the restaurant were clearly wizards, but the building was situated in a spot where apparating out front would draw too much attention from the local population. "I can help you order," Chloe offered to Adelaide.

“Thank you,” she whispered, entirely intimidated now. She kicked Luka under the table as if to say ‘you didn’t warn me about this’. Lunch, to her, had meant maybe something like one of the cafes in St George’s Way. Not a casual jaunt across the border to some place so fancy you had to be well-versed in an entirely different language just to order a glass of water.

He offered her a silently mouthed apology. He could read the menu of course because his mother had taught him French at an early age. Dmitri was going to let his wife order for him because she had an impeccable accent and he didn't bother to learn that French bullcrap.

A waiter stopped by and Chloe ordered a nice bottle of wine for the table. She'd dragged the kids all this way, the least she could do was offer them some wine and maybe ease the tension. This tended to happen when she got a big idea. "So Luka tells me you've stayed on to study at the university," she said, trying to guide the conversation toward something comfortable.

Luka frowned. He couldn't remember telling his mother much of anything about Addy, but he was grateful at least that she was trying to be sweet and engaging with her.

Addy nodded. “Yes. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do after senior year so I figured I’d keep studying until I knew.” And she didn’t have anywhere to go or any friends anywhere else, so that helped her decision. “I still haven’t really figured it out, but I’m getting to know some interesting stuff.”

Chloe nodded politely. Dmitri stared very hard at the menu. Luka bit his lip. "She's been helping coach the quodpot team," he offered lamely.

"Perhaps you could get off the bench this year?" Dmitri commented darkly.

Chloe blinked once at her husband. Of course he couldn't ride out his manners today; the man was incorrigible. He'd cultivated this image of badass wizard who apologizes to no one at the expense of everyone around him. Everyone except Chloe, because she was the one person who knew him enough to know the real Dmitri Nikitin. "One of these days I know my Lukaboo will rise to his talent and actually succeed beyond what comes naturally."

Luka frowned at the very fact that his mother had called him Lukaboo in public. He lifted his menu high enough to cover his shame and became very busy reading it.

Chloe laughed, having put both men in their places for the moment. "Did your family come up for the weekend? How impetuous of me. I should have asked if they'd like to come with us."

Addy grinned in perverse delight at seeing Luka’s reaction to the pet name, and resolved to threaten him with it next time she needed him at Quodpot training. The smile dropped off her face very quickly at the mention of her family, however. “Oh.” She paused for a moment, wondering what to say. Pretty much any kind of explanation on the matter tended to kill conversations and definitely wasn’t going to help with how awkward she was already feeling. “Um, my brother is visiting with his... partner.” She could never tell if ‘the gay thing’ was as big an issue with anybody else’s parents as it had been with hers.

Chloe seemed interested, but Dmitri was still hiding behind his menu and keeping his opinions to himself. Despite what Chloe thought, he genuinely believed he was on his best behavior thus far. "That's wonderful," Chloe said. "I've been trying to talk Luka's sister into visiting for years, but she's just got a stick up her behind about it." She shrugged with a pleasant roll of her eyes. "It's wonderful that your brother supports you while you're at school. And that his partner cared enough to come as well."

“Oh, they love to get involved.” Which was altogether true on far too many levels, as Luka would well know. “Do you come every year?” She asked, thinking that perhaps she could shift the conversation off her family situation. She’d known Luka almost the entire time they’d been at Dresden together, but had never bothered to hang out with him on Parents' Weekend. Last year she’d been in her room playing Halo the whole time; the year before that, being viciously judged by Andre’s parents.

"Every year," Luka sulked as he peeked over his menu.

The waiter came by to interrupt the conversation and Chloe did some fast and loose interpreting to get all their lunches ordered. Luka ordered for himself in decent French. After he left Chloe poured four glasses of the wine. "Votre sante," she toasted as she lifted her glass. "To new friends."

Luka lifted his glass and clinked it against Addy's. At the very least they were being allowed to drink with the adults. Dmitri's look softened for just a moment when his glass touched his wife's. He swallowed a rather large portion of his wine and it didn't take long for him to demand a refill.

Chloe reached over and took his hand on top of the table. To Luka's surprise his father took the offered hand and held it there as if he didn't care who saw this moment of affection. It was then that Luka remembered why. He frowned and got busy with his napkins now that his menu had been taken away.

Wine with lunch? Okay, maybe Canada wasn’t so bad after all. For America’s hat, anyway. They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes, glasses becoming more and more empty with every passing thought that was quickly crushed before becoming voice. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Addy nudged Luka’s leg with her foot. “I didn’t know you could speak French.”

"Uh, yeah," he replied a little sheepishly. That was usually one of his girl-winning tricks. Whisper a few sentences in French and the girls just turned into piles of goo. Before recently Addy wasn't one of those girls who needed to woo. They were buddies right up until the genius idea to get her laid and that he was indeed the man for the job.

"I wanted him to be able to converse with his grandparents," Chloe supplied when Luka wasn't forthcoming. "They don't speak English." She sipped her wine and hitched up a little smirk. "I imagine you've heard him cursing in Russian."

"That's not the only use for the language," Dmitri interjected before slugging his wine down and pouring yet another glass.

Luka shrugged. He liked Russian, but he didn't find much use for speaking it. Girls didn't fall for it as quickly as they did the French. "Guess you could call me trilingual. Multilingual if you count Latin." Which he didn't.

“I didn’t know it was cursing, but I kind of assumed.” There weren’t all that many reasons someone would need to change language mid-sentence. She shrugged. “I’m not smart enough to swear in anything but English.” She had learned the smallest amount of Spanish in her childhood, but never used it enough for much to stick.

Addy eyed the rest of the wine in her glass, wondering how fast was too fast to drink in front of adults. She was feeling entirely too awkward not to drink, but then there was the mortifying consideration that at times, alcohol had the tendency to make her just a little bit too talkative. And over-friendly.

“Latin was hard,” she added uselessly, wanting to have not said it as soon as the stupid, obvious statement was out there.

On this one thing, Dmitri was agreed. "Entirely useless," he said. "It's not as if many of the students will be writing their own spells. You have no need for conjugation and verb tenses."

Luka grinned, because this was Dmitri practically warm and inviting. Their food arrived, warm and smelling so appetizing that Luka's stomach growled. He hadn't even realized he was hungry, too focused and overly conscious of the awkward situation he'd pulled Adelaide into. He smiled over to her while nibbling on his bread. At least they had the excuse of food to ease the burden of conversation.

She smiled back, entirely relieved that at least now they could blame the lack of topics to talk about on the fact that they were eating and not just that she was completely terrible at carrying on a conversation. It was only going to be a temporary respite from the awkwardness, but all the same, a very welcome one.

Lunch didn't cease to be awkward after the food was finished and they were heading out toward the back to apparate. "We can find the way back," Luka insisted, figuring his parents would rather be rid of them than spending more time together.

Chloe nodded gently and took her husband's hand. She didn't need to side apparate with him, but sometimes it was nice just having that little connection. They were gone in an instant, probably already mingling with the other parents along the path to St. George's Way. Luka turned to Addy and shrugged. "Sorry that was so weird." He didn't really know what else to say and offered his hand so they could apparate back together.

“Weird doesn’t even start to cover it. You said lunch, not Canada.” What the fuck, man. She glared at his offered hand, finally taking it and sending them both out the back of Apple’s Sweets. “Lukaboo.”

So his mom had somehow jumped to conclusions because he was introducing a girl who was important to him. Which in itself was a conclusion, but Luka hadn't really thought of it that way. "Didn't I warn you that my family was... Different?" he asked as they arrived a little out of breath behind the sweet shop. Then he was pinching her side because no one but his mother got away with calling him Lukaboo.

She jumped at the pinch, which tickled, and swatted his hand away with a mildly amused grin. “Yeah. No. You didn’t.” Well, he had, but she’d heard ‘different’ in the way that everyone’s family was different. Not in the ‘welcome to Mars’ kind of different that today’s lunch had been. “Pinch me again, bitch; I’ll tell the whole team your new name!”

He reached for her again, this time to pull her tight to him in the mild privacy the back of the shop provided. He leaned in and pressed a tentative kiss to the side of her mouth. "Do it and I'll never kiss you again."

She blinked a few times, staring at him and trying to keep her head. “What are you doing?” Apart from kissing her, obviously. That much was clear, even if her feelings on the matter weren’t. Even as she thought she should punch him and let him know the entire Clemons quodpot team would be calling him Lukaboo by the end of the day. Even as she stood completely still, not making even the smallest effort to move away from him. “You kissed me,” she whispered, accusingly.

"I kissed you," he replied as if that were completely obvious. They'd done their date in the park and the not quite dating at school. He'd introduced her to his parents. It was time for kissing, or so he thought. "Right."

Addy was torn between pointing out that she thought his idea of them having a ‘whatever they wanted it to be’ sort of relationship would have fizzled when he realized how completely incompatible their ideas about relationships were, and sidestepping having that conversation all over again with her usual defense of insults and teasing. She swallowed, raising her chin at him defiantly. “Well it wasn’t a very good one.”

Except that Adelaide should probably have known better with Luka. He grabbed her tighter and kissed her with every ounce of oomph he had. He pulled away a little dizzy, surprised that the little sparks between them seemed to explode in his head when he kissed her. "More like it?" he challenged.

She was stunned by the intensity of the kiss, and left breathless when he pulled away. She leaned forward as he did, subconsciously following him, not wanting it to end. “It was all right, I guess,” she said with a shrug, not sounding nearly as confident in her bluff as before. She wasn’t even sure why she was still trying to needle him; any insult would just have him do it again, and better, but any compliment would just feed his already oversized ego. “Why do you care what I think?”

"It was more than all right," he growled possessively and squeezed her in his arms. "And isn't the point that I care at all?" He bit the inside of his lip and let go of her all at once. "Maybe the point is that you don't, not really." He hardened his jaw and turned to walk away, fighting himself. He didn't usually play this hard with girls, but Adelaide needed to figure out what she wanted from him. This wouldn't work until she figured it out.

She enjoyed that tight squeeze far more than she had any right to, and then all of a sudden he was gone. “Hey. Hey! Get back here! You... Locomotor mortis!” Now that he wasn’t going anywhere without a struggle, she followed after him and gave him a stern glare. “Don’t fuck around with me, Luka. Do you care? Really? You know damn well I’m not going to waste my time on someone who doesn’t give a shit about my feelings.”

Never turn your back on a witch, was ringing in his ears. They were his mother's words, spoken after Elena had knocked him flat on his ass for some offense. "That's cheating," he replied, ignoring all of her other questions. He'd already said that he cared. He didn't want to repeat himself, though she probably wouldn't believe him until he did.

“I could have done worse.” It should speak volumes that she chose only to hit him with a Leg-Locker Curse. She ended the curse wordlessly so that he could move again, and jabbed her finger in his face. “I am not a toy and I will not be played with.” By him or anyone else; she was entirely sick of having to second-guess herself and what other people’s motives could be. “Figure out what the hell you want from me and just come out and say it, because I can’t read your mind. And if you ever kiss me again you better be fucking prepared to date me.” She resisted the overwhelming urge to ball up her fist and smash it into his nose, stepping back instead.

"Thought we were dating," he said so casually he regretted it instantly. He ran a hand through his hair. "For fuck's sake, Addy. I introduced you to my parents!"

She shoved him. “I didn’t know that’s what this was; you didn’t tell me shit. ‘Whatever we want it to be’ doesn’t mean dating, it means ‘I like having options’ and you fucking know that doesn’t cut it.” Dating her exclusively may mean having to stop sleeping with every other girl, but keeping his options open effectively gave him a chance with everyone but her. This was not brand new information. She didn’t even address the other part because she thought she was meeting his parents because that’s what friends did.

Her shove knocked him over. He landed on his ass on the cold, still slightly wet ground. His entire backside was going to be muddy. He scowled up at her. "Have I been playing my options?" he asked irritated now. "Whatever we want it to be meant that I'd give you some time to figure out if you were interested back."

He sighed, cold and wet now. "Is it worth our friendship for this?" It was something he'd been wondering for awhile now. From this perspective he was starting to see that maybe it wasn't. What started as someone else's idea and then became something interesting to him was slowly but surely becoming a pain in his ass.

“All you ever had to do was be honest with me. Just say what you mean without trying to hide behind not-caring or teasing or, or acting like I should have any idea what you’re trying to make me think you think when you won’t just come out and say it. But you just keep doing it and I never know if I should believe anything you say. Well you don’t ever say, just what I think you are.”

Luka stared at her for a moment. He got up, wiping his muddy palms on the side of his nice pants. "I'm pretty sure I said. I want to see where this goes. I want to see if there's more between us."

Addy choked on the noise of frustrated disgust she was making when she remembered... he had said that. “... I forgot,” she mumbled, annoyed and embarrassed.

He reached out tenderly and took her hand. His were mostly clean and he figured she'd forgive him the mud for the romantic gesture. "Just... Take some time," he said running his free hand over her ear as if he were tucking her hair back. Really he just wanted that closeness of that little movement. "Figure out what you want. I'll be here."

He was probably getting mud in her hair but she didn’t really care. She wrinkled her nose and moved a little closer, resting her head on his shoulder. “‘m sorry,” she offered quietly, hoping he wouldn’t make her repeat it.

"Okay," he said quietly and pressed a very light kiss on the top of her head. "C'mon, let's get back to campus."