WHO: Derek Dobbs and Mirabelle Jasper
WHAT: A Low-Key Valentine's Day!
WHERE: Diagon Alley
WHEN: LOL ON THE FOURTEENTH OF FEBRUARY I'M SO SORRY
STATUS: UNFINISHED


"This looks disgusting."

Derek looked at the cone brimming with ice cream so hot pink, he was surprised his eyes weren't watering. Brown and green stripes interspersed the eyesore, as ruby red hearts of something he was not entirely certain was edible studded the generous two scoops, taunting him. But a dare was a dare, and Derek was no welcher. Bracing himself, he took a deep breath and a generous lick off the top, his left eye squinting in reflex to the tickle of brain freeze.

"Yep," he said, crunching one of the peppery hearts as he shot Mira a deadpan look. "Dis-gust-ing." But he hadn't needed the taste test to tell him that Florean Fortescue's Valentine's Cherry-bubblegum fudge Pepper Imps special flavour was not something he would ever wish to put in his mouth. But when a lady questioned his daringness…

He was surprised to find how much he enjoyed spending time with Mira. Having seen her with Bianca at the offices on more than one occasion, he'd always found her to have a special draw, but Derek knew that had Bianca not literally twisted his ear and demanded he help her best friend in her hour of need, he never would have mustered the courage to make a move. Now, he was glad his hand had been forced, so to speak. She somehow seemed to understand his closed-off nature, that he would rather listen than talk, or pressure him to engage in small-talk or a lot of the other idiosyncrasies of relationships he was simply unable to do these days. For that alone, it was easier to be open with her, to smile more freely, especially because she didn't really have an idea of what he was like before. The constant comparison from his few remaining friends, from colleagues, wore him down at times.

Nudging open the door to take their frosty ice cream into the unseasonably warm evening, no doubt thanks to some sly proprietors' spell-casting, he waited for her to step out as his free hand fell to his pocket, unable to stop a laugh. "You know, Bianca let slip something terribly interesting about you the other day."

Mira’s face scrunched in pain as Derek bit into what was quite possibly the most atrocious-looking piece of dessert created by wizard kind. She hadn’t thought he would actually go for it, let alone dive into the deep end and let his taste buds experience.... that. She would applaud him if her hands weren’t already full with her own equally gross looking flavor; that had been the deal, he had to go first. Maybe she shouldn’t have pressured him so much into actually doing it?

“I do not doubt you,” she laughed, shaking her head in a disbelieving manner. How long could she milk not tasting this winter coconut-citrus blend concoction? There were green and brown things in it, which she could only assume were supposed to be the leave and bark of an evergreen tree. Mira ducked her head as Derek held the door open, smiling to herself as she walked.

She enjoyed these casual dates that she and Derek went on. They were just... so calming. She felt at ease around him, not hectic or like she had to put on a game like she had for so many of her past dating experiences. It was refreshing to just... talk. Or not talk. It didn’t feel like it mattered much, which she liked. Not to mention it didn’t hurt that she could stare at his face for hours, his beautifully attractive face that made her question how he stayed single for long.

“Oh?” was all she could muster as she turned to look at him. There were a lot of things that Bianca knew about her, as her best friend, from menial to the downright embarrassing. There was no need to become concerned..... yet, Mira supposed. Though just in case, she began to mentally prepare a quick defensive rebuttal to save face. She wasn’t quite sure she was ready to be embarrassed in front of him yet.

He took a lazy lick, only marginally ashamed that the concoction was growing on him, and nodded. The mood was strange and foreign to him, but he actually felt… light-hearted, in a strange way. There wasn't some big cloud hanging over his head, threatening to drown him tonight, and he remembered these moments as being few and far between. Derek felt freer to accept the feeling tonight; it was a special sort of occasion, wasn't it?

"Don't quite remember how the subject arose," which was a lie, "but she did tell me about this fascinatingly extensive collection crowding most every open surface of your flat…"

Jerking one shoulder, he bit thoughtfully into the top of the cone and said, "I just assumed she was exaggerating, I mean… you don't exactly seem the type."

Pleasantly, with little hint of the grin he felt tugging at his lips, Derek nodded to the untouched abomination in her hand and added, "Your ice cream's dripping."

She held her mouth open as she tried to think of something smart to come back with, but nothing quite fit; he had brought up too many things at once for her put them out quickly and efficiently. She did have a lot of... collection-like things, but they weren’t that bad or extensive and most certainly did not take over her whole flat! And this ice cream was disgusting! She would rather let it become sticky on her hands than consume it.

Mira pressed her lips, then let out a laugh. What exactly could she say? She was aware that Derek had never actually been inside her flat, which did mean she could deny all she wanted, but that would only bring her so far. This really brought her to a lesser of two evils, didn’t it? Expand on this collection or eat a quite-possibly a very disgusting flavor of ice cream.

“Thank you for reminding me,” Mira drawled, lowering her eye lids low for a moment as she looked at up him. Then, as seemingly determined as she was going to ever be, she pulled her lips back and prepared for the impending taste-bud rejection. She gave Derek another look before taking a substantially lesser bite than he, barely licking enough off the top to constitute eating it. The effect was still the same, though; her cheeks automatically swelled in a vain attempt to avoid the inevitable. After much personal effort, she did manage to swallow it.

Sticking out her tongue as her mouth opened for air, Mira also shook her head with a chuckle. “I think my throat is on fire,” she gasped, her hand brushing the front of her throat. One down. “So lay it on me,” she pushed onward, knowing it would be better to keep this rolling. “What collection secrets has Bianca told you?”