Laughter Heals Pv DeRook Finished

San laughed so hard when he asked if a snitch had exploded on the front of the dress. He wasn’t wrong because it looked like someone had thrown snitches at the dress and they just exploded into some off geometric pattern. “You have no idea, Rook… no idea. This is the tip of the iceberg.” His laugh was infectious and she loved the way it made his eyes light up. She couldn’t help but laugh along with him when he did. He made her feel comfortable like she could just be herself with no expectations. Suddenly a loud thud came from the door and San jumped with a bit of a gasp. Then erratic knocking? It sounded far too low down to be anyone that would come to this school.

Then Kyle apologized and she responded with a confused frown as he crossed the room to open the door she watched curiously. Her eyes went wide when she saw the most adorable house elf she had ever seen in her entire life. She watched their exchange giggling gently. “Oh Solkey I am so sorry for hiding Ro-… Er, Kyle on you. I promise to try and never delay your package delivery again.” She spoke the way one might speak to a child though she had to admit that his real name just didn’t roll off of the tongue the same way Rook did. “Well maybe miss Solkey will be my good luck with my last dress! I certainly need it. Oh and uh- when is your birthday?” She asked him as she slipped behind the partition and pulled the shabbier box back behind it.

She would put away the white dress with care before opening the new box and an audible gasp could be heard. “Oh my god... They didn’t…” Her voice sounded a bit choked with emotion. “From Nan and Pap. A little bit of Irish love for your Dance.”She read the letter before she put on this dress, pulled on the gloves, and slipped into the matching heals. “I can’t zip this one, Rook, I’m going to need your help.” She held the black and red ombre, chiffon dress up with one gloved hand and the red and black fox mask with a piece of parchment in the other as she stepped out from the partition and looked at him. 

Kyle rolled his eyes as San humored Solkey, that was just going to encourage her to be around more. The chipper house elf would hang around people that interacted with her endlessly, until of course she saw a flake of dust that caught her eye and slipped away to wander aimlessly lost on another adventure to nowhere.

"Oh and uh- when is your birthday?”

Kyle frowned slightly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, no. I don't do birthdays. last year, was the first year I actually had peace since Ma cant get to me here" he slunk down in his chair some after saying that, feeling as if the mood had shifted suddenly. Then from the corner chirps Solkey "Bet she is gonna surprise you on October 31 like Mistress Katlin always does. Best not tell her no no no"

Kyle lets out an audible drawn out groan and leans his head back to face the ceiling. ..."thank you Solkey..." Then Santario stepped back out from behind the partition in the red and black dress and he felt his cheeks get warm before he cleared his throat and looked away to prevent staring. She wanted him to help her zip up the dress. ah geeze. He awkwardly crossed the room and he tried not to stare at her bare back as he grabbed the zipper and zipped up the back of her dress, the sweet scent of Vanilla and Almond that filled the room(atleast to him) was even strong up close.

"it uh...Looks go-" he clears his throat "-good. I like this one, The only decent dress or whatever I guess. Whatever"

It was clear that Rook had not wanted to disclose his birthday, but his house-elf Solkey did it for him and San now started to think about what she wanted to get him. He was her closest friend after all she wasn't going to just ignore his birthday. “Thank you, Solkey! She obviously ignored Rook’s protests before he crossed the room to zip up her dress. “ Don’t worry Rook. Nothing over the top, you have my word and my word is my bond.” She promised him as he zipped her up, when it was zipped up she would take a step away from so that she could turn to look at him. “Yeah? Nan really outdid herself! They know me so well!” They were the only set of grandparents who cared to know her well enough she thought as she did a spin in it looking at the dress as she did. She seemed completely oblivious to Rook’s flushed cheeks or the fact that she had any effect on him at all.

She would then walk over to the table that had once held all of the boxes and set the piece of parchment down before putting the mask on her face to complete the look. After fixing her hair a little bit she would turn back around and look at him. “How does the whole thing look?” Those bright Sapphire eyes stared out at him from the red and black proving she was indeed smiling like a fool underneath that mask. She was so excited and she had never been this excited about a dress before in her life. “Oh! We should see what your mom sent you! What if she sent you something to wear!

Kyle felt like there was something rummaging around in his stomach. His face felt warm, and he struggled making eye contact. And when she did that adorable spin and her eyes looking into his he felt like he was going to collapse, but thankfully his legs did not fail him in this instance and he was able to remain standing strong. He cleared his throat and looked away from the girl and rubbed the back of his neck. Yeah it uh...looks fine and whatever...Red and black goes well together."

Kyle looked towards the package under his chair and was eager to take any chance to move away from the raven haired girl and the intoxicating aroma of Vanilla and Almonds. "Uh sure...whatever I guess" he opened up the package and he saw a vest and he closed the package once more and let out a heavy sigh. Kyle picked up the package and walked over to the divider and pushed her out of the way and and went behind the partition.

Kyle changed out of his jeans and very reluctantly set aside his leather jacket before he set about putting on the cloths from the package. Kyle pulled on the black pants, blazer buttons running along the thigh, and then he slipped on his usual black boots. With a slight scoff he would toss the dress shirt over the partition and away from him before he slipped the vest on and buttoned it up. With a cocked eyebrow he picked up two long pieces of cloth and wrapped them between his fingers, around his hand and wrist then slightly up his forearm before finally picking up the tie. Then he got a great idea and he started to try and tie it around his right bicep but found it difficult to tie with only one hand.

Kyle stepped out from behind the partition "Hey muppet...can you help me tie this? I'm going for an arm band"

The outfit in question: Masquerade outfit

This was probably the first time that she realized that Rook was acting a bit less himself than he normally did, but realistically she chalked it up to him just not having experience with this kind of thing. Should she maybe have asked some girls to help her with this sort of thing? Yes, but she didn’t have any female friends at all really. If she had been trying these dressing on at her grandmother’s house, she would have had another female in the household help her and probably just choose the one for her themselves, most likely her grandmother to begin with.

She watched him walk over to the box and look inside of it before closing it back up quickly. She knew she had been right when she herself saw a little bit of clothing in the moment that the box had been opened. He walked over and pushed her out of the way, but she didn’t see it as hostile instead she continued with the movement and walked over to the same table that he had originally been leaning against. Only she would slip out of her shoes and hop up to sit on it. Reaching up she would remove the fox mask before tousling her hair a little bit and waiting for him to change. She watched a dress shirt fly over the partition landing over her own clothes and she just giggled at him audibly.

When he stepped outside of the partition her mouth gaped open at him and she just stared for a moment. Within that moment she realized that he had asked her to come over and help him with his tie that he had decided would go around his arm instead of his neck. So with that, she would hop off the desk and walk barefooted across the floor to him.  “This looks really great by the way! Very you!” She grinned at him as she took the tie from him and stepped closer, within his arm span, wrapping the tie once around his bicep... Have his arms always been this defined? She tied the silver tie with black skulls tight but not too tight that it would cut off circulation. With that, she would take a few steps away from him crossing her arms and looking up and down a couple of times with a nod of approval. “Yes! I think you look absolutely amazing!” 

Kyle watched her hop off the desk and despite how hard he tried looking away from her earlier, now that he saw her in her full red and black splendor he had trouble pulling his eyes away. From her raven black hair, to her Sapphire eyes, to the little smile she wore, to the way the dress sat on her and swayed as she crossed the room towards him. He finally got control of his mind just in time for her to step inside his outreached arm, her body almost leaning against his as her soft and pleasant smelling hair was right under his nose. He felt warm, and like his stomach was spinning in circles, and his heart was racing. He had been around girls before, he had even had a few encounters with the red headed Marla that he had kind of liked his first year but this felt different. Sure he liked her but...Oh Shite. Did...did he fancy her?

He cleared his throat and shook his head slightly. Oh no. She was looking at him as if she had said something. Was he supposed to respond? Uh...Question or statement...what had she said? Cmon brain, think of something. Anything!

"Last time I dressed this fancy it was one of Ma's dresses I thought were robes"

YOU'VE FAILED ME BRAIN

San right on note with his statement started to die of laughter. It was a very clear not laughing at him laughter but a full-on belly laugh that sent both of her hands up to cover her face and almost had her taking a knee kind of laughter. Her hair fell into her face as her laughter slowly died into a fit of giggles. Moving the hair out of her face and wiping away some laugh tears from her eyes she would gently push him away from the partition. “Let me get out of this dress if I am going to die from laughter I might as well be comfortable.” Once completely assured she had privacy she would change out of the dress.

Her shirt would be pulled from off of the partition shortly followed by her pants. Sliding back into her chucks and finally topping her outfit off with his scarf around her shoulders. She would come back out from behind the partition holding two boxes knowing full well she could not send all of the dresses back to the de Clairmont home. “Get changed so we can get out of here” Although right as the sentence left her mouth a house-elf appeared though this elf was not like Solkey at all. He wore a very stereotypical enslaved house attire and focused on Santario with a deep bow. “Mistress de Clairmont… I’ve come to check on your progress.”

A hardness never seen before reached Santario’s eyes as her whole body stiffened and an arctic chill laced her words. “I have asked you time and time again to never call me that! I am a Martin and no amount of her hatred will ever erase the better part of my bloodline do I make myself perfectly clear?” Her hands were balled into fists. “As crystal, Mistress…” The elf seemed to eye the scarf around her shoulders his words dripping with disdain. “I’m done with her things… Actually, I don’t need any of them. My better half provided for me properly.” She swiftly moved and placed the box that she had originally set aside with the purple dress in it on the stack of the other dresses her mother had sent.

After the elf and the boxes disappeared Santario would physically relax and rub her face. “I’m so sorry about that…” She was mortified that he had been there to have to hear that. She was just so tired of them trying to push her around and control her life. If anyone out of the two of them needed to apologize for their family or house elves it certainly wasn’t him. Solkey was at least sweet and adorable.

Kyle closed his eyes and winced right as the words left his mouth. In a fight he could react instantly to any danger, in Chess he could think three moves ahead, and in quidditch he was able to keep track of every player and two bludgers at the same time. Yet when it came to words, you would think there was little more than pudding between his ears. Thankfully as she laughed he saw it was a genuine and warm laughter and not one directed at him so much as what he said, not unlike when one laughed at a joke. As if to go along with the NOT AT ALL real event and a total Joke, he chuckled along with her.

While she got behind the partition and changed he undid his vest and put on his leather jacket then stuffed his jeans and tshirt and into the box along with the vest. he looked down and realized the way his jacket was he could see his scar so he turned his back to the partition before San could step out and see it and for the first time in ages he zipped the jacket up all the way to make sure his shoulder wasnt exposed.

Then the other house elf that seemed less useless but also a fair bit less friendly than Solkey showed up and called San some weird name. de Clairmont. Sounded sorta french...but he coulda swore she was Irish? Whoever that family was San didn't care for them very much at all. They were probably jerks and deserved the rage...Why did Kyle suddenly feel like punching a french person? Hm.

"Dont be sor-" Kyle started to say but then out of nowhere he was reminded that Solkey had Still not left apparently when she started to Squee and clap, causing Kyle to turn around he saw the House Elf had drawn about 14 Flowers on the wall with some chalk she kept in her overall pockets. "Master Kyle! You are supposed to give pretty girls flowers! Say these are from you!" the Elf seemed to not notice that San was the same girl from before just no longer in a dress.

"Say good bye to the other Girl for me! Would be rude not to and Solkey is not Rude no no no! not like that other elf. Not Solkey!" then with a whoosh the House elf was gone, a slight echo of her giggling fading away to punctuate her exit.

Kyle sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose

Kyle had started to speak but it didn’t take long at all for Solkey to interrupt him and San put a hand to her mouth holding back some giggles. “Well if Solkey thinks I’m pretty it must be true.” She wrinkled her nose up at him trying to make him smirk or chuckle or something to relieve the tension. She, at this point, eyed his zipped up jacket. They had been hanging out for quite a while now including their extra practice time on the field in between their normal team practices, and she wasn’t sure she had ever seen him wear his jacket zipped.

Her right eyebrow cocked up, but she didn’t say anything about it. “We on again for extra practice later? I could use it. I think I am starting to get soft without you pelting bludgers at me until I am so tired I fall off of my broom.” She chuckled and moved to collect up her box as the dressing partition would be left here. It was the castles and the elves in the castle would come and collect it shortly she was sure.

“Thank you for coming today, Rook, it meant a lot to me that you did. Laughing at dresses with you was a lot more fun than just trying them on and getting frustrated at everything by myself.” The last week or so between them had been touchy at best with the two hardly speaking, avoiding eye contact in the hall or just avoiding each other in general after what had happened at the lake. She had meant what she said back there. She’d be here for him no matter what even if it meant fixing moments like that. He was her best friend and it would take something catastrophic to break the bond she had formed with him.

Kyle slid his hands into his pockets and lets out a playful scoff "Solkey can get lost in a small room. Doubt she can even spell pretty" . Kyle let out a chuckle, though he did absolutely agree with the House elf. Not that he would ever admit it that is.

“We on again for extra practice later? I could use it. I think I am starting to get soft without you pelting bludgers at me until I am so tired I fall off of my broom.”

Kyle couldn't help but greet that question with a Grin. For the first few weeks Kyle had practiced alone in the early morning. Sure there was the group training with his Team, but those did not happen often enough for Kyle. He would have kept training alone as well if it weren't for San and him becoming friends. As they talked more and more about Quidditch and the Slytherin became more and more passionate about Quidditch he eventually managed to talk her into joining him for his early morning training. It was never strategy or plays or anything like that. More like endurance, reflex, and strength training. The pair of them had spent more than a couple breakfasts both mussed and covered in bruises and mud stains. "Can't have you getting soft on me Muppet, better see you in the morning bright and early tomorrow" he offered a playful wink.

“Thank you for coming today, Rook, it meant a lot to me that you did. Laughing at dresses with you was a lot more fun than just trying them on and getting frustrated at everything by myself.”

Kyle rubbed the back of his neck and offered a shrug. Ofcourse she had to be a girl about it and try to end things on an emotional level. he spread his right arm as if gesturing for her to step into a hug, but then play slapped/Bapped her in the side of the head. "Never pass up a chance to laugh at you making a fool of yourself Muppet." He gave her a cross eyed look before letting out a laugh and retreating towards the door to avoid getting hit back in retaliation.