Burned Out PV: Jack B. + Ruka Closed

Interacting with: @Ruka Tân & @Willow Anderson

When Jack had asked Willow if she 'cared to try', he had meant if she had cared to try the scenerio of Jack feeding her in front of Flash, but evidently Ruka had thought he had been offering his candy to her once more. Whether because he felt bad for Jack, because he was really hungry, because he was spiteful for not having been offered a Whizzbee himself, or some other unknown reason, the second-year reached out to take one from the bag.

Jack blinked at him, surprised by the Gryffindor's bold behavior. Did he...did Ruka know what they did? Willow, at least, he was fairly certain did not, since both Jack and she were muggle-born, but what about Ruka?

Nope. Evidently he hadn't, either. Jack, floating a few inches off the ground himself, began to laugh so hard he slapped his thigh. "I was going to give you some later," the Slytherin told him. "And the first time, when I was offering it to you both, you didn't seem to want one. At least I could guess Willow might not have wanted one then because she was upset, but I thought you just legitimately weren't interested."

Standing up to apologetically bow a bit awkwardly with his balance thrown off, the first-year snickered. "So sorry to make you feel left out, Tân. Anyway, at least your curiosity is satisfied now. Better to regret doing something than to regret not, right?"

Still chuckling softly to himself, Jack half walked, half levitated toward the door to the room once Willow began to free herself from Ruka's comforting embrace. The girl's comment about a 'thank you' being in order caused him to abruptly look back over his shoulder before shaking his head vigorously.

"A 'thank you'? Not necessary on my account. I caused you as much grief as I relieved you of, I'm sure, so we're even in that sense." As if he had't planned that on purpose. "I'm sure you would have come back to the room soon enough, if only to stare at Flash's handsome face some more," Jack added with a taunting grin. He opened the door and made his way out, barely waiting for the other two to follow him.

"Besides, who cares what other people notice or think? It's none of their business; let them think what they want." He shrugged. "Those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

@Jack Burnett @Willow Anderson

The fact that Ruka started floating off the ground a few inches seemed to be more amusing to Jack than was actually reasonable in the Gryffindor's opinion, but it did make him let out his own little chuckle, features brightening considerably. Willow's own small giggle was almost drowned out by the sound of Jack's laughter, but Ruka could feel the tension dripping off them to puddle somewhere on the floor just outside their reach for now.

It was a relief. At least that should have meant that they could all finally move away from this sticky room and on from this dark conversation. He had come around Opeila's birthday party to have some light social interaction and to make the birthday girl happy on her one special day of the year, not to be calming someone who had punched him not long ago down from a panic attack.

Although, he had to admit that there was a part of him that had probably felt more comfortable in here, dealing with all that tension, rather than out there trying to fit in with all those happy friendly people he barely knew.

"I hadn't realised you were offering them to me too," he told Jack with a slow shake of his head, wobbling a little mid-air as he tried to find his balance. He snorted ungracefully at the Slytherin's words, raising his eyebrows at him. Ruka had said those words to Jack himself, back when they had first met, and he wondered if they had been some kind of dig at the Fire Dancer's own proclamation of having rather regretted doing something than not doing something. "Right," he just said, rolling his eyes fondly as he did his best to get himself into a standing-levitating position once Willow had removed herself from his embrace to, most likely, make herself look presentable again.

He steadied himself against the wall for a moment, barely listening to Jack disputing Willow's Thank You as he slowly moved forward to follow both of them towards the door.

Levitation was difficult.

"He means 'You're welcome'," he told Willow as he shot Jack a teasing smirk. Of course he wouldn't like the implication that he had done something genuinely nice for the other girl's benefit - He quite possibly hadn't. However, whether he had done it for her sake or not, he had helped Willow out of a dark spot, and the least Ruka could do was make sure that the girl's gratitude was acknowledged, even if not necessarily by the right person.

He nodded along with Jack's words about it not mattering what other people thought, smiling in approval. Whether people had seen them leave and were going to see them return really didn't matter, did it? People - especially kids their age - liked to talk and gossip either way. It was their individual choices whether to let it affect them or not.

"Let's get out of here, though," he agreed, keeping a hand against the wall as he reached the door a little bit behind Jack, steadying himself against the doorframe for a moment. "It's too stuffy in here, and they have cake out there." Nodding his agreement to his own words, he looked back at Willow one more time to beckon her along with a small smile before exiting the room with his feet still a few inches off the ground.

On his way back to Opeila's party he would stumble and fall at least twice.

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