Blinded By The Butterflies PV Aaron Jones Closed

Aaron was up pretty early that Sunday morning and decided to grab a breakfast-to-go from the Great Hall. Normally he'd go flying first and then return for breakfast after a morning workout, but he was pretty hungry after staying up so late the night before, so breakfast first. And since the weather today was near perfect with the spring weather in full swing, bringing breakfast down to the pitch to eat sounded like a good idea.

In the Great Hall, Aaron loaded up his satchel with two chocolate croissants, a breakfast burrito, grabbed a yogurt with fruit, and filled his thermos with orange juice. As soon as he set foot outside the castle, he mounted his Moontrimmer and started making his way down to the Training Pitch. Sure, you weren't supposed to use flying brooms on the grounds, but it was a rule the fourth year was constantly breaking. He hadn't been caught yet and he continued to count on that luck today as he enjoyed the morning air on his face. He was chowing down on one of the chocolate croissants as he flew.

When the pitch came into view, it was empty, which was typical for an early Sunday morning like this. But as he got closer to landing on the ground, he saw a figure laying in the grass. Who was that? He drifted closer to the figure and by the time he realized who it was, he had landed on the grass a few feet behind her. "Good morning, Akari," he greeted, a smile on his lips as he plopped down criss-cross beside her. He was wearing a short-sleeved white tee that was getting a bit small for him honestly considering the upper body strength he'd been training and filling out a bit. And he was wearing lightweight joggers since those were comfortable to fly in. "I didn't expect to see you here. I mean, I know you used to play Quidditch and all, so it's not that surprising, but I'm here pretty often and haven't run into you yet."

As he was speaking, he wasn't making eye contact because he was busy bringing out all the breakfast items he had stashed in his satchel. He used the satchel as a "blanket" since he had not planned on this situation. It was clear he had not brought enough for two but was pretty happy to let her take her pick. "Are you hungry? I already ate a bit so you can help yourself if you are," he invited, finally raising his eyes to hers and oblivious to the fact that there was a bit of chocolate on the corner of his lips.

@Akari Kato

Aaron has a Calming Presence.

Your presence simply puts others at ease, if it is your carefree personality or the trust others have in you, the result is still the same. With you there, perhaps through your encouragement, your allies are able to better focus.

backdated to 05/07

"Good morning, Akari,"

Akari's eyes instantly widened, recognizing the voice immediately as she sat up uncovering her face, still flushed as ever. How in the world- God what a coincidence. Of course he would happen to stumble on her in this very moment as she was recalling everything that had occurred last night. Of course. Slightly embarrassed by her own thoughts, her gaze lifted and looked over at the boy and watched as he gave her that cute smile again before he sat down next to her. She gave him a meek smile in return, all the worry from before slowly dissipating, before she finally responded with a soft "Morning Aaron"

She could not help but stare at him just a little bit, though trying her hardest not to be too obvious as he began a conversation with her. "Oh yes well to be perfectly honest I suppose I have not come here much since I left the team" She admitted to him. "Its just not the same anymore". She glanced over wistfully at the school broom where her silver arrow should have been and shook her head slightly.

Akari then broke into another smile, though bigger this time, as Aaron laid out some snacks he had had tucked away in his bag. Just then she realized that she actually had not eaten yet today. Since her thoughts somewhere else entirely, breakfast had completely slipped her mind, so her eyes lit up upon seeing a delicious looking chocolate croissant put out in front of her. "My favourite!" She exclaimed with a grin as she reached out and took it gratefully before glancing back over to the boy and chirped out a small "Thank you", before munching down and taking a healthy sized bite of the pastry.

She then looked over at him again, finding it particularly hard not to just stare at him for the entire time. But her eyes would not listen to her brain. They eyes trailed down Aaron's features, admiring him secretly when she had suddenly noticed that he had a little remanence of the chocolate from the treat remained on the corner of his mouth. She considered for a moment not saying anything because it was kind of, perhaps, sort of cute, but she silently reprimanded herself right after because wouldn't she want someone to tell her if she had something on her face?

Knowing it must seem odd and rather suspicious how long she had been staring at Aaron, she then giggled. Pointing to her own lips to show him the exact spot she then said "You have a little something here", all the while not realizing that she was making just as much of a mess.

"Yeah, it took me a while to get back into flying after I stopped Quidditch, too," Aaron admitted, thinking back to his second year. He'd been really lost back then, unsure what to do and feeling awful about how he'd treated his dad. Wow, that memory had been buried deep. He felt a lump form in his throat as thoughts of his family came to mind, and how estranged he felt from them these days. But he forced the lump down, focusing back on the present. He was at Hogwarts and he had his trick riding. That's all he needed... right?

"It's nice you're giving it a go again, I bet it'll feel really good being back in the air," Aaron said in a softer tone, his smile not quite reaching his eyes this time, but convincing enough for most. Probably for her, too. "I've been doing this trick riding stuff lately - I think I mentioned it to you when we were training once before - so maybe I could show you some of that. It's pretty fun once you get the hang of it. Or if you don't want to do the tricks themselves, maybe you'd be up for helping me?"

It was only after the question had escaped his mouth that he realized she was staring. At what? Before he could feel too self-conscious, she giggled. A genuinely relieved smile appeared on Aaron's lips as she explained about something on his lips. He quickly used his tongue to get rid of the extra chocolate, then took a sip of the orange juice thermos that he'd brought.

"You're one to talk," Aaron said after with a chuckle of his own, humor in his eyes as he watched the Gryffindor girl make a mess of her own. "You've got something just here," he said, then gestured to his own face in its entirety and laughed. "I'm joking, I'm joking," he added once he had calmed. "It's only there, come here," he said, scooting closer and reaching over to her face. He used his thumb to wipe the chocolate from the corner of her lips, unfazed by the close contact. Well, maybe not completely unfazed.

It did bring to mind the kiss from the night before. During spin the bottle, he had reached forward in a similar manner and cupped her cheek before kissing her. This time he was merely wiping away chocolate, but he did feel a sudden urge to lean in and close the gap between them. But he also thought about the way she had run off after the kiss, and for the first time now wondered if it had been something he'd done. He pulled his hand away rather quickly at the thought. Maybe he should just ask. It seemed like a lack of communication is what had caused the whole confusion with Lindsey, and the increased communication with Opeila last night had worked out well, so maybe communication was key. But outright asking if she had been offended didn't seem right.

"So you ran off from spin the bottle so quickly last night," he stated in a casual manner. Perhaps not the smoothest transition, but he took the thermos he had and laid it on its side, spinning it playfully in the grass like the bottle from last night. "I didn't even get the chance to tell you that you're a good kisser," he said, looking at her through the corner of his eye for a reaction. It was true, it had been a nice kiss and he would've told her as much if she'd stuck around, but he was preparing for her to say that she didn't feel the same. That maybe she hadn't enjoyed it at all and so he'd need to apologize.

@Akari Kato

backdated to 05/07

It was comforting in a way to hear that Aaron could relate to her when she had told him about how she had distanced herself from the pitch. She found that oftentimes she did not have to explain herself to him and there was something rather calming about that.

"Mhm, nothing beats that feeling of just racing through the air" Akari added on, getting more excited about the prospect of flying after being reminded of how exhilarating it felt to be in the air clutching your broom and just urging it to go faster and faster. She could not deny that she simply loved the thrill of it.
Reeling her thoughts back in before she was lost in a daydream, Akari's interest was certainly peaked when Aaron mentioned his broom tricks. "Broom tricks do sound wicked" She piped up, recalling their previous conversation and curiously wondering what exactly these tricks entailed. "Oh yes, you must teach me some! But, do go easy on me for I am awfully rusty" She laughed.

Akari's cheeks then turned from a tinted pink colour to a bright red, and felt her face burning up, as the boy pointed out that she was not any better off that he was. Her eyes widened when he joked around, thinking for a fleeting moment that she had actually made herself look like a fool. When he then scooched on closer to her and she froze becoming slightly shy again as she looked up at him intently, watching his every move. And there were those stupid butterflies again. He reached out and gently touched her face, okay yes it was only to clean off the mess she had made from devouring that croissant... but still, she thought she felt something there... like there was a moment between them... right? She held her breath. It was almost if she was waiting for him to do exactly what he had last night and close the gap between them. But she was sorely disappointed as Aaron retracted his hand.

Akari turned away, concealing the small look of disappointment that appeared in her eyes, though she still stayed close to him, close enough that their shoulders were lightly touching if Aaron had not yet back away. But that disappointment was quick to turn into embarrassment as she was reminded how she fled the scene last night in a flurry. "Oh right I..." She mumbled unsure of what to say or what excuse to use. She needed to play it cool right now, because there was no way she would let him find out that she had only came there for him in the first place and how her she was too worried that after someone saw her face they would make certain very plausible assumptions. And that was the last thing she wanted. But her mind drew a blank and she just let her sentence trail off subtly before being totally thrown off guard by Aaron's next sentence. Her gaze shot back over to his face in surprise, not expecting the bluntness. "I am?" She blurted out dumbfoundedly, pursing her lips together slightly to keep a broad smile from forming (but it was peaking through nevertheless). "I- I mean you are too" She corrected, internally face-palming herself for fumbling and asking such a stupid question.

The genuine surprise in Akari's voice made Aaron turn his head fully to look at her, rather than looking from the corner of her eye. As his eyes met her equally dark brown ones, he saw the genuine shock and wondered briefly if she had never been told that before. Or was it that he had given an impression last night that it had been bad? The smile peeking through her expression was contagious though, and he smiled and nodded his affirmation.

"Thanks," Aaron said, his smile peeking into a slight smirk but he was trying to hide how relieved he was to hear the compliment returned. At least it hadn't been him that had made her run off. "Then I imagine you just had stuff to do, eh? Keeping busy?" he guessed, as a way to explain why she had run off so soon after. Yeah, that made more sense than Akari thinking he was a bad kisser. He was pretty sure he was a good kisser, and Opeila certainly hadn't complained. He took a few bites of his breakfast burrito, feeling much better about the whole situation. Not that it had really played on his mind much until a minute ago, but he had now moved past it and was back to feeling good.

"So, d'you actually want to learn a trick or two?" he asked, feeling ready to take to the skies. He wrapped the other half of the burrito back up and took a swig of orange juice again. "I imagine kissing isn't the only thing you do well," he said with a small smirk, playfully flirting with her and nudging his shoulder into hers before getting to his feet. Flirting was another thing he thought he was pretty good at. "I'm sure I've seen one of your games before, but admittedly don't watch the keepers as much as the chasers, so you'll have to show me your skills all over again."

Aaron offered her his hand to help her get to her feet. If she accepted, and/or once she was standing, he would offer her a drink from the orange juice thermos he had. "It's orange juice, if you want any before we fly," he explained, thinking nothing of offering it to her despite him having drank from it first.

@Akari Kato

backdated to 05/07

"Busy?" Akari responded absentmindedly, almost completely forgetting what they were talking about as she held eye contact with him for a moment. Luckily it only took her a couple seconds to snap out of it. "Ah yes, right, mhm, quiet busy" She responded. Quite busy daydreaming about Aaron and his- wait no stop, she mustn't think about that right now, what if she accidentally let something like that slip, oh the horror!

"I would love to" Akari replied, was it even a question? Even if it was something she absolutely hated she would have said yes to Aaron because, well, its Aaron. She was just grateful in this case that it happened to involve something she enjoyed anyway. Her then eyes widened again, did- did Aaron just flirt with her? She heard that correctly didn't she? He even nudged her shoulder with his while doing so, and not to mention that smirk! Not that she was very experienced or by any means a flirting expert, but that was certainly a flirt, it had to be. Remember Akari, play. it. cool. "I suppose we will find out" She grinned, trying to reciprocating his playful tone, but internally freaking out like never before. "Don't expect much" She joked, though truly wondering how the months long break had affected her skills.

It was then that Aaron rose from the spot upon which they had been sitting and offered her a hand to follow him, to which she gladly accepted and daintily held his for a few more moments after she was fully up and standing without realizing it. She would finally let go of his hand when he had offered her his thermos filled orange juice, the very same one he had taken a sip of moments before. If it was not for the fact that this whole interaction was making her flustered, she would have crumbled all over again. Nevertheless, she still could hardly believe this offer. He was sharing his drink with her, and he did not appear to realize the significance. It was like second-hand kissing!

Oh gosh, what was she to do, it was becoming gradually harder harder to 'play it cool' when all she wanted to do was bury her face in her hands and grin. Trying once again to ignore the overwhelming feeling dancing in her stomach, she took a sip of the orange juice before handing it back to him with a simple and slightly muffled "Thanks"

To continue distracting herself she turned to the side and picked up the school broom and mumbled to herself "This will have to do" before glancing back at Aaron.

"Shall we?"

Aaron put the thermos on the ground with the rest of the food that had yet to be eaten, planning to go back to it after some actual airtime. He grabbed his Moontrimmer, thinking about how he really wanted to upgrade over the summer. He'd had this broom for several years now and he knew it was holding him back from performing at his best, but he was also pretty proud of how far he'd come with such a broom. He looked over at Akari as she was grabbing her broom - a school broom, he realized. A slight frown appeared on his face.

School brooms weren't exactly the best for trick riding and could be quite problematic. They were really only meant for learning the basics of flying. He thought that any broom sports players who used school brooms were at a pretty big disadvantage, actually. Not that he looked down on people who didn't have their own broom - it was just really unfortunate to be stuck with school brooms when it mattered. Yes, it was the rider who made all the difference, but there was still only so much you could do with limited equipment.

"Since I'll be teaching you a new skillset, it might be better to learn on this?" he offered, holding out his Moontrimmer to her and offering to swap. It wasn't an ideal situation, but he'd make the best of it. "Not that I think you're not skilled, it's just some of the tricks I've been creating are a bit complicated and I wouldn't want you to get hurt because I'm trying to teach you on a school broom," he explained, hoping she didn't take offense to what he was saying. He was blaming the limitations of school brooms, not her. And it was true - he didn't want to see her get hurt.

Whether she accepted the swap or not, Aaron would mount the broom and lift into the air, starting to perform a few basic drills that he'd been taught back in Quidditch practice. Things that Akari probably knew as well, like speeding from one side of the pitch to the other, and weaving through the goal posts a couple times to get used to the air. Feeling the wind in his face was refreshing as ever, and a big grin was on his lips as they flew. After several minutes of these sorts of drills, Aaron pulled up beside her in midair, close enough that they could reach out and fistbump if they wanted. "Feeling warmed up?" he asked, a confident smile on his lips. "Shall I show you a bit of the tricks I've been working on?" he offered, quite excited to have a new audience and someone to show off to. "And then I can teach you one."

@Akari Kato

backdated to 05/07

"Are you sure?" Akari asked worriedly, very hesitantly accepting the swap since she did not want him to have to settle for a school broom when he had his own. "I, um, unfortunately gave up my favourite silver arrow when I quit" She responded, a hint of sadness lacing her tone. It had been quite sad to part with her beloved, and she dearly wanted it back, but oh well, now was not the time to dwell. "But if you're one hundred percent sure.... thank you" She finally took the broom from him, thinking to herself how thoughtful he was to give up his own broom for her and make sure he was taking all the necessary precautions for her to stay safe. How sweet. Though she could not help but feel a little guilty nonetheless.

Then they both took off. Akari realizing how much she truly missed this when she was thoroughly enjoying the simple flying drills and the warm ups that they were practicing before he would show her her any actual tricks. She had never done this sort of thing before since she would normally just stick to whatever they were taught in class or in quidditch, never really straying far from the school taught skills. She wondered how hard these tricks would be for her to grasp and at this moment she was rather happy that she had at least some previous flying experience. It would probably make it a lot easier on her since she was super comfortable in the air and would be less likely to embarrass herself by slipping or something. Hah. That would indeed be bad.

After a while of doing the warm up exercises Aaron pulled up beside her, and she slowed herself down to fist bump him back with a chuckle. "Mhm!" She nodded, she was as ready as she would ever be. "Yes show me!" She grinned, stopping herself fully, and completely averting her attention to be focused on Aaron. She was certainly curious as to what he had up his sleeve and more importantly, what she had gotten herself into.

Aaron grinned at her affirmation of being ready, and he nodded. "Okay, take a look!" he said, using the school broom to suddenly zoom higher into the sky by a few hundred feet. He was fast, even with the school broom, though of course not as fast as he could be with the Moontrimmer. He paused at the top of his arc, and pulled out the wand that was stored in his sweats. Looking down, Akari was quite small given the distance now between them, but with a wave of his wand and an incantation of summons, small circles zoomed up to him from his satchel down on the ground. He had accio'd two reducio'd hula hoops from his bag.

As soon as they reached him, he waved his wand again and (after one failed cast) was able to enlarge them back to normal size. And then, he tossed the two hula hoops towards the ground. Almost immediately, he got to his feet - yes, to his feet on the broom. The balance he had worked so hard to perfect was in full use now as he took a stance on the school broom as if he was a surfer or a skateboarder riding the air. And then, he was diving towards the ground. Again, still standing on the broom with careful balance but high precision.

The fourth-year was able to angle the broom downwards but still maintain his stance on the broom by lowering his center of gravity - his knees were bent quite low. The air against his face was a welcome rush, and he had a smirk on his lips as he performed for Akari - confidence grabbed from having a captivated audience. Even with the school broom, he was accelerating faster than the hula hoop could fall on its own, eventually shooting through one hoop and able to change trajectory and shoot back up skywards through the other hoop. It was a simple trick from appearance, but anyone with flying experience knew that the level of skill required for such a technique was high. Especially given the fact he had to crouch and make himself smaller each time he went through a hoop.

Aaron did fumble slightly as he switched back from standing to sitting on the broom, considering how unfamiliar he was with the school broom mechanics, but he recovered smoothly enough. The hula hoops were left to fall to the ground as he rocketed back towards his audience, stopping once again within touching distance of Akari.

"It's a trick I've been perfecting for a few weeks," Aaron said, breathing a bit heavily from the acrobatics of his trick. He grinned at the Gryffindor girl, using one hand to push his hair out of his face. It had been getting a bit long, and he was thinking of chopping it off for summer camp. "My owl, Chae-rin, I've been training her to recover the hoops and to fly in and out of them, but she's probably resting right now. Nocturnal schedule and all, we usually train at night these days," he explained. "I'll show you a couple more," he said, grinning and then shooting off towards the goal posts this time. He showed a couple more tricks he'd been perfecting, such as zooming through the posts and then hopping off the broom so he could balance on top of the goal posts, or do a pull up or two from the lower ones, and to even do a backflip onto them.

Eventually, a few minutes of tricks later, he was back at Akari's side, a little short of breath but recovering easy enough. "I've been thinking of a tandem trick, actually," Aaron explained, hovering in the air next to her now. "Two, actually. I guess it depends - do you get dizzy easy? Or are you more scared of dives?"

@Akari Kato