Chapter 641

"Selfish," Daphne says a little later, laughing as she reaches out and snatches the cookie packet from Jesse's hand. "How many of these are you going to eat?"

“All of them, obviously," Jesse murmurs, lunging to grab them back but missing when Daphne laughs again and pulls them to her other side. "I have to eat them all - Ariel's more likely to notice that half a pack is missing than a whole one."

"You stole these from Ariel!?" Daphne's gasp is scandalized.

"They taste better when you steal them," Jesse says, grinning, "Especially from Ariel. She gets so mad."noveldrama

Daphne laughs with him and takes a cookie herself before handing the pack back. "I never get you sibling-types," she says, taking a small bite and then curling up in her chair with her head resting on the back of it, gazing at bit at the boy next to her. "All the teasing - what's the point?"

"I don't really know," Jesse says, turning towards her as well, both of them blissfully ignoring the show that the sky is putting on, seemingly just for them. “Something about growing up in such close proximity just...makes you want to torture the crap out of someone, even if they're your favorite person on earth."

Daphne grins at him, a little whistful. "That kind of sounds...nice. Psychotic, but nice."

"Do you think you'd have liked it?” he asks, letting his eyes drift freely over her now in this stolen moment – over the gentle curve of her cheek, the way she curls up so neatly in the chair. "Having as many siblings and cousins as I've got?"

"I don't know," she whispers with a bit of a frown. "I think I'd be...a completely different person if I had. So it's like asking me if I want to be someone else."

“That's a no, then,” Jesse says, decided, reaching for the whiskey bottle. “Any world in which we lose you precisely as you are is a tragedy, so - definitely a no." He gives her a coy wink before taking a sip.

“Oh, you're just flattering," Daphne says with a sigh, accepting the bottle from his hand and taking her own long sip. Jesse smirks, knowing that he means every word of it. "What about you? Ever miss being an only child?"

"Never really was," he murmurs, looking steadily at her now. "Rafe and Ari were always around, riding the coattails of my glory -"

Daphne laughs, shaking her head at him and looking out over the landscape again. He grins and keeps his eyes on her.

The pair sit in quiet for a long moment, but none of it is awkward, none of it bad. Just...peaceful.

"Tell me what you're thinking, please," Jesse says, quiet.

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Daphne blinks out of her reverie and turns back to him, an embarrassed smile shaping her mouth. "Well," she says with a sigh, snuggling up against the cushion. "I was thinking about...how much nicer this year at the Academy is. Compared to the others that I've spent here."

Jesse's face breaks into its own smile. "And I assume I can take full credit for this improvement?"

"Conceited," Daphne says with a scowl, kicking out her foot to tap punishingly against his knee. His smile deepens. "Only partial credit. But really, she shrugs, "having you all here has been...so nice. I didn't have a lot of friends growing up - I was a solitary little creature and when I came here I never expected to make real friends. I'm very grateful that Ariel stepped onto my riser that day I think my life would be... very different if she hadn't."

Jesse smiles, looking down at the cookies in his lap, suddenly grateful for that little twist of fate too. "Wish I'd gotten you as my tailor that day as well," he murmurs, fliddling absently with the cookie packet.

"Oh yeah?" Daphne asks, soft. "Why?"

"Because," Jesse replies, looking over at her. "The guy I got was handsy."

"What!?" Daphne bursts out, laughing.

"He was!" Jesse insists, making her laugh harder. "Honestly, it doesn't take anyone that long to measure an inseam - he was thorough -"

“Jesse!” she protests, kicking him again. “You're such a liar –“

"I'm not!" he counters, laughing as well, pretending to flinch away from her kick. "It was like, intimate - at one point he made eye contact - I don't know, Daph, your co-workers..."

But soon they're both laughing too hard to continue, and Jesse quietly enjoys the sincere pleasure of making her laugh - the way her eyes crinkle up into half-moons, the way her laugher spills from that beautiful smile, her whole body shaking with joy.

God, if I could just have the chance to make her laugh like that every day - for the rest of his life...

But it fades after a moment, and Daphne's eyes open again, pleasure still shining there. "I never know what you're going to say, Jess," she sighs, shaking her head at him.

"That's what I'm here for," he murmurs, giving her a wink. "Keeping you on your toes."

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She nods, glancing out over the landscape again. "Whole world seems to want to do that lately, though," she sighs, her joy fading from her a bit. "That's the other half of what I was thinking about before - how happy I am, and how Selfishly angry I am at Atalaxia for calling you all off to war and messing it all up."