If you need me

LOCATION Bash' house
DATE 4th of August 2021
TIME 18.00 ish
ATTIRE white t-shirt and a pair of black shorts.
TOPIC FOR @Tien xx
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It had been going on like this for a while, and he enjoyed it. Tien seemed to have getting a lot better, he would even dare say her confidence had taken a boost for the better. Bash had invited her over for pizza, since Nicole and Aleks were out - why not actually spend the days off he had with Tien. They usually did this, so there was no 'big deal' about it per say. He wanted to spend time with her, and he had spend more time with her than he had spend with his actual family. Or that was a lie, he had spend his birthday with his family, in a very special way. He had asked his biological father if he wanted to come over for for lunch, and had made lunch for him. Just because he had missed every other birthday, and there was a fiber in Bash' body that found it so unfair.  And it had been really nice, getting to know his actual father over the past months even if they were both very busy people. Sebastian was used to having parents that were busy, even if he saw Ash the most - but Ash was also very busy. "I think the food should be here any second, but you were totally right - we could have made it ourselves by now," he chuckled a bit looking over at her with a warm smile. His feelings for Tien over the past months, had bloomed into something he couldn't really put his finger on.

He was happy that she found herself comfortable enough to just make herself at home. Even Aleks' cat was fond of her. Bash watched her as she got up from the floor and slowly approached him, she had been on the floor for so long it was natural to feel a little bit dizzy. She had done such a great job over the last few months, and he was so proud of her. He placed his arms over cross and took a deeper breath in, while taking her in standing here. So, the sound of her voice making him raise his brow a little, just a little with a still warm smile on his lips. "Well, they were supposed to be here like what, an hour ago, five more minutes and I will complain - and perhaps we will get the order for free," he took a sharper breath in. Bash wanted take out when he'd had a long day and just wanted to find comfort in something - this was not finding comfort in waiting for this long to get his food. "But we can get a pepsi max while we wait, or what you might be in the mood for? And figure out what we are going to watch while we wait," Sebastian suggested. He didn't really watch that much tv or shows, other then when he watched stuff with Tien or Aleks.

A little smirk appeared on her lips as he mentioned he would complain and hope for a free order. She liked that belief and wouldn’t mind another night with pizza from the same place, as long as it was for free. She pulled a little more on her smile as he mentioned he would grab them something to drink, but her gaze traveled to their feet as he asked what she was in the mood for. Her feet were pointing directly at him. She looked back up as he mentioned she could figure out what they could watch while they waited. How much longer did he suspect them to wait for the pizza? She was certain that though he might complain in five minutes, she might just start baking her own. She got off the furniture and let her slim hands, with nails that shined of being taken care of, gently and only for a mere moment take his hand – or rather his index finger. “Max sounds good,” she said before she let her hand slide away from his and walked back into the living room to place herself in the middle of the couch and start to search through movies. She was quick to skip plenty of series and movies which she didn’t feel would do her any good. Oh, how many movies that could trigger something. She stopped at series about dog training. She watched very little of the trailer before she found a similar program, just for cats. Did she just want background noise, or did she actually want to watch a movie? “What about Shrek?” she called to him and started searching on it. It wasn’t anything serious or anything, she could both be fully concentrated on the movie and just have it playing in the background.

Bash wasn't really that optimistic. Maybe he got that from being raised around Ash, Ash was like one big grumpy cat most of the time. Which was fine, Bash loved his father.So, he was a firm believer in the fact that it could at least take an hour before the pizza actually would arrive. "Great," he went out to the fridge to grab two cans of Pepsi Max, walking back to the living room, which wasn't really that long of a walk. He looked at her as she had placed herself in the middle of the couch and looked through the different options there was on display. It always surprised Sebastian how many different shows these programs had. He was still a fan of just putting on a dvd, there was just something special about it - but no no, Aleks had bought Netflix and other different streaming services. Shrek? Wasn't that one of those DreamWorks movies? Oh yes, he did recall that one. Aleks had feared the Shrek when they had been younger. "Its fine," he chuckled a bit before walking over sitting down next to her on her left side. Sebastian handed her one of the Pepsi's before opening his own and took a sip of it. "So, do you have any plans the next week before school starts again?" Sebastian asked curious, he didn't know if she had made any plans. But he opened that since he actually had a week vacation that maybe they could do something, go somewhere and see something other than this town.

She looked up at him as he replied, sat down and handed her a Pepsi Max. She pressed the play button on the movie. She tapped the top of the can three times with her nail before she tried to open it with the flesh of her fingers. She didn’t want to ruin her nails now that they had finally gotten somewhat pretty. He wondered about her next week, which made her sigh while she leaned over to his shoulder, pressing her lips together to a small pout shortly. “Well, not really… Probably with you when you’re free…” she took a sip of the soda before she turned her eyes up towards him. With a greater grip on her soda, she turned a little and let herself lay down with her head on his lap, looking up at him. She held the can with one hand on her belly and let the other find the hook of his arm to hold onto. “Whyyyy?” she asked almost teasingly, simply just hoping he had a day off or something like that. She was quite interested in what he was hiding, but she was quite sure that whatever it was, she would be glad to hear it.

As she leaned over to his shoulder, he moved his light brown eyes towards the angel and gave her a soft smile. Lifting his free hand over, to run a lock of her hair behind her hair, he drew a slightly deeper breath in. He exhaled in a smile when she mentioned she was likely to be with him when he was free, which was true. Then she turned a little and let herself lay down with her head on his lap, making his free hand trace some of her hair away from her face while looking down at her. "Well, you see," he started almost as if he was going to start telling this grand story, but then he just breathed out with a warmer smile that matched the warmth in his eyes. "I have that week off, so, I wondered if we should go somewhere? Together," he suggested while tilting his head a little bit, still keeping his eyes locked with hers. "I mean if you want to?" Bash chuckled a little bit, then lifting his can up and opened it before taking a sip. His eyes then returned to her. "I have no idea where to go though, so we would have to plan something." Sebastian usually didn't go that much out. Mostly because he was so busy, he didn't have the need to explore the world like that, he liked and found comfort in his family and people he loved. So, exploring a little bit once in a while with a loved one was perfect.

As if he was about to tell a very interesting story, you could see how Tien’s eyes shined of excitement. A day off? Oh, how she wished. She didn’t even think about it being the whole week, since to her, it never really seemed like he had any time off – or well, she would like to spend even more time with him, even though they almost saw each other every day.


Her eyes didn’t leave his at any moment as he told what he had been hiding. He had a whole week off and he wanted to go somewhere together. She was completely blown out of her mind with a smile widely spread across the recovering face. “If I want to? I would love to!” Her eyes left him as he took a sip of his can, but only to find the nearby table and place her can on it. She turned her eyes back to him and sat up to be on his eyelevel and express her excitement. She was ready to go now, if he asked her. She paid no attention to the movie running in the background. She folded her legs and had her back to the television. She had to keep herself from just crawling up and sit on his lap with her eyes towards her. “Well do you want sun and sunbathing or go exploring or to investigate the city?” she wondered and bit her lower lip a little. It was his holiday after all, so she wouldn’t mind whatever he chose. She would travel the world with him, if that was what he wanted. A child would definitely have been jumping up and down and not be able to sleep until the holiday was at the door.

A more teethy smile lighted up on his face when she mentioned she would love to go on vacation with him. To be fair they could both use a good break away from Aston and all of Gaia. They really could. Even Bash couldn't recall the last the he had more than just the weekend off. When you were raised by someone like Ash you learned how important it was to work hard. It just seemed like Lexie was the only one following that vision completely, and she hadn't even been a part of the family that long. But her and their father shared that vision, which was perhaps the reason why it had worked so well with adopting her to the family. "I'm happy to hear that," he confessed with a confident nod. She turned her front more towards her, not giving the tv much of her attention, which he understood they were talking. Eye contact was important.

The plans. The planning, not his strongest suit, but at least he had some idea of what he wanted. "Well, to be totally out of it crazy. I was thinking maybe Hawaii... or maybe Fiji, I always wanted to go both places, but never had the time," he confessed. The fact that he was as successful as he was at this point was caused by hard work, right contacts and even more hard work - that didn't include breaks or vacations. "Surfing, city exploring, whatever the hell we want," he chuckled a little bit.

A break from everything was just what both of them needed. Being sober also made her able to know that he really needed a break from his work – not that she was willing to stay away from him, because she was work for him too, or at least that was what she told herself when she slept alone and he wasn’t there. She mirrored the warm smile he gave her when he said that he was happy to hear that she would love to go on a vacation with him.

Tien raised her brows as he mentioned where they could travel to. It was some interesting places that he mentioned, and it was warm and somehow leaned a lot towards sunbathing – but he didn’t really seem like the type who just wanted to lay on a beach and get a tan. “Mhmm?” she said lovingly hoping that he would elaborate what he wanted to do. She chuckled a little as she said they could do whatever the hell they wanted. “It’s sounds really exciting,” she said with a smile spread from one ear to another. Her eyes sought to his hand which had corrected her hair a little earlier. She took it with both of her hands pressing her lips together a little, thinking. “When did you last give yourself a break?” she wondered. After all, she had a long holiday between her school years, and he worked almost every day, and spent so much time with her. Did he every really let go and do just what he wanted? Yeah, maybe it was a spiral of thoughts, but she cared for his wellbeing just as much as he had put time into her wellbeing. They both wished each other the very best.

It did sound really exciting, he agreed, and he was happy that she agreed as well. The next question did surprise him a little, no one ever really asked him that. The term break wasn't really in the whole vocabulary in the Mitchell family. "Break? What is that?" He teased a bit, even if he did know she meant it. Because Sebastian also knew that he needed a break, it wasn't just others behaviors and body language he could pick up on, it was also his own. Bash was a highly reflective person, and sometimes even to the scary point - because if he did something bad to himself, he knew it was bad before he even did it, and doing it anyways was just being self destructive. He pushed that thought gently out of his head. "But then it's a good thing we can have one week of vacation, huh?" He leaned a little in and placed his lip on her temple, chuckled a little as he looked into her eyes. Bash' line of work was one thing, and even if he had a natural gift for understanding what was going on with people, it didn't change the fact that he sometimes learned way more detailed things that needed to be written down, all the paper work. His least favorite task with his job. "But how about we each write down some activities we would want, and we can call it our travel bucket list - I don't reckon we are going to sit in the sun and look pretty all day." He chuckled a little by his suggesting.

He acted like he didn’t even know the work, making her raise a brow. She was serious about her question, because she was quite sure that no matter what, it had been way too long since he had given himself a break, which wasn’t just him eating his thai dinner or sleeping, because that wasn’t a break. He almost pushed her question away, saying it was a good thing they could have one week of vacation, “Hmmm,” she said, clearly not completely satisfied with that. She couldn’t help but think that he didn’t even get a break when he was on a vacation with her, because he was still working when she was around. She closed her eyes as he placed his lips on her temple, and he almost succeeded with making her forget her question about when he last gave himself a break. Tien had been good at giving herself breaks lately, with the help of Sebastian.
A bucket list was a good idea. “Okay, okay!” she said and quickly got up from her seat, almost falling over the coffee table. She went and got a pen and a small notebook. On her way back, she was already writing in the notebook. She wrote down the title and as the first point on the list she wrote: ‘Sebastian taking a walk by himself’ hoping that it could be a break for himself, so he wouldn’t have to pick up on everything she did. What she was doing while he was out, she didn’t really know yet. Hopefully she wouldn’t throw herself into some kind of panic. Maybe she could get herself a haircut? Wouldn’t that be kind of exotic to get a haircut on a tropical holiday? She handed him the notebook, both for letting it be him who wrote in the book, and to let him see the first point she had made. “So, surfing. Dancing with the locals? Kayaking?”

A lot of people made bucket lists, most over events that they would like to happen before they died. For immortal creatures, small lists of events you want to happen for each vacation or over a couple of months, he liked to do that himself. He watched her get up to go get a notebook and a pen, even watching her write something in it. He took a mouthful of his Pepsi before placing the can on the coffee table. Sebastian took the notebook when it was handed to him, his eyes looking over the first point she had written down, making him chuckle a little bit, he didn't fight her on this. Bash couldn't really remember the last time he had went for a walk in nature by himself for just embraced nature. It was so healthy to do, and yet he ignored all his own advices over and over. Then again, no one ever told him to breathe and take it slow. He was always on. Even if he still was on while being with Tien, it didn't feel like work to him. He just wanted her to be happy and thrive in life.

Bash tabbed the end of the pen towards the notebook shortly, reflecting on what they could write. He looked over to her as she suggested some activities. "Good idea," he pointed at her with the pen, before writing them down. "I bet we can go on like a cruise or something too, do you like sailing?" He asked. Going on water, he wasn't really sure if she liked that, he did just standing there on the boat looking at ocean. He heard to knock on the door, "I almost forgot we were waiting for pizza." He placed the notebook down, and walked out to get the pizza. Then returning with it, he made way back to the couch and placed the two pizza's on the table.

She pulled on a smile as he chuckled a bit by her deciding that he had to take a walk by himself. It was good for both of them. The smiled was once again being pulled when he said it was a good idea. She looked at his hand while he wrote the things down, she had mentioned. Watched how the pen ran across the paper and how his handwriting looked. It was interesting how his handwriting changed depending in the words and how fast he wrote. Some of the letters were difficult to read, and others were almost as reading comic sans. He caught her eyes when he asked if she liked sailing, she pulled on a soft smile. “Sailing is fine,” she said and for a moment she didn’t take her eyes of him. Pretty light brown eyes he had. Eyes she could look into for forever. She could feel how all of her felt so relaxed next to him, and she couldn’t really recall when she had actually felt so great where it hadn’t been some drug causing some serious side effects. She bit her lower lip and started to wonder what would happen if…

It knocked on the door and she quickly looked towards the door. She forgot everything about the nice feeling about just being here with him as a small panicking started to rumble underneath her skin. …Waiting for pizza. Oh, yeah. That is correct. Her shoulders lowered themselves as he got up to receive the pizza. She licked her lips and took a mouthful of the soda. He then returned with the pizzas, and she looked up at him with a gentle smile before she did her best to make as much room as possible for the pizza boxes. Mostly just removing their sodas for a moment. When he sat down, she put their sodas back on the table and leaned forward to open both of their pizzas. “Did you remember to complain?” she wondered and looked over her shoulder before she looked back and took a slice of pizza.

The lovely smell seemed to quickly dominate the living room, there wasn’t really anything no quite like a good pizza, shared in good company. Did he remember to complain, he turned his eyes to Tien with a small grimace, clear sign he had forgotten. But he had been so excited to share his idea of vacation and the fact she had been onboard with it, it had just completely made him forget all about the complain. ”I completely forgot all about that,” he laughed a little before rushing his hand through the curly hair. And he looked at her again taking a deeper breath in.  He was an over thinker, who wasn’t some would ask, and they could be on to something. Bash just worried too much about how his affection and feelings towards Tien could affect her, that he hasn’t been taking any chances. And usually he was a confident guy. But he was just scared of overstepping.  He was not blind to the signs. And they were there lighting up like a billboard, but did he dare to take that chance? ”Tien?” waiting till she looked at him and took a deeper breath in. “I’m really happy that we started seeing each other again” he confessed, wanting her to know. Then he lifted his hand slowly up to her left cheek, using his index finger to trace one of her locks behind her ear. Then he took his chance and leaned in to let his lips touch hers in a brief moment.

Tien smiled an chuckled a little over his grimace, “It’s alright,” she took a slice and a small bite of it, just to test how hot the pizza was and whether or not the cheese was able to be pulled. As he said her name, she put the slice back down and covered her mouth a little as she swallowed the piece. Slowly she took her hand down, revealing a gentle smile. She was about to reply that she was very happy about that too when she saw his hand travel to her cheek. It was almost like time stood still as he removed a lock of hair and leaned closer to give her a brief kiss.
At first, she didn’t really know what to say or do, almost as if she was frozen. But he didn’t get very far away from her, before she leaned forward to kiss him again, snaking both of her arm around his neck slowly, but insisting that she didn’t want him gone. She was passionate and calm. There was no rush, because it felt like nothing could ruin this moment. She caressed the back of his head and deepened the kiss. She felt like she was willing to do anything and everything with him, even though the truth might be different.

The mere second felt like ages, and he took a sharper breath in, but he also didn't move. Because he wanted to take her in, but he didn't really get a chance to do so, before she leaned forward and kissed him. Feeling her arms snaking around his neck, his hands moving towards her waist, pulling her a bit closer, nothing rushed or demanding on his movements other than wanting her closer towards him. He kissed her back, moving one of his hands back to her cheek, tracing his fingers gently through her hair. He had wanted to do this for quite a while, but hadn't been building up the courage to do so, till now, and he was so glad he did. He released their lips from each other, letting his nose kiss hers for a moment before leaning his forehead against hers. Taking a deeper breath in, allowing them to take in the moment for a while longer. The last thing Bash wanted was to overstep or reach a point where she couldn't be in the moment anymore, and he didn't mind taking it easy and slow. As long as he was with her, he didn't mind. Because to him, she was the most important thing he had outside for his family.

She felt his arms wrap around her making her take a sharper breath in, trying to fight the demons who was knocking on the door. The demons wanted to snake around her waist and pull her into memories of the worst relationship anyone could every wish for. The demons wanted her to remember the ‘good moments’ of that man whom she wanted to forget more than any other. Not even her father was on that post. She wished to salvage this moment. Trying to keep them at bay, she just leaned closer to him. As he traced his fingers gently through her hair she felt shivers down her spine, but she did her best to repress the bad memories which had caused the shivers. He wasn’t around to pull in her hair to get what he wanted or to make her do what he wished she did. He wasn’t around trying to make her scream for his own pleasure.
Their lips parted, and he kissed her nose, which made her chuckle a little, pulling on a smile. Oh, how she had loved this if this hadn’t been for her mind screwing it up. He put his forehead on hers, and as if he pushed a button a year glided down her cheek, but she did her best to keep quiet. She didn’t want to ruin this moment, not yet at least.

But she couldn’t keep a sniffle back and therefore made her left hand dry her cheeks, which made her blink a little. “Sorry,” she mumbled with a slightly hoarse voice, letting her hands find their way back to his neck, caressing it a bit, closing her eyes, trying to collect herself, but it also pushed a few tears overboard. “I mean,” the words swallowed themselves and she tried to swallow the lump that it had left in her throat. “I just don’t know how to…” she shrugged on her shoulders a little, “Like I really want to,” everything she wished to say was being thrown around in her mind.

He could feel something was off, but as quickly as he opened his eyes and let him study her face and her body language, he knew it was something more about her own fight than him. Which was okay. He was never going to judge her for healing, for struggling. "Hey, its alright," he assured her with a lower voice and took a deeper breath in. Still keeping himself close, but he didn't push anything forward, he was just there. Feeling how she still had her arms around his neck, trying. She really did try. "You don't need to apologize to me," he reminded her with a tender voice and took a deeper breath in, keeping his breathing steady in case she needed it to follow at a point. "There is no rush, it's alright," he added and moved his hand to her face, caressing her cheek a little. "There is no rush, you are safe and here with me okay? You are alright," he reminded her of where she was. She wasn't stuck in whatever past relationship that had torn her apart, she wasn't with someone who wished to hurt her in any way.

He tried to assure her, which was a nice feeling. Whenever Judas had tried to assure her of something, it had always been to lure her into doing something which he already knew was bad for her. She sniffled a bit as he reminded her that she didn’t have to apologize to him. “Yeah, I know,” she mumbled somewhat suffocated by her not wanting to let the trauma overwhelm her too much. She could hear how he purposely breathed steady, which made her close her eyes tight trying to follow it. She could even feel how her forearms moved along  with his collarbone and chest. No rush, and it was alright, with a caressing hand on her cheek. She took a raspy breath in and somehow it felt like someone turned off the heat from her boiling trauma. She nodded a little as he told her that she was safe with him and that she was alright. She let her thumbs caress the corner of his jaw on each side. “It’s alright,” she repeated before she let her nose slide down next to his before she planted a kiss on his lips ever so softly. Her hands traveled further up his neck and a little into his hair. “I don’t understand why-” she couldn’t really make herself say the words she wished to say, because she knew that she was a complete mess and she needed help to work out all the knots which had been made in her memory and infiltrated in her reactions. How could he not find her to be a whole lot of extra work? Her fingers grabbed around his hand and pulled it slightly away from her face, so she could kiss the root of his hand. “I’m such a mess and… So much fucking work,” she shook her head a little before she buried her head in his hand. “I can’t even have a nice evening without reminding myself of what he did… And…” she took another raspy breath and crawled more or less on top of him, with her knee on each side of his hip. She didn’t think much about the fact that he might want to get up at some point. She looked up at him, her eyes already read and somewhat puffy. What a sight. She let a hand gently run from his temple to his jaw, “I know you’re not him,” she assured him and shook her head a little, “But he ruined me,” she tried to keep a smile on her lips, “And no matter how much you fix something that’s broken, it’ll never be the same,” she said, referring to Sebastian being the one who would try and fix her. She was traumatized so deeply and she carried so many demons, that she didn’t believe she would ever get rid of them, not even with his help.

He wanted her to feel safe. He knew things weren't really easy with her youngest brother lately, and that he was an escae. He understood that and it was alright, as long as she felt safe. That was all he wanted, for her to feel safe enough to let her guards down around him, even if he could see through them it was nice she actually confessed she didn't understand what was going on with her. Because, even if he did know and could say somethings, he didn't want to overwhelm her with the whole factor of him knowing. "Hey, healing takes time. Just like everything else, and you are process is process - you already have made it so far," he assured her in a lower tender voice as she kissed the root of his hand and she buried her head in his hand. What he did, it stung, not because he took any of it personal, because he didn't. But it was the fact that he knew that she carried this by herself, using herself as a shield to take on any punch her way. He could tell it was exhausting.

Bash took a deeper breath in and gently placed her hands in his. "He didn't ruin you, only if you let him have that power over you. No one expects you to be the same person after all this, and that's alright," he took a deeper breath in and gave her hands another squeeze. "Your strength cannot be taken from you, not ever, even if it has felt like that for a while. But you are here, alive and you survived what he did to you. It will take time to heal, and that's alright." Bash took a slightly deeper breath in while looking at her, taking her in.

Her teeth sunk a little into her lower lip, nodding to his words. She understood what he told her. It had been a long way, and there was so much more in front of her. She had to keep on fighting even if she didn’t know where she was heading or why she did as she did.
He took her hand and held it in hers, making her look shortly at their hands before she looked up at him. Only if you let him have that power over you. She tried to pull a smile. Almost as if she had wrapped all the power in the world with a nice tie, she felt like she had handed all the power to Judas like a gift. Because she felt completely ruined. Afraid that he would find her again and what he would be willing to do. She closed her eyes and nodded a bit as he said that no one expected her to be the same person after everything, and this was alright. How could people not think she would be the same? I clearly had felt like everyone at home had thought she would be the same.
He gave her hands a small squeeze, which made her look down towards her wrists again. She got slightly self-conscious and wished to put on a big sweater, even though it was way too warm to wear anything like that. She looked back up as he talked about her strength. Her smile was still somewhat hesitant. “Yeah,” She let her hands roll a little so she could hold his hands correctly. She sniffled a bit and took one of her hands to make sure her cheeks were completely dry “I’m sorry, this isn’t really that charming,” she chuckled. She found his hand again. “Thank you,” she almost whispered. It got easier to smile for real, “We should really eat out pizza,” she chuckled, even though she didn’t really want to crawl off of him and something lingered in her to actually try again. Try to push her boundaries again. Hopefully they would move at some point.

"You don't have to say worry for anything Tien, it's okay to fall apart some times - its what makes us human," he reminded her with a gentle smile as her hand once again found his, saying thank you. Bash took a sharper breath in and nodded a bit to her. It was one step of the long journey she had ahead, but he had faith in her, and he knew she could make it if she just believed in herself and put in all the hard work she already put in. Reminding him they really should eat the pizza made him chuckle a bit, yeah they should, so they did. Eating the pizza while discussing what they should make of plans for their vacation.

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