Sebastian carefully closed the door before turning to Scarlett.

"I'm just grateful that Abel's sober," he rolled his shoulders and the girl stifled a laugh as he made a comical grimace.

"Mel and Jen weren't that heavy."

"Says the one who did absolutely no heavy lifting," he whisper-shouted.

They both giggled quietly with each other before collapsing on the loveseat at the end of the hall.

Everyone had just finished help clean up the remains of the party(not that there was much to clean since Kaia threatened people into properly using the trash can) and the others were still lingering downstairs, talking to each other in low voices.

"I'm kinda glad we got high school sweethearts," Scarlett said.

Sebastian turned to her, titling his head curiously.

"There was still some things I wanted to do before, ya know, I died. Senior prom, school dances, parties like this—"

"Parties like this?" He repeated. "You're telling me you've never been to a high school party?"

"Trust me, I had a lot going on between school and sports. There were friends, yeah, but none of them ever stuck. I didn't mind, though. People were still nice to me and invited me places knowing I wouldn't be able to go, anyways," she said, sounding slightly amused.

"Well, I'm not surprised. You come off a little intense—I mean, the first day we met, you punched me in the nose."

"On accident!"

"Keep telling yourself that."

"I bet you were always at parties, huh?" He grinned as she nudged him playfully before shaking his head.

"You got me there. I was a party guy—strictly for the music and dancing. It was great fun, just like tonight until shit hit the fan."

"Yeah...I hope Ana's okay. She's still outside with Samuel."

They glanced at each other and smiled when Scarlett suddenly  cleared her throat, noticing that they were now quite close, legs and arms pressed against together. She tried to casually inch her leg away from his when Sebastian tapped her knee thoughtfully.

"I heard what you asked Anastasia in the kitchen," he murmured. "Why haven't you ever asked me that?"

Her mind was drawing a complete blank as Sebastian stared at her intensely, waiting for her answer.

She didn't know how to ask him something that seemed like such a sensitive subject between them especially since it was in their unspoken job description. It felt like a topic that wasn't supposed to be brought up for discussion—just something that they naturally were supposed to understand, but how could they understand what neither of them had ever felt before?

Looking at Sebastian, she was almost afraid to ask him when he shrugged and leaned back in the loveseat, throwing an arm over the top and leaning in a little.

"Fine, I'll ask you. What are your thoughts on love?"

The question was simple and yet what kind of answer could she give him? Scarlett always thought she knew what love was and how she wanted it to be, but working with it now and seeing it in different ways, her perspective had shifted.

"I guess," she started slowly, "I would say that it's imperfect, but true. Or, if you believe in it enough and try to make it last, it can be something perfect and true. I don't know, that might sound...a little..."

Scarlett trailed off and her heart skipped a beat when she realized Sebastian was slowly leaning in closer with a serious expression on his face. Their noses were almost touching and his eyes flitted down to her lips then back up as the girl took a deep breath, his curls brushing against her forhead and—

RING, RING!

He stopped short with a sigh and pulled out his phone.

The boy's eyes never left hers as he answered it and a lightheaded Scarlett had to mentally remind herself how to breathe in as her heart thumped dramatically against her rib cage.

"Hello? We're here...yeah, we'll be down in a sec. Okay."

"Who was that?" She asked as he slipped his phone in his pocket and stood up.

They were both trying not to show how disappointed they were at being interrupted, but casually brushed the moment off as if it had never happened.

"Dawson and Kat. They came to pick us up." 

"How parental of them."

"He also said to bring out some pizza."

Scarlett rolled her eyes playfully and took the boy's outstretched hand, pulling herself to her feet before following him downstairs.

"Hey, I'm stealing a couple of boxes!" He called as they walked into the kitchen.

The others were all sitting in the small living room and Scarlett noticed that two of them were gone.

"Where's Asher and Miriam?"

"He drove her home," Jasper replied.

Before they could say anything else, Kat and Dawson burst through the front door with crazed expressions that slightly dimmed at the sight of everyone lounging about.

"Is everyone here? Is everyone okay?" Kat asked urgently, her head whipping around as she mentally head-counted the teenagers.

"I have a baseball bat, do we need to go and smash anyone's head in?" Dawson demanded and Kat whacked him in the chest.

"I may have told them what happened earlier," Sebastian said at everyone's bewildered glances, folding a pizza in half and biting off the end.

"We're okay!" Kaia reassured her.

"We leave you for less than ten hours. I swear you're all gonna give me a heart attack," Dawson groaned.

"Since when were we all your responsibility?"

"Since I said so just now," the Cupid Agent scowled at Liam and the boy raised his hands in surrender as Kat moved over to Anastasia's side.

"How are you feeling, sweetie?"

"I'm fine, really. Thank you," she murmured to the woman who nodded and gave her arm a comforting squeeze.

"Okay, does anybody need a ride? Logan?"

"Jasper's giving me a ride. Thank you, though."

"And me!" Stella piped up.

"And me!"

Liam blew a kiss at the boy who accepted it with a wink.

"I'll take Ana home," Samuel volunteered with a side glance at the girl who nodded in response.

"Melanie, Jenevieve and Abel are upstairs sleeping. I'll get them home tomorrow morning."

"Okay," Kat said slowly, "so...everyone's good? We don't need to worry about anything else?"

"Not a thing. I've got it all under control."

"Her," Dawson pointed at Kaia, "I believe her."

The Cupid Agents were intent on making sure everyone was good and taken care of before herding the kids out of the house and watching them all get into their separate vehicles and driving off. Kat had made a fuss over the three sleeping teenagers, fluffing their pillows and tucking in the sides of their blankets before Dawson dragged her back down to the driveway to take Scarlett and Sebastian home, both of whom proceeded to pass out in the back of the car during the ride.

Once they reached the house, Kat slipped her phone out of her pocket and snapped a picture of them with a little giggle before looking at Dawson who was smiling at her.

"What?"

"Nothing," he shrugged, "I just haven't seen you this happy in awhile."

"I'm always happy!"

"Now you're just lying to yourself."

Kat laughed and shook her head, turning back to the sleeping teenagers with a soft expression.

"Do you think they're gonna choose to Ascend?" Her voice was hushed, but Dawson could hear the smallest hint of sadness at the thought.

"Whatever they choose, we'll support them."

"Of course we will," she sighed, "but that doesn't mean we won't miss them."

Sebastian suddenly began to mutter in his sleep before he slowly opened his eyes, letting out a loud yawn and stretching, his arm catching Scarlett in the side of the head. The girl groaned angrily before slumping against the door.

"Come on, let's get them inside," Kat said, climbing out of the car and helping the groggy teenager out who had closed his eyes again with his body on autopilot as his feet shuffled unwillingly.

Dawson was having a little trouble getting Scarlett out since she was leaning against the door and opted to quickly yank it open and catch her before she hit the ground—unsurprisingly, the girl's eyes didn't budge at all.

"Dawson!" Kat hissed, half-struggling to drag Sebastian to the front door.

"What? I didn't drop her!"

He lifted her into his arms and both Cupid Agents, although having a little trouble getting their trainees into the house without losing their balance, quickly and carefully put them to bed, their gazes lingering with the softest of smiles and the strongest of hopes that neither of them were brave enough to say aloud.

"Good night, Scarlett," Dawson whispered, closing her door and turning to bid his partner a good night when the young woman, who had walked up behind him, suddenly leaned up and pressed her lips against his cheek with a little grin.

"Good night, Dawson."

"I—wait!"

He reached for Kat, but she was already halfway down the hall and he watched as she disappeared to the other side of the house, a corner of his mouth turning up into a crooked smile.

"Good night, Kat."

♡♡♡

Samuel's hands were gripping the steering wheel almost nervously as he pulled up to the front of Anastasia's house. The car ride had been silent and he was feeling a little foolish for prattling on about how he felt just a while earlier, but he didn't regret it—in fact, as the girl turned to him with a little smile, his hand was reaching for hers before he knew what was he doing.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked her softly.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before she released a breath and slumped back against the seat, lacing her fingers with his and never looking away once.

"It's scary to think about what would have happened if Miriam wasn't there, but I promise I'm okay...and...," her stomach was doing anxious flips as Samuel waited for her to continue, "I just wanted you to know that I care about you, too."

The last bit came out a little rushed, her cheeks considerably warm and only growing hotter when Samuel tilted his head and gave her an adorable grin.

"And we don't have to hurry into anything," she quickly assured him, "I mean, we've known each other for a pretty long time, but that doesn't mean we know know each other so I think it'd be good for us to develop a—a strong foundation to our friendship first and then—I don't know, go from there? Go where, I have no idea, but it'd be good to start somewhere and then...move up? Is that—is that the right—"

"Hey," Samuel interrupted her with a laugh, "we can do whatever you're comfortable with and if you just wanna roll as friends and get to know each other first, that's fine by me."

"Right! Right, okay! So...," she glanced at him, "do you wanna start or should I?"

"Oh, you meant now?"

"...yes."

"Okay. Well, uh, what's your favorite foo—"

"Pie."

"...that was fast."

"...I know."

Samuel hadn't intended to stay and talk with Anastasia as long as he did and she didn't think he would want to after such a disastrous ending to an otherwise good party, but they discussed everything from favorite movies to old childhood pets to where they saw themselves in five years, laughing and talking and sometimes just enjoying each other's company in silence before bringing up another topic.

They'd gone and talked for so long that Samuel didn't realize that he'd fallen asleep as he slowly opened his eyes, lifting his head to see that the sun had risen and was shining through the windshield.

Anastasia was curled up in the passenger seat and using his leather jacket as a blanket, her hair hiding some of her face as she slept.

Samuel smiled at the sight, reaching forward to brush the curls away when a knock came at his window. He turned to see two men, both at least a few years older than him standing outside of his car—one looked curious while the other glared at Samuel as he rolled down his window with an annoyed look on his face.

"Who the hell are you?" The first one demanded.

"Who the hell are you?"

A soft gasp made him glance over his shoulder to see that Anastasia had woken up and was looking at the men, whipping his jacket into the backseat before pasting on a nervous smile.

"You know these guys?" He asked.

She nodded.

"Ah, Carter, Ty—this is Samuel. Samuel," Anastasia gestured to the men weakly, "these are my brothers."

"Your...," Samuel trailed off and slowly turned to them with as much of a winning smile as he could conjure.

"Very nice to meet you."

"Mhm."

"....Anyone up for a coffee?"

♡♡♡

in the words of myself:

"some pretty good content
is better than no content at all"

shout out to ash for the sign-off gif because I mean, look at it, it's gORGEOUS, PHEW—y'all should definitely check out her graphic shop for more of her amazing talents. also, to the mf akshayah, for the encouragement—you suck, ily. and to my other mf, kylie—thank you for existing, ily.

thank you all for reading!!!

xoxo, celine 🧸