The cold hit them immediately stepping off the train, sharp and clean and carrying the particular quiet of Hogsmeade under snowfall. Tati tucked herself instinctively into Bishop's side, her arm finding its familiar place wrapped around his as they fell into step together along the snow-dusted cobbl...

Tati smiled against the warmth of the kiss to her temple, leaning into him slightly as the train rocked them gently along the tracks. "A mutual understanding," she repeated, amused. "I think I'd settle for that, honestly. He doesn't have to love you immediately. Just... tolerate you l...

Tati laughed at that—a real, bright sound that fogged slightly in the warm air of the compartment. "Fair point, " she conceded, breaking off another piece of brownie and offering it to him in return. "Neither of us has ever done anything by half measures. I don't know why starting now...

Tati laughed at his expression when he took the first bite; that involuntary look of genuine surprise at how good something was, the kind of reaction that couldn't be faked and felt something settle even deeper into contentment. When he reached up to brush the strand of hair behind her ear, she lean...

Tati's heart was still doing something entirely unreasonable from his confession as he guided her up into the train car… I just want you, Beau ...the words settling into her chest like something permanent taking root. No one but him had called her Beau since she'd been in school, and she wasn't surp...

Tati listened to his description of the Secret Garden with her eyes half closed and a soft smile on her face, imagining it: the hand-painted ceiling, the candlelight, the stone walls and the feeling of being tucked away somewhere entirely hidden from the world above. The image of it settled over her...

Tati felt the blush rise immediately, warming her cheeks against the cold Edinburgh air as she looked up at him. His ears had gone pink at his own suggestion, which somehow made it exponentially more endearing, and she had to press her lips together briefly to contain the smile threatening to take o...

Tati watched the entire exchange with barely contained delight, her hand pressed to her lips as the waitress disappeared again. "We absolutely just got free dessert," she confirmed, her eyes dancing with amusement as she looked across at Bishop's bewildered expression. "I think she de...

"A fair," she repeated, her expression caught somewhere between amusement and gentle skepticism. "Bishop. You want to take Penny to a fair. Penny, who will see approximately forty seven things she wants to do simultaneously and drag us bodily between all of them until we collapse.&qu...

Tati laughed at that; a bright, genuine sound that earned a glance from the couple at the nearest table. "Pen," she said, shaking her head with the particular fondness reserved for people who were equal parts wonderful and absolutely insufferable. "Yes, she brought her dragons to show...

Tati smiled at that, warmth and understanding moving through her expression in equal measure. "He is really sweet," she agreed fondly. "He's just... very attuned to me. And very protective." She hesitated for just a moment, choosing her words carefully. "I don't think it's p...

Tati felt the shift in his expression despite his best efforts to hide it; that brief flash of something pained before he smoothed it away. She didn't push. Tonight wasn't for that. Instead she let the warmth of his response settle over her, appreciating more than he probably knew that he'd chosen t...

The wine arrived first: pale gold and dry, exactly as she'd hoped and Tati requested water alongside it with a slightly sheepish smile at the waitress. "I learned my lesson about pacing myself the hard way," she explained to Bishop as the waitress departed, wrapping both hands around the w...

Tati took in the restaurant with wide, quietly awed eyes as they were led through to their table; the dark paneling, the candlelight casting everything in that warm amber glow, the red leather seats and the hearth crackling in the corner. It felt like stepping into another era entirely, intimate and...

Tati had been glowing from his response about summer, the first thing you've actually asked for , and wasn't that a revelation in itself, that she'd been so careful about wanting things that even asking to return to a city counted as remarkable; when she looked up at the sign above the restaurant do...

The idea unfurled in Tati's chest like something coming back to life after a long winter; which, she supposed, was exactly what it was. "Adventures," she said, tasting the word like it was something she'd almost forgotten how to pronounce. "I used to think about that when we were kids...

Edinburgh. Tati stepped out of the station and immediately tipped her face upward, letting snowflakes settle against her cheeks and eyelashes. The city opened up around them; ancient stone buildings dusted white, warm golden light spilling from shop windows, the distant silhouette of the castle crow...

"Intertwining all along," Tati repeated softly, turning the phrase over in her mind. "You know, I never thought about it that way. But you're right." She followed his gaze to their reflection in the darkening window; the two of them tucked together in the small booth, her head o...

Tati felt something warm and aching bloom in her chest at his honesty. He hadn't come back for her, hadn't even known she'd be there and somehow that made everything that had unfolded between them feel even more miraculous. Like the universe had simply decided they'd been kept apart long enough. &qu...

Tati felt the last of her tension dissolve completely as they settled into the couch together, the fire warm before them, Bishop solid and real beside her. She shifted until she found the perfect position; tucked against his side, her head on his good shoulder, his jacket still draped around her lik...

The rest of their lives. Tati felt those words settle over her like the warmest blanket imaginable, chasing away the winter chill and every lingering doubt simultaneously. She let herself be pulled closer into his side as his arm slid around her, fitting against him like she'd always belonged there....

Tati laughed softly at his warning about his ego, the sound warm and genuine against his lips. "Maybe I want you to have a big ego about this particular thing," she murmured, her fingers still threaded through his hair. "You've earned it." The image he painted: stolen moments bet...

Tati felt her cheeks warm at his declaration of selfishness, at the way he crossed his heart like making a solemn vow. The earnestness in his expression made her chest tighten with affection so strong it almost hurt. "You're impossible," she said softly, but there was no real complaint in ...

The moment his lips met hers, everything else ceased to exist. Tati melted into the kiss, her fingers tightening in his hair as she pressed closer to him. This kiss was different from the ones on the balcony; less tentative, more certain. Like they'd both realized in the span of minutes that this wa...

Tati's heart squeezed at the kiss to her knuckles; that gesture that was quickly becoming theirs , something she'd associate with Bishop for the rest of her life. Every time he did it, she felt like she was living in some kind of fairytale, except this was real. He was real. They were real. "I'...