boys will be boys ((comarth))

As soon as he had the chance to excuse himself from playing card games with his grandmother, Thius apparated to the Selwyn home to finally be able to "yell" from the rooftops about his love and adoration for Bellona and the many confusing, weird (for one of his upbringing) thoughts and ideas that came with it. Well, it wasn't really yelling. It was more like he could turn off his formal voice more within the safety of the Selwyn garden maze. He'd never be able to talk about this stuff in depth with Hector, mainly because he was his brother, and also because he'd never understand the mere idea of not being into the more dominant role. Sure, he could talk like men with Ptolemy, but he didn't like how he spoke about his girlfriend, and Thius really couldn't trust him to be completely free of judgment. At least with Comarth, he knew the worst reaction he might get was what he's witnessed before: repulsion. And it was simply too early to discuss this with his girlfriend seeing as the most they've done was snog and cuddle some.

Thius sat in the maze with his legs criss-crossed as he finished tearing through a very juicy orange. Nutritious and delicious. "Before we jump into why I'm here, you'd be more appreciative of me classifying all of the books I bought and acquired this summer holiday. I mentioned it to Rowle when my sense of smell was contaminated with cigar smoke, but he automatically wanted me to speak of my relationship as if my brother wasn't right beside him. Which I would've easily done, but I always have to watch what comes out of my mouth around my relatives, especially Hector and my grandmother. And the fact that I was afraid that Rowle would blabber about it to Alayna or anyone else who might use it as a chance to humiliate either her or me..."

@Comarth Selwyn

Sixteen and pencil-thin but arguably The Hungriest Boy That Ever Lived, Comarth was looking through the selection he'd brought out from the manor house with salacious need. All his favourite savoury pastries and crudités and sandwiches were lined up, neatly in a row, and begging for him to make the first selection. He did, eventually, eating the bacon-wrapped rosemary and sage chipolata and savouring it with an expression of utter content on his face.

"By subject, I assume?"

The gazebo encased in ivy hadn't been visited since Dahlia had been there. With ample seating space and a table for their spread, however, it couldn't have been a better place to hide away from eavesdroppers.

"So I am the only one willing to listen," he concluded, as he went through the possibilities of family members and Ptolemy Rowle. He wasn't the least bit bitter about it: it was simply a way for him to gather what had been said and find meaning in it. "That, in itself, isn't wholly aggrieving. As we share common ground in our curiosities, we can only be of use to each other. So."

He declared this, and with a long pause added: "Why do breasts have such a powerful hold over us?"

@Melanthius Burke

"Yes, by subject and by author which I eventually sort by alphabetical order. If I feel like changing things up, I sort by color. With the amount of books I own, I'd lose my mind without an intricate system."

Thius nodded as he grabbed a few biscuits to nibble on; even though there was nothing remotely formal about this, he still preferred to make as little of a mess as possible.

He stared off as his mind painted images of his girlfriend's chest; he could've easily touched her there, but he stopped himself. Well, he had to resist the urge to. Being in public was the greatest deterrence to succumbing to his desires.

"Because they're bloody hot, Comarth. That's why."

Taking a loud bite of a biscuit, he savored it as his molars broke it down. Swallowing, Thius cleared his throat then added, "My girlfriend knew of my interest in her early on as I kept looking at her breasts and her bum. Her curves... They excite me. Merlin, she ignites something within me.. I've always been fond of women, but there's a je ne sais quoi she has that all of the other women lack."

@Comarth Selwyn

"I like to think you are under her Imperius Curse," he muttered, licking bacon grease off his fingers, "But I doubt it, given the circumstances of her age and, therefore, skill level."

He paused then thoughtfully whilst eyeing another chipolata.

"At least I understand something of the curiosity of women's bodies in general," he said, level-headedly, "But that is one curiosity that has ramifications, when acted upon. We can't bloody well go to a girl and state: I'd love to see and feel your breasts. And yet, if I am curious about the splitting of dragon's blood down to platelets, plasma and cells then I can jolly well get on with it. This sort of curiosity is difficult to explore without having our heads caved in by the opposite sex."

He picked up another chipolata and bit into it.

"You're just lucky that you have absolute privacy in your Head Boy room. You're more likely than I to see them any time soon."

@Melanthius Burke[/b]

He glared at Comarth, shaking his head. "My brother was probably convinced at first that I was under a love potion when that was never the case. I simply knew what my brain, my heart, and my-"

Perhaps his friend wouldn't want to explicitly hear the extent.

"Well, I just knew rather quickly that I want to marry her and more. I don't think I could've handled being in arranged marriage. With how traditional my family is, I wanted at least one facet of life, other than career, be my choice."

The scar on his upper lip was healing rather nicely, however, he, reluctantly, used a balm to make it less noticeable. That bloody mudblood Estrada mocking it. Bloody Hector not able to totally comprehend their different likes and dislikes. Bloody expectation to look exactly like every other pureblooded man!

Thius ate the other half of the biscuit and washed down the slight chalky taste and texture with sparkling water. "That is true, I plan on taking full advantage of it. Unlike Rowle and his wife, my girlfriend and I will have zero need to disturb anyone else by going back and forth between dorms. I'm glad I didn't have to dorm with him. Do you know how horrible it feels to sleep with earplugs?"

@Comarth Selwyn

"I don't think of an arranged marriage as such a burden at present, seeing as Dahlia and I have manipulated our parents' system into our own favour," Comarth was saying, perfectly unaware of his glare, "So, in a way, I have had a choice. And the choice is that I've chosen someone who will not bother me, as she wishes not to be bothered either. However," he went on, selecting something else this time. Always savoury with him - Melanthius could have as many of the sweet treats as he wanted, as far as he was concerned. "However - I feel I definitely will be a bother to her now, as my curiosity has reached a point of no return. And, as she is the only person I am attracted to, I will simply have to burden her."

He chewed the pastry he was eating thoughtfully.

"I wore them once," he said, after swallowing his mouthful, "I woke up thinking I was drowning. Something to do with the half-awake mind and the feeling of pressure. It was unpleasant, but I wonder if I would have drowned if I hadn't been able to remove them. Startling - isn't it - how powerful the mind can be without any magical corruption. It plants its own seeds and makes them our torment."

As with anything slightly macabre as drowning, Comarth moved onto the next subject without giving it any additional thought: "Your girlfriend has a fair few mounds to get over. Imagine when you finally conquer them, though. You'll be planting your flag pole right between her--" Some of the filling in the pastry slopped onto his lap. "Oh, bugger."

@Melanthius Burke

"..."

What the hell? Thius was absolutely bewildered at Comarth's latest tangent involving earplugs. The worst part about it was that he was expecting dragons to be brought into the mix, yet there wasn't a single peep of them.

"First of all, are you sure you weren't blocking your ears with a paperweight?"

All of his words were trickling down into his mind until he could put together what they meant. It felt like merely listening to Comarth change subjects with hardly any time to breathe was giving him whiplash. He drank more of the club water having the secondhand feeling of his throat being totally dry. Urgh, whatever happened to pausing?

"Second of all, you are actually attracted attracted to Travers?"

Was he more of an unintentional matchmaker than he realized?

"Lastly, when it comes to that level of intimacy, I shall wait for my girlfriend to be ready. After the potion fiasco, I doubt we'd immediately jump into penetration, and with why Rowle and Nott became parents so young, that'd give us more reason to wait."

However, that didn't stop him from adding, "I think she'll taste and smell amazing. I imagine that quite frequently... And the best part? She can't get pregnant from it."

@Comarth Selwyn

"Sure as boiled frogs," he said, as though boiled frogs were definitely a good analogy for sureness.

He was half way clearing up the mess on his trousers with a napkin when he asked the second question.

"I'm not sure that I understand the meaning of the word being repeated twice and the significance of it."

He was now dipping a fresh napkin into the water jug and making the patch wider and wider.

"But that is the final stand, isn't it? The last stage - the conquering - the slaying. I can't say I know when the right time for such a thing comes about, but my brother did say something about spoons and forks that made it all the more confusing. He said 'first it's the spooning, then the forking'. I would have thought it was the other way around, considering we usually have dinner before dessert."

@Melanthius Burke

Boiled frogs?

Thius grabbed one of the cherry pastries, refraining from biting into it until he could get his next thought out.

"Merlin... Your brother wasn't literally referring to silverware." Even Hector would know what was meant by spooning and forking! Rubbing his temple, Thius tasted the pastry, pleased at how scrumptious the filling was. He'd have to save some of these sweets for Bellona; at least the ones that obviously didn't contain raspberries. He'd been avoiding those.

"Spooning is cuddling. Forking is the actual act. Why do you think my brother kept getting on my case with how close my babe and I were? He thinks anything more than the smallest peck would quickly lead to hanky-panky."

That was why he didn't dare mention the fact that they ever cuddled to him or that she initiated it; he didn't want his girlfriend to be the receiver of his brother's fury.

"You know what the funny part is, Comarth? His ranting only made it sink in that I absolutely can't wait until marriage. She'd still be in Hogwarts for two years after I start attending university. It'd be torturous to wait so long..."

@Comarth Selwyn

"Then don't," he replied simply, shrugging. "If it somehow gets back to your parents, which rest assured I will not tell them or any other member of your family; then at least you can get engaged to Lestrange to appease them. It's a bit of a two birds, one stone thing for you: sex and marriage."

The patch on his trousers seemed to be free of pastry filling now, at least. What with the temperature and sunlight, it wouldn't be long until they dried out. Knowing this, he went for another one.

"Dahlia and Bellona both have dragon-like qualities to them, which only leads me to believe they could operate in the same way. Female dragons are notoriously more aggressive than males, and often call the shots - given slight deviations from breeds - and they can compete territorially as much as the males. There isn't so much male-on-male fighting over a mate, it's simply which male gets chosen by the female and which ones get maimed in the process."

He smiled wryly.

"In other words, we may have to take a fair few cracks to the skull before actually succeeding here."

@Melanthius Burke

"Well, I am hoping that what works in our favor if we do get in trouble is that we were already in a monogamous relationship with my intention to marry her known."

He really didn't know what he'd do if his position in the family was jeopardized because of some stupid, arbitrary rule. Thius wouldn't hesitate to marry her; he just didn't want to feel as if he was rushing things.

"Cece didn't have that going for her. She did it with some bloke she had no intentions of even courting, which I really don't quite get. It is possibly the most intimate activity you could ever do..."

Thius listened to his friend, actually grateful that for once, he made a dragon comparison that made complete sense and was flattering to her character. "And neither my brother nor Rowle would understand why I find those characteristics of hers so appealing. Sure, his wife has her aggressive moments, but you know that at the end of the day, he wouldn't put himself into any position that could have him perceived as lesser in our community. I have no choice but to emphasize her sweet side, as she genuinely does have a warm heart, at least I think so, she's just rightfully cagey with it."

"You know what I said about how I want her to step on me?" Thius neatly set his cherry pastry down on a napkin. "Well, she did just that the evening she gained the approval of my grandmother. It was so hot. As she looked me down, declaring that she will beat me in a duel, I was in awe. My palms were sweating, my heart was racing, it was like she was a living, breathing goddess determined to conquer me! I-I wonder how much longer she would've kept it or how much further it would've gone had my brother not caught us. Luckily, he didn't see anything that could be misconstrued as being inappropriate other than our disheveled appearance."

@Comarth Selwyn