Who: Graeme Dorny and Giada Vance
What: Moving in! ( AND OTHER THINGS THAT ARE ADORABLE )
Where: THIER APARTMENT
When: This afternoon
Rating: PG




Giada really needed a big distraction like this; with Elphias finally getting out of the hospital (or at least, getting better, she'd visited his mum a few days ago) and Alexandria getting worse, oy, it was like a God send that she had to move out of her flat or get kicked out in a matter of days. Which didn't normally sound like a God send, but! It was definitely distracting enough. Especially since she was moving in with her boyfriend, which was honestly the most adult-like thing Giada had ever done in her life. What was more adult then that? Well...well okay, she could think of a few things, but in all honesty, this was just as exciting as any of those other adult experiences, she was sure. Especially since she wasn't ready for all those other things, just yet.

"Graeme?" she called over her shoulder, sitting in a circle of boxes. Giada honestly didn't have that much stuff, she'd only ever had a small room to call her own, but she did tend to...be a bit of a pack rat. So she had a lot of things dating all the way back to first year that she should probably get rid of, but she simply couldn't part with! Ugh. "Graaaaaaaeme?"

She picked up one of her records, wondering how on earth they were going to organize their new combined (eeeeeee!) collection. Because of course she had a very intricate way of cataloging them.

“Yeah! I’m over here…somewhere…”

He carefully moved around one of her boxes that was in the living room, climbed over another, and nearly tripped as he tried to find his way into their bedroom. Their bedroom, that still sounded so weird, even in his head. Not that he kept saying it in his head, but…it was still just a big thing. This was the first time he had ever lived with a girlfriend, unless you counted Joy, but that wasn’t the same thing since she had that whole separate dorm thing. This was an apartment! This was definitely different than Hogwarts.

Looking back on what had almost caused him to fall over, he sighed and then turned to see Giada, moving to rest an elbow on one of the taller boxes that were surrounding her. His eyes focused down on what she was holding before he lifted his eyes to focus on her, raising his brows curiously. “You beckoned for me?”

"I did, I did," she said with a nod, lifting her chin to scrunch her face happily at him. Sigh. This was going to be so much fun, really. Giada didn't think it was going to be that much different then before, because---well, she was over at Graeme's house almost every day anyway. Honestly, she couldn't remember the last she went a full week without staying over at Graeme's, and Merry the puppy got so confused when she was at her and Savannah's old flat, and Corny was missing her greatly, so. Obviously this was the best decision for their little family.

Family. Haa. Well! Kind of! Not as serious as Ally and Sam of course, and not as almost serious as Savannah and her boyfriend were getting, but. This was how you started stuff like that, yeah? Yes. Yes, it was exactly that, that's why it was such an adult thing to do.

"I would like to know," Giada continued, lifting up the record slip. It was The Beatles' White Album, which was a very important part of her collection and had to be handled with care, "How you would like to combine our rather eclectic collections of masterful music?"

Graeme looked down at the record and gave a thoughtful hum, rubbing his neck with his hand. “I…don’t know? Mine are all alphabetized, aaand I know that sounds lame but when I wasn’t working I had a lot of spare time. But before I had a plethora of time, they were color coded based on album cover, which again sounds lame, but it was a filing system and it worked…and I could go on and on about the different ways I sorted my records, or, you could just figure out how you want to throw yours into the mix. And if worst comes to worst we can just get another little cabinet for your albums so they’re not all mixed up with mine, because we both have…a lot.”

It wasn’t until he was done talking that he realized how much he had been talking, and he himself was glad when he finally decided to shut up. “Tell me once you’ve decided, because I’d love to help you out and not stand here looking like a schmuck just watching you unpack.” Not that he hadn’t been unpacking some of her other boxes in the other room, but still!

Honestly? Honestly? He did all that with his----ugh, see. They definitely weren't going to have a problem with this whole living together business. Giada thought she was nuts for doing it by color too, but holy crap, maybe it was the rest of the world that was weird! No...no, it was probably just them and a few other nutters, but still. It was rather awesome to know that her slight obsession wasn't going to be tampered with, and! Actually! It was sort of being doubled, if you thought about it! Maybe not doubled, but she couldn't care to think of the proper mathematical solution to the collection size.

Anyway!

"Ohhhhh my goodness, I love you so much right now," she said with an excited squeal, rocking in her spot on the floor. It took her mind a moment to tell her that, hey, you just said I love you to Graeme, after never having said it in any other form or fashion before, but Giada's grin didn't slide away or fade or flinch. She did love him in that moment, she loved his crazy album organization, and she loved him basically...all the time. Which meant she loved him, loved him, and that was pretty groovy.

The words that escaped from her lips made him smirk, even though he wanted to just run over there and kiss her right at that moment. It was amazing to hear those words, even if they just slipped out on accident. But she meant it, because even when she realized what she had said, she hadn’t stuttered, or backtracked to fix the words, or flailed ( she’s part Italian, after all ), or do anything that she normally did when she said something she didn’t mean. But, Graeme had enjoyed hearing her say it too much, and he needed to just play around with her a little bit, a hand raising to his ear as he leaned forward. “You what me so much right now? You might have to say that again…” He made a face like he was listening carefully, waiting for her to repeat those words again.

Giada pursed her lips greatly in a silly smile, leaning forward from her crossed-legged position on the floor. He just haaaaad to make it into a joke, yeah? Well, she could play that game too! Sorta!

"I said that I love you, you old man," she joked, because Graeme was a few months older than her. Almost a year! Well. He was December, and she was July so there were a few months in between, but by the time she turned twenty, he would be so bored with that age and then she'd be a youngin' again, just like that! So she liked to tease him, and when Graeme still didn't seem to 'hear' her, Giada didn't hesitate in shutting her eyes tightly and shouting at the tip of her lungs, "I LOVE YOU, GRAEME DORNY!"

Ooh, wow, it sounded even better all loud like that. Giada did a little wiggle, and laughed, opening her eyes and biting down on her bottom lip with excitement.

Graeme was usually good at keeping a straight face, but honestly, she was too much. He was doing a horrible job at holding back a grin, but had managed to get a little bit more serious to yell back at her, cupping his hands around his mouth like a megaphone. “WELL GOOD, GIADA VANCE, BECAUSE I LOVE YOU TOO!” Okay, now he couldn’t help but grin, not even trying to hold it back. He had wanted to say that to her for a long time, but he had never really known how, or when he should. There had been moments in the past when he had just been looking at her, but it didn’t feel right. He had to admit that he felt like a bit of a tool because she had been the one to say it first, but either way she had said it, and she meant it, and he had said it back, and it was just a good thing. Very good. Great. FANTASTIC. “And I am NOT old!” He added in, just as a side note.

It didn’t matter, because he loved the girl!

Giada let out a long, happy shriek and scrambled up to her feet, jumping (successfully! Didn't knock a thing down!) over a box and flinging herself around Graeme. Because, that's exactly what you were supposed to do when you told someone that you loved them! Oh, oh, okay so she so hadn't expected to get this bright ray of sunshine in her dreary storm of sick friends and stupid parents, but Graeme always, always managed to make things so lovely and wonderful, and she should've expected him to make things feel oh-so-much better. Except he was totally allowed to have bad days too, but that's when she'd be his super ray of sunshine, and, yes.

She kissed him soundly, arms draping tightly around his neck to pull him close. Huh. So glad her station lost power that night in December, really. Definitely would not have stumbled into Graeme's diner if it hadn't. Thank goodness for late electricity bills!

"I love you, honest," she murmured, their faces so close that her eyes kept going in and out of focus as she stared into Graeme's.

He took a step back to give her some more room, and probably would have been more impressed with the fact that she didn’t knock anything over, if he wasn’t so busy holding her close to him, grinning like an idiot. His cheeks were actually starting to hurt because he was smiling so much, but he had a good reason for smiling. He was in love. He was in love with Giada Vance, and it was one of the best feelings in the entire world to let someone know that you felt that way, and know that they felt the same way.

Graeme returned the kiss, his arms still around her waist, only pulling back when she did. His lips curled into a smirk as he pressed his forehead against her own. “Well, it’s a good thing you said that because before now I didn’t really believe you…” his voice was light and playful as his hand reached up to tangle through some of her hair, brushing it back. He loved the feeling of her hair through his fingers. UGH he loved so much about her! “I love you too. Honest.” He nudged their noses together, once again giving her a smile. “So we’re clear on this whole love thing, yeah? Don’t want to leave any room for confusion here, because that could be awkward.”

Giada giggled, something she did very often in Graeme's presence and nodded, kissing him quickly and a lot. Because she loved him. A lot. Ugh, see! Her whole happy little thoughts about their quirky little family wasn't so far off! Savannah had just told her boyfriend, so. Not only were they moving in together, but they were in love with each other, and it just made things that much more exciting because this could lead to so much more and it was awesome to think that this whole situation had turned into something that could just---ugh. It could turn into so much more and she loved that idea almost as much as she loved Graeme.

"Yes, very clear," she said with grin, not wasting anymore time in talking and kissing him hard. Hey--they were in their bedroom, so, come on. They definitely had a place to celebrate this momentous revelation, and Giada wasted no time in pulling him towards the bed. Yep. This 'being an adult' thing was pretty awesome.