Awkward Moments In Time

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Lee felt his hand slide into Chloe's with a twinge of discomfort. One of the things he'd noticed about holding hands with her was that it was nothing like holding hands with... Madeleine. Madeleine's skin was soft and her fingers long; their hands slipped together like a jigsaw puzzle, alternating his and her fingers.
Their's. Them.
Us.
Chloe wasn't quite as natural. But what had he expected?! Lee had covered this already though. He'd been over it inside his head a thousand times. Chloe wasn't... Madeleine. Chloe was different- and he had to get used to it if he wanted this thing to work out.
Whatever happened to keeping it casual? Once upon a time, Lee had just... had a laugh with his girlfriends. He had about a thousand different memories of just hanging out and spending a day poking fun at each other and the odd kiss was a bonus. He was friends with a lot of his ex-girlfriends. Though he found it best not to point this out to his current girlfriends.
Ah well. C'est la vie.
But... there was a thought. Madeleine and him had gotten on really well before, hadn't they? Why shouldn't day try and repair whatever sort of of friendship they had? He hated avoiding her like this. If they were friends, everything could be alright, and everyone could be alright with each other.
Or was that just an excuse to see her?
"What are you thinking about?" Chloe asked him quietly, as they sat down on the bench together.
He resisted the urge to wince. He hated it when she asked him that. It was so bloody overdone. "What I'm gonna have for tea tonight."
"Typical guy," sighed Chloe, rolling her eyes. The olive spheres swirled before him.
"I like food!" Lee cried. "What's wrong with that?"
"You're meant to lie, and tell me you're thinking about how beautiful I am," she winked.
Er... no. "You don't need me to tell you that," Lee said, putting as much fondness into his tone as possible. "You can just look in a mirror and there you have it. Aren't you bored of your own beauty?"
"Oh no," she laughed. "I'm awfully vain."
Lee smiled, but didn't reply. Someone had caught his eye. Someone who was coming up the path now. Someone who he was much more inclined to think was beautiful than Chloe.
Someone... with Levi.
Oh god.
"Let's get going," Lee said quickly, trying to stand up.
"Wait," cried Chloe, pulling him back down. "We only just sat down! Hang on a second, I wanted to get a picture of us for my album- "
"We can take a picture anywhere!"
"This place is so beautiful though- oh! Hello, Madeleine!"
Lee closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, exhaling sharply, before turning to Madeleine and her... boyfriend with a hollow smile.
"Hi, guys."
So much for friendship. He couldn't do this.
This wasn't fair.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Madeleine sighed exaggeratedly. "You don't give up, do you?"
"Me? Give up? Never," grinned Levi. "I am persistance itself."
"It's a pain in the ass sometimes, you know."
They were walking along in the gardens after battle training, and Levi was trying to convince her to change her tactics 'a little'.
Those were his words. Madeleine translated this as "a hell of a lot". Levi was inclined to underplay things.
"All I'm saying is that it might work. Can you just consider it?" he asked, slipping his hand into hers as he spoke.
Madeleine fought the urge to wince slightly at this. She was having trouble adjusting to physical contact with anyone but -
Her mind wrenched away from the topic. It was a new reflex she'd just developed, and she was finding it rather useful. Any time anything Lee came up in her mind, it would be blocked.
Her own personal firewall.
And she loved it.
"I'll think about it," she replied placidly. "But I don't really think I'll go with it. It's a good idea, but what we've been doing seems to be working out quite well-"
"But, Madeleine, they pretty much invited attack with their little stunt, and we're not going to win by playing defense only, are we?"
She scowled. "In case you didn't notice, it isn't as if the only people fighting are us. There are others, and I don't want to put anyone at risk needlessly just yet."
"We'll have to one day," he reminded her, twisting his fingers through hers.
She supressed a shiver at the alien touch. "I know that, but I'm waiting until there's an option. If I can take peace, I'll go for it."
There was a pause, and Madeleine glanced about, taking in her surroundings. This particular area of the gardens looked familiar - okay, wrong word. It felt like there was some sort of significance attached to it, but she couldn't think what it was...
Levi broke into her thoughts with his now soft, deep tone. "Would you be happy, not fighting? You're a Warrior, and you've obviously got Warrior blood-"
She rolled her eyes. "Just because I'm a Warrior doesn't mean I want to carry on a fight when there's an option of ending it."
"You don't mean surrender?!"
She snorted. "Of course not! What do you take me for?"
This was what a lot of her conversations with Levi consisted of - battle talk and politics. She liked it better that way, really. Levi kept trying to kiss her, or put his arm around her, but Madeleine was still a bit... funny about it.
They rounded a corner in the path, and Madeleine froze.
Dammit!
And suddenly, the reason why this place looked significant became clear.
This was where they had become sarcasm-and-punch partners.
Levi looked at her with more than a little concern. "What's up?"
"Let's go back," she said, tugging his hand and trying to turn back.
He frowned, confused. "If you want to get back up to the school, it's quicker to finish the circuit-"
"Yes, but it's nicer up that way," she said desperately. "Come on-"
"Hello, Madeleine!"
Oh, bugger.
Madeleine forced a smile on her lips and met Chloe's eyes, walking towards them. A look of understanding crossed Levi's eyes.
Lee smiled at them awkwardly. "Hey guys."
It took all the grit in her to meet Chloe's slightly smug smile and smile back. "Hi," she said, her voice feeling slightly strained.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

"Hi."
"How are you both?" Chloe asked cheerfully, apparently oblivious to Lee's squirms.
God forbid that she could've been totally rude and selfish and possessive. Why couldn't she be clingy and needy and jealous whenever she saw Madeleine? Why couldn't she keep up a constant stream of, "Get off with me or you'll never get over her!"
No such luck.
It would've made things a heck of a lot easier on his part. But now he had to sit through a forced conversation with Madeleine and Levi.
Great.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

She wished he'd look uncomfortable. Or angry at Levi - and her heart gave a jolt at that. Or sheepish, or something.
Anything would be better than the expressionless smile he was giving her now. It wasn't his usual smile, it wasn't -
Okay, stop. Just stop.
"We're fine thanks," Levi replied smoothly for the both of them, smiling.
Why wasn't he being annoyed, or awkward?
Honestly - men!

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Chloe's smile looked a little forced, and Lee knew why. She didn't like Levi Ryder one bit- in short, she thought he was an ego-centric, sexist, too-hot-for-his-own-good male reproductive organ.
Perhaps he should try and make things seem a little bit more natural...
"Ditto," Lee said, looking at Levi. "I've been helping Chloe with some sort of project..."
"It's a personal one," Chloe interrupted swiftly. "Just a hobby."
"She likes photography," Lee muttered, gesturing at the camera clutched in her hand.
"Smile!"
The following flash probably blinded both Madeleine and Levi. Lee was certainly seeing purple dots after it'd gone off.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Madeleine blinked in the bright light of the flash, blinded for a moment.
"Have you been taking photos for long?" Levi asked Chloe politely, shooting her one of his dazzling, perfectly white smiles.
Madeleine groaned internally. What the heck was he dragging it out for? She wanted it just to be over, so they could get away.
Away from Lee, so that she could relax, and her heart could stop palpitating and go back to it's usual rate.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Chloe shook her head. "No, I never really thought to. I'm not really a very creative person you see. Someone like your cousin would be much better as this," she added to Lee.
Probably. "Nah, you're good," he smiled.
"Thanks," Chloe said stiffly, trying to look modest, and pecked him on the cheek. " 'ppreciate it."
Lee looked up as she kissed him, and looked at Madeleine for the first time since Chloe had called them over.
For the first time in a while.
"Your photos are really something though! Some of the ones you showed me were really good. I mean," he added quickly, "I dunno much about Art, but your stuff's really... pretty."

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

As Chloe kissed Lee's cheek, Madeleine suddenly felt a flare of terrible, white hot anger rise up in her, along with something she wasn't used to feeling.
Jealousy.
The little, emerald green imp had suddenly caught up with her.
Then, Lee looked at her, and ... oh, no... the familiar little jolt of the stomach happened again.
"Your photos are really something though! Some of the ones you showed me were really good. I mean, I dunno much about Art, but your stuff's really... pretty."
Now, it was a mixture of all sorts of confusing feelings. Elation came first, happiness and pride tumbling over her. A second later, it was self-beratement - why was she feeling happy, it was just a throwaway remark! And underlining all of this was confusion. Why was he complimenting her in front of his new girlfriend.
Of course, Chloe did not look happy.
"They're not that good," Madeleine muttered, colouring slightly at both the praise and the new wave of awkwardness.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Crap.
He had not meant to say that. He definitely had not meant to say that. Not only had he made himself look like a complete idiot in front of Madeleine and Levi, but he knew he'd upset Chloe. The glacial smile on her face said it all.
What was wrong with him?
Hah! One look at Madeleine told him that...
LOOK AT CHLOE. REASSURE HER.
He took her hand and gave it a squeeze, but his eyes remained on Madeleine.
"They are," he said, feeling himself burning.
He wanted to shut up now. He should shut up now. But... something about the possessive way Levi had just taken Madeleine's hand was encouraging him.
"You're really good at it."

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Levi had taken her hand again, and his smile was frosty, his eyes protraying something somewhat less than friendliness.
"I'm not," Madeleine mumbled, embarrassed and confused. "I mean, Shaun and I just messed about with the camera and Photoshop sometimes..."
Oh, no. She'd mentioned Shaun, and now her cheeks were really red.
Levi looked confused. "Who's -"
She cut him off quickly. "Can I see some of your pictures, Chloe?"
Oh, another way to drag out the conversation. The ways were endless.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

He doesn't know about Shaun...
Lee felt a twinge of guilty pleasure, and beamed at Madeleine.
Chloe coughed loudly, shocking him as she tugged her hand out of Lee's unresisting grasp and got up, passing her camera to Madeleine. Lee had already been forced to sit and go through every miniscule detail of them already. They were pretty enough, he supposed, but they weren't exactly what he called... original. There were four in total- she kept deleting different ones because she reckoned they were blurry- which consisted of a picture of the rooftops of Cardsdale, Lee himself pulling a face at the camera, Glass Lake and some ivy climbing a wall. Oh! And there'd be the stunned picture of Madeleine and Levi in there too...
Lee swore to himself he wouldn't ask for a copy.
"You should let me take some of you, Chloe," Lee offered half-heartedly.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Ignoring her mixed emotions at Lee's smile at her, Madeleine flicked through the five pictures. They were maybe not the most creative ideas, but they were quite pretty, she mused. The one of the rooftops of Cardsdale was lovely, at any rate.
Not the one of her and Levi, though. Though, she supposed, Chloe would probably just delete it anyway.
"You should," she remarked, in response to Lee's comment. "They're really good, Chloe, you should get a deviantart and put them on it."
Levi was now looking slightly miffed, and a little suspicious, so she squeezed his hand.
But she wasn't entirely sure why.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

"You're much more fun to take pictures of," Chloe directed at Lee.
He winked. "I know."
A shadow of a smile crossed her face. "The lovable goof."
"That's me!"
"More fun to take pictures of than... you for example," she directed at Levi. "You're probably more... conventionally good-looking, but Lee's eyes are far more striking."
Lee bit back a smile. "Sure, I don't have his hair."
"Your's is good for a ruffle," Chloe grinned, and did so accordingly.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Ugh. The little green imp was starting to whisper in her ear.
However, her attention was drawn to Levi, who for a second, did not look happy.
But that expression was quickly wiped away and replaced by his courteous smile. "Hmm," he said. "Well, I don't want to be rude, but I really have to get back - we have battle training, remember, Maddie?" he added, a touch possessively.
Madeleine froze. He'd called her Maddie.
Only Shaun called her Maddie - it would have to be a special person indeed that she would allow to use his name for her, and Levi didn't match up to that standard.
She smiled coolly at him. "I remember. Well, I'll see you guys later..."

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Don't go...
"Okay, bye!" Chloe said quite happily to them. "Have fun with swords and... stuff."
Please don't go...
In another world, Lee would've pushed Chloe aside, chased after Madeleine and Levi, and taken her in his arms. He would've said something... something great. Very classy; Prince Charming style. He would've had her swoon. And then... he'd kiss her.
What a kiss that'd be...
Lee wasn't fortunate enough to live there. He let Madeleine walk away from him.
Again.
"Will you pose, Lee?" Chloe asked him.
He smiled grudgingly. "Where do you want me?"
Come back, Madeleine...