Cosette has her legs crossed, skirt spread out to cover as much of her legs as it can. She's very pretty sitting there, book in lap with a ribbon braided in her hair. She's pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and is sucking at it, and so Bahorel leaps onto the couch and lays down, head in her lap and facing up to her.
"Hello," she murmurs, eyes on the book.
Bahorel frowns. "Hell-o," he drags out the last letter dramatically, waving his hands to get her attention.
Cosette only nudges them away.
"Hey! Cosette," Bahorel pokes her shoulder.
"No."
"Cosette, hey," he grins, the desire to annoy her (she's pretty when annoyed, or when fighting with him - her cheeks turn red and her eyes roll and Bahorel loves her a little more for it).
"No."
"Cosette!" Bahorel whines like a child. Previously, he'd just wanted her attention, but now he has the desire to annoy her, to fight with her.
And to kiss her.
That, too.
Always that.
Cosette does not respond this time, only shakes her head. They reach this point in conversations often - Cosette, knowing Bahorel is seeking out a fight or to annoy her, will stop responding. She knows it annoys Bahorel all the more, but that he has to pick a fight with someone else.
But this time, Bahorel is seeking out a kiss (or two, or seventeen, maybe) and he only wants to kiss her, so he doesn't relent.
He pulls at the end of her braid, tugging at where the ribbon woven through her hair ties off the braid.
Cosette, in response, rests the book on his face and continues reading. She begins chewing at her lip harder, turning it a shade of brighter pink. Bahorel frowns - this is no fair.
From under the book, Bahorel lets out a high-pitched squeal akin to a pig's and thrashes his limbs.
Cosette lets out a scoff, shifting herself sideways so Bahorel's head falls onto the couch. He laughs, smile wide, and arches his head to see her.
"Cosette! Cosette, my darling, my darling, my life, my girlfriend!" He calls out dramatically. She recognizes it as an impersonation of an overdramatic actor the two saw in a play of Jehan's nearly seven months before. Bahorel has a hard time letting the joke go, but it does make Cosette smile a bit.
Bahorel takes this as encouragement, holding his arms stiff at his sides before flipping his body over (on the third try), chin down on the couch. Beginning to inch forwards by kicking his feet against the cushions, Bahorel only grinned wider as he approached Cosette.
She bit down the smile she let escape, focusing on her book though none of the words registered in her mind.
Bahorel grew bored of the inching-forward, and flipped himself over, laying his head in Cosette's lap again.
"Am I going to need to use you as a bookstand again, Bahorel?" He voice is so forcefully serious that he grins.
Cosette's got a way of saying his surname that makes it sounds like she's scolding him with his full name.
For no particular reason at all, it makes him want to kiss her more.
Bahorel grins wildly and Cosette follows suit, cheeks flushed in the annoyed way he likes fourth - no, fifth - best.
(The order, for this day, at least, is:
Morning
Post-kiss
When he slips a hand up her skirt into her lacy knickers
When he pulls at her hair)
Bahorel, feeling encouraged by the new developments (and growing impatient - he swears she just bits at her lip to spite him) grabs Cosette's book from her hands, throwing it carelessly.
Cosette lets out a small 'hmph', and Bahorel knows she'd make him fetch it in a moment. But he finally - finally - has her attention and she is smiling and raising her hands to move to either side of his face, and Cosette is pulling him near her and she is a breath away, he can smell her and see her pores, her freckles and -
She pinches his ear. "You are so annoying, Bahorel, I swear." Cosette tries to sound annoyed, but can't manage it, her smile slipping through the words.
Bahorel just grins, kissing her hard. He pulls away. "Kingdom for a kiss, eh?"
Cosette smiles, pulling her full bottom lip between her teeth.
He kisses her again.