A Silver Lining • •

[Dakota Marshall Langdon]

Dax had grown up in a world where a lot of things were out in the open and very few things hidden behind closed doors. His parents had been firm believers in their children being able to run to them with any sort of problem, situation or question and not be yelled at or pulled into some sort of fight because of it. Of course, all the Langdon children were decent enough kids. They'd each gotten into their fair share of scrapes as children but they'd all grown up into respectful and respectable people. Dax might have been the least serious of them all but he did have his moments. When he was in the back of the ambulance during his shifts of hands on training mostly but there were times there, too, that his humour and ability to bring a little levity to a situation had been a helpful tool. And of course, there were other times throughout his life with his parents and friends where his serious side was brought to the surface for a few minutes. They were rare moments and Dax knew it usually freaked his friends out when he was serious because they weren't used to it so it really had to be serious if he was acting like that. But they were also fleeting moments, surrounded by happily times.

Scout had never seen one of those serious times yet. And if she had, he hadn't been aware of it. And she generally confronted him about everything. He'd freaked out a couple times when she was sick and there was nothing he could do for her, but he'd never been full blown serious. He cracked the jokes, brought out the smiles, even when he wanted to shake her and ask why she thought hiding away, being alone for Christmas was any way to go. It was who he was and he got that way a lot more when he cared about a person a lot. His family was used to it and could tell the difference between his jokes but Scout wasn't quite at that level yet and habitually tilted her head just that way and asked her questions in such an innocent tone and it left Dax blinking and thinking just how adorable she was.

He hadn't actually meant to kiss her, not really. Dax had imagined it a few times in the past, more than a few actually, but he hadn't wanted to push into territory that was too new for Scout; though he had thought she'd at least been kissed before now. He hadn't expected quite that reaction from her and it took seeing it to realise that he'd stolen her first kiss right out from under her. If he'd known, he probably wouldn't have done it, or at the very least, not that way. "Shit." He whispered, with a rough shake of his head before he pushed himself up out of his own chair and followed Scout through the house and upstairs, totally and completely ignoring his family who were all talking at once. He knew her very well and knew where she would mostly likely run to hide from them all while she sorted everything out in her head. Scout hadn't been able to explore much of the upstairs during any of her visits but she'd been up to his room enough times to know it was a safe place to go to. He headed straight there, locking the door behind him once he entered the room. "Scout?" He called softly. "Pixie, I-I'm sorry." He pushed out, wanting her to know just how sorry he was that he'd shocked her like that.

Tag|| scout houghton dallas villiers !
Words|| 612
Clothes|| Sassy Sailor!
Music|| Drive --Allister
Notes|| <3!

[scout houghton dallas villiers]

Scout was a dreamer, there was no question about it. The circus had allowed her to be one, encouraging it even when she took to the air for her act and worked on new routines to keep the show fresh. Her naivety was born from that. A few years ago she would never have thought of being in a city like New York and calling it home, even if it was a temporary one. She hadn’t needed to be tough and worldly. She could just live in a bubble and go about her life switching up the glitter and the costumes each day. Now she was in denim and sneakers more than she was leotards and tights. It also meant that without the likes of Dax she would have been a prime target for so much ridicule. There was a lot she didn’t know about the big bad world simply because it didn’t crop up for those who travelled with the big top. For that same reason there was a great deal Scout hadn’t experienced, especially in the world of love.

Scout had always imagined her first kiss to be something grand. It was partly to do with movies she had watched with Dax, but also because of stories she had heard at the circus. No one half-assed anything there. Love stories were as bold as the acts themselves. Everyone was passionate and their romances were the same. So, in Scout’s mind, her first kiss was likely to be at the end of that first date, outside her apartment door if not with her back against it. She would be left breathless and stunned, finally aware of why those movies made such a big deal about a kiss, and why everyone she knew always grinned when they reminisced about their romances. She envisioned it would leave her smiling for weeks with butterflies in her stomach, not running for the stairs and trying to find a place to hide!

Hearing Dax use her nickname made Scout curl up tighter in the space and grab the fabric by her. It was a shirt of his, but it was oddly comforting in the moment, despite it being his fault she had ran away to hide in the first place. She buried her face in it for a long second, before blinking down at him. “Didn’t you mean it?” She asked curiously, unsure of what she wanted his answer to be. Her nerves got the better of her in the silence and before he could answer she pressed on, her thoughts now tumbling from her lips whilst she stayed on her shelf like a pretty little acrobatic ornament. “I broke a shelf on the way up. I didn’t mean to.” There was one out. “But I’ve never been kissed before and I panicked because it wasn’t at all like I imagined and then I suppose I just scrambled my way in here and I never thought my footing through. I mean, this seems sturdy enough up here, but I don’t know what boys put in their wardrobes over the years. Normal boys I mean. I know what boys at the circus kept and it was mostly Lycra and clubs.” She buried her face back into his shirt, smelling the all too familiar scent of Dax in the fabric. It made her calm. It made her nervous.

• • •

TAGGED! Dakota Marshall Langdon
WORDS! 568!
OUTFIT! Cutie Patootie!
LYRICS! A Sorta Fairytale - - Tori Amos
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Dakota Marshall Langdon]

Dax had a brain in his head, the problem was that he never quite used it in the moments and the situations when he probably should. He was always rushing around, getting into all sorts of adventures that his parents called mistakes and trouble and situations. But he always saw the other side relatively unscathed. He had always been one of those kids who were told by their parents not to do something because the risk factor was there for injury, that went right ahead and did it anyway, laughing in the face of the devil to prove that he was invincible. He wasn't any more invincible than he was some long forgotten God. But he liked to think he had been, still was with some of the things he did. At least he wasn't off jumping out of planes or pretending to be some masked vigilante. No, he was rushing off to classes to eventually become a different kind of hero. Dax wasn't after the praise or anything nonsense like that. He was after becoming a paramedic because it inspired him. He had never been much for guns and fires weren't high on his list of favourite things. What was left after that had been what he'd wanted to be from a small child. His brothers and sister all wanted to serve and protect but Dax wanted to heal and soothe.

And come the end of May, he would be transitioning smoothly from student paramedic to full fledged paramedic. It was an exciting and terrifying prospect all at once. He'd known of course, that it was going to be a change from attending classes, hands on ride a-long's and then heading off to the bakery during the few hours that he had where nothing was planned just so he could earn a bit of pocket money. All too soon, he would only be going to the bakery to visit and order something and not to actually help people decide which of their wonderful treats would be best for the day. His last day would be a sad one but it was also one he really didn't want to think about until the real countdown was on. He'd been one of the luckier ones, able to get a position with the New York Fire Department and not have to search elsewhere for a gig. Then again, he had a half dozen ins available to him and all of them were more than willing to help him in. Maybe it was a cheat but they were family and the Langdon's stuck together and helped each other out.

And Scout was as much as part of that now as if she'd been born to the family. Friends became adopted after the first introductions and no one was ever told they couldn't come in for any reason. It was just one of the little things Dax loved about his family and he knew they were all the same in their own places, too. He could walk up to any of his siblings houses and know without a doubt that he could walk right in and they'd let him do so. But he also knew that after this monumental fuck up, they were also very likely to tease and torment him for the next five or six decades. Dax wasn't sorry he'd kissed Scout; he'd been thinking about it for too long but he was sorry about the way he had all happened. He had been excited and in the heat of the moment done something he'd wanted time to plan. Dax opened his mouth to answer Scout's question but she barrelled along, not giving him the chance to tell her the truth. In the end, Dax let out a long breath and a short chuckle. "Don't worry about the shelves. They've been broken a time or two before." He admitted, stepping closer to look up at Scout better. "And it might have been an accident but I did mean it, Scout. I just wish it would have been different for you. Nicer. Not so shocking." He continued, scrubbing his hand over his head.

Tag|| scout houghton dallas villiers !
Words|| 690
Clothes|| Sassy Sailor!
Music|| Drive --Allister
Notes|| <3!

[scout houghton dallas villiers]

Scout had no regrets so far in her life. She had done a great many things and travelled to a great many places already. Her plan was to carry on with that once her college years were over. College for Scout was just an experience, something she wanted to do simply in case one day her vision was taken from her completely. She could live without ever owning a driver’s licence and with an enlarged blindspot; it didn’t impede on her life in any way for her. Still, she feared a relapse of her IIH striking hard and stealing more of her vision until it stole her ability to create art. She knew it was close to impossible. Scout knew the signs of a bad spell, she knew when she needed to throw herself on a hospital admissions desk and demand a neurologist drain her shunt or ram a needle into her spine for a lumbar puncture. She looked after herself to avoid that dark fear of hers, but she still had a small bucketlist of things she wanted to see and do. College had been one of them, and for the first time in her whole life she had found herself with an address and friends who weren’t contortionists or fire eaters. It was strange and enthralling for the little flying pixie.

Then of course there was Dax. Her Daxxy, who without, she didn’t think she would have lasted this long in the city. He was her rock, and the one she turned to for just about everything. He explained things to her when she was clueless, and so far she hadn’t noticed if he was exasperated by her endless questions or eternally giddy personality. Scout was who she was and she would never change. The city hadn’t broken her in the two years she had been there for, and with two left before she intended to head back to the circus, she didn’t think it would tear her apart. Sure, people laughed if she blinked at a simple question, and a few folk made cruel comments, but Scout had heard such things on the travels. They were ‘circus freaks’ after all, even though she couldn’t see anything wrong with the life she had come from. It was exciting and beautiful and full of people who were loving and like family to her. If it hurt, she cried her tears into a pillow and missed all the people who taught her how to be weird and wonderful just that little bit more. Then she turned to Dax and he put a smile back on her face with a movie, or by just letting her be herself without question.

She blinked down at him, listening to what he said and taking a second to let his words sink in. He had wanted to kiss her. She wasn’t quite so sure what that meant for them now, but it sent a surge of butterflies through her gut. She had never looked at Dax before and thought about kissing him, but then she did always want to be close to him and share her life with him; even the tiniest of things she told him about. Did that count for something? This was all totally new for the tiny acrobat. “It’s not like I have anything to grade you against.” She teased shyly, feeling a soft blush rise to her face as she hid behind his shirt again. Her heart still pounded in her chest and she had no desire to move from her place in the wardrobe, but at the same time Scout wanted to find out what kissing Dax was really like. Nervously, she pulled the shirt away from her face and tucked it under her chin, staring bashfully down at her close friend as she chewed on her lip. Her eyes fluttered to his lips for a fraction of a second. “Can you reach me from there?” She whispered softly.

• • •

TAGGED! Dakota Marshall Langdon
WORDS! 665!
OUTFIT! Cutie Patootie!
LYRICS! A Sorta Fairytale - - Tori Amos
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Dakota Marshall Langdon]

As much as Dax had done in the years he'd been alive, there were still plenty of things on his bucket list that needed to be crossed off before he was too old to do them. He wanted to travel, he wanted to see so much of the world he lived in before settling back into life in the city he loved so much. He'd only been to a handful of place in his life and all of them had been in the country. His parents had gone off to some sunny, exotic places for anniversaries and though he had a passport, he'd never made it further than Florida; though there had been that failed trip to Mexico. His poor mother had landed with that terrible flu going around thanks to one or all of her children and by the time it had settled over her, the rest had been back to healthy terrors but unable to go on the trip they'd planned. And then it was just easier to keep up the passport than letting it expire. At least then he knew if anything ever came up, he could be ready in a heartbeat.

He was still young enough to cross those things off the bucket list he had though, so he didn’t have anything he regretted yet. At least, not until he’d kissed Scout in front of his entire family without thinking first. He should have considered everything when he’d done that. But at least he knew his siblings wouldn’t tease Scout about any of it; it would all be on him. He could live with that, had been living with his sibling’s teasing a tormenting since he’d been young. He was used to it and these days it never really got to him. In one ear and out the other, his grandfather always said with a chuckle. Scout was adored by every family member. She was so sweet and so innocent, you couldn’t help but love her. But none of that stopped him from wishing that had gone differently. He knew better, of course he did but that hadn’t gotten through the excitement of the engagement.

And now he was worried Scout wasn’t going to leave the hiding spot she’d created for herself somewhere in his childhood bedroom. He should have known that she’d hide up on the top shelf of his wardrobe, she always picked the highest places. And if she’d known how to get into the attic, he figured that would be where he would find her. Lucky for him in this case, he hadn’t gotten around to showing her that in all their visits. “Maybe not but my family shouldn’t have been the audience to our first kiss. It should have been I don’t know, at the park or something.” He said, letting out deep breath as he scrubbed his hands through his hair again. Dax was hoping that Scout would climb back down from the shelf she’d claimed as her own to talk to him; not that she wasn’t talking to him now but he would rather she not be up on the shelf. Smirking, Dax looked up and tilted his head to the side. “I’d have to climb a bit of the way up and that might really break the shelves. Why don’t you come back down, Pixie?” He said even as he was reaching up to help her down, despite knowing very well that she could do it all by herself and with a better flair, too.

Tag|| scout houghton dallas villiers !
Words|| 586
Clothes|| Sassy Sailor!
Music|| Drive --Allister
Notes|| <3!

[scout houghton dallas villiers]

Scout had never thought about love in that giddy way teenage girls were expected to. When she was a teenager she had been busy working on learning circus tricks and developing new routines to perform. There was little time for stolen kisses and true love crushes. Plus, the selection was limited. She saw the people she travelled with as family. She knew her brother had briefly dated a trapeze artist before she moved back to her homeland of Spain, but Scout had always seen the circus as family, even if the people were only with them for one season, and not there for life like her family had been. No one had caught her eye and made her heart flip in all the years she had been there. And before New York there was never another chance for her to experience those butterflies or stolen moments. She was clueless, inexperienced and downright blind when it came to Cupid’s guidance. He could put neon signs in front of the acrobat and she would likely still be oblivious to them.

She didn’t pine or wallow after someone. The few dates Dax had been on in the time she had known him did leave her feeling lonely and a wee bit lost, but she had put that down to having a night alone. She couldn’t run over and bug him with demands for movies, or food. Nor could she hide and lie in wait for him in case he brought someone home and had plans with them to spend the night. She had made one mistake in the early days with that, and someone she had never learnt the name of had been scared senseless when Scout had been found in a kitchen cupboard instead of a mug. Up until now she had never thought she might want to be the girl he got dressed up for and took out to the movies or to dinner. She didn’t know if she would like to go out for dinner. It was something she had never done before, not even with her family. They were fond of take out and vegging when they were out of season; it was their time to relax after all. She had been to the cinema though. Dax had taken her there one time, but Scout had eaten through her popcorn before the movie had started and had to steal his. Then she felt sick before the end and had pretzeled herself in the seat to get comfy. It hadn’t been fantastic, and since then she preferred movie nights on the couch with snacks and blankets.

Scout furrowed her eyebrows and thought for a moment, peering down at him with a confused expression. “Why the park? We rarely go there.” She pointed out. She joined Dax if he was walking King there, but often she got the food ready while he did that. “We’re on campus more. Or at the bakery! Or home.” She listed, trailing off only when she thought that the next place would be the grocery store and then she started thinking about a first kiss in front of the cold cuts and it just seemed strange. She wondered if a movie had ever considered that yet. Scout blinked at Dax again and couldn’t help but to smirk a cheeky, tiny smile. “You’re not that fat, Daxxy…” She teased, hiding behind the shirt she had grabbed for comfort. Still, he was right. The wardrobe was not the sturdiest of places she had hidden in. If he climbed in it would definitely not hold them. Scout did not half-ass things though, and he upbringing meant that everything was done with an element of flair. She wrapped her arms around Dax’s neck, and supporting most of her own weight still, began to move down from her hiding place. Without realising what it might do to him – or even realising that there was anything less than innocent about it – Scout pulled her body against Dax’s and then slid down against him, shimmying her legs down his sides until she could touch the floor. It was slow and teasing, but Scout didn’t realise that. She just moved herself away from Dax ever so slightly once she was on the ground again and awkwardly looked up at him. She felt tiny standing before him now, and her heart was racing. “I’m down now.” She whispered timidly, not knowing what else to say to him.

• • •

TAGGED! Dakota Marshall Langdon
WORDS! 749!
OUTFIT! Cutie Patootie!
LYRICS! A Sorta Fairytale - - Tori Amos
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Dakota Marshall Langdon]

Dax adored Scout so much. He didn't want to mess up her life with his messy emotions. She was so sweet and so pure and he was a heathen by comparison. And he knew that none of that mattered to her but until that moment in the dining room, she'd never been kissed before. It wasn't entirely a shocking revelation but it was a bit of a surprise nonetheless. He'd known she was far too innocent for him. He'd known it and ignored it anyway, thought he could protect her from the big, bad world. He should have been protecting her from himself as well but damn if he hadn't managed to weasel himself in there and stole her first kiss from her. He was a despicable man and felt sick about it. Not kissing her, never that. That he quite enjoyed and had been thinking about doing for quite some time.

That somehow made it worse for Dax. He was trying to be a good guy. He was trying to be the man Scout deserved kissing her though he knew he would never be that man. He would forever strive to be that man though and if that was okay with Scout than he would continue to strive for that honour. God, he was totally screwed and he knew it. It would have been so easy to keep to himself if his little Pixie wasn't so god damn cute and innocent. She was too much and Dax wanted to keep her in that little bubble. He knew it was ridiculous. He couldn't do that, he had to let her live her life but he could be there by her side while she figures out how to live in the city. He could be there to help her navigate it all and be her sounding board when things confused her and she needed someone to tell her what way was up. It was a pretty fun task for the most part.

"Okay fine, the hall between out apartments then. We're always there. And the only audience member should have been King, not my entire family." He said with an exasperated chuckle. She was maddening sometimes but he adored her all the more for it. Although having her up in his wardrobe was a situation he hadn't seen coming, he really should have. Of course, he also hadn't planned on kissing her in front of his family either. Dax hadn't known what to expect when Scout finally decided to come down from her hiding spot but he should have known better. He hadn't been prepared for her. He was prepared to take her weight, however little there was of it but not for the rest of it. With her back on solid ground, Dax knew what he wanted to do; needed to do. "I'm going to kiss you again." He whispered a hairsbreadth away from doing just that. This time however, he wanted her permission.

Tag|| scout houghton dallas villiers !
Words|| 494
Clothes|| Sassy Sailor!
Music|| Drive --Allister
Notes|| <3!

[scout houghton dallas villiers]

Scout’s innocence wasn’t the result of being protected or living a sheltered life. Her years growing up in the circus exposed her to levels of bullying from the locals in some places. She lived around people who weren’t afraid to show their love for each other, and say how they felt about anything else. However, moving around with each passing week meant there was always an escape, or someplace to run off to when things got too much. People teased each other for being so public about their romance, and the giant extended family that was the circus made it feel normal, even welcoming. There was none of the aggression Scout saw in the city, or the dark chaos that happened out on those busy streets. Her naivety was from living in a loving, if unconventional, environment. If she was innocent it was because she had no reason to be cynical, to hate the world that existed outside of her window, and she did her best to avoid anything that might upset her. She couldn’t understand why people would put up with those horrible things in their lives if they could escape them. None of that behaviour made sense to her.

Despite her vulnerabilities being on the outside, Scout still wanted to experience New York. Nothing had managed to scare her away completely yet. There were days when she couldn’t understand why some people were so mean, or said such unkind things, but she was used to being heckled when they weren’t performing. It came with the travelling lifestyle, from people too ignorant to understand it. Scout had been educated, she was a talented young girl, but some people still saw circuses as a home for freaks who knew nothing but their tricks, and basically performed like animals in a zoo. She had learnt when she was much younger to ignore the cruel words because wasting breath on the bullies was completely pointless, and they were always moving on after a few days. They were never going to be around forever, and the words never truly hurt them. Scout and the other young performers were united in their strength, and their dreams kept them from paying any mind to the words thrown at them in an attempt to bring them down.

“King might have jumped up and knocked us over.” She said, this time choosing to suggest the idea purely to torment Dax. Sometimes she knew she could get away with teasing him with her jokes, keeping up her guise of innocence just to see him try to keep him try to keep his patience with her. Her desire to joke vanished when she saw how close he was to her, and spotted the look in his eye before he vocalised his intentions. Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips as she nodded. Scout was nervous, and she could feel her heart pounding as her stomach twisted into knots. “Okay.” She whispered, her fingers curling into his sides to steady herself as she pushed herself up on her toes to bring herself closer to him. She stood still for a long moment before hesitating and trying to return the kiss he had promised. Scout didn’t want to think about what she was doing, she just wanted to enjoy it, but she found herself worrying too much about if she was a bad kisser, or if she was doing something wrong. What if Dax didn’t enjoy this? What if he wasn’t feeling that same electrifying tingle that she felt now? She had to drop back down to her heels and look up at him with wide, scared eyes, her lips parted but the words failing to come out.

• • •

TAGGED! Dakota Marshall Langdon
WORDS! 622!
OUTFIT! Cutie Patootie!
LYRICS! A Sorta Fairytale - - Tori Amos
NOTES! <3 <3 <3