"Never do, with you." HE paused and sat down next to her, squishing up close. He reached for a slice of toast with one hand even as he sat down. "Especially if its ice cream." GRIN.

He popped the toast in his mouth and reached for another piece. As he chewed on the bit in his mouth he buttered the second piece, slathered on jam and then swapped it over. In this way he kept up a flow of eating and preparing the toast.

The boy needed more hands.

Hehe.

The ice cream.

Good times.

Mia was about to grab herself some toast but James had beat her to it and she watched in fascination him eat...no inhale his food. She knew that boys could eat a lot but this was something else. She reached over and poured some juice into a goblet. "Here." she said placing it in front of him. "Just in case you choke on the loaf you have in your mouth."

"Thanks." He managed in between bites, somehow managing to speak without spraying toast crumbs everywhere. He worked the juice into his eating cycle. Bite. Bite. Bite. Chew. Swallow. Sip. Spread. Bite. Swap. Bite. Sip.

It was a good few minutes of this before Jim had a clear mouth and in that time he had managed to put away at least half of a loaf.

"You should eat something." He suggested with a grin and then piled his plate up with eggs, sausages and bacon, though he tackled that a lot more slowly and more mannered now that his initial STARVATION was dealt with.

Mia decided to just wait until James had finished his breakfast. She wasn't going to get anything out of him until then anyway. She rolled her eyes playfully at his suggestion and poured some cereal into a bowl. "Gee thanks."

She spooned the cereal into her mouth and chewed her food a whole lot slower than James and turned slightly to look at him after she had swallowed. "We didn't really get to talk in the training room. How are things with you?"

Done with the continental, he relaxed a bit as he cut up the cooked part of his breakfast.

"Depends what you mean by things. Gotta be more specific than that." He shot her a sideways glance and winked.

"Ah yes. I forgot, I have to be literal with you." Mia remembered that mixed up conversation they'd had last term at this very table. Thinking back now, she found it rather amusing.

She spooned some more cereal into her mouth. Having watched him eat for the past five minutes, she was now starving. "I know you were a bit down after Marie. How are you now?" she asked after swallowing. Couldn't be anymore specific than that.

Yep Jim often misunderstood things, partly because his brain wasn't usually on the same track as others. It wasn't that he wasn't capable of understanding it was just that he preferred his version of events most of the time.

He paused in the action of bring fork to mouth and carefully put the fork back down.

"... better, I guess." And because it was Mia he added, "I miss her."

So.

For a moment there, Mia was afraid that she might have overstepped the line asking him that. She and James had a great connection with each other. But they had never gotten into each other's personal lives.

When he did respond though, Mia nodded her head. "Yeah I can see that. You got that look when I mentioned her name." She put her spoon down and turned to face him. "You don't have to talk about it if you down't want to, but if you do..." She figured she didn't need to say anymore. He would get it.

He listened and struggled for an answer.

"I don't..."

Jim nudged his fork with his fingertip.

"I don't really know how to... talk about it." It was just easier not to. He looked up at her. "Its just easier, you know? To just.... not."

Internal!Struggle.

"I'm disappointed in her. I thought she was..." Better? "... stronger."

She expected that. Guys weren't much for talking about their feelings or whatnot. Mia decided to just get his birthday present to take his mind off this and she was just reaching down with her hand when he spoke.

"Oh James." she said, straightening up and gazing at him. "For all her tough talk and punching people on the nose, Marie is really a big old softy. She wants her guy to show his feelings towards her. She wants to be number one." Which is what most girls would want. "She wanted something serious. You wanted something fun." Mia shrugged her shoulders. "Differences of opinion. It happens."

"No. No it isn't like that." Jim shook his head. "She's... she isn't true to herself. I wish she was. She pretends like..." He shook his head. "She wanted some big fantasy fairytale. And I wasn't gonna lie about it. Wasn't gonna say things she wanted to hear just to..."

He trailed off. "Well, you know." Another head shake, more emphatic this time. "And then.... Finn."

Didn't he have bacon? Yeah he did. Jim busied himself eating the bacon from his plate.

Isn't that what most girls wanted? But she understood what he was getting at and she was about to say something when Finn's name was mentioned.

"It wasn't their finest moment. I'm thinking rebound on Marie's part. Not sure what Finn was thinking." Sometimes it was difficult being friends with them all and not saying anything but she had a rule about not interferring and she stuck by that.

Noticing the look on his face, Mia put her arm around him. "Okay. No more serious talk. Now there is a reason why I was waiting for you. Want to know what it is?"

"I'm thinking desperation." Jim muttered under his breath. For Marie. Finn's motivations were more basic and less acceptable.

People gave him too much damned credit.

"This is good bacon." He answered. His way of agreeing. Serious stuff... not his thing. He was done.

Also, he took the opportunity to snuggle up a bit.

"You had an epic dream about me and it was so amazing that you had to rush down here when you woke up JUST to make sure I'm the real thing." WINK.

He was SO the REAL THING.

But no. He had no idea.

Mia wrinkled her nose at the bacon. "I'm sure it is." She had been able to ignore it until he drew her attention to the pile of dead pig on his plate. Eww.

He was such a flirt!!

That comment made her burst out laughing. "No that's not it. Although I will admit that I did dream about you way back when." She chuckled again and gave him a squeeze. "I know I am a little late but I wanted to wish you a happy birthday."

Because turning eighteen was a big deal, especially in her part of the world.

He grinned at her. Yeah she did. Made perfect sense. He liked making Mia laugh, it was one of those things that just... made the world make sense.

"You remembered. I'm impressed." He grinned wider. "So what did you get me?" He waggled his eyebrows. Mmmm?

"Yeah...well I can be a little flaky sometimes but I always remember the things that are important to me." Yeah James Wilkes, you are important. So let that go to your head. She giggled again and raised her eyebrow. "Who says I got you anything?" Her foot brushed up against the package underneath the table. "I figured my company would be good enough." she teased. Right?

Wow. Ariana was amazed. "Nika, I think you're going to set a world record for tiredest person." There were times she'd stayed up 'till three and woken up at six, and still never been that tired! And there had been some tired times... like when she'd walked straight into a pole, head-on. Pain + tiredness = not fun.

"Close your eyes for a moment, just like a long blink. It should help clear your vision." Technically, it would add moisture, which would in turn clear away anything blocking her vision and making it blurry. Which reminded her of a random fact about how newts didn't have eyelids..."Did you know that newts lick their eyeballs instead of blinking?" Noting that anyone not following her thought train would find this random, she added, "Random fact of the day." Yup, because that's what Ravenclaws were for.

"Um... Nika, that's a spoon..." Poor, tired girl.

He smiled appreciatively. That was nice to hear from her. Still he had to go ahead and leer and waggle his eyebrows. Rawr.

"You're right." Actually. "You're company is never a bad thing."

Mia shook her head at him but there was a smile on her face. If James didn't do all these things she would be worried. "That's nice to know, but I did get you something." She reached down and grabbed hold of the package underneath the table and placed it in front of him. It was a squishy type package.

"Now as you know I don't have a lot of money so I made something for you." She rested her elbows on the table while she waited for James to open his present. She just hoped he liked the two gifts inside.

Presents were always a good thing. Jim wasn't the kind of person who EXPECTED them, but he was the person who got excited when they happened. He grinned and took the present, giving it a tentative squeeze as she spoke.

"Made my present?" Wow. He ripped it open and grinned wider. "These are EPIC Mi, you really made them? Wow. That means... more than you'd think." He immediately put the bracelet (WHICH WAS MANLY) and the scarf on. "I like them. Thanks Mia!" He had to take the opportunity for a hug.

Haaaad to.

She had to admit, she was holding her breath as James ripped open the paper. He was the only person besides Nik that she had made a gift for. The look on his face however made her smile and breathe easy. "I'm glad you like them."

Her arms went around him and she returned his hug. "Happy Belated Birthday James." she said giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Why wouldn't I? They're great! You're really talented with your hands Mi."

Oh and that deserved a grin. Heeeh.

"Its almost as good as sharing ice cream with you."

Hehe. "I know." This time she gave him an eyebrow waggle before laughing and turning back to her cereal.

Mia gave him a sideways glance. "I don't think anything would be as good as that." Except for all the stuff she did with Nik. She placed some more cereal into her mouth, chewed and swallowed. "Did I tell you that Nik took me to Disneyland for our first year anniversary?"

Jim filled up his plate again and this time took it much slower. After this one he'd be done, but it'd mean 8 slices of toast and two stacked plates of bacon, eggs and sausages.

It was like he had hollow legs.

"Haven't found much to compare myself." He answered thoughtfully. Little things yeah, but... yeah. He shrugged.

"Disneyland? Thats the muggle place with the giant mouse right?" Creepy.

Mia really didn't like seeing James this way, it just wasn't him. Well maybe it was him now. Maybe with everything that had happened this was the way he was going to be now. She really hoped that wasn't the case.

Putting her spoon down beside her bowl, she reached out with her hand and grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him closer and then kissed the top of his head. "You need to let it go James, otherwise you're gonna be unhappy." She knew that it was easier said than done but he had to try.

She laughed at the look on his face. "Yes that's the one. Nik wanted to go somewhere romantic but he made the mistake of asking me where I wanted to go." She shrugged her shoulders. "It was awesome! We had the best time. You should so go check it out sometime."