Ben's heartbeat quickened as she turned to face him. Even before she voiced the question, it had the feeling of one that was of Vital Import — a question she would remember the answer to forever, most likely. (So don't fuck it up!)

He knew he should have taken the time to consider the implications of his response, but he found himself answering without a moment's hesitation or second thought. "In a heartbeat. If I thought I could actually make you happy — yes, of course. Absolutely."

The trouble was that no matter what she might say about wanting to throw away her status and her comfortable life and everything else, Ben knew better. He had seen real poverty, and had even experienced it on a few (thankfully brief) occasions, and he knew that a girl like Melody Finch couldn't live like that. She certainly couldn't be happy, in those sorts of conditions — and depending on what life handed her afterwards, she might not even survive it. She wouldn't have been the first so-called 'fallen woman' to have found an early grave after the struggle of adapting to poverty had proved too much.

But if things were different... well, Ben had never particularly seen himself as the marrying type, but there certainly wasn't anyone else he could think he'd rather find himself attached to. Why not, if it was feasible?

  

---

MJ made this <3

Melody was expecting him to flatly refuse her, or at the very minimum to stay silent for at least a few minutes. She hadn't expected him to readily reassure her, as if he too dreamed of it. In the face of his reality - for she truly was unattainable to him, she supposed - she was unsure of how to now go on. His words hadn't changed their realities, he too was speaking only of fantasies. But, at least she knew now it wasn't all in her head. There was something undeniable between them, and that hurt even more.

"I wish things were different." She could think of little else to say. Perhaps, though, they could stay on this rooftop for a few minutes more. Melody wasn't ready for their final goodbye, nor did she think she would ever be ready.

---

  

---

beautiful set by mj

There wasn't anything to say to that, was there? There wasn't anything to say, at least, that would materially change the situation the two of them found themselves in. The potion he'd procured for her wouldn't really fix anything, not at the root of it, but... well, it was something, and it was the best he could do for the moment.

He should have taken her back home. They'd talked about everything he had to say, and keeping her out later would only increase the chance that someone would notice she wasn't in her bedroom when she should have been. Ben tried to mentally resolve to stand up and start them in that direction, but he just wasn't ready yet. Instead, he lifted his coat and slipped below it, so that it was hanging loosely across both of their shoulders, then slipped his arms around her.

There was a little less light in this neighborhood than there typically was outside the club window on High Street. The stars looked beautiful from here.

  

---

MJ made this <3

Melody leaned into his embrace easily, almost as though it wasn't her first time being wrapped in a man's arms. The silence between them spoke volumes. Every word left to share was one of goodbye, despair, or heartache. To stay in the quiet meant not having to face the reality of the morning. They could linger, if only for a few more minutes, in the hopeless land of dreams and what ifs.

She laid her head softly on his shoulder. If this was truly all that remained between them, then she wanted to savor it. She would commit every second of this to memory, for these moments with Ben were what would see her through the next few months of turmoil. Sitting here, freezing but warm in his grasp, would be what she thought of when his own eventual marriage hit the papers. Melody shifted to be closer to him, her knee resting above his own. How could he think that anything more than this would make her happier? The only additional thing Melody yearned for in this moment was to freeze time.

---

  

---

beautiful set by mj