Adrien moved in the next day after he walked her back from work. He and Brooks had brought over his five boxes that afternoon and she and Adrien spent the evening clearing out drawers for his things.

She had asked how someone could fit their life in only five boxes and he had laughed, saying he had lived out of one suitcase for his entire time at Rentré school.

As a Rentré, he was likely to travel a lot in his life, so they were trained to not attach themselves to material objects and be ready to pack up quickly.

Amelie liked it because this meant less of her stuff needed to be displaced for his life to fit in. He had brought no decorations so she had told him his mission for that week was to find one poster or piece of art that he liked to hang on the wall so that they could feel like they were in a shared space, not that he had imposed his life on hers.

He had laughed and said that he would try his hardest to go against his Rentré training for her whims.

She sat at her desk for lunch that afternoon. Too worried about seeing The Grey Man to venture to the gym that day.

She finished work a half hour early and was waiting in the lobby for Adrien. He had said he would come at five so she had a half hour. She decided to call her dad to pass the time and get some brownie points for reaching out.

He picked up on the second ring and her shock made her realize she had not been expecting him to answer. She had forgotten that he normally worked until seven PM on weekdays.

"Amelie?" her dad said, sounding worried.

"Hey Dad! How are you?" she replied.

"I'm good. Is everything okay with you?"

"Yeah," she said, "Why wouldn't it be?"

"I just never get spontaneous calls anymore. It's great to hear from you," he replied.

Amelie realized she had not actually spoken to her dad since she had gone home for his birthday and felt guilt growing in her chest. "How are you?" she asked, "I thought you'd be at work at this time."

"I started working part-time after my birthday. A little present to myself. Now I only am at the university four days per week and the other three days I can have to myself."

"Wow Dad. I'm so happy for you. You deserved a break. What have you been doing on your days off?" Amelie asked.

"Eh well, I've actually been getting into wood carving. I made a little chair for Claire's favorite doll last week. I'm not confident make anything a human might sit in but a chair for a doll was manageable. It's been really fun."

Amelie widened her eyes, an involuntary reaction to the surprise that her dad had finally developed a hobby. "Dad thats amazing," she said, earnestly trying to help him feel supported, "Seriously. When can I start making requests? My apartment looks far too much like an Ikea catalogue right now," she said.

"Give me a few months to make sure I can make something to hold a human first, but probably by this winter I can make you a small table or a rocking chair," he said. "Although, your apartment is already very small. You're probably going to have to throw out a piece of furniture to fit in anything new."

She laughed, "I agree. Actually, I do have some news involving the apartment," she said. She told him about dating Adrien for the past month and how he had just moved in.

She left out the part of knowing him since he was ten but mentioned that they had been friends for a long time.

Her dad was silent for two long minutes before she finally asked if he was still there.

"I am," he said, " I just don't know how to respond to this. You've always been so rational and the smart one."

"What do you mean, the smart one?"

"I mean," he paused for a few seconds as if trying to break some news to her in a gentle manner, "I mean that you never make rash, childish decisions like this Honey, you've been with him for all of one month. That is just too fast to decide to share your entire life with him."

"Dad, I love him." she cried. "Like you said, I don't make rash decisions. This isn't one. I've known him for a very long time and I already trust him completely. We have a special connection."

"I understand. I'm sure you guys are in love, but I also think you're rushing into something. It takes time to be emotionally ready for this. You're only twenty-two."

"Twenty-two isn't that young, Dad. I can't believe you're fighting me on this. You don't understand me at all if you think I would do something I wasn't ready for," Amelie was growing more and more infuriated by the second. Her father had left her alone in her decision-making since she was a teenage. Why would he think he had the right to parent her now?

"You've only just started real adulthood. You're in your first job, your first time living alone. Shouldn't you know how to live alone before you live with someone else?" her dad said, calmly. His voice steady and soft.

"I practically lived alone my entire life, thanks to you. I'm plenty used to it." The words charged out of Amelie' mouth before she could plug the spout of her overflowing temper.

She hung up the phone before she could hear his response. The guilt was already soaking into her skin, but she didn't want to deal with those feelings. She was simply angry.

It wasn't something she could wallow in right now. If her dad didn't approve, she would just have to help him see that she was right.

_________________

Now that Charlotte was always away, and Amelie was no longer training during lunch nor after work, she was increasingly glad that Adrien had moved in, just so that she had some company.

They had been learning how to cook together, each night making a new recipe from the unused cookbook she had gotten for Christmas last year. Thankfully, there were ovens and stoves in the Elven Realms so cooking was not completely foreign to Adrien.

Adrien had also been telling her more and more about the Elven Realms, and she was ecstatic that she may soon be able to visit Moore with him.

He had taught her a few words in Thamot, and strange things about the Elven culture that she never would have imagined. Elves did not use most technology, as they did not need it. They had been talking on the phone for millennia using air magic. She had been practicing speaking through the air with Theo for a week, but she feigned surprise when Adrien explained the same phenomenon. It was called voling.

The only technology they did use were things used for heating and lighting, such as microwaves, stoves, and lightbulbs. Magic could not be used to conduct heat or cause electric currents so they had learned to adopt human technology. Electricity had only penetrated the Realms in the past twenty years and Adrien said Moore had been one of the last Realms to yield, so their technology was still relatively primitive.

"Why would Elves wait to install electricity a century after it was invented?" she asked one night over a dinner of homemade risotto.

"I don't know," Adrien grumbled reluctantly.

"I mean, is Elven culture reliant on stability? Or did they just not understand it?" she pushed.

"I don't know," he repeated, and took a bite of risotto.

"Do they not like using human things? Is that it?" she asked.

He slammed his fork down and shook his head. "Seriously, I still don't know, Amelie. Can you just drop it? There's not point in talking about it I don't know so there's no discussion to be had."

Amelie had no idea how the conversation had turned to abruptly but she stood up in her seat and gently grabbed his arm. "Calm down, babe," she said, "I'll drop it, I didn't mean to upset you."

He put his hadn't over the one she had on his arm and rubbed slow circles on the back of it. "Okay. Sorry. I didn't mean to become so upset about it."

They finished dinner in silence. As they lay in bed, stuck in a stagnant quiet, Amelie felt Adrien's mood shift as his body simultaneously shifted to come overtop of hers. He apologized for his hands and mouth and showed her his love in a way words simply could not that night.

On Friday, she and Maggie went out for dinner together. The first dinner she had spent away from Adrien in almost a month. The summer was fading into a soft autumn and they enjoyed the last remnants of warm weather on the rooftop terrace of a restaurant in__________.

Their foot had just been cleared away when "You know those guys we met last month at the bar?" Maggie asked.

"Yeah, vaguely. One of them was texting me for a while. It pissed of poor jealous little Adrien," Amelie laughed for Maggie, but internally grimaced at the memory of Adrien's judgmental comments about her sex life. She had to remember to be weary about him being the jealous type.

"Ah he's the jealous type," Maggie twirled her straw around in her water as she voiced Amelie's thoughts.

"A little. I'm not sure, he hasn't gotten weird about things with other men since then so maybe not?" Amelie also had been avoiding telling him about meeting with Theo, but that was only because he had told her to stay away from the gym. Not because Theo was a boy.

"Well, guess who showed up at Back to School Night this week. Paul. Aka, one of the boys from that night. I'm supposed to be teaching his eleven-year-old sister about the beauty of English and he's seen me do my slut dance."

Amelie almost spit out her drink. "Oh my God. What did you say? Did he definitely recognize you?"

"Oh yeah, he recognized me. He came up to me at the end of my presentation and asked me how I had been. I was shocked. He didn't seem to care that we had first met roaring drunk," she smiled.

"He seems like a pretty stand up guy to not embarrass you after that," Amelie said.

"Yeah. He's helping his dad raise his little sister after their mom died a few years ago. Living at home and packing her school lunches and everything. I had no idea she didn't come from a two-parent household to be honest." Maggie leaned forward and put her head in her hands.

"Wow. That's impressive. Is he single?" Amelie raised her eyebrows at her friend.

"Yep, and he asked me out. Right then and there. He said his sister loves me and that that was a big enough endorsement for him. I swooned so hard. You know I have a thing for good paternal figures."

Amelie's eyes widened, as they did each time Maggie mentioned her father's abuse so openly. "Mmmhmm," she said, simply.

"Maybe in a few weeks we can be double dating," Maggie said, "How are things going with Adrien by the way?"

Amelie smiled, involuntarily, "They're going so so well. He's wonderful. Everything I ever wanted."

"Wow. That's serious. It's been what like a month? Do you guys say I love you yet? Sorry I've been busy I'm feeling so behind on the Adrien and Amelie love story." The school year had just begun so Maggie had been off the grid for the past three weeks lesson prepping, decorating her classroom, and meeting with parents.

"Oh yeah, we said that a while ago." Amelie looked out over the terrace to the sun setting over the beautiful city she called home. "He actually moved in last week."

This time, Maggie almost spit out her drink. Little bits of water dribbled out the sides of her mouth and she scrambled to grab the napkins and tidy up.

"I'm sorry, what?" she said, astonished.

"He moved in. Last week. It's been wonderful," Amelie said.

"I've only been MIA for three weeks. I thought you guys would be at the point where you were maybe thinking of telling him you loved him. Not that he would have moved in and you'd be setting a wedding date." Maggie shook her head.

"I know we moved fast, but we've known each other for so long it just felt natural to take the next step." Amelie couldn't tell Maggie that part of the reason Adrien had moved in was for her protection, but that did not even matter. She believed every word she said. She loved him.

"Amelie. This....this is crazy. You cannot be serious." Maggie leaned forward and put her hand on Amelie's arm.

"I am serious, Mags. You've known me longer than anyone. You know I don't make rash decisions. This is something I want." Amelie leaned back so Maggie's arm fell onto the table, empty.

"Yes, I know. But even though it's you, I still think this is a bad idea. You're spending all your time with him. Don't you think you should breath on your own a little bit more. I haven't even met him. Has he met your family?"

"No, but he doesn't need to. I know him. I love him. And he loves me. Maggie you should be happy for me. You know I can be picky with men. I've been comparing them to Adrien my whole life and now he's here and he wants me," Amelie was becoming flustered and red. Her best friend should not be treating her with such judgement.

"I am happy for you, hun. But I also think that maybe you've idealized him a bit. You guys are still in the honeymoon period of your relationship. I'm sure he's wonderful but it's a huge commitment to live with someone," Maggie recited as if she was quoting a relationship book.

"That is exactly what my dad said. You realize you are agreeing with my absent father right now?" Amelie growled.

"I do agree with him then. I think you shouldn't have moved in together." The girls sat at an impasse. Amelie was determined to sit through the argument and not run away as she had with her father.

"Well you have moved in together," Maggie finally said after two silent minutes, "So I'm just going to be here for you if you run into problems. I hope that I am wrong, but I want you to know that I'm here if you need me. Either to gloat with how wonderfully it's going and prove me wrong, or to vent about having to live with another human."

Amelie continued to sulk.

"You live with a boy. Does he leave the toilet seat up? Have you figured out why all boys rooms smell bad?" Maggie probed. Amelie cracked a smile.

"I've never lived with a boy before. You have to tell me all the horrors," She reached out and grabbed Amelie's hands in her own, "Please. Let me in on the secrets!"

Amelie burst out laughing. "Nothing terrible yet. Sometimes he grabs doorknobs in the kitchen when he still has cooking grease or salad dressing on his hands; and the toothpaste has suddenly lost its cap for the first time in my entire life. But overall it's been fun, despite the mess."

"Good," Maggie said, "I just want you to be happy. I'll be on board if you're sure this is what you want."

Amelie did not hesitate to respond, despite the small tug she felt in the back of her mind."This is what I want."