Chocoholics Anonymous

"You'll do good I think." Selena liked Luca's small smile and tilted her head, opening the door to the few animals that wanted in.

Luca's temptation would be enough to distract the animals, even Cora, at first. Selena moved quickly as they followed her briefly, hoping he would keep the babies occupied while she snuck off to the kitchen.

Luca nodded, following Selena out of the door mostly until the first few animals approached, to where he crouched down to begin giving them attention to distract them.

They all seemed to want attention, which was good, Selena would be able to get everything they needed from the kitchen. He had a small smile on his face as he continued petting them all, they were sweet animals.

The animals were sufficiently distracted for the time being, just as selfish and adoring of attention as their mother really. Luca love was quite wanted, he had only given them that one burst and they were not pleased. Luca was friend.

Selena, thanking the man internally for his adoration of her pets, quickly snuck a few loads of snacks before the whiny little fox caught on. Once she had, the cats started eyeing her curiously. The dogs for the most part were just happy with attention, rolled over and whining lightly.

As Selena sneaked in as much of the things as she could, Luca continued his job of showering the animals with affection and pets. The dogs seemed to stick to him, though the others started eyeing Selena and catching on to things...

Cora followed Selena whenever she left the room, wandering back and forth and watching her carefully... Fiddlesticks followed soon after. Luca's grasp on more than the dogs was fading quickly, the dogs soon realizing that food was at stake though.

Selena stopped this time as she stood outside of the room, all eyes on her. Dropping to the floor on her butt, she waved Luca to grab the remainder as the animals swarmed her. She could hold them off if he could get the final snacks...

Luca remained on the floor until Selena sat down, grabbing the animals attention almost instantly; he gave a small nod at her wave and moved to go gather what was left of the sweets to bring into the room.

There wasn't much, as Selena had gotten most of it, so it was a quick trip. When he had everything, he motioned to her that he'd gotten it all.

Selena saw the chocolate in all its incarnations head into that room, carefully keeping the animals distracted until she was given the okay. Lifting herself from the pile, animals scattered as she stood. They moved towards the door before a snapped finger and a glare stopped them, and Selena took her chance with a small laugh to rush over and sneak inside.

"Hurry Luca!"

Luca made sure to take advantage of the chance Selena gave him when she stopped the animals, making sure none of them made it into the room where the food and they were.

He gave a small breath, a tiny smile hinting on his lips; he was glad they'd managed this without mistakes.

As Luca entered the room, Selena turned to him and smiled. She noted the tiny smile playing at his lips and had to laugh very softly, her hands moving up to his face. Gently pushing with her fingers, she made the man give a larger smile and cocked her head to the side. "Aha, I shall help you smile. Like this. This is a large happy one, you use it when you want to express such feelings."

It might have been a bit mean to tease the quiet man like this, but she felt he needed it sometimes.

Luca blinked, his eyes widened a small fraction at Selena's action, his expression relaxing some at her explanation. A big smile...? He could manage those...?

His fingers went up to his lips, lightly touching them as he blinked once. A large smile...?

"I shall try to manage larger ones...then..." Luca answered, attempting to give a smile that was a bit bigger than his usual ones.

She had been teasing! Luca seemed to take it seriously though and Selena's amusement faded into something much much softer feeling. Smiling gently, she nodded as he smiled a bit bigger with more than a bit of happiness. Taking the hand that had touched his lips, she held his and brought it to hers. "That one is nice, happy even. Now watch mine, what kind of smile is this do you think? What does it show?"

She had a soft smile on her features, settling his fingers against her lips. It seemed chocolate taste testing had turned into smiling practice and learning.

That smile...

Luca's eyes remained on Selena for a few short moments after she'd asked that, "Gentleness...? Perhaps?" He questioned; her smile was light, not amused for sure, but softer...

"Mhm! That's it. Its a soft and gentle happiness." Selena's smile grew more, her eyes closing for a moment as she let Luca's hand move from her lips if he wanted. "You try? Though its hard to just... force a smile. You have to feel it in your mind and heart and chest. See this is a fake one."

Selena took a breath and let out everything she was feeling and then gave Luca a fakely happy smile. It might not be apparently to him why it was fake, but it would definitely not be right to someone who saw her smiles a lot.

Luca nodded, watching as Selena demonstrated a fake smile for him, it was large and looked happy, but looking at her for a few seconds longer it seemed to lack...sincerity within it...

He didn't want to fake smiles, considering how little he smiled in the first place it would probably be obvious if he did so...

How could he demonstrate a gentler one though without forcing it...? He had to feel that way...right? Hm...

Luca seemed deep in thought about smiles and Selena decided to try and help. How though? What would Luca smile softly and gently at? Hmming to herself, she put a hand on her hip and the other on her chin as she looked up. Cocking her hip a bit, she hmmed more... before speaking. "Well what do you find nice? I smiled like that because I thought it was sweet how you were trying to smile larger, and I also felt a bit sad because you didn't know how in the first place. So instead of a very happy and exuberant smile...that one was softer and a bit more gentle."

"They can also turn like that when you think about someone you care for, or a happy memory that is also sweet. I think? For me that is how it works at least." Selena was far from a smiling expert, though...lately she'd found herself much happier and much less lonely. Luca was part of that...though he wasn't the sole cause.

Something that he found nice...

"Music...though, I'm usually concentrating..." So he never really smiled much during his playing, concentration was important after all...

He enjoyed it though, so he thought it was nice...

He didn't really have any happy memories to think back on, or sad either really...just neutral ones that didn't really cause any feelings to arise within him.

"Hm... What about a performance you liked by someone else? That you listened to and don't need to concentrate on anymore? Um, how about family memories? Or pets if you have any? Or how chocolate tastes and makes you smile? Aren't those good thoughts?" Selena was trying but had no idea how to help the withdrawn man. Reaching out, she settled her hand against his cheek.

"How about my pets if you don't have anything? You seem to adore them and are happy when you are around them..."

Another performance? Family memories...pets of his own? He didn't have any memories of those things, though he was unsure of how to voice that exactly.

The chocolate...or even Selena's pets though...

He enjoyed them, they were sweet and lovable, and the chocolate he'd tried so far had been very nice as well...

"Your pets a sweet, very loving towards others..." He replied, thinking back on them even if they were right outside the door of the room they were in, after a moment of thinking on that Selena got the smile she'd asked him to demonstrate, though he didn't realize he was even doing it.

Selena sighed and nodded, happy with that smile as finally Luca found it in himself to do so. Reaching out to take his hands, she led him back to the chocolates and the soft cushions as she spoke. "I'm glad thoughts of my pets cause you such softness. They do the same to me to be honest."

"So you can make slightly bigger smiles, soft ones... Hm I wonder what other kinds of smiles? You can smirk sometimes, when you get a bit more playful by your standards..." Selena mused to herself.

Luca allowed Selena to lead him back over to the cushions and chocolate, listening as she began speaking.

He looked thoughtful for a moment, "I wonder..."

What other types of smiles could he make? He wasn't sure, there were definitely many different types...

"Would you want help?" Selena did not let go of Luca's hand as she felt the bean bag behind her with her feet and ankles, instead she dropped down and tugged him with her. They could share one, it was large enough. "I don't know how, but I can try to get you to smile. You can get me, so I feel its only fair to return the favor."

"Perhaps..." Having help in...smiling? Help in trying to learn how many other different smiles he was able to make.

He followed Selena as she moved to sit down, sitting down as she tugged him with her. They were sharing a seat, but it was large enough for the both of them.

Selena's words made sense, and he gave a small nod to them.

"I offered to help and now I have no idea how to..." Selena sighed, pushing up her glasses and looking away as Luca settled onto the large beanbag with her. She glanced back at his face before nabbing a small mousse. It had three layers of chocolate, all were sweet kinds and it was a more poofy form of pudding. Taking a spoon, she dipped it in and held it out for him to take a bite of.

"Maybe feeding you chocolate is a start. I may like you a lot, but...I am not prepared to make a fool of myself just to make you smile..." She blushed very slightly her eyes trained on the pudding.

He wasn't sure how exactly Selena would be able to help him on this either...but, it wasn't like it was an impossible lesson.

Looking at the spoonful of something chocolate she'd taken, he leaned forward as she held it out to him, eating the spoonful before pulling back again some. He gave a nod as Selena spoke, unable to really speak at the moment due to having chocolate in his mouth.

"You won't need to make a fool of yourself...the chocolate was also good..." Luca replied once he'd swallowed his bite.

Selena took a bite of it after Luca did, smiling softly and shaking her head. It was good, yes, so she was pleased he liked it. "So you like this too? ...I suppose I should be happy you don't want to see me be a fool."

Leaning forward, Selena moved up and kissed Luca's cheek. It was relaxing around him, she didn't have to feel or act any special way and he just accepted her so utterly... "Thank you."