"Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place."

–Zora Neale Hurston

"It's so easy to get lost in constantly having to present

Whatever face you believe a person wants to see rather than your own."

-Chiodos "A Letter From Janelle"

She was like a refreshing sigh of relief for him - nothing like anyone who he had ever met before.

With Victoire he always had to be p e r f e c t and that was something that Teddy wasn't. All she did was badger him about this and that. Keep your chin up. Stop slouching. Why do you keep turning your hair those ridiculous colors? What are you wearing? Why aren't you perfectperfectperfect, Teddy? He had heard all of those things so many damn times before that he had them memorized, engraved into his being. Victoire couldn't comprehend that no one could ever be as perfect as she was - or at least, as she believed that she was. Every time she would start nagging at him he would just put on that perfect smile - no, not his goofy one because she didn't like that one. He didn't smile because he was happy - no, he was so damn far from being happy - but because that was what Victoire wanted to see. She wanted to see a happy and perfect Teddy and so that is what he became. That relationship didn't last very long. Victoire broke up with him because "he had changed." Well, wasn't that what she wanted? Her perfect Teddy?

Then Lily. Beautiful, kind Lily but oh, so insecure because of Victoire. She always believed that Teddy still loved her cousin - it made her so very paranoid. She swore to Merlin that he must not love her because he wasn't always with her. So Teddy changed. He became one of those at-your-side-twenty-four-seven kind of guys. Their relationship lasted no longer than his previous one had. Lily felt that he was too needy. Didn't she understand that he was needy because, before, that was what she wanted?

But now, now he was with Luna. She was like a peaceful spring after two hard, freezing winters - like a gulp of fresh air seconds before one drowns. Teddy didn't know how to act around her at first because, well, because she wanted him to just be himself. Himself? Who was that? He had forgotten who the true Teddy was; that Teddy had been lost in between a series of rough relationships. Luna had been able to coax the real Teddy out from its dark, damp cave where it had been hiding for many, many years. She loved him for who he was and she didn't want to change him because, to her, his imperfections were the definition of perfection. He melted every time he saw her flawless face light up with joy when his hair changed colors. That was something she found endearing, not embarrassing. Luna embraced with warm open arms his quirks and made him feel alive and not oppressed. And so what if she was older than he was - his father had been quite a bit older than his mother and they made it work. He felt that as long as it didn't matter to Luna, then it didn't matter to him. He was no longer a child and she was no longer married.

They were truly perfect for each other - like two connecting pieces of the same puzzle. It wasn't an artificial sort of perfect, either. No, this was the kind of perfection only two people in love could achieve.

The lyrics above are from the song "A Letter From Janelle" by Chiodos. Goo check them out 'cause Craig Owens is yummy && amazing!

The quote above is from mew's challenge HPFC!

This pairing was discovered by mew and was done for Mew and Mor's Weird Pairings. If you use them, pleasepleaseplease give us a mention!

Soo, I came up with the couple name Tuna! Awesome, right?

Thanks mew for beta-ing! Here's a big ol' Tuna sandwich that I've been promising!