Who: TELLA What: post-veela stuff. When: just after this [backdated] Where: T's flat Warnings: might be high. Status: Incomplete
Terrence felt marginally better having accomplished what he'd gone to Bill's flat to do, but it wasn't until after he'd gotten out of the place that he felt like he could breathe without forcefully concentrating on keeping himself under control. Between keeping the thrall's effect at bay and resisting the urge to murder the veela that was causing it, there was an enormous amount of tension in his body at the moment.
He hadn't given himself time to let it go before Apparating directly back to his own flat, where he'd left Ella, but he took a deep breath as soon as he reappeared. It wasn't over just yet, because he had some explaining to do. He had mentioned that he was meeting Bill to get the keys, but that didn't even begin to cover what had happened.
Most surprising to him was how exhausted he felt once he'd managed to relax somewhat. Not physically or mentally exhausted, but emotionally. He was sick unto death of being angry, of being tense, of not being able to hold on to a good mood for more than a few weeks before something happened to ruin it. But more importantly right now, he wanted to make sure that Ella knew what had happened. It would have been bad enough to have to deal with that without her being able to feel everything he was feeling, but his loathing for the veela had doubled, tripled in strength once he'd realized that Ella could feel it too. Merlin only knew what she thought had happened, if she actually thought he genuinely wanted someone else, even after he'd willingly given her everything he possibly could, with no intention of taking it back.
He headed into the bedroom and was relieved to see that she was there, in his bed. Their bed, really, since he hadn't slept in it alone for years, her trips to Bulgaria notwithstanding. At the sight of her, his emotions overwhelmed him. Desire mixed with affection, mostly, real desire that hadn't been forced out of him, not just physical attraction but the desire to be hers, to make her happy, to be certain he hadn't fucked everything up. He knew logically that he hadn't broken any rules, that she would forgive him, but that didn't change the fact that he'd ruined the good mood they'd been in when he'd left, and hurt her, however temporarily - and that ached. He hated it so much when he was even unwillingly involved in making her unhappy.
He kicked off his shoes and stripped off his jacket, shirt, and jeans before climbing into bed with her, so that he was facing her. He took her hand and pressed it to his chest, over his tattoo, which lay over his heart. "Bill is apparently engaged to none other than that bloody blonde veela woman," he said, much more venom in his tone than in his actions. The venom was all for Fleur, the rest of it was for Ella. He watched her, hoping she'd understand. "I hate veela. They cheat."