Amycus Carrow (bithnyianking) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-01-03 21:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | !partner thread, amycus carrow, james potter |
Who: Amycus Carrow and James Potter
What: Talking (Amycus' is using his wisdom for good!)
When: A few months ago
Where: Casa de Carrow
Rating/Warnings: Low? Look there's some British naughty words and drinking. Be cautious
Status: Complete when posted
Amycus was working from the house today so that Regulus could get some research done while he kept the girls and their pets busy. Which is how he’d ended up with Apollo (their idiot siamese) sprawled across his lap while the girls played with the dogs on the carpet in front of his desk. He heard the doorbell ring and stood up, Apollo in his arm as he went to the door, calling into the house “I’ve got it Reg!” before looking at the twins. “Stay in here. Aslan...you’re in charge.” He told the large dog and was rewarded with him flopping down behind them so they couldn’t move away from the couch in there.
He opened the door, one brow arching as he saw the younger man standing on the other side of the door. “James. To what do I owe the pleasure?” He said, stepping back to let him inside. His tone was mostly amused and he started to lead him towards the office. “Regulus is working so we’ll have to talk in my office.”
***
James grinned when Amycus answered the door, and entered the house when Amycus stepped aside for him. “What, do I need an excuse to come see an old friend?” James asked. Truth be told, he’d been thinking about the night at the club with Lily and Andromeda and their friend for the last few days, and he needed something to take his mind off of it. Spending time with Amycus seemed like as good an excuse as any.
**
“Of course not. I just had to make sure this wasn’t a business call. The girls are in the office playing with the pups.” Amycus told him over his shoulder. It meant that he couldn’t get much work done but he’d live with it. He looked through the door and shook his head. “Chip! No chewing on the desk.” He said, giving their rambunctious pup a stern look. “And you two young ladies know he’s not supposed to chew like that.” He didn’t fuss at Aslan because Aslan had done his main job - keeping the twins out of trouble. “Grab a seat. Just ignore the fur. It’s probably Aslan’s.”
***
James grinned, and pulled his wand out from his jeans pocket. “Scourgify,” he said airly, and, like magic (or rather, exactly magic), a spot cleared on the couch for him to sit. He took his seat, fur free. “No business,” James assured Amycus. There wasn’t much use for the son of a man who created hair care products anyway, even if he were rich. “Though it seems like you have enough going on without adding work to it too.”
***
Amycus let out a low whistle as he watched James use his magic so capably. “Been practicing?” He asked, settling down on the couch himself without bothering to get rid of the fur on it. It was hardly the first time he’d gotten dog hair on himself after all. “Controlled chaos. I thrive in it. Luckily I didn’t have to much to do today. Mainly making sure none of my clients have accidentally destroyed the planet. ...It’s a legitimate concern with some of them actually.” He said, a little grin on his face as Aslan stood up and laid his head in James’ lap. “I think Aslan’s decided you need dog hair on you.” He said, Apollo stretching out in his lap again.
“So...what have you found to keep yourself busy?”
***
“Every day,” James said. Who wouldn’t practice magic every day if they had the option to? Oh top of how useful it was, it was fun too. James didn’t mind Aslan’s head on him, and gave him scritches behind the ear. After all, he could clean his trousers as easily as he had that couch cushion now.
James shrugged. “Studying magic, mostly,” James admitted. “Though I have been spending some time with Lily and Sirius too, which has been nice.” He’d known Lily forever, but it was nearly surprising how quickly Sirius had become an indispensable part of his life. Perhaps less surprising, now that he had started dreaming about him. “When Lily isn’t going home with mingers, at least,” he added, a little bitterly.
***
“I try to but it doesn’t always work out for me. I get by the Magic Guild about once a week though.” Amycus said, smiling as Aslan seemed to lean his head further into James lap for attention.
He was about to ask if everything was okay between him and Lily when he noticed the way James sounded as he mentioned her going home with others but before he could get the words out Laurel piped up “Daddy, what’s a minger?” and Madison chimed in right on her sister’s heels “And why is Auntie Lily going home with them?”
Amycus took a deep breath, shooting a slightly exasperated look in James’ direction. “Nothing for you to worry about Princesses. Why don’t you take Chip and Aslan to their room because it’s about time for Chip to go out and do his business. You two can play in there with them for awhile but don’t go in the backyard. It’s too hot to play outside today.” He said, waiting until they had left the room with the large dogs to look back at his friend.
“Everything alright between you and Lily?”
***
James had opened his mouth to answer the girls (“Well, girls, a minger is someone who looks like a troll, and very likely smells like one too”), but at Amycus’s look he very wisely decided to snap his mouth shut and don his most innocent look instead.
“Yeah, everythings dandy,” he answered, not quite intending the sarcasm that crept into his voice. Everything was fine, as far as he was concerned. Or, at least, as far as he let himself be concerned. “Why do you ask?”
***
Amycus raised one brow at his friend as he got up from the couch, Apollo rolling off his lap and onto the cushions with a little disgruntled meow, to go get a couple of glasses and the bottle of whiskey he kept out of the kids reach for the few clients who came to the house. And the even fewer number of friends who he entertained in his office.
“You might want to try that on someone who hasn’t known you most of our lives. Or get better at lying if you want me to believe you on that.” He said, crossing back to the couch and offering him one of the glasses as he sat back down. “And I asked because of the way you sounded when mentioning who she went home with.” He was trying to keep his tone neutral but he had to admit - it was a little funny to him seeing James so worked up like that. Not that he’d admit it to anyone.
***
“It wouldn’t have been so bad if he wasn’t horrendous looking,” James huffed, though if he were being honest with himself, he would have admitted he hadn’t gotten too good a look at the man’s face. He’d been more than a little occupied himself. “She’d spent the whole night flirting with everyone else, you’d think she could have at least gone home with someone halfway decent looking. It really hurts my credibility as a great wingman.”
***
Amycus poured them each a drink, sipping it slowly as he watched his friend. The way he saw it, he had two choices. He could pretend to believe James was upset because Lily had left with someone he didn’t think was attractive or he could push to try and find out what the real reason was and risk pissing his friend off. Although as he thought back on the little bit James had said he wondered if the younger man hadn’t given it away with telling him how she’d spent her night.
“Are you sure it’s your credibility as a wingman that’s bothering you?” He asked mildly.
***
James opened his mouth to say that of course that’s what was bothering him, but the words didn’t exactly feel right in his mouth so he closed his mouth again and frowned. He didn’t really know what to say, so instead he finished off his drink and got up to pour himself another.
***
Amycus waved him down almost lazily, deciding now was a good time to try and practice his wandless magic as any as he brought the bottle over to the couch where they were sitting. “Why not use magic if we have it?” He asked, topping off his own drink after James poured himself another, gently directing the kitten away from the glass as it rested on the couch beside him. He’d learned a lot from his years as a PR person. The main one was that if you waited people would answer your question when they were ready. He could be patient and wait for James to answer his earlier question. Hopefully his friend would remember that anything he told him would stay just between them. It was part of why he’d sent the girls to another room.
***
“Haha, touche,” James said, raising his glass and taking a mouthful. He half hoped that Amycus would change the subject, but after a while it seemed pretty obvious that he wasn’t going to. “I just don’t see why she has to flirt with half the damn bar in the first place,” he sulked.
***
Amycus really was trying not to laugh at James’ sulking tone but it was hard and all he could hope was that his hurried movement to bring his glass to his mouth had covered up the majority of the laughing smile from his friend. “Because she’s a single woman and that’s what they do if they want?” He suggested, deliberately not mentioning that he knew some women who weren’t single who behaved that way too. That bit of knowledge wouldn’t do anyone any good right now.
***
“Yeah, well,” James said, and then said nothing for a moment as he realized he didn’t know how the finish that sentence. “Maybe she shouldn’t. And then maybe she shouldn’t get all pissy at me for acting like a single bloke either.”
***
Amycus knew that the chance of saying the exact wrong thing was high but he also knew that he might have to take that chance so he took another swallow of his drink and then leaned forward to set it on the small table, scooping Apollo back into his lap. “You are going to fall off the couch idiot.” He murmured affectionately to the kitten.
“James...do you want me to give you my honest opinion about all this?”
***
That was the question, wasn’t it? There was, perhaps, a part of him, deep down inside, that knew what the problem was. He had always had a crush on Lily, but he’d much prefered playing the field and not needing to worry about things like ‘relationships’ and ‘rules.’ And so long as he didn’t acknowledge what was actually pissing him off, he could keep doing that. But, well, he was never one to turn away from a challenge either.
“What’s that?” he asked after a moment.
***
“You’re pissed because she was paying attention to everyone other than you. Flirting with guys other than you.” Amycus said, keeping his voice level. “Which is a crock of shit when by your own admission you were acting single yourself.” He sighed. “You know her better than I do but - I’ve spent some time with her since moving here, the twins adore her. She’s not the type of woman to sit back and let someone force her to live by a double standard.”
***
James sighed. He knew, of course, that Amycus was right. Getting angry at Lily for not living up to a higher standard than James himself was at wasn’t entirely fair. Or logical for that matter.
“I just don’t want to get myself into some sort of serious relationship,” he said petulantly, surprising himself a little. “You know? I want to live a little first. But I don’t want Lily getting into one in the meantime either.”
***
Amycus bit back a laugh at that petulant tone in his friends voice, looking down at the couch until he was certain that he had some sort of control over his expression. “James...I know what you mean. And you know I’m not going to tell you you shouldn’t. I mean hell - I didn’t plan on getting married for the first time before graduating University. Truth be told I wasn’t ever planning on getting married more than once.” He looked back up. “You have the right to live a little. But it’s not fair to Lily for you to just decide that she’ll wait for you mate. Want a bit more advice?” He asked, topping off both their drinks again.
***
“And we all know how that worked out,” James chimed in, realizing a little too late that it might have been a little insensitive. He held out his drink for Amycus, and sighed. “Not really, but I guess I’ll take it anyway.” After all, it wasn’t like he’d come up with a good way to deal with the problem yet.
***
Amycus did laugh a little at James comment. “You mean giving me the two most adorable children in the world? Yes we all know that.” He said, waving off any hurt feelings. He’d messed up getting married and he knew it. But he’d gotten what he wanted out of it - he’d gotten his daughters and now was getting the rest of what he wanted: his family.
“Talk to her. Tell her where you’re at. What you’re thinking. Because if you don’t tell her you aren’t ready for something serious, but want to maybe have that something serious with her one day, you might find yourself losing that shot. And maybe even losing her as a friend if you keep holding her to a double standard. Because if you tell her you don’t want a serious relationship right now, and she agrees to whatever it is you want to do - seeing other people and her or whatever it is - you have to accept that she gets the same leeway you want. Without getting pissy about it and insulting them.”
***
“He was a minger,” James sulked into his glass. He took a long pull from the glass, then sighed. “You’re probably right though,” he admitted. Damn Amycus for making sense. He ran his hand through his hair, unconsciously ruffling it as his fingers went through. “Goddammit, why are you always right, Am?”
***
“And I’m sure Lily would have some lovely words of her own to describe some of the people you spent time with when you went out,” Amycus said with a small laugh as he finished off his drink. “It’s because I’m older that’s all. I’ve learned from my idiot mistakes and I’m willing to share that knowledge. That or I’m just smarter than you take your pick.” He teased his friend.
***
“I’m going to go with you being really, really old,” James said cheekily, grinning and shooting Amycus a wink. He ran his hand through his hair once more. “Thanks for the chat, old chap.”
***
Amycus laughed at that wink, shaking his head gently as he set his now empty glass on the table. “Still look better than you even if I am really, really old.” He mock grumbled before getting serious again. “Anytime. I just want you idiots to be happy whatever it takes. And preferably not teaching the girls to curse. That’s a joy I’d like to keep for myself and Regulus thanks. Speaking of Regulus….should I tell him we’re having an extra for dinner?”
***
“Your eyesight must be failing too, poor geezer” James said sympathetically, patting his friend on the shoulder but not quite managing a somber appearance with the playful smirk that played at the corner of his lips.
“I’d love to,” he answered Amycus, already feeling a little better about everything after thier talk.