InsaneJournal

WHO: Regulus Black and Ariadne
WHAT: Stupid mistletoe.
WHEN: Dec. 21, late afternoon/early evening
WHERE: Lobby of Building A
RATING: PG-13 for cursing
STATUS: Complete


Regulus needed cigarettes and reasoned a quick run to the convenience store just up the corner on his way back to his own flat after visiting Juno would be more effective than trying to explain to Kreacher which brand he smoked. In a normal world that would make perfect sense. This world wasn’t normal, for one thing, aside from the random shit that happened on a near weekly basis, Sirius was allowed to run wild and free with a wand, no less, stirring that random shit up into a muddled brown mess. In short, Regulus momentarily forgot his brother had decided to play poltergeist and messed with the mistletoe scattered about the city.

Just as he hit the main lobby he saw, through the glass, Ariadne approaching the door. Unsuspecting of any foreboding ill wind on the horizon he raised his hand to wave to her, and smiled.

Ariadne was on her way back from work, exhausted by another day struggling to deal with customers trying to figure out what art supplies to buy for their friends and families. Real people or not, waiting for the locals to decide which particular brand and size of sketchbook to buy - when they had absolutely no idea what kind of work was going to be done - was frustrating in a special slowly torturous sort of way. At least today she hadn't been attacked by any floating greenery or airborne snow missiles. She was still waiting for the opportune moment to deliver the promised kick to Sirius' delicate manly appendages. Especially for that dirty trick with the compulsion - some kind of love spell, she guessed.

Her thoughts were derailed by a familiar figure, one that by now she knew to identify as Regulus and not Arthur. Ariadne waved back, detouring slightly from her path to head towards him. "Hey, stranger. How's it going?"

Regulus saw no reason to not stop and talk to Ariadne for a second or two. The lurking weed in the shadows of the corners of the lobby, poorly lit due to the dark evening sky, was hardly noticeable from its cover.

“Like any other day,” Regulus said as he stopped before her.

To him, Ariadne wasn’t Juno’s identical twin, pregnancy aside even. They carried themselves differently, they spoke differently, though their voices were similar in tone, they were still distinguishable. Ariadne was older, Juno definitely younger. They were just different.

“How ‘bout yourself?”

Ariadne rolled her eyes. "As an aristocrat you probably have no idea how brutal the last week before Christmas is for anybody working retail. I'm wiped out." Were they standing a little too close to one another? She didn't notice. "I'm planning to go home and take a very long bath." She didn't see any malicious mistletoe either. Why would she have, when she wasn't looking for it? There wasn't any floating behind either of them.

Regulus crinkled his nose at the mild insult. “I have good deductive reasoning skills.” He only sounded a smidge petulant around the grin he was, oddly enough, wearing. Honestly, he may never have actually ‘worked’ a day in his life but that didn’t mean he hadn’t ever been one of those shoppers, and crowds like that were exhausting to be around, it wasn’t hard for him to imagine Ariadne would find them just as tiring.

Had that gust of wind that had slipped through the slow closing door reached into the corner and drawn out the floating plant to circle into his and Ariadne’s vicinity? Regulus hadn’t noticed, he was intently focused on Ariadne, not a bit concerned with how close they were standing, though in his right mind this would be far, far too close for his comfort. And the way she licked her lower lip after finishing her description.

She smiled at that. "Hence why you always ask me if I'm okay when I'm snapping at somebody on the network. It's impressive, really." Okay, maybe she was teasing a little, but she did appreciate that he cared enough to ask. Colligo seemed to be turning him into a halfway decent human being. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all. And now some of her best friends were an infamous pair of wizards. This place never ceased to be incredibly strange.

Ariadne didn't notice the mistletoe bouncing along the ground. Whatever else she was going to say died on her lips as she looked up at Regulus, caught by his gaze.

Regulus was closing the minuscule distance between them. Before he knew what he was doing he was reaching to cup the back of Ariadne’s head and leaning down to press his lips urgently against hers. He was wholly unaware of the noxious weed bumping against his and Ariadne’s legs as he extended that kiss far longer than really should have ever, EVER, happened.

It was a very nice kiss, Ariadne would think later when she was done being horrified. And Regulus was a good kisser, and considerate enough to lean down when she couldn't get all that much height up on her tiptoes. But when she broke the kiss to catch her breath it was like a switch had been flipped, and she threw herself backwards to put as much distance between them as possible.

"What in the holy flying fuck was that?" she asked, breathless.

Reality hit Regulus like a kick to the gut. Never would he do something like this, ‘this’ being kiss someone without first obtaining permission. He had strict policies on space, and boundaries, and not crossing them unless clear authorization was granted first. There was also the fact Ariadne wasn’t Juno! What the fuck?!

He mirrored Ariadne and stepped back too, the horror and shock on his face the first indication that he had no idea what had come over him.

“I’m sorry!” he blurted out. “I don’t know-” He didn’t finish as the rolling sprig of green started rocking in the space between them, drawing his attention. It seemed to have trouble making up its mind, oscillating back and forth, seemingly innocent, but just waiting to unleash more of its osculating compulsion. He stood dumbfounded, watching the thing for a handful of moments. And then, “Fuck!” His wand was out in a flash and one nonverbal spell later the thing exploded in a spectacular display of Regulus’ fury.

Ariadne had one hand over her mouth by this point, as if to ward off any more impromptu makeouts. If his face was anything to go by, Regulus was just as freaked as she was, which meant he hadn't done anything to start this up. And then the appearance of the mistletoe caught her eye, followed shortly by the miniature fireworks.

"I am going to kill your brother," she announced, as if she wasn't flushed bright pink by what had happened. "A kick in the balls is way too good for him." Drawing and quartering, maybe. Or bringing him into a dream where she could kill him creatively. "He's gone too fucking far." Random strangers were creepy, Eames was... well, she hadn't figured out how she felt about that yet. But this, when Sirius had such a tenuous peace with his brother and such an unconventional relationship with Ariadne - accidental or not, it was bordering on outright malice. Not to mention really entirely bizarre.

Jaw clenched tight enough he was sure Ariadne could hear his teeth grinding. He was angry, bitterly, blindingly angry. He honestly felt sick despite the fact that Ariadne clearly understood he literally had not been in control, and neither had she. That was good, that she understood, but that wasn’t what was twisting his gut. He wasn’t focused on the weird yet, he’d not gotten that far in assessing what he felt about all this, he was still at furious. A compulsion charm. It had to be. His brother had not only charmed these bloody plants to follow people around but they were charmed to compel people to kiss who ever was closest. You did not force people to do things against their will.

This fierce opinion was born of too many memories of experiencing first hand how wrong compulsion was, things he’d never told anyone about… He swallowed though his mouth was dry to keep those memories at bay. Regulus may have been a Death Eater, he may have done despicable things that he was so ashamed of some days he was a barely functioning human being, but he knew right and wrong, and this, forcing something like this, fell so far on the side of wrong you had to be a bloody idiot to miss it.

“Not if I get to him first,” his voice was low and menacing. His mind hadn’t even thought ‘Shit, what do I say to Juno?!’, he would get there, but later. Regulus didn’t stick around to hear more, but apparated away. Take care of Sirius first, deal with the consequences of this later.