afon jones (afon) wrote in cultureic, @ 2017-01-31 15:42:00 |
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Entry tags: | afon jones, cora jones |
WHO: Afon & Cora Jones
WHEN: backdated to January 30, morning
WHERE: St Mungo's
SUMMARY: Aftermath.
WARNINGS: A sloth
The first night after what happened in Godric’s Hollow was still a blur for Afon. The whole thing was, really, except for one moment that burned brightly in his mind’s eye. The next two nights had been lonely. He’d left St Mungo’s for Cora’s parents’ house and slept in their guest room. Slept was being generous, though. It was hard for him to sleep alone, usually, after sharing a bed with Cora for so many years. But it was hard for him to sleep in general. That moment was hard for him to escape. So when morning came, he looked and felt worn out, but he packed up a few things for Cora and went to St Mungo’s anyway. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” he said before he pressed a kiss to Cora’s forehead and dropped into the chair at her bedside. The crooked grin he gave her didn’t quite reach his eyes, though, and it faded the second he turned to rummage through the bag he’d brought with him. The smile Cora gave him was more genuine. She hated hospitals and being stuck in one when there was work to be done had her feeling restless, useless and bored. But with returning to work out of the question until her muscles had been mended and her mind too scattered from pent up energy and pain potions to focus on killing time, the sight of his face was a welcome distraction — a relief. She sat up straighter and eyed the bag beside him. “Please tell me you brought an actual hoverboard so I can get out of here.” “Hmm,” Afon hummed, pretending to reach even further into the bag, raising it so he could squint at its contents. Eventually he emerged and mimed smacking his forehead with the palm of his hand instead of actually doing hitting himself. “I knew I forgot something.” He reached back into the bag, though, and pulled out a giant bar of Honeyduke’s chocolate that he passed off to Cora. “I thought you could use this.” A jumper came next. “Your mum thought you could use this.” And finally, Megan’s sloth. “And from Megan.” A smile pulled at the corners of Cora’s mouth as she accepted each of the contents from Afon’s bag. She breathed out a laugh when she saw the sloth, the sight of it a bittersweet reminder that she wouldn’t be seeing nearly as much of Megan in the next few days. Still, as she propped it up on her lap and looked down at it, she couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “This is so sweet,” she said, turning it on Afon. “I know,” Afon said, a little mournfully, shaking his head ever so slightly. “I told her off for showing me up. I told her I wanted to bring the sweetest gift.” He prodded the chocolate bar, grinning. “But she laughed at me.” “Your gift is pretty sweet too,” she said, reaching for his hand. “But I know how much Megan’s going to miss this little guy.” “She made my promise to be careful and not lose him,” he said, sliding his fingers between Cora’s. “And when I asked her if she wanted me to pass that along to you, she said she trusted Mummy to take good care of him.” “Oh, I will,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I’ll be sure to keep him out of harm’s way until he can go home.” Her smile waned a bit as a beat of silence passed between them. She tugged his hand to urge him closer to her. “How’re you doing? How’s your head? Be honest.” The legs of his chair dragged loudly against the floor as he scooted in closer to her bed. But he wasn’t entirely sure how to answer her first question. “My head’s okay,” he said, shrugging a shoulder. “Still kind of hurts, but it’ll be okay. I just need to rest.” One of the corners of his mouth quirked. “Whatever that is.” Cora couldn’t contain a look of concern. Her hand went to the side of his head, brushing over his hair. “If I have to rest, you have to rest. No roughhousing with Megan, no going to work, no housework, no nothing. Let my mum boss you around.” At ‘no going to work’, something flickered across Afon’s face, but then he was grinning at her and leaning into her hand. “Who’s bossing me around?” he quipped, giving her side a poke. But his fingers caught on her blanket and he straightened it. His expression sobered as he lifted his eyes to meet hers. “How’re you?” “I’m all right,” she answered, glancing down at her legs. She tried to move them, but it hurt to bend her knees. “I’ll be better when these are ready to work again.” “I hope they leg it,” he said with a tiny smirk. She cracked a smile. “Me too. I need to get back to you and Megan — and work.” Again, something flickered at work, his smirk fading. But he squeezed her hand. “Megan and I really miss you.” “I miss you too,” she said, her smile growing fond as she leaned back into her pillow. She wrinkled her nose at the next thought, “I miss not having to be levitated to the loo.” “You’ll listen to them, though, right?” he asked, bringing the back of her hand to his lips. “It’d be worse if you got back on your feet too soon. No work for you either.” “Of course I’ll listen to them,” she said. “But I don’t see the harm in getting an intern to bring me my paperwork so I can have something to do besides stare at the TV all day.” “You’re supposed to be resting!” “I can still rest while I’m staying on top of paperwork!” Cora motioned to her surroundings — she wouldn’t be able to go anywhere even if she wanted to. “I just don’t want to sit here feeling useless for however long this takes.” Afon didn’t look convinced, but eventually he shrugged. “Just…no convincing that intern to levitate you into the Ministry.” “Promise,” she said with a smile she hoped was reassuring. She tapped her fingertips against the back of his hand. “When are you going back?” “About that,” he said slowly, scratching at his chin. This time that something from before settled in across his face, a mixture of discomfort and guilt. It took him a moment to find the right words and then to force them out, but finally he dragged his hand over his mouth before letting it fall limply to the edge of Cora’s bed. “I don’t think I can go back,” he said. Cora sat up straighter, surprise the only thing on her face. “What? Why not?” “Cora,” was all he said, a plea to not make him say it. But she didn’t understand. She could only look at him with an expression that echoed her question again. “Someone’s dead because of me,” he said, his voice unsteady. It wasn’t the first time he’d talked about it. But every time he did, he could feel himself wanting to distance himself from it. It wasn’t the same as what he imagined it must’ve been like for Jonah and Evan. But at the same time…wasn’t it? “After everything we’ve said to Jonah, I can’t — I don’t think I deserve to be a hitwizard anymore. And I don’t want to.” “Afon, it’s not like Jonah. This is completely different,” Cora said, tensing in her bed. She wanted to move — to be closer to him, but all she could do was tilt her upper body forward in his direction. Even that strained the muscles in her legs, but the urgency of reassuring him took precedence. “You didn’t mean to do it. And you saved my life.” “I know,” he said softly, dropping his eyes to the bed. That it had been to save Cora was the only thing that had made him feel even close to being okay about it. “I don’t feel good about it.” “Of course not, you’re a good person,” she said, lifting her free hand to his cheek and guiding his gaze back to hers. “But it doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be a Hitwizard. It doesn’t mean you need to punish yourself for it.” Afon looked at Cora for a long moment. Finally, he shook his head. “I don’t think I can do it anymore.” For an equally long moment, Cora was speechless as she tried to process the idea of going back to work without him. She wanted to talk him out of leaving, to beg him to stay — she needed him there. The department needed him. But he needed her to be his wife, not his boss. Not his partner. “I’ll support whatever decision you make,” she said finally. “I want you to be happy. You deserve that.” One of the corners of his mouth twitched and he gave Cora’s words a deep, grateful nod before leaning in, resting his head on the edge of her bed. “Thanks,” he said, muffled. Her hand went to his hair again and she took a deep breath now that his eyes weren’t on her. “Of course,” she said, willing herself not to sound deflated. “Can we still eat lunch together?” “Yeah, of course,” he said, picking his head up to look at her. He tugged his chair in as close to her bed as he could, his legs wedged uncomfortably in against it. He hadn’t thought about how he was leaving her there by herself and he felt almost worse. “Maybe it’ll be easier to get work done without me there to distract you,” he tried to joke. His smile was sad, though, and he picked her hand up to press to his cheek. She breathed out a laugh. “Yeah, probably,” she said, mirroring his smile. “I’ll miss you, though.” “I’ll miss you, too,” he said, twisting his mouth sadly for a beat. He bounced back with a more convincing grin and nuzzled her hand. “I’ll still be around, though.” “You’d better be,” she said, her smile coming slightly easier. “I need you.” “You’ve always got me, cariad,” Afon said. He got up, then, still clutching one of her hands in his. With a crooked grin, he covered the plushie sloth’s plastic eyes so that when he leaned in to kiss Cora it wouldn’t see. |