naomi blackall (suzu) wrote in cultureic, @ 2016-01-10 01:49:00 |
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It was finally Friday and Suz had finally decided on the perfect thematically ambiguous outfit for a date she knew nothing about. Which, she would never point out, was actually killing her. Surprises weren’t really one of her favorite things. But that wasn’t important. What was important was she was ready and all that was left to worry about was what time Caradoc would get there and how long she could lure him inside to snog and was her outfit really okay? She was sitting on the sofa and trying to keep Clove from getting cat hair all over her trousers while also seriously considering getting up to change into a skirt when there was a knock at the door with her date on the other side. “Hiya,” she greeted Caradoc warmly, as if she wasn’t secretly agonizing. She felt horrifically underdressed! Caradoc had been quietly pacing outside her door for a full minute before he finally knocked, swallowing his nerves the best he could. They’d been making out periodically all week, so why he was nervous, who knew, but it was a DATE and Mari had said to WOO SUZ so that’s what he would be attempting to do. She deserved it, at any rate, lunches at the Ministry and dancing at Muggle Mondays were things Just Friends Suz and Doc did, he wanted to do something different and lavish and grand for her. So he’d put on one of his nicest suits, a rich dark blue one, foregoing formal wizard robes for the slicker Muggle look he grew up with, excited and anxious to take her out to have a fantastic night. When she opened the door he grinned wildly, and brought the hand behind his back forward to reveal a bouquet of hand-picked daisies. Flowers but fun instead of something seriously cliche or overly done like roses. He hoped. “Hiya!” he said back, thick brows lifting at the sight of his… Suz. “For you?” he offered the flowers. Suz smiled widely at the daisies before taking them. “Thanks!” she said as she stepped in to press a kiss to his cheek, a hand braced on his shoulder for leverage. “I love them!” When she stepped away she brought them to her nose and gave them a generous sniff before turning away to sneeze twice. She looked sheepish when she turned her attention back to him. That was weird. But she stepped back and waved him inside. “Let me put these in water and then we can…” She raised her eyebrows once before turning on her heel to head for the kitchen so she could do just that, her nose buried appreciatively in her flowers. The bridge of Doc’s nose turned pink as he followed her inside. She was so bloody adorable. At all times. If magic didn’t literally exist, he’d have called it sorcery. It didn’t seem to matter if she was sneezing or smiling, he found himself gazing after her all the same. “Sorry, they’re supposed to be pretty fresh - in January - charms, I guess? Might still have a fair bit of pollen…” he told her conversationally, wiping his shoes off on the front mat and stuffing his hand in his coat pockets. “Dinner’s up first! You haven’t eaten yet, right?” “Not since lunch,” she called back as she ran water into a vase, dragging the back of her hand over her nose. Suz was dying to ask where they were going, but she held her tongue, leaving him his surprise. It was quick work, putting the daisies in water, and she joined him again a moment later, looking a little pink herself. And feeling a little itchy, too. She couldn’t help but fish for a little information as she asked, “Is dinner at a certain time or can you…” She trailed off and tapped two fingers against her mouth. “Yeah! Oh, yeah, uh - now?” he offered with a cringey grin. “Dinner’s first on the list!” he continued, trying to stop sounding like an idiot. He wasn’t nervous about Suz, at least - one advantage of snogging for a week before you actually go on the first date, a lot of his anxieties were put to rest: would there be a kiss at the end, would he be awful at it, would she like his jokes, etc… he just wanted the night to be perfect. There first kiss had been pretty perfect. He had to step it up now, though, after she’d taken it upon herself to make the first move. “This place is supposed to be brilliant.” With her nose wrinkled, she lowered her hand and smoothed it over the front of her top. Which paled in comparison to his suit. “Well, you look brilliant for it,” she said cautiously, giving him one more chance to tell her whether or not she was underdressed for wherever this brilliant place was. All while scratching idly at her collarbone. Glancing down at himself because he’d forgotten he was dressed especially well, he shrugged a bit bashfully, head ducking slightly to lower himself to her level a bit more. “Thanks!” A beat. “Oh! So do you!” Because she did. She always looked brilliant and she looked really brilliant now and yeah! He held out his hand. “Ready to go?” Suz reached for her handbag, slinging it over her shoulder as she thought, ‘As I’ll ever be.’ Mostly she just wished there was a little more time in her flat. She’d meant it when she’d told Benjy Doc made it easier for her to breathe. Aloud, though, she gave a simple “Yep! Thanks!” and took his hand, smiling widely up at him. Caradoc squeezed Suz’s had tightly as they walked around the corner from the Apparition point around the block from the restaurant. He hoped it wasn’t too sweaty. Looking up he pointed ahead. “Here we go!” They were in London, and the venue was fancy. French. The whole nine yards. Woo her, Mari had said, and Doc intended to. He’d buy a bottle of wine like an adult, they’d have a separate guy who wasn’t the waiter bring said wine, it was that nice. He figured he hadn’t gotten people much for Christmas, it was time to splurge a bit, regardless of knowing whether or not he or Suz actually liked French cuisine. This is how dates were supposed to work. “I’ve never been, but it’s supposed to be one of the best places around here,” he told her proudly as they approached the steps. “Oh wow,” was all Suz could really say as she stared up at the building. It looked fancy. Really fancy. She was mentally kicking herself for not changing into a skirt. Unfortunately, walking up stairs, talking, and mentally kicking herself were not three things she could do all at once and she tripped over a step. She hastily reached for Doc’s arm to steady herself, flashing him a nervous smile. “It looks they’ll have good food!” But that sounded stupid and as they approached the door she turned off to the side to mouth what she’d just said. He didn’t even notice, making sure to keep his arm out to help her watch her step and once knowing she wasn’t in danger of tripping again, he was looking ahead, brows burrowed at the amount of people waiting in the front hall. Fancy places didn’t usually have people hanging around, did they? Guiding Suz inside, Caradoc adjusted his posture to stand up tall, hoping to fit in with everyone looking so sharp around them and look… well, impressive, or something. “Dearborn, party of 2?” he told the man at the podium inside, flashing Suz what he hoped was a reassuring grin, but his nerves were starting to show. The man took a moment to look through his ledger and slowly shook his head. “Hmm… It’ll be a moment, sir. We have your reservation, but I’m afraid we’re overbooked this evening. Would you like to come back in an hour?” Doc’s glance at Suz was the opposite of calm now. “Uh! We… we can’t, we have plans - you don’t have any tables?” Plans? Suz was momentarily dragged from the agonizing weight of how underdressed she was now that she was actually inside. There was more than dinner? Why had she worn flats? She tucked her hair behind her ear and gave the host an uneasy smile. The man gave them both the practiced smile of someone who’d dealt with this problem many times before. “We have a table by the kitchen, if you like.” But the practiced smile wavered and it was clear he wouldn’t think very highly of them if they took him up on his offer. Shoulders sagging in relief, Caradoc nodded without hesitation! “Yes! That’s great! Whatever you have.” He only realised how desperate that sounded a moment later and scratched the back of his head. “I mean - yeah, if that’s all that’s available.” It was okay, he told himself, they had a table, the night wouldn’t be completely ruined before it really even started. “This way, then,” said the host, well-groomed eyebrow raising skeptically but the implication soaring over Doc’s head as they began to follow him through the beautiful dining room that was lit perfectly for a romantic dinner, past a warm fireplace and ornate mantle, into the rear dining room. He hadn’t been lying: every table Doc spotted was filled, couples holding hands and clinking glasses. He supposed it was Friday night. What Suz noticed, though, was that every woman in the room seemed to be wearing a ballgown and jewellery to match their updos. As she sat in her seat opposite Caradoc, she scratched idly at her very naked (and rashy) neck and mentally put foot down over not fixating on her clothes. She had good company. And Doc looked really good in his suit. Like distractingly good. The host, who’d been trying to hand her a menu for a good while, finally waved it in front of her face to snap her out of staring. He didn’t bother hiding his disdain as he left them to their table. But one glance at the menu filled her with a new dread. “I don’t speak French at all,” she whispered over the din of the kitchen and the people around them. “Oh, I do!” Doc replied, brightening considerably. This hadn’t been the table he imagined and even as he reached for his glass of water a waiter rushed by with a large tray of food, knocking his elbow so that the liquid sloshed dangerously close to the brim. He tried to pull in his long limbs as best he could before looking down at the menu himself. “I’m probably a bit rusty, but yeah… like that’s duck there,” he pointed. “And… those are… scallops? I think.” He began to squint. “This… means… ‘pot on the fire’?” Caradoc shrugged slightly. “Okay I don’t know what that means food-wise.” “Maybe it’s stew?” Suz offered helpfully. But she looked impressed with his ability to read the menu and she smiled across the table, even as she scooted her chair out of a waiter’s path. She shifted her attention to purse her lips down at the menu and a few of the words started to look familiar to her. She knew chicken when she saw it and everyone knew what escargot was. She bit her lip and glanced up at him again. “What are you getting?” “Okay so - it could be completely gross, but - what if we ordered escargot just to say we did,” Caradoc told her, starting to relax a bit more now that they were seated and chatting. He was grinning a bit now, leaning forward so she could hear him over the noise of the kitchen nearby. “I’ve never actually tried it before, have you?” “Oh, I’ve had snail before,” Suz said, glancing down at the menu as if the unfamiliar words might reveal something new. They didn’t so she looked to Doc again, her smile veering toward nervous. “But never prepared the French way.” She shrugged and turned back to the menu, leaning into the table herself. “I think I might order the duck?” Caradoc nodded, opening the wine list and trying not to choke on his water at the prices. “I’ll… probably get one of the fish dishes…. we can a couple things, then, with escargot to start, and… do you like red or wha…” His voice faded when he looked back up at her, brows furrowing in a bit of concern. “Suz, is your neck okay?” “What?” Suz’s hand went to her neck, her fingers automatically scratching. “It’s a little itchy, I guess.” It was really itchy, actually. Her fingers moved to her chin, which was also itchy, and then she forced herself to clutch the edge of the table. “It’s fine, though. I’m fine! I like red wine!” She needed to think about anything but the itching. She refused to have an allergic reaction on her first date with Caradoc. “We should order!” Squinting to try and get a better look but being thwarted by her hand, Caradoc sat back and nodded. “Right! Ordering-” Perfect timing (at least something worked out) as a waiter came up to them with a questioning sort of look. Nose wrinkled and mouth contorted in a grimace, Caradoc lowered his tiny appetizer fork, shaking his head. “I’m…” he said as he chewed, but it was a good-humored sort of cringe. “I mean it’s butter and it’s garlic and then a not-my-favourite… texture…” He continued chewing though, because he wasn’t so awful that he’d need to spit it out. While they’d waited for their hors d'oeuvres, Suz had excused herself to get a proper look at her neck in the ladies room -- the extremely fancy ladies room that looked like it could fit at least half her flat in it. But acknowledging the itchiness had only made it worse, it felt, and she was having trouble focusing on her tiny fork and the tiny shells and the tiny bits of rubbery meat she was digging out of them. “Mmhmm,” she hummed distractedly, her mouth twisted in concentration. The snail she was working on seemed particularly stubborn and instead of giving up on it, she kept at it. But she glanced up at him and upon seeing his face couldn’t help but smile. Good-naturedly, she asked, “Not ordering them again?” But with her focus on Doc she lost her concentration on the snail and when she turned back to it, she yanked too hard, sending the tiny bit of rubbery meat flying at a nearby table. Suz’s mouth fell open and she dropped the fork to clap both hands over her mouth in horror. Doc could do little more then swallow his snail and watch the piece of her’s go flying as best he could. Oh no… He pressed lips together and looked back at Suz, his expression half-way between busting out laughing and a very clear ‘Whoops?’. “Maybe no one-” “Sir,” came a voice over his shoulder, and Caradoc looked up expectantly, trying his best not to look guilty for the two of them. “Uh - yea-yes?” he tried, straightening like he belonged in a place like this. The waiter sighed, as if the pair were out to deliberately make his life miserable. “I’m going to have to ask you and your company to leave.” “What?!” Doc cocked his head in confusion. “It was an accident!” If it had been him, there would have been stammering, apologizing, the whole nine yards, but now Caradoc was incensed. This restaurant was ruining everything and he’d be damned if he was going to let this guy make Suz feel bad about it. So instead, he stood to his full height and looked down at the waiter with his stupid moustache. “You overbooked us when we had a reservation, put us next to the kitchen, and now you’re kicking us out?” Before the man could even respond, Suz was out of her seat and sliding her arm through Doc’s. “It’s fine,” she said quietly. “Let’s just go.” And then to the waiter and the nearby woman picking snail out of her updo, she whispered an apology and willed her cheeks not to turn bright red. Her entire face felt hot, though, so she tugged at Caradoc’s arm and willed him with her eyes to just pay the man so they could leave. At her words and expression, Doc relented and glowered at the man as he angrily dug out the wallet from his pocket, slapping down whatever cash came closest to what he thought they’d paid for the wine and snails. His urge to meticulously calculate it out was still overridden by this place making his date feel so badly, and neck pink, Doc turned with her to leave. “I’m voting you down on Welp!” he called back, a last ditch effort to point out the injustice, realised that they weren’t in Wizarding London and mentally kicked himself as they began to make their way toward the exit. The closer to the door they got, the more Suz wanted out of there. She’d released her hold on Doc’s arm somewhere around him shouting about Welp, her steps quick and her cheeks achieving nuclear reactor levels red. It didn’t help that the floor refused to open up and swallow her whole and that the force of her blush was making her itch even more. By the time she got to the door, she’d forgotten everyone around her and had nearly knocked over the host leading another couple to their table. Finally, though, there was the door and she wrenched it open, about to take in the sweet relief of fresh, unsnooty air when she realized she’d hit someone with it. She whirled around to find it had been Doc and she gaped in horror again. The Ravenclaw was holding his forehead and had his squeezed shut as he breathed through the pain for a second, reaching out to try and find Suz while he did so. “Ow ow ow,” he whined slightly, shaking his head as if that would make the lump he was feeling start to grow go away and he tried not to trip his way out the door. “Heh,” he tried the chuckle, rubbing his temple. “Worse restaurant ever,” he told her, finally opening his eyes to squint at her. Once they were out of the way, Suz peeled Doc’s hand away from his forehead to peer at the damage she’d done. Luckily, the street light wasn’t bright enough to make her guilt that much worse, but she felt like the whole thing from the frosty reception to the runaway snail to the door in his face had made the restaurant such a terrible experience. “I’m really sorry,” she mumbled, frowning up at him. “It’s okay!” he told her quickly, the pain slowly lessening. “I’m sorry,” Doc told her earnestly. “I didn’t realise it’d be such a rubbish place.” He was frowning too until, he met her concerned gaze and he couldn’t help but give her a sad smile instead. “That’s okay though - let’s just… go on to the next part. We waited long enough for our food I bet we could show up a bit early to this one. C’mon,” he said, forcing his anxiety and second-guessing and inward kicking down until he could manage a cheerful sort of disposition and held out his hand. “Here we go…” Caradoc was saying as the pair made their way around the corner and he held his arm out toward the street curb, a large carriage attached to a mottled grey and tan horse in front sitting there waiting. The driver wasn’t expecting them quite yet, but the carriage being there meant he was waiting for someone else or wouldn’t mind them being early. Maybe some luck was finally on their side. “And he should have a coat for you. Since it’s chilly.” “Oh wow,” Suz gasped. The horse and the carriage were impressive in their own way and she aimed a smile at Caradoc. She stepped in close to his side to leach some of his warmth in the chill, wrapping her other arm around her middle. She glanced at the horse and then back at him, her smile growing a little teasing. “You got me a horse?” Laughing a bit, Caradoc nodded. “Yeah! I hope you have a place to put it!” He was glad he had his wits about him enough still to grasp the joke, putting his arm around her to keep her close. They approached the driver of the carriage, and glad to see his expression wasn’t nearly as snide as anyone from the restaurant, asked him about being early. “You’re in luck,” the bloke in the top hat said, glancing at a pocket watch and everything. “So far the ride before you hasn’t shown. Give it five more minutes just in case, and we’ll be on our way. Oh!” The man remembered, going to the back of the carriage and pulling out a riding cloak for Suz. “I believe this is for you.” “Thank you!” Suz said as she took the cloak, grateful that something was going well. And even a little grateful she hadn’t changed into a skirt. She wrapped the cloak around her shoulders, pulling it tightly around her. She turned back to Caradoc while they waited and grinned. “Thank you, too.” Grinning now, Doc moved to wrap his arms her, cloak and all. “You’re welcome.” He paused for a minute, gazing down at her, breath visible in the night air. It was quiet, the din of the streets creating a sort of nice white noise in the background, and the park they were supposed to ride around would be even nicer. “I didn’t know if you liked horses, but I figured in January, a carriage ride was safer than horseback riding for like… romantic interlude…” “I don’t know the first thing about horseback riding,” Suz said with a laugh. “But I’m good at sitting. And that’s a really pretty horse.” She snuck her hands out from beneath the cloak to tug at the lapels of his suit jacket. “And I have really handsome company.” So far it was easy to forget what a disaster the restaurant had been. It was hard not to chuckle self-consciously at that, glad that any blush in his features would be hard to see in the street’s lights. “Would it be weird to thank you again for New Year’s? I feel like I need to but you’re probably sick of hearing it,” he told her, before leaning down as best he could while holding her close and pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Just hard to believe we didn’t do this sooner.” He squinted. “Er, the date, not the bad restaurant.” Embarrassment flashed across her features, but Suz recovered quickly with a smile. “I’m not tired of hearing it.” She let go over his lapels to loop her arms around his middle. But thinking about New Year’s made her blush for completely different reasons. “You should come back to mine tonight. And you can stay the night, but not on my sofa.” Caradoc’s brows shot upward with that and it was hard to suppress a lopsided grin. “I think that sounds aces,” he started before the driver caught his attention. “All right, their time’s up so if you’re ready, we can get going!” Doc was almost disappointed, as standing there in an embrace with Suz was something he probably could have done all night, but once they were in the carriage, they could continue to do so. “Let me give you a hand, ma’am,” the driver said as the couple reluctantly turned their attention to the carriage, letting go of one another. Suz rearranged the cloak around her shoulders before taking the driver’s hand and hoisting herself into the carriage. “Thanks,” she said to the the driver, but her eyes were back on Caradoc as she scooted over in the seat to make room for him. In his usual fashion, Doc had gotten distracted in the short time the driver helped Suz in, and was next to the horse, reaching out pat the animal’s head. He hesitated when it tossed its head back but then seemed to calm down enough for him to gently run a couple fingers over the fur above its nose. He liked horses, he saw plenty in the countryside he’d grown up in, and knew enough to watch himself around the large animal. He moved to pat the side of the animal’s neck next. “She’s a beauti-” he called out, but his loud voice cutting through the quiet winter night caused the horse to toss again, and next thing he knew it had reared up in front of him, front legs rotating and he felt a hoof connect hard with his chest, sending him sprawling to the ground with an anguished yelp. He rolled away in time to not be stomped on when the horse returned to the ground, and just barely heard the driver rush over to calm the animal as Doc lay on the sidewalk, clutching his middle. “Caradoc!” Suz immediately started to scramble out of the carriage, losing the cloak somewhere along the way. The jump down to the ground was a hard one, but probably didn’t compare to getting kicked by a horse. “Are you okay?” she asked, once she was kneeling next to him on the pavement. “Yeah!” came a groaned, automatic answer, trying to look up at her. He took a few deep breaths and then tried to sit up. “Y-yeah, I’m - I’m fi-fuck” Pain shot up through his torso and while it was no Crucio, it still hurt like HELL. He curled up his legs and groaned again as he lay back down. “Think it’s my ribs,” he managed to tell her, sounding out of breathe and feeling tears in the corner of his eyes. “Let’s get you to --” But Suz glanced at the driver, who was still fussing over the horse. “Go ring 999!” She hoped he didn’t have his mobile on him and after watching him pat down his pockets, she was relieved to find he didn’t. After checking to make sure the horse was secure, he mumbled an apology and said he’d be right back. Once they were alone, she leaned in close to Doc and put a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s get you to St Mungo’s now!” “Okay,” Caradoc replied through a wince, because right now he was just willing to go along with whatever she said. He reached up to grip her non-wand arm tightly. This was not going to be a pleasant side-along. He was the worst at dates in the world. For the most part, Suz had managed to keep her cool while the healers put Caradoc back together again. And now that they were alone and he was meant to be resting, the urge to flee was crawling under her skin. Everything had gone horribly, horribly wrong. Even the horse had turned on them! And she’d always liked horses! She needed to go home and scream into her pillow. “I’m sorry the horse kicked you,” she murmured finally. “It’s okay,” Caradoc found himself repeating, but his eyelids were heavy with the pain potion, and it was still a little hard to breathe even if his ribs had mostly knitted themselves back together with spells by now. He looked over at her wearily and sighed. “I’ve had worse, believe it or not,” he told her nonchalantly as he smoothed over his shirt that still had a muddy hoof-shaped print on it, and thanked the stars for magic being able to get the grime out of his suit instead of having to deal with the dry cleaners. “Oh,” Suz said quietly. “Well. That’s…” But she trailed off. She didn’t know what that was. Mostly she desperately wished she could say the night had been perfect or that she was looking forward to later. But the night had been far from perfect and she wasn’t really in the mood for much of anything anymore. She smoothed her hands over her knees and glanced at her watch for something to do. “It’s kind of late. I should probably go before something else goes wrong.” She forced a weak laugh to give the impression she was joking. She wasn’t, though. In the haze of the potion, Doc still had the wherewithal to frown at that, feeling his face heat up self-consciously. He’d really done it, hadn’t he. He’d ruined it. Part of him wanted to stop her, or reassure her or anything but he was drained, and his head hurt, and he was just as ready to keep anything else from yet again making the night worse. An apology was on the tip of his tongue, but knowing Suz she’d just say it back and that’d do neither of them any good. “... it is late.” He reached for her from his spot on the Mungo’s bed to squeeze her hand affectionately. “Thanks for coming, at least. And helping me to Mungo’s.” He wasn’t going to stop her leaving if she wanted to go, however gutted he felt.. “Of course,” she insisted automatically, returning his hand squeeze with one of her own. She got to her feet and leaned over himu. He looked miserable and she hated herself a little for not being able to help him. But she felt like the whole night were somehow her fault and the pain potions were much better at their job than she was. So she smoothed his hair away from his forehead and dropped a kiss there. When she pulled back she asked, “Hext me when you’re home?” He gave her a half-hearted smile with the kiss and nodded. “Yeah, I will,” he assured her. He’d hext her and then he’d bury his face in his pillow and never come out of his flat again and he should have known better than to think he could woo anyone. Caradoc gave her a little wave as she left the room. Alone with just the magical monitoring devices around him and listening to his own sort of strained breathe, he brought a hand up to cover his face, but misjudged the distance and the bruise above his temple throbbed. “... ow.” |