Eddie Carmichael (edasich) wrote in disorderic, @ 2018-03-17 20:19:00 |
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Entry tags: | alicia spinnet, eddie carmichael |
WHO: Eddie Carmichael & Alicia Spinnet
WHAT: Saturday Plans
WHEN: March 17
WHERE: Eddie's flat
WARNINGS: đ
Alicia pulled her hat down lower over her ears and tucked a few stray curls beneath the fold as she ducked into Eddie's building. She'd met enough of his neighbors to warrant a disguise — it wouldn't do to be secret friends if she let the secret out of the bag. She'd changed the color of her eyes and borrowed an oversized winter coat she'd found abandoned in the closet of the safehouse she and Angelina had moved into. The mustache she'd joked about at length had finally made an appearance, currently gracing her upper lip. It kept bringing her halfway to sneezing every time she breathed in or out of her nose. She'd have much rather looked like herself — her very best self, to be precise. Especially given that the last time she'd seen him, he'd been hiding behind a massive secret, and this time, it was just after he'd told her he'd thought about snogging her. But life didn't seem to want to give her what she wanted lately and so it was with a halfheartedly comedic take on a disguise that she climbed the stairs to his flat and knocked on his door. Eddie glanced at the photo Alicia had hexted him. Now that the wards everywhere were fixed, he'd doubled down on his and took his aunt's advice: Don't answer the door if you don't know who's there. Satisfied that the mustachioed stranger on the other side of the peep hole was actually who he was expecting, he opened the door with a smile. He hurried her inside and closed and locked the door behind them. Looking at her again, he couldn't help but laugh. "That's a good look on you." âI know, right?â In the relative safety of his flat, she pulled off her hat and shook out her hair, letting it fall around her shoulders. âI tried for inconspicuous but somethingâs just occurred to me —â Her expression went serious for the sake of a dramatic pause. âI donât actually know how to be inconspicuous.â "Inconspicuous sorts are always more suspicious anyway," Eddie said. His smile stayed right where it was. He was really glad to see her after everything that had happened. "Especially around here. Besides, some people were meant to stand out. Here, c'mon in, let me take your coat and all." âSuch a gentleman,â she said, doing a poor imitation of the voice she imagined someone with a mustache must have. But despite her joking, she couldnât distract herself from getting a good look at him and his smile. When she shrugged her coat off, she let it fall to the floor. Rather than hand it to him, she swept forward and enveloped him in a hug instead. "Hey!" Eddie let out a startled laugh at the sudden force of her hug. He wrapped his arms around her, at first a light and casual embrace that grew into something more solid and real the longer he held on. "It's really good to see you." Alicia pressed her cheek against his shoulder and her arms relaxed slightly around him, though made no move to let him go. âFeels like itâs been months,â she said, trying not to think about what sheâd seen instead of him the last time sheâd been there. But the thought got her attention anyway. She pulled back slightly to look at his flat, her hands still anchored at his sides. âYou changed it.â "Oh, yeah, it was just—" As Alicia surveyed the flat, Eddie's shoulders stiffened and the spell of the moment dissipated. It was just that the way he had it before reminded him of what happened there with his aunt, and he didn't need to relive that in his own home. He slipped out of her grasp and ducked behind her to grab the coat and hang it up. "Just time for a change, is all." âIt looks nice,â Alicia said, folding her empty arms around herself. She couldnât keep her gaze from dropping to the floor where sheâd seen drops of his blood, or from drifting to the bookcase across the room, where sheâd seen it smeared. She fought off a chill and shrugged. âChange can be good.â "Yeah, exactly." Eager to move away from that topic, he gestured vaguely to the room. "Sit, make yourself at home. Do you want anything to drink? Eat?" âIâll take a drink,â she said, moving to collapse onto his sofa. Sheâd almost forgotten her mustache, but it tickled her nose when she grinned and added, âThe higher the alcohol content, the better.â "I'm on it." Over in what passed for a kitchen in his flat, Eddie mixed a pair of vodka and cranberry juices (one of Alicia's favourites, he knew) and reappeared a few minutes later. He sank down next to her and handed over a drink. "We should do a toast. To ⌠something." While his back had been turned, Alicia had scrambled for her wand to remove the glamour charms sheâd used before sheâd set out for his flat. Without a mirror to check, she couldnât be sure she looked her best, but it would have to do. It was nicer to focus on whether or not her eyes were brown than to think about how heâd rearranged his flat anyway. When he sat down next to her, any thought of how she or his flat looked dissipated as she was reminded again what he looked like. âTo — friendship!â Eddie's eyes dropped along with his smile for a fleeting moment at the word. He recovered quickly enough, then clinked his glass against hers. "To friendship." He took a longer drink than maybe he needed to, right at that second, before finally putting the glass down on the table. A slightly awkward beat later, he looked back at her and felt oddly nervous. "So, uh, no more mustache, then, I guess. D'you think I should grow one?" He put his finger under his nose in imitation. "I mustache you a question, and all that?" Despite the fact that sheâd heard the joke before, Alicia laughed. âI donât think anyone can actually pull off a mustache,â she said. âThatâs why I lost mine. If youâve got a nice face, why ruin it?â "Exactly, yeah," Eddie said, dropping his hand away. "No mustaches for you, then, definitely. And me, I'd probably just look like a kid playing dress-up." âYouâd still be cute,â she said, casting an appraising look at his face. âBut youâre cuter without it.â "Obviously. We're adorable," he said, then cleared his throat and grabbed his drink again. "I mean, both of us are adorable, individually." Alicia followed suit and took a sip of her own, swallowing it back along with a comment about how theyâd be adorable together too. She kept her drink in her hand, resting it on her knee when she lowered it. âNeither of us holds a candle to Caper.â "Or Mittens," Eddie agreed. They lapsed into a momentary silence. He couldn't ask about where she was staying or what she'd been doing, and there was plenty of his own that he wasn't keen to start a conversation about, either. He took another drink. This was something he should have thought of when he invited her over; he was only thinking of seeing her again, not what they might talk about once she was here. (He thought plenty, of course, about what else they could do, but the shadows he feared for so long still loomed.) "How is Mittens, anyway?" âStill adorable, of course. Really living up to that nine lives fame,â Alicia answered and kept talking to fill the silence with something other than what she really wanted to say. âYou both have that in common, too. How is —â She cut herself off with a small gasp and quickly shifted her drink to one hand so she could reach for his arm with the other. âI didnât hurt you before, did I?â âWhat?â Eddie looked confused for a moment until he realized what she meant. âOh.â His hand covered his injury almost instinctively. âNah, itâs fine. Câmon, Iâm a little tougher than that. A hugâs not going to knock me over. Besides, itâs pretty well scarred up and healed anyway.â âI know youâre tougher than you look.â concern still edged out her grin after a moment. Her hand lingered on his arm and it was only with great reluctance that she let it slide back to her side. âIt scarred? Is it bad?â "It's—" Eddie shrugged. "I don't know, it's just a scar." Then, almost playfully, "Do you want to see it?" âUm, yeah,â she answered without hesitation, a grin pulling at the corners of her lips. She set her drink down and adjusted in her seat to face him. âWho doesnât love a scar?â He shifted too, angling just right for the dramatic reveal. He pulled up his shirt with one hand and Vanna Whited with the other. "Ta da. It's gross, right?" It wasnât that gross, but it did drive home the fact that things couldâve gone a lot worse for him — he couldâve died. Leaning in to get a good look, Alicia reached out and got halfway to touching it before she paused. âYouâre sure it doesnât hurt?â "Nah, it's good. Go ahead." Every once in awhile his insides liked to give him a reminder, but they were fewer and farther between every day that passed, and the scar itself was just that—just a scar. Despite his assurances, Alicia kept her touch light when she traced her fingers over it, half-expecting him to recoil. She tried not to think too hard about the fact that she could see his stomach and finally touch him. Her fingertips were still pressed to his ribs when she lifted her eyes to meet his. âDoesnât even tickle?â Every mental barrier Eddie spent so many months building up crumbled away when he felt Alicia's fingertips against his skin. Cool and light and Eddie was suddenly very aware of every breath he took. He looked at her eyes, then her lips, then down at her hand which he gently wrapped in his. "Maybe a little." His eyes were back on hers, then, and he moved in closer to halve what little distance there was between them and pausing only long enough to see if she would do the same. Alicia couldnât keep herself from smiling at his hand on her hands, his eyes on her eyes, the permission sheâd been waiting for now finally granted. Her exhilaration made it even harder to keep a straight face, but sheâd have done far more difficult things for a chance to kiss him. Now she had it. With a breath that sounded faintly like a laugh before she stopped it in her throat, she lifted her free hand to curl around the back of his neck. At the same time, she closed the remaining distance between them and pressed her lips to his. Eddie pushed in against her, kissing her with every bit of desire he'd bottled away for too long. His hands found her sides, her back, her hair, like they couldn't be content to have just one part of her at once. Alicia had done her share of daydreaming about how this precise moment would go. But even that didnât fully prepare her for how sheâd feel. Her drink hadnât even had a chance to kick in but she felt almost tipsy anyway, flooded with relief and excitement at knowing she hadnât just been pining away for someone who didnât feel what she felt. But knowing as much and seeing it for herself sent rushing back to her all the anticipation sheâd held back on and every bit of infatuation sheâd let her doubts corrupt. She wanted him closer. She pulled back long enough to breathe out a laugh and move into his lap, a knee to either side of him. All it took was catching his eye again before her lips were back on his. Eddie tipped his chin up to meet her and this kiss was slower, deeper and more deliberate than before. His fingers curved around the back of her neck as he tried to push back the curls that kept falling into him but he didn't care. He'd almost died without ever kissing Alicia again. There was so much time he'd wasted that they would have to make up for. How had he been such an idiot for so long? It was a question Alicia had asked herself several times in the last few months, but the answer didnât matter to her now that he finally seemed to have gotten out of his system. She had plenty of her own she needed to get out of her system, though. When breathlessness forced her to pull back, she met his gaze with an elated grin. âYouâre a really good kisser.â "I've got a great partner." He kissed her neck, just below her earlobe. "She's beautiful." Another kiss, a little lower. "And funny." He gently pulled the collar of her shirt out of his way, then lay another kiss on her collarbone. "And much more patient with me than I've deserved." âIs that all?â She carded her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck and tilted her head back. With a soft laugh, she went on, âCause you can keep going if you want.â "I could go on all night," Eddie said with a coy smile, "But I think your shirt's in the way." Her next laugh was louder, giddy as though she couldnât believe this was really happening. âI was going to offer to show you my scars anyway, and that could take all night,â she said and stifled a giggle against his lips. After lingering a moment, she broke away to reach for the hem of her shirt and tug it over her head. For the smallest moment, a sliver of the doubt that kept holding Eddie back crept into the edges of his mind. But unlike every other time, he was able to silence it without any sort of fight. She knew everything and still wanted to be with him. Nothing else mattered. "It's a good thing we've got all night, then," he said. "Where was I?" Eddie studied the cracks that graced his bedroom ceiling. A comfortable silence had fallen between them, and finding pictures in the chipped bits of paint was better than letting his mind wander off along the familiar, worried paths it always seemed to take when he gave himself too much time to think. He ran his fingers absently up and down Alicia's arm, finding comfort in her steady breathing next to him. But before he could stop himself, he wanted to fill that silence with something because he knew what was there, right at the edge of his thoughts. "I think that one looks like a slice of pizza," he said, pointing up at one of the unintended patterns above them. "Or maybe I'm just starving." Alicia shifted against his side to get a better look at the ceiling and scrutinized the cracks in the paint. âIt is vaguely triangular,â she said, and a glance at him drew her attention away from the ceiling. She made no attempt to hide it as she took in the set of his eyes and the way his hair lay tousled against his forehead. âWe should order pizza.â "We should definitely order pizza," Eddie agreed. He turned his head toward Alicia, inching just close enough to give her a quick kiss. "Except I don't think I want to move yet." âNeither do I.â The smile she gave him was unmistakably fond before caught his chin and drew him into another kiss. She let out a contented sigh when she settled back against his shoulder, resting her head against the crook of his neck. Her hand drifted down his chest. âMy phone is too far away.â "Mine, too," Eddie said. But a moment later his stomach grumbled, loud enough for them both to hear, and Eddie let out an embarrassed laugh. "Betrayed by my own stomach," he groaned playfully. "Alright, alright, I'm ordering. I'll be back in a flash. Don't go anywhere." He kissed her one more time, then pulled himself reluctantly out of bed and ventured over to the other room to find his phone. âDonât take too long, then.â But she wasnât about to go anywhere — not when her eyes could follow him out of the room with the promise heâd be back. When he disappeared from sight, she pressed a smile against his pillow. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and inhaled his lingering scent on the fabric beneath her cheek. Once he wrestled his phone (and Alicia's) away from Caper, Eddie called his favourite local place and got an order in. And in those few short moments, in that brief distance from Alicia, his mind wandered again. He hovered in the bedroom doorway, admiring her as she lay in his bed looking every inch like she belonged there with him. This brave, brilliant woman who still somehow wanted him, even after everything. Alicia, the beautiful vigilante who defended the helpless and stood up to Death Eaters. And then, of course, his smile faded because the one thing he tried so hard to force away, the elephant he fought not to think of, popped back into his head unbidden. His father was going to kill them. |