leon stebbins (salve) wrote in disorderic, @ 2017-10-30 02:16:00 |
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“It doesn’t seem like a good trade,” Grace said, shifting forward so that she was perched on the edge of her seat, smiling uncertainly over at her friend. “It’s your birthday, but you’re going to teach me about creature bites?” At least she had brought him cupcakes. “What?” Leon scoffed. “You think this is unfair?” He’d been dreading this birthday for weeks, ever since strange dark creature activity had begun to increase in earnest across the isles. He had assumed he’d be stuck at work for most of it, for that reason, and he had been there earlier, but it seemed that the universe wanted to be kind for his birthday. It had allowed him free time - quiet, uneventful, nonviolent free time - to see Grace. Honestly, he couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend his birthday. “This is like… like you taking me to a Quidditch match on your birthday.” He hoped she understood where he was going with that analogy. “It’s perfect, I promise you. There’s nowhere I’d rather be.” Grace didn’t quite look like she believed him. “If you say so,” she shook her head. He seemed insistent, so Grace let it go and reached forward to light one of the cupcakes. “I hope these are ok, I spent a good deal of time and effort in buying them. 5 whole seconds,” she grinned, nodding towards the cupcakes. “Happy Birthday Healer Stebbins. You should-- what is...is that a cat?” Leon could tell she didn’t really believe him, which was a bit baffling. Maybe he was supposed to want some enormous party, or a break from work. Maybe he was. But this - hanging out with her, teaching her a thing or two - really was all right, in the end. “Well, I appreciate the -” At first, he didn’t look up, figuring it was probably just Apollo. But then he remembered that Grace knew his cat, and if she was mentioning it, it had to be something else. Sure enough, there was a black and white cat sitting outside his window, looking in. “Bloody hell. This is going to sound mad, but I swear to you, that little shit’s been following me all day.” Grace grinned, unable to stop herself from cooing embarrassingly as she walked towards the window. “That’s adorable. You’ve made a friend.” The cat lifted it’s paw to the window, eyes wide and steady. “Oh my god you have to let it in.” “What?” Leon had already tried to shoo the cat away, so his mind wasn’t anywhere near the ‘let it hang around and probably end up feeding it’ part that Grace was edging towards. He shook his head, but he got up anyway and walked over to join her. It was a pretty cute cat. “I’m still stuck on why it’s been following me,” he admitted, as a reason for his hesitation. “Bet if we left, it’d find a way to track us down anyway.” He was tempted to try, honestly, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer that much. “My first thought, around the fifth time it popped up, was that I was being spied on.” Grace chuckled at the ridiculousness of the statement. No way could a sweet little… Well. “Nothing surprises me anymore, though it’s definitely the worst spy I have ever seen if you’ve spotted it more than five times and it's currently pressing its face against the wind -- look at that face.” She cleared her throat. “Sorry. So what do you have to hide then?” “Well.” Leon had his mouth open to give a retort, but he shut it when he couldn’t think of anything. Maybe Grace was right about the spying. Was this too obvious? Too in-his-face? He’d already tried to force it out of its shift, assuming it was an Animagus. But on the other hand, could this be someone’s way of getting his guard down? He shook his head. It was a cute face, that was true, and he couldn’t think of a reason besides Ted why anyone would want to follow him. That thought sent a chill down Leon’s spine, and he turned away from the cat to look at Grace. Maybe if he didn’t pay the cat any attention, it would go away. “Didn’t I say if you guessed, I’d tell you?” He’d been mostly bluffing, at the time, though he did have some secrets he didn’t want getting around a wider circle. “So what do you think I’m hiding?” Grace glanced back at her friend, eyebrow raised. “Illicit affair?” Leon laughed. “You caught me.” He was lying, of course, but that was probably obvious. “One of those uptight purist women. Her husband’s more into chaos and murder than paying attention to her, sooooo…” He shrugged, trying to look sheepish and embarrassed by his story. “You know what they say.” His composure was fading as he tried to keep a straight face. “Lady in the streets, freak in the sheets.” Grace rolled her eyes and shoved him in the shoulder. “No one says that. Fine, keep your secrets, they can't be too bad if someone sent a feline spy to sniff them out. Clearly, it would work on me,” she admitted with a rueful sigh. Animals, especially small fluffy ones were a weakness. One couldn't always be a hardened competitor. “Maybe the cat likes you.” She was right, no one but rappers said that, and Leon was far from one of them. He felt a little guilty, though, for being evasive. Even if he wasn’t really hiding much in the end. Leon glanced at the cat again. “Maybe.” It didn’t explain how the cat continuously found him, but… “I guess I look friendly. Do I look friendly?” It was better than the alternative, though: that someone was using the cat to watch his whereabouts. “Anyway - listen, it’s - have you ever had something you don’t want to say, because you care about someone -” He hesitated, looking a little embarrassed. “An enormous amount, and you don’t want her to get caught up in your mess? Few months ago, it might’ve been more along the do-I-fancy-someone lines, but everything’s a bit more dire now.” Grace furrowed her brow. “What are you talking about? Mess? Leon I was kidding about the cat, but are you in trouble?” She watched him with a growing sense of unease. “Are you a vigilante?” “Did you miss how I said I care too much about you to let it bleed over?” He probably should’ve just let it go, since it was likely she was only teasing him anyway. Damn his conscience. He shook his head. “No, I’m not.” He was certain he knew who was, though. That was part of it. “I’m not in trouble. Not yet. We just…” he glanced towards the cat. “Have to be careful.” Grace stared at him, the frown of a woman who was used to the people they cared about being in constant danger, on her face. “Not yet? Merlin. I think I’m in a constant state of anxiety, should I get checked for ulcers? I can feel something eating away at my insides.” She inhaled deeply and crossed her arms over her chest. “Whatever is going on, if you don't want to tell me, I respect that. Sometimes I think the less anyone knows these days the better. Just, don't do anything stupid ok? You're my friend, I care about you too, idiot. And if you’re...helping people who can't get help elsewhere then I’m proud of you. Just don’t be stupid. I have a lot of pent up aggression these days, and you know I’m good with a bat.” “I can check you for ulcers,” Leon said, very seriously. He really didn’t want to give her another reason to worry, and he felt bad for doing so. He hasn’t been planning on anything stupid - or anything more stupid than he’d already done - but the funny thing about that was he hadn’t planned on doing stupid things in the first place. He stepped over to her and wrapped her up in a hug as a way of apologising for the worry. She was spot on about feeling like the less people knew, the better, even if they were all bloody curious. They’d never do anything good if they all got caught. “And you’re spectacular with a bat,” he corrected. “I’m equally afraid of you as I am in awe of you. I’ll be good. I promise.” “Duh, anyone with any sense would be” she muttered into his shoulder, wrapping her own arms around him. Some birthday. “And I’ve heard quite a few promises in my life. I won’t hold you to it, just...be careful.” She pulled away after a moment, the cat staring expectantly back at her from over Leon’s shoulder. “You know, I think we can chat about creature bites some other time. I suggest we push our luck and see if that cat follows us to birthday ice cream. My treat.” “Hmmm…” Leon pretended to think about it seriously for a moment, like there were really two options. “Or,” he dragged that word out, “we can get birthday ice cream and then chat about all the interesting dark creatures I know about.” He waggled his brow, a little suggestively, playfully. She could try to get out of it, but he wasn’t about to let it drop. It wasn’t until he stepped away that he remembered the cupcakes, a lone flame still flickering on the candle. His eyes widened as an even better idea crosses his mind. “We should bring the cupcakes with us. Eat them with ice cream. Yeah?” “Yeah,” Grace nodded definitively. “Best idea you've had. Too bad we will be occupied with eating them that we won't be able to talk about dark creatures. Damn shame.” “I see what you’re doing.” He pointed a finger at her, eyes narrowed. “It’s only sort of working.” He gathered up two cupcakes for them before casting a charm to keep the cat off the others - his Apollo, not the stray. “Keep trying and we’ll see who can out-stubborn who, but I’ll warn you, I’m not above throwing out the birthday card if I have to. You still have to wait before you can use that back, so best of luck to ya.” Grace feigned a wounded gasp. “You play dirty. But fine, if you want to waste your birthday card on educating me, then I guess I’ll have to let you.” She grabbed her bag, hovering by the door. Stalker!cat seemed to pick up on their impending exit and disappeared, likely to meet them. “I noticed you only grabbed two cupcakes…” “Well…” Leon looked at her with a quizzical expression. “So we can have the rest later? But I can grab the others if we’re just going to stuff our faces now…” “You've become so reasonable in your old age, so disciplined. What's that like?” Leon sighed heavily, barely concealing a laugh. “Boring. Don’t become like me. I don’t recommend it. The most exciting part of your week will end up the days you fall asleep on the sofa with your cat. And my mum wonders why I’m not married yet.” “Doesn't sound so bad. And now you could do that with two cats!” “No.” He held up a hand. “Absolutely not, I’m not having two cats. Apollo would hate it.” Leon wouldn’t mind another, but it was true, what he said about Apollo. Apollo was barely friendly with humans. “C’mon, let's see if it follows us. Maybe you can take it home instead.” |