dieter is a trampasaurus rex (![]() ![]() @ 2013-02-04 12:37:00 |
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While it was frequent that Thalia spent bouts of time pointedly ignoring Dieter for offending her for this or that or the other thing, this time she meant it. Not only had he called her inflexible (never mind that she had been the one to bring it up in the first place, or that he had complimented her in the aftermath of it) but he had gone and gotten into a stupid fight with stupid Reuben Longbottom over stupid Enid Longbottom. She had wanted to toss it in his face to be the better person and to rise above and other such nonsense he had spouted at her anytime she had bitterly railed against another person for slighting her. This time, she had lasted quite a while; all of the previous night she had spent in pointed silence whenever Dieter was near (or pointed speaking with anyone but him), and now it was breakfast time. Thalia reached for the pitcher of juice on the table to refill her glass but when she saw Dieter's hand going for the same thing, she redirected her hand, as though she meant to make a circular dive for the black pudding instead. Dieter narrowed his eyes at Thalia's diverting hand. He knew that she was angry but his long, exasperating night with Araminta, Vera, Algernon and every other person who ever looked at him the wrong way in the past twenty-four hours had pushed Thalia to the back of his mind. Refilling his goblet, he shoved a few second years out of the way to slide up next to Thalia. "Hello, darling," he said briskly with a smile. "If you're going to ignore me then I suppose I won't be able to tell you my news..." He knew the bit of temptation would bring her out of silence. Her gaze flickered over him, the first sign that she was totally biting his bait. But as soon as she realized what he was doing and that she was playing into it, Thalia locked her eyes on the plate of the person across from her and raised her magnificently-shaped eyebrows in abject defiance of him. There was also a tight clench to her jaw, as though she were gnashing her teeth together. Stupid Dieter. "Thalia..." he said in a teasing voice, scooting a little closer to her and bumping his arm against hers. "It's so important, too," he added rather imploringly. He wanted to hear what Thalia's theory on Aloysius was. He wanted to hear how wrong she was. But he always wanted her to forgive him. He loved Thalia and hated to be ignored. "All right, I'll tell you. Aloysius and Vera broke up." Though Thalia had withdrawn her arm once Dieter brushed his against hers, she just as suddenly gasped and turned to Dieter upon hearing his last words. Hadn't Vera just asked her what to get Aloysius for Valentine's day? Hadn't she just spoken to Aloysius without any mention of this? And hadn't they just gotten together? Thalia slapped his arm in rebuke. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" She hissed at him through clenched teeth. He rubbed his arm and winced at her. Dieter wondered what she was thinking as she reacted. She had been giving Vera Valentine's advice, maybe she irrationally blamed herself. No. Thalia wasn't that sort of girl. "It only happened last night, I was trying to comfort her and didn't have time to let you know." There was a snort of impatience, but Thalia had to give up her irrational irritation with the Slytherin boy. Even if she was still a bit bothered it took him this long. He should have woken her up to tell her. (No, he shouldn't have. She would have been very, very cross.) "Well," she said, with a sharp stab of some mashers on her plate. "What was the reason, then?" Dieter smiled again and shrugged. He was glad she was back to talking to him, even though he was furious with Aloysius and...well, everyone. "Vera didn't say and I haven't asked Aloysius," he admitted. "They're fifth years, though, I imagine it was ridiculous." Well. It was ridiculous. He cared too much to use her as a cover for his inclinations. It seemed rather silly. "Mm," was Thalia's very intelligent response. Yes, it was likely very ridiculous. Most teenage love stories were so. Thalia reached over to finally refill her glass after being diverted from it. Then she took a drink from it. "Well if you don't ask, then I will. Because this is ridiculous." He took a sip of his own drink and nodded. "I'll look into it. Araminta and I had a bit of a row over her not telling me, too, but I think we worked it out. I'm probably meeting her before dinner, you know, privately." No need to mention who he was meeting before that, of course. Dieter was nothing if not considerate. "As soon as I find out, you'll be the first to know." And he sealed the promise with a smile. Thalia gave him an eye roll in response and turned back to her plate. "Ah yes, the first to know, after Araminta and Vera and Aloysius and who knows who else." Petty, of course, but she couldn't let him off that easily. Vera might be family and Araminta might be his girlfriend now but she was Thalia, damn it. "And I don't want to know about you meeting privately." Lies. She wanted to know everything. "So keep your snogging stories to yourself, please." Dieter leaned over and wrapped his arm around Thalia's shoulder. "Well of course Aloysius and Vera know first, they're the ones going through it. And I didn't tell Araminta, so. You're going to be the first I tell." He released her and turned back to his breakfast. "Snogging's not really that interesting, anyway." Not with Araminta at least. "I won't bore you." Thalia smiled softly, more to herself than to Dieter, as he embroiled her in a hug. It made her happier, to hear that she would be the first he would tell, as it made her feel exceedingly important. And since Dieter was one of the more important people to her, she cared that it was a mutual feeling and not at all one-sided. When Dieter pulled back to finish his breakfast, Thalia inched closer to him, the final indication that she was not very cross with him anymore after all. "Finish my oatmeal," she said, prodding her bowl of food toward him. She wasn't very hungry anymore, and he was a growing boy and should eat more anyway. Dieter looked from the oatmeal back up to Thalia and raised an eyebrow at her. He didn't want to eat her breakfast and then have her going hungry until lunch. But she wouldn't respond well to him questioning her, and so soon after she'd forgiven him, so he pulled the bowl towards him. "Are you sure?" "Yes, quite," she said before she stuffed the last bite of black pudding into her mouth and ate it. "Fine," he said. Dieter didn't even want the oatmeal, but he took a bite of it anyway. Without looking at him, Thalia said, "I spit in it." And then cracked a grin. Halfway through chewing, he glared at her and swallowed. "That's not funny." A snicker. "It is really funny," she said, smiling from ear to ear. It was a lie, of course, that she had spit in it, but she couldn't stop herself from playing with Dieter. She leaned against him, her head brushing against his shoulder as she looped her arm with his. "You can't be cross with me." "I'm never cross with you," he said looking down at her. It wasn't true, and she knew it wasn't true. But Dieter was never cross with Thalia for very long at least. She was the easiest person in his life to forgive, sometimes. |