effie is officially a seasoning (efffie) wrote in find_horcruxes, @ 2009-12-28 01:03:00 |
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When Pepper had started planning his and Effie's ski trip to Austria, he'd caught what he'd decided was a fit of the crazies, and had bought an engagement ring for Effie at the same time. He'd been gung ho about the idea for about a week and a half, and had taken to carrying the box around in his pockets in case a perfect sort of moment cropped up. Which it did, several times, but Pepper hadn't been able to manage it. First there was the thought that, good grief, had he lost his fucking mind? They'd been dating for what, three months, and he was ready to marry her? Wasn't that rushing things, or pushing it, or thinking of their relationship as more than it was? His mother seemed to think that taking a holiday with Effie was a bit much, never mind a proposal. Then, of course, Addie Banges had made the announcement that she and her bloke were going to get hitched, and that was that for Pepper. He'd tucked the ring in the tea cupboard above the stove, and decided that he was going to forget it for a while. There was enough going on in the world without them planning a wedding, or without Pepper ruining what they did have by assuming that Effie would feel the same way about getting married as he did. Pepper decided to just focus on their ski holiday. They were sitting in his flat with Thai take-away, as they frequently did, with the telly playing the news in the background. "Did you want anymore Phat Thai?" Pepper asked, holding out the carton to Effie. "It's not as good as it usually is." "Hmm," came Effie's reply as she leaned over to take the box. Her eyes were on the television, watching the pictures depict the news of the day a bit raptly. She usually didn't pay quite so close attention to the Muggle news, but it was sort of interesting now and again to see how it paralleled the wizarding news. It was only natural that it did, of course, seeing as it was taking place in the same place. But she couldn't help but be intrigued by how they explained away the occasional happening that was so obviously magical to her. Not that they had any reason to do that as of recent - thank Merlin. She tore her eyes away, though, and peered down at the Phat Thai in appraisal. It looked good, but... "If I eat this, I'm going to have to run for an extra half hour in the morning and it's already torture with the temperature. So, no thank you." She looked up at Pepper then, a smile crossing her face. "I will, however, go put it away if you'd like." Pepper shrugged and half smiled in return, setting his chopsticks on the coffee table before closing the lid on the box and handing it to her. "Sounds like a plan to me. I don't suppose you feel like putting on a pot of tea, too, do you? Because then I just might have to love you forever." "I didn't realize it was so easy to win your affections," Effie teased in return, taking the box and pulling herself to her feet. She pressed a quick kiss to Pepper's forehead, then continued on to disappear into the kitchen. She was more than acquainted with the layout of his whole flat by now, the kitchen included, which made her feel a bit good inside. There wasn't any real logic behind it, except that it really felt like she belonged there if she knew where the spoons and tea were hidden. Before getting to said tea, however, she secured the top of the takeaway box of Thai food before stowing it away in the icebox with its fellow takeaway boxes. She smiled to herself, thinking for just a moment that she was going to need to learn how to cook more than just spaghetti sometime. That bloke couldn't live on just takeaway forever. But, that would be later. Right now she had to make tea, she reminded herself, going straight to the cupboard above the stove. She had to push herself up onto her toes to reach the box she wanted, but when she pulled it out, the box also knocked over another smaller box with it. Effie swore under her breath when it clanged onto the stove top, closing the cupboard before looking down to see exactly what she had knocked down. A jewelry box. All sorts of voiced suddenly popped up in Effie's mind, most of them telling her to put the box away or don't touch it all, but most certainly telling her not to open it. After a moment's hesitation, though, she decided to ignore all of those voices and picked up the little box, the tea on the counter and forgotten. Without even hesitating a second time, she popped the box open and audibly gasped. That was definitely a ring. And not just any kind of ring. Effie might not be an expert on jewelry, but she certainly knew what she was looking at there. Which, of course, meant that all sorts of thoughts started to run through her mind again. Before listening to any of them, though, she knew she had to straighten some things out. So, almost timidly, she called out, "Uh... Pepper?" "Yeah?" Pepper called back, turning his head toward the kitchen from where he was sitting back on the sofa. He'd heard her banging around but hadn't really thought much of it (because, apparently, when he'd told himself to forget about the ring, his brain had listened and he'd completely blocked out where he'd put the thing), turning his attention back to the news and some feature about an old woman in Glouchester who claimed to have the world's best recipe for Sheppard's Pie. Effie meandered back into the sitting room, a confused expression on her face as she kept her gaze down at the ring in the box. Her mind was still spinning as she struggled to get a grip on what may or may not be happening. It was that "or not" that kept her from jumping in headfirst, though. Maybe she should have just let it stay hidden. It had to have been there for a reason, right? Shite, what if she was messing this up? But by the time that thought even occurred to her, she was at the sofa. "What is this?" she asked point blank, turning the box and looking at Pepper, her expression still confused. Pepper was, initially, quite startled by Effie's appearance, his heart sinking into his stomach at the sight of his ring box in her hand. Oh, good fuck. The fucking tea cupboard. He'd put the ring box in the tea cupboard then sent her off into the kitchen to make tea. All he could do for a few moments was stare at her with his mouth agape, looking dumbstruck. "Uh. I. Well," he finally managed to stutter, running a hand through his hair awkwardly because he didn't know what else to do with it. "It's. An engagement ring?" "That's what I thought," Effie replied quietly, turning the box to look at the ring again. He didn't seem to be jumping to explain, but he also wasn't running out the door and proclaiming that it was for his secret girlfriend or anything... so she felt like it was all right to assume it was for her. It was always good to ask, though, and when her gaze lifted to his face there was a little hope in her tone. "Were you... planning on giving it to me?" "Um. Yes," Pepper replied, almost timidly, his face blushing brilliantly. Pepper wasn't really the sort of guy that got easily flustered--he either barrel-rolled right into things, or told the world to fuck off and then went and kicked something--but this situation had him at a complete loss. Weren't proposals supposed to be romantic? There had been that night when they'd been out window shopping in muggle London for Christmas, and one thing had led to another and he'd ended up throwing her over his shoulder and then flinging her into a snowbank, or when they'd been out for a real, dressy dinner and the waitress had told them that they looked very sharp together (even if she had asked for Effie's autograph 0.002 seconds later)... having to explain the presence of an engagement ring in his tea cupboard while sitting practically paralyzed on his sofa definitely wasn't what Pepper had had in mind. "I was. I thought that. I don't know. I just thought that it was a good idea, after I booked the trip to Austria, and just. I bought it and I was trying to... to bring it up and sort of find a moment but then I thought. Well, we've only been dating for a, for a few months and I thought that I might be over-reaching, or. Or assuming, I guess." She wasn't running for the hills or calling him an insane person; he supposed that was good? "At least you're not flinging yourself out the window." Effie looked back down at the little ring in the box. She understood exactly what he meant, actually. In fact, she had been thinking about the exact same thing. They hadn't been together terribly long, after all. It had only been a few months, but did that even matter? She had told him that she loved him rather early on in their relationship, but she wouldn't have said it unless she knew that it was true. She just wasn't the sort of person that threw those three words around. They meant a lot to her and she knew that how she felt about Pepper was just that - she loved him. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. And she just knew that she would be. After spending only a few short seconds looking at the ring, she took a step forward and sat down on the sofa next to Pepper. Effie wasn't entirely sure what to do from here. He obviously hadn't known what she would say and that had made him back off. So, after just a moment, she looked away from the ring again to look at him. "If I told you that I would say yes, would that change your mind about asking?" "Oh." Pepper deadpanned. Was she being honest, or was she being hypothetical just to see what she'd say? No, Effie wouldn't do something like that, lest not unless she was joking around. Clearly she wasn't. He took a deep breath. "I. I'd tell you that. That I..." he trailed off for a second, trying to find a way to properly articulate what he wanted to say. "Well. Okay. First off, I love you. In a way I don't know if any word can really describe because you're just so... I don't know. We click. We fit. It feels like... even if it's cliche, I think we make sense together." He reached forward and took her hands, shifting a slight closer to her, and looking her in the eyes. "And even if we haven't been together for a long time, and no matter if people are going to tell us that we're rushing things, or that we're too young, or that you're too young for me--or whatever the hell people say when they don't approve of things--you're just. I know what I want. I want to be with you, all the time. I want you to be my wife. I want you to be there every morning and every night, sharing scrambled eggs and work horror stories, and to hang out with the rest of the quidditch spouses... am I making sense?" "Yes," Effie replied without any hesitation. Her fingers tightened around his as she felt herself all but melt. If someone had told her in August that someone would be saying those things to her in December, she wouldn't have believed them - absolutely not. She had already been feeling like she was leading something of a charmed existence, what with her being paid to fly around a pitch and play a game, and to add in there a bloke that was so perfect for her that it almost made her wonder if he was real at times... She just couldn't hardly believe it. But, there he was. Professing his love to her. It was all she could do to keep herself from pinching her arm to make sure that she wasn't asleep. "I love you," she added quietly, having to pause just a moment as she realized that she was just an step away from crying all over him. "I love you so much and I want people to call me Effie Pepper and I want to come home to see you every day and to wake up with you next to me and to just... I want to marry you, even if it gives my dad has a heart attack." She quirked just a little smile at that. "So, I don't know if that was you asking or not... but if it was, I'm still saying yes." Pepper laughed. The moment seemed so surreal and out of place; he didn't really know what to do with it. She wanted to marry him. "Really? Because, I mean. We could be dealing with a shitstorm," he said, even though as he did so he was taking the ring box from her. He took the ring out and slid it right onto her finger. "It looks pretty good there, though. I think you could pull it off." "I think so, too," Effie replied, her eyes on the ring. Her lips curled up into a pleased little smile, especially when she let her fingers wiggle just a bit so the light could glint off of it. "Looks a lot like it belongs there, if you ask me." But he was right about the shitstorm, even if she didn't really want to think about it and ruin what could arguably be the most perfect moment in her young life - right after being told that she was starting for the Magpies, of course. "I think, though... I think that it might be a good idea to keep it between us for just now. For a little bit, I mean." Effie was suddenly acutely aware of every word that was coming out of her mouth, not wanting him to take what she was saying the wrong way. "It's just that Boyd just proposed to Addie and he's my cousin and they both deserve some spotlight, you know?" "No, that's fine," Pepper agreed easily, holding her left hand in his and admiring the way it looked with that ring on it, with the slightest of smiles on his face. That had been part of the reason he'd put the ring away, after all. They had a whole lifetime of those special, personal moments ahead of them. They could hold off for a few more to let someone else have theirs. Besides, as loud and obnoxious as Pepper could be, he wasn't the big how-do sort, and if he could convince Effie to just elope and avoid the hooplah of it all, he'd be much happier for it. Not that he wouldn't go through the Big White Wedding bullshite with a smile on his face if it was something she really wanted, of course. He didn't think that there was much he wouldn't do for Effie, if she asked. "Beyond family, there's only a handful of people I'd tell anyway. The Prewetts. Fil. Belby." "Yeah. The only person that's high up on my list is Peadar, so I can wait," Effie admitted, leaning over so she was resting up against him before blowing out a sigh. Not a second after the breath had left her, though, and she was grinning all over again. They were getting married. They were getting married. How did that happen? Suppose she would have gone for the other box of tea instead? Actually, she didn't want to think about that. Leaning up, she finally took the kiss that she had been needing to take for the past few minutes but she had been controlling herself. Even now, she controlled herself because she had to break it only seconds later to tell him, "I love you so much." "I love you too," Pepper replied, grin moving from enamored to shit-eating as his leaved in and kissed her more passionately than he knew he was capable of. When he finally came back up for air, he kept his face close to hers, pressing light kisses to the line of her jaw. "You know, future Mrs Pepper, we should probably consummate this arrangement. Progressive couple that we are." "Well." Effie's eyes closed as she smiled, not wanting to interrupt his kisses just yet. She waited just a moment, letting her mind wander to permanent cohabitation, sharing a name, introducing each other as the other's husband or wife. While she knew that most girls were supposed to have their weddings planned out since they were just kids, Effie had never been that sort of girl. Instead, she was busy envisioning their future, down after the wedding. Yes, the wedding would have to happen, but it was just one day. It was the lifetime afterward that was the true perk. But, they had some time before that came. And, really, there were only so many kisses she could handle being on the receiving end before she lost all patience. "You know, I think that I can support that." |