astor; AISLING (aastor) wrote in reduxpitch, @ 2016-04-03 17:33:00 |
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Entry tags: | !thread, character: xavier ansari, location: diagon alley, retired character: aisling astor, retired character: cedric diggory |
who ? cedric diggory, xavier ansari and aisling astor
when ? sunday evening, 3rd
where ? a restaurant
what ? not a threesome is what. friendly dinner. flirty dinner.
status ? complete
Cedric had been the one to pick the restaurant, which seemed fair since he had been the one to suggest going out for dinner. Aisling was mostly just pleased that he seemed to have picked a decent restaurant, even if it was still far from what Aisling would’ve picked if she had been in charge. Then again, Aisling was sure that either of the men would have particularly enjoyed the sort of atmosphere that came with restaurants Aisling picked. At least, Aisling had been confident in that she hadn’t over or underdressed when picking her dress, because black went with everything pretty easily. It would be a pleasant evening, Aisling was sure.
Aisling had apparated to the restaurant with Xavier since it made the most sense, what with them living together and all. Since it was a restaurant in Diagon Alley, neither had to even bother with giving their names to the waitress before they were already being led to the table where Cedric was sat at. There were certainly benefits of being famous, Aisling thought. “Cedric, hi,” she greeted pleasantly, taking a seat across from him. “A delightful idea, to have us eat,” Aisling told him with a teasing tone. “Have you been well?” She asked.
--
Cedric wasn’t in the habit of deliberately choosing places to go that offered a good chance of being spotted by someone in the media - if anything, he was more inclined to do the opposite. He hadn’t even know where the ‘hip’ place to be seen was. He’d considered asking Amos, but the hassle of his dad thinking he was finally getting a taste for fame had been too much to handle. Instead, he’d asked his sisters for their recommendations and chosen the nicer of the places they offered. He had considered going all out in a three-piece suit, but had settled on something he hoped was appropriate for the occasion.
By the time Aisling and Xavier had arrived, he’d left the coat and hat in the restaurant's cloakroom and loosened the tie, just a little. He stood to greet them, going so far as to pull out Xavier’s chair before the waiter could get to it. “It’s my pleasure,” he said, genuinely. His stated aim of getting the media to take notice - articles about his and Xavier’s famed ‘relationship’ tended to be positive, at least - was only half the reason he’d suggested dinner. The rest was just a desire to spend time with his friend, get to know Aisling and have a night out in a decent restaurant. It had been a while since Cedric had been on a date - not since before Cathy was born. He should, he thought wryly, have brought flowers.
“It’s been a busy weekend,” he said as he resumed his seat. “Fun, but very busy.” And tiring - and he’d been tired to start with! Maybe and and Cathy could spend most of Monday sleeping between feeds and nappy changes. “What about you?” he asked, his attention mostly on Xavier. “Everything alright at home?” He was sure it was - you didn’t become a curse-breaker without learning how to set some very thorough wards of your own and Cedric’s had triple-checked his work before leaving Xavier’s family.
--
Xavier was glad to have a night out with two of the people he felt closest to. Even if it hadn't been to get some kind of thing written about them, he would have appreciated the chance to have dinner with them both. They could have just as easily eaten at Panquake and he would have been just as pleased about it. Still, being able to go out to spend time with the both of them was nice. It would have been just as nice even without Cedric pulling his chair out for him, but the gesture definitely made him grin as he slid into his seat.
"Yeah, everything's fine back home," Xavier said with a nod, still incredibly grateful Cedric was the person who had put the wards on his family's house. Those, he knew he could trust. "Thanks again for going with me to make sure everything was good for them. I know mum was glad to see you, and probably Cathy even more. Been awhile since she has a baby to dote over."
-
Aisling smiled as Xavier and Cedric talked. She didn’t actually have a great deal to contribute to that, so instead Aisling ordered them some wine, presuming that Cedric would split the bottle with her, and a non-alcoholic drink for Xavier. When the waitress had departed again, Aisling turned her smile to Cedric again. “Cathy,” she repeated. “That’s your daughter, yes?” Aisling confirmed. She had known Cedric had a baby, as much from hearing about it from Xavier as it being in the papers. Apparently the magical world really cared if one of their heroes had a baby out of wedlock.
“How old is she now?” Aisling asked because that was the polite thing to ask not because she actually had much interest in the baby itself. Aisling always thought babies were... unfortunate. They were tiny and fragile and quite icky. And really, mostly also sticky. Nonetheless, Aisling was sure that any baby Cedric Diggory could produce was also most likely utterly adorable. At a distance at least.
--
“I’m always glad to see your family,” Cedric assured Xavier. He hadn’t needed the thanks at the time, let alone again now, but he knew it came from a good place. “And I’m always happy for people to dote on Cathy.” Since Cathy was still too young to do anything more than eat and cry and make messes, Cedric couldn’t in good conscience say whether or not she was happy with it - he assumed she was, because she didn’t seem to cry any more often with strangers than she did at home. Besides, by the time she was old enough to more adequately express her feelings, they wouldn’t be strangers anymore.
He nodded a confirmation to Aisling’s question. “She’s three months. Born on New Year’s Day, like her mother.” It still amused Cedric that Jun and Cathy shared a birthday, though on the day it hadn’t seemed quite so funny. He assumed Aisling knew that Cedric and Jun weren’t together. What with it being a big story in the papers, Cedric tended to assume that most people knew. He also assumed that, like all right-thinking people, Aisling wouldn’t care. “Would you like to see a photograph?” He pulled his wallet from his trouser pocket and offered it to Aisling, open to the snapshot of the three of them. As much as Cedric loved Cathy, she didn’t really do anything exciting enough to talk about yet. “Any new fanart for me, Aisling?” he teased, thinking that the lighter-hearted of Quake’s fans would be a more diverting topic.
--
It was always a little strange for Xavier to realize people in his life didn't necessarily know each other. Like when Aisling asked about Cathy. He, personally, thought his goddaughter was adorable, tiny and cute and cuddly to hold, but he also knew he only got her in small doses and in no way wanted a baby of his own. He smiled when Cedric brought out a picture to show Aisling, watching him be quite the stereotypical father with pictures at the ready just inside his wallet.
"I keep expecting to stumble across a collection of them at the house," he said, in reply to Cedric's comment about the fanart, and he grinned over at Aisling. "I was shocked to discover you didn't have some sort of shrine in your room, honestly."
-
When presented with a picture of a baby, Aisling ooh’ed, because that was the appropriate thing to do. “She’s adorable,” Aisling assured Cedric even, though, quite honestly, Cathy just looked like a baby. She wasn’t ugly so at least there was that. It would have been terrible if Aisling had had to pretend to think the child was cute when in reality she was anything but. Luckily, Cathy really was quite adorable, even if to Aisling she mostly looked like a generic baby. But then Cedric was putting the photo away again and thank god, maybe they could move on from talking about babies, because apart from asking how old they were, Aisling had no other baby-related questions in her repertoire.
“Oh, there is a shrine,” Aisling assured Xavier with a grin. “It’s in a box, under my bed,” she added. That was mostly not true. Well, it wasn’t incorrect of a description of where Aisling kept particular things, but none of them did actually involve anything to do with either Cedric or Xavier. Though, that did remind Aisling of something. “Did you know there’s a production line of Cedric Diggory-based sex toys?” She asked turning her attention to Cedric, tone both amused and teasing. “The box says ‘authentic’ but the model they use for you does not appear to share any facial similarities,” Aisling added just as the drinks arrived. Once her glass was filled, Aisling took a sip, giving Cedric a once-over. “I guess perhaps they mean different authenticity?” She offered.
--
“If your shrine fits in a box, it’s not big enough,” Cedric managed to interject with a smile, just before Aisling started talking about sex toys and Cedric frowned. He didn’t have a problem with talking about sex, even in a public setting, but the ideas of sex toys with his name on was something quite different. He wondered, briefly, if Amos… But no. Even Cedric’s dad wouldn’t actually approve something like that. Cedric managed a smile, because whoever was responsible it wasn’t Aisling or Xavier and there was no sense in taking it out on them. He’d look into it later. “Sorry to disappoint, but the resemblance ends at the name.” He was sure of that much, because he’d certainly never modelled for such a thing and the only women who’d be available for details were Cho, Jun and Dorte - and he trusted each of his three ex-girlfriends never to pass on that information.
Their drinks arrived and Cedric waited for the waitress to pour before raising his glass. “To battling the media?” he suggested. “To giving as good as we get - because what we get is objectively pretty weird.”
--
Xavier’s eyes widened slightly when Aisling mentioned the sex toys - not because of the sex toy part of it, but rather the Cedric part. He was almost certain Cedric wouldn’t have known, because he couldn’t imagine them being out there still if he did, and one glance at his friend’s face confirmed that. It made him worry about what all there could be out there that none of them knew about. A certain amount of fame came with a price, but sex toys based on someone simply because they were in the public eye? That was concerning.
Accepting his drink with a quiet thank you, Xavier raised his glass after Cedric’s. “To battling the media,” he agreed, shaking his head as a slight grin turned up the corners of his mouth. “We do get weird stuff, and a good variety of it too.” He looked between his two friends. “And to you two for helping me deal with all this dumb stuff.”
-
Aisling almost felt bad when she saw Cedric’s reaction. Mostly because whilst she had been teasing, she hadn’t actually been exaggerating at all. There really were sex toys out there with Cedric’s name on them, even if most of them were probably misspellings of his name for legal reasons. Aisling wasn’t too sure whether it was something to be surprised, saddened or shocked at, since it seemed to her just like one of those things you had to put up when you were famous. Like stupid photoshoots and awful fanart. Thought, she was definitely responsible for some of the latter and did her very best to get Quake into some ridiculous shoots.
At the raised glasses, Aisling smiled, agreeing with Cedric’s suggested toast for battling the media. Personally Aisling had become rather good at ignoring the media, but she definitely hadn’t appreciated the portrayal they had given Xavier. When he thanked them, Aisling grinned. “What are friends for if not to help, yeah?” She offered. “And obviously fight your battles for you if needs must,” Aisling added because it was true. “And produce some beautiful, beautiful art about your and your boyfriend,” she teased, giving Cedric a wink. Aisling was rather proud of just how shit her art looked.
--
Cedric chuckled at the memory of the fan art. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful,” he assured Aisling, lifting a hand to give Xavier’s shoulder a squeeze. It really didn’t bother him that people thought he and Xavier were dating - it had helped take a lot of the attention of Cedric’s actual girlfriends, over the years. He was confident that Xavier didn’t mind either, or he’d have said something to Cedric about their semi-regular ‘date nights’. Most of the photos came from those, and if Xavier had wanted the press attention to cease Cedric would have been more than happy to eat with Xavier in either of their homes instead.
“I have to wonder if I’m going to start getting letters myself now I’m back in the country.” Previously, most of the fangirls had sent things to Quake and Cedric had only seen them because Xavier had shown him. Now that he had a permanent address, though… He wasn’t anywhere near as famous as Xavier was, because he hadn’t done anything in years to actual earn the fame. He was prepared for it to happen - and had warned Jun, just in case. As long as Cathy was left out of it, Cedric found it more amusing than troublesome.
--
"It was definitely beautiful," Xavier agreed, huffing out a soft laugh. He knew there was a lot of stuff that didn't get to him, intercepted by those who worked with the band and such, but he saw enough of it to know it was consistently out there. Aisling's artwork of them was on par with a bunch of it. He leaned into the touch of Cedric's hand on his shoulder, offering him a smile.
"I wouldn't be surprised if you did," he said after a moment, taking a slow sip of his drink. Then again, he wasn't sure if the band's fans would seek out Cedric's address just to send him those things, not when they had Quake's address handy already. "I mean, as soon as Aisling gets hold of your address, be prepared..."
-
Aisling actually felt that it was probably quite insulting to proper fanart to compare what she had made to it, but she laughed at the compliment, nonetheless. Especially since she was very aware of how bad it was, had intentionally tried to make it look awful. If only Ashleigh had allowed her to use glitter! It would have been magnificent. At Cedric’s words of whether he would now receive more of it, Aisling shrugged a little. “I mean, you might get letters,” she told him thoughtfully. There were plenty of ways for fan correspondence to be controlled, Quake was quite good at that.
When Xavier said that Aisling might send Cedric some art, she sighed dramatically. “Now, now, love, what would be the point of that?” She asked taking a small sip of her wine. “If no one but Cedric can see and appreciate it, then it’s not really worth it,” she explained before glancing at Cedric. “No offense,” Aisling added. “I just think that if I’m going to put so much effort into gluing cutouts of your faces together, I would like the whole world to benefit,” she assured them both.
--
“If you sent me private fan art, I promise I would put it in my journal,” Cedric offered, because he really didn’t think he was going to stop finding it funny any time soon. He hadn’t wanted to rip a page out of his journal, but otherwise he would totally have stuck Aisling’s art up in his kitchen somewhere. The problem with being a wizard was that he couldn’t ward his home as he had Xavier’s family’s, because he did want some unknown owls to get in. Creating a ward that would specifically filter out Quake fans (or Cedric fans) would be a lot more difficult. If it became a problem… Well, Cedric would deal with that later as well, no point coming up with a plan for something that might never happen.
He glanced over his menu, noticing that the waitress was hovering and he hadn’t actually considered what he wanted yet. “Perhaps you should create some of the three of us,” he added. “That might get picked up, since apparently the press read the journals now.” That was a little alarming, but Cedric was already in the habit of putting anything about Cathy under a no-journalists ward.
--
“See, Aisling? The whole world would see it,” Xavier said with a grin, picking up his menu once he saw Cedric looking at one, because he’d forgotten food was a thing they were getting. It was far too distracting when they were both there, and then the whole tangent about sex toys - it was hard to think about food. He wasn’t even sure what he wanted, or what they had, but he was sure he could figure it out quick enough.
“I have a feeling it won’t take someone gluing cutouts of us together to get the press to pick it up,” he added after a moment. “I think this dinner will probably take care of that. Then we’ll see if anyone does that on their own…”
-
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Aisling assured Cedric with a small laugh when he said he’d make sure to show the world any and all fanart she might make of him and Xavier. As amusing and entertaining making such art was, Aisling genuinely did have better things to do with her time. Mostly, at least. Maybe on a rainy afternoon when her fingers didn’t itch to practice, Aisling might put more effort into her cutting and gluing, produce something that didn’t look like a kindergartener did it.
As for the gossip, Aisling shook her head slightly. She wasn’t actually all that convinced that the three of them going out for dinner would be very interesting for the press at all. If anything, Xavier and Cedric dining on their own would probably seem more exciting to the gossip writers. Or perhaps either one of them dining with someone else. “I mean, I am definitely willing to put extra effort into this to make it scandalous,” Aisling informed them both in a tone that implied as much seriousness as she could muster. “You know, if that involves kissing, or perhaps even touching,” Aisling explained before giving a dramatic sigh. “It is a sacrifice I am willing to make,” she concluded. It really, really was.
--
Cedric had certainly hoped the dinner would spur something, but sitting here now he wasn’t sure it would. Maybe they should take a walk down Diagon Alley once they’d finished, because just sitting here might not be enough. He smiled as Aisling almost seemed to pick up on his thought. He leaned towards her slightly, trying to imagine she was a woman he’d invited out because he was attracted to her. She was very attractive, so it wasn’t exactly difficult. “Lucky me,” he said, smiling at first her and then Xavier. “Two rock stars to flirt with.” Because yes, Cedric knew sometimes his behaviour with Xavier could be easily interpreted as flirting. As long as he knew it wasn’t and Xavier knew it wasn’t (and any girlfriends either of them might have didn’t mind) he didn’t really think it was anyone’s business.
The waitress finally came over then, interrupting their conversation to take their orders. “Maybe we should share dessert at the end of the meal,” Cedric suggested once she’d gone to carry their requests to the kitchen. “One ice cream sundae, three spoons.”
--
Xavier grinned at Aisling's offer. It wasn't shocking at all that she was willing for such a 'sacrifice,' at least as far as he was concerned, and Cedric was plenty handsome enough so he wasn't surprised she would be alright with him as well. His grin turned into a little more of a smirk as he looked over to Cedric, rubbing his jaw a bit before letting his hand drop to his lap. "I mean, you really did luck out, you know? Though dividing your attention between us two, I'm sure you'll do your best. Thankfully I'm not the jealous type..."
His expression brightened at the mention of dessert. "The only way that would be even better is if there was a milkshake with three straws. But a sundae with three spoons... will be amazing."
-
Well, Aisling definitely had better suggestions than sharing a dessert but she supposed it might be a start. “Oh, I’m sure we’re all incredibly lucky with how great the other two look,” Aisling said teasingly, but did make sure to do a good show at looking at both Cedric and Xavier rather appreciatively. They were very good looking and Aisling was under no impressions that she wasn’t, too, so really, the attractiveness levels were pretty high around the table.
“And really,” Aisling carried on, wetting her lips with the wine briefly. “It’s not like I’m trying to steal your boyfriend, Xavier,” she informed him with a slight turn of her head. “I’m merely suggesting that sharing can be very refreshing for a relationship,” Aisling said before smirking at Cedric. “And you’ve been together for quite a while now, haven’t you? I’m sure the sex might have become a touch repetitive,” she added in amusement. The rumours of Cedric and Xavier dating had certainly hit it big when Quake hit it big, but Aisling was pretty sure they had existed before then. The two had, after all, been friends since school, if she recalled correctly.
--
Cedric gave a genuine laugh when Aisling questioned the supposed monotony of his and Xavier’s sex-life. Since it was entirely non-existent, he supposed she was right: that did get pretty repetitive. “It’s true,” he said, looking over at Xavier. “We’re very boring in bed.” Thinking about his real sex life, which had been uneventful of late, he added, “I did manage to get Jun pregnant, so it’s probably a good thing you’re not the jealous type.” In reality, Cedric didn’t really see the appeal of sharing - he wouldn’t have wanted to share an actual girlfriend of his with anyone else, definitely. Since this was all theoretical, though, he was fine with it.
“No offence, love,” he added, stealing Aisling’s previous endearment as he reached across the table to give Xavier’s hand a squeeze. “You know I could never be bored of you.” He sounded, he thought, like some caricature of a husband from Madame Murray’s Case Files, but apparently he didn’t know how to fake-flirt and sound sincere.
--
It was all so ridiculous to Xavier, sitting there in a restaurant with those two, having his fake sex-life with Cedric being brought up by Aisling, who was the only person he’d actually slept with recently. But then again, it was also kind of fun, which was how he’d always viewed all the silly rumors about him and Cedric in the first place. They weren’t hurting anyone, they didn’t actually impact anything, so there wasn’t much reason to try and put a stop to them. He looked down to their hands when Cedric reached over to squeeze his, turning it over beneath his to return the gesture with a little smile.
“Really, it was the least you could do to make me godfather to the baby after that whole debacle,” he said teasingly. “I’m glad you at least say you’ll never be bored of me. Here I thought I’d never be any kind of exciting enough to a champion like yourself.” He glanced over to Aisling and gave her foot a nudge with his under the table. “And then you’re far too classy for me, all professional violinist and all… not sure how I managed to catch you, either.”
-
Aisling did almost choke on her wine at the way Xavier said ‘champion’ at Cedric. Really, with the hand-holding and everything, Aisling was in no way surprised that the Xavric rumours had been ripe since the day both men gained a degree of fame. They were both very attractive and what’s more, neither seemed to particularly care about their presumed relationship, no matter how much the press thought it was something to report on.
When Xavier nudged her foot, she glanced at him, a smirk playing on her lips. “I’m too classy for everyone, sweetheart,” she assured him only partially joking. Truthfully, the people Aisling wasn’t too classy for were not people she wanted to interact with. As much as life style of a rockstar didn’t always come easily to Aisling, she definitely prefered it to the cold and controlled environment her parents lived in. “It’s the brooding good looks,” Aisling said with a grin when Xavier announced he didn’t know how he had managed to catch either of them. Reaching out to run the back of her fingers over Xavier’s jawline, Aisling gave a small shake of her head. “We’re both clearly just utterly unable to resist your raw sex appeal,” she explained before letting her hand drop as she turned to wink at Cedric.
--
“Are you saying I’m not classy?” Cedric asked, unable to keep a straight face as he beamed at Xavier. “I’m devastated.” Cedric did like to think of himself as having some class, but he’d never pretend he could hold a candle to Aisling. He didn’t know her well, but he thought he’d seen enough to take her at her word, not to mention he trusted Xavier’s judgement. He took a sip of his wine, nodding in response to Aisling’s words. It was nice to see that she, like Jun, could joke about the article. Cedric could only assume that was helpful in keeping Xavier from worrying about it - it was all ridiculous anyway. “You’ve got it in one,” he agreed.
He would have elaborated, but the waitress appeared with plates of food and Cedric took over helpfully making sure everyone got what they’d ordered. “Looks great,” he said, once he’d thanked the waitress and assured her they had everything they needed. “Anyone want to try this?”