Andrew Kirke (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} dragondrums) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} reduxpitch,@ 2016-04-05 21:26:00 |
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What: Playing cards, chatting.
When: Tuesday 5th April, evening.
Where: Panquake House.
Rating: PG
Aisling felt like she hadn’t really seen much of Andrew lately. They had practices, of course, but those were work things and not social things. This was the same with their performances. Those were also work things. Quake had spend a day at the fayre ground after Glidergate, which had been a lot of fun and just nice to get everyone out of the house, but even then, Aisling didn’t feel like she had spent much time with Andrew specifically. Which is why tonight she had insisted they hang out.
Having found some playing cards, Aisling had made herself some tea and settled down on the sofa in the living room. She had set the game up by the time Andrew joined. “I hope you’re not very competitive,” she informed him. “Because I’m not and it would probably just irk you,” Aisling told him with a small shrug. She really wasn’t. For as much as Aisling liked things to be a particular way, for as much as she practiced endlessly to highly achieve, Aisling had never felt any need to be competitive in a board game. It just seemed rather pointless since it was just a game.
--
Andrew had been planning on hanging out with Evan, in case he needed distracting from the impending election (or just, if Andrew was honest, because he liked spending time with Evan). Then he’d heard the news that the elections were being postponed and since Evan had mentioned something about a book of medals that was too fascinating to tear himself away from, Andrew had decided to give him the evening to himself. As a bonus, Andrew got to hang out with Aisling. And play cards, apparently. Andrew didn’t really need a reason to hang out with Aisling, but since she’d suggested cards he was happy to play along.
He grabbed a cider before joining Aisling on the couch, studying the game she’d set up. He shrugged. He could be competitive, but more often in teams than one-on-one. Besides, the game was mostly something to do with their hands while they talked and it seemed stupid to get competitive over something like that. He didn’t even really care if they kept score - though since neither of them were going to be sore losers about it, they might as well. “I won’t be,” he assured Aisling. “What are we playing?” Andrew hadn’t regularly played card games in years, but he thought he remembered the rules for some of the ones he’d played in school. “How was your day?” he asked, popping open the top of his cider.
--
Shuffling the cards, Aisling grinned at Andrew. “Well,” she started slowly. “I could teach you Bridge,” Aisling said thoughtfully, before giving a small laugh. “But since neither of us have that much time to waste whilst we’re still youthful and beautiful, we’re just going to play Snap,” she told Andrew, because quite honestly, if neither of them were interested in playing to win, Snap was an easy thing to do whilst talking. She really could have taught him how to play Bridge but that seemed as a depressing of a prospect now as it had been when Aisling had been taught how to play the game.
“Good, good,” Aisling replied as she passed the cards over to Andrew to start the game. “I practised some,” she said with a shrug. Aisling had done quite well, really, she had only practiced for about five hours, which made her only a little antsy. Not practicing for eight hours straight did not mean that Aisling hadn’t practiced. She did have to remind herself as much. “What about you?” Aisling asked once they started the game. “You always seem very busy these days,” she told Andrew. It wasn’t a criticism, mostly just an observation.
--
“I already know how to play Whist,” Andrew said, smiling. He’d been told that Whist was like ‘beginner’s Bridge’, though he didn’t know how true that was. “Can you even play Bridge with two? I thought you had to have four.” And then something fucking complicated happened with having a dummy and a scorecard and Andrew had never tried to actually understand it. “Snap’s good, though.” He took the cards she offered him, studying them as if he could somehow determine how likely they were to explode. He didn’t mind either way - he’d plenty of experience either way and as long as he didn’t singe off his eyebrows Exploding Snap could be a lot of fun.
He dealt the cards, then put down his first. “Not today,” he said, levitating his cider over to the table so he could continue playing with both hands. He’d woken up a little the worse for wear on Sunday, but a hot shower and a lazy day had set him right by the time Evan started journalling him questions about sex. As long as Andrew didn’t think about meeting Lily, he was absolutely fine. “Well,” he corrected, “no busier than usual. I was at Dominic’s, but no teaching this week.” Which made it almost a holiday, as far as Andrew was concerned. He’d even had time to both practice and work on the still-unfinished duet he’d started after sparklers with Evan. It was coming along nicely, but it wasn’t in Quake’s usual style and Andrew wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. He could try to make it more ‘rock’ but it would lose a lot of what he liked about it. “How was your dinner with Cedric and Xavier?”
--
“It’d take so long to learn the rules that the evening would be over before we could even play,” Aisling assured Andrew with a slight distaste. Even the idea of playing Bridge seemed harrowing. Snap, Aisling thought, was definitely much easier and fun. It didn’t require a great deal of brainpower, which left plenty of concentration to be spent on just chatting. Thus Aisling nodded with ease when Andrew explained that he wasn’t teaching this week. Aisling didn’t really know why Andrew bothered to work when they didn’t really need to, but then Aisling also didn’t get why anyone would need to work, so she doubted her opinion was particularly objective when it came to that sort of thing.
At Andrew’s question about how the dinner had gone, Aisling sighed dramatically. “I feel that despite my best efforts, a threesome is off the table,” she informed Andrew doing a pretty good job at making the tone of her voice imply actual devastation. It wasn’t like Aisling was really disappointed, well, perhaps a little but mostly because she was sure it would have been a great deal of fun and one would have had to be blind not to want to sleep with both Cedric and Xavier, both individually, but especially at the same time. Still, Aisling was pretty good at judging when a no really did mean ‘no’ rather than ‘ask me twice more and I’ll probably say yes’. “It’s a sad state of affairs,” Aisling told him with another overt sigh, before grinning just to show that she was, in fact, joking.
“Did your boyfriend have a nice birthday?” Aisling asked putting another card down. “I got him a mug,” she said glancing up from the cards. She had, too. Albeit, Aisling hadn’t actually bothered to give it to Evan, she had just left it in the kitchen, next to the oversized box of Yorkshire tea that she had started buying, but it did have his name on it, so it couldn’t be that hard to figure out.
--
Andrew tried not to laugh at Aisling’s dramatics, instead putting on a commiserating sort of expression. “Sounds tragic,” he told her. “Should we ship them both off to St Mungo’s to have their heads examined? Anyone who’d say no to you can’t be quite in their right mind.” He patted her hand. “I’m sure they didn’t mean it personally, anyway,” he teased. “You’re still very pretty.”
At the mention of the mug, Andrew clicked his tongue against his teeth. “O-oh, I saw that! I didn’t know who put it there.” He should have guessed, really, but Panquake House had a habit of collecting interesting and appropriate items and no one ever seemed sure of where they came from. There had been a muggle traffic cone on the landing for weeks, once, which everyone denied being involved in. (Personally, Andrew pinned it on Axel.) He smiled genuinely across the couch. “You’re the best.” Even if she hadn’t given it to Evan herself, Andrew appreciated the signal that Evan was welcome to continue spending mornings in their kitchen. “I hope he had a good time.” Andrew couldn’t help grinning as he remembered the kisses he’d received in thanks for his presents to Evan. “He certainly wasn’t complaining.” The party had gone well, Andrew thought, apart from his meeting with Lily. He wasn’t sure how Evan had felt about that, or what Lily might have said to him since.
Putting down an ace of diamonds, Andrew quickly slammed his hand down over the pile of cards. “Snap!” Nothing had exploded, which was probably for the best. “Have we got any gigs the next few weekends?”
--
“Yes, thank you, Andrew,” Aisling replied with a laugh, reaching out to give Andrew’s shoulder a light shove. “I am still very pretty,” she repeated with amusement. Aisling didn’t actually think her looks in any way were responsible for Xavier and Cedric’s distaste for threesomes, but she appreciated the comment nonetheless. Perhaps if Aisling had in any way been more self-conscious she would have thought it otherwise, but as things were, Aisling was under no illusion that at least one of the two men wouldn’t sleep with her. “I am, also, the best,” Aisling added at Andrew’s words.
There was a grin Aisling shot Andrew when he said that Evan certainly hadn’t complained. “I’m sure he didn’t,” she said with an over exaggerated wink at Andrew. All things considered, Aisling was very glad to see Andrew so happy, or what she deemed happy, at least. There had been a lot more smiles since Valentine’s Day, especially when he stared down at his journal and Aisling knew exactly who he was writing to. It was nice. Refreshing, even. “It’s going well, then?” She asked just in case.
The snap almost startled Aisling, but she, too, was glad for no explosions. “I think there’s one this weekend but not the following, why?” She asked putting down a new card.
--
Andrew grinned right back. “Yeah, I think so.” Andrew wasn’t exactly in the best position to judge, since he’d never done anything like this before, but Evan made him happy and was pretty clear in communicating than Andrew made him happy, which took a lot of the anxiety out of it. “We went to the British Museum today.” A few months ago, Andrew wouldn’t have thought he’d be voluntarily visiting any museum, but Evan’s enthusiasm had managed to make it enjoyable, which boded well for the ancient caves and architectural museums in Georgia. “Being surrounded by Ravenclaws is converting me at last,” he teased.
Andrew did have a gig schedule in his room, but he didn’t commit it to memory and it was often easier to confirm with Aisling, just in case. He’d have to make sure Evan was free next weekend, and that Dominic would let him take the Monday off. “I’m taking Evan to a cave city for his birthday,” he explained. “So we need a weekend we’re both free.” He leaned over to retrieve his cider, taking a sip before tilting the bottle in her direction. “Anything exciting in your life that I’ve missed?”
--
Aisling did genuinely ooh at Andrew’s words that he had been to the British Museum. Sometimes there were very clear indications that Aisling was a Ravenclaw. Going to the museum, to Aisling, seemed very exciting, but it did almost surprise her that Andrew had also enjoyed it. Conversion or not, Aisling thought that if Evan could get Andrew to go to museums, she would definitely deem him a good influence. “It is a well known fact that Ravenclaw is the best house to be in,” she assured Andrew teasingly, offering another grin as she put a card down.
There was another Snap! in the game, which made Aisling almost miss Andrew’s next comment and her reaction to it was marginally delayed. “Wait, what?” She asked for a moment convinced that she must have misheard Andrew. “A cave city? Abroad?” She confirmed. As many as there were, Aisling was pretty sure they were all abroad. India, Turkey, Georgia, China, USA. Plenty to choose from but all still abroad. “Don’t you think it’s a bit--” Aisling paused, reaching for her tea so she could take a sip whilst finding the best word. “Much?” Was what she settled on but the choice for ‘soon’ had only marginally lost out.
--
Andrew chuckled at Aisling’s reaction. “Ravenclaw is a very nice house,” he agreed - because he did have genuine affection for a great number of Ravenclaws, including Aisling herself. “I wonder -” He stopped, cutting himself off because the thought had appeared out of nowhere and really didn’t need to be shared. “You wouldn’t think a rock band would be full of Ravenclaws, would you?” he mused. It was something he’d thought before, and probably something he’d shared with Aisling before as well. It worked, though, you couldn’t deny that.
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Georgia. Yes, I know we’re going to have to be careful.” The idea of having to act like he and Evan weren’t together had put him off, but he’d been able to get past it when he thought about how much Evan was going to love an ancient city of caves. The wizarding travel agent he’d been talking to had, tactfully, also clarified that the wizarding area was much less conservative which had eased Andrew’s mind. At her question, he shrugged slightly. He had wondered if the gift was too extravagant. Unlike Aisling, Andrew hadn’t grown up rich - he was aware that a trip abroad wasn’t a ‘normal’ present for someone you’d known six weeks. Andrew was content to be abnormal, as long as Evan didn’t feel uncomfortable having the money spent on him. “It’s a long weekend,” he said. “I think we can handle it.”
--
Ravenclaw was a very nice house, it was true, so Aisling nodded. She did raise an eyebrow at Andrew when he half started a sentence but didn’t actually push it. If he wanted to say more, Aisling would be plenty of receptive, she just didn’t see any actual need to question something Andrew had deemed not worth asking. At his comment, though, about how one might not think a rock band would end up with so many Ravenclaws, Aisling gave a laugh. “We have a very good work ethic,” she assured Andrew. “Besides, music’s all about learning things,” Aisling added slightly more seriously, but barely.
“Georgia,” Aisling repeated, raising an eyebrow when Andrew said he knew they would have to be careful. Well, there was that. It was probably a good thing that Andrew, at least, seemed aware that there were things him and Evan would simply not be okay to do in public in Georgia. Still, it did make Aisling pause in putting down a card. She didn’t know Evan very well, barely at all, but she did know Andrew and it made Aisling wonder how well he would cope with that sort of environment. “And you’re okay with--” Aisling gave a small shrug. “Being careful?” She said repeating the phrase Andrew had used because she wasn’t sure what a better one would be. “Will Evan?” She added because that was probably a concern for Andrew, too? Aisling presumed. She was hardly well versed in how people acted in relationships, but being concerned for your partner’s ability to handle particular stresses seemed like a reasonable thing to do. Consciously acting in public like they weren’t your partner might be complicated.
--
Andrew nodded. He did have a good work ethic - it was one of those things he was grateful to his mum for. He’d never shied away from practicing, and he had a solid foundation to build on. In so many ways, he wouldn’t be who he was without her. “Sometimes I wonder what house my dad was in,” Andrew admitted, returning to his earlier thought. If he really wanted to know, he supposed he could write and ask, but it seemed weird out of the blue. It wasn’t like it mattered, or made any difference to anything in his life. When he’d been at school, he’d been too preoccupied with new people and adventures and classes to even consider it. It was only in recent months, really, that he’d started to think about how little he knew.
“I think so,” Andrew answered. It was simple truth - he’d considered it and while he was concerned, he did think he could handle it for four days. It had to be better than going home, right? No one in Georgia knew him, no one in Georgia was supposed to accept him. “It’s only in the muggle areas, and it’s only four days.” It wasn’t as if he was trying to keep his hands off Evan 24/7 for a week - a feat Andrew genuinely didn’t think he could accomplish. He frowned at her second question, because he didn’t know the answer. “We haven’t talked about it yet. I assume so.” He knew they would have to talk about it before they actually went, they just hadn’t had time. “I should ask, next time I see him.”
--
“Sometimes, when I get bored, I sort my family into Hogwarts houses,” Aisling said conversationally when Andrew mentioned that at times he wondered what House his dad had been in. Whilst Aisling’s family was so extensive that she wasn’t the only Muggleborn in the family, all of her closest relatives were Muggle, which meant that Aisling had nothing else to go on than what she thought they might be. “It’s mostly Slytherins, I think,” she added thoughtfully. “Except for my stupid brother who--” Aisling paused, biting her lip suddenly as she glanced up at Andrew. “Ooops, sorry,” she apologised because, yes, Aisling would sort her idiot brother in Gryffindor, because like most people who weren’t in Gryffindor, Aisling often saw the house as where the fools that rushed in where angels wouldn’t go were sorted.
When Andrew said that he thought it’d be okay because it was a short period of time and it would only be something they had to remember outside of the magical areas, Aisling nodded. That made sense. She still didn’t think the situation was ideal, but surely not being able to tell people the person you were with was your boyfriend should not be a reason enough not to explore different countries. “I hope you have a nice time,” Aisling wished honestly. “But be careful, yeah?” She added. Aisling didn’t doubt that they would be but it was also one of those things that might easily slip one’s mind if not conscious of it. “And bring me a souvenir,” Aisling told him more jokingly. She wouldn’t be offended if Andrew didn’t, but if he was going to go abroad with his boyfriend, Aisling thought she might as well at least get a keychain.
--
Andrew smiled. “I’ll bet a lot of muggleborns do that,” he said. He couldn’t do it with his mum, because even the act of her getting a Hogwarts letter would likely have changed her life and personality so much that trying to sort her as she was now was futile. Briefly he glanced aside, saddened by the fact Fiona hadn’t ever cared to learn what the houses were called or what they meant. Fortunately, Aisling’s comment about her brother quickly caught his attention and he laughed. “It’s alright,” he assured her. “If I can keep up with four Ravenclaws I can’t possibly be doing that badly.” Andrew knew he wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t smart like Evan, but Andrew didn’t think very many people were smart like Evan. “I am kind of glad the rest of Evan’s family aren’t all Ravenclaws, though,” he added after a moment of thought. They were intimidating enough already without Andrew having to worry he sounded stupid.
“Thanks,” he said, smiling at her. He would be careful. He would try really, really hard to be careful. Frankly, Andrew trusted Evan’s ability to remember the consequences rather more than he trusted his own. Call it one of the downsides of being in Gryffindor, but Andrew sometimes didn’t stop to reflect on his actions. So far it had mostly worked out. “I’ll make sure to bring something back.”
--
Aisling hadn’t actually in any way meant to imply that Gryffindors couldn’t be intelligent. Or well, ‘booksmart’ was probably a more accurate word. The reason she’d put Alex in Gryffindor was his awful habit of making ridiculous choices based on risk and imagined bravery, not because Alex was academically stupid. Their parents would have never allowed for any of the children to be that. “You do very well,” Aisling assured Andrew with a small smile, leaning over to poke him in the arm before moving back and putting another card down. She’d almost forgotten about the game, but it was nice to have something occupy her hands and yet require no actual brain power.
At Andrew’s comment about Evan’s family, Aisling frowned slightly. “Have you met his family?” The trip abroad, Aisling was still convinced, was rather a lot for a relationship that hadn’t been going on for that long, but to have met Evan’s family on top of it? It did make Aisling wonder if it all wasn’t just a touch too sudden. Especially since she had never known Andrew to be, or even desire, a relationship. “You planning to have him move in before the month’s out?” She asked somewhat teasingly but frankly, if meeting the family and going on trips abroad this quickly was the way it was going, perhaps Aisling would need to buy a wedding hat before the New Year rang around.
--
“Some of them,” Andrew answered. “Not all at once.” That, he was certain, would have been the nightmare scenario. Meeting Daisy alone hadn’t been too bad, and Harry had been absolutely fine because Andrew had basically known him already. Lily was another matter entirely, of course. Andrew hoped she hadn’t been paying too much attention to the way he’d gotten progressively more and more tipsy after meeting her. “Most of them, I guess,” he amended. “His brother I already knew, he was a year above me in Gryffindor. His sister we went for a drink with and his mum was at the party.” For all Andrew knew, James might have been at the party as well, Andrew didn’t know what he looked like.
Very maturely, Andrew stuck his tongue out at Aisling’s question. “Of course not.” Andrew liked having Evan around, but he wasn’t so naive as to think moving in together wouldn’t be a huge deal. He wouldn’t do that to Quake, in any case. He frowned, looking at Aisling. “Do you think he’s staying over too often?” He didn’t want to step on any toes, and he could always spend the night at Evan’s, especially now he’d gotten part of the way over the initial hurdle of it being awkward.
--
Aisling nodded at Andrew when he said he had met some of Evan’s family. The siblings made sense, because didn’t he live with them? Aisling wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t as bad as meeting them all at once over a Sunday lunch or something. “And how was that?” She asked not referring to any one of the encounters specifically, figuring that Andrew could choose which one to reflect on if he wanted to discuss any. Aisling had never dated anyone to a point where she would meet their family, or sometimes she had dated people whose family she knew before dating them. Actually meeting someone as the girlfriend (or in Andrew’s case the boyfriend) of someone in the family was not something Aisling could give much advice on.
When Andrew stuck his tongue out, Aisling rolled her eyes, reaching over to swat his shoulder. “Child,” she told him but there was no real judgement in her tone, especially not when considered with the smile that was playing on her lips. At his question, Aisling shook her head. “That’s not what I meant,” she noted. “He clearly makes you happy, I would never suggest that he’s here too much for as long as he keeps doing that,” Aisling explained. It did make her very glad to see Andrew so happy and if it meant that she had to share her newspapers and buy extra tea, then that was okay. “It’s not like he’s here for much else than the night time,” Aisling added, because really, she couldn’t actually recall ever seeing Evan in the house past the morning hours, and some late evenings when she had to let him in.
--
Andrew winced. “Awkward.” He was thinking of Lily, of course. “She was perfectly polite.” Which, frankly, was better than Evan could expect if he ever met Fiona - not that he ever would. He sighed, squeezing the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. “I was an idiot. Couldn’t think of anything to say, and then Evan started going on about taking me to bed and it was awful.” While it could definitely have gone worse, Andrew wasn’t under the impression it had gone at all well. Lily was probably asking Evan what the hell he saw in Andrew right about now.
Some of the residual tension bled out of Andrew when Aisling commented on Evan making him happy. “He really does,” he agreed, knowing he was being soppy again but unable to help it. Since Andrew’s family were either not around or never going to approve of Evan, it was important to him that Quake, and particularly Aisling, approve of having him around. If they actually liked Evan for himself that would be even better, but even if it never went beyond being happy Andrew was happy, he was still glad to have their good wishes.
--
“I’m sure you were in no way an idiot,” Aisling assured Andrew confidently. This clearly mattered to him, the relationship he had with Evan, so Aisling strongly doubted whatever Andrew would’ve done when meeting Evan’s mum (and she presumed that was the ‘she’ Andrew was referring to), would not have made him look like an idiot. Not being able to think of anything to say would have just indicated nervousness, and Aisling didn’t think there was anything wrong with being nervous when meeting your boyfriend’s mum for the first time. Aisling did however laugh when Andrew said that Evan had told his mother about taking Andrew to bed. “Very little social awareness, that boy,” Aisling commented, the smile still on her lips. She did not know Evan well but what she had gathered from her encounters with him was that he clearly had a particular way of speaking with people. But then, so did Aisling, so she wasn’t sure she could judge.
Andrew’s confirmation that Evan did make him happy made Aisling smile wider. It really was so nice to see Andrew this happy, and Aisling was going to approve of anyone who could manage that. “Good,” she said with a nod, leaning over again but this time to squeeze Andrew’s arm rather than poke it aggressively. “I’m glad you’ve found someone who makes you so happy,” she added, bringing her hand up to run her fingers softly over Andrew’s cheek, before pulling back.
“Snap!” Aisling announced smashing her hand down on the cards, almost having forgotten they were even playing.