Ginny Weasley has serious spunk. (holygin) wrote in reduxpitch, @ 2016-02-15 13:39:00 |
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WHO: Ginny Weasley & Marcus Flint
WHAT: Ginny needs a non-familial hug
WHEN: Monday 15 February 2016, evening, after this.
WHERE: Front garden, The Burrow, Ottery-St-Catchpole
RATING: F for fluffy
STATUS: Completed in Docs
It was, Ginny knew, a cheap trick, telling Marcus how the guy in her flat had used his pet name for her. But it worked. It got him to her, and she felt the ends justified the means, though she was already making plans to make it up to him. She hated that he felt responsible for any of this. She needed to hug him for that reason.
But she also needed a hug from him. He wasn't family, but she did care for him, and that was the kind of hug she needed. She was glad she'd already showered twice that day (though she still felt unclean) when he told her to meet him in ten minutes. She made sure her brothers wouldn't hex anyone then stuck her feet in her flats, put on one of her Christmas jumpers, and went to wait for him by the garden gate.
---
Logic was a great thing. Or so people kept telling him. But that wasn’t how his brain was wired all the time. It was more of a ‘I care about you, they hurt you, I maim them’ sort of a set up in Marcus’ head. And hearing that not only had Ginny’s requests for help been ignored by someone in the Ministry (and that he could rant about) but that they had used his nickname...that made his blood boil. His years in dealing with Pippa and Gemma however had taught him that when a witch was hurting it wasn’t about you - it was about them. At least that is what they used to say when they would smack him about it.
Apparating to the Weasley gate, Marcus shrugged out of his leather jacket - leaving him in denims and a Falcons hooded sweatshirt. He walked up to her and wrapped his jacket over her shoulders, “Is there an ambush waiting for me Gingersnap?”
~~
Ginny hadn't felt cold until she was enveloped in the heat from Marcus' jacket. She shook her head and stepped into him before he could see her lip tremble and her eyes fill with tears. That was how it was supposed to sound, and she was relieved it didn't make her want to gag.
Gripping the front of his shirt, Ginny let her forehead rest against his shoulder. "This isn't a trap," she promised. "You're safe with me." She trusted her brothers not to do anything, not when she was still emotionally raw, and wanting a hug from Marcus Flint was her choice. She took a deep breath, smelling his soap and the wind on him, and relaxed into him.
---
Wrapping his arms around her, Marcus kissed the top of her head and rested his chin on it, “I am glad, because my wand is in my back pocket and you therefore have better access to it. But if you did, it would also look like you are groping me. Which, while I wouldn’t mind, might make the ambush more violent.”
Grinning he ran his hands up and down her back, “But that would be letting your Slytherin colors show….Gingersnap.” he said the name again for her, all while keeping pressed up against him.
~~
Ginny smiled against his chest. It didn't matter that he couldn't see it. It mattered that he'd managed to get her to do it. She wrapped her arms around his middle and teasingly let the hand most in shadow rest above his back pocket.
"You don't have to worry," she said, nuzzling him. "Though, I thought you liked me in green." There was probably someone, somewhere, who would think this kind of reaction from her was inappropriate given her recent experiences, but she needed something that felt normal, and this banter with Marcus was a new normal for her.
Closing her eyes, she ignored the tears that escaped her lashes. She wasn't actively crying. It was simply the spillover from welling up moments before. "I need to hear you say that this wasn't your fault, Marcus. I need you to tell me that you don't blame yourself. Because you didn't bring this on me. I didn't bring this on me."
---
“You know how to ask for the impossible don’t you Gingersnap.” Marcus shook his head slowly, “I can’t say it right now. It’s a bit fresh. Give me a day or so and I will be able to say it and mean it. I did promise to not lie to you. So I won’t start now just os you can hear what you want to hear. alright?”
Chuckling, he pulled back a bit and wiped his thumbs along her cheeks, “I also said you look better in Falcons colors and Irish Team jerseys but I don’t see you humoring me that way.” Sighing softly, he lifted her up a bit so he could look her in the eye, “And as for that wandering hand….I know that will get me killed. I know I am irresistible, but don’t sign my death warrant hmmm? I haven’t done enough stupid this week to warrant it yet.”
~~
Removing the offending appendage, Ginny gently cupped Marcus' cheek and held his gaze. "If it helps get you there sooner, I don't blame you at all." She smiled sadly. "Not even in some small, petty corner of my brain." She brushed the back of her knuckles along his jaw before resting her hand on his chest. "But I can wait. I suppose."
"I would be in that jersey I borrowed," she told him, "but it was in my room, and I didn't go in to supervise what was packed." Ginny lifted her chin a bit defiantly. "And no one is going to murder you, but if you're so worried about them jumping out, I guess that means a kiss is out of the question."
---
A single dark brow arched and a smirk teased the corner of his lips, “Well, as much as I appreciate you letting me off the hook, let me clue you in here. I am a protective sort. I know it’s not the ‘in’ thing. But I like the people in my world to be safe and protected. it’s a thing. And you are in my world. So thank you for giving me some time.”
“I am just saying….you in that jersey and nothing else….looking like a sated kitten….it’s an image in my mind I can’t get rid of.” Setting her back down at her last sentence, “Now whomever said I backed down from a challenge.”
Tilting her chin up, Marcus nibbled on her lower lip and then kissed her. Slow and gentle at first, and the longer his lips were pressed to hers, the more almost demanding his lips got. Almost as he was hell bent on assuring both of them that she was fine and standing in front of him.
~~
Ginny's features softened as he spoke, and she caressed his face once more, softly tracing the lines of his brow and cheeks. "Baby, you were never on the hook to be let off," she whispered. Her eyes prickled with tears again, but she quickly blinked them away. If she had been more proactive. If she had made the people get off their arses and do something, Marcus wouldn't feel this way.
She responded to his mouth on hers with a soft "mmmm". Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she pressed her fingers into the back of his neck, and moved up on her toes to meet him. As the kiss shifted from sweet to desperate, tears rolled down Ginny's cheeks. She didn't know if they were because she was relieved or angry or scared. She was just crying, and the fact that she was crying in front of Marcus Flint spoke volumes about how much she instinctively trusted him.
Breaking away, she moved her arms around his middle again and buried her face against his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she sniffed. "I'm so sorry."
---
“Fly with me.” He didn’t know what else to say. He just knew that leaving here in this moment wasn’t an option. And him going inside with her wasn’t an option, “Get out of here and out of your head for a moment. I promise to bring you back when you are ready. But come fly with me…”
He wasn’t sure why he was asking. He literally had no intention of doing more than trying out the National team brooms that afternoon. But he couldn’t leave her here like this. He needed to try and make it better. He pulled back and kissed her damp cheeks, wiping the trails away again with his thumbs. It didn’t occur to him he wasn’t acting like this was a fling. That if this was anyone else, he would have hugged them and moved on with his day. And he couldn’t walk away from her.
“Leave a note and come fly….”
~~
He was so earnest that Ginny almost forgot how to speak. It was such a simple thing, one that she did often to clear her head, but the way Marcus suggested it sent pleasant shivers through her. She kissed him again, her hand on his cheek to pull his face towards her. For that one moment, she forgot where she was, that her family home was behind her, and there were, very likely, faces pressed to the glass trying to get a better view of their conversation at the garden gate. She forgot, briefly, what had made her cry, and why Marcus was with her to begin with. All that mattered, in that moment, was that he was there.
Then the moment passed, and she leaned back to look into his eyes. "I need to stay. As much as you need time to stop blaming yourself, I need time to assess what I'm feeling." She kissed his cheek before nuzzling her head under his chin again. "Mum would worry, and I've already worried her enough." She let out her breath in a huff. "But--will you come with me, when I'm ready to go back to the flat?"
---
Of course she was right. All of this had just happened and Ginny was an adult who didn’t just run from things. She took them head on. So, Salazar only knew why she was standing here with him in the first place. But he nodded slowly and kissed her forehead, “I am just saying the offer stands then, if you are going to be all logical and such about things. Like an adult.” He chuckled and wrapped his arms back around her again.
“That depends, will you be understanding of my need to be very intimidating and protective when this event occurs? Because I can’t promise that I won’t be all of those things. But even if you aren’t okay with it - try and keep me from being there and acting that way in any case. You owl and I will be there. Alright?”
~~
Ginny managed a smile. "I'll take you up on that offer in a few days, maybe." She would need to get out of the Burrow around that time. She loved her family, but she needed the independence. Flying was the most freeing thing, and if she could figure out how to do it without a broom, she would.
She laughed lightly. "As long as you promise not to forget that I'm not breakable, you can be however you like." She looked up at him. "I'm hiding a little right now, but it's only because I've been shaken. I have not been broken. Not even a small crack." She wasn't sure how much she believed that, but it felt good to say.
Kissing Marcus' cheek again, she stepped back and slid his jacket from her shoulders. "Thank you for coming over, Wolfy. Let me know when you're done blaming yourself."
---
Without even thinking about it he reached out and put the jack back on her shoulders, “In case you need a hug and I am not here.” Leaning forward he kissed her cheek and her forehead, “And just so you know, it’s okay to break. Just in case you thought it wasn’t. But if you do, or there are chinks in the armor? The pockets in the coat are larger so you can store them there for awhile.”
He held up his hands, where he was sure all the snoops in the windows of the house could see them, “And I will let you get back to everything you need. I am an owl away if you need me.” Already his mind was working on how to get access to this ass or whomever had helped him….or the moron in the Ministry. But Ginny didn’t need to know that.
~~
Hugging the jacket tight around her, Ginny was overwhelmed by the sweetness of the gesture and his words. She didn't tease him about it, though she smiled at him as he backed away with his hands up.
"I would say 'stay out of trouble, Wolfy', but I'm sure you'll ignore me. So if you decide this wasn't enough to fill your stupid quota, and you need a nurse, I'm just an owl away." Her smile turned just a little devious as she took another step back. "I'll pick up an outfit and everything."
---
Chuckling, he winked at her, “Now really Gingersnap - you don’t have one already? Evidently I haven’t been as bad of an influence on you as I could have been. I will need to step up my game.” Shoving his hands in his jean pockets he kept back up slowly, “And I will keep that in mind. I promise.” he even crossed his fingers over his heart.
With a final salute he turned on his heel and pulled his wand out of his pocket and was gone with a soft little popping sound.
~~
Ginny watched Marcus back away, a grin spread across her face. She laughed lightly, liking the idea of him stepping up his game to 'corrupt' her. When he disappeared, she turned slowly and let out her breath. She felt both better and worse than she had before he arrived, though he wasn't the one to make her feel bad.
Hugging the leather jacket around her tightly, Ginny let the smile slip from her face as she lost herself in thought, the heat still trapped in Marcus' jacket, and the smell of him.