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Michael Corner (wears fake glasses); (aroundthe) wrote in refreshrpg, @ 2015-09-18 18:59:00

Who: Michael Corner and Cambina Bulstrode
What: A much-needed talk.
Where: Mike's place.
When: BACKDATED to August 27th
Status/Rating: Complete/ PG-13



Bina knew she had been postponing this conversation. After all, the initial agreement with Will had been made months ago. And here it was, nearly September and she'd just told Michael because there was a chance he might find out. And the last thing she needed was an incident at a Ministry party. (Not that she thought Michael would cause one.) She apparated to his place and wrapped her arms around him, kissing his neck.

"Hi…." Not the best opening line, but hey, she wasn't one for making speeches.

Michael wasn't jealous. He was almost positive of that. He and Bina weren't a couple, certainly weren't exclusive; that suited him just fine.

He was fairly confused, though. Marriage? Bina didn't seem like the type. And for work?

It was weird, was what it was, and Michael was just a bit taken aback.

Still, when she Apparated in he smiled and put an arm around her, though he didn't try to kiss her back. "Hey, you. All right?"

"I feel I should be asking you that question. I didn't mean to just drop this on you…" she ran her fingers through his hair. It wasn't fair to him, she knew, but damn if she wasn't fond of him and not ready to give him up. So what if she had wanted a summer without worrying of just going out and having fun, of nights (and mornings) spent together.

"Nah," Michael said, shaking his head. "I'm not upset, love. Just...curious? Confused? That's pretty, uh...just out of nowhere, is all."

"I know.." Bina said quietly, brushing her lips against his before taking a seat. She ran a hand over her hair as she looked up at him. "It's complicated. And simple in a way. My last name let's me move in certain circles.. and so it seemed why not press that advantage. It'll also help repair things on my father's side of the family."

She couldn't tell him everything, but she was fairly certain she knew where he stood on certain matters and the fact that she had basically agreed to become a proper pureblood, well, she wasn't sure how well that would go over. Even if there was the hope of a long con to undermine the Death Eaters involved.

Michael took that in, doing his level best not to look horrified or disgusted by what Bina was saying. Even if he did think it was both fairly horrifying and a little disgusting. After all, he could read between the lines of what she was saying, at least to a certain extent.

“So...you’re getting married to someone for the social cachet?” he asked slowly, sitting down as well. “But he’s okay with you doing what you like, and you feel the same. So it’s a business transaction, essentially.” He raked a hand through his hair and glanced sideways at Bina. “For work. Which means you’re marrying a purist who you think might be a dark wizard, or at least give you access to dark wizards. Yes? Am I getting this?”

"More or less, that's the gist. Except for the fact that there's about four people now who actually know what's going on. The public story is more for the family name - it's an appropriate match," Bina said softly. "Both of us are allowed to shag whomever we like. Longterm even. This, this doesn't have to change things." Except that she knew it did, because in a year or so, she'd be a married woman, at least on paper. And it was one thing to be seen with Lyra at dance performances and another to be going on pub crawls with Michael when she was married.

Michael sighed and shifted a little so that he was close enough to Bina for their arms to touch; after another moment of thought, he reached to take her hand, lacing their fingers together.

“Gorgeous, I know I’m young, but I’m not quite so naive as to believe that you getting married, or even just getting engaged, doesn’t change anything,” he replied, just as softly. “Especially if you’re doing it for respectability, or that, even just on paper. I can be discreet, and Merlin knows you can, but...you sure you want to put in the effort for subterfuge just to keep shagging some kid who hit on you in a pub once?”

Bina squeezed his hand. "Michael…" She sighed, unsure how to form the words. "It took a lot for me to take a chance on you when you were a student, but we made that work. This… this won't be that different. But I understand if you don't want to keep this up or if it's too much trouble or not worth it for you. You're a breath of fresh air in my life, Michael, and I enjoy our time together, but the decision is yours if you want to keep this up. For my part, I'm in."

"'Course I want to keep this up," Michael scoffed, looking sideways at Bina. "If you don't mind going back to the sneaking about when we want to see each other, neither do I. It's worth it. You're worth it."

She smiled at that and leaned over and kissed him soundly. "You and your flattery," she teased with a smile. "It's not ideal but it certainly beats the alternative."

“It’s not flattery when it’s true,” Michael said, winding an arm around Bina’s waist so that he could tug her closer- into his lap if she’d let him. “And it is absolutely true that you’re worth it. So. I’d say I guess I have to stop calling you gorgeous publicly, but we both know I’m not going to do that and it’ll just look like bad behavior on my part, so I won’t be offended if you feel the need to tell me off for it.”

Bina shifted easily into Michael's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him tenderly. "Just keep acting like normal. And I'll just pretend to ignore you or something. All of our communication is always under wards anyway, so I don't imagine it'll be that different."
There was a hint of sadness in her eyes, though, as if she feared somehow things would change when she became William's wife.

It was a little difficult to focus on the conversation with Bina kissing him like that, but Michael did his best. This was important, and while he certainly enjoyed the kissing and the shagging and all of that, he cared about the woman in his lap beyond all that. “You don’t look happy,” he said softly, arching a brow at her. “C’mon, what is it?”

Bina gave him a soft smile, running her fingers through his hair and mussing it slightly. "I like this, that's all. And maybe there's a part of me that's worried that things will change even though we don't want them to."

“Well,” Michael replied, sliding hands up and down Bina’s sides, “that’s just sort of life, innit? Nothing we can do about things changing, maybe, someday. We’ll do our best, right?”

"I suppose." She thought back to the conversations she'd had with Will. "And sometimes we just can't have what we want," she whispered quietly. Maybe she should have never gotten involved with Michael in the first place, but he'd been charming and ballsy and she was fond of him. More than that, he made her laugh and smile.

“I’m pretty sure there’s a muggle song about that,” Michael said, quirking a grin at her. “I’ll spare you my singing, though.”

Despite the lighthearted words, when he leaned in to kiss her again, it started gentle and undemanding, not his usual style. At least not where Bina was concerned.

"Mmm... I think you should sing for me," Bina said with a smile. "It's be fun."

Michael snorted, shaking his head. “C’mon, love,” he protested with a grin, “there’re much more fun things I could be doing with my mouth.”