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Padma Patil (iampadma) wrote in refreshrpg, @ 2015-09-26 18:45:00

Who: Dean Thomas and Padma Patil
What: FEELINGS TALK OH MY
Where: F5 House
When: Sunday, 21 September 1998
Rating: Presumably low

Dean finished putting away the now-clean supper dishes. Even though he’d had the whole summer to do them the wizarding way, the novelty of how much easier it was still hadn’t quite worn off. His sisters would be annoyed to find out how much more often he volunteered for dish duty now than he had at home.

Of course, he’d done it tonight to buy himself some time. Everyone else had drifted off to their individual pursuits, and he’d had a good ten minutes to pull himself together. It wasn’t going to get any easier to start this conversation, so he might as well just...do it.

His feet took him to Padma’s open door, so he guessed it must be time to man up. He leaned against the doorframe, knocking lightly on it to announce his presence. “Hey, Pads? You have a minute?”

Padma looked up from the book she was reading--a fascinating book on potion theory Mr. Snape had recommended to her--and smiled at Dean. “Sure. What’s up?” She gestured for him to come in. She didn’t let many people into her room, but for reasons she wasn’t entirely able to explain, she was perfectly comfortable with the idea of Dean coming in.

He gave her a half-smile. “Why don’t we go outside for a bit? It’s nice out. I promise I won’t keep you away from your book for too long.” Outside was better. More neutral, but still private--he didn’t exactly want to have this talk where the other housemates might stumble into it by accident.

Well, that was unexpected. She looked at Dean curiously as she set her book aside. “Okay.” She grabbed a cardigan off the bed to protect against the chill of the evening--it was nice out but autumn was fast approaching and the evenings were cooler now--and ran her fingers through her hair as she stood.

As they walked down the stairs, she bumped her shoulder against Dean’s. “So what’s up? Are Seamus and Vati being ridiculous again?” She loved her sister--and Seamus, if she were perfectly honest--but sometimes the two of them could be a bit much. She understood the need to escape.

Dean grinned at that. “For once, no. Or--not that I know of, if they are they’re being quiet about it.” He unlatched the back door, holding it open for her, then following her out into the back garden, striking out for the far corner so that even if someone poked their head out they wouldn’t be interrupted. “I just wanted to talk to you about something. I’m, um…” he put his hands in his pockets, considering how to phrase what he wanted to say, exactly. “Okay, let me say first, if--if anything I say makes you uncomfortable, or you want me to drop it, I will, no questions asked. We’re friends first and foremost, and that’s...really important to me. Especially with us all sharing a house.”

“Oh-kay…” Padma drew out the word as she tried to imagine what Dean could possibly want to tell her. It almost sounded like it was something bad, but he didn’t really look like he was about to deliver bad news. He just looked a little nervous.

Well, here went nothing. “I really like you, Pads. You’re...smart, and pretty, and really fun to be around. I don’t know if you feel the same way, and it’s fine if you don’t, but I thought I’d just ask if...maybe you want to go on a date sometime. See how things go.” He gave her a slightly sheepish smile, but he wasn’t really...shy about it. Just a little nervous about what she might say.

Padma’s eyes widened and she made a noise that sounded remarkably like a squeak. “A date?” Dean wanted to go on a date? With her? She hadn’t figured out how she felt after Vati had asked her if she liked Dean, but she had never imagined he might like her. She was smart and pretty, sure, she knew that (she was Vati’s identical twin after all), but fun to be around was a little harder to accept. She was bookish and nervous and not at all the kind of person someone like Dean was supposed to want to date.

Of course, if her sister was trying to prove a point to her… Padma narrowed her eyes. “Did Parvati put you up to this?”

“What? Does...does Parvati know? Seamus wasn’t going to tell her, but I guess I should have expected she could get it out of him.” Dean rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, you shouldn’t have had to find out by proxy. I just wasn’t sure how to bring it up...I didn’t realize you already…” He scuffed his toe against the ground. “It’s fine, you don’t have to say anything. Thanks for letting me get it out there.”

The more Dean talked, the more confused Padma got. Vati hadn’t said Seamus knew anything or anything about Dean liking her. But if Vati hadn’t put Dean up to it, and Seamus knew something too, then… Oh.

“Wait.” She put her hand on Dean’s arm to stop him from… whatever, then immediately pulled her hand back as her fingers burned. “What are you talking about? Vati didn’t tell me anything. She was--” Padma sighed and sank to sit cross-legged on the grass. “After. After last weekend, when I was worried I’d upset you, Vati asked me if I liked you. Like that. She didn’t say anything about you liking me.” She picked at the grass as she talked, her eyes focused on her fingers instead of Dean. It was easier. “I thought maybe she put you up to this to help me figure out how I felt.”

His smile crept back. “No, I promise I’m not in league with your sister. Just, uh, acting on my own behalf here.” He leaned against the fence, watching her destroy innocent greenery. “But did it? Help, I mean? No pressure, but your adoring public wants to know.” He would have given her a joking wink if she were looking at him, but he hoped the tone of his voice made it clear he was teasing.

From anyone else, it would have felt like pressure. With Dean, she could tell he meant it. Maybe that was a sign, but--”I don’t know.” She wished she did. That would make this so much easier. She tried to think about what Vati had told her about how liking someone felt, but it just left her more confused than not. “I’m sorry. I should know.”

He shook his head. “Don’t be sorry. I didn’t really know until...pretty recently.” He didn’t feel the need to clarify until it was weird telling you I’m into David Bowie. “Just...the offer’s still on the table, okay? Anytime. If you decide you want to. And if that’s never, that’s totally fine too.”

Padma chewed on her lip for a moment, thinking about what Vati would tell her to do, then looked up at Dean. “What if…” She swallowed around a suddenly dry throat. “What if we tried it, to see, and I realized I didn’t like you that way? Would you hate me?”

“No! Pads, of course not. Like I said, we’re friends first, and that’s really important to me.” He let himself slide down the fence to sit on the ground, resting his elbows on his knees. “I know it could get complicated. I totally understand if you don’t even want to go down that road, but even if we do...it’s just a date. If you’re not feeling it, well, at least we got to hang out and do something fun anyway. Right?”

“Right.” Padma’s lip went back between her teeth. The idea was a little frightening, but oddly... tempting too. Maybe Vati was right. Maybe she did like Dean like that. She could agree to go on a date and see if that helped her find out, or she could think about it and talk to Vati and maybe figure things out and maybe not and even if she did there was no guarantee that she’d ever act on whatever she figured out.

She didn’t want to wonder for the rest of her life what might have happened with Dean.

That was probably a big sign right there, so she steeled her nerves and looked up, meeting Dean’s eyes. “Okay. Let’s try. Just to see, I mean. No promises on anything.”

Dean nodded, giving her the most reassuring smile he had. "No promises."