Hermione Granger studies harder than you. (her_my_nee) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-06-01 22:16:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, hermione granger, zuko |
Who: Hermione Granger and Zuko
When: 6/2
Where: Same Bat Channel
What: Same Bat Time
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
Know what was awkward? Being possessed. And then killed. And then brought back to life. All of that, basically, had been the last week or so of Zuko’s life. Or not life, considering that death part.
He didn’t really remember much of it though. Apparently it’d worried the hell out of Draco though. Zuko didn’t blame his husband a bit. He also didn’t blame the blond for being in super protective mode. Which was why when Hermione invited him out to coffee, Zuko had counter offered it with Hermione actually coming over to his apartment for refreshments instead. He could make coffee here, talk, and make sure Draco stayed happy all at once.
Hermione saved him the hassle of making coffee by stopping by the shop on the way. She wasn’t sure which sugary beverage was the next on Zuko’s list, so she just bought two of whatever looked good. More like a milkshake than coffee, really. Whipped cream, chocolate syrup, all that jazz. Thankfully, it wasn’t completely melted by the time she got to Draco, Pansy and Zuko’s apartment and knocked on the front door.
He answered the door in record time, opening it and giving Hermione a half smile even as he gestured for her to come in. Being on house arrest was terribly boring, and with both Draco and Pansy gone, he was pleased for the company. “Hi,” he said, almost shy.
“Hi!” Hermione reached forward and wrapped her arms around her friend for a quick, tight, supportive hug. Then she pulled back to look up into his eyes. “Are you okay? I’ve been so worried. I knew right away that something was terribly wrong.” Hermione was quick, wasn’t she?
She was terribly quick. But knowing something was wrong, and knowing how to fix it was sometimes two different things. “I’m okay,” he said, and physically, he was fine. Mentally? He was okay enough, he supposed. “I don’t remember much.” He returned the quick hug, and then turned to help her with the drinks. Nice of her to save him the effort.
Hermione couldn’t have helped even if she’d figured it out and wanted to do something about it. There were limitations to her magic, she knew. She nodded a little, thankful that she hadn’t accidentally spilled milkshake-y, coffee drinks all over him. “I was really worried,” she added. “It’s not every day things like that happen. More like once a month around here,” she said, smirking just a bit.
“Draco’s got you on house arrest, does he?” She added, moving to sit with him in the living room. Damn, that television was huge. It took up the whole wall.
As far as house arrest went, Zuko certainly could have been stuck in a worse place. He smiled a little and rubbed at his wrists and then picked out one of the milkshakey type drinks, sipping at it gratefully. “Sort of. I could probably leave, but it’s best not to stress him out for a while, I think. Draco had it worse than me, I think.”
“Did he? I should have reached out to him better,” Hermione said, frowning a bit at herself. She really had no excuse for not being a better friend over the last couple of weeks. “Is he all right now?”
“I think he’d probably have been distracted. It’s certainly no fault of yours.” He leaned back onto the couch, thinking about how weird it was to be sitting here having coffee with Hermione. “I think he’s okay. He’s--er. Just in protective mode. Hence the coffee here.” His expression was apologetic.
“That’s completely all right. I understand. Hell, I think I’d do more than insist upon house arrest if something like that happened to Jim.” She’d probably quarantine them both on the Enterprise. She sipped from her cup and then glanced around. “This place has some really amazing... technology.” She motioned toward the television set. “Is that Draco or Pansy?”
Well, Draco had fairly clearly laid his claim, which left Zuko a bit forced to wear long sleeves in June, but probably Hermione didn't need to know that one. Instead, he just gave a nearly rueful smile and a shrug.
Then Zuko blinked at the tv, like it was just the size that tvs were meant to be, and he hadn’t quite realized that it was weird. “Oh. Uhm. Pansy? I think. She uses it most. It was here since before I met them. She likes video games a lot.”
“I see.” Hermione climbed up off the sofa to wander over by the entertainment center, then bent down to look. “She’s got like, four video game systems here. And...” She pulled open the cabinet. There were dozens of games sitting on the shelf. “Jesus, is that all she ever does?”
“Sometimes she eats cheeseburgers, too.” Zuko said, amused by Hermione’s poking around. “I think she has a job. And she’s got a boyfriend.” It wasn’t like he could speak much on what he did all day. Mostly he read. Sometimes when no one else was home, he got possessed by ghosts.
Hermione wasn’t much better. She spent all day reading, too, unless she had class. And then she spent half the day in class, and half of it studying. When she wasn’t having gobs of sex with her husband. That happened a lot, too.
“Wow, she’s a multi-tasker. Job, Video Games, Cheeseburgers, Boyfriend. Sounds like a full schedule.” She said, giving a nod as she looked at the titles of the games. Her head turned sideways to read them. “Lots of violent games here, from what I’ve heard of.”
Yeah, husband sex was a thing that happened a lot with Zuko too. He could relate. Or whatever.
“I guess,” he said, raising his eyebrow thoughtfully. “She likes killing stuff when she’s mad. I dunno. I just play Mario sometimes.” He didn’t really get video games, although he was starting to like them a bit more than he’d used to. more amused watching her poke around than
"Oh, I remember Mario," Hermione said, nodding. "With the sewers. The plumbers? An acid trip, or something?" Jumping on mushrooms? Please. How could it not be?
“Sometimes I think it is.” Then again, Zuko had never taken acid, and so couldn’t really say one way or the other. “I don’t know. It’s not really my thing.”
Hermione hadn’t taken acid, either. The worst she’d been is fall-asleep drunk. And even that had only happened once or twice. “I’ve read a lot about it in the works of Hunter S. Thompson. And other authors, really, but he’s the one that sticks out the most to me, probably because I’ve read him more recently.” She said, then moved over to the sofa to sit down again. She grabbed her coffee. “That and caterpillars and cheshire cats are all I have to go on, really.”
He’d read some Hunter S. Thompson too. Fear and Loathing</s>, anyway. He hadn’t enjoyed it very much, so hadn’t bothered with any of the other mans’ works. Zuko made a little face, a twist of the lips to show what he thought of that. Stream of consciousness novels with an unreliable narrator. Not fun.
“Yeah. Doesn’t seem like fun, honestly.” Zuko could only imagine being very, very stressed out by it.
“No.” Hermione didn’t see a lot of attraction. “I think I’ll stick with my books, thanks.”
“Likewise,” Zuko agreed with a half smile. He supposed that this was why they were friends though -- they were similar in some regards. Bookish, unobtrusive sorts who held a quiet dedication to their own interests, and didn’t seem to be bothered when they didn’t suit other people nearly as much.
That’s why they got on so well, for sure. Hermione lifted her coffee as if in a toast, clinked the disposable plastic cup against is, then took a sip, grinning. It was nice to meet and befriend someone of a like mind.