Amelia Pond (whosscared) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-06-04 20:12:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, amy pond, pansy malfoy, zuko |
Who: Zuko and Amy Pond, cameo by Pansy Malfoy
When: First week in June
Where: The Zuko/Malfoy apartment
What: Music delivery
Rating/Warnings: None/low
Status: Complete when posted
After some text messages back and forth, Amy made plans to go and visit Zuko at his place. It was to deliver music to him, to help train him along the right path, music-wise. Because Amy was like Mister Miyagi, but with music. Kinda.
Anyway, it was nice to get away from the hotel. She was staying at an Extended Stay hotel, and though it was nice, it was boring and a bit lonely. She still had to sort out all the details with her soon-to-be ex-husband and get her things out, but this was a start.
She knocked on the front door.
Pansy was the one to answer the door. She’d been in the kitchen cooking, stirring up ramen noodles over the stove. Sure, she had all her gift cards and could buy good food, but ramen was absolutely fantastic. She’d fallen in love with it when she was pretending to be poor. The knock brought her out of her thoughts. She wasn’t expecting anyone... was Draco?
“Hello?” Pansy said, giving the redhead a funny look.
Amy was concerned for a moment that she’d come to the wrong apartment. She broke into a nervous smile. “Hi there. I’m Amy, looking for Zuko?”
Pansy raised both eyebrows. A beautiful woman like this... looking for Zuko? Didn’t she get the memo? Zuko was married. To Pansy’s brother, no less. Pansy hadn’t been paying attention to the redhead’s words, simply gave her a look up and down, then asked, “Who may I say is calling?”
Ugh, it’s not like that, Pansy. Don’t be weird. Zuko gave a little “ahem” from the entryway of the kitchen, offering Pansy a strange look. “She just said her name was Amy, what else could she possibly say on the matter?” He loved his sister in law, but sometimes that girl was just weird. “She’s loaning me some CDs.” Beat. “Er. Hi, Amy.”
“You know,” Amy said, “I could be some sort of serial killer here to cut out your tongue and eat it, or something,” she gave Zuko a grin that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
Pansy rolled her eyes a little. “Just making sure. You were just possessed, you know.” ...as if double-checking the woman at the front door would provide extra protection against being possessed. God, this place was strange. “Wanted to make sure she wasn’t like... I dunno.” Pansy gave a little shrug, then slipped past her brother-in-law to make sure she didn’t burn her ramen noodles.
“Hi.” She added once Pansy was in the kitchen. “...she seems... protective?”
Zuko could only give an awkward near-smile at that. It didn’t really reach his eyes, either. “It’s... been a rough few weeks,” he managed. “She’s probably well within her right.” He’d apologize (probably needlessly) later. “C’mon in. The living room isn’t a mess.”
Amy gave a little nod. She’d had a rough week, too, though for a very different reason. She headed into the apartment, giving Zuko’s Sister-in-law a wave as she passed by the kitchen doorway. “I think this spring has been rough on all of us,” she said, softly, moving along with him to the living room. She had a backpack slung over one shoulder, and once she was sitting on the sofa, she pulled it off and dug a handful of cds out.
He sat down too -- wondering briefly if he should offer her something to drink, but then waving the thought away. He’d get to it eventually. Instead, he tilted his head to the side in vague curiosity, and sat down on the other end of the couch. “Are you alright?” She seemed a bit sad.
“Oh, yeah. I’m just... staying in a hotel right now. Not getting a lot of sleep,” Amy said, apologetically. She held out the cds to him. They were all copied onto her computer and her ipod, so she wouldn’t miss them too much.
“Oh,” He said, a little perplexed over that. He honestly didn’t know her amazingly well, but had been vaguely sure she was in a relationship.. or living with someone. Or something. Not sure what to say on the matter, he took the CD’s, flipping through them all with vague interest. “A hotel?” he asked, after a minute. “Why?”
Amy took a deep breath and let it out. “I’m getting a divorce.” She admitted. It felt strange to say it out loud. Like it made it more real, or more final. “So, I’m staying in a hotel until I can find somewhere else to go.”
“Oh,” Zuko said again, but this time really truly frowned. He couldn’t imagine getting a divorce. He was sure if the idea ever came up between Draco and himself, he’d be a much worse wreck than what Amy looked now. (Not that that idea was coming up for him, he was happily married, thanks. Not to rub it in, Amy.) “That seems kind of expensive,” he pointed out, thoughtfully.
“It is.” Amy said, nodding. “I’m hoping to find a place to stay on a more semi-permanent basis... well, soon.” Staying in the hotel had been nice, though he was right, it was quite a bit more expensive than renting a place to stay in. “The sooner I’m back on my feet the better.”
“I’ve got a place,” Zuko offered, a little awkwardly. “I mean. Not here. Where I lived before I moved in here. It’s just -- you know. Sitting there. Not being lived in.” He looked at the CD’s again. Oh. The Clash. Nice.
Amy blinked. “You have an empty flat? Just sitting there, no tenants?” She asked. “Do you think I could rent it from you?” It was a lot to ask, but Amy was starting to feel a bit desperate to be in a place where a stranger didn’t come in and clean every day. Also, it’d be really nice to have her own fridge.
“It’s a condo,” Zuko clarified, although he probably should have been used to the strange Britishisms, considering. “It’s -- you know. Furnished. I didn’t take much when I moved here.” Maybe that would be helpful? He shrugged, not really seeing an issue with it. “Uhm, yeah. That’s cool. If you want to.”
That would be helpful. She could just move right in. She blinked at him. “Zuko, you would be an absolute life-saver.” She said, wishing she could just reach forward and hug him. Though, he didn’t seem to be the type to hug. “I can check out of the hotel tomorrow, and pay you... whatever you like. Weekly? Monthly?” She’d sign a lease, do a credit check, whatever he wanted.
He really wasn’t the hugging type, even though he accepted the gesture from some few people with a grin and bear sort of mentality. Except for Draco. But that didn’t count.
“That’d be -- fine?” He had no idea what to charge for rent, honestly. “Monthly?” No really, he had no idea. “I can get you a key and stuff by tomorrow.”
"You really are the best," Amy said, giving him a relieved smile. "A complete lifesaver." Having a more permanent place to stay would be wonderful. One stress off her plate. Though, there were plenty more where that came from.
"So... You were possessed, huh?" She asked, relaxing back against the sofa.
Zuko gave an awkward shrug at that, and set the CD’s down -- the the exception of one that he took over to the stereo system to start playing immediately. He did like music, after all. “I wasn’t really using it anymore. Someone might as well, right?” It’d be good to see property of his fathers used for something good.
“And...yeah. Apparently the ghost was kind of nice, though? Not like... a terror or anything.”
“Right.” Amy was absolutely thrilled. She lead a relatively quiet lifestyle, considering her profession. No ragers or coke parties. She’d take really good care of his place, for sure.
“Really?” She asked. “Why were you possessed if it wasn’t... y’know... heads spinning and projectile split pea soup?”
Zuko hit play on the Joy Division CD and then found his way back to the couch, almost grinning. “I don’t know,” he said. “An accident? I’d rather have all that than the --er. Pea soup. As you say.”
“Right? Pea soup would be awful.” She was glad that he was grinning. And, honestly, she was, too. Finding a place to stay that wasn’t the hotel was lovely. She could go while her husband was at work to collect the rest of her things, clothes and books. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too awkward to go do all of that.
“Well, I’m glad it wasn’t bad. I should probably...” she didn’t really have anywhere else to go, but she didn’t want to bother him for too long. “I’ll swing by again tomorrow to pick up keys and drop off rent and whatnot?”
“Sure,” Zuko nodded again -- he didn’t know what to do when things got awkward, and even though she was grinning now, there was no telling what the immediate future held. “I’ll -- uhm. Text you. More details and stuff.” He had no idea what to charge, or even how to go about it. He’d ask Draco later, he supposed.
"Sounds good." Amy gave him a smile and stood just as Pansy finally emerged from the kitchen with her bowl of noodles.
"Leaving, then?" Pansy asked, flopping down in the armchair opposite the sofa.
"Yeah, yes. Thanks, Zuko. I'll see you tomorrow," Amy said. "I'll show myself out." She was smiling add she headed to the door. Even though she was still freaked and stressed, at least some of it was gone now.
“Thanks for the CDs,” Zuko said, believing her when she said she’d show herself out, because - well. Why would someone lie about that.
Once she was gone, he rose his eyebrows at Pansy, and pulled his feet up on the sofa. “Sorry. If I was mean.”
They could almost see the front door from the living room. If Amy tried to sneak around or something, it'd be pretty obvious.
"I'm just being over protective. You're allowed to be irritable with my meddling." Pansy said, then took a nearly inhumanly large bite of noodles.
Zuko allowed an indulgent sort of smile, even as he watched her eat like some kind of beast. An over protective beast. “Fair enough.”
"Mario Kart?" She asked through her food.
“Okay.” He might even win, if she kept eating during.