Who: Hermione Granger-Kirk and Penelope Garcia When: Recently Where: Hermione and Jim’s place What: Computer stuff and games Rating/Warning: Low/None Status: Complete
Hermione had snacks. Chips, soda, veggies. She had all the computer pieces that Penelope said that she needed, and had tidied the place up a bit. Crookshanks could tell that something was going on, that someone was coming to visit, but he didn’t know who. And, unfortunately, the time had passed since he could ask.
Anyway, Hermione was excited to have a friend over. She really needed friends. And Penelope was a good one.
Garcia showed up with her gear and her own laptop. She shifted from foot to foot as she knocked, glad she had a day off for once. She was in jeans. Jeans! That hadn’t happened in months!
Jeans were good! Hermione was in Jeans, too. Well, jean shorts. Since it was hot, man. Even into the night time. She answered the door with a bright smile on her face. “Hey! Thanks for coming over!”
“Oh, it’s my pleasure, thanks for having me!” Garcia hugged her friend and walked in. “Oh my gosh, is there a kitty here?”
“Sure!” Hermione returned the hug, then stepped out of the way to admit Penelope, and closed the door behind her. “...is my hoovering that bad that you can tell?” She asked, blushing a bit. But then she saw that Crookshanks had come out of the bedroom to greet the new arrival.
“Oh, no, I just saw the adorable baby.” Garcia chuckled to herself. “I’ve never had a pet, but I love them, so I’m basically every animal’s favorite.” She sat down on the floor, waiting for the cat to come to her.
Hermione beamed. Crookshanks walked a little more confidently, with his bushy tail up in the air a little straighter when he heard Garcia’s words. He came over and sniffed her hand, then rubbed his face against it.
“This is Crookshanks. Crookshanks, this is Penelope. A new friend of mine.” Hermione said, introducing them.
“Hi, Crookshanks. You’re terribly handsome, may I scratch you?” Garcia grinned, then blinked a little to herself. “You’re ... named Hermione? And you have a cat named Crookshanks?”
Garcia felt a little faint.
Hermione nodded. “I know, I know, we’ve got weird names.” She knew about Jim Kirk, but she hadn’t yet had all her dreams. It made things just a little awkward when her husband knew all about her life, and she didn’t know that he knew things that she didn’t even know yet.
She couldn’t help it and flailed her hands. “I cosplayed as Hermione Granger!” She clapped her hands over her mouth. This was mad. This couldn’t be a thing that was a real thing, right?
Hermione blinked at her friend. Both of her eyebrows raised. “Can I get you some water?” She asked, thinking that maybe Penelope was a little off today. “...or maybe you should sit down.” She motioned toward the living room. Jim’s Captain’s Chair was the centerpiece of the furniture in there.
“Oooh, thanks.” Trek stuff. Comfy!
Hermione gave a little nod and moved with her into the living room. Crookshanks jumped straight up into Garcia’s lap.
“So, I’ve got my computer all set up in the bedroom. That’s where I do most of my desktop computer-ing.” Hermione said, smirking a little at the word she’d just made up.
Garcia smiled at the cat, putting all Hermione Granger fangirl-ness out of her mind for the moment. There was a kitty to pet.
“I’ll totally whip that bad boy into shape as soon as I’m done reaffirming your cat’s belief that he’s the most important thing in the world.”
“Good. He’ll get it from you, and from Jim later on. It’s good to reaffirm his beliefs.” Hermione said, smirking, then flopped down onto the sofa. “Looking forward to playing. You’re going to hang out and play for a bit after fixing up the computer, right?”
“Oh, of course, we have to test it out, right?” Garcia grinned impishly, scritching Crookshanks under the chin. “Yes, kitty is gorgeous, isn’t he? Most handsome ever.” After a week of talking pets, she kind of felt like she had to continue communicating with them.
Crookshanks was milking it for all it was worth. He was purring, rubbing against her fingers, drooling even. It was amazing for him.
“Yeah, yeah,” Hermione said, though she was grinning so brightly it almost hurt. “He’s a good guy, that’s for sure. You should bring that up with my husband. He’s got a completely different story about Crookshanks.” The term was ‘cock-blocker’... but Hermione wasn’t going to use it.
The drooling made her giggle, and Garcia leaned down to kiss him on top of his head. “Oh? What’s your husband got against such a gorgeous guy? Is Crookshanks the sort to jump on your backs while you’re grown up cuddling?”
“He glares.” Hermione said, giving a laugh. “And he told Jim that he was tired of seeing his naked backside around the flat.”
“Well, he’s got no use for naked human male backside, now does he?” Garcia cooed at the cat. “You poor thing, subjected to that.”
Hermione scoffed just a little. “I happen to think it’s a rather nice human male backside.” She said, teasing a bit. “When you’re finished cuddling, my computer’s in the bedroom.” She wasn’t about to rush Garcia into pushing Crookshanks off of her lap. He was such a cuddly cat to people he liked.
“Well, you’re not a cat,” Garcia teased right back. “It’s good you like your husband’s bottom, though. Probably a good reason to marry him, huh.” She chuckled, scooping the cat up into her arms and carrying him to the bedroom to work on the computer. No reason to stop cuddling.
“That’s true. Thank goodness. It might be a little odd for my husband if I was.” Hermione laughed. She nodded. “That and... other things. I like a lot of his parts.” Her cheeks went a little pink as she turned to lead the way into the bedroom. At least it was clean.
That made Garcia laugh. “Oh, honey, you should feel lucky. I’m just glad there’s happy marriages around. Gives me hope.” Not that Garcia was close to getting married, or even dating, but hell.
“There are. And ours is... well.” Hermione flopped down onto her bed, leaving the desk chair for Garcia. “It happened really, really fast. And I’m a little terrified that it’s not going to last.” God, she was happy with Jim. She loved him so much. But he had his womanizing backstory, and it terrified her that he was going to resent her for keeping him from other women.
Garcia sat down with the computer, unplugging it and getting it ready for souping up. “Why? Do you want to talk about it, sweetheart?” Her eyes looked very, very sad.
Hermione shifted in her seat. Crookshanks jumped up onto the bed next to her and rubbed his face against her arm. “...I don’t know. I’m just nervous that I’ve made him change too much too fast.” She said, then lifted her hand to scratch behind Crookshanks’ ears.
Clever fingers still working, Garcia nodded. “Does he seem resentful or upset somehow?”
“Uhh... No.” Hermione said, shaking her head. “Not that I’ve noticed, really. But by the time I notice that sort of thing, isn’t it already too late?”
“Either that or you’ll look for it and see it everywhere. Now, I’ve never been married. I’m not even seeing anyone. But honesty’s pretty important, and I know guys suck at reading women’s signals. I’d talk to him about it.” Garcia whipped out a soldering iron and smiled. “Better to get it off your chest.”
Hermione nodded. Garcia made sense. She’d have to bring it up with Jim. She’d mentioned it once before, but she just wanted to make sure. Now her husband was dreaming again, she wanted to be absolutely positive that he wasn’t upset with the way things were going. Because Hermione was in heaven.
“So.. how fast will my computer be now?” She grinned.
Good timing - Garcia was closing up the box and plugging things back in. “She’d fly if she could, sister.” Grinning, Garcia stood back up and moved to give her friend a hug. “Power her up.”
Hermione laughed, then hugged her friend. “Thank you!” She said. Crookshanks climbed into Garcia’s lap as Hermione moved back over to the computer and turned it on.
Watching her friend, Garcia beamed. “Oh, you’re welcome. It’s fun, honestly. And more gaming buddies for me!”
“Yes! What game are we starting with?” Hermione asked. “Please tell me you brought your computer, too, so we can play.” Beat. “Oh! And I’ve got snacks!”
“I did, and want to fire up WoW?” Garcia grabbed her laptop, an impressively large thing that was covered with stickers.
“WoW it is!” Hermione said, giving a grin. She clicked open the program. “I’ve only got one level 70, though.” She had a couple of other characters, but she assumed that Garcia would want to play a high level character. “Alliance, of course. She’s a healer.”
“Oooh, they go up to 90 now, boo.” Garcia patted Hermione’s hand. “Don’t worry, though. We can start babies if you want to.” She liked doing that with people, it gave her a good idea of how they played.
Hermione beamed. “Sure. I’d love to start up a Panda.” She turned back to her computer to play.
“Pandas are awesome, the racial buffs are ridiculous,” Garcia grinned. She sat down by her friend and started up her laptop, glad she’d been able to help.