across the universe

[Aiden Neeson]

If someone had told Aiden Neeson five years ago that he would be at the Quidditch National Cup Finals today, he would have laughed along with the obvious joke. Even now as he left the press tent, he could barely believe his luck. After the blow up with his parents, Aiden had left his old life from Hogwarts behind after graduation and relocated back to France, to where his biological father still lived. Donovan had tried to force him into an arranged marriage when he had graduated, and Aiden couldn't take being under the rule of a man who wasn't even his real father for a minute longer. There was a huge blow up, Aiden grabbed his trunk that he hadn't even finished unpacking yet, and moved to France where he finally met his real father, Jacques. Getting to know him was a long and exceptionally awkward process, but Aiden was actually growing to be closer to him than he ever was with Donovan. Of course, now he was largely disowned by Donovan Neeson and, in turn, his mother Lucillia, but they kept his disgrace under-wraps by trying to cover up the whole incident by saying Aiden had gone back to France to pursue his quidditch career. Given, running off to be a quidditch player was pretty embarrassing for a pureblood family, but not nearly as bad as revealing how Aiden was an illegitimate son that was stir up a whole fiasco of drama.

He had a lot going against him when he left, but luckily his mother Lucillia had send him with enough money to support himself until he found a job and got settled. The first thing Aiden did when he moved back to the small wizarding town outside of Paris was to join their club team. Aiden was determined to get somewhere with quidditch, and while he started out as a chaser, he eventually got bumped up to a beater. From there, Aiden tried to compensate for not being on the Slytherin house team when he was at Hogwarts by making risky plays to at least get himself noticed by recruiters. He perfected his Bludger Backbeat and during a club team final match, Aiden pulled off a gutsy Transylvania Tackle (that actually broke out into a real fight on the ground) that caught the eye of the Quiberon Quafflepuncher recruiter. He'd finally made it to a league team, but the start was far from glorious. Aiden started off as he second string beater and he quickly learned that the Quafflepunchers weren't like most league teams. Being a Quafflepuncher was just as much about skill as it was about putting on a good show. That and he had to get used to wearing blindingly pink robes.

Somehow, Aiden managed to scrape by as a passable beater. He trained hard and gained a solid upper body and core strength that best suited a beater. He was only able to move up and become the rotating beater because their star beater, Lydie Laurel, took him under her wing. That was another challenging aspect when he became part of a league team; Aiden had to take orders from a girl. A girl who was an amazing athlete and it took all of his strength to keep up with her, but it all paid off. Aiden was now the wildcard of the Quafflepunchers that was rumored to be taking over for Lydie, officially, when she retired next year. This meant he also needed to start bonding with the other half of the beater team, Julien Cross. There was some uneasy tension at first because Julien, who was only a little bit older than Aiden, was upset that Lydie was retiring and he didn't like the whole idea of change. However, they both were able to find common ground in their tactics. Both Aiden and Julien were cut throat and after they had mastered a perfectly timed Dopplebeater Defense move, they became the bad boys of the French league; Aiden was famous for his Transylvania Tackle (mostly because sometimes he actually did end up punching his opponent in the face, so it became exciting for the spectators to watch) and Julien was the king of the Bludger Backbeat.

The Quafflepunchers had always done well in the European league and this year they had once again made it into the European Cup Finals. All of the league finalists came to the National Cup Finals where they would determine the winners of each League (The British/Irish League Cup, European Cup, All-Africa Cup and the United States Cup). They were all held at the same place because now the rankings would begin for individual players to be pulled onto the National Teams and, eventually, the two teams that would compete in the World Cup. Athletes, witches and wizards from all over the world came to watch and participate in these games. This year, it was held in a wizarding community by the coast of Spain. There were three practice pitches, one huge pitch for the official games and the Athletes Village where all of the competing Quidditch Players stayed during the event.

The little village was packed full of people and the Quafflepunchers had just arrived. Aiden and his team mates were barely able to put down their luggage in their rooms when their manager was sweeping them off to the press conference tent. It was the usual standing in a straight line and smiling while the captain of the team (Lydie Laurel, of course) answered questions. After the chasers had their photo op, the reporters even had the rookie beaters (Aiden and Julien) take some pictures together. While Aiden was used to jealous and competition, Lydie was actually proud of the two and even coined their new tabloid nickname, The Bleeder Brothers. By the time they were done, Aiden was seeing spots and needed to take a nice long nap. His arms and legs were sore from being pummeled by bludgers during their last practice back home in France and the rest of his team mates were dragging just as much. Lydie had fallen into step next to Aiden and clapped him on the back. "You better get used to those flashes," she told him with a throaty laugh and a smile. "There's going to be plenty more where that came from!"

Aiden gave her a tired grin and rubbed at his eyes. "Yeah, I can't wait." he replied. They were still in their quidditch outfits, for the cameras and everything, but they had the rest of the day to settle in before practice picked up tomorrow. Aiden and the rest of his team mates were in their shockingly pink sweaters, black quidditch pants and matching pink boots that were accented with bits of black here and there. They also had their pink robes with an exploding quaffle embroidered on the back, though they were all taking them off now that they had left the tent. It was so much warmer in Spain than back home in France. Aiden was slightly worried bout getting over heated during practice or a game.

Lydie smiled kindly at him. She really felt more like an older sister to him now than a team mate. "Well, get some rest while you can. We'll be regrouping in the morning to get to work. Be in your practice gear and ready. We're all sharing rooms on the same floor, so we'll be leaving together as well. No sleeping in!" she said before adding to the group as a whole. "We're going to have dinner tonight in one of the private dining rooms at the hotel," she announced. "Be on time! There will be plenty of protein and carbs, so everyone needs to load up!" Everyone nodded and the beaters said something about grabbing a couple of beers, at which Lydia exploded into a rant and smacked them both upside the back of the head. Aiden started heading back to their hotel with Maxine and Michel, the brother and sister team that made up 2/3 of the Quafflepuncher chasers. They began talking and Maxine asked Aiden if his brother, Luke, would be coming to visiting the athletes village. Aiden had a far better relationship with his younger half brother now than he ever had when they were living under the same roof. Luke was now an apprentice healer at St. Mungos and he had said he would be coming to visit during the finals.

Aiden, however, was barely invested in the conversation. While he was tired from the early morning flight and trekking through the village with their luggage to find their room, something much more pressing was weighing on his mind. Being part of the European league, Aiden hadn't been paying much attention to the British/Irish league. He only started examining the roster when the Quafflepunchers learned they were going to the National Finals. At that point, Aiden looked at the lists of teams and their players. He'd burned his hand and actually set the corner of the list on fire when he saw who was listed under the Appleby Arrows. Even through the burn marks, Aiden could clearly read Caoimhe Moran scrawled under the Appleby Arrows as a chaser for one of the UK/Irish league final teams. He'd stared at her name for what felt like hours before getting ahold of Luke and asking him if it were true. Luke had respected his wishes of wanting to know nothing about what was happening back in England after he left and Aiden would tell that Luke felt awkward talking about Caoimhe and how she was indeed going to be part of the finals. Ever since then, Aiden had been thoroughly distracted, and even scared, about seeing Caoimhe again.

He was still thinking about it when he and his team mates entered the throngs of quidditch players meandering around the village when something caught his eye. People filled up the streets, making it hard to move or see very far up ahead, but Aiden caught sight of bright red hair. His footing faltered and he could feel his stomach drop. Did he really just see that? Aiden craned his neck and tried to look over the heads and shoulders of the people in front of him, but the red head was already starting to walk away. "Aiden?" Maxine asked. "What are you looking at?" she asked, looking out over the crowds. Aiden didn't take his eyes off of the retreating back and took off after her. "I got to go, I'll see you guys back at the hotel," he said over his shoulder before taking off. Maxine said something back, but it was lost in the sea of other peoples voices. Aiden walked quickly and dodged his way between groups of people. The red hair kept disappearing between the bodies, but he kept her in sight long enough to see her walk into one of the hotels set up for athletes.

He could feel his pulse pounding in his neck and his chest felt like it was in a vice. The girl disappeared through the double doors. Aiden reached them moments later and moved to dart inside as a fellow male athlete was walking out. The two ran straight into one another and Aiden stumbled inside. He turned around quickly to see the Bulgarian player in Vratsa Vultures robes letting out a string of curse words in French. "Sorry," he apologized with an awkward laugh. Merlin, he must be losing his mind. Was he actually apologizing? To a Bulgarian? The player brushed off his robes and tossed Aiden a glare before continuing on his way. Aiden took a step back before speeding up his pace. When he turned around again, however, he stopped abruptly and almost tripped again. His pulse pounded and his breath caught in his lungs. Aiden froze and stared at her for a long moment, not knowing what to say. He realized his mouth was open. He snapped it shut. Bloody hell, say something! He swallowed. "Hi..." he said breathlessly. It was Caoimhe. He was standing in front of Caoimhe. For the first time in years.

... He was standing in front of Caoimhe for the first time in years. And he was wearing bright pink.

Awesome.

tagged: Caoimhe Moran

[caoimhemoran]

The double doors slid open and the welcome rush of cool air caressed her face as Caoimhe stepped inside her temporary residence. The faintest of grins tugged at the corner of her mouth as she felt it. Spain was, of course, a glorious place to be spending the finals, but Merlin was it bloody hot outside. She was Irish, dammit, her body was not built for sunshine and heat! Freckles (or more of them at any rate) and sunburns were the result of too much sunshine and her normal temperature was more suited towards overcast skies and rainy days. Sure, it got warm over the summer for them too, but this humidity was disgusting and almost cloying in its ever-present stuffiness. No wonder the Spaniards were so strange.

But she wasn’t going to let the humidity ruin this experience whatsoever. Having played with the Arrows for over four years, this tournament would be the last one for Miss Moran with her team. That wasn’t to say that she was stopping quidditch, she’d rather die than do that, but the trade to Montrose would be complete after the final. Caoimhe ran a hand through her hair as she paused in the mess of people currently milling about, a faint crease forming on her brow. It wasn’t that she wasn’t excited to start up with the Magpies, far from actually. Her natural tendency was to vocally support Kenmare, having grown up screaming her approval of them in every match she could get to, but the Magpies were one of the best teams in the league and Caoimhe had always followed their statistics and games whenever possible. They didn’t actively seek out players lightly and to be scouted by them… the memory of that meeting still felt like a numb blur to the young woman. Sure, Caoimhe herself claimed since a young age that she would make history playing quidditch, but she had always been a cocky one and did that actually mean she believed her outrageous claims? It was hard to tell, even if she was honest with herself.

And then there was her history with the Arrows. They were more of a family now, especially over the last couple of years, than just her teammates. The Appleby Arrows were the team to sign her after going and trying out for various teams post graduation, to give her a chance despite her not having played for the Slytherin team during her Hogwarts years. They took her back after her rocky second year. Granted, even her coaches knew that they couldn’t completely kick Caoimhe off the team and had to settle with a six month suspension rather than just firing her, but, and the Irish girl was loathe to admit it, even to herself, she had been quite a handful her first couple of years. Actually, the term “a handful” was mild compared to how the youngest Moran was treating her newfound success and mild fame once off the reserve team. Outrageously demanding the best, coming to practices hung over and actually having the nerve to act as though it wasn’t her fault, strutting around as though she was the top player, ranking above the captain even, rather than some new kid they had just taken on, had not earned her many friends or a very good reputation. Yes, she had the skills that could be developed into something truly spectacular, but her attitude was a bitter pill to swallow in trade for ability. So hard to swallow, in fact, that not even close to the closing of the third year mark of her quidditch career, Caoimhe Moran was slapped with a six month suspension that would turn into a prematurely terminated career if she didn’t get her act together. It was the most sobering thing that had ever happened to the Irish girl and the threat of having that future that she had clung to so desperately since childhood robbed from her owing to her own stupid actions was nauseating. But they took her back and she struggled to change, at least in regards to her behavior on the pitch and what was to be deemed important and what wasn’t, and the team happily helped her down that path. Her fellow chasers became closer than ever and the family feeling was secured.

Secured and appreciated, but not strong enough to hold her back from accepting the offer from the Magpies. Caoimhe wasn’t a fool. The last two years had seen her skill, ability, and in turn her career blossom into something that was all the Arrows could give her. Montrose was the team that could take her even further, even if it meant that she may not necessarily be one of the three principle chasers right away. She would take that demotion and the challenge of reestablishing herself for a chance at what she could become. This was a once in a lifetime chance, after all.

But I’m going to go out with a bang, the auburn haired girl thought with the trace of a fierce grimace on her face. I already made my name with the Arrows for one reason or another, but I’m going to leave with a performance they’ll never forget. A gust of warm air and the sound of a brief scuffle behind her interrupted her musing and had her glancing over her shoulder, the action lacking in curiosity and just something habitual. Her feet were already starting to carry her forward again when the sight caught up to her brain. Wait a minute- Caoimhe turned around once more, eyes widening as she did. That couldn’t be… her eyebrows rose in shock as she saw a very familiar face righting himself in front of her. Aiden Neeson. Impossible. They just stared at each other, both lost for words, and then the boy, or man now, opposite her managed to get out the initial hello to break the silence.

“Aiden?” Caoimhe wasn’t exactly sure why her voice trailed up at the end of his name, almost as though making it into a question. And then it fully hit her that he was standing in front of her, in a bright pink uniform nonetheless. “Holy shit, Aiden!” She launched herself on him, arms flinging around his broad shoulders and hugging him furiously. Jesus, he even smelled the same as he used to. This was real. A small part of her mind registered how much, now that her face was buried in his neck and she was getting the full force of it, she truly did miss that smell, but the more dominant part was still in shock that, after five years of trying to find out what the hell had happened to him, he was in her arms. Five years. Caoimhe pulled back, the scowl that now was gracing her pale features marred since the hint of a smile was still trying to win over the other emotions. “Where the HELL have you been these last few years? Well!” She shoved him in annoyance, ignoring the people looking at them from her outburst. “All those owls I sent you! You, just disappearing after graduation and then ignoring me! The exasperation finally won out over all other emotions as she shoved one of his shoulders again. “I had to find out everything about you from Luke and even he didn’t say much since I’m guessing you told him not to… one year, Aiden Neeson, one year I tried to contact you before giving up!”

Her hands went to her hips as she glowered at him, nose curled in distaste, eyes moving up and down his form. Part of her noted that, while attractive in his figure before, quidditch had added to his good looks considerably, while the other part noted—a snicker threatened to break the angry expression. Caoimhe cleared her throat, still attempting to look upset though she was having to bite her lip to keep from truly smiling. “God, it’s hard to be angry at you when you’re wearing that get up…” And then a full laugh escaped her despite herself. “I never thought I’d say this, but you look damned sexy in pink, Quafflepuncher, I’ve gotta say!”

[Aiden Neeson]

No One Can Blame You
For Walking Away

Aiden's mental dialogue when he first laid eyes on Caoimhe Moran for the first time in 5 years went as followed:

Caoimhe...
You should probably say something.
She still looks the same, this is crazy.
Am I breathing? In and out, Aiden, in and out!
She seems smaller than what I remember, did I get taller since Hogwarts?
Merlin she's gorgeous.
Seriously, you should really say something right about now.
Fuck.
Is she going to slap me?
I want to kiss her.
Pretty sure she's gonna hit me.
SAY SOMETHING.

When she finally said his name, Aiden was positive it was the best thing he'd heard in five years. He was still expecting her to blow up at him, but instead she launched herself into his all too-willing arms. A surprised laugh actually escaped his lips as her body collided with his. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her off the ground as he did so. A smile was plastered across his face, but luckily for him, it was hidden in the mass of her hair that laid against her neck. Everything about her was painfully familiar. The color of her hair, the shape of her waist, the sound of her voice. This was so bizarre. He couldn't believe his luck. Aiden remembered when they were in school how Caoimhe would punch his arm relentlessly if he so much as went to the quidditch pitch to practice without telling her so she could join him. Now he'd avoided and hid from her for five years and he was getting a hug. And, of course, he spoke too soon because all too soon, Caoimhe was pulling away and she was scowling at him.

“Where the HELL have you been these last few years? Well! All those owls I sent you! You, just disappearing after graduation and then ignoring me!"

Ah, there was the hit. This was more like it. Aiden still felt like he was in a daze and was rudely being shaken out of it. Even though she was clearly angry at him now and shoving him the way she used to, the smile refused to let go of the corners of his lips. He shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck guiltily. "It's a long story..." was the only excuse he could seem to formulate at the moment. How could he possibly begin to explain the complete hell he had gone through? How could even think of a reason that was justifiable for him to have up and left her without so much as a note? All his reasons now seemed selfish or ridiculous. Maybe she'd even laugh at him when he told her. For now, he was quite content with her hitting and shoving him all she wanted as long as he got to talk to her some more. "I went back to France?" he offered as the most simplest of explanations he could give. That was obvious however, now that he was a Quafflepuncher beater and all. The bright pink uniform screamed that for him.

"I had to find out everything about you from Luke and even he didn’t say much since I’m guessing you told him not to… one year, Aiden Neeson, one year I tried to contact you before giving up!”

Ah, poor Luke. "That explains why he was so terrified the first few times I spoke with him after I left," he replied with an awkward laugh, trying to ease a bit of the tension he felt. When Aiden had taken off, he'd forced Luke to promise he wouldn't tell anyone where he went, or, more importantly, what had happened with him and his now estranged parents. If Caoimhe had been harassing the poor sod, Aiden felt a little guilty about putting him into that situation, but he apparently had kept his word. "I hope you weren't too hard on him," he added in an afterthought. Luke had only been doing what he had told him too. Luke hated lying and he specially hated lying to Caoimhe. It probably gave him a near stroke to have to hold back from her like that. Aiden's happiness to see her was slowly melting away and turning into the feelings of guilt and regret he had been harboring for the past five years.

“God, it’s hard to be angry at you when you’re wearing that get up… I never thought I’d say this, but you look damned sexy in pink, Quafflepuncher, I’ve gotta say!”

And just like that, they slipped back into that comfortable familiarity again. Aiden let out a sharp bark of laughter and shrugged his shoulders as he gestured to his... bright uniform. "I'm one half of the Quafflepuncher's Bleeder Brothers, haven't you heard?" he asked with fake sarcasm, a small and still reserved grin on his face. Back at Hogwarts, Aiden would've thrown himself off the astronomy tower before being caught dead in pink, let alone such a vibrant shade. But it was all part of the script that came with being a Quafflepuncher. The bright colors made it easier for spectators to see the well choreographed tricks and plays they made. He'd even grown about another inch or so and his upper body was much more fit now than it had been back at school. Beater training had seen to defining every bit of muscle tissue that it took to slam a bludger into oblivion. Even his hair had changed. To go along with their theatrical and stand-out appearance, Aiden had taken up the tradition of not cutting his until they lost a match. They were in the finals now so his raven hair was now blown back in a meticulously disheveled look look. "I'm kind of a big deal."

"And you're on the Appleby Arrows, I've heard?" It would be wonderful to just continue on like this, as if a day hadn't passed since they had graduated, but Aiden knew it was impossible to wish for that. She still felt so familiar, but a long time had passed. Merlin only knew what had actually happened or changed for her in the past five years. When he had left, they had finally started to venture into that gray area of changing from friends, to sleeping together, to something actually more serious and, dare he say it, exclusive. And then he just left. Aiden knew he owed her an explanation, even if she wouldn't see his side of things and even if she ended up hating him for it. He did, however, feel a small glimmer of hope because, well, she hadn't hexed him into oblivion yet. But it was still early in the day.

"Listen," Aiden began to say, taking a small step closer to Caoimhe as he cast a quick glance around the hotel lobby, making sure there was no one around listening. "Can we... go somewhere?" he asked. "To talk?" The worry lines in his forehead were beginning to deepen. He wanted to talk to her. Not in the open with hoards of quidditch players and reporters around. Somewhere he could try to offer up some sort of explanation to her. He slipped his hand into her's and made his way out of the crowded hotel into the even more crowded street. Aiden craned his neck around, trying to spot somewhere they could speak in somewhat privacy. That was another set back to the bright pink quidditch uniform, made it sort of hard to blend into a crowd when he didn't want to be hounded by people. After a block or so, he spotted something of promise. Aiden walked confidently toward the building and entered the front door. This was probably the only place in all of the wizarding village that there would be no hyped up athletes and trigger happy reports. A book store.

Aiden finally let go of her hand and led the way to the back of the cluttered building where there was an assortment of mis-matched arm chairs. He gestured for Caoimhe to take a seat before he sat down across from her. His palms were sweaty. He ran them through his hair before resting them at his knees. Aiden let out a heavy sigh and glanced up and her from under his furrowed brow. "I don't even know where to start.." he admitted. He took another deep breath before plunging in. "Did Luke tell you I got betrothed by my parents?"



drawing credit to burge-bug; used drawing and did a quick color for Quafflepuncher uniform.[/size]

[caoimhemoran]

Do you remember all
of the times we had?

”It’s a long story… I went back to France?”

Caoimhe couldn’t help the second shove that followed that half assed response to her question. It’s a long story? Honestly was Aiden expecting her to simply swallow that lame excuse and carry on happily? He’d be gone for five years! ”I figured that much out on my own, thanks.” She responded, the ability learnt from her mother to lay both acid and ice in every word utilized fully in that simply statement. The joy of seeing him again was still there, that was undeniable, but aggravation, maybe even hurt if she were to be honest with herself, was winning out over that initial shock of happiness. “You could’ve mentioned that before taking off though, couldn’t you? Have given me a heads up, something, anything!” Caoimhe really had dedicated a year of searching for her former best friend after graduation. And when she went out to find someone, she truly did not cut corners and did her best to find them. But if the person did not want to be found, and short of arriving somewhere in the vicinity of where he was supposedly living, locating him was next to impossible.

“That explains why he was so terrified the first few times I spoke with him after I left”

“He was lucky I didn’t go marching into Hogwarts to force an answer out of him, honestly.” Aiden’s brother had been as cooperative as possible, but it was a new thing for Caoimhe to not be able to force a simple answer out of the boy. Luke usually had the restraint of jello when it came to Caoimhe, and it was this unwillingness to let her know anything that she truly wanted to know, outside informing her that, no, Aiden was not dead, he is fine, he just moved over to France, that alerted her to the conditions his older brother must have set before leaving. But to not include her on this sudden disappearance? That was unforgivable. “And I could never be really hard on Luke… he’s too... well, he’s Luke. That and he was actually willing to help me out to the best of his ability, unlike some people,” her eyes narrowed as she pointedly glared at Aiden, “we used to know.”.

Caoimhe wanted to be angry at him. She wanted to force answers out of him and demand to know why he just suddenly dumped her so unceremoniously from his life when they had been close all throughout their years at Hogwarts. Had, in their last year, actually developed something more, something that was dangerously close to touching upon every fear Caoimhe had ever held in regards to relationships. But that part of her psyche never did get a chance to be tested, thanks to the dark haired boy in front of her. A scowl marred her otherwise pale and elegant features but it was hard to maintain it, even considering everything he had done. He was here now and it was impossible to fully stifle that excitement for long. It was impossible to be furious and rage at him when he was present and achieving the dream they had both talked of since their first year. “I had heard,” She said quietly, once again taking in his robes, his broader shoulders, his height difference, everything. The smile was still there but the faintest of creases formed momentarily. They both achieved what they had wanted. But missed out on that part of each other’s lives. “I always had hoped you’d play in the UK circuit, we could’ve used that upper body of yours here, but I suppose I can forgive you for being a Quafflepuncher. That’s a team that gets you places, you know! Not that you need to be told that,” She added with a laugh and a slight push, a friendly gesture this time rather than an angry one.

“And you're on the Appleby Arrows, I've heard?”

A somewhat mischievous grin truly spread across her face at these words. Ironic how he would mention this when moments before she was reliving her past with the team. With a slight quirk of her eyebrow, Caoimhe nodded. “For the time being, yes.” Was it childish that that was all she wanted to tell him… well, outside mentally adding ‘suck on that enigma!’ as if hiding the simple knowledge of her being traded would somehow have her get even for five years of lack of information. The trade wasn’t something that was being advertised and if he had been out of this circuit and not totally paying attention to the slight clues that had been popping up here and there, he wouldn’t know. He wouldn’t know that she was about to be traded to a team that she had dreamed of playing for since her early teens. Childish to withhold that? Yes. Somewhat satisfying? Of course.

Her musing were cute short when Aiden asked something that, once upon a time, would have made her smirk and imagine every single possibility that phrase could hold in whichever dark corridor they decided to defile. It was, however, a different time now. Narrowing her eyes at the suggestion but nodding silently, the Irish girl allowed herself to be led through the crowds, quietly trying to ignore the familiar way his calloused fingers felt against hers, the familiar warmth that spread though her hand at the touch. But she couldn’t stay silent when she saw where he was leading her. “A book store?” Caoimhe asked curiously, tilting her head slightly and giving Aiden a searching look. This was new. Seating herself in the offered chair, she raised her eyebrows expectantly.

"I don't even know where to start… did Luke tell you I got betrothed by my parents?"

“How about the beginning” Caoimhe muttered dryly before she could help herself, but fell silent as soon as the word “betrothed” slipped from his mouth. A blank expression crossed her face. A mask that she had seen worn by her mother in times of stress, in times when memories are too strong to ignore concealed her every emotion at that word. The only sign of comprehension was the convulsive clenching of her own left hand. Yes, she did know that. It took a lot of melodramatics with Luke to get that jewel out of the younger boy, but she had learnt it. Had learnt it and then had gone through an emotional rollercoaster she cared not to relive or to share with the boy across from her. But that had not lasted, thank Merlin. “I had, yes… but,” Here her pale eyes flicked unconsciously down to his left hand as if to make sure that nothing had changed since her last intelligence update before moving back up to his gaze, “You didn’t go through with it from what I gathered?” The mask slipped slightly as Caoimhe stared at Aiden, a flicker of something close to hurt creasing her eyes for the briefest of moments. “And then you moved to France it sounds like.” Not that Luke had expressly said it, but the girl did manage to put the two and two together. Aiden had run away from the sounds of it and his family hadn’t seemed to stop him. But that wasn’t what upset her. “Something you could’ve mentioned to me before doing. Something you could have just hinted at so I know, when you didn’t respond to any of my many owls, I could have known that you were okay.” Caoimhe couldn’t help the flow of words that started. Yes, she had felt abandoned back when this initially had happened. It took quite a while to settle with that fact, but she had moved on, or so she thought. Clearly not.

“I mean, shit Aiden, I thought… before I went and found Luke, when I appeared at the front door of your fucking house and all I got was a ‘he’s not here’ before having it closed in my face… God, I thought,” She ran a hand through her hair distractedly. “Well, I thought a hell of a lot of things, but a part of me was afraid you were, you know, you were dead—” Her voice wavered just slightly on the word before going back to normal, “—before I found out that you had just up and run away from your life here. How do you think that felt, Aiden?” Green eyes met blue for a second, the expression hard in hers, stubbornly angry as if to hide exactly what this did to her.

[Aiden Neeson]

A Kiss With A Fist
Is Better Than None

The path of this conversation was already exhausting with all of its ups and downs. But he really could not have expected a warm welcome. It wasn't like he was completely oblivious to what he'd done or that he was trying to justify his actions. Aiden felt guilty, but he had been on the receiving end of Caoimhe's seething remarks enough times for them to have a familiar comfort to them. He was positive that he had seen that exact same facial expression at least fifty times for having sat with another girl at dinner. Given, he'd only done that to make her jealous to begin with, but that wasn't really the point. Aiden tucked his hands into the pockets of his quidditch pants and gave Caoimhe his trade mark tilt of his head. "It's not like I had planned on it. When I left," he explained in a quieter tone, still paranoid about people possibly overhearing, "all I had with me was what I still hadn't unpacked in my trunk form school." The word ridden words were coming out a bit too quickly now. He rubbed the back of his neck again and kept his eyes trained to the bright pink boots on his feet. "I didn't know where I was going, I didn'y even know what the hell I was doing, to be honest."

“He was lucky I didn’t go marching into Hogwarts to force an answer out of him, honestly. And I could never be really hard on Luke… he’s too... well, he’s Luke. That and he was actually willing to help me out to the best of his ability, unlike some people we used to know.”

Geeze, poor Luke. Aiden was still astounded by how drastically they two of them had changed in regards how they treated one another. Unlike his relationship with everyone else in his past that Aiden had known, theirs had actually took a turn for the better when he left. Luke had owed Aiden nothing. In fact, had Aiden been in Luke's shoes, he probably would've told how he up and left as the black sheep of the Neeson family the second he stepped foot out of the door to anyone who would listen. Luke owed nothing to Aiden, but yet he did more for him by keeping quiet and checking in on Aiden than Donovan and Lucillia ever had in his life. He had clearly underestimated how much of a good person Luke genuinely was. It took a lot of self control for Aiden to not roll his eyes at her last statement. "You weren't the only one I kept in the dark," he told her. Did she really think he'd kept in touch with all of his old friends from Hogwarts and had just avoided her, specifically? The less who knew about where he went, the better. He just couldn't handle dealing with so much at once. He had to keep some form of sanity and he could only get that from retaining his privacy.

“I had heard. I always had hoped you’d play in the UK circuit, we could’ve used that upper body of yours here, but I suppose I can forgive you for being a Quafflepuncher. That’s a team that gets you places, you know! Not that you need to be told that.”

"Yeah," Aiden said with an airy laugh. "But how could I deprive my home country of these club wielding machines?" he said, flexing his biceps for a moment. He'd much rather stick with the banter than touch upon issues of the past. "Though, to be honest, they like the tabloids a bit too much for my liking," he said in regards to the Quafflepunchers. "Any press is good press. All about catching people's attention, and thats even when we aren't about to win the European Cup," Aiden added with a grin. Don't get him wrong, Aiden loved the attention, but he was still worried that one day he'd open an issue of the Daily Prophet and there would be a photo of him with the words "Bastard Pureblood Renegade Turned Beater!" or something ridiculous and embarrassing. Yes, they could have been in the same league. They maybe even could have been on the same team. There were a lot of "could have"s. "The Arrows seem like a pretty respectable team though?" he prompted. "I haven't really kept up with the other leagues, but apparently you finally managed to snag your position on a top team," Aiden said. Maybe some flattery would help him out now. It had been stupid of him, now that he'd thought about it. He'd been curious about Caoimhe for years and hadn't thought about researching the only career she'd ever expressed interest in. Stupid.

“I had, yes… but... You didn’t go through with it from what I gathered?”

He saw her eyes dart to his hand, obviously to check for a ring. "No, of course not," he replied quickly, rubbing self-consciously at his knuckles. The fight with his parents still felt fresh, like it had happened yesterday. He could feel the anger burn in the pit of his stomach and the muscle in his jaw clenched tight. "That was the tipping point, really," Aiden said, launching into a full out rant. "I mean, they had been running my life for seventeen bloody years. Post-graduation was when I was supposed to be able to escape and finally be free of him -- of them," he corrected abruptly. "Then they wanted to just marry me off to some girl they'd picked out? I'm not some sort of play thing for them to own anymore." He was still angry about it and looked up at her for support of his decision, for her to agree with him. "that's mad, it's the 80s for bloody sake," he mumbled, glaring back down at his hands again. Surely she could understand that?

“I mean, shit Aiden, I thought… before I went and found Luke, when I appeared at the front door of your fucking house and all I got was a ‘he’s not here’ before having it closed in my face… God, I thought... Well, I thought a hell of a lot of things, but a part of me was afraid you were, you know, you were dead—before I found out that you had just up and run away from your life here. How do you think that felt, Aiden?”

Ugh, did she need to use his first name like that? He felt bad enough as it was. A grimace shadowed his face as she spoke. He kept looking down at his rough hands, unable to look her in the face because of the tone of her voice. He didn't know how to properly explain himself without telling her the whole story. Of course he wanted to tell her, but wasn't that the whole reason he hadn't told her five years ago? Because he was afraid of her reaction? She was from a pureblood family, just like him, and she always made it obvious how important social status was to her. Wouldn't she have flipped out of she knew she was dating (or semi-dating or whatever) a bastard product of a pureblood affair? "You don't understand." He was getting angry again. Not really at her, maybe moreso with himself. Ugh, he didn't know! Well, he could tell her now... He'd gone the last five years without her in his life, her walking out on him now wouldn't make much of a difference, would it? He finally managed to look into her eyes again. "Do you honestly think I wanted to just up and leave my entire life behind? That I wanted to leave you behind?" There was that crashing wave of awkwardness again. He swallowed his nerves. "You knew me well enough by graduation to have known that I'd never -- that I wouldn't do that to you unless I didn't have a choice.

[caoimhemoran]

You and me could never hide
Too busy walking out of stride

The brevity was brief but appreciated more than Caoimhe could fully comprehend at the moment. She didn’t want to think about the fact that he had left. She didn’t want to go over all those emotions she had felt after finally accepting that he had just up and disappeared from not only her life, but his family, the country he had called home for most of his life, and sanity if you asked her. They had all been dealt with before, sealed away, and accepted. Yes, whenever she ran into Luke, the red head would ask if there was news that she should know about, referencing his older brother, but she truly had given up any hope of hearing anything remarkable by this point. In short, Caoimhe Moran had moved on and this was a trip down memory lane that she was not very willing to relive. Why couldn’t it have been a trip down their teasing, flirty, always fun relationship memory lane? The easy, natural way things were back at Hogwarts? God, being an adult really was crap, but it was hard to acknowledge that either party was an adult as Caoimhe grinned appreciatively at Aiden, flexing his “club wielding machines” in a familiar way.

But the moment passed and there she was, searching for his uncomfortable, avoiding gaze and trying to ignore the way seeing his calloused hand, free of any figurative chain that would link him to marriage, made her feel.

"I mean, they had been running my life for seventeen bloody years. Post-graduation was when I was supposed to be able to escape and finally be free of him -- of them, then they wanted to just marry me off to some girl they'd picked out? I'm not some sort of play thing for them to own anymore. That's mad, it's the 80s for bloody sake,"

It wasn’t as though they hadn’t discussed the ridiculous nature of betrothals to each other in past, each swearing that that would never happen to them, and that they would stand up to the senile standard that seemed so prevalent in pureblood society. But that was before either got dosed with a taste of reality and Caoimhe couldn’t help the cold look that stole its unwelcome way into her level gaze. Again, her left hand clenched as though a shock had been issued from the two rings encircling her second to last finger, the ridiculous reaction causing the girl to cross her arms protectively across her chest as Aiden spoke into his knees. Yes, there had been a time when Caoimhe had fought tooth and nail against the established ideas that a person could be just sold off to some stranger in favor of the promotion and advancement of both families. It wasn’t like they were attempting to combine empires like in history, they were bloody families like every other! No countries to their name, no aims outside that of looking good in front of their peers. And she had won that battle for a time. After all, being not only the youngest of four but also the third of three daughters, she wasn’t exactly a hot commodity. But then her mother, willing to overlook the reputation that Caoimhe was gaining for herself at school, willing to overlook her daughter’s headstrong nature, was not about to see her youngest sink so low as becoming a mere athlete, using her brawn to earn herself a living (something shameful in itself seeing as they weren’t some low working class family that had to depend on something as disgusting as enlisting in trade to get by). Sure, the young woman had always spoke of wanting to be a quidditch player, but how many people speak of that idle pipedream only to have it come to nothing? But the older woman should have known that Caoimhe adopted the same genes that ran through her mother’s veins, the genes that gave her the drive that allowed her to stop at nothing to achieve her goals. When Caoimhe got suspended from the Arrows, Anne Moran sensed an opportunity to strike, and strike she did. Her daughter was going to have a secure future with a respectable husband and that, if their peers allowed, would be enough to overlook the fact that the young woman had chosen quidditch as a life path.

Caoimhe had hated the web she saw her mother spinning around her, but their relationship had already been strained enough since graduation, since she truly did go and pursue a quidditch career. Fight as much as they did, she still loved her mother more than anything and did not want to be forever cast out from their family from being too contrary, from being too independent. That moment was drawing closer and closer and the embarrassment of being suspended from something that her mother deemed unworthy in the first place was the icing on the cake. No, Caoimhe was enough of a product of her environment that she knew, just as her mother did, that she was getting further and further from desirable. The phrase “no one will marry you at this rate!” had been shouted at her so often, that it was not difficult to hear in her own mind. Being a Moran could only take her so far and that her position in the family, already earning her little credit, would soon be destroyed by her life choices. When Anne came forward with a betrothal offer, fear and guilt drove her to accept.

The hypocrisy was like bile in her system, but that didn’t mean that she wanted to hear Aiden talk about her choice that way… not that he knew about it. When he looked up at her no doubt for support in his decision, there was a look of disgust that she could not quite hide. She swallowed and looked away, attempting not to clench her teeth as she did so. “It is a backward tradition, yes,” was as much as Caoimhe could allow herself to say. Silently seething wasn’t her style, but the matter of where the hell Aiden had been was more pressing, more important than her decision to give into a pureblood standard that she had hated for so long, and that is what she would press.

"You don't understand. Do you honestly think I wanted to just up and leave my entire life behind? That I wanted to leave you behind? You knew me well enough by graduation to have known that I'd never -- that I wouldn't do that to you unless I didn't have a choice.”

“I didn’t know what—” The words were tumbling out of her mouth before reason had caught up with her. Stopping to take a deep breath, Caoimhe started again. “I thought I knew you at the end of graduation, but I gotta say that I was pretty damned blindsided by your sudden disappearance. I mean, I…” Did she really want to say this? They barely talked about any of this even when they were at their closest, was now really a time to get emotional? Her gaze and voice both dropped as she continued, scowling at her knees, “I trusted you more than any single person in that castle. You knew things about me that I had never told anyone. So you when you left—” She looked back up then, face hard again and voice callous to hide what she was actually saying, “—it sort of fucking hurt. A lot, actually.”

The words were barely out of her mouth when she stood up, pale hands running over her face and through her hair in aggravation. This was no good, this wasn’t how this was supposed to go dammit. Her feet carried a few paces back and forth before, with a slow, calming breath, Caoimhe stopped, smoothed her skirt as if once again replacing the smooth mask of elegant hauteur she had been raised to have, and leaned against a bookshelf. In a level voice, she asked the question that she most wanted answer, “Why did you leave, Aiden? What happened that drove you so far away, so quickly?”

[Aiden Neeson]

Keep The Blood In Your Head
Keep Your Feet On The Ground

Aiden had expected Caoimhe, of all people, to be on his side about all of this betrothal business. They'd spent countless hours sprawled across the Slytherin couches in the common room talking about all of the ridiculous traditions and expectations their families had of them and how they'd never give in like that. Hell, Caoimhe was the one who really sparked his competitive bite in quidditch, even when it drove her mother crazy. And now when he looked up to her for her to understand him, all he got was a look of disgust. Aiden's brow furrowed and the worry lines instantly etched across his forehead. Was she actually mad at him for not having gone through with the marriage? Even when he'd been in a quasi-relationship with her at that point? It didn't seem to add up, but all he was able to get from her was that cold look. So, he'd been right. Aiden shook his head, still slightly shocked. He'd been an idiot to think status didn't matter to her, even if they had been close, even if she had meant a lot to him. Living in pureblood society was different from looking from the outside as a teenager. Wasn't this exactly what he feared would happen? He really had no right to act surprised. It'd been five years, of course he opinions would have changed.

Now he just felt stupid. He was Aiden Neeson. He was a quidditch star, a bloody good one at that, and he was famous in the quidditch community. And yet, here he was again, being ridiculed and brought down by his inability to conform to a societal constrain that he never wanted to be part of in the first place. He had every right to be confident and full of himself, but now he just felt... embarrassed. Even when she agreed with him that the tradition of betrothing didn't make sense, it didn't sound at all sincere. It was forced.

“I didn’t know what— I thought I knew you at the end of graduation, but I gotta say that I was pretty damned blindsided by your sudden disappearance. I mean, I… I trusted you more than any single person in that castle. You knew things about me that I had never told anyone. So you when you left—it sort of fucking hurt. A lot, actually.”

When she stood, she left him sitting there, for a moment, still stunned. But he regained his composure quickly. He shook his head and stood up as well, arms folded over his broad chest, chin raised and mirroring her cool expression. And now she was trying to play up that he'd hurt her? When she was standing there looking at him like that because he didn't want to get stuck with some random pureblood princess for the rest of his life? "So you would've preferred me to stay and get married then?" he asked incredulously. He couldn't believe she was arguing with him about this. Or, he assumed that's the point she was trying to make; that he should have done the respectable thing and gotten married even when they were dating. He couldn't believe she was actually having to defend himself to her. "I was with you and you think I should've gone through with it?" he accused, his voice raising a little more than he really meant it too but he felt like the ground had been pulled out from under him. It was hard to see through her words, to see that she was actually revealing that he'd hurt her when he felt like he was being attacked. Especially with that bloody look on her face. Now Aiden started pacing. He ran a hand through his hair again, this time in frustration, as he cast another glance around the store, both making sure there was no one within ear-shoot and wanting to look anywhere but at her.

“Why did you leave, Aiden? What happened that drove you so far away, so quickly?”

Bloody effing hell, wasn't being forced to marry enough of a reason for her? Apparently not. He also didn't appreciate how she was making it seem like he was weak and running away from something because he was scared. Aiden let out a sharp laugh, a bitter grin on his face as he shook his head and stared down at the ground. "Because if i didn't leave and i didn't go along with getting married, then Donovan wouldn't allow me to stay anyways," he told her, taking a few steps closer to her and feeling defeated. Hell, she already thought he was a tainted pureblood at this point, why not lay it all on the table? His voice was dull and his eyes were void of emotion as he looked straight at her this time. "He had no reason to. He wasn't my real father, so why would he keep me around if i wasn't doing him any good?" Even Aiden was surprised about how matter-of-factly he said it. He thought the first time he spoke those words to someone would be in quiet confidence, not like this.

If Aiden's brain was rattled at this point, it was about to be imploded.

Now that he was standing close to her again, his eyes absently ran down her body, aiming for the floor to avoid seeing her reaction when something caught his attention. Honestly, he should have noticed it sooner, what with all this talk of marriage and the damn thing was practically blinding. His blue eyes stopped at her hand and saw the rings. On the left hand. On the ring finger. If he hadn't gripping one of the bookshelves already, he may have stumbled. He could feel heat rise into his face and his stomach felt like it had been ripped from his body. He tried to look up and away from her hand, but looking at her face would have been just as painful. He stood completely still, unmoving, unblinking. It was like his brain went blank and all he could feel was his heart slamming itself against his chest and a tremor run along his spine. He glanced up to her eyes but couldn't hold them for more than a second. It was like the ring wouldn't let him look away. He felt crushed, infuriated and the need to kill something all at once. It was like he couldn't possibly hold all the feelings at once and his brain was short circuiting. "You're married." It wasn't a question. It wasn't in a tone of hurt. It just hung there in the air. Yeah. Five years had certainly passed.

[caoimhemoran]

I'm hearing what you say
But I just can't make a sound


Marriage.  It was so odd that the word could be construed in so many ways.  To Caoimhe it had meant, at least at a younger age and even on the occasional late, peaceful night, falling in love and having the happily ever after that every fairy tale shoved down our throats from a young age.  It was ridiculous, fantastical, and, secretly, something the girl had wanted.  Who didn't want to fall in love and spend the rest of his or her life with someone?  It was such an ingrained idea that it was hard to ignore.  But marriage also meant having to compromise, having to give up certain aspects of being an individual in order to promote the welfare of the group.  At least that was how her father had explained the concept of betrothals to her when the term first came up in her teens.  No one had mentioned it was simply a power play for wealth, status, and bragging rights, but that was neither her nor there.  Caoimhe failed to have her fluffy version of marriage and instead had faced the more sobering version, the compromise version, out of fear of what not accepting such an offer would mean.  It was impossible not to feel a moment of self loathing as the young woman thought of the choice she had made over two years ago even if she had finally starting accepting her situation.  But it was not impossible to make the leap of imagination to figure that Aiden would misconstrue the moment that had visible effects on her expression.  Unfortunately for Caoimhe, what he would see when he came face to face with that look was not on her mind.  It would be soon, however.

She stood, trying her hardest to remain calm, to make this meeting one to remember rather than one to try to forget.  But his words shattered any hope at forced serenity that Caoimhe had been attempting.

"So you would've preferred me to stay and get married then?  I was with you and you think I should've gone through with it?"

Her head snapped up to look, horrified at Aiden.  What the hell was he on about?  "I- what?!" She spluttered, eyes wide and mouth parted in surprise, too shocked to be able to initially form a coherent sentence.  He kept talking, though, overriding her stammering.  It was after that second phrase that she truly was stunned.  How in God's name did he come up with THAT conclusion from what they had just been talking about?  It was utterly ridiculous and her temper flared out of reflex.  "Are you daft!" Caoimhe growled, her voice unlike his dropping as her fists balled at her sides.  She really had no reason to be angry, but his sudden cold anger was disconcerting, it threw her off and the only illogical way she knew to respond was through her temper.  "Why in Merlin's name would I want you to get married to some pretentious little chit?"  The look of bewilderment still had failed to leave her pale face despite the angry flush spreading across her cheeks.  "And what does us being together have to do with anything!  I just told- Shit, I just told you that your leaving hurt me and you think I would have seen you leave me that way instead with a great big smile plastered across my face?" Caoimhe couldn't help but shake her head in disgusted disbelief, her nose curling unconsciously.  "You're mad."

"Because if i didn't leave and i didn't go along with getting married, then Donovan wouldn't allow me to stay anyways...He had no reason to. He wasn't my real father, so why would he keep me around if i wasn't doing him any good?"

As he stepped closer, Caoimhe found herself tensing despite herself.  Why was it that she felt that the closer Aiden got to her, the harder it would be to control her temper?  Was it because controlling her emotions in any regard would be difficult enough with him so close to her?  She didn't know what the reasoning was, but the sudden lack of emotions emanating from him also had her own annoyance falling short, momentarily forgotten at this new and sudden shift.  "You could've-" She began to say as he paused, wanting to remind him of the many times during their years at Hogwarts where she had told him that he was more than welcome to bunk at her house until they could run away and get some killer flat somewhere, but her voice died in her throat.  Pale eyes widened in shock for a moment, lips parted as if caught mid exhale, before narrowing in thought.  Not his real father?  But that... her mouth closed and she searched his face silently.  The amount of times she had heard Aiden complain about his father, or step father it would seem, about how he hated his family life had always seemed a touch odd, but not so out of the "every family has their own skeletons that just aren't mentioned" type way.  Caoimhe had just assumed there was something deeper there and left it at that.  But then, her mind raced onward, he never did like being seen with Luke in public.  He never did want anyone to know he even had a brother.  Was it something more than Luke was too ridiculous to be associated with?  Seems like it was.  Wow.

Her face was softening before she could stop herself and that simple dose of reality had Caoimhe's previous annoyance at bay.  The emotion growing in her wasn't pity per say for his situation, but it was something similar.  It may even have been something akin to relief that he still felt comfortable enough with her, even in this less than conducive environment for revealing such huge details of one's life, to share what he had withheld for so long.  Breathing calmly, she said quietly, looking down as well, "Well, I still don't think that was an excuse for up and leaving completely.  If I told you once, I had told you a thousand times, you always had a place with me."  There were more questions... questions like when did he find out about Donovan not being his real father, why he never told her before, and ones her mind had not completely wrapped itself around yet, but she didn't want to ask them.  They weren't necessary right now and the urge to know wasn't there.  Some understated wall had been broken by that simple truth and it would only be extraneous to push the subject.

But then he saw it.  Glancing down at what had made Aiden stiffen like he did, Caoimhe knew subconsciously what it was before her sight had caught up.  Oh no.  It wasn't as though she had been hiding the rings, it wasn't as though she had been hiding the fact that she was married from Aiden either.  But... the way her stomach clenched as though transfigured into the heaviest of metals did not bode well.  She didn't want to have to explain herself, her actions to him.  This meeting was making her relive things she thought she had accepted and drudging up all those damned old emotions again, in the space of an already explosively emotional short meeting, was just too much to ask!  The words stated so flatly, so lacking in any emotion barely registered in Caoimhe's mind.  Yes, she was married.  How the hell do you respond to that outside stating the obvious?  What had he expected, anyway?  For her to be here, single and waiting with open arms for the fairy tale?  For him?  Her brow furrowed with that thought.  Would he even think that?  How ridiculous.  It's been five years, Caoimhe.  Get a grip.

"I am."  She responded, matching his tone but in a more subdued volume, sinking back into her previously occupied seat as though unable to really bother with standing anymore.  Her right hand massaged her left, twisting the over large engagement ring back and forth.  What else was there to say?  "It's been five years, Aiden... a lot has happened since we left school."  Did she dare ask it?  Gaze shifting from her hand to somewhere around cheek bones rather than full in the eyes, Caoimhe whispered, more to herself than to Aiden, "What did you expect to find when you came back to where you left behind?"

She would eventually explain the whole betrothal story, it was tied in with her suspension as well so it probably would have to be told, but it was the matter of where the boy across from her had disappeared to these last five years that was most important in her mind. If he had been around he would have known she had gotten married. Hell, maybe having Aiden around would have been that sane voice she needed to hear to tell her to not go through with it. And then something fell into place. Caoimhe frowned, eyes finally moving upwards to lock onto his. "Where you left behind..." She said again, this time tilting her head and watching him. "You left everyone you knew, the place where you were pretty much raised when you moved out. You chose to go to France instead of just getting a flat in the UK like all the rest of us trying to escape our families..." Pausing, she licked her lips before asking tentatively, "Your... father's there, isn't he?"

[Aiden Neeson]

I Feel Like I'm Inside Out
You Got Me Upside Down

"I- what?! Are you daft! Why in Merlin's name would I want you to get married to some pretentious little chit? And what does us being together have to do with anything! I just told- Shit, I just told you that your leaving hurt me and you think I would have seen you leave me that way instead with a great big smile plastered across my face? You're mad."

You would have thought that her indignation at what Aiden had thought she was implying would have made him feel better. Instead, he just got more frustrated. Apparently he didn't have a clue what was going on. He let out a harsh, sarcastic laugh and held out his arms in surrender. Then what the bloody fuck was she looking at him like that for?! Was it because she still didn't see that as a good enough of an excuse to leave? She clearly didn't understand where he was coming from then. Yes, it didn't make sense that she would've been okay with him marrying someone when they were together, or whatever they were. Hell, if she'd done that, Aiden literally would've killed the guy. But that still left too many questions unanswered. "Then what more do you want from me, Caoimhe?" he demanded, a little more loudly than he had anticipated, causing him to look around the so far deserted book store again. He was mad because he didn't see why that wasn't a good enough reason for her. Aiden wanted her to leave it at that so he didn't have to tell her the other reason, but trust Caoimhe Moran to not go along with the plan. Okay, he really wasn't mad at her, but it seemed like he wasn't understanding her and she wasn't understanding him and it was enough to make him want to pull out his hair. Aiden and Caoimhe getting into an argument never went well. Too little patience to go around. There were too many feelings floating around right now, it was infuriating and fogging his vision from seeing what was really going on.

It was rather childish how frustrated he was. And now he was just shutting down and getting cold because things hadn't gone his way with this situation and he felt like he was being backed into a corner and forced to tell her the humiliating Neeson Secret. Regardless of who she was, or had been to him, Aiden didn't like being put into a position of being viewed as pathetic or someone taking pity on him. It enraged him. And she knew that. He felt the urge to pick up a bookshelf and toss it across the room, just to prove that he wasn't some weak thing that needed to be felt sorry for.

"You could've... Well, I still don't think that was an excuse for up and leaving completely. If I told you once, I had told you a thousand times, you always had a place with me."

Arms still folded tightly over his chest and walls up, Aiden shrugged his shoulders stiffly. "I did fine on my own," he replied through a tight jaw, glaring at a bookshelf across from him. "I got my own place, lived alone, took care of myself like a big boy," he rattled off. "Got a job, made money and became a professional quidditch player. And I did it on my own," Aiden emphasized. He knew that she wasn't implying that he should have stayed because he couldn't manage on his own, but he ego needed it to be clarified. She was only saying this because she wanted him to stay. But that was just too... messy to acknowledge right now. He felt like he needed to prove his point and wash his hands clean of any pity from her and make it clear that it was unnecessary. Aiden knew that she would've taken him in, and she probably wouldn't even had asked any questions at that, but he would never be able to do that. It was too humiliating. He sighed heavily and shook his head again. "You don't understand..." he said in a hollow tone. She didn't know that he'd had the hell beat out of him by Donovan when he was younger, even though she'd seen some of the scars. How could he possibly explain to her how he couldn't stick around in England with a man who'd beat the shit out of him and tried to force him into a marriage when he wasn't even his real father? He couldn't reveal that secret right now. He could barely retain his dignity as it was.

And now that ring was glaring up at him from her hand. A hand that had beckoned him towards her from across the dining hall, had pushed its way through his hair and even laced itself with his own on the rare occasion. It wasn't supposed to be there. It was an intruder. It didn't look right. Aiden felt like he'd drank five cups of coffee or was in the last 250 meters of a race. His heart was beating fast and his body had that shaky feel to it that only comes with adrenaline and exhaustion. His revelations seemed to pale massively in comparison to this, but apparently Caoimhe didn't seem to think so. She seemed so calm while he felt a pain in his chest that was so debilitating that it almost left him unable to stand.

"I am. It's been five years, Aiden... a lot has happened since we left school. What did you expect to find when you came back to where you left behind?"

What had he expected? That she would not have fallen in love with someone else? Not that because it would clearly imply that she'd been in love with him to begin with. Had he really thought she'd just be hanging around waiting for him? That question was unsettling in itself because it implied that... Argh! This was too much to process at once. Had he contemplated just telling his parents that he was going to marry Caoimhe to negate the arranged marriage? Of course he had, but not because he wanted to marry her, he didn't want to marry anyone. Even now, it wasn't like the ring upset him because it should've been from him. I mean, maybe, at some point in the future that could have happened. Maybe? Aiden shook his head to clear his thoughts. She sat but he still couldn't bring himself to move. He felt like someone had taken something from him. That he'd been cheated somehow. And yet there was that familiar grip in the pit of his stomach, some sour mix of determination. Aiden wasn't afraid to fight for what he wanted, if only he knew what that was.

Her question was unsettling. He managed to look at her for a moment. Now he suddenly looked and felt very tired. What had he expected? It wasn't like he hadn't had any relationships when he left. He dated a handful of girls, and even now he was involved with Maxine, one of the chasers from the Quafflepunchers. But that was more so for the press (a ploy concocted for another added dose of tabloid interest in the team). The two went out on "dates" a lot and whenever there were big events, the two went together. But it was nothing near what he'd felt towards Coaimhe five years ago. Which he didn't have anymore. Which he shouldn't have anymore. He was being ridiculous. He shouldn't be feeling this way. He had no right to be.

A heavy sigh rolled past his lips. He turned so he braced himself against the bookshelves with his shoulders, leaning back as he did so. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes for a brief moment before opening them again. Aiden nodded his head slightly. "Yah... When I was about ten, my mother went into a rage when Donovan..." he trailed off. He couldn't bring himself to tell her Donovan had been "punishing" him and that's what had put his mother over the edge. "She told him she'd had an affair, and I was caught in the middle of it. Luke was just in the other room so of course he heard too. She said it was his boss. I knew his name, where he worked and where he lived." His voice was subdued now. His tone low and the words coming out slowly as he tried to regain his balance of the universe. "Only thing I had to do was show up." He wanted to ask about the ring more, but the answers she was bound to give him would only make him sick. All he could manage to do was look at the ring from across the room for a long moment and then back at her. He stared at her, trying to just will the things he wanted to say and wanted to ask to her. Right now he just felt trapped. He wanted to get up and sit by her again, but couldn't seem to pull himself away from the shelf. He wanted to say he was sorry and he wanted to say he missed her, still misses her even with her standing a few feet away. But now he felt like he didn't have the right. "I miss you Cao," he finally managed, his arms now at his sides. His shoulder pulled up in a small shrug and he tried to force his lips into a wary smile, but he couldn't seem to manage it. Maybe he should have just told her that in the first place. Either way this conversation went, it wasn't going to be pretty. But, just like Caoimhe had said, what had he expected?

[caoimhemoran]

And I heard you say that
The past was much more fun


"I did fine on my own…I got my own place, lived alone, took care of myself like a big boy, got a job, made money and became a professional quidditch player. And I did it on my own,"

Hearing this mere moments before Aiden’s undeservedly minimalist pronouncement would have caused the already growing annoyance to be tested. But that new found feeling of relief, shaping Caoimhe’s attitude towards the boy over the course of only a few seconds, tempered her reaction. In fact, the fact that Aiden sounded like a petulant child, stamping his foot as if to say I can be a grown up too without any help, was endearing. She had heard a tone like this in him before, not all the time, but there were moments when he was feeling cornered for reasons he knew to be justified that he would react like that. Maybe he even felt the same way now. The faintest of smiles creased her eyes even if her mouth remained set in its previous attitude. “I’m sure you did…” The Irish woman replied softly, the urge to exasperate the situation quite gone now. “And while that’s all fine and good, you could have done the same here… still away from your family but near enough your friends.” The desire to call him a selfish, proud bastard momentarily flared, something she would have called him back at school in part jest part criticism, but she had a feeling Aiden would miss the humor in this tense moment.

“You don’t understand.”

Gaze fixed on his ever-avoiding one, Caoimhe’s eyes narrowed slightly in what would unmistakably turn into a scowl if encouraged. Taking a step closer to him, she responded frankly, “Then help me to.” But that explanation would have to wait. In fact, she much rather be talking about Aiden’s mysterious past (a past that seemed a lot more colorful than Caoimhe had ever given it credit for being) than her married life. She leaned back into her seat, crossing one leg over the other and combing her fingers through her hair distractedly. What had he wanted? She wasn’t planning on asking that question, but Caoimhe Moran wasn’t well known for holding her tongue. Like Aiden, she had though of using his name to get out of the betrothal. Hell, if he had been around, if they had still been… friends? In a relationship? At least talking? She didn’t know what title to call it, but if they had still been in each other’s lives, Caoimhe probably would have tried to tweak the choice her mother was trying to make for her and suggest Aiden for the targeted husband to be. It would have been strange, undoubtedly, but out of everyone out there, the girl would have rather married her closest friend over a complete stranger. There was even a moment she thought of Luke, at least she would spend the rest of her life laughing, but that ended within seconds as her mind went to what would happen when her (and probably his) parents started asking about heirs, about children. The instant disgust at that image, still a source of instant nauseous when thought of, was enough to instantly put an end to that very, very fleeting idea. There were others, but they were either too much of a reach, not fitting, or taken. So that left choice out of the matter completely, leading Caoimhe to her current situation with Eadric Travers.

"Yah... When I was about ten, my mother went into a rage when Donovan... She told him she'd had an affair, and I was caught in the middle of it. Luke was just in the other room so of course he heard too. She said it was his boss. I knew his name, where he worked and where he lived.”

It seems like it was a good thing that she didn’t ask him earlier to explain. It was easier having Aiden take his time, feel out when he himself felt comfortable explaining things rather than her forcing him to spit the information out. It would have just made both parties angry again. But here he was, deciding that now was a good time and satisfying the latent curiosity that Caoimhe had. She watched him as he talked, watching his expressions, his body language, everything as if trying to piece together more than he was letting on. A new concern occurred to her the more he spoke and the woman couldn’t decide on whether her concern was or was not warranted from his overall look. Was he happy? Or rather, was he happy now that he had met his father, that he had escaped the home she had thought was his rightful one. He had seemed happy before, but they both knew just how good the other was at putting on a front when necessary. I hope he is, she thought as his eyes looked only at her hand rather than his face.

Silence lingered as he trailed off and Caoimhe didn’t know how far she wanted to push him at this time. The look on his face, the tone of his voice, the general stance of his body all made her want cross the room and ruffle his hair, shove his shoulder, do things she would have done before to bring a smile, or an aggravated scowl, to his face. To make him feel better. There had been so many moments when she had seen him wanting to slam his head into the table from some frustration or other and she would slip up behind him, slide her arms around his body, and rest her chin on his shoulder while whispering something obscene and snide into his ear. If only Caoimhe could do that now.

”I miss you Cao.”

She looked up, pale skin looking even more porcelain as it caught the light. Inhale… exhale. He just looked so hopeless as he said it, and that was unnerving. She missed him too. Of course she did and she knew that the moment Aiden left her sight, the moment that he walked away to go back to wherever it is he now lived his life, she would miss him even more than she had before this meeting. The ache was already there.

“I miss you too… have missed you for the last five years.” Her brow furrowed as she decided in that instant what to do. But there really was no other option, was there? Pushing herself up and off the chair, Caoimhe walked the few steps across the space and then paused in front of Aiden. The slightest of smirks tugged at the corner of her lips as she tilted her head, taking him in. “Even if you were a selfish bastard for leaving.” Her left hand twitched, being the more dominant one, as if to move towards him, but after a pause, her right lifted instead and rested on his cheek. Just act natural. Remember how to act natural. The smirk grew as if to deemphasize the otherwise sweet gesture through the quiet. Maybe the expression wasn’t the same as it had been throughout their school years, maybe it wasn’t even like it would be now if everything was normal, but this would be normal now. Caoimhe wanted it to be even if the look would currently appear like a pale imitation of what it could be. “But,” Her hand lightly tapped his cheek, an eyebrow raising as if to emphasize this point, “I will kill you if you ever do that to me again.”

A somewhat unsteady exhale was released as she let her hand fall back to her side. Again relaxing her face and bearing a smile that she truly did want to be genuine, the young woman jerked her head towards the exit. "Now what do you say about getting the hell out of here, hm? Before we scar anyone else who came here to read in peace, that is. I have to get ready for that ridiculous gala tonight, but I'll let you buy me a coffee before hand."

[Aiden Neeson]

All I Need To Know
Is That I'm Somethin' You'll Be Missing

Aiden's head was swimming in the silence as the truth settled heavily upon his chest. This didn't seem right. Something hard gone horrible wrong with fate that he was in this position. It felt like she was a stranger, or, worse, that now she belonged to someone else. Did he even know her husband? He started running through a mental list of all the purebloods at Hogwarts. For some reason, they all registered as douchebags who couldn't possibly be worth Caoimhe Moran. He would've known if she'd fallen in love with someone from school. He was the only one she ended up with consistently. Everyone else, as far as he was aware, she got bored with too quickly. For some reason, her ending up with a guy who had been right under his nose seemed like the worst possibility. It must have been someone else. After all, hadn't he dated people when he went back to France? There had been a few girls he had met around the city, but they hadn't been anything serious. The only semi-real relationship he'd had was with Maxine. It had started out as a friendship when he had first joined the Quafflepunchers and she had been a chaser on the team for a couple of years already. It started as friends, then moved onto flirting and then at the beginning of the season when they had won their first game, Aiden had grabbed her, picked her up in his arms and spun her around. He'd done it because he was bursting with excitement from winning his first professional game and Aiden had been closest with her, but of course the next day the picture of the two embracing on the pitch had showed up in the sports section. The Quafflepunchers loved any sort of publicity, and while their coach and manager had indirectly encouraged them, Aiden did genuinely like Maxine, so they began dating. A season later however, and the two weren't really on a romantic anymore. They'd somehow settled into a platonic companionship, but they kept up the act for the cameras. Aiden wondered if Caoimhe had seen any of those pictures. Everything in his head was telling him he had no right to be upset with Caoimhe for moving on when he had. Right?

"I miss you too... have missed you for the last five years."

As Caoimhe finally stood up and started to move closer to him, all of the muscles in his body seemed to involuntarily tense up. He probably would've cringed if her left hand touched his skin, even from its current distance, he felt like it was glaring him in the eye, but she used her right. Aiden stood there, unmoving, looking down at her with her hand pressed carefully to his cheek. He didn't want to pull away but at the same time he couldn't bring himself to do anything else. Five years ago, he would've turned his head, kissed her palm and grinned at her before making some smart ass remark. This was ridiculous. A small crease formed between his eyebrows as he watched her. He wanted to know what was going on inside her head. Was this really it? She was married and he had missed his chance? There was no going back, like they always had? He wanted to fall back into that familiarity of how they were at Hogwarts, but it had been five years. Things had changed. They had each changed. They weren't teenagers anymore and there wasn't any going back. And yet he felt the same way he did when he would see Caoimhe hanging all over some other guy when they were teenagers. That sour bite of jealousy coupled with that feeling of determination to remind her why he was better and that it was pointless to try messing around with someone else when she would always end up back with him. But she was married now. It wasn't exactly the same thing, but the feeling was there, nonetheless. Like, whoever her husband was, he had taken something that didn't belong to him and it was just a matter of winning it back. But reminding her he was the better kissing wasn't going to work now.

“Even if you were a selfish bastard for leaving. But, I will kill you if you ever do that to me again.”

Aiden managed a small grin this time. "I wouldn't dream of it," he told her, but he knew that wasn't necessarily true. This tournament was over in five days. After that, he would go back to France and she would go back to the UK. Sure, they'd probably run into each other at the World Cup, but, aside from that? She was a married pureblood witch. It wasn't like she could run off to go visit her ex-boyfriend in France for the weekend. The amount of gossip would be staggering and, if this husband of hers was anything like Aiden, he would never allow her to do that. After this, they had their own busy quidditch schedules and responsibilities. They had five days. He had five days...

"Now what do you say about getting the hell out of here, hm? Before we scar anyone else who came here to read in peace, that is. I have to get ready for that ridiculous gala tonight, but I'll let you buy me a coffee before hand."

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Aiden quirked his lips into an apologetic smile. "I'd like to -- really, I do," he began, standing himself up properly so he wasn't leaning against the bookcase anymore. "But I can't. Lydie's got us all meeting up soon to eat dinner together and go over practices schedules and everything. Her and our coach have been breathing down our necks and hovering over us. I feel like I'm being herded around," Aiden explained with a roll of his eyes. "Then tomorrow I've got practice... But we'll be at the gala." By "we" he meant he and Maxine. "I don't know the last time you saw him, but Luke will be there," Aiden told her before adding with a little bit of hesitation, "And Jacques... If you'd like to meet him, I could introduce you? He's a good guy. Very... Eccentric," he added with a smile and a laugh. When Aiden had first met him, he had been expecting some upright, typical pureblood diplomat who would go have a flippant affair with one of his employee's wife's, but he emanated warmth and good humor. It was a bizarre contrast to who Aiden had grown up thinking this man would be. "Aside from Luke, you're really the only one who knows he's my father..." Of course, he was nervous about her knowing the truth still, but he was confident that if he could trust someone with that secret, it was Caoimhe. He actually felt anxious about the idea of her meeting Jacques. It was strange. cant because he has to meet up with his team. coach and captain are breathing down their throats and hovering. walk her back to her hotel.

"Maybe we could... Catch up a little bit more at the gala?" he asked, tilting his head slightly to the side and inclining his head a bit as he always did when he wanted someone to say yes to him. There were so many more questions he wanted to ask, but he didn't know if he was ready to hear the answers. She wanted to know if she was happy. If she really loved her husband. If this guy made her happy. Of course he wanted her to be happy, but... Well, he wanted her to be happy with him.

[caoimhemoran]

You can see there's
lots for us to talk about


A look of amused understanding spread across the freckled face as Aiden spoke of his overbearing captain and the feeling of being herded. Oh, did she know that feeling. Tyler , the current reigning captain for the Arrows, was a nightmare when he got all up on his high horse, demanding team practices, wanting to discuss tactics with or without their coach being present, team bonding events, and every sort of excuse to boss the others around. It wasn’t as though the other players were unwilling to do all of these things on their own, or with the team as a whole, but the constant reminders and uppity tendencies of their captain were not always appreciated. They weren’t children anymore and their coach did enough preaching and micromanaging to satisfy everyone’s deep burning, inner penchant for subservience. “Welcome to the world of quidditch!” She smirked with a shrug. Despite the outward feeling of nonchalance, it didn’t stop Caoimhe from feeling a stab of disappointment as Aiden had to say no to coffee for the very reasons that the women herself understood with perfect clarity, though. A promise of the other’s company used to guarantee an affirmative, even if it meant blowing something else off for a period of time. But, then again, they were both adults and professionals now. “And don’t worry about it… I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble with your captain, and there is, like you said, the gala tonight I suppose.” A small crease formed between her brows as her thoughts went to the aforementioned event this evening. She would, of course, be spending quite a bit of time with the Arrows and their plus ones, but then also she had been invited to share a table and drinks with, if not the coach and captain of the Magpies, the entire team. “I may need to disappear a bit every now and then, but we’ll find a way…” Even if it meant dumping Eadric on her teammates.

"I don't know the last time you saw him, but Luke will be there. And Jacques... If you'd like to meet him, I could introduce you? He's a good guy. Very... Eccentric…Aside from Luke, you're really the only one who knows he's my father..."

A genuine smile formed at the mention of Luke’s name. He was here, excellent! “Oh good! I haven’t seen him in quite a while, it’ll be good to go and bother him again.” Aiden’s relationship with his brother may have evolved into something more respectful and intimate, but Caoimhe’s relationship with the boy really hadn’t. He still was the little boy from school that she would always love teasing and watching the resulting bumbling, stuttering mess that followed. It did take a while to accept him in his healer’s robes, especially considering the only other healer she was especially close to was her stuffy sister, Kate, but his endearingly energetic nature hadn’t changed and that made the transition easy. But the smile faded slightly as Jacques was brought up. Hearing about his existence was one thing, hell, her mind hadn’t quite wrapped itself around the fact that her closest friend from school was technically illegitimate, but to actually meet the person behind all of this? “Oh…” The word escaped her quietly, but Caoimhe quickly recovered. Trying to look as though meeting the man would be perfectly natural and that she was definitely ready for that step, she said with calm and sincere desire, “I’d be honored if you introduced me.”

“So, it’s settled then.” Her feet carried her a few steps back away from him, an air of business mixed with an inescapable urge for this to end lingering about her otherwise sociable expression. She wanted to catch up with him, wanted to see him smile, to laugh like they used to, but did she really want to relive the last five years with him? Did she really want to hear that he was seeing someone new or that he was planning on always staying in France, or to watch his face when she explained how she had been kicked off her team for a period and pushed into a betrothal? He wouldn’t judge her in all respects (in one, he definitely would), Caoimhe knew that. But… No. No, she didn’t want to have those conversations. “We’ll find each other at the gala tonight and try and catch up a bit more, like you said…” Glancing down at her feet momentarily, not knowing what to do now, she glanced back up and, with a smile firmly in place, nodded for them head back to the hotel.

--

The hum of talk from those getting more and more comfortable under the influence of ever present champagne and the many increasingly inviting faces enveloped every person and object in the grand outdoor space. It was hard not to feel at ease or more attractive under the soft, flattering glow of lights, reflected under the glass-ceilinged colonnade set up by the committee, the warm Spain air only adding to this effect. Add this to the fact that most of the people in attendance were already ridiculously fit considering their quidditch careers and it was a very good-looking party to behold. The tables had been set up throughout the provided space, a dance floor in the middle of them. The band’s music mixed in with the babble and provided those who wanted to with an excuse to dance. For those who wanted to slip away, the lush, tropical gardens surrounding one side of the area, the other lined by deck situated over a delicate stream, provided an excellent excuse to do so. In short, a welcome environment for the many players, families, friends, and spouses in attendance.

The lead up to the event had seen Caoimhe a bundle of nerves and agitation. She didn’t want to see Aiden tonight, but at the same time she truly did. The dress she had brought, floor length, one shouldered, and a flattering off white, had been overlooked with an even more critical eye than normal. Every wrinkle had been dissected and as she slipped it on, her appearance critically appraised in the mirror. This was ridiculous. What the hell was she so nervous about? There should have been no need for what she was feeling, and yet her palms were clammy as she smoothed the silky fabric on her torso. That had been the lead up, but as she moved past the sweet smelling flowers that acted as entrance to the gala, arm in arm with her husband, the woman had regained control over herself. The refined upturn of her curved lips suggested she was enjoying herself and the way she held herself, inclining her head and politely embracing those who greeted her, suggested that a scene such as this one was both familiar and comfortable for her. Everything seemed perfectly natural and easy for her, except for the way her pale eyes occasionally swept the surrounding crowd in a sometimes conscious, sometimes unconscious, search for a particular face. That urge wouldn’t stop until the person was found, however.

Moving through the crowds, occasionally grinning with more energized warmth than her usual hauteur allowed when a close friend came into view, the pair made their rounds. Soon after arrival, she found her team, laughed with her teammates at the strangeness of seeing each other in anything other than quidditch robes, sweat, and dirt, before being led out onto the dance floor by Eadric. It was clear from watching the couple that they were certainly comfortable together, but almost three years together had afforded them at least that much. He wasn’t necessarily a bad person, pleasant to look at but boring certainly in terms of what Caoimhe found attractive in a person’s personality, but not bad. He was a pureblood second son who had been equally forced into this marriage for his lack of respect for how those of his status ought to run their life, and, like Caoimhe, the betrothal served as a reigning in. Neither appreciated the action in the beginning, but had grown to deal with it in their own separate ways as the realization that there was no escape was accepted. How? Well, separate was the key word. Most of the time they spent their time leading their own lives and only occasionally sharing a house or each other’s company. Tonight’s event, however, was one of those they both knew was one which required certain parts to be played and it had become familiar enough that the experience wasn’t completely dreaded. It helped that one was a quidditch player and the other an avid quidditch fan so each had plenty to distract his or herself with.

The urge to dance on Eadric’s part only lasted for a couple songs, which was sincerely appreciated by Caoimhe since dancing was not on the top of her list of things to do, and the much more enjoyable activity of drinking more champagne was decided on. It was as they moved through crowds towards the lavish bar that the red headed woman caught sight of not the person she was particularly looking for, but someone almost as welcome. “I’ll meet you over at the bar in a bit,” She said to Eadric as she disengaged herself from his arm and moved away without looking to see his reaction. The blonde head bobbed in an out of sight as she wove around people, but catching a clear view of him, she called, “Luke!” with a wave and a sort of superiorly cheeky grin that had not changed from their school days. As she drew closer, the expression only grew. “My God, you have the most ridiculous grin plastered on your face, you know that?” A somewhat condescending yet sincerely amused snort escaped her as she hugged him. “It’s not like you haven’t seen quidditch players before. Get a hold of yourself, you over excitable boy!”

[Aiden Neeson]

I really fucked it up this time
Didn't I, my dear?

There was so much pent up nerves and excitement coursing through Luke Neeson's body right now that he was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. He had been secretly hoping, wishing and dreaming that Aiden would invite him to the cup finals. As soon as Luke had heard that the Quiberon Quafflepunchers were going, he had freaked out in the overnight healer room at St. Mungo's and had ripped the Daily Prophet in half by accident. The next day, he and Aiden had met up for coffee and Luke had been sure to act very nonchalant and cordially congratulate Aiden on his team's success. Which really meant that he'd grabbed Aiden by the shoulders, given him a good shake and shouted, "AAAH! THE CUP FINALS!" And then Aiden invited him to come along for the 5 day extravaganza and Luke practically fainted in the crowded little cafe. Luke was sure that he had quite thoroughly embarrassed Aiden, not unlike how is used to be at Hogwarts, but now instead of hitting Luke upside the back of the head, he laughed at the ridiculousness of his little brother. A huge smile had been pretty much plastered across his face ever since. As he now made his way through the crowds at the gala, his cheeks actually hurt from smiling. He was seeing players that he'd been obsessed with for years and it was really hard to control himself and not launch at them with dozens of questions. But he didn't want to embarrass Aiden and his hands were so shaky with adrenaline he was convinced he'd spill his drink on someone. When Aiden had first joined the Quafflepunchers, Luke had gone to some of his first practices to watch because he'd begged Aiden to let him go. Even then he was overwhelmed and starstruck but luckily now the players in pink were like an extended family. Especially Maxine and Julien since that was who Aiden was with all the time. He was able to act normal around them, but now he was in a sea of famous quidditch players and his composure went flying out the window.

“Luke!"

When he heard someone call his name, he spun around until he saw Caoimhe walking towards him. Smile possibly even wider now, Luke completely bypassed the formalities of acting proper like he was supposed to and gave her a tight hug. "Caoimhe!" He took a step back and took in her slightly revealing dress. "Wow, you look..." he quickly averted his eyes back up to her face. "Just wow!" he added with a nervous laugh.

My God, you have the most ridiculous grin plastered on your face, you know that? It’s not like you haven’t seen quidditch players before. Get a hold of yourself, you over excitable boy!”

Luke laughed and rubbed the back of his neck guiltily, a trait eerily similar to his older brother. "I literally can't help myself!" he confessed apologetically. "I don't think I've ever been anywhere this fancy, including all those fun pureblood shindigs." He brushed off his suit and straightened his tie for the seventh time that night. "I don't look ridiculous, do I?" he asked. "Maxine didn't approve of what I'd picked out and made me wear this thing," he explained. The suit he wore was a tailored black thing with a black button up and a white tie that he was convinced he was going to get a stain on at some point tonight. "You haven't seen them yet, have you?" he asked, referring to Maxine and Aiden. "They shouldn't be too hard to spot, from what I've heard," he added with an amused smile as he glanced around the room. Luke looked at Caoimhe for a moment, trying to think of a careful way to ask his next question. He'd been looking forward to seeing her here, but this was also something he'd been dreading for the past five years; the first time he'd be in the same room as Aiden and Caoimhe since their graduation. "Sooo... Is your family here with you?" he asked, taking a nonchalant drink from his glass of white wine, although he really meant her husband. Aiden had given him a basic run down of their encounter yesterday. He was glad he didn't have so many secrets to keep anymore, but there was still one big one that apparently Caoimhe hadn't told his brother about yet.

--

Aiden felt like he was sleepwalking when he, Maxine, Julien and Lydie exited their hotel and began to make their way toward the extravagant building the gala was being held in tonight. After seeing Caoimhe yesterday, Aiden had been stuck in his head for the rest of the night. Lydie thought he was getting nervous about the big game and could tell her was distracted during practice this morning. Lydie's way of dealing with that was just shouting at him and making him do beater drills double time. By the end of it, Aiden was just even more mentally exhausted and Julien was ready to kill everyone. They'd stayed later than the rest of the team, so when Aiden and Julien finally managed to drag themselves back to the hotel, everyone else was already dressed and Maxine was waiting for them with their suits. As always, the team manager had carefully selected the color pallet for their outfits for the huge event. The whole point was for them to stand out amongst all the other players so no one would miss them or possibly forget what team they were on. The girls' dresses varied in length and style but were all the same shade of bright, Quafflepuncher pink. The guys' suits were a little more tame than usual with the only bit of pink being their ties. Back in the day, Aiden would have thrown a fit about wearing pink at all, and now it was a normal staple in his attire.

Once Aiden and Julien were finally dressed, Maxine and Lydie were waiting out in the hallway to go to the gala with them. Maxine was always his date whenever they went anywhere and she was honestly the one he was closest to on the team, closely followed by Julien (though at the moment, Julien was still irritated with him for slacking at practice earlier). Aiden didn't really want to go to the gala to begin with, but he knew he didn't have a choice. He'd barely gotten any sleep last night and he felt like it was written all over his face. When he walked up to Maxine, he gave her a tired smile. She smiled back up at him, smoothed out his tie ruffled her hand through his hair as she always did before they walked out together in public. "You okay?" she asked, keeping her tone low since Julien and Lydie were arguing about whether or not Julien could ditch out early tonight.

"Yeah, just worn out," he told her, giving her his best reassuring smile. She raised her eyebrow at him a fraction of an inch but left it at that. Aiden could tell that she knew he was hiding something from her by the way her lips didn't pull up into a genuine smile. Whereas Lydie was fine with beating the truth out of him, Maxine was the complete opposite. She never asked questions or pushed him to talk to her about anything, which Aiden appreciated greatly.

The walk to the venue was quiet between Maxine and Aiden while Julien complained about how he was too tired to hold out at this damn thing for very long. Julien was very rough around the edges, grew up in a lower class family and generally disliked any fancy event he was dragged to. Lydie kept punching his arm and telling him to suck it up. Another thing Aiden liked about his team mates was that none of them had very large families or parents who could come out to fancy events like these, so he didn't feel left out. He and his team mates tended to be each others family and remained in a close knit group at large social events. Aiden's mind was buzzing with thoughts of Caoimhe and what would happen tonight. He was dreading this damn gala bullshit because he knew Caoimhe's family, including her husband, would undoubtedly be there. He just learned she was married and he wasn't sure he could gracefully take in the presence of whoever this bloke was. Luckily, Maxine was with him and Luke would also provide a good buffer.

The outside of the extravagant building was ringed with reporters and Aiden and Maxine slipped easily into their couple behavior. They smiled for the cameras, Aiden's arm around her waist and her hand placed gently on his chest, right next to his obnoxious tie. They entered together with Julien and Lydie close behind. Aiden did his best to act normal, thump other quidditch players who he was friends with on the back, kiss the cheeks of fellow French female players and everything he usually did. The whole time he was talking to other people, his eyes weren't really trained don their face, instead panning his way around the room, trying to spot his brother or a certain red haired girl. He tried to look people in the eyes when he spoke to them but it was really impossible. Maxine noticed and asked softly under her breath as they made their way further into the crowds, "Who are you looking for?"

"Luke," he replied easily, which wasn't a total lie. He'd told Maxine about his old semi-girlfriend from Hogwarts. She knew her name was Caoimhe Moran and that she was a quidditch player, but he hadn't exactly told her she was here at the finals. It seemed like a strange subject to bring up with her. They weren't exactly in a relationship anymore, but it still didn't seem appropriate for him to confide in her. Maxine simply nodded her head and began looking over the tops of heads for Luke.

After saying hello to some African quidditch players they'd met last year, Maxine looped her arm through Aiden's and gave his forearm a small squeeze. "There he is!" she said,a smile coming upon her face as she started to pull him toward where he could see Luke's bright blonde hair standing out in the sea of black suits. He also saw that he was standing with Caoimhe. He nerves shook his spine but he obediently followed Maxine, her arm still locked with his. "Oh, Luke, don't you look handsome," Maxine said as she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Luke looked flat out startled. "Maxine! Aiden! Hi!" he exclaimed, slightly stumbling over his words as he returned the kiss on the cheek. Aiden noted how nervous he looked. Good lord. He was so bad at keeping his cool. Luke's eyes darted between everyone.

Maxine returned to Aiden's side and he was very aware of the weight of her hand on his chest. It was its default location and the action was automatic, but now with Caoimhe standing in front of him, he felt uncomfortable. But he was a Neeson and all his expression showed was a calm smile. Maxine saw Caoimhe and a mischievous grin curled her lips. "Luke is this your date?"

Oh God. Just as Aiden expected, Luke broke out into a whole new round of spluttering. Aiden decided to step in and save poor Luke some face. "This is Caoimhe Moran, she went to Hogwarts with us and now she's an Arrow," Aiden introduced politely. Maxine's eyes shot quickly up to Aiden. He knew he probably should have given her a heads up and now he was feeling a bit guilty for having not. "Caoimhe, this is Maxine Astin." Aiden leaned forward then and kissed Caoimhe lightly on the cheek. "You look great," he told her with a genuine smile. He cast a quick glance over her should as he pulled away. No sign of the douchebag so far.

Luckily, Maxine was very good at keeping her cool. She replaced the momentary look of surprise with a smile she usually saved for tabloids and reporters; big, beaming and a bit forced. "It's nice to meet you," she said as she politely held out her hand to Caoimhe. Aiden appreciated she was trying to make nice with Caoimhe but he was sure he was going to be faced with a bunch of questions to moment he and Maxine were away from the cameras and back at the hotel. It really shouldn't be a big deal after all, Caoimhge was just an old friends, an old friend who was now married so there was nothing to feel guilty about, right? And yet he still felt bad to have put her in this position. He shifted a bit closer to her, trying to coax a response to see how much trouble he was in, but she turned toward him, that same smile still upon her lips. "I'm going to go find the rest of the team, come find me later, yes?" she said before leaning up and kissing him softly on the cheek, right next to his ear, leaving a faint line of lipstick.

On instinct, Aiden returned the kiss and nodded his head. "I'll come find you in a bit," he told her. She held his eye contact for a moment longer and just from that, he knew he was going to be in the dog house. Maxine gave Luke another kiss on the cheek and nodded politely to Caoimhe before gathering up some of her sequined dress in her hand and heading back off into the crowds.

And now it was just Aiden, Caoimhe and Luke. "Well," Luke said awkwardly. "I think I could use a drink!"

[caoimhemoran]

It was never my intention to brag
to steal it all away from you now


It was impossible not to smile, and eventually laugh, when faced with such a painfully gleeful expression. Caoimhe had seen Luke excited in the past, had seen him bounce and jitter uncontrollably at different times for different reasons, but she had never failed at getting desensitized to the ridiculousness or fail to laugh at him for such behavior. This evening was no different. Without ceremony, the boy gave her an enthusiastic hug that would make most, if this were a pureblood related event, look affronted, but only made her shake her head like a disbelieving, but fond older sister. It was impossible to have any other reaction around Luke Neeson. His stuttering and blushing once over of her dress only furthered the smirk she wore. “You like it?” Caoimhe asked innocently, casually shifting so that way her leg was revealed in the rather extravagant slit running up her right side. This was too easy.

"I don't look ridiculous, do I? Maxine didn't approve of what I'd picked out…They shouldn't be too hard to spot, from what I've heard,"

His fidgeting was unbearably adorable. When he started nervously smoothing his shirt and straightening his tie, her pale hand automatically reached out to grab his, gently but firmly returning it to his side. “Calm down or you are going to do more damage to your outfit than good by constantly messing with it.” The name ‘Maxine’ registered briefly as she returned his hand, and struck a momentary chord of curiosity, but the connection to Aiden hadn’t been established yet. But Luke kept talking and her eyes narrowed and her chin raised the more he went on. There was the small possibility that Luke was referring to his brother’s team as a whole when he said ‘them’ but there also was the much more likely possibility that the them was his brother and whoever this excuse for a person was. The automatic stab of jealousy took the woman slightly off guard though her face remained in the suspicious state it had held mere seconds before. What had she expected? Aiden had always had some sort of girl tagging along like a brainless, vapid puppy when they were back at school. It only made sense that someone of a similar nature would force herself on him now. But was it more? There had been no wedding ring on his hand, and yet that only meant that he wasn’t married… not that he was single.

“No,” Caoimhe responded finally, regaining her previous smile though there now was a note of stiffness in it. “I haven’t seen them yet. And you don't look ridiculous,” She added, using this excuse of looking him up and down once more to fully regain herself. Her gaze lingered on the black and white of his shirt and tie and a frown graced her pale face momentarily. The expression looked genuinely regretful even if her inner monologue was going along the lines of so some tart thinks she can go and dress Luke, hm? “Sort of lacks your normal happy personality, but Maxine—” There was the smallest note of derision spoken with the name “—did succeed at making you blend in with the crowd if that was the goal. It’s a good thing you are so blonde!” She ruffled his hair with a grin, knowing that this sort of comment would inevitably go over his head but unable to help herself. “Wouldn’t have been able to find you in the sea of black otherwise!”

"Sooo... Is your family here with you?"

She watched as Luke took a swig from his wine glass and tried not to make eye contact. It was a valiant effort for him, Caoimhe supposed, this stab at nonchalance. Didn’t disguise what he was getting at in the slightest, but this was Luke they were talking about. He had met Eadric on a few occasions, so it wasn’t as though he wasn’t familiar with the other. Hell, he had been at their wedding even. But Caoimhe understood the sudden nervousness regarding her ‘family.’ Aiden was here now and from the way she had been trying to subtly badger the younger about the older for the last five years, she didn't blame him for the sudden awkwardness. “Eadric’s here, of course—” May as well get that out of the way “—but my parents didn’t come along this time. You know, they’ve seen me play in competitions like this before! But Eimear’s here, obviously being a quidditch writer for the Prophet, with her husband and Kael is coming tomorrow with his wife, my niece, and nephew.” She grinned as someone called Luke’s name from behind her, “I’ll have my own personal cheering section, in other words.”

But the grin slipped into something more similar to cool appraisal as the source of Luke’s distraction came into view. She had been right. Maxine, if her position of plastering herself to Aiden’s side was anything to go off of, was the vapid puppy of the night. Her green eyes moved over Maxine’s face, her figure, and then back over to Aiden, where, despite herself, the tiniest of cracks in the otherwise perfectly poised mask. A twitch of her lips in what was the beginnings of a disdainful smirk. It was gone as quickly as it appeared but Aiden, if he had seen it, would have recognized that expression from the many times he had seen it grace her haughty face. She barely noticed Luke’s spluttering as her gaze moved back to Maxine, sizing up her potential when Aiden made up for his brother’s lack of coherency.

"This is Caoimhe Moran, she went to Hogwarts with us and now she's an Arrow. Caoimhe, this is Maxine Astin…You look great,"

The quick yet silent exchange between Aiden and the tart didn’t go unnoticed and the part of her that was getting louder and more riled up by the second celebrated at that look. That’s right, I’m Caoimhe Moran, all right. What, you know my name? Good, since it’ll be the only name you think of when I steal him from right under— But she checked herself. Even her thoughts couldn’t carry on in that manner. This wasn’t school, and she was married now. These possessive, jealous feelings were just residual ones from the past, right? “As usual,” Caoimhe responded with the hint of a cocky smirk as Aiden complimented her, returning the kiss before pulling back to watch the competition Maxine. If Aiden didn’t feel the waves of ice roiling out from her skin, it would be a miracle. Her face didn’t show it, at least in the sense that someone from outside a pureblood circle would notice, but someone who knew her as well as he did would’ve picked up on the way she was standing taller than normal, had the faintest of condescending sneers in her gaze as she smiled with all polite charm. Each of these features were the mark of someone who was simply deigning to associate with the person presented with her, who was going through some sort of emotional upheaval that physically manifested itself by way of a smoother expression and a politer air than normal. It was the mark of someone who was a pureblood, in other words. “The pleasure’s all mine,” Caoimhe responded coolly, shaking Maxine’s hand as briefly was civilly possible.

She watched with increasing amusement and aggravation as the pink powder puff left, but without first establishing her property in a way that, and this where the malice stemmed from, Caoimhe would have done in the past. God, women were all the same, weren’t they? Ignoring Luke’s awkward space filler, she laughed, entertained sneer fully in place now that the intruder was gone, “Hmm, she’s territorial. How charming!” Her gaze moved pointedly to Aiden’s cheek, where the lipstick stain stood out against his pale skin. “Good thing she’s not a dog, otherwise she would’ve just pissed on your leg to mark you as her own property. And that stain wouldn’t have gotten out of your trousers very easily, would it?” Her eyes sparkled with an undeniable blend of amusement and resentment. Caoimhe truly had no reason to feel this way, but she felt exposed with that surprise visit. She hadn’t known Aiden was with someone else, another of his team from the looks of the color of her dress, and being caught off guard made her feel uncomfortable. Like she was losing some sort of unstated battle. For that reason alone she wished Eadric had been at her side. At least that would have her at a higher level considering she was married and not the former flame that that sequined idiot felt threatened by… as natural of a reaction as it was.

“You do look good though, Aiden.” She said after a pause, managing to cut the acid almost entirely out of her voice. “Though still with a hint of pink, I see! If this had been a couple of years ago, I would have had said you and Luke had swapped outfits for the evening.” Nudging Luke with a smile, she nodded to his empty glass. “And yes, you are in desperate need for another drink. I think we all are. To the bar?” Eadric was there, she knew he was. But this was going to be a sort of payback if an introduction had to be done.

[Aiden Neeson]

If only you knew half as much
As you pretend to

Luke was pretty oblivious to any signs or signals Caoimhe was giving off that would imply she was digging carefully through his words. He tried to stand a little bit taller with his head held higher when she gave him a look over, a wide smile on his face. He'd seen Caoimhe plenty of times over the year, but tonight was just exceptionally more excited as usual. Throw in the music playing from the dance floor and Luke was on the verge of pulling Caoimhe over there with him and some badass (ridiculous) dancing would ensue. He laughed and ducked his head when she mussed up his hair. "Well, that may have been planned," he replied, still chuckling as he made a vain attempt as smoothing back out his blonde hair. "I've got to look all pureblood and professional, right?" he asked, giving the tie another tug, unable to help himself. It was becoming a nervous habit. "Aiden said something about camouflaging me in case I have a restraining order against some of the players I haven't told him about," he told her, a lopsided smile on his face. "Which is silly since you're my favorite player and you have yet to go to the authorities," Luke added with an earnest nod before adding in a stage whisper. "But don't tell Aiden that, wouldn't want to hurt his feelings."

“Eadric’s here, of course, but my parents didn’t come along this time. You know, they’ve seen me play in competitions like this before! But Eimear’s here, obviously being a quidditch writer for the Prophet, with her husband and Kael is coming tomorrow with his wife, my niece, and nephew. I’ll have my own personal cheering section, in other words.”

"Merlin, that does sound like an entire cheering section!" Luke replied a touch too enthusiastically, his voice a little higher than usual. He was starting to get nervous. "It's just me for Aiden," he went on, eyes already darting around in a rather conspicuous manner to point out the too-perfectly-polished Eadric. Every time he thought of Eadric, a terribly queasy feeling gripped his stomach. He felt like a traitor for having met the guy, spoken with him, and especially attended their wedding. All of which he'd kept from Aiden. Now his palms were sweaty. "But I'm sure I'll make enough noise to make up for it," Luke added with a genuine smile. Back at Hogwarts, Luke was forbidden to enter the pitch when Aiden had a game, and now he was the only one who represented Aiden in the seats reserved for the Quafflepuncher's families.

And now all four of them were there and Luke felt like she was going to puke all over his shiny shoes. He was absolutely silent as he watched the exchanges. Unlike the general population, Luke hadn't really experienced the wrath of Caoimhe. Whenever she was around him, even back at school when Aiden was present, she had teased him good-naturedly, yes, but he'd never seen those cold eyes or harsh expression. He never seen her be cold with someone else or lash out, and, of course, she had never acted that way towards him. So he was absolutely startled when the icy words slipped so easily from her lips. Unlike Caoimhe and Aiden, Luke was not well versed in the art of subtleties or keeping his emotions in check, so his jaw went slack and he was utterly shocked at what she'd just said. His eyes switched back and forth between Aiden and Caoimhe. To Aiden, he looked at him like his older brother would be able to provide some sort of explanation as to why this exchange had happened. To Caoimhe, his eyebrows were drawn up in concern. Maybe there was some background story he didn't know about? Maybe Maxine had done something awfully rude ot her that Luke didn't know about, and thus why Caoimhe was saying those things about her. But that didn't make sense, either! Maxine had always been sweet and doting to him. But so had Caoimhe... What was going on??

Aiden remained placid when Caoimhe started to give him the appraisal. He was used to getting that look from back at Hogwarts when he'd come stumbling into the common room in the middle of the night with some drunk Slytherin girl on his arm. But, this wasn't school anymore. They were adults, Maxine wasn't some drunk skirt and he found himself growing defensive against her stare. However, as Maxine politely shook hands with Caoimhe and all Caoimhe did was give her a short reply. Maxine probably didn't pick up on any of the sarcasm or judgment, but Aiden read it loud and clear. He kept his arm around Maxine's waist and his expression calm and polite until Maxine moved on to find the rest of their team. Aiden doubted Maxine could tell she was being to critically looked over by Caoimhe (though, he knew? Females seemed to be able to pick up on each other's thoughts easier than he'd known), but it didn't get past Aiden. He smiled after as she left, and turned back to face Caoimhe, his brow set in a hard line, prepared for what Caoimhe was going to say next. Because, of course, she was going to say something.

“Hmm, she’s territorial. How charming! Good thing she’s not a dog, otherwise she would’ve just pissed on your leg to mark you as her own property. And that stain wouldn’t have gotten out of your trousers very easily, would it?"

Aiden's eyebrow flickered upward a small degree as he studied her for a quiet moment. Wow. Really? Real classy, Caoimhe. Good to know she'd gotten her jealousy issues in check since Hogwarts. Aiden's lips quirked to the side in thought as he bit back a string of equally as ridiculing words. What right did she have to say something so harsh and vulgar about Maxine? "You think so?" he asked, tone light and nonchalant. "I think she's far more behaved than you used to be," Aiden added, adding a small smile as he did. He didn't really feel comfortable referring to Maxine as some sort of pet, but the jab was meant for Caoimhe. She couldn't possibly expect him to sit back and let her talk like that about Maxine, did she? And, again, SHE was the one who was married! On his way here, he'd been anxious, and now he was becoming irritated. He hated how entitled she always acted about everything. He'd left for his own reasons, but he'd left her and thus she was the one who was owed an apology and explanation. Then he comes to the gala with a date -- not some random girl, mind you -- and he was the one acting out of line even though she was the one who was married. She didn't have the right to be mad that he was dating someone anymore. She could be so infuriating! At the same time, he couldn't help but feel a little... Well, he didn't know what he felt. But Caoimhe was clearly being rueful because she was jealous. That wasn't los ton him. But what good was that going to do either of them when she was married? He wasn't as angry with her as he was... confused.

Aiden tried to loosen the muscles in his jaw. Aiden was determined to not let this ruin the night, especially since Luke was looking pale and like he'd faint at any moment now. The last thing Aiden wanted was to cause a scene, create more hostility with Caoimhe or ruin Luke's fun. He didn't wipe off the lipstick.

“You do look good though, Aiden. Though still with a hint of pink, I see! If this had been a couple of years ago, I would have had said you and Luke had swapped outfits for the evening.”

Luckily, Caoimhe just provided a good change in subject. Aiden turned his attentions over to Luke, trying to distract his brain from reading into how Caoimhe was reacting. Whatever he determined wasn't of any use. So what if she was jealous? That didn't mean anything to her anymore. It was probably just residual from Hogwarts. Aiden turned to look at Luke and clapped the still stunned boy on the back with his hand. "It comes with the Quafflepuncher territory," he said, grinning at Luke, trying to make him calm down. "I personally think Luke pulls it off a lot better than I can. He's got a whole plethora of Quafflepuncher fan gear that he wears to games, don't you?" Aiden asked, trying to coax an expression out of Luke that wasn't so... scared. He finally glanced back at Caoimhe. "Green has always been more my color."

Luke nodded, his mind still obviously muddled and expression concerned as he watched Caoimhe. "I even remembered to pack some of my Appleby things," he finally said, eyebrows still drawn together and smile meek. "Thought I'd maybe make it to one of your games if they don't clash with Aiden's."

“And yes, you are in desperate need for another drink. I think we all are. To the bar?”

"I don't drink before a game," Aiden replied smoothly, glancing at Caoimhe for a moment. He really didn't drink when he was in season, for the most part. He didn't like it messing with his game or his muscles. Aiden then gripped Luke's shoulders and started steering the blonde haired boy toward the bar. "So, my brother," he continued on in a lighter tone. "You'll have to drink for both of us."