Rob crossed his arms and glared at the broken cooler in his flat, wherein the stock was mainly alcoholic. Of course, the damn thing had to go out the very evening he planned to have friends over. After his last few rounds at his favorite local haunts had begun to bore him, Rob decided to invite everyone over. He hadn’t counted on the muggle contraption he had purchased to cease working at the least opportune moment. After a few more minutes of glaring (and kicking the offending appliance), Rob grudgingly cast a cooling charm on the interior. He had liked using the cooler for the past few weeks, as he had never been able to fine-tune the cooling charm enough to get his beverages to the exactly correct temperature.
The kitchen was sparsely filled with implements- a singular pan in which Rob did all of his cooking, a few odd plates and bowls picked up here and there, and an entire cupboard filled with glasses. Rob mainly drank at home, leaving his food in the hands of whichever establishment he chose to frequent of an evening. The remainder of his flat exuded a strong masculine hand; the living room had a handful of leather armchairs arranged around a stocky coffee table which often doubled as a place to play cards. His bedroom boasted a king-sized bed, which was Rob’s only luxurious piece of furniture. He had never seen the use in decorating the place fully when he traveled so much for work, and he treated his home more of a stopping-off point rather than a haven.
Throughout the day, Rob had cleaned his flat until there wasn’t an object out of place. He prided himself on organization, and had even taken the precaution to set up coasters within easy reach of any flat surface. Then, the regrets had started pouring in. First Levi, who had to spend time with his kid that night. Then Harlan, who had been boasting of some female conquest or other- Rob had stopped listening after the first few minutes. The rest had had some vague excuse, only Circenn had been able to come in the end. Rob had toyed with the idea of inviting Noemi, but in the end, he decided against it. He didn’t really want to reveal his emotional attachment to the woman to any of his male friends, which would inevitably lead to teasing after Rob admitted the relationship was purely platonic.
So, now it would be just himself and Circenn. Rob fondly remembered his earlier years playing with the man in the Magpies, but the two hadn’t really had a chance just to purely hang out without any Quidditch involved in ages. In fact, Rob thought, the last time the two had met up in a bar was when Rob was complaining bitterly about the mantle of Captain that he had held for just a short time. Much of the ensuing time was spent in short bursts of, mainly in matches against each other. Rob grinned- the last time the Griffins had faced the Magpies, it had resulted in a resounding defeat on the part of the former. Circenn would be in for a bit of a surprise if he assumed the next time the two teams met it would be anything like that failure of a match. The Griffins had beefed up their front line; now the team really only required a decent seeker and they’d be set to sweep the league, in his opinion. The newcomers to the team had brought a fresh breath of life to the veterans.
A knock at the door interrupted Rob in the act of getting a bottle of his favorite beer from the cooler. He popped the top with his teeth, a habit he had never been able to break himself of, and headed for the entrance. Peeking through the hole in the door before opening it was yet another habit from years of living with suspicion flooding his every thought. The man on the other side of the door was indeed Circenn, and Rob brushed away the insecurity that someone could have been imitating him simply by the expression on the other’s face. Swinging the door open wide, he chuckled and waved the man in. “Circenn, you devil! Come on in! At least you had the balls to show up tonight…apparently all of the other guys were afraid I’d drink them under the table and bowed out.” He started for the kitchen, calling over his shoulder, “Want a beer?”
