[paris] midnight city. [harlan]

Erika had never been super keen on Halloween.

As a child, perhaps, but not so much any more. In a way, it was a blessing to be in Paris on the holiday as most French people seemed to be on her wavelength. There was a party back in Cornwall that she'd been invited to but she'd told a white lie and said she couldn't make it. She loved her family but she didn't think she'd be able to face a hundred people with umpteen kids running around, all hopped up on sugar. Usually, it'd be no problem but she'd had a bit of shocking news that morning.

Shifting on her low sofa, Erika tucked her blanket around her knees as she balanced her large bowl of popcorn precariously on her lap. She'd received a double whammy of a surprise that afternoon. Firstly, her best friend of ten years was dating someone and secondly, she was pregnant. That was all well and good until she found out whom Kitty was currently seeing.

She didn't want to use the word farce but there wasn't any other word for it. Kevin, her beau and baby's father, was a completely different person than her best friend. Kitty was elegant, beautiful, rich and whip smart...whereas Kevin came across lacklustre, a jokester and he wasn't even in Kitty's stratosphere, nevermind her league.

On her coffee table sat a large purple envelope wrapped up with ribbon, curiously coming with instructions not to open it until she was with Harlan. It had taken her a while to realise that as close as Erika was with Kitty, Kevin was with Harlan.  It was some sort of joint message. Alarm bells began to clang.

She  hadn't seen Harlan since the summer and she had no idea where to find him. She didn't know where he lived, if he was on holiday or if he was still training. Erika supposed she could send a letter to the Griffins' home ground but the possibility of it getting lost in a raft of fan letters was fairly high. Besides, if Kitty wanted to scope out the Beater, Erika was sure she'd manage just fine on her own.

Stuffing a handful of popcorn into her face, Erika's bright blue gaze was glued to the TV screen as she watched the famous figure of Nosferatu creep slowly up the staircase. Her dinky little Parisian flat was low lit, the lights off, save for the string of fairy lights she had around her fireplace and the city lights that filtered in through the balcony doors, casting her living room into a soft golden glow.

The haunting figure climbed the creaky stairs, his shadow growing as the violins shrilled into a crescendo. The same moment as the vampire stepped into the moonlight, his grotesque face shown to the viewers, there was a knock at her front door and she let out a scream.

Erika jumped, the bowl of popcorn launched into the air as she gasped for breath, fighting her way out of her blanket that felt like a straightjacket. With a grunt, she regained her composure, stomping across the hardwood floor to yank open the door in annoyance, half expecting trick or treaters (though she'd left a plastic pumpkin full of treats on her doormat) but was surprised to see someone else entirely.

"Oh, hi," Erika said as casually as she could manage as she attempted to fix her appearance, half wondering if they were psychically connected because she'd just been thinking about him. She cleared her throat, arms folded across her chest as she leaned against the door jamb. Only then did she realise what he was wearing and she offered a slow grin as her eyes ran over him, clearly amused.  "Not come to suck my blood, have you?" She teased, stepping aside to let him enter. "Can I take your cape?" She asked Harlan innocently before she sniggered. He did make a rather convincing Dracula. He had the scowl to a tee.



@Harlan Bellamy

Harlan hadn't been able to concentrate the whole night.

The letter in his pocket with clear (albeit messily dictated) instruction to not open until he was with Erika Trickett bore weight on him both physically and mentally. He was smart enough (he hoped) to derive that it had something to do with the fact that Kevin and Kitty were together, and that he and Erika, by proxy, had been the catalyst for that. Even still, he had his questions. It was either a wedding or a baby, and neither was he happy about.

Halloween was a nice escape. Any excuse to be someone other than himself was enough for Harlan.

The Griffins were together in London but his mind, as usual, was somewhere else entirely. He had decided long before his first drink that he knew where he would be ending up that night. He and Erika had to get to the bottom of their friends' little scavenger hunt, and sooner rather than later.

It was a few hours, and a few drinks, later when he found his opportunity to escape. Everyone was settling into a booth at the bar and he used the distraction to slip out of sight, haphazardly apparating to Paris. It certainly wasn't wise, but he'd made it to Erika's place miraculously unsplinched. "Fuck," He breathed, gathering himself before knocking.

"Hi," He repeated, momentarily confused before remembering how he was dressed. "S'pose you got this too?" He pulled the letter from his pocket with some half-drunken difficulty.

Oh, he was drunk. And annoyed. And dressed like a vampire. Erika offered him a gentle smile. "I did," she agreed as he brandished the letter. "Come on in, Mr. De Ville," she joked as she closed the door behind him. "Watch out for the popcorn," she warned him, picking up the remote and zapping off the TV. "You knocked at the exact same moment the monster appeared so," pulling a face, she shrugged as she used her wand to clear up the mess.

"You came straight from a party?" She asked him, eyebrows raised in mild surprise. The fact that he even went to a Halloween party was enough to ring some alarm bells. She watched him for a moment. "Beer?" She offered, nodding her head towards the kitchen because when dealing with Kitty, the ideal thing to be was completely wasted.

Handing him a bottle and taking a swig of her own, Erika sat back on the sofa and patted the space next to her in an invitation for him to join. "I don't know why we're being dragged into this," she admitted with a frown as she automatically threw the blanket over Harlan's knees and snuggled down into the opposite corner of the couch. "Aren't we involved enough already?" She asked, sounding whiny.

With careful hands, she gently took the letter from Harlan's fingers and turned it over. The looped and scrawling handwriting belonged to her best friend. "We could just not open it?" Erika asked, fingers on the seal of the envelope.

"What—" Harlan began just as Erika explained, in what felt like too much a coincidence to be true, the popcorn strewn across the floor.

"Then I suppose I owe you an apology?" He watched as she cleaned up the spill with a flick of her wrist, a half-drunk smile plastered on his face. "I'm sorry," His mouth pulled into a grin. He hadn't been aware of his state until he found himself there in the quiet of her living room, reluctantly in costume and smelling of a gin something that a woman at the bar had spilled on him.

"Yeah, thanks," A beer, why not? Erika was already on her way, any way, by the time he'd belatedly answered, distracted by her lack of a costume.

Swiftly he was reminded why he was there— Kitty and Kevin. The letters.

Harlan sank into the couch. Was it familiar, the way she threw the blanket over him, or was he just drunk enough to think so? He let out a thoughtful sigh. "Must be serious..." He let her take his letter all-too-easily, a smile pulling over his features. Not open it?! He leaned an elbow to the arm of the sofa and pulled a face. "What, and just never know?" Harlan, and Erika, he knew were smart enough to derive that whatever news was going to be broken to them was something that they weren't going to be able to just ignore.

"You finish that first," He nudged her full beer with the lip of his own. She had to catch up if it was as bad as he imagined it might be.

"You do," she agreed quickly as she bent to scoop up the popcorn bowl and place it on the mantelpiece. Harlan apologised and she spun around to fix him with a playful stare, cracking a grin at his drunkenness. "Accepted," she informed him with a nod of her head, dissolving into laughter, finding it difficult not to be swept up in the merriment. Harlan wasn't really what she'd describe as cute but he was verging on it.

Once seated, she shrugged. "If Kitty writes anything down, it's usually serious," Erika informed the Quidditch player with a sympathetic smile. "She normally just barks orders at people." Looking up at Harlan's indignation, she flashed him a grin.

"Would that be so bad?" She asked him, eyebrows arched in question. "It's all a bit --" Erika trailed off, wrinkling her nose in annoyance because she couldn't find the right words to use. "Excessive?" She heaved a sigh. There was a flair for the dramatics, receiving identical mystery envelopes on Halloween. "What we don't know, can't hurt us?" She half-joked, knowing full well that Kitty has a tendency to get slappy when she was stressed.

"Ooh," she cooed at Harlan's insistence, pointing the bottle neck at him in agreement. "Good plan. I can't deal with any of this if I don't get tanked up first," she agreed, tilting her head back and taking a long swig from her bottle. There was a beat of silence as she drank and fixed Harlan with a look. "Why Dracula?" She asked him, interested. "You could have gone as Tarzan. Loincloth optional," she grinned, the beer going straight to her head.

She held the envelope out to him, twisting on the sofa to collect her own. "Open on the count of three?" She asked, taking another fortifying gulp from her bottle.

"No chance—" Harlan paused to take another mouthful of beer to help appease the unsettled feeling that had been plaguing him ever since he received the letter. "—we are opening these, tonight,' He coaxed the bottom of her bottle up with two fingers, remembering after he spoke that he still had the stupid vampire teeth magically affixed to his own.

"Odds on it being an elopement announcement?" He shifted on the couch, crossing the leg of his black, bloodstained slacks to face her more squarely. Elopement didn't particularly seem like either of their friends' style, but then again, they hadn't been each other's style in the first place. Well, more so Kitty than Kevin. Kevin was punching a well above his weight with her. "A bet, then," Harlan held out his free hand to shake hers, feeling only partially confident in his instincts.

Why Dracula? Really, why? Harlan looked down at himself again. Every time he did he remembered he was still fully in costume and a complete juxtaposition of Erika's cozy flat and pajamas. He shrugged off the cape and unbuttoned his pressed shirt so that he could breathe easier. "I figured no one would know who Mr. Rochester was..." He shrugged, rolling his eyes at the offer of him, as Tarzan. "No one needs to see that," He grinned as he rolled up the cuffs of his sleeves.

"...three," Harlan flicked his wand and the envelope fell open, lingering in the air in front of him. Immediately he was met with the smell of— was that, baby powder. "Fuck," He breathed out the moment the word godfather popped out, in neat cursive. He sat back against the arm of the couch and tried to read it again but the words had started blending together. "Going to assume yours says, godmother?" It had all become clear why they needed to open them together.

Erika heaved a heavy sigh at Harlan's insistence, her slender shoulder slumping. Usually, she wasn't afraid of things - she faced ancient evil on the regular - but she was terrified of Kitty Sharpe. "Spoilsport. Hey!" She snorted as he tilted up her bottle, causing her to hold her nose to stop the foam from coming out of her face. She swatted him as she pulled her head back and drained the contents of the bottle, wordlessly holding out her hand for his.

Swallowing, she shook her head briskly. "Slim to none, mate," she told Harlan frankly. "Have you met Kitty?" She grinned. Pomp and circumstance was her modus operandi. She might as well have the word "juggernaut" tattooed on her forehead. "If she were getting married, I'd be pencilled in for a bridesmaid fitting," she added with a wan smile before his hand loomed in front of her face. "And what do I get when I win?" She asked, taking his much bigger and shaking it.

She waited for Harlan to answer as she drank his beer, momentarily distracted by the way he rolled up his sleeves. "Come off it," she grinned. She wasn't sure if Harlan fit the archetypal Regency hero but he was rugged and handsome and witty and sometimes aloof. She shrugged. "I prefer Rochester to Darcy," she commented, as though she spent a lot of time reading nineteenth century literature. "And that's not true, either," she corrected him about the loincloth, tipping the bottle in his direction in a mock salute.

Erika snatched her letter the same time Harlan opened his as she ripped it open before the smell pervaded her nose and she coughed. "Godfather?" She asked dumbly, looking at his letter before looking at hers. Yep, there it was. "Guardian angels are sent from above, will you by the godmother, chosen with love?" Erika read out the poem and flicked Harlan a panicked glance.

Rather than reply, she gave him a curt nod as she read (and reread) the letter. "I'm going to get more drinks," she announced, swinging her long legs over the sofa and loudly rummaging through her cupboard. Beer wasn't working fast enough, even as she finished her second bottle. Wine wasn't strong enough. Gin made her sick --

She appeared moments later, holding up a bottle of tequila, which she opened with a flourish. Erika sat back on the sofa, taking a swig from the bottle as she looked over the letter. She was flattered, obviously, but this was a pretty big deal. "Congratulations, I guess?" She asked Harlan anxiously. She knew him well enough to see when he wasn't best pleased. "...any chance we can say no?" Erika joked, only maybe not meaning it a teeny bit. "Tequila," she instructed, handing Harlan the bottle.

Harlan could see Erika's bright eyes go wide even from around the letter floating ominously in front of his face and permeating the nauseating manufactured smell of baby. Part of him wished that he hadn't figured it out before her, while the other part was happy that he had. He hated surprises, and to add to the clusterfuck of discovering their new appointment seemed criminal, at best.

"Fuck..." He repeated, grabbing the letter to get a closer look. Kitty and Kevin weren't the types to put that much effort into a prank, so he knew it had to be legitimate. "Please," Harlan immediately replied at the mention of something stronger to drink as he sat the envelope down on the coffee table, leaning back against the couch, both hands running the course of his hair.

"Of everyone they know, we are the most qualified, for this?" Harlan nodded appreciatively to the bottle she'd procured, watching her as she sank back onto the seat to face him. Tequila wasn't his first choice given how much of a dick it turned him into (on a good day) but he was in no place to turn down any respite having just found out that he was going to be a godfather, responsible for another life.

"Merlin, Kevin's not even fucking healthy..." Harlan took the bottle and had a swig, wincing as it burned down the back of his throat. He didn't mean it maliciously but his friend had a penchant for beer and fried food and that didn't bode well in the current scenario. He nudged her shoulder with the bottom of the bottle.

"Suppose I lost that bet then," It was the icing on the cake.

Accidentally inhaling some of the baby powder, Erika sneezed, her nose wrinkling in distaste. What astounded her more was the fact that she'd met Kitty for lunch the previous week - it would have been nicer had her friend announced it over sandwiches.

She offered Harlan a quick smile, sensing that he might start spiralling if she didn't shake him out of it. "Maybe they just really like us," Erika tried to joke but there was something gawing in the pit of her stomach. She was already godmother to her brother's child but she was their auntie, it kind of went with the territory but this? She read the note again, chancing a look at his face anxiously.

"Is he still eating all those doughnuts?" The cursebreaker asked, not quite managing to keep the steeliness out of her voice. Kevin was okay but that was all he was - okay. He was funny and charming but he definitely was not ready to raise an actual human. Neither was Kitty. She adored the redhead but she was spoiled and self-focused and Erika wasn't sure a baby fitted in with either of their lives.

She fell silent for a moment, blinking back into reality as she took the bottle and drank. "It's not a big deal," she said, more to herself than Harlan. "It's a ceremonial role," she went on to say. "It's not like we have to raise it." She looked to the Quidditch player for support. "All we need to do is buy him or her a couple of presents, be cooler than its parents and maybe babysit every now and again." Her eyes slid away from his face to glance around her apartment. She had trinkets from her travels, most of which were still probably cursed. Erika was sure she had a dagger somewhere, come to think of it. "I'm going to have to babyproof this entire place," she finally said with wide eyes.

Nursing the bottle, she held it back out. Harlan mentioned the bet and she was shunted back ten minutes, to a happier time, when neither of them knew about this bombshell. "Oh, right," she said distractedly. Harlan could help her pack away the more dangerous of her trinkets but he wasn't specially trained. If he lost a finger, his manager would sue her.  "Karaoke?" Erika smiled, knowing full well he loathed the idea and she'd spent three years trying to coerce him to do it, reaching out to drink from the shared bottle and not bothering to acknowledge the foul taste.

The doughnut comment was compounded by 'it's not a big deal'. Wasn't it, though, he thought, a big deal? Harlan had never fashioned himself as dramatic (ironically) but at the moment he was feeling just that. Could he really be the only one so concerned that their friends had left such a burden on them without question? It wasn't unwilling, of course— they could still say no, in theory. But not really.

Erika was quick to placate his nerves in a way that only she could. The witch was impossibly calm, collected, rational— traits which he imagined made her the curse breaker that she was. She dealt explicitly in high-stress situations and had perfected navigating them with an ease that he could only envy. Quidditch was different, for him. Harlan harvested that kind of stress into physicality,  a drive that fueled his competitive nature.

"You're right," He relinquished with a groan. His eyes roamed her place along with her. His was no safer, he decided.

Harlan grabbed the bottle and took a smaller sip than before, having settled down a bit. "—no, no," He tried to cut her off at the first sound of the word, karaoke, but Erika was relentless. She'd been trying to get him there for as long as he could remember, and for the most part, he had been able to avoid it. But then, a bet lost, his efforts were futile. "You won't have fun..." He declared as she took the bottle, nudging her crossed legs with his knee.

He watched as she took a drink and grimaced less than she had the previous time. The room had gotten warmer and he pushed the blanket from his lap. "Can you help me get these off?" He bared his faux-fangs. Wandwork for himself, he feared, would be a bad idea. "You can keep the cape, too," He handed over the costume he had already shrugged off.

Harlan agreed that her apartment was a deathtrap and she couldn't help but grin. "I'm taking that as you agreeing to help me box stuff up," she replied with a bright smile. Her trinkets weren't that bad - they'd never done her or her guests any harm - but this was an actual human baby they were talking out. Erika couldn't remember the last time she'd visited his apartment but she assumed it was very clean, modern, bright. She wouldn't say it but she thought the impending baby would have a lot more fun here.

"Oh no, I absolutely will," the tall blonde replied almost instantly, not giving Harlan a chance to talk her out of it. Unless he was terribly against having fun, she supposed he could help her baby proof the place but that wasn't the point. The point was that she was allowed to choose his punishment. Harlan had always come across as old before his time. He needed a bit of stupid fun to ward off the grey hairs.

She turned to face him as he bared his teeth and she couldn't help but laugh. She leaned closer to squint at them. "What on Earth did you stick them on with?" Erika giggled, the tequila well and truly kicking in as she reached out a forefinger to delicately poke one.

The cape distracted her and her eyes widened as she reached out to take it, swinging it around her shoulders with a whoosh! before deftly fixing it around her neck. It oddly suited her. "Okay," she said quickly as she managed to extract herself from the pile of blankets as she padded around her apartment in search for her wand before realising it was on the sofa, where she'd left it.

Sitting back down, she cleared her throat, wand in one hand and the bottle in the other. "Did you attach them? Or did you transfigure them?" Erika asked interestedly. "For someone who claims to hate fancy dress parties, you really went all out," she teased. She shuffled closer on the sofa, her cape rustling in her wake before she moved her hand in a twisting, complicated motion, focused and silent as she blinked. Then her eyes widened considerably.

Erika gasped, her hand coming up to her mouth in shock. "Harlan!" She exclaimed, horrified as she pointed at his face. "Your teeth!" She went on to say, recoiling in disgust to the other end of the sofa. It lasted all of thirty seconds before she laughed, reaching out to squeeze his arm affectionately. "I'm kidding," she grinned, bright and sunny, handing him the tequila as she leaned forward to gently pluck off the fangs and hand them to him. "You're absolutely fine."

"Oi—" Harlan pulled back as Erika poked one of the affixed fangs, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth despite his best effort to fight it. "My actual teeth are still in there, you know?" He finally laughed, trying not to watch too closely as she got up from the couch. "The cape is working, you can keep that..." He sure as hell wasn't planning on wearing it again, anyway. When he realized what Erika was looking for, he pulled the wand up from the couch and gave it a little wave to catch her attention.

"They're attached," He replied confidently, then paused, eyes widening. "I think," His friend had done it for him and he hadn't even asked. Harlan decided he deserved whatever hell of hangover faced him in the morning for his poor decision making.

"Be gentle," He hissed with half of a smirk as she leaned forward, he mirrored the action and shifted on the sofa so she could get a good angle. He had nothing but faith in Erika's well-practiced wandwork, but all the tequila was a bit of a worry. "What!" He pulled back, slapping a hand over his mouth and running his tongue over the back of his teeth. Nothing felt out of place but nonetheless panic had already sunk in. "I swear—"  Then she confessed. Of course, she was kidding.

"Fuck..." He breathed a sigh of relief as she handed over the fangs. "I'll get you back for that!" Harlan took Erika'ss shoulders in his hands and gave a good-natured shake. "My manager would have had your head, you know?" He playfully slapped the side of her leg that was pulled up on the couch as he sat back, relieved. "This smile is worth a lot..." He gave a sarcastic roll of his eyes as if it wasn't something he had actually been told before.

"Behave," she chided him gently. "If I wasn't a cursebreaker, I'd be a dentist." It was a flippant remark but it was a toss up between a medical career or the one she had now. As Harlan said she could keep the cape, she grinned, then spun in a tight circle as the fabric moved with her. "Amazing, thank you," she replied, swishing her cape absently. With all the tequila in her stomach, she was genuinely considering purchasing an actual cape for winter. But look, he had her wand!

Erika pulled a face. "You need better friends," she told Harlan with a sage nod of her head, suddenly serious. Who didn't check if they'd had permanent new incisors affixed? "I kind of like it," she offered with a shrug.

When instructed to be gentle, the blonde promptly (and rudely) blew a raspberry as she swatted at his hands. The ruse had worked and the look of horror on his face was both hilarious and terrifying. On her spot on the sofa, she gave a belly laugh, her shoulder shaking. "Your face!" She hooted, pointing a finger at him, laughing harder as he shook her shoulders.

She reached out and grabbed hold of the undersides of Harlan's forearms in response, pulling a face in jest as her head wobbled. "Come on," she rolled her eyes. "I'm great with my wand." It was on the tip of her tongue to say he was probably great with his but she wasn't that drunk. He threatened her and she grinned. "Promise?" She asked innocently, batting her eyelashes as she held out her little finger, fully expecting him to follow up in the pinky promise.

"Nah," she grinned, poking his thigh with her foot in retaliation. "I'm really charming," she announced with wide eyes. She had the gift of the gab - she always had - and it was more a case of talking herself out of trouble, because she certainly didn't need any help getting in it. She smiled again, nodding along. "The face that launched a thousand ships," she went on. "Or graced a thousand bedroom walls," Erika teased with a grin. He did have a nice smile, she'd admit.

After what could have been a real dental emergency, Harlan and Erika settled into banter and laughter, a playful mix of giving each other a hard time and enjoying it. All the while, they still found a way to be touching each other, even as subtle as where he hand landed near her ankle.

It wasn't in a salacious way, he didn't think, but then again tequila had never been good to him.

"Oh, come off it," He nudged her palm out of the space between them, her pinky finger outstretched for a promise. He was about to let it go when the not-so-great part of him took control. "You'd like it if I did," It was half of a statement and less of a question that he left lingering there for a moment before taking his hand off of her. "I doubt Nina would succumb to your charm— trust me, I've tried," His manager was as tough as they came, and, seemingly immune to both he and Erikas shared way with a compromise.

His face printed and brandished, grinning on the walls of bedrooms made his own, real face flush. The tequila wasn't helping. He pushed the blanket from his lap. Had it gotten a dozen degrees warmer, or was it just her? "Never yours, though?" That time it was a real question. He had always been morbidly curious about what Erika Trickett made of him.

"What?" She laughed, wiggling her little finger at him before she rolled her eyes when he refused to complete the ritual. "Have a day off, will you?" Erika replied, sounding exasperated but not really meaning it. Harlan was so serious, even when he was half cut. She just wanted to shake him, to tell him to chill out. He wasn't on the pitch now.

"I think I might," the blonde replied without thought, the truth slipping out much easier now the alcohol was seeping into her bloodstream. It hung in the air for a few minutes before she realised that it definitely shouldn't, so she grinned to shift it away. They hadn't toed the line of what was inappropriate for a long time and she wasn't sure she wanted to travel down that path now.

"Maybe you're just not her type," Erika told Harlan casually as she smiled, her eyes sparkling in the low light. Absently, she blew at a lock of her hair. "Listen," she told him, shifting in her seat. "I've got two older brothers," she said matter-of-factly. "My persuasion skills are top notch," she announced. After all, sneaking out of the house without anyone in it knowing was an art form. "Don't think I'm not amazing," she joked.

But he soon blushed and she couldn't help but grin, taking the edge of the blanket from Harlan's knees and snuggling back down under it. She placed her elbows on her knees and her chin in an upturned palm, giving Harlan her full attention. "Once," she admitted with a slow smile. "Had to take it down when an ex-boyfriend came over. Then Fenris saw it," she grinned, shaking her head. "All Hell didn't break loose but I got some weird looks over dinner. But then he got me a signed jersey of yours and I realised that was way more valuable," she said smugly, wiggling her toes.