start a fire in your heart [tomie]

JR rolled his eyes. Of course Tomie would win a fight with a cat. She'd probably win against a dragon somehow too. She had the nerve for it.

As she moved closer, he took more steps back, his shoes squeaking against the marble floors, still wet from outside, but he was more concerned about the bob and weave evading game they were playing. He felt her finger against his chest and he backed up another step as he snickered. "Don't recall that," he said, trying very hard not to remember the first time he had asked her out and pushed her off a cliff. Well, it was so long ago, he could laugh about it now right? Oh, nope, he still felt the burn of embarrassment and didn't want to linger on those thoughts.

He pushed her hands away as he backed up again. "No way, crazy person. Don't even want to be seen with you," he joked again as he danced back, a grin on his face, his brown eyes bright, almost slipping in his wet shoes.

Tomie laughed at his outright denial. “You better not be breaking up with me over my hair,” she teased, holding her fists up like a boxer she bounced from foot to foot. She couldn’t help but grin right back at him. She remembered vaguely back to the start of first year, where he’d seemed unwilling to be rough with her, unwilling to muck around like this — back when he’d treated her like a girl. Ew.

He probably didn’t exactly see her as ‘one of the boys’ these days since they were ‘dating’ or whatever, she thought distantly. That thought led to another, though; most stuff had stayed the same after he’d asked her out. Sure, they held hands, and sometimes she caught him looking at her in a different way or whatever, but mostly the pair of them just hung out a bit more and felt a bit more smug and central whenever they hung out with bigger groups. More powerful, because there were two of them, or something. Not too different, though.

So... maybe he hadn’t ever really seen her as one of the guys. She didn’t really like the concept.

Tomie stopped bouncing and her laughter faded to a smile as she ran her hands through her messy hair, trying to flatten it somewhat. Her hair was naturally pretty thick, though, and didn’t want to be flat. When her methods didn’t work too well, she pulled it all up into a very tight bun, securing it in place with her hair tie. She never really did her hair like this, but it didn’t look bad. “Is it better? Hmm?” She said the words like a challenge, crossing her arms over her chest as she asked, but she couldn’t help another smile seeping through.

JR mirrored her actions as she brought her fists up in front of her chin and soon his were in the same position as they danced around each other. He even threw a jab at her, dropping into a playful role that felt familiar. "I might," he said nonchalantly, giving her a slick smile. "I do have a reputation to uphold, you know," he joked. Well, not entirely joking because there was some truth in it. It's not like it was Daily Prophet official or anything, but in his mind, they were the 'cool' couple and the Slytherin really, really liked that.

He thought Tomie might too since she grabbed his hand sometimes when they were in a group or even just with her friends. And while JR still worried over whether his hand was too sweaty or too clammy, he was better at pretending it was the most natural thing in the world. Maybe that was what was helping him feel more confident in it, in them.

The Slytherin watched dubiously as she tried to wrangle her hair into .. a bun? It looked like she had a burger on the top of her head. A hair burger. He snickered at the thought but saw her cross her arms and made an attempt at a straight face. "Yeah, looks g--" he cracked up into laughter and then took an inhale, grinning. "Looks good," he finally managed, his eyes crinkled and his smile wide. "You look like a ballerina or something, but it's better."

JR reached out a hand as if to poke at it, but as he got closer, his wet sneakers slipped against the slick floor and he almost fell but managed to catch himself. He gave looked back at his still-wet clothes and then gave her a glance, a knowing look. "Not sure I want to chance a drying charm myself and risk that hair do, but you'll probably do something worse just for revenge," he summed up neatly. Damned if he did, damned if he didn't.

Tomie rolled her eyes, as if the idea of having an “upholdable” “reputation” was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. It was pretty silly, if she thought about it, but… It wasn’t as if she didn’t care what people thought of her. Tomie wanted to be liked as much as the next thirteen-year-old.

Maybe more.

“Ugh,” she replied to the ballerina comment. Tomie didn’t tend to do much with her hair; she kept it about as short as her mother would let her, which was around her shoulders, and she only tied it up when she was playing quidditch. She felt a bit exposed like this, and wanted to give her friend a playful shove or something to relieve her own embarrassed tension.

Boyfriend, that was. She corrected herself internally.

Tomie raised her eyebrows playfully at his knowing look. “Naaaaah, lemme do it,” She said airily, getting her wand out. She wasn’t so good at drying charms, but what was the worst that could happen? “C’mere,” she ordered, a teasing expression on her face. She wasn’t going to do anything, but she could at least keep it ambiguous to the last moment.

Tomie loved to tease, but she was very aware that not everyone liked to be teased. It was always exciting for her when it seemed like someone was into the playfulness and the banter, and as much as he complained, she thought JR loved it.

She poked him lightly in the chest with her wand. “Petrificusss…..” Tomie started dramatically, but then laughed. Before he had a chance to run away or shove her or something, she said the incantation he’d said earlier, and dried him off like he’d done for her. “Did you say you had snacks in there, or did I make that up?” she asked, nodding in the direction of his bag. She rubbed her tummy lightly with her right hand.

"Don't even think about it," JR said, trying to sound stern, but a smile cracked it's way through, his eyes tracking her wand as she beckoned him closer. He gave a shake of his head, recognizing that look on her face, but he was giving in to her a second later. Just like alwaysy. "Just remember I can do worse than the hair," he warned lightly, his smile matching hers.

The tip of her wand pressed against his chest and he jolted a bit, eyes widening, as she started the incantation. "You better not," he warned before he felt her magic whoosh over him. His clothes felt lighter, but a bit sticky as his skin underneath was still damp. Better, at least. He leaned over to check his reflection in the glass of a display case nearby. "And my hair looks normal, great." Add it to the list of things she was better at than him.

JR grinned at her question and rolled his eyes, but nodded. He was wondering when she'd get to that. "Obviously," he said as he swung it around, zipping it open to show her the array he had brought with him, most of it from Honeydukes after asking an older Slytherin to buy him some stuff. "Bean and I found the kitchens the other night though. Want to sneak down there? I bet they have those pastries you like," he said as he started walking backwards toward the staircase that would bring them down to the basement, his open bag like bait to lure her to follow. "C'mon," he said with a grin before he turned on his heel and loped down the stairs.

/end

She rolled her eyes at the hair comment, but a part of her did wonder who’d win in a duel. She thought for sure she’d beat him in a fistfight, because she was faster and lighter on her feet, but in a duel? Well, she felt pretty confident about that too, even though there was absolutely nothing to back the feeling up. Gryffindors were good at duelling, right? It seemed to fit the profile. She finished the spell and shrugged to herself. That was good enough for her.

Tomie reached out and took one of the individually wrapped candies before he had a chance to close his bag and distract her with something else. Better safe than sorry, after all. Tomie raised her eyebrows at JR’s story, unwrapping the hard, orangey sweet as she followed him absentmindedly. She was easily convinced to do things, and it got a hundred times easier if she was hungry and the other person had snacks.

“You remember that?” she asked curiously. Her smile was teasing, but she was pleased, too. “the ones I like the most?”. Tomie’s hand found his as they reached the stairs.

—— END