“True..but can you really be mates with someone you thought you want to grab and just kiss them till their lips are left bruised?” Charlie asked.
Tonks wasn’t staring. She wasn’t. She was answering. Just. Give her a second. And Charlie hadn’t pulled his hand away. Tonks could feel his thumb over her skin as acutely as if she’d been bitten by a Doxy. Her hand curled a little more securely around Charlie’s as he gulped beer like a man dying of thirst. When she did manage to find words, cheeks as pink as the ends of her hair, Tonks eyed the table, the spot where their hands met. “I dunno,” she said slowly. “I guess I managed alright this whole time.”
“No eggshells then,” Charlie said, and Tonks nodded. Charlie kept going, explaining that he’d never been interested in girls, or boys for that matter, and Tonks chuckled, nodding in agreement. “ And then the other evening I saw you I kind of realized I missed you,” Charlie continued, and Tonks found herself hanging on to every word, leaning forward the barest distance in her seat, only for him to change the subject suddenly.
“Oh, um, colleagues, right,” Tonks fumbled, leaning back in her seat. “Well, my mentor’s a bit of a loon, actually. Your dad’s probably mentioned him before. Alastor Mody? Er, Mad-Eye Moody? He’s the one that’s been teaching me the past three years. It’s true that paranoia knows no bounds. I think he still thinks I’m a spy sent to take him out in his sleep.”
The only solace he had in his bundle of nerves was that Tonks seemed to be around the same mentality of just taking every moment as it came and not much more graceful than he. He had changed the subject merely as a way to not go too deep into how that spark made him lose sleep that night wondering if he had missed signs before and wasted time.
“I’m sure if anyone can handle Mad-Eye it’s you. You were always creative and intuitive. And maybe a little bit too stubborn, you will prevail just fine” Charlie beamed a smile as he seemed to be smiling like a fool at her for the brief time they spent together. She leaned back and he leaned forward as if to replace the inches between them.
“I am glad you said yes though- even if I am fumbling over my words I do think you are the most amazing person.I do have a good feeling about you-about us” he mused squeezing the hand he was still holding and in a brief moment of bravery brought it closer to him and kissed the base of her thumb.
