emmeline:
Emmeline sighed, turning towards Benjy, wiping away her tears, her eyes fluttering closed when she felt his hand reach to cup her face. It was amazing how such a small gesture could bring her so much comfort. “Yeah, we’re partners.” She said, giving him a slightly wobbly smile. She couldn’t imagine doing this job without Benjy, sure he annoyed her 99% of the time but she also knew that she would do anything for him, and he would do anything for her. “Benjy I don’t know what I would do if…” If I had lost you, she almost said but the lump in her throat kept her from fishing her sentence.
She winced slightly at the feeling of the towel rubbing away the dried blood, and she knew that she would probably have an ugly wound across her forehead that no makeup could cover for the foreseeable future. “A jinx. Crushing it. Transfigure objects into birds.” She rattled off the answers easily enough but she had to concentrate to work through her blistering headache and fatigue. “I’m fine really, nothing a goodnights sleep won’t fix. Besides I’m young and spritely, you’re the one who should be worried, Old Man.” She said, trying to tease him like she would any other night. She just needed to not think about the fact that they had both been near death tonight, that they had gotten lucky, and that someone on their side sold them out.
“We need some sleep,” She mumbled, pulling herself out of Benjy’s grasp, pushing down the feelings that being close to him brought out in her. “And a shower. Separately of course. I mean, not that you would think that we would shower together, I just mean–Fuck.” She was suddenly happy for the blood covering the blush spreading across her cheeks. Emmey was not one to stumble over her words, it must have been the exhaustion. Yes the exhaustion, not the feelings that she definitely did not harbor for her partner.
“You shower, I’ll make tea.” She said, quickly trying to busy herself in her small kitchen, trying to find a clean mug among the piles of dirty dishes. “Do you take cream?”
benjy wanted to pull her into a hug, but it somehow seemed like a bad idea at the time, she would probably punch him and make fun of him, so instead he just listened, and gave her the kindness of not acknowledging the change in her voice, a kindness he was sure emmeline would never give him, she would’ve pointed the sappy tone and possibly give him a new nickname. “alright, not bad vance” he said grateful to have something else to focus on, “you remember your lessons” but really it meant it’s good to know that you were not damaged beyond repair, he gave her a small smile and tried to continue his diligent work with the towel.
every time he looked at her face, her eyes, he found it harder to fight the urge to pull her down, not even to kiss her, just to engulf her in his arms and try to make her feel like things would be okay, that they would eventually be better. but he cleared his throat, and pretended to be hurt by her word, “hey you wish you’d look half as good as me when you are my age” he scoffed, “that ugly scar is already gonna make things hard for you” he said with a smirk, “we need some dittany” benjy added almost as an afterthought, not that a scar would make emmeline any less beautiful, benjy shook his head, since when did he had those thoughts?
had he said that out loud? benjy thought as he felt emmeline’s warmth slowly move away from him. if he had dwelled on that any longer he would’ve missed the words that spilled out of emmeline. there were so many great things he could’ve said to make fun of her, but he felt himself blush, the smeared blood on his face and chest hopefully covering that up, but emmeline had placed an image in his head that had left him out of words. “shower, tea, sleep. sounds like a plan” he said not having much fight left in him to refuse, he knew he should’ve suggested she showered first, or tell her not to worry about tea, but he had to feel that cold water hitting him.
he stood up from the couch and had to fight the dizziness that engulfed him. he could do it, it wasn’t that bad, he could make it to the shower, and then things would be better. “uh, lemon’s fine, a bit of honey if you have some” he said as he walked towards the bathroom. “sure you’ll be fine without me for a few minutes?” he asked turning back to look at emmeline one last time before walking into the bathroom, he poked his head out again, “i’m gonna leave this door open, in case i umm... faint” he said swallowing his pride, “try and resist the urge to peek” he added trying to sound less wounded.
the water felt amazing against his bruised and battered body, every inch of him ached, and he finally allowed himself to give into the pain, he forgot his need of a cold sobering shower, instead letting the heat sooth his aching muscles. there were definitely undignified sounds being made, but he could do little to control them. “em?” he called out, “you are the worst host ever! i’m going to grab whatever towel i find!” he warned her. his shirt was a goner, having being ripped apart, not that there was much left after the blood had soaked it. but he had intended to scourgify the rest of his clothes, except his wand was nowhere in sight. “fuck” benjy said by once again having to swallow his pride, he tied the towel around his waist and walked towards the kitchen, “please tell me i didn’t lose my bloody wand...” he pleaded to emmeline, to the universe.










