fleeing tedium || r&n
narcissax
Narcissa’s eyes were intent on Rabastan’s as he uttered that he’d thought about them having a future together too. She shifted some in his lap. This wasn’t a conversation you had horizontally. Sitting up, the blonde’s hands settled upon his shoulders as she nibbled on her lower lip. To voice what she was thinking had the capacity to change everything. Even offering the idea up that maybe she had an alternate ending was terrifying. It gave Rabastan something to use against her if tides changed. “-Sometimes I wish I’d gotten to choose for myself who I spent the rest of my life with.” The blonde whispered. It was a half admission. It wasn’t telling him that the last few months made her want to be with him in a more official capacity, but it let the idea that she felt that way breech his thoughts. “That’s why I asked.” Another set of whispered words fell between them before she reverted back to silence for another passing beat.
“Thank you for promising me that.” Whispered words were full of pent up emotion she was scared to let surface. “You have no idea what a relief it is to know that you’re safe.” Cissa told him. He was one of the few people she couldn’t imagine her life without. To lose him would certainly be a crushing blow, and it wouldn’t be something she recovered from. Even before their relationship had turned romantic, Narcissa had considered him to be her best friend. They’d grown up at Hogwarts together and with Bella and Rod’s engagement, had spent ample hours at each other’s side. It was no secret their lives were permanently intertwined.
Pulling back from their kiss, Narcissa hesitated, reaching forward to caress Rabastan’s cheeks she nodded slowly. It was another silent promise that she’d stay safe for him.
Narcissa sat back up briefly in the bed, adjusting the pillows the way she liked as Rabastan ushered the chess board into the bedroom. Pillows fluffed, the Black sister sank back down and allowed her long, blonde waves to sprawl out around her. “Ask and I shall receive.” Narcissa whispered back to the younger Lestrange as her pearly whites teased her lower lip. “Can you come to bed already, then?” She teased, patting the space adjacent to her affectionately. He’d been out of her orbit for too long, and she wanted him back. Narcissa forgot how the rest of the world seemed to melt away in the other’s presence. All she worried about when she was with him was their closeness and happiness. It was a reprieve like no other, and she treasured their time together more and more.
Narcissa curled up in the blankets, rolling over to watch Rabastan shed his boots. Small fingers appeared from below the blanket, reaching out to run against his hip as she tilted her head up some to listen as he spoke. “Aw, I’m sure I’ll let you win eventually.” Narcissa teased, slipping her fingers through the loops of his pants to gently tug him closer to the bed. “You’ll stop playing with me if i always beat you, and we can’t have that.” The blonde murmured as his body prepared to move onto the bed.
A soft giggle escaped as he made about climbing over her tiny frame. “-Rabastan.” She managed, though his name was barely intelligible through her fit of laughter. Her lips parted, accepting his kiss with a warm hum. He left a smile on her lips as he pulled back, and she rolled over to face the chess board. Two fingers closed around the top of a pawn, moving it forward as her smile evolved into a smirk. “-But if we go slow, it’ll be so much more fun.” The blonde teased, overturning her non dominant hand over for him to take. “And it’ll give you a chance to reclaim your honor too.” Narcissa grinned, nudging the board a bit to remind him it was his turn.
Rabastan had never been faced with the certainty of a pre-ordained future. Sure, the list of expectations for the second son of the illustrious Lestrange family was long and occasionally contrary to what Rab would’ve perhaps chosen otherwise, but he hadn’t been presented with something so concrete as an arrangement for marriage signed off on when he hadn’t even received his Hogwarts letter with the morning post yet. Some of his circle had not been granted that same freedom. Narcissa spoke and Rabastan’s expression was all quiet solemnity. He had never experienced the inevitability of such a future as that pressed upon Narcissa- as much as he sympathized with her situation, he didn’t think he could truly empathize. It was hard to grapple with something so monumental without experience to inform your understanding. And so Rabastan, who used had always used his eloquence as both a weapon and a shield, was at a loss for words. Returning Narcissa’s gaze as if he might see something to confirm the words she left unsaid written on her face, Rabastan let the quiet fall between them before nodding.
“I hope it’s a promise I’ll never have to break.” After he’d regained consciousness in St. Mungo’s that final time, when everything slotted into place and time started to move normally again, Rabastan had seen Rodolphus’ distress and been filled with a stomach-churning guilt. The thought of breaking his promise to Cissa inspired no concern over the fact he would be dead, instead provoking an echo of that same guilt. Rabastan could think of very little worse than the people he loved being hurt because of him.
Narcissa’s fingers against his hip, and then hooking with a familiar ease through his belt loops, were a welcome distraction from unlacing his boots. Rabastan let them rest where they fell haphazardly beside the bed and let himself be tugged forward by Cissa’s insistence. Not that he needed much convincing at all to join her, especially when she was looking at him like that from where she was curled under the covers. “I await the day anxiously, I really do. Though I’m not entirely convinced this isn’t just a clever ploy to keep me playing, expecting someday I might win.” He wasn’t actually that bad at chess. But he wasn’t particularly good either, though, the game hadn’t held his attention when he was young and only did now when accompanied by good conversation. And other incentives, of course.
As Narcissa dissolved into laughter below where he was crowded over her frame, Rab leaned back slightly to watch her with the sort of gently private smile that one wears when they don’t expect to be seen. Narcissa earned a lot of these secret smiles. It didn’t fade until he pulled away from the kiss he’d dropped to her lips, resonating with the warmth of her hum.
“You make a compelling point. Lingering certainly has it’s merits. And I’m hardly in any rush to be anywhere other than here. Actually, I don't think I can think of anywhere I'd rather be.” Rabastan’s attention was easily pulled from watching Narcissa make her move to slotting his hand into her overturned one, fingers lightly squeezing for one long beat. “Ideally my honor wouldn’t be entirely reliant on a game of chess, but such is life.” Rab made his move, shifting a pawn and flashing Cissa a smile from over the board.
