terraform

albus potter. / xxiii. / son of harry. 1x1 with @puceyavery

[xxapotter]

puceyavery‌:

           there was a moment of disappointment when he mentioned his friend, and avery felt stupid for it. even as she told herself that it’s just because she might no longer have a reason to ignore her coworkers, it felt a bit like a lie. which is ridiculous, really. it’s just a little flirting - sure, he made her laugh, but that didn’t really mean anything. and okay, fine, he’s nice to look at, and maybe she’d like to get to know him better, but it’s pointless to get ahead of herself. maybe his friend was just as fun, and she could still salvage this night. or maybe not. her smile as he announced that his friend - was it just a friend? curiosity had her wondering if maybe he’d just been stood up for a date, but if that’s the case, he certainly wasn’t acting like it - couldn’t make it. maybe it was fate, or whatever you wanted to call it. ‘ i suppose it would be rude of me to abandon you when you’ve just had your plans cancelled, ‘ avery teased, with a light smile. 

       there was something appealing about the privacy of the booths in the back, where it’d be a little less busy and she’d be practically invisible to any of her coworkers that happened to remember she existed. and, avery could admit to herself at least, the prospect of cosying up with him in the semi-secluded comfort of a booth definitely held its own kind of appeal. with a faux casual shrug, she nodded her agreement. ‘ i guess i’ve already given away that i don’t have any better plans, haven’t i, ‘ she admitted, slipping off her seat in anticipation.

"Incredibly rude," he teased her back, the sight of her smile sending a rush of warmth through Al's chest. "I suppose fate, or whatever it is, is in my favour tonight." Honestly, he should probably send Alice some roses to thank her for bailing and giving him more time to talk to this intriguing girl. "I'm going to get us a bottle of champagne." The bank had given him a bonus along with the promotion, and Albus was in a good mood. Why not buy champagne and make it a real celebration? "We can celebrate your freedom from those prats and Alice's exceptional timing in bailing on our plans." The bartender returned shortly with a decent bottle of champagne and two matching flutes and Al swooped them up, sliding off the mildly uncomfortable barstool.

"I'm thrilled to be your lesser of two evils, mystery girl." He winked at her, turning to head for the secluded corner booth. Once settled, he focused in on opening the champagne cleanly and pouring it far too high in the flutes as the girl settled into the booth. Finally, sliding her one, he leaned back and grinned. "So are we going to stick with mystery girl all night, or will you tell me your name? Anything about yourself, really. You're here with your annoying co-workers, you like vodka sodas..." He trailed off, leaving the blank wide open for her to fill in, if she so wished.

[xxapotter]

puceyavery‌:

       ‘ do i? ‘ avery asked, her lips forming an amused smile. she was hardly going to admit to a handsome stranger - well, less of a stranger now, she did know his name - that she wasn’t as surprising as he seemed to think. normally avery spent her evenings alone in her flat, working on the extra tasks she always volunteered for. if she had to prove herself, she would, even if that meant having no social life. not that it mattered ; her coworkers barely tolerated her and avery was definitely too busy to see much of her non-work friends. her life was rather boring, really - but it felt nice to have someone who didn’t know that. ‘ maybe we’ll both be surprised, ‘ she said, almost hoping it would be true. 

         she could only imagine what was going through his head at the sight of her companions - judgement, probably. they were the worst kind of rich people, stuck up and elitist to the core. and fine, avery could admit she was just as bad as them in quite a few ways. she could be every inch the snobby brat on bad days, but she’d gotten better. living away for university and having some freedom from her family had given her at least a little perspective. she wasn’t entirely blind to the rest of the world these days, which had to count for something. ‘ you’d be right about that, ‘ avery laughed ; that was the reason most days she tried to keep to herself. ‘ but lucky for me, i don’t even think they’ve noticed i’m gone. ‘ she smiled at him, the barest hint of mischief in her grin. ‘ which means i can stay here instead, doesn’t it? ‘

“Maybe.” He mused, finishing off the last of his drink and laying it back down on the bar. Dragging his eyes away from the mystery girl’s co-workers, he felt a wicked grin flash over his face. “I suppose it does mean you can stay here, doesn’t it. I’m expecting a friend, but the more the merrier—” Just as the words were out of his mouth, Al felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Pulling it out, he wasn’t entirely surprised to see a text from Alice with a quick apology and excuse for why she wouldn’t be able to make it. What a shame that Al would be left to his own devices with such lovely company. “You know what, I think we were both in the right place at the right time because my night has suddenly freed up.”

Waving the bartender over, he finally ordered that double whiskey. “Do you want to grab a booth?” He gestured to one at the back of the bar, out of sight of her pompous co-workers. “Or are we going to keep pretending there’s a chance you’re going to go back to hanging out with those arseholes,” he joked, turning back to the girl. 

[xxapotter]

puceyavery‌:

     avery shrugged. ‘ guess i’m not as exciting as you thought, ‘ she said with laugh. no one ever really thought she was exciting ; they were more likely to call her uptight or something just as unflattering. his smile was infectious, though, and she couldn’t quite think of a reason to stay annoyed at him. ‘ well, i’m feeling generous tonight, ‘ she shrugged. what was the harm? he was already better company than her workmates. 

      ‘ maybe i am, ‘ she retorted with a soft laugh. she’d probably be better off with an imaginary friend than the ones she was here with. they weren’t exactly real friends of hers. ‘ interesting choice, ‘ she added, smile on her lips. she couldn’t quite tell if he’d ordered it because he liked it, or if he just wanted to make her laugh. either way, it was working. ‘ hm. that’s…a matter of opinion, ‘ she answered cryptically. nodding towards the group she’d arrived with, avery continued. ‘ hanging out with people you work with is kind of exhausting, as it turns out. ‘

As the glass was laid in front of him, Al picked it up by the delicate stem and took a small sip, eyeing the girl over the rim of his drink. “I don’t know, you seem like you’ve got some surprises in you. The night’s still young.” The sight of a smile spreading over her face was calming, encouraging even. Tilting his glass ever so slightly, he tapped it against her drink. “Cheers, then. To generosity.”

The sweetness of the drink washed over Al’s tongue as his companion continued to talk. His eyes followed the gesture, sweeping over the bar’s patrons until it landed on the table she had gestured to, filled with a proper looking group. One eyebrow raised up. “Fancy looking bunch there. Doesn’t look like you’re missing much, they look like they’d be exhausting to be around for 10 minutes in a day, let alone 10 hours.”  Al’s own past co-workers had always been a grand time, but he doubted working in an ice cream shop could be compared to whatever job required such expensive-looking suits.

[xxapotter]

puceyavery‌:

       avery raised her eyebrows at him, surprised by his words. for someone who didn’t know her, he was definitely making some assumptions about her. she didn’t like it very much. too many people just assumed things about her without bothering to get to know her. ‘ and what would you think i’d be drinking? ‘ she asked, innocently enough despite the bubbling frustration underneath.

      his poor attempt at flirting did a lot to soften her annoyance. it drew a smile from her, though she tried to hide it. ‘ who says i’m here alone? ‘ she teased ; she wasn’t, but really, considering how much the others cared to notice her, she might as well have been. she didn’t miss the slight stutter over his own name - an odd thing to get confused about. ‘ i suppose i could give you a second chance, adam, ‘ she replied, vaguely suspicious. he was so familiar - maybe he’d recognised her, and was trying to hide it? but then, he didn’t look like the type of guy to follow politics, and it wasn’t like she was all that recognisable. it was only her name people really noticed - so she didn’t see a reason to tell him hers, just yet.

Al raised one eyebrow back at her, shoulders relaxing as the girl smiled. “I don’t know—something more exciting, I suppose.” He cracked a smile right back at her, the hint of a joke in his voice. At least he hadn’t completely scared her off. “I’m a big fan of second chances.” Maybe he didn’t know her after all—she didn’t seem to recognize him, and for that he was grateful. 

The girl’s teasing had the smile spreading into a full blown grin. “Oh, I’m so sorry, were you saving this spot for your imaginary friend?” He winked at her. The bartender came back then and held the vodka soda out, and it was only in that moment that Al realized he had forgotten to order a drink of his own. “Can I get a sex on the beach, please? Extra garnish.” He’d started off ordering the drink as a joke years ago to embarrass Dom, but over time it had quickly become a favourite. Turning back to the brunette, he dropped the joking and dug a little deeper, truly curious. “So, are you here alone?”

[xxapotter]

[xxapotter]

puceyavery‌:

        after work drinks with some of the other interns wasn’t avery’s favourite way to spend her evening, but she was trying to get on their good side. they all heard the name pucey and just assumed she’d gotten her place through nepotism - and they weren’t exactly wrong about it. she was here because her family wanted her to be, mostly. sure, she had a degree in political science to rival any of them, but that wasn’t enough, apparently. they still looked at her like she was an imposter, no matter how hard she worked.

          could she really be blamed for hiding from them for a few minutes, sitting at the bar and pretending like she didn’t know the group who seemed far happier without her there anyway? she was surprised, to hear someone speak to her - automatically assuming it was one of the others, until she looked over and realised she didn’t know him. ‘ uh. sure, i guess, ‘ she said ; he looked nice enough - more than, actually. and now that she thought about it, he did seem familiar - though she wasn’t sure why. ‘ vodka soda, ‘ she told the bartender, before turning back to him. ‘ thank you. you have no idea how much i need that. ‘

Vodka soda. Interesting choice. More basic than he had expected, though the clear liquid in the bottom of her glass should have tipped him off. As the bartender turned away, Al slipped onto the barstool beside the girl resting his elbows on the bar and interlacing his fingers as he leaned in ever so slightly. The low lights of the bar obscured the contours of her face ever so slights, but he still couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that he knew her somehow.

“I wouldn’t have pegged you for a vodka soda girl. Then again you’re also too pretty to be drinking alone in this bar.” His smile slipped slightly after the words were out; it was potentially the most cringeworthy thing he had ever said to a woman. He hadn’t even intended to hit on her, just compliment. “I’m sorry.” He let out a little chuckle. “That was really bad. Can we start that again? No terrible lines this time.” He held out his hand to shake. “I’m A-” He stuttered momentarily; his own name was maybe a bit too recognizable. “Adam. I’m Adam.”

[xxapotter]

The night before had turned into one large blur by the time Al had rolled himself onto the hard mattress in his stark white room, and the headache that had greeted him the next morning was nothing but confirmation that he had lost his touch in his time away. Once he had managed to pry himself out of the warmth of his bed, sometime around when he probably should have been eating dinner, a quick text to Alice had confirmed a meeting time and place for their next round of drinks. With nothing else to do and no James in town, he had headed to the bar early, hoping a double whiskey would take the edge off the dull ache that lingered behind his eyes.

The bartender was on the other side of the bar, but Al waved him down quickly, ordering his drink and then finally taking a look at the girl sitting on a bar stool beside him. Gaze flashing back to the drink, then to the girl, Al narrowed his eyes. She was beautiful, but something about her was familiar in a way he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Maybe it was just the she looked like a girl that had stepped out of his dreams, or maybe she just looked like someone he had long forgotten, but either way, he couldn’t stop himself from opening his mouth. “Can I buy you another one of those? While the bartender is here.”

@puceyavery

[xxapotter]

Experience // December 2nd

It was too bloody warm out for December. This wasn’t, of course, to say that it was warm. No, 10 degrees was barely warm, but after months in warmer climates, Al had expected something colder of his return home. As the taxi pulled away, leaving Al and his backpack stranded on the empty London sidewalk, there wasn’t even a hint of snow or a wisp of frozen breath curling through the air like smoke. Heaving a sigh, he hoisted the bag onto his shoulders one last time and looked up at the mystery flat looming above him.

No doorman greeted him inside, just the whirring of the elevator climbing from floor to floor, distant dings alerting his new neighbours of its untimely arrival. The faint smell of stale cigarettes clung to the faded carpet; for the first time since his plane landed, Al felt a smile spread over his face. James had done a downright terrible job of picking the place. It was perfect.

The flat was on the third floor, the front of it overlooking the street below and the back peering down into a brick courtyard lined with moss and something approaching shared patio furniture, the parking lot beyond sparsely filled. Boxes—his boxes, he supposed—were stacked throughout the place, nearly obscuring the couch and any other furniture James had managed to load into the place before taking back off to whatever stadium his team was touring to that week. Al dropped his bag with a thump and dropped his keys into the bowl on the table by the door—Lily’s touch, surely. His eyes barely grazed over the magazine beside it, the sight of his parents’ smiling faces not even registering before he caught sight of the cupcake on the counter.

Birthday twin! The paper beside it proclaimed in Alice Longbottom’s familiar writing, the note below going on to demand his presence that night at a warehouse night club Al had never heard of and to inform him that the flat’s spare key was now her property, as if it would ever belong to anyone else. His dry chuckle filled the silence of the flat. All my love, Alice was how she had signed it, the and James hastily scribbled in his brother’s messy hand below. P.S. Set up your room. Call me when you get in, I’ll be back on Sunday was written below in more of the same script. Tossing the note back, Al bit into the cupcake and wandered down the hall leading toward the bedrooms. The doors were all closed, save for the bathroom, with a sign reading “Albus’s Room” taped firmly to one of them. Reaching out, Al swung the door open to reveal a linen closet, filled with shelves and just enough room to hide a grown man. A bark of laughter erupted from Al’s mouth, cupcake crumbs spraying the second note James had left.

“James, you wanker.” Note in hand, Al followed the directions to his actual room, the nicely sized, if quite empty, behind him. The bed was made, a white comforter on a metal frame, matching the white walls and leaping out from the dark wooden floors. Out the window, a car rolled down the side street, afternoon sun glinting off the shiny hood and back into Al’s eyes. In his pocket, his cell phone vibrated again, incessantly this time—a phone call and not another text to ignore, as he had been since the moment his plane had touched down. Mum flashed in white on the background as he fished it out of his pocket, but his finger hovered over the answer button. For just another moment, he could just be Al, not the future Prime Minister’s son, the rising football star’s brother. He could be as anonymous at home as he had been everywhere else but London.

But it was just a moment. As he picked up and the sound of his mother’s familiar voice washed over him, Al finally felt truly calm for the first time in nearly six months, since he had graduated university and set off on his backpacking adventure, the dread he had felt since the pilot had announced their descent vanished as if through magic.

“Hi Mum.” He could feel her delight even through the phone. “Dinner? I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Finally, he was home.

[itchybutts]

[jackieshaunas]

[riverdaleonline]

You’re a little more dangerous than you look. You have no idea.

[gyllenhala]