Unsaid (PG; Susan/Michael)
Title: Unsaid
Date/Challenge: 10 - such a feeling must be love at 30_hath and 87 - snuggle at potterverse100.
Character/Pairing: Susan Bones/Michael Corner
Rating: PG
Word Count: 580
Author's Note: Something before the "ring" episode I wrote previously. For Ilex who has always inspired this Susan.
“You really make me angry. You know that? What is it about you that makes me-“
It was hard to continue ranting with Michael’s lips pressed against hers. Their fights lately had been ending like this, with one of them stopping the other with a kiss before something truly destructive could be said.
“Better?” he asked as he let her come up for air.
She shook her head sadly. “No. If we don’t talk some of this stuff out, it’s only going to get worse. I agree that some things can be worked out like this but there is a core of mistrust… no, don’t try to kiss me. I’m being serious, Michael.”
“You’re always serious,” he groaned. “I thought I was supposed to be the wise old owl of the relationship. Sometimes, you’re worse than Padma.”
This remark shut Susan up. For a moment, at least. “I think that’s the most horrible thing you’ve ever said to me, Michael Corner. You just compared me to another girl. Not just another girl but a girl you dated for a month your first year here. The perfect girl.”
She could tell he realized his mistake right away, his cheeks draining of color and his hands falling to his sides, but she was too hurt to let him out of this gracefully. They’d skirted the issue of this other girl as carefully as possible, never bringing it up in conversation or in fights. When Susan encountered Padma, usually when she visited the Ravenclaw Common Room, she was more than polite but she knew that she could never be friends with this girl.
It wasn’t that she was jealous but that there had been natural assumptions when the two brighter minds of Ravenclaw got together that they were “meant” for each other. When Michael’s attentions turned toward a different house altogether, there had been speculation that he’d somehow lost some of that sparkling intellect. All this talk hadn’t been lost on Susan. She knew she’d come into this relationship with two strikes against her. Ever rising to the challenge, she’d decided that she was going to make this work - or die trying. Ignoring Padma was simply the best way she knew of dealing with the situation because the last thing she needed was jealousy creeping into this thing that some might call love.
“I love you,” she whispered in a broken voice, letting a few tears escape from eyes that very seldom leaked like this. “Why did I have to say that right now? I was kind of hoping for a better moment to say that. It’s why I’ve been so concerned about actually working through some of these things.”
“I didn’t mean… I shouldn’t… I’m sorry.”
Susan grew paler. “For what I said?”
He pulled her to him, fitting her head under his chin so that he was talking into her hair and not to her haunted eyes. “No, not for that. I’m sorry for not allowing us to work through this. I’ve just been so afraid that you’d get so angry with me that you’d walk away. I couldn’t bear it if you did that.”
“Say the words,” she said into his shirt.
“I love you, too. I think I have for a long time but I think I was waiting for a better time, too. Why don’t we find a better place to talk? I promise not to kiss you until we’re done.”
“No, this is good enough for me.”
Date/Challenge: 10 - such a feeling must be love at 30_hath and 87 - snuggle at potterverse100.
Character/Pairing: Susan Bones/Michael Corner
Rating: PG
Word Count: 580
Author's Note: Something before the "ring" episode I wrote previously. For Ilex who has always inspired this Susan.
“You really make me angry. You know that? What is it about you that makes me-“
It was hard to continue ranting with Michael’s lips pressed against hers. Their fights lately had been ending like this, with one of them stopping the other with a kiss before something truly destructive could be said.
“Better?” he asked as he let her come up for air.
She shook her head sadly. “No. If we don’t talk some of this stuff out, it’s only going to get worse. I agree that some things can be worked out like this but there is a core of mistrust… no, don’t try to kiss me. I’m being serious, Michael.”
“You’re always serious,” he groaned. “I thought I was supposed to be the wise old owl of the relationship. Sometimes, you’re worse than Padma.”
This remark shut Susan up. For a moment, at least. “I think that’s the most horrible thing you’ve ever said to me, Michael Corner. You just compared me to another girl. Not just another girl but a girl you dated for a month your first year here. The perfect girl.”
She could tell he realized his mistake right away, his cheeks draining of color and his hands falling to his sides, but she was too hurt to let him out of this gracefully. They’d skirted the issue of this other girl as carefully as possible, never bringing it up in conversation or in fights. When Susan encountered Padma, usually when she visited the Ravenclaw Common Room, she was more than polite but she knew that she could never be friends with this girl.
It wasn’t that she was jealous but that there had been natural assumptions when the two brighter minds of Ravenclaw got together that they were “meant” for each other. When Michael’s attentions turned toward a different house altogether, there had been speculation that he’d somehow lost some of that sparkling intellect. All this talk hadn’t been lost on Susan. She knew she’d come into this relationship with two strikes against her. Ever rising to the challenge, she’d decided that she was going to make this work - or die trying. Ignoring Padma was simply the best way she knew of dealing with the situation because the last thing she needed was jealousy creeping into this thing that some might call love.
“I love you,” she whispered in a broken voice, letting a few tears escape from eyes that very seldom leaked like this. “Why did I have to say that right now? I was kind of hoping for a better moment to say that. It’s why I’ve been so concerned about actually working through some of these things.”
“I didn’t mean… I shouldn’t… I’m sorry.”
Susan grew paler. “For what I said?”
He pulled her to him, fitting her head under his chin so that he was talking into her hair and not to her haunted eyes. “No, not for that. I’m sorry for not allowing us to work through this. I’ve just been so afraid that you’d get so angry with me that you’d walk away. I couldn’t bear it if you did that.”
“Say the words,” she said into his shirt.
“I love you, too. I think I have for a long time but I think I was waiting for a better time, too. Why don’t we find a better place to talk? I promise not to kiss you until we’re done.”
“No, this is good enough for me.”