Miranda's hidden talents - contact juggling!
Title: Practice Makes Perfect
Rating: PG
Pairing: None - it just didn't want to be slashy. It is rather sweet though.
Summary: Miranda has hidden talents. . .
Disclaimer: Not mine - although I do own a contact juggling ball!
Author's Note: This was just going to be a drabble, but turned into a ficlet when I wasn't looking. Hope it amuses!
Miranda Priestly is a woman of many talents. This wouldn't come as a surprise to anyone - until they learn that said talents do not lie solely in the world of fashion.
Miranda hates to be bored - even when she's not doing anything, she has to be doing something. As a child, she used to spin pens, knew every trick with a yo-yo that there was and had even invented a few. She can't keep a yo-yo on her desk, of course - but she can keep a selection of crystal spheres of various sizes. Paperweights? Well, yes, amongst other things.
Her assistants would never mention the fact that when Miranda is thinking, chair turned towards the window - she will often pick up one of the 'paperweights', and make it dance. She doesn't watch what she's doing, it's soothing. But she's very good. Still, it wouldn't do for it to get out that she does something so juvenile - so no-one talks about it.
Andy Sachs, on the other hand. . . Well, Andy has never been too good at picking up on the nuances, what should and shouldn't be talked about. So, the first time she sees Miranda playing with her toys, she gasps with delight and puts the papers she was carrying down on Miranda's desk, forgotten for the moment.
Miranda glares but Andy, for once blissfully oblivious of her boss's disapproval, babbles on.
“Contact juggling! That is so awesome - I spent a few summers at circus school and they taught us how to use those things, I was pretty good but you're fabulous!”
Miranda blinks, opens her mouth, closes it again, and then tosses the ball she's holding to Andy with a challenging half-smile.
Andy catches the ball in an unprecedented display of co-ordination, flips it over onto the back of her hand, the front, the other hand, along her arm and over her elbow. . . and then fumbles it, catching the delicate globe before it has a chance to hit the floor.
She smiles ruefully.
“Guess I'm not as good as I was.” She shrugs, and throws the ball back to Miranda, who catches it and neatly sets it back on the papers Andy brought.
“That is all,” and Andy knows that she is dismissed.
Andy doesn't babble about Miranda's talents again, but from then on, sometimes when she walks into Miranda's office, Miranda will throw a ball at her, and give her that challenging little smile. Andy finds herself getting better.
And at Christmas, along with the usual standard gifts, which have almost nothing to do with Miranda besides her (forged by either Andy or Emily) signature on the card, there is a small package that she wasn't expecting. The note on the card says 'Practice makes perfect - M.P.', and inside is one of Miranda's own crystal balls.
If anyone ever wonders why Miranda Priestly and one of her assistants have matching paperweights, they never ask. And later, years on even, Andy still keeps the memento of her time at Runway sitting on her desk, through a succession of ever larger and more impressive offices. Sometimes, she'll see Miranda at events, and they'll smile at each other, with a quirk of Miranda's eyebrows and twist of Andy's lips that says 'so. Learned any new tricks recently?'
Rating: PG
Pairing: None - it just didn't want to be slashy. It is rather sweet though.
Summary: Miranda has hidden talents. . .
Disclaimer: Not mine - although I do own a contact juggling ball!
Author's Note: This was just going to be a drabble, but turned into a ficlet when I wasn't looking. Hope it amuses!
Miranda Priestly is a woman of many talents. This wouldn't come as a surprise to anyone - until they learn that said talents do not lie solely in the world of fashion.
Miranda hates to be bored - even when she's not doing anything, she has to be doing something. As a child, she used to spin pens, knew every trick with a yo-yo that there was and had even invented a few. She can't keep a yo-yo on her desk, of course - but she can keep a selection of crystal spheres of various sizes. Paperweights? Well, yes, amongst other things.
Her assistants would never mention the fact that when Miranda is thinking, chair turned towards the window - she will often pick up one of the 'paperweights', and make it dance. She doesn't watch what she's doing, it's soothing. But she's very good. Still, it wouldn't do for it to get out that she does something so juvenile - so no-one talks about it.
Andy Sachs, on the other hand. . . Well, Andy has never been too good at picking up on the nuances, what should and shouldn't be talked about. So, the first time she sees Miranda playing with her toys, she gasps with delight and puts the papers she was carrying down on Miranda's desk, forgotten for the moment.
Miranda glares but Andy, for once blissfully oblivious of her boss's disapproval, babbles on.
“Contact juggling! That is so awesome - I spent a few summers at circus school and they taught us how to use those things, I was pretty good but you're fabulous!”
Miranda blinks, opens her mouth, closes it again, and then tosses the ball she's holding to Andy with a challenging half-smile.
Andy catches the ball in an unprecedented display of co-ordination, flips it over onto the back of her hand, the front, the other hand, along her arm and over her elbow. . . and then fumbles it, catching the delicate globe before it has a chance to hit the floor.
She smiles ruefully.
“Guess I'm not as good as I was.” She shrugs, and throws the ball back to Miranda, who catches it and neatly sets it back on the papers Andy brought.
“That is all,” and Andy knows that she is dismissed.
Andy doesn't babble about Miranda's talents again, but from then on, sometimes when she walks into Miranda's office, Miranda will throw a ball at her, and give her that challenging little smile. Andy finds herself getting better.
And at Christmas, along with the usual standard gifts, which have almost nothing to do with Miranda besides her (forged by either Andy or Emily) signature on the card, there is a small package that she wasn't expecting. The note on the card says 'Practice makes perfect - M.P.', and inside is one of Miranda's own crystal balls.
If anyone ever wonders why Miranda Priestly and one of her assistants have matching paperweights, they never ask. And later, years on even, Andy still keeps the memento of her time at Runway sitting on her desk, through a succession of ever larger and more impressive offices. Sometimes, she'll see Miranda at events, and they'll smile at each other, with a quirk of Miranda's eyebrows and twist of Andy's lips that says 'so. Learned any new tricks recently?'