Fic: Still Waters (Cho/Angelina) PG
Title: Still Waters
Author: corvidae9
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~2005
Summary: Cho is sidetracked by an impractical, disruptive, and wholly irresistible crush. (Cho/Angelina)
Author's Notes: Written for rosacurry for witchwinter 2005. Happy holidays! :D Title help from gail_b :x when my brain was omgallgone, Proofed by the awesome juice817 <3.
Author's Website: my fics and drabbles are archived in my lj memories :)
Holyhead Harpies fans are, on the whole, usually relatively polite around the players. Today however, they're rabid and Cho wants to ask whether the per-game pint restriction has been rescinded though the game has yet to begin. As she stands and signs photos and pennants and smiles and shakes hands, it seems that there are more than the usual share of men shouting for phone numbers and Floo addresses.
The hand that grazes her arse and makes her jump in surprise would suggest that there are definitely more aggressive adults than children in the crowd. It's beginning to get a little claustrophobic until Angelina moves to stand next to her, murmuring, "I love it. 'Slike we're rockstars or something, innit?"
With what amounts to a small smile as compared to Angelina's huge grin, Cho signs another autograph for a young man who she realizes is currently eyeing her up and down openly. Vaguely disgusted, she thrusts his program back at him and wishes him a surly good day in response to his lame pickup line. He frowns and takes offense, stepping back with his chin in the air, grumbling something about 'dyke'.
Not surprised, Cho still winces internally, though otherwise ignoring him as she reaches out to shake the hand of a nearby woman in the crowd. Her greeting, however, is drowned out by a collective gasp as Angelina drops what she's signing and grabs the bloke by the front of his shirt, snarling, "Apologize."
It's obvious that she's taller than he is, but what he had no way of knowing before now is that she's also meaner and more Gryffindor than anyone Cho has ever met. The bloke whines about pressing charges, but all it takes is for Angelina to lean a little closer, to set her jaw and narrow her eyes and he immediately stammers a 'sorry' and pulls away.
It's also obvious that she let him go. If she hadn't been through with him, he'd not have gone anywhere. Likely he would not have been in a state to go anywhere, but it's apparent she's learned a little restraint since school.
The bloke straightens his collar as his mates thump him on the shoulder and mock him mercilessly as he backs away. Angelina takes the dropped pennant back from the fan, spares an amused glance for Cho, and finishes her narrow scrawl, adding her jersey number with a flourish and another brilliant grin and it's as if there had been no trouble at all.
The woman shaking Cho's hand nods and grins in approval. The adolescent girl at her side stares at Angelina in awe and sighs, "I want to be just like her".
Cho can't help a snort of wry amusement at that as she ruffles the girl's hair, her eyes still on Angelina, too. "We all do, love."
###
Cho has the Snitch in her sights and her heart is slamming wildly against her ribcage as the wind whistles past her, though anything outside of the Snitch is peripheral right now. The crowd, the Puddlemere Seeker marking her, the Bludgers she knows for a fact the Beaters will keep off of her-- nothing is really there right now save for the beat of tiny metallic wings just about there--
Her fingers stretch to reach it and it suddenly banks, but Cho has already nudged her broom in the pertinent direction and it's an easy catch. Its sharp feathery wings beat fruitlessly at her hand as she raises it over her head and shouts, "YES!"
The Puddlemere Seeker shouts another single-syllable word that is not nearly as jubilant, though after he scrubs his hand across his face, he holds out a hand to her. "Fucking brilliant you are. Good show." Cho pants her thanks as they shake, and he wheels his broom away. The final score is announced and the Harpies begin circling her with whooping cries of victory. The crowd noise is propelled to deafening, and suddenly Angelina is hovering directly in front of her, grinning.
Hands on Cho's cheeks, Angelina pulls her up and plants a loud, smacking theatrical kiss directly on her lips, smirking and pulling away, fist in the air to lead the victory lap around the stadium.
This in itself is not such a strange occurrence, and as such, the rest of the team wastes no time whooping and circling, Cho at the far end of the right wing of the loose formation.
Also not necessarily strange --though perhaps more disturbing-- is the fact that the noise in Cho's mind has died down again. Her teammates and the crowd and the scoreboard flashing "Harpies Win!" have all receded into the background, and yet again, there's only one thing flying just ahead and to the left that exists at the moment.
The Snitch, however, is still struggling in her hand.
Angelina turns and points to Cho with a grin and the crowd goes wild one last time as they descend to the surface of the pitch and hop gracefully from their brooms.
Cho has one word on low repeat in her mind: Buggerall. But then these days around Angelina, that happens quite a bit.
###
Cho walks off the pitch at the rear of the team and thinks about Angelina, who is naturally at the front of the group. Or rather, she does not think about Angelina, or perhaps it is that she tries to not think of her and in doing so does it anyway. Either way, she's starting to sound like Loony Lovegood and that's never all right, even if it's not out loud.
McDevitt, the Keeper, slaps her suddenly on the back and shouts, "Up Harpies!" and the sheer energy from the crowd reminds Cho to make the distracted effort to smile and high-five fans along the way. Especially deserved, she thinks, since most of them are screaming her name. Walking taller, the grin becomes more firm, the waves more genuine and by the time she hits the locker room, she's as near to bouncing as she gets.
Until of course she stops dead, the inner door left to slam behind her as she catches sight of Angelina, currently stripping without pretense and walking directly into the showers. McDevitt opens the door and steps right into Cho, cursing good-naturedly about Seekers with oversized egos, shoving her aside and fortunately breaking her line of sight.
Pursing her lips, Cho walks to her locker and carefully begins removing her kit and unbraiding her hair.
###
Cho is by nature quiet, the eptiome of still waters running deep. Anyone who knew her in passing during her sixth year may find that to be an hilarious statement, but that was a long time ago and her good friends know better. Or rather, if she had good friends, they'd know better. Marietta used to know better, at least, but that was also a long time ago and Marietta has been otherwise engaged resting in peace in the family plot for well over two years now.
The War took a lot of people's friends and lovers, but Cho has made peace with that, too. She was glad to see it end; glad to be able to play Quidditch; glad to be alive in spite of everything.
Cho is also a pragmatist and measures her life by what is and what is not. Her list of Things That Are begins as follows:
1) The Earth is Round, for the most part
2) She is a brilliant Seeker and can honestly think of only five better in recent history.
3) She has a great, devastating crush on Angelina Johnson, Captain of the Holyhead Harpies, generally fearless Gryffindor.
Ducking her head to allow the water to wash through her long hair and down her back, it occurs to her that the fact that the rest of the list has become irrelevant speaks volumes regarding the truth behind item number three. Why it's a problem is still not entirely clear, but eventually if she applies the proper logic, she'll have a better answer.
###
Back in the locker room, hair wrapped in a warm towel, Cho slips her plain jeans and thick jumper on over sensible yet elegant underthings, lost in thought.
Angelina's face pops over the side of the open locker door and Cho gasps, cursing under her breath.
"Chang! What are you up to tonight?"
Glaring, albeit unsteadily, Cho raises an eyebrow. "Dinner with my sister, followed by a glass of wine, a good book and a fat, warm Mara cat. You?"
Looking vaguely disgusted-yet-amused, Angelina laughs. "'S Saturday, girl. We've got places to be."
Cho shakes her head with a smile that is a little too nervous, a little too false. "Yeah, and what great adventure are you all up to tonight, then?"
Angelina cracks a cocky grin, her shimmery dark violet lips glistening in some ridiculously complimentary shade of liptint and Cho fights not to stare. "Convincing you to come out with us. Let's go."
"Hmm?"
Leaning on the door, Angelina quirks an eyebrow. "Out. You. Come with us. Let's go."
Cho swallows, nonchalant. "Us?"
"The team? Holyhead Harpies, UK?" Grin intact, Angelina shuts the locker door and Cho has to rip her eyes away to keep from staring and blushing furiously at the tight ribboned corset and sleek black trousers that Cho would never own much less wear in public. This, she supposes, is part of the problem.
Actually, as Angelina closes the distance between them, Cho realizes that she is in fact still staring and knows she should be embarassed or abashed, possibly apologetic, but isn't. She's too petrified - there's no room for anything else between her heart hammering in her chest and her mouth gone impossibly dry.
Angelina doesn't give her a chance to answer as she reaches out and tugs on the hem of Cho's jumper, a seemingly innocent gesture but for the utterly predatory look in her eye, and Cho's breath hitches in her throat. "Me, actually. Can you spare some time to celebrate with your teammate?"
At this point, Cho is entirely lost, though her gaze seems to have dragged up the long column of Angelina's smooth throat and come to rest somewhere more acceptably near her sparkling, honey-light eyes. "I just... I mean... I just didn't think..."
An exasperated sigh escapes Angelina's shiny lips and Cho's heart breaks a little in the split-second between the sigh and when Angelina steps right up to her, so close that Cho can smell her shampoo. "That's the problem, Chang... Stop thinking."
Oddly, this is easy to accomplish temporarily, given that Angelina is now leaning to press her lips to Cho's own, and once again Angelina is the only thing in her frame of reference, the only thing that exists. When Angelina pulls away, Cho finds that her hands are resting on Angelina's hips and pulls them back as if scalded. "I'm-- I'm just afraid that--"
Angelina makes a noise that might either be a huff of laughter or another sigh as she reaches out and drags her thumb along the underside of Cho's lower lip. Her thumb comes away with a hint of her own lipstick, and she shrugs and grins. "Stop that, too."
It occurs to Cho that maybe if Angelina wants to kiss her every time she worries about whether they're too different or whether Cho could keep Angelina interested let alone entertained, things might turn out just fine. Better than fine, maybe, if the way her skin pulls into gooseflesh all over again as Angelina's breath ghosts across her moist lips is any indication.
Better even than that if maybe, maybe they can kiss like this every time; Cho's hands pawing at Angelina's sides and ribcage and waist and hips trying to settle on just one place to come to rest as Angelina's hands cup her face firmly to keep her from escaping.
The rest of the world is more than welcome to fade into the background.
Author: corvidae9
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~2005
Summary: Cho is sidetracked by an impractical, disruptive, and wholly irresistible crush. (Cho/Angelina)
Author's Notes: Written for rosacurry for witchwinter 2005. Happy holidays! :D Title help from gail_b :x when my brain was omgallgone, Proofed by the awesome juice817 <3.
Author's Website: my fics and drabbles are archived in my lj memories :)
Holyhead Harpies fans are, on the whole, usually relatively polite around the players. Today however, they're rabid and Cho wants to ask whether the per-game pint restriction has been rescinded though the game has yet to begin. As she stands and signs photos and pennants and smiles and shakes hands, it seems that there are more than the usual share of men shouting for phone numbers and Floo addresses.
The hand that grazes her arse and makes her jump in surprise would suggest that there are definitely more aggressive adults than children in the crowd. It's beginning to get a little claustrophobic until Angelina moves to stand next to her, murmuring, "I love it. 'Slike we're rockstars or something, innit?"
With what amounts to a small smile as compared to Angelina's huge grin, Cho signs another autograph for a young man who she realizes is currently eyeing her up and down openly. Vaguely disgusted, she thrusts his program back at him and wishes him a surly good day in response to his lame pickup line. He frowns and takes offense, stepping back with his chin in the air, grumbling something about 'dyke'.
Not surprised, Cho still winces internally, though otherwise ignoring him as she reaches out to shake the hand of a nearby woman in the crowd. Her greeting, however, is drowned out by a collective gasp as Angelina drops what she's signing and grabs the bloke by the front of his shirt, snarling, "Apologize."
It's obvious that she's taller than he is, but what he had no way of knowing before now is that she's also meaner and more Gryffindor than anyone Cho has ever met. The bloke whines about pressing charges, but all it takes is for Angelina to lean a little closer, to set her jaw and narrow her eyes and he immediately stammers a 'sorry' and pulls away.
It's also obvious that she let him go. If she hadn't been through with him, he'd not have gone anywhere. Likely he would not have been in a state to go anywhere, but it's apparent she's learned a little restraint since school.
The bloke straightens his collar as his mates thump him on the shoulder and mock him mercilessly as he backs away. Angelina takes the dropped pennant back from the fan, spares an amused glance for Cho, and finishes her narrow scrawl, adding her jersey number with a flourish and another brilliant grin and it's as if there had been no trouble at all.
The woman shaking Cho's hand nods and grins in approval. The adolescent girl at her side stares at Angelina in awe and sighs, "I want to be just like her".
Cho can't help a snort of wry amusement at that as she ruffles the girl's hair, her eyes still on Angelina, too. "We all do, love."
###
Cho has the Snitch in her sights and her heart is slamming wildly against her ribcage as the wind whistles past her, though anything outside of the Snitch is peripheral right now. The crowd, the Puddlemere Seeker marking her, the Bludgers she knows for a fact the Beaters will keep off of her-- nothing is really there right now save for the beat of tiny metallic wings just about there--
Her fingers stretch to reach it and it suddenly banks, but Cho has already nudged her broom in the pertinent direction and it's an easy catch. Its sharp feathery wings beat fruitlessly at her hand as she raises it over her head and shouts, "YES!"
The Puddlemere Seeker shouts another single-syllable word that is not nearly as jubilant, though after he scrubs his hand across his face, he holds out a hand to her. "Fucking brilliant you are. Good show." Cho pants her thanks as they shake, and he wheels his broom away. The final score is announced and the Harpies begin circling her with whooping cries of victory. The crowd noise is propelled to deafening, and suddenly Angelina is hovering directly in front of her, grinning.
Hands on Cho's cheeks, Angelina pulls her up and plants a loud, smacking theatrical kiss directly on her lips, smirking and pulling away, fist in the air to lead the victory lap around the stadium.
This in itself is not such a strange occurrence, and as such, the rest of the team wastes no time whooping and circling, Cho at the far end of the right wing of the loose formation.
Also not necessarily strange --though perhaps more disturbing-- is the fact that the noise in Cho's mind has died down again. Her teammates and the crowd and the scoreboard flashing "Harpies Win!" have all receded into the background, and yet again, there's only one thing flying just ahead and to the left that exists at the moment.
The Snitch, however, is still struggling in her hand.
Angelina turns and points to Cho with a grin and the crowd goes wild one last time as they descend to the surface of the pitch and hop gracefully from their brooms.
Cho has one word on low repeat in her mind: Buggerall. But then these days around Angelina, that happens quite a bit.
###
Cho walks off the pitch at the rear of the team and thinks about Angelina, who is naturally at the front of the group. Or rather, she does not think about Angelina, or perhaps it is that she tries to not think of her and in doing so does it anyway. Either way, she's starting to sound like Loony Lovegood and that's never all right, even if it's not out loud.
McDevitt, the Keeper, slaps her suddenly on the back and shouts, "Up Harpies!" and the sheer energy from the crowd reminds Cho to make the distracted effort to smile and high-five fans along the way. Especially deserved, she thinks, since most of them are screaming her name. Walking taller, the grin becomes more firm, the waves more genuine and by the time she hits the locker room, she's as near to bouncing as she gets.
Until of course she stops dead, the inner door left to slam behind her as she catches sight of Angelina, currently stripping without pretense and walking directly into the showers. McDevitt opens the door and steps right into Cho, cursing good-naturedly about Seekers with oversized egos, shoving her aside and fortunately breaking her line of sight.
Pursing her lips, Cho walks to her locker and carefully begins removing her kit and unbraiding her hair.
###
Cho is by nature quiet, the eptiome of still waters running deep. Anyone who knew her in passing during her sixth year may find that to be an hilarious statement, but that was a long time ago and her good friends know better. Or rather, if she had good friends, they'd know better. Marietta used to know better, at least, but that was also a long time ago and Marietta has been otherwise engaged resting in peace in the family plot for well over two years now.
The War took a lot of people's friends and lovers, but Cho has made peace with that, too. She was glad to see it end; glad to be able to play Quidditch; glad to be alive in spite of everything.
Cho is also a pragmatist and measures her life by what is and what is not. Her list of Things That Are begins as follows:
1) The Earth is Round, for the most part
2) She is a brilliant Seeker and can honestly think of only five better in recent history.
3) She has a great, devastating crush on Angelina Johnson, Captain of the Holyhead Harpies, generally fearless Gryffindor.
Ducking her head to allow the water to wash through her long hair and down her back, it occurs to her that the fact that the rest of the list has become irrelevant speaks volumes regarding the truth behind item number three. Why it's a problem is still not entirely clear, but eventually if she applies the proper logic, she'll have a better answer.
###
Back in the locker room, hair wrapped in a warm towel, Cho slips her plain jeans and thick jumper on over sensible yet elegant underthings, lost in thought.
Angelina's face pops over the side of the open locker door and Cho gasps, cursing under her breath.
"Chang! What are you up to tonight?"
Glaring, albeit unsteadily, Cho raises an eyebrow. "Dinner with my sister, followed by a glass of wine, a good book and a fat, warm Mara cat. You?"
Looking vaguely disgusted-yet-amused, Angelina laughs. "'S Saturday, girl. We've got places to be."
Cho shakes her head with a smile that is a little too nervous, a little too false. "Yeah, and what great adventure are you all up to tonight, then?"
Angelina cracks a cocky grin, her shimmery dark violet lips glistening in some ridiculously complimentary shade of liptint and Cho fights not to stare. "Convincing you to come out with us. Let's go."
"Hmm?"
Leaning on the door, Angelina quirks an eyebrow. "Out. You. Come with us. Let's go."
Cho swallows, nonchalant. "Us?"
"The team? Holyhead Harpies, UK?" Grin intact, Angelina shuts the locker door and Cho has to rip her eyes away to keep from staring and blushing furiously at the tight ribboned corset and sleek black trousers that Cho would never own much less wear in public. This, she supposes, is part of the problem.
Actually, as Angelina closes the distance between them, Cho realizes that she is in fact still staring and knows she should be embarassed or abashed, possibly apologetic, but isn't. She's too petrified - there's no room for anything else between her heart hammering in her chest and her mouth gone impossibly dry.
Angelina doesn't give her a chance to answer as she reaches out and tugs on the hem of Cho's jumper, a seemingly innocent gesture but for the utterly predatory look in her eye, and Cho's breath hitches in her throat. "Me, actually. Can you spare some time to celebrate with your teammate?"
At this point, Cho is entirely lost, though her gaze seems to have dragged up the long column of Angelina's smooth throat and come to rest somewhere more acceptably near her sparkling, honey-light eyes. "I just... I mean... I just didn't think..."
An exasperated sigh escapes Angelina's shiny lips and Cho's heart breaks a little in the split-second between the sigh and when Angelina steps right up to her, so close that Cho can smell her shampoo. "That's the problem, Chang... Stop thinking."
Oddly, this is easy to accomplish temporarily, given that Angelina is now leaning to press her lips to Cho's own, and once again Angelina is the only thing in her frame of reference, the only thing that exists. When Angelina pulls away, Cho finds that her hands are resting on Angelina's hips and pulls them back as if scalded. "I'm-- I'm just afraid that--"
Angelina makes a noise that might either be a huff of laughter or another sigh as she reaches out and drags her thumb along the underside of Cho's lower lip. Her thumb comes away with a hint of her own lipstick, and she shrugs and grins. "Stop that, too."
It occurs to Cho that maybe if Angelina wants to kiss her every time she worries about whether they're too different or whether Cho could keep Angelina interested let alone entertained, things might turn out just fine. Better than fine, maybe, if the way her skin pulls into gooseflesh all over again as Angelina's breath ghosts across her moist lips is any indication.
Better even than that if maybe, maybe they can kiss like this every time; Cho's hands pawing at Angelina's sides and ribcage and waist and hips trying to settle on just one place to come to rest as Angelina's hands cup her face firmly to keep her from escaping.
The rest of the world is more than welcome to fade into the background.