Round Two

[captain_fucking_magic]

Harry's still rather new to this whole Milliways business, and it takes him a good while to accept the fact that he went through the front door from Perry's house, and has now gone back through that same door to find himself in a completely different house.

He's going to ignore the whole other country business all together. For now.

"That's, uhm... What the fuck?"

OK, he wasn't sure what was going to happen, but this was not it.

Comments

[captain_fucking_magic]

Oh, this is dumb. This is really, really dumb.

"Did you ever have that one person who, you know, got away?" he asks. "I ran back into mine, over Christmas. She hasn't given me the time of day since, but I, uh..."

How the hell do you explain that you met your not-quite-future-self, who gave you a bit of inside information?

[mscontrarymary.livejournal.com]

This calls for more wine. Mary refills her glass.

"So... You're waiting for her to call you? You'll just come home and there'll be a trail of rose-petals to your couch, or maybe the bed if your scary room-mate isn't home?"

She immediately feels bad. But she feels like she knows this tune, or one very similar to it.

[captain_fucking_magic]

Harry shrugs dramatically. "I don't know. He didn't say."

But, you know. All the awkward now.

"But, hey. If it doesn't go as he said..."

Or, rather, if it goes as other!Harry implied.

[mscontrarymary.livejournal.com]

"I guess I am a decent back-up. I'm not even in the same country, so there's no pressure."

A little bitter, but she feels she's got the right to be.

[captain_fucking_magic]

If it's any consolation, Harry does look properly sorry.

He looks like he's about to say something for a moment, but only shrugs instead.

[mscontrarymary.livejournal.com]

There's a silence, as Mary weighs up the pros and cons and what to do next.

"Well, you know what you have to do now, of course. Call her."

Not quite as satisfying as a few of the options she had lined up, but probably the most honourable.

[captain_fucking_magic]

Yeah, this went well.

"Listen, you're not, like, a last resort, ok?" he says. "I just... I didn't think I had a chance with Harmony."

Hey, at least he's not coming out at her.

[mscontrarymary.livejournal.com]

Mary's narration is giving Harry's narration such a look right now.

"Well, that's nice for you, anyway." Mary shrugs. Anyone else, she'd say it wouldn't work, but who knows? She sets down the wine glass. Possibly later, she will eat the rest of the ice-cream in the fridge and finish the wine, but right now it seems rude.

"Do you want to eat something? I haven't had dinner yet."

[captain_fucking_magic]

"Uhm... I feel like an ass, actually." He cringes, not really sure what he should be doing right now.

"Not that I'm gonna turn a free meal. I mean, if you're not gonna kick me out. Which I wouldn't blame you if you did. But, sure. If you're offering."

[mscontrarymary.livejournal.com]

"Why would I kick you out?"

Mary grins a bit. It's not often she has the upper hand with a boy.

"You're nice, and you make me laugh. And you feel like an arse. Which you should, but I don't see why that should get in the way of having a pretty good evening. And I found Iron Man."

[captain_fucking_magic]

Harry shrugs dramatically. "Because most people would?"

Hell, he'd kick him out.

At the mention of Iron Man, he realises that she's probably getting her revenge on him in a needlessly elaborate way.

"Oh, God. Yeah, all right."

He's in for one hell of an embarrassing night, isn't he?

[mscontrarymary.livejournal.com]

Only if she puts on Sherlock Holmes. Which she might.

"Alright. Take-away menus on the fridge, you pick." Mary goes over to the telly, and fiddles with the telly. "Oh... Or should we go and pick something up? I have to buy milk. Have you ever seen London?"

[captain_fucking_magic]

Harry gets up to look at the menus and shakes his head.

"Don't have a passport," he says. "Not that, you know, I can't. I just never bothered. I'm pretty sure I can if I wanted to, though."

Basically, no. He's never seen London.

[mscontrarymary.livejournal.com]

"Well, we'll have to fix that. We can go down the shop whilst the food arrives."

Mary looks down and stifles a giggle. Everything about this person is ridiculous. "And you'll need shoes. What size are you?"

[captain_fucking_magic]

Mary isn't the first person to think this about Harry. She could probably say it aloud and he'd just shrug.

"Ten? Ten-and-a-half. Depends on the brand, usually."

He's frowning at an Indian menu, trying to work out what half of the stuff on it is.

[mscontrarymary.livejournal.com]

"Really? Huh..." Mary twists her mouth, vexed. She goes back into her bedroom. You never know with such things...

"Ahaha. Here we go. Darren must have left them here." She returns with a pair of cheap canvas shoes. "Someone did, anyway. They might fit, I'm not sure what the conversion thing is."

[captain_fucking_magic]

Harry's finding all this a bit difficult to keep up with, but that's pretty much par for the course.

"Oh. Uhm. OK."

Hey, at least she's not yelling at him. This day could have gone much worse.

He takes the shoes and puts them on. They're a bit big on him, but it probably doesn't help that his idea of tying them is just pulling the laces tight and letting them just dangle.

What can we say? He's a bit of a child sometimes.

[mscontrarymary.livejournal.com]

"Do you know how to lace shoes? You'll fall over, and knowing this place, onto broken glass. And I'd hate for that pretty face to get ruined. I'm sure your young lady and possibly scary room-mate would agree."

Mary picks up the Indian menu.

"Do you want curry?"

[captain_fucking_magic]

"No, it's fine. We're not going very far anyway, are we?"

He tucks the laces into the side of the shoes, though. Easier than tying them, apparently.

"I don't know. Is it good?"

[mscontrarymary.livejournal.com]

"Have you never had curry?" This seems completely unthinkable. "Gosh. Okay, we're getting Indian. Do you like chicken, beef or lamb? Also, how do you feel about spicy food?"

[captain_fucking_magic]

"Uh... Yes?"

That's a lot of questions at once. 'Yes' seems like a safe answer for most of them.

[mscontrarymary.livejournal.com]

He's really not very bright, is he? Mary feels a bit protective, and considers tying him to her belt when they actually leave the house. No, wait, that would probably be mad. Probably. He looks the wandering off type.

"Okay. I'll order something and you can try a bit of everything. And they're pretty good about taking half an hour to get here, so we can bob down the shop."

Mary grabs the housephone and makes a quick phone-call.

"Come on." She grabs his hand (she doesn't have string to attach him to anything anyway) and drags him out.

[captain_fucking_magic]

No, he really isn't. But he tries, so that must count for something, right?

"OK, I'm not really sure what you just said, because I'm pretty sure half of that wasn't even English."

He follows after without protest anyway, and once they're outside, can't hide the slight amount of wide-eyed wonder at actually being in London. At this point, he's pretty much ready to believe anything he hears about Milliways.

Also, Mary should be pleased to discover, he's not really much of the wondering off type. If anything, he's the can't-really-shake-him-off type.

[mscontrarymary.livejournal.com]

Mary grins at his face and resists the urge to pinch his cheeks. Clearly its a survival mechanism. Cute the enemy into confusion.

"This is Brixton." She points around her. "That street goes to the river, and to the bit they like to film for rom-coms and things. And that way goes to Hyde Park, and that way will take you to the Meridian line." She squeezes his hand and hauls him down the street.

"You should come back in daylight sometime. We'll have a proper look round."

[captain_fucking_magic]

Hey, don't knock it. It's worked before with excellent results.

"Do I look like I watch rom-coms?" Harry asks. He's trying to sound macho, but failing a bit. Harry's never been good at macho.

"Hey, I won't get in trouble for being here, will I?" he asks. "Like, they won't ask to see my ID and then arrest me because I don't have any papers or anything, will they?"

Hey, when you've lived the sort of life Harry has, you learn to be cautious as hell about everything. How do you think he's still alive?