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

[mscontrarymary.livejournal.com]

Mary covers a giggle.

"Cute." He looks about six. "Right, laundry. Chuck it here. Oh, uh, it's downstairs. I'll be right back."

She grabs a basket of washing from by the door and dumps his shirt on top. The door shuts behind her.

[captain_fucking_magic]

Harry tries to politely divide his attention between the television and the cat, very much not wondering what the hell is taking her so goddamn long.

Finally, he gets bored with waiting.

"You all right down there, sweetheart?" he calls out. "You didn't like, run out on me or something?"

[mscontrarymary.livejournal.com]

There's clanging and scraping coming from the fire escape. Finally the window flies open and Mary tumbles onto the kitchen counter.

"Didn't you hear me knock?" She's red in the face, like she's just used a bin as a stool so she can haul down the ladder for the fire-escape and then climbed up the ladder and jimmied the window open. "I forgot my key and the back-door slammed..."

[captain_fucking_magic]

Harry is more than a little confused.

"No?"

He points at the door, and then at the window Mary just climbed through, and drops the subject all together.

"Good way to get robbed, letting people see you getting in like that."

Harry should know.

[mscontrarymary.livejournal.com]

"I'm fairly certain it's the way Sherlock lets himself in. And I got lucky, it's bin day."

Mary shrugs. To be honest, since Sherlock started showing up, she's not sure her flat's been empty long enough for someone to rob.

"Anyway, food?"

[captain_fucking_magic]

Harry envies Sherlock's luck if he's been able to let himself in like that whenever he wants without ever having had the cops called on him.

"Uh. Sure," he says. "What's on the menu?"

If he seems a bit stiff and impersonal today, well... he's got a reason for it.

[mscontrarymary.livejournal.com]

"Um, take-aways, I guess. We could go down the shop..."

She laughs, a little nervously.

"Is it just me, or is this a little more awkward than I thought it was going to be?"

[captain_fucking_magic]

"Yeah," Harry agrees. He sits forward, worrying at the hem of the huge fucking shirt she's put him in.

"I, uh. I met someone today. Before you showed up, and I... well, I learned some things. About me."

And his girlfriend. But that goes without saying.

[mscontrarymary.livejournal.com]

Oh for goodness' sake. Another one. How does she do it? Is it a bizarre superpower centred round her vagina? At least it's not a big get-together this time.

And there he is, looking like a blooming six year-old in an enormous shirt. Maybe it's the shirt. Darren wore the shirt that one time, didn't he?

She doesn't say any of this, but sits next to Murphy again, and scratches his ear.

"Alright, I'm listening."

[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."