idea_of_sarcasm: (whoheart)
idea_of_sarcasm ([personal profile] idea_of_sarcasm) wrote2006-09-18 04:42 pm

Quiet_ones prompt ficlets

A response to the weekly challenge over at [livejournal.com profile] quiet_ones, because I was bored and I just got the internet working on my fancy new computer.

Prompt: Love is like choking on stage with a mic.
Author: [livejournal.com profile] idea_of_sarcasm
Disclaimer: I’m just borrowing them for a little while
Pairing: Hermione/Draco
Rating: PG
A/N: Rather fluffy. Hell, who am I kidding. Completely fluffy. It feels wrong.



“I love you.”

Hermione coughed violently as her wine went down the wrong way. “Excuse me?” She demanded, grabbing for her glass of water to try and calm her hacking.

Draco looked at her in amusement as he leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest. “You just wanted to make me repeat it, didn’t you?”

“No,” she replied in shock, shaking her head. “But you said....you don’t....you never....”

“You thought this was just shagging then?” he made his voice light, but even she could hear the hurt behind the words.

“Yes!” She replied instinctively, “I mean no. I mean....you never said anything.”

“That’s what tonight is for,” he replied, gesturing to the fancy spread on the table, complete with candles and wine. Nobody could say that Malfoy’s didn’t do it with style. No simple moonlight walk like Viktor, no blurting it out during sex like Ron. “I know you don’t like romance, but it seemed appropriate under the circumstances. I didn’t know I should have gone all out and brought a diamond necklace just to make my declaration of love more palatable to you.”

“It’s not that,” she was quick to reassure him, even though her thoughts were racing. “It’s just a....surprise, that’s all.” And it was a bit of a shock that he would say it at all. He was far from being sentimental, and the closest he had even come to open affection in the past was telling her that he loved sex.

He seemed a little mollified at her explanation, but he still had a perplexed expression on his face. She supposed that this wasn’t going according to script for him. She knew Draco liked to plan things out to the most minute detail. She was sure that if she had reacted with the expected amount of happiness at his statement, there would be violinists ready to serenade them. And she had completely ruined the moment, although with her that was to be expected.

She opened her mouth to respond in kind, knowing that was what he wanted, but the words stuck in her throat. And as Draco looked at her expectantly, the declaration he was hoping for just wouldn’t come.

It made no sense. When Viktor had hesitantly declared his affection she had automatically repeated in kind, without even contemplating it. When Ron had blurted it out, she had reciprocated, laughing even as he turned beet red in embarrassment. But here was Draco, the man she had been with twice as long as the two of them combined, the man whom she had moved across the world for with no promises of commitment, the man whom she slept with despite their mutual history, and she couldn’t say a thing.

The fact that she meant it more than she had ever meant anything in her entire life was probably the reason she found it so hard to say. She had never really had the appropriate sentiment behind a declaration of love before. She had cared for them, but she had never really loved the men she had been with. The words had never been more than that; three little words that meant nothing except that it made the man she was with smile.

So she felt like a deer caught in the headlights, unable to even choke out the words that Draco wanted to hear.

“You’re such a girl,” was all she could mutter, wiping away tears that were forming in the corners of her eyes.

She watched the expression on Draco’s face change. He didn’t smile - Draco Malfoy never smiled. He sneered, he smirked, but he never let his face express happiness. But as he leaned back against his chair and picked up the menu, his eyes lit up in a way she hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Hermione?” he never even raised his eyes from the menu when he spoke her name.

“Yes?” she replied briskly, trying to push aside her emotional meltdown.

“Don’t worry, I know.”


*****************************************************************

Prompt: Love is like peanut butter.
Author: [livejournal.com profile] idea_of_sarcasm
Disclaimer: I’m just borrowing them for a little while
Pairing: Hermione/Blaise
Rating: PG-13



“I’ve decided that love is like peanut butter,” Hermione declared the words, flopping down on the couch beside Ginny and resting her feet on the coffee table in front of them.

She realized after she’d said it that the statement seemed nonsensical. But that was to be expected; she and Ginny were well into their second bottle of firewhisky and had no plans of stopping. She hiccupped delicately before taking another gulp from her glass.

“You’re going to have to explain that one Hermione,” Ginny had begun to slur her words a little, even as she refilled Hermione’s glass. “I don’t even think that would make sense if I was stone cold sober.”

“There are many varieties of peanut butter,” Hermione explained. “There’s smooth peanut butter, there’s crunchy peanut butter. There’s honey-roasted varieties, there’s whole nut varieties. There’s kinds mixed with chocolate, there’s kinds mixed with honey. There’s cinnamon raisin peanut butter, white chocolate peanut butter, and even a spicy peanut butter. But even though they are all so different, they are still inherently peanut butter.”

“You’re trying to rationalize the relationship you have with Blaise again, aren’t you?” Ginny replied dryly, more perceptive than she should be under the influence. “I think we’ve been over this a million times Hermione, in many different ways. “

Hermione looked panicked for a moment, “And you’ve still never mentioned a word of this to Harry or Ron, right?”

“No,” Ginny quickly sought to placate her friend. “I can keep a secret. Well, at least your secrets. Angelina deserved to know that Fred and George were switching up with her. Besides, I don’t think Harry and Ron are capable of hearing about your love life without having a brain meltdown.”

“I love him, and he loves me,” Hermione said the words, but they weren’t declared with certainty. “It’s just…..it’s just……”

“Yours is a spicy kind of peanut butter,” Ginny giggled at the statement, unable to take the analogy seriously.

Hermione shot her a look, “This isn’t funny.”

“It is. Just a little bit,” Ginny admitted, “Although this is coming from a girl whose peanut butter is as smooth as it gets. Harry blushed for days the first time I suggested, uh, ‘buying’ the crunchy brand. And we’ve never even contemplated the spicy.”

“Ok, now I’m confused, are we talking about love or sex?”

Ginny shrugged, “What’s the difference?”

“I don’t know,” Hemione sighed. “And that’s part of the problem I’m having.”

“The first step is to stop comparing Blaise to all the other men you’ve known,” Ginny instructed, waving her glass in the air. “So he’s not the type to worship you as some mortal goddess, refusing to sully you. If you’ll remember, that’s why you broke up with Viktor. And he’s not like Seamus, who, let’s face it, writes some pretty good poetry for a straight man. So he’s never going to buy you chocolates, or send you flowers at work, so what? That’s not what defines love. And so what if you express that love a little more, uh, enthusiastically than most couples? It doesn’t mean you don’t love each other, I think it means you do.”

She nodded for emphasis before continuing, “Actually, I know it does. I don’t think anything less than love would make you as sexually adventurous as you’ve been.”

“Don’t make me regret telling you about my sex life,” Hermione threatened. “I would kill Blaise if I ever found out he had told any of his friends about the specifics.”

Ginny looked a little wistful, “Don’t worry, I won’t. Because then you might stop,” she took a large gulp of firewhiskey before continuing, “and then I’d have nobody to live vicariously through. Because I think Harry and I are destined to embody a new variety of peanut butter.”

Hermione raised her eyebrows questioningly when Ginny broke off, and the girl sighed a little glumly before replying. “Vanilla.”

[identity profile] kendas.livejournal.com 2006-09-18 09:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Heh! I'm so glad you were bored. So, so glad.

I loved the reversal in the first one. I loved Draco's I know, and I loved the casualness of it all.

And the second made me giggle. Ginny's 'vanilla' was lovely.

[identity profile] kendas.livejournal.com 2006-09-18 09:40 pm (UTC)(link)
P.S. I moved to friend you. I hope that's okay. *Grins like a cheshire*
ext_23449: Book addict icon (whoheart)

[identity profile] idea-of-sarcasm.livejournal.com 2006-09-18 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
No problem (*friending* back). After multiple back and forth posts.

[identity profile] justmehere1971.livejournal.com 2006-09-18 10:32 pm (UTC)(link)
lasdkforuefjsaldfjoaiejd!

Those were both sweet and hilarious.

I can just see Draco sitting there, all pouty like. And the last line...beautiful.

Peanut butter? varieties? Oh MY! lol Ya know, I think that is why I have a problem with Harry/Ginny. Sometimes it can be written just right, and it smokes the screen. But most times...leaves me cold. Heh. Vanilla.

I am cracking up. It was a good bit o laughter-inducing fiction. Good job.

TA
ext_23449: Book addict icon (Default)

[identity profile] idea-of-sarcasm.livejournal.com 2006-09-19 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, that whole varities thing just came to me when I did a search for peanut butter online. And as for Harry/Ginny, for me to buy them as anything more than 'vanilla', it needs to be really well written, but it can be done.

Glad you liked it, and I'm not the only one who got amusement out of them.

[identity profile] arielluvsdraco.livejournal.com 2006-09-19 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
Oh I loved them! Very cute, especially poor little Ginny and her 'vanilla' peanut butter.

In the first one Draco's actions were so....him, and it was sweet. The last lines in both were great.
ext_23449: Book addict icon (jblesbian)

[identity profile] idea-of-sarcasm.livejournal.com 2006-09-19 04:00 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks, glad you liked them; and I'm partial to the last lines myself. And I'm glad you thought Draco was, well, Draco - I didn't want to make him too OOCly sweet.

[identity profile] the-unfortunate.livejournal.com 2006-09-19 07:01 am (UTC)(link)
So seeing as I'm allergic to Hermione/Blaise, I read the Draco/Hermione drabble and let me say that it was fabulous. Just like she-who-must-ALWAYS-spreak-her-mind Hermione to be choked up when she really wants to say something. And the last sentence... a very good mix of smug! Draco, and cannonly-sweet! Draco [though I like to think its in his JK Rowling given personality to say that].

Tricia
ext_23449: Book addict icon (scretagentman)

[identity profile] idea-of-sarcasm.livejournal.com 2006-12-27 08:02 am (UTC)(link)
I see now that you replied to this months ago, but I'm rather anal about replying to feedback that is left even if I missed it the first time around somehow. I'm so glad that you liked the Draco/Hermione drabble - although I would like to suggest reading the Hermione/Blaise one, considering he's not technically in it :)