Y A X L E Y

"Gentemen! That’s quite enough," she insisted, but she may as well have been speaking to the wall for all the attention they paid her. Gods, just once she’d like to be the biggest person in the room, to have the ability to shove her way in between these two stupid men arguing over who could be more fucking sexist an just bash their heads together until they developed some common sense. 

"Don’t give a fuck what you called her, she’s MINE. You hear me?”

"Excuse me?!" Amelia demanded, staring incredulously at the back of his head as the bouncers dragged Yaxley away. What the hell was going on with him tonight? Picking fights in a pub, defending her honor, getting possessive over her? It made no damn sense and she didn’t have the energy to sort it out. 

She was so done. Hadn’t even made it thirty minutes being out and “normal” and she’d already had enough. Summoning her things, she followed the guards out to the alley, telling herself she was only going out long enough to make sure it wouldn’t turn into a street brawl and then she was going home, getting back into sweat pants, and going to bed. People were stupid and exhausting. 

The sight of Amelia helped alleviate some of the tension. She burned bright and warm like a flame against the cold backdrop of night. He couldn't stand it anymore, drawn in like a moth. Alcohol swirled his senses and out came a string of words he'd never be able to take back.

"Oh, Miss. Bones," Joshua slurred, "I'm quite sick of playing this game with you." His eyes lit up with unabashed admiration as he stumbled towards her. "Surely, you know by now. Part of you must remember."

He caught himself before a fall, steadied himself for a moment, grounded himself. Joshua inclined his chin slowly, arms hanging loosely by his sides. His gaze was stuck on her. Prime, primal desire. Everything he needed and wanted. Oh no, there was no holding back -- not anymore.

"Sick of the whole watching and waiting thing, 'Melia."

So, that’s how this is gonna be now, huh? The words echoed through the outskirts of Gavin’s consciousness but he couldn’t bring himself to reply. He had no idea just what Joshua was talking about, and the pain flaring up his arm was so intense in that moment, he could focus on nothing else. The Mark’s initial sting began to subside, though the tingling hot sensation continued to radiate over the whole of his forearm and Gavin gripped tighter as he made his way around to his desk to take a seat—

And then that insult! 

"Oi, I mean, it’s not… it’s not the nicest office in the Ministry, but it sure as hell isn’t shit, Joshua. God,” Gavin replied defensively, eyebrows furrowing as he self-consciously began to tidy his desk. Loose parchments and quills and candy wrappers and even a couple take-out boxes littered the area. Hey, he couldn’t help it if he was busy and spending time consumed in his tasks helped him to cope and not fucking switch so frequently. Gavin hardly went home anymore.

Gavin grit his teeth as the Mark flared up again, but this time he’d been prepared. Hopefully Red wouldn’t come knocking on his consciousness. With other, important ideas in mind, Gavin hoped his focus would remain on the task at hand so slipping away would be far less likely. Quickly he grabbed his wand and focused on the memory of the fish, on the memory of Kalp using his fingers to lure the flesh-eating little beasts. 

But fuck, his mind was all mixed up! Red and Mallory and Declan and now fucking Kalp, of all people, were throwing memories at him left and right and by the time the silver wisp was pulled from his temple, Gavin had no idea if it was the correct memory or not. He decided not to mention that to Joshua as he corked the small vial of silver substance.

Don't think of it, don't think of it.  Fuck, fuck, no. Concentrate, Joshua.

He chewed his lower lip and squeezed his eyes shut. Then he went for it, certain he'd collected all that he could regarding the fish plus a few images of double d's titty fucking his cock. Shit, he hoped not. Really didn't need that surfacing at his workplace. (Of all the possible images to slip up, he figured it could be a lot worse.)

He flashed a brilliant smile Gavin's way as he deposited the memory, "Well -- that's either the fish or my schlong. Sixty-five percent sure it's the fish." His smile vanished with the feel of his his mark going off again, shooting an angry demand up and down his arm.

"Well, you know what? I hate your office. No wonder you can't get rid of your love handles," Joshua flicked a candy wrapped at Gavin's face, clicking his tongue as the tiny foil smacked Gavin between the eyebrows, "I'm leaving." It was as good of an excuse as any. Depending on his mood, he would apologize to Gavin later.

"Yeah. Fishing. Dunno. Reckon those blokes tried to oblivate us. Lots of things can go wrong when poor magical skill is combined with complicated spell work, but you’d know all about that," Gavin teased, laughing hysterically at his own joke. The laughter did not even subside as the two entered the phone booth and the cool voice burst through an imaginary speaker. Blindly, Gavin dialed the number for the floor they needed and the elevator within the booth descended. When they landed inside the Ministry, Gavin’s laughter had finally begun to subside. Call it nerves or call it what you will, but Gavin was feeling distinctly unpleasant. 

Leading Joshua towards his office, Gavin remained completely silent. What was he to say to the man he’d long since considered his best mate but had not seen in ages, particularly after the hasty, strange attack they’d just been subjected to? His mind was rattled with confusion, both from his own reality and the reality of whatever false memories he’d just been planted with.

His office was situated at the end of a long, dark corridor and just as Gavin reached out to open the door, his right forearm flared up in an intense burn. 

Joshua followed Gavin in what was easily an awkward silence. (Hey -- there was nothing to be said.) The two men hadn't seen each other in Merlin knew how long and Joshua had long since given up trying with Gavin. What once was, no longer was. He'd washed his hands of it. In fact, Joshua was almost afraid to ask how Gavin  had been; didn't want to compare himself to the man.

"So that's how this is gonna be now, huh?" Joshua asked as Gavin went to open the door. The taller man visibly flinched and Joshua had to swallow down the guilt. He hadn't meant for his words to hurt Gavin that much.

He walked into Gavin's office, immediately turned off by how nice it was compared to his little desk out on the fourth floor. "Nice office," he remarked bitterly, "It's rather--shit," his Dark Mark triggered unexpectedly, a rise of panic coming to life in his head.

Gloved hands reached into the murky waters and immediately, a half dozen little creatures made to gnaw off his invading fingers. Luckily, the glove had prepared him for his. He tugged his hand from the water and eyed the red-eyed, fish-like creatures whose blood supposedly possessed ultimate healing powers. Why the Dark Lord needed this was beyond him, but Kalp overheard tales of the prophecy. A fucking prophecy about an ordinary magical couple defying the Dark Lord and he was willing to bet this task had something to do with that. Being used, even for a greater Cause, was not a nice feeling. Kalp longed to be anywhere but here, but his meaty hand instead wrapped around the fish and squeezed it so hard that its eyes popped out.

Gavin stared with blank eyes at the cherry-red phone booth he’d long since meant to enter so as to complete his fucking work day, but could not for the fucking life of him move from the spot of which he was rooted. Confusion was the sharpest of his feelings at the present for he was uncertain what he was remembering, uncertain what had just happened. 

When his hazel eyes landed on Joshua, whose own vacant expression triggered a distant memory trudging through the mud of the swamp, Gavin stepped forward. 

"Aye. You okay, mate?" Gavin asked tentatively, his hand shooting to his temple to massage softly as a headache began to set in.

Damn, he needed to sit down…

So much disorientation. So much of it. Too much of it.

"Yeah... fuck, guess we better report this. So much for getting off early tonight," he grumbled, a very deep frown fixing over Joshua's face as he took a step towards Gavin, eyes still adjusting to the present. His mate was rubbing at his temple, clearly staving off a headache. 

As though Gavin cared. People had far more exciting lives than he did, Merlin knew that much. But a Thai massage? He couldn’t help the face he pulled at the thought of a well-used hand jerking off this stranger. And why was he telling Sturgis so—

The approaching men set Gavin’s entire body on high alert. Ignoring Joshua’s description of the 'new trend,' his hand slipped inside his robe pocket to wrap fingers firmly around willow wand. For fuck’s sake, this was the last thing he needed right now! A petty crime on the streets just outside the Ministry of Magic equaled nearly the same amount of paper work as some of the heftier magical accident cases he’d been on all bleeding day. Sinking into his squashy old love seat with a cup of hot chocolate and his favorite book was sounding better than ever, but clearly that was a long time coming. 

Suddenly and all at once, one of the darkly-dressed men grasped Joshua’s mouth and jabbed a pointed wand deep into his neck as they issued threats. Brilliant. Just fucking brilliant.

"You two are a couple of fuckin’ idiots, you know? We’re right outside the Ministry," Gavin waved his arms around like windmills, pointing out their locale. Still, he removed his wallet (in which he kept nothing of value. It was always best to leave money, besides a spare bit for coffee or food, in his office or at home) and allowed it to fall open. His Department of Magical Law Enforcement Hit Wizard badge popped into view. 

“Shit, Barnaby, he’s an Auror!” Well, no, I’m a fucking Ministry employee, but I’m not about to correct you. 

Apparently ‘Barnaby’ didn’t seem to care. A spark of electricity exploded from his wand and jolted right through Joshua’s entity, causing the man to seize up and jerk as though having a fit. Sturgis cussed under his breath and aimed his wand at the one closest to the other male.

"Let him go and I’ll forgive that offense. Continue, and I will personally assure you wind up in Azkaban.” Idle threats idle threats. We all know you don’t have that power, Gavin. ”Now.”

“— geee — errghhh — eehhh — ahhhghyeee — heeeeghh — eeehhhhggg — achhhghg —" Widened eyes locked onto the nothingness of oblivion straight ahead as Joshua concentrated on the unexpected pain infiltrating his nervous system.

Finally the man retreated and Joshua’s body went so lax he had to catch himself, feet fumbling in a moment of lost balance. “Wh—?!” he breathed out, eyes going crazy with a hard glare at Gavin, “Yer just gonna forgive that offense? Really?!”

One of the man’s hands slid into Joshua’s pockets, started pulling out his shit. Joshua exhaled tersely, cross expression fixed over his features because he felt so very intruded. The robber removed a tin of honey lip balm, an elaborate pocket mirror, a breath mint, a bag of cut up lemons, cucumber cuticle cream, strawberry hand souffle… and then the man groaned to his partner, "Barnaby, I don’t think this one even has a wallet."

Barnaby: “Yeah, and this one’s damned near broke as well.”

Kalp: “This was a foolish idea!”

Barnaby: “Well…  maybe if you hadn’t gotten us fired.”

Kalp: “Knew you would bring that up! Damn it, I’ve had it! I’m gonna make you forget that forever!”

Barnaby: “Don’t you dare try those memory spells again!”

Just like that the two men were at each other’s throats. Joshua exchanged a confused look with Gavin before taking a step back, deciding to bolt when a spell mistakenly hit him, made him go still. A spell had hit Gavin too. Both of these spells planted false memories in both the boy’s brains.

Barnaby and Kalp froze, realizing their mistake.

Barnaby: “See what you did now? Merlin’s beard, we are so fucked.”

Kalp: “Shit! Let’s get outta here, mate!”

Gavin’s right leg protested as he limped (more like hobbled) to lean up against the building. An exaggerated, pained sort of grumble escaped his lips as his face screwed up in clear agony. More than anything, he wished to dart into the phone booth and disappear beneath the city streets to the magical world of the Ministry of Magic if only to save himself of the embarrassment. But with his injured leg (he swore he felt his flesh bruise all the way to the bone), that wasn’t happening fast enough for his taste.

Before he could truly dust himself off, though, Gavin heard explosive, familiar laughter at his side. When he glanced up, he was met with a pair of (sparkling and familiar) eyes, tearing up with amused laughter.

Joshua Yaxley. Very man he’d just written to in order to inform him of his own embarrassment, standing there in the flesh. They’d not really seen one another since before the holidays. It was an avoidance on both their accounts, or so Gavin thought. 

Face flushed, Gavin hardly comprehended a word the other man said, but he was willing to bet that it was far from kind or concerned. Rather than sulk, he forced a smile and shook his head.

"Oi, don’t act as if you’ve never done the same, Yax," Gavin muttered as his hands massaged down his leg. The good news was that it had begun to feel better. He took a cautious step forward, thanking Godric above that his leg didn’t simply give out again. Really, Gavin just wanted to blast through the Ministry, finish off this bloody paperwork, and get the hell out of there.

The last thing he wanted to do was go back to the ministry so he shook his head with a reluctant sigh, “I’m afraid this is where we part ways then, I’m just getting off my shift. Gonna go get ready for ton —-” Joshua swallowed the rest of that sentence, glancing up at the sky for a new direction, “—T—Thai. Yeah. My, uh… my full body Thai massage. Yeah.” And then he pulled a deep breath, feeling rather unsure about his lie. It was too late to turn back now so he added as persuasively as he could, “Complete with a glory hand happy ending!”

[Joshua didn’t know it, but there were two men wearing all black — black shoes, pants, shirt, mask — quickly approaching him from behind. Both men’s eyes locked with Gavin’s. One of them he held a glove covered finger up over his lips, wand aimed at them both in his other hand.]

Okay. Asain Thai massages weren’t something people just told each other without reason. In order to make the lie even more believable Joshua waved his hand and shook his head, “It’s the latest new trendy thing going around, you ought’a try it sometime. You look like you could use a good loosening up, mate, no offense obviously. You look rather stiff.”

[The masked man stood behind Joshua.]

'This is just getting awkward now.’ Joshua thought to himself.

"All righty, well, I’ll just be on my merry w—-" he was cut off by a hand coming up to cover his mouth, wand at his neck.

Date: January 12, 1979 Time: 8:45PM Location: The Ministry of Magic

It was his irrational fear of puddles that made him fall flat on his face in the dark of post-sunset London. Gavin Travers, underpaid employeein the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, had been returning to the office after the longest day in modern history when he made to avoid an oversized puddle that’d gathered by the humble entrance of the Ministry of Magic. He leapt, his long, tired legs aiming to land on the sidewalk but instead his oversized feet caught the lip on the concrete walkway and caused him to fall forward, very nearly straight onto his face in a heavy thud. Hands flew out in front of him, managing to cushion the impact but damn did that hurt!

Uncertain if anyone had seen him, Gavin quickly got to his feet to avoid further embarrassment, his face turning a dark shade of red as pain receptors screamed inside his brain, demanding he fucking stop moving right now and tend to his bruised bones and bloodied knees and hands, but he refused out of pure stubbornness and downright unwillingness to surrender to such weaknesses!

Wanting to appear busy, to appear less alone than he (obviously) was, Gavin pulled from his oversized pocket a small little journal used to communicate with anyone who shared a matching journal- in this case, his friend Joshua who he hadn’t even really seen in months (but dammit he needed to not look so awkward and alone!)

Fucking hell, I just fell in public.

It wasn’t too bad until he put that silver mask on.

Ha, yes! Shift off, party on. Just kidding, time to go and get ready. Grumble grumble, grumble. As Joshua walked through the halls he smiled at a pretty young thing, 'fuck you,' he thought in a condescendingly polite tone to himself, 'fuck you and your night off.' She smiled back because, of course, she could not read his mind. Oh look, another kind looking woman. He tossed a dazzling grin her way too, felt a vein throb somewhere inside of his head because he was growing so sick and tired of hiding himself from literally every single person in his life. No one really knew him.

(Just Evan. Maybe Joshua would be able to work with Evan tonight. God, he fucking hoped. Evan was all he had left, possibly the only thing keeping him grounded.)  Speaking of the ground, just as Joshua reached the exit he spotted Gavin full on face plant right into the sidewalk.

Ouch ?!

Gavin did not simply trip and fall — he was the most enthusiastic klutz Joshua had ever seen! The way he willingly soared through the air made it seem like he knew what he was doing, but then SPLAT. A very large and continuous laugh ripped through Joshua’s lungs, punching the comfortable silence enough for everyone around them to hear.

"Thank you!" Joshua locked eyes with the other male, breathless as he laughed (having the time of life), "I — I — oh my GOD," he keeled forward once more, hands grasping at his gut, eyes forced shut because they were tearing up, "I reheheheally…" he managed breathlessly, still laughing, "—n-n-needed that!" He hadn’t meant to shout, but he couldn’t control his pitch anymore.

"Wow…the healers really did a great job, or…was it not as bad as everyone said?" "I love your hair cut! What a great way to get over trauma — MAKEOVER!" "Good gods, shut up! Didn’t you hear that the freak show who kidnapped her cut her hair? But it is cute, though, right?" "Everybody shut up, Amelia, sweetheart, how are you?"

Amelia gritted her teeth and forced the fake smile to stay in place even as she contemplated ways she could escape. “I’m fine, thank you. Really, I don’t want to talk about me, if that’s alright. This really isn’t the time or the place….we’re here to have fun, right ladies?” she asked, a false brightness in her tone that would have been painfully obvious if it hadn’t been covered by the wailing coming from the stage and the boos from the crowd. 

She turned her head in time to see Yaxley dragged from the stage by security, ignoring the comments from her table about how attractive he was, even if he sounded like a dying cat while singing. When he started fighting the guards, she stood up, her wand in her hand and instinctively began fishing for her badge. Yaxley was acting like a fool, but he was clearly drunk, and yet any misconduct here could lead to a formal sanction for him at the ministry if he wasn’t careful and she did not want the last thing she wanted was for this to turn into an all out brawl. Best to squash it now. 

"Sorry, ladies, duty calls."

"But, Amelia! You’re on leave!”

Don’t fucking remind me, she thought crabbily as she made her way carefully toward where Yaxley was struggling with the guards. She stopped short as he threatened to use the cruciatus curse on the bouncers, her face going pale. She could hear his voice in her ear, feel his body pressed close behind her, holding her to him as the curse rippled through every inch of her body. Her muscles tightened and twitched painfully as if they too remembered the agony and she nearly stumbled against the bouncer who’d broken free. 

"No coffee for this piece o' shit. 'Fraid you'll have to remove him from the premises." One of the guards informed her before giving her a speculative once over with doubt written all over his face, "Not sure if a pretty lady like yourself's, er, cut out for this type'o problem." Then the man thwacked Joshua's shoulder, shoving him forwards towards Amelia.

Swaying as he spun on his heels, (Heaven help him, he was bloody unsteady) Joshua leaned in towards the guard, face to face so he could burp ridiculously and then heatedly demand, "Call her a pretty little thing again and you'll have a real problem on your hands,"

"I called her a pretty lady," the guard eagerly rectified despite Joshua's drunken threat. The man appeared unprofessionally ticked off as he stared straight into Joshua's eyes. Looked like he was trying to catch a glimpse at Joshua's soul and maybe scare him. But there would be none of that.

Ever the hands on type, Joshua's aggressive fists reached to clench at the security guard's shirt front, pull him closer. Unnecessary agitation laced Joshua's tone as he growled, "Don't give a fuck what you called her, she's MINE. You hear me?"

The approaching men set Sturgis’s entire body on high alert. Ignoring Joshua’s description of the 'new trend,' his hand slipped inside his robe pocket to wrap fingers firmly around willow wand. For fuck’s sake, this was the last thing he needed right now! A petty crime on the streets just outside the Ministry of Magic equaled nearly the same amount of paper work as some of the heftier cases he’d been on all bleeding day. Sinking into his squashy old love seat with a cup of hot chocolate and his favorite book was sounding better than ever, but clearly that was a long time coming. 

Suddenly and all at once, one of the darkly-dressed men grasped Joshua’s mouth and jabbed a pointed wand deep into his neck as they issued threats. Brilliant. Just fucking brilliant.

"You two are a couple of fuckin’ idiots, you know? We’re right outside the Ministry," Sturgis waved his arms around like windmills, pointing out their locale. Still, he removed his wallet (in which he kept nothing of value. It was always best to leave money, besides a spare bit for coffee or food, in his office or at home) and allowed it to fall open. His Department of Magical Law Enforcement Hit Wizard badge popped into view. 

“Shit, Barnaby, he’s an Auror!” Well, no, I’m a Hit Wizard, but I’m not about to correct you. 

Apparently ‘Barnaby’ didn’t seem to care. A spark of electricity exploded from his wand and jolted right through Joshua’s entity, causing the man to seize up and jerk as though having a fit. Sturgis cussed under his breath and aimed his wand at the one closest to the other male.

"Let him go and I’ll forgive that offense. Continue, and I will personally assure you wind up in Azkaban.” Idle threats idle threats. We all know you don’t have that power, Sturgis. ”Now.”

"-- geee -- errghhh -- eehhh -- ahhhghyeee -- heeeeghh -- eeehhhhggg -- achhhghg --" Widened eyes locked onto the nothingness of oblivion straight ahead as Joshua concentrated on the unexpected pain infiltrating his nervous system.

Finally the man retreated and Joshua's body went so lax he had to catch himself, feet fumbling in a moment of lost balance. "Wh--?!" he breathed out, eyes going crazy with a hard glare at Sturgis, "Yer just gonna forgive that offense? Really?!"

One of the man's hands slid into Joshua's pockets, started pulling out his shit. Joshua exhaled tersely, cross expression fixed over his features because he felt so very intruded. The robber removed a tin of honey lip balm, an elaborate pocket mirror, a breath mint, a bag of cut up lemons, cucumber cuticle cream, strawberry hand souffle... and then the man groaned to his partner, "Barnaby, I don't think this one even has a wallet."

Barnaby: "Yeah, and this one's damned near broke as well."

Kalp: "This was a foolish idea!"

Barnaby: "Well...  maybe if you hadn't gotten us fired."

Kalp: "Knew you would bring that up! Damn it, I've had it! I'm gonna make you forget that forever!"

Barnaby: "Don't you dare try those memory spells again!"

Just like that the two men were at each other's throats. Joshua exchanged a confused look with Sturgis before taking a step back, deciding to bolt when a spell mistakenly hit him, made him go still. A spell had hit Sturgis too. Both of these spells planted false memories in both the boy's brains.

Barnaby and Kalp froze, realizing their mistake.

Barnaby: "See what you did now? Merlin's beard, we are so fucked."

Kalp: "Shit! Let's get outta here, mate!"

This was such a bad idea. Beyond bad, bordering on monumentally stupid. Girls night out was one thing, girls night out at a sketchy karaoke bar on “ladies night” less than a week after being kidnapped by a psychopath was something else entirely. But, she’d been barred from the ministry until the healers cleared her for duty and Edgar had gone home to be with his family for dinner…the thought of staying in her flat and stewing over what happened was abhorrent to her. 

Standing in the back she surveyed the crowd, looking both for her friends and any potential threats lurking in the shadows. She could feel her heartbeat through her ribs and took a deep breath to try and relax. Nothing seemed overly out of place, no obvious threats, no silvery masks displayed on anyone’s faces.

A wildly waving arm caught her attention — her coworkers had spotted her before she spotted them. Here we go… Making her way through the tables, she went and joined them, a forced smile on her face. She hadn’t gotten used to the way her hair framed her face now, and the significantly shorter locks always seemed to be in her face. She tucked them back as she sat, steeling herself for a night of questions about her ordeal.

"Aw, c'mon people, don't be like that, m'just gettin' warmed up," Another sip of beer before ...

"Imaginary lovers never disagree, they always care They're always there when you need..."

Joshua tried not to look at Amelia, but he wound up staring as he howed into the mic.

"SATISFAAACTION GUARANTEEEEEEED !!"

Just then two men dressed in dark clothes with official security hats yanked Joshua by both of his arms and lugged his dead weight off the stage. "Put me down, ya slimy twats--" he whined to them as another singer (one with a much more steady voice) took the stage and calmed the crowd.

Sturgis’s right leg protested as he limped (more like hobbled) to lean up against the building. An exaggerated, pained sort of grumble escaped his lips as his face screwed up in clear agony. More than anything, he wished to dart into the phone booth and disappear beneath the city streets to the magical world of the Ministry of Magic if only to save himself of the embarrassment. But with his injured leg (he swore he felt his flesh bruise all the way to the bone), that wasn’t happening fast enough for his taste.

Before he could truly dust himself off, though, Sturgis heard explosive laughter at his side. When he glanced up, he was met with a pair of (sparkling and vaguely familiar) eyes, tearing up with amused laughter. 

Face flushed, Sturgis hardly comprehended a word the other man had said, but he was willing to bet that it was far from kind or concerned. Rather than sulk, he forced a smile and shook his head.

"Oi, don’t act as if you’ve never done the same," Sturgis muttered as his hands massaged down his leg. The good news was that it had begun to feel better. He took a cautious step forward, thanking Rowena above that his leg didn’t simply give out again. Really, Sturgis just wanted to blast through the Ministry, finish off this bloody paperwork, and get the hell out of there. Taking note of the bloke’s Wizard-style outfit, Sturgis nodded to the telephone booth.

The last thing he wanted to do was go back to the ministry so he shook his head with a reluctant sigh, "I'm afraid this is where we part ways then, I'm just getting off my shift. Gonna go get ready for ton ---" Joshua swallowed the rest of that sentence, glancing up at the sky for a new direction, "--T--Thai. Yeah. My, uh... my full body Thai massage. Yeah." And then he pulled a deep breath, feeling rather unsure about his lie. It was too late to turn back now so he added as persuasively as he could, "Complete with a glory hand happy ending!"

[Joshua didn't know it, but there were two men wearing all black -- black shoes, pants, shirt, mask -- quickly approaching him from behind. Both men's eyes locked with Sturgis's. One of them he held a glove covered finger up over his lips, wand aimed at them both in his other hand.]

Okay. Asain Thai massages weren't something people just told each other without reason. In order to make the lie even more believable Joshua waved his hand and shook his head, "It's the latest new trendy thing going around, you ought'a try it sometime. You look like you could use a good loosening up, mate, no offense obviously. You look rather stiff."

[The masked man stood behind Joshua.]

'This is just getting awkward now.' Joshua thought to himself.

"All righty, well, I'll just be on my merry w---" he was cut off by a hand coming up to cover his mouth, wand at his neck.

Date: January 12, 1979 Time: 8:45PM Location: The Ministry of Magic

It was his irrational fear of puddles that made him fall flat on his face in the dark of post-sunset London. Sturgis Podmore, underpaid Hit Wizard in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, had been returning to the office after the longest day in modern history when he made to avoid an oversized puddle that’d gathered by the humble entrance of the Ministry of Magic. He leapt, his tired legs aiming to land on the sidewalk but instead his oversized feet caught the lip on the concrete walkway and caused him to fall forward, very nearly straight onto his face in a heavy thud. Hands flew out in front of him, managing to cushion the impact but damn did that hurt!

Uncertain if anyone had seen him, Sturgis quickly got to his feet to avoid further embarrassment, his face turning a dark shade of red as pain receptors screamed inside his brain, demanding he fucking stop moving right now and tend to his bruised bones and bloodied knees and hands, but he refused out of pure stubbornness and downright unwillingness to surrender to such weaknesses!

Wanting to appear busy, to appear less alone than he (obviously) was, Sturgis pulled from his oversized pocket a small little journal used to communicate with anyone who shared a matching journal- in this case, his older sister, Stella.

Fucking hell, I just fell in public.

It wasn't too bad until he put that silver mask on.

Ha, yes! Shift off, party on. Just kidding, time to go and get ready. Grumble grumble, grumble. As Joshua walked through the halls he smiled at a pretty young thing, 'fuck you,' he thought in a condescendingly polite tone to himself, 'fuck you and your night off.' She smiled back because, of course, she could not read his mind. Oh look, another kind looking woman. He tossed a dazzling grin her way too, felt a vein throb somewhere inside of his head because he was growing so sick and tired of hiding himself from literally every single person in his life. No one really knew him.

(Just Evan.Maybe Joshua would be able to work with Evan tonight. God, he fucking hoped. Evan was all he had left, possibly the only thing keeping him grounded.)  Speaking of the ground, just as Joshua reached the exit he spotted a bloke full on face plant right into the sidewalk.

Ouch ?!

This boy did not simply trip and fall -- this boy was the most enthusiastic klutz Joshua had ever seen! The way he willingly soared through the air made it seem like he knew what he was doing, but then SPLAT. A very large and continuous laugh ripped through Joshua's lungs, punching the comfortable silence enough for everyone around them to hear.

"Thank you!" Joshua locked eyes with the other male, breathless as he laughed (having the time of life), "I -- I -- oh my GOD," he keeled forward once more, hands grasping at his gut, eyes forced shut because they were tearing up, "I reheheheally..." he managed breathlessly, still laughing, "--n-n-needed that!" He hadn't meant to shout, but he couldn't control his pitch anymore.