Dora

“Me either,” Cene answered with a chuckle. “If Grandma hadn’t hid a bit of it for me I wouldn’t have gotten any.” Tookers loved feeding each other, and thanks to his big appetite Cene’s grandma really loved feeding him. And Cene loved eating everything she cooked, so it worked out great. What wasn’t great was lying to her, or to the rest of his family for that matter. It was one thing when he was just not mentioning Josh. Actually lying to Dora’s face was decidedly different, and he liked it even less. But still he couldn’t stop the panic that bubbled up inside him when Dora said she’d looked at the match. Cene should have seen that coming, really, given that he’d never shown any interest in inviting a bird to a match before. He still hadn’t, really, but Dora didn’t know that. No, Dora thought he’d invited some other bird, only that didn’t make sense. Wouldn’t she have been looking for the t shirt? The shirt Josh was wearing? Wouldn’t she have seen it on him? Unless – oh, bloody hell. Maybe she had. She’d seen Josh in the shirt and thought – what, that the bird had given it to him? Josh had been with his mum, it wasn’t like – oh. Oh, fuck. The bird Josh dumped his drink on. It had to be her. Right? Bloody hell. Cene let out a breath, his hand tightening nervously around his broomstick. He didn’t like this. He didn’t know how to answer Dora without lying right to her face, and he didn’t know how to tell her the truth either. He wasn’t sure he was ready. Josh was ready, a small voice whispered in the back of his mind. Josh was telling his scary best mates right now. He swallowed hard. “I um…I’m not,” he began carefully, unsure of where he was going but at least that much was true. “But I –…” He trailed off, panicking slightly. He couldn’t do this. Not right now, not when he wasn’t ready. He had no idea how he was supposed to tell his entire family everything they’d thought about him for so long was completely wrong. He wasn’t what they thought he was. Maybe they wouldn’t care – but it would still change things. Cene hated that he’d been slightly relieved to find Tommy wasn’t around when he showed up, if only because things still felt awkward there. “Nevermind,” he tacked on quickly, swallowing hard and looking down at the ground. Bloody hell, he was a coward.

Dora wasn’t jealous or upset that their grandma had hid some for Cene. Just the opposite actually she thought it was nice. Not at all surprising either given how much she loved Cene’s huge appetite. “Looks like both of us are gonna be luckier this year. Way to go us,” she laughed at her own words. It was a shame the rest of their conversation couldn’t be as nice but Dora had gone and put her foot in her mouth. Cene looked a little panicked and Dora felt even worse. He hadn’t wanted people to know about her yet, clearly, and she’d gone and looked. “I’m sorry,” the apology rushed out of her mouth once again because she was really sorry she’d been so nosey. “I wasn’t going to peek, I didn’t even remember the seat number. But I was just so excited for you and I couldn’t stop myself.” Dora didn’t want him to think she’d gone to the match intending to be nosey. As terrible as she felt Dora did feel a rush of relief to know he wasn’t with her. Short lived because Cene looked so miserable. Bloody hell. He probably thought everyone knew. “I didn’t tell anyone, about the bird or anything, not even Charlie.” Dora told Charlie everything but not about this because Cene was so skittish and she did want him to be happy. To find a nice bird who wouldn’t be awful to him. He deserved it. Her cousin was a great bloke, hard to see him as someone’s boyfriend thanks to his complete focus on Quidditch, but a great bloke. “I’m sure you’ll find someone, Cene. Someone who is nice and right for you.” Because clearly he hadn’t found that in either bird. Dora gave him a hug because he looked so miserable and it was all her fault. “I’m sorry I was nosey. Which doesn’t make up for it I know and you can have my fudge if you want.” Dora couldn’t help hoping he didn’t want it but she’d gladly give it to him if he did. Especially if it meant he’d feel better because he looked terrible.

Cene chuckled at Dora’s words. “Yeah, no worries there. She was just starting on it when I came out to fly, so we should be able to snag some before we leave.” He didn’t know about Dora, but Cene was definitely planning to stick around until that was the case. Unless he heard something from Josh before then, but Cene was hoping that wouldn’t happen because that would imply bad news. He didn’t want to think about that right now. Though thinking about having to find a Christmas gift for Josh was not that much easier to manage. Cene felt like he knew Josh very well, but somehow the thought of finding the perfect gift for him was an extremely daunting one. It couldn’t just be good – it had to be perfect. Like Josh. Bloody hell, now was not the time for those thoughts. “Oh, uh, yeah,” Cene nodded, slightly distractedly, but he frowned slightly because Dora was right. It was harder to do things like that when they couldn’t go anywhere alone. Fortunately she didn’t let him linger on that thought for too long. Or maybe unfortunately. “I – what?” He blurted out, looking at Dora in bewilderment. Why would he care about her talking about Tommy’s girlfriend? And – what didn’t work out? A second later Cene’s eyes widened as he understood. Oh, fuck. The tickets and the t shirt. Dora thought there was a bird. And apparently she’d read Cene’s worry over getting a gift for Josh as him thinking about some bird things hadn’t worked out with. “Oh. No, um, it’s not –” He floundered, completely at a loss for what to say, especially with Dora looking not all that cheerful about the pair of them being single. Little did she know it wasn’t the pair of them. Fuck. What the hell was he supposed to say? Maybe he could still save this. “I, um, what uh, what makes you think it didn’t work out?”

His words made her grin grow, she definitely picked a good day to come home. “Yes! Last year I barely got any, hopefully this means my luck this year will be better.” Grandma’s fudge was the best. Dora felt like she could probably eat her weight in it. Except there was all the other Tookers vying for it as well. She’d settle with slightly more than last year and consider herself lucky. If only she had better luck when it came to this conversation. Dora had tried so hard not to mention it to Cene and now here she was making him think about it. Because clearly that was what had him so distracted, poor bloke. She worried that he must have really liked the bird. And now she’d made it worse. Damn it. Dora stood helplessly by as Cene floundered mentally kicking herself for saying anything. Cene’s question had her looking at him apologetically, she was slightly worried he might get more upset at her knowing what had happened at the match. And even more worried that he might not know what had happened at the match. “Oh well…..I….it’s just….I’m sorry! I looked. I tried not to but I was just really excited for you and couldn’t help wondering if it was someone I knew or not. Maybe another player or someone from school.” She was the worst. Honestly! If she’d have just minded her own business like a Tooker should she’d have avoided all of this. “Anyway after how she was at the match I just assumed you weren’t with her.” Dora couldn’t shake the worry that Cene didn’t know and that the bird was just stringing him along and now he was going to find out from his younger cousin and how awful that would be. For both of them because she didn’t want to be the one to have to tell him his bird was awful, almost as bad as the first one had been.

“Sure thing,” Cene answered Dora with a nod and a chuckle. Her offer was probably one he’d end up taking her up on before too long, but it was nice to catch up for a bit first. Still weird to think about his other cousin off with one of her teammates, but Strugis had kept himself out of those magazines ever since he started seeing Charlie so Cene figured it was fine. He let out a sheepish chuckle at Dora’s words. “Ya caught me,” he admitted with a laugh, though that wasn’t the only reason he was here. He just couldn’t tell Dora he was waiting for his boyfriend to tell his alarmingly violent best mates that he was gay. Not something he wanted to be thinking about right now, for several reasons. 

Dora chuckled along with him, sure that he was likely to take her up on the offer. Cene hardly ever stayed on the ground too long if he could help it. Her twin’s relationship was still a little odd for her too. But she kept that to herself. Charlie was happy and that was all that mattered. She laughed again at Cene’s words. “I’d worry about you if that wasn’t on the agenda today. It’d take a head injury or being terribly ill to not want any of the goodies waiting for us. Has Grandma made fudge yet?”

Cene was worried. Theoretically, he knew the McKinnons were good people – they worked with Tommy and Ed, after all. And they were Josh’s best mates. It was hard to imagine Josh being best mates with anyone who wasn’t a great person. But Josh was worried, and that made Cene worried, especially because other people Josh had once trusted were the reason he was worried today. Even worse was the fact that there was nothing he could do. Nothing except be waiting when Josh got back, but until then Cene felt like he was going stir-crazy. Which was why he’d gone home. The Tooker household was always busy, and even more so this time of year. He knew there would be plenty to do between cooking and putting up Christmas decorations, but as much as Cene enjoyed helping out with that he should have known he would inevitably end up on his broomstick. That was where things made sense, at least when Josh wasn’t around. 

Dora returned his hug warmly. It was always great to see her cousin. Despite both of them being at Puddlemere most days she saw him surprisingly little. Or not surprisingly given it was the middle of the season and both of them were busy in their own ways. She laughed cheerily when he added ‘for now.’ “If you fancy going back up let me know, I’ll go up with you.” Going for a ride on a brisk winter afternoon followed by a nice big cup of hot cocoa and Christmas goodies was always great. “Charlie’s off with Sturgis so I thought I’d come by and see if there was anything I could help out with, and snag some goodies,” she added with a laugh. “Same as you I’m guessing.” She gave him another grin. It wasn’t uncommon to run into cousins and siblings here. Even though they’d all moved out now that Ann was living with Melia there was always someone here and something to do. Christmas just added to it all. Dora didn’t think even Hogwarts and it’s teams of house elves could compete with all the decorating and baking the Tookers did. Even now that she wasn’t away from home for ten months out of the year Christmas was still one of her favorite times.

“Uh, thanks, Dora.” Bloody hell, she didn’t even seem suspicious and that just made Cene feel even worse. But of course she wasn’t suspicious; she thought the tickets and shirt were for a bird, and for once Cene was struck by the thought that it was actually helping him out now that he’d always been freaked out by birds. Except he was still being dishonest, and he doubted that was something he would ever be comfortable with. He never wanted to be comfortable with that. He was going to have to tell his family. Eventually. Just not now. But he would, and he tried to take some heart in that as Dora so kindly offered him two different shirts, trying to hide his relief that they were normal t-shirts and not some weird girly shirt he wouldn’t be able to give to Josh. “I’ll take the blue,” he told Dora, accepting it with a nervous smile. With another of his family members he might not have taken anything, worried as he would be they would end up snooping during the match. He didn’t feel like he had to worry about that as much with Dora. Hopefully he didn’t, because it was too late now. Josh was going to look way too hot in Puddlemere blue for Cene not to give the shirt to him. Bloody hell. Quickly Cene tried to school the grin tugging at his lips. “I, er, I should get going, I’ve got um – plans later.” Fuck, that was not helping his case. Definitely time to go, but he felt bad for not getting a chance to talk to Dora longer so he added, “Want to have lunch Monday?” He wanted to catch up with her, so long as she hopefully didn’t ask any questions about why he’d been here today.

“Good choice!” Dora handed him the t-shirt, smiling at his nervous smile. She thought all his nerves were about the bird. Because birds were scary for Cene and he’d never done this. Sure he’d had a girlfriend but she’d done everything and Cene had just gotten pushed into it. But this was Cene doing it. That alone was enough to keep Dora from wanting to push. Poor bloke was probably nervous enough to be doing this. And whoever she was Dora was sure she was nice. Eventually she’d meet all the Tookers. Maybe soon. Hopefully soon because Dora was dying of curiosity. Especially when he said he had plans later. That sounded like more than just giving someone tickets and inviting them to the game. Sounded more like a date. Cene had a date! The thought made her smile widen, she was so happy for her cousin. Especially with the way he kept trying not to smile, he was obviously into this bird a lot. “I hope you have a good time, Cene.” She nearly suggested flowers but Cene had the tickets and a t-shirt, which really was way more Cene than flowers anyway. “Yeah, lunch on Monday would be great. Bye, Cene.” Dora couldn’t resist giving him a goodbye hug. She was just too happy for him. Cene on a date! She hadn’t thought that was ever going to happen for him. Maybe he’d feel inclined to spill how his date went. Or something about her. Even if he wasn’t lunch would still be nice.

If there had been even a sliver of doubt left that Dora knew Cene wanted the tickets for someone he had more than friendly feelings toward, it was all gone with the way she answered him. “Ah – yeah, uh, thanks,” he answered, bringing a hand to the back of his neck and trying for a smile despite his growing panic. He was a terrible liar, he hated doing it, and if it was this hard keeping things just from Dora – how the hell was he supposed to keep this up? It was all the harder given how nice she was being. Of course she was being nice. All she wanted was for him to be happy – but what would she think of him if she knew the tickets were for a bloke? If she glanced over to the seats she’d just given Cene and saw Josh sitting there in the shirt she’d offered. Though he couldn’t help the thought that Josh would look really, really great in Puddlemere colors. Bloody hell. “I uh…I mean if it’s not too much trouble that’d be, um, yeah. That’d be good. Thanks.”

It was obvious Cene was nervous. Though Dora assumed it was because he was going after a bird not hiding something. Cene always panicked about girls. Asking one out probably felt huge. And it was! The question of what bird he was asking out was on the tip of her tongue but she didn’t want to pry. Didn’t want to scare Cene away from it or she might pry. Had it been Tommy there would have definitely been more prying. Maybe he’d accidentally let it slip. Even if he didn’t she was still going to try and help him out. The fact that he was taking her up on her offer instead of just running with the tickets made her think he must really like this bird. “None at all. Of course, Cene. Anything to help you out.” Dora went over to where they kept them. “Sadly we don’t have the really cute tops they sell at the matches but the t-shirts are nice. White or blue? Or both?” Dora held one of each out to Cene. “We’ve only got one size but it’ll still be cute. She can just tie it up if it’s too big.”

Once again Dora didn’t ask him any questions despite his admittedly strange behavior, and once again Cene was immensely grateful for his cousin’s kindness. And struck by that same nagging guilt once again for keeping something from her. For keeping a boyfriend from her – except that was exactly why Cene couldn’t say anything. Not to Dora, not to anybody. Not yet, at least. That didn’t make keeping things from his family any easier. Especially not when he glanced at the seats Dora chose for Josh and saw that she was giving him even better ones than she’d suggested before. Oh Merlin, Dora knew. She had to know. And then she was asking where to send them, and Cene couldn’t stop himself from blurting out - “No!” Fuck that sounded suspicious. He swallowed hard. “I mean – that’s okay, I’ll just uh, I was just gonna deliver them in person later. No need to owl them.” Bloody hell, he was blowing this. Thank Merlin Cene had never had a boyfriend at Hogwarts or everyone in the world would already know. A fact that had his panic increasing slightly, but he did his best to look calm.

So much for some things never changed. Dora couldn’t be upset though, who could be upset at Cene? He was too nice, even more of an idiot about birds than Tommy, the Tooker bloke curse her dad called it. Cene liked someone. Someone he’d either invited or was going to when he delivered them in person later. Oh Helga! Dora was sure he didn’t have a girlfriend, she’d have heard about that. Especially given it was Cene. But also because he’d have sat his girlfriend in the box. It had obviously not gotten to that stage yet. He was still clearly nervous and probably unsure. Still Cene liked someone! More than that he was actually making a move. Inviting them to the match with tickets given in person. She was happy for him, even if she was still dying to know who it was. Dora didn’t ask, instead handing over the tickets with an encouraging smile. “Giving them in person sounds like a better idea. I’m sure they’re gonna love watching you play.” This was too cute. “You know we have some merchandise we keep around for giveaways and stuff if you wanted to give her a t-shirt or something to wear to the match.” She wanted to help her cousin impress whoever the tickets were for.

“I hope so,” Cene answered with a modest shrug, though it was easy to return Dora’s confident smile. It was nice knowing how much his whole family supported the team. One of the key reasons he’d always dreamed of playing for Puddlemere, but Cene knew that confidence would extend to him no matter what team he played for. Which naturally had thoughts of the national team creeping into his mind, but they faded away easily enough now that he was trying to talk his way around getting Josh tickets. It was almost a surprise when Dora didn’t ask any questions, but Cene didn’t question that. And his relief didn’t last long, because then Dora was asking a question he hadn’t really thought through. “Oh. Uh.” Cene hesitated, a slight frown creasing his brows. Was it weird to give Josh two tickets? Was it rude to only give him one? “Both, I guess? I mean – you wouldn’t want to go to a quidditch match alone, right?” Fuck, he shouldn’t have asked that. But – no, it was fine, that was a normal thing to ask. Totally normal. He was fine, everything was fine. Bloody hell, he needed to get ahold of himself.

Dora smiled at her cousin’s modesty, it was a nice change from all the cockiness she got from a lot of the other players. With everything that was changing it was nice that some things didn’t. But then not a surprise when it was Cene she was thinking about. Though this ticket thing seemed a little off. She kept trying to come up with reasonable reasons but it was getting harder to. Especially now that this simple question stumped him. Had it been what she’d thought and just some person from school he’d know the answer, wouldn’t he? That crazy idea that Cene was giving these to someone he liked came back. “Probably not,” she answered quickly. If it was some bird she’d probably like it better if she had a friend with her, Dora would. And since it didn’t seem like a random person Dora decided she could do better than the section she’d first picked out. Not that any of their reserved seats were bad but she hadn’t wanted to give really good tickets to someone just taking advantage of Cene’s good nature. But someone Cene was trying to impress, that she would do. “We’ll do these two,” she told him, pointing out the section. In case he needed to know what direction to smile in. Though it still seemed like a wild idea. She slipped them into an envelope and grabbed her quill. “What’s their name? I’ll send them out with the post.” Something she did plenty of times for other players but this time she was dying to know the name because this conversation had been odd, even for Cene.