don't look back

Bilius laughed when Jasper groaned. Imagine how he felt. “Nah, don’t worry mate. I could deal with those alone. I just needed your help with all the big stuff and we managed to transport all of them. It’s just the little things remaining.” Not to mention the stuff that he had already given away. Bilius was incredibly grateful for Jasper’s help and he didn’t want to abuse his generosity at all. “I definitely owe you a favor.”

“Oh Merlin, I don’t even know. I try not to ask customers things that I don’t want to know. Even if I’m near enough to eavesdrop, usually I just block it out. Is that just me?” You wouldn’t want your client to suspect that you were eavesdropping now, would you? “Really now?” Hearing that Jasper didn’t really have crazy stories to tell surprised him. “Maybe I was just unlucky that day…” Bilius did have the worst of luck. He tried having his tea leaves read once by someone who was supposedly talented in divination, thinking that it was just all for fun. What he got instead were warnings about ill fates and a black dog. He laughed at it then but now? Maybe Bilius’ life was cursed.

“i’m glad we got all the major stuff, then.  at least you can apparate a few bags and boxes at a time.”  his head lolled over to the side, giving a shit-eating grin to bilius.  “totally safe to do that several times in a day, right?  can’t see how it could possibly go wrong.”  for a moment, his mind went back to apparition lessons in hogwarts.  how much could you take with you?  as much as you could carry?  or was there a weight limit.  “ah, don’t worry about it.  i’m sure it’ll all even out someday, if it hasn’t already.”

rabastan allowed a sigh of relief to escape from his lips, as he quickly scrambled to his feet, tightly gripping the bar in order to avoid falling flat on his face. “thank you,” he croaked, gently chewing on the inside of his lip as he followed his friend outside. when he had mentioned somewhere more private, he had anticipated going to a back room or an unoccupied suite, not the alley. but, seeing has he was the one who begged jasper to talk to him, he figured he didn’t have much room to argue. he only hoped no one would stumble across them. caught off guard by the other’s actions, rabastan allowed a nervous laugh to escape from his lips as he slowly raised in hands in the air. “can you back up?” he asked, his voice cracking as he slowly lowered his arms, his shoulders immediately slumping forward. “how did you do it?” he asked, softly, his words barely above a whisper as his gaze fell to the ground in front of him. then, taking a deep breath, he slowly lifted his gaze to meet the other’s eyes. “how did you leave it all behind?” he asked again, pausing briefly, realizing it sounded as if he were asking jasper his mental state, not how he’d actually done it. “like, what steps did you take?” he finally added, allowing another sigh to escape his lips as he maintained eye contact with his friend.

“Wow, Jasper! That is quite commendable, for the likes of you,” said Bellatrix, her voice dripping in feigned enthusiasm. She let her gaze linger on him, longer than was most likely comfortable. Bellatrix didn’t feel uncomfortable in social situations, though, had been raised to be polite, to handle anything that was thrown at her. These days, she mostly did the throwing, though. “Your parents must be so proud.” She then paused, her expression turning rather sullen. “Oh. My bad. I could tell them, next time I see them, about your great career?”

where: a fancy restaurant who: Ambrose Kennedy and Jasper Montague ( @jmontague​ )

After Jasper so graciously toured him around Diagon Alley, Ambrose just knew that he needed to see the other man again. Luckily, he already knew where the other man worked. Ambrose mentally scheduled another visit to the Leaky Cauldron a week after their chance meeting. He didn’t want it to be too soon. That just might send Jasper the wrong type of message. Besides, he didn’t want to seem like a desperate old man.

It turned out that Jasper surprised him a second time. Ambrose bumped into him while he was working but this time, they weren’t at The Leaky Cauldron. They were at Merlin Rogue where Jasper was showing off his body to anyone in the club with eyes and Ambrose was sitting in his booth, utterly captivated by the other man’s performance. When Ambrose gave his tip, he made sure that he gave a large sum - a shame that most Brits don’t tip really - and that Jasper saw him do it.

Since then on, he just knew he had to have Jasper. For that man, he was willing to be patient. So the next day, he asked him for dinner. Just so they could talk. The older wizard made sure that Jasper understood that he wasn’t going to ask anything for return. At least not yet. One dinner turned into two until finally, Ambrose was taking him to fancy restaurants for dinner after every week.

That night, they were both at a restaurant which Ambrose has never been in before.“You can order whatever you want,” he encouraged him, even if by then, Jasper should already know that Ambrose would be willing to buy anything he chose from the menu. “Tell me about your week,” he said. “I’d love to know how you are.”

he was still trying to figure out what to make of ambrose kennedy.  the man was incredibly handsome, there was no denying that.  and he had a maturity about him that was rare amongst the men jasper usually found himself with.  not that he was old, not at all, just a little more experienced and worldly than the blokes he served at the leaky cauldron or the gentlemen who he entertained at the club.  

“This isn’t even everything…” Bilius lamented. Moving from a flat that was meant for two people to one that was significantly smaller, he had to give up a couple of things from his flat with Ethan. It was hard for Bilius to sell, but it was a lot harder for him to stay in a place that was just too big for him to live in alone. “Thanks again, mate. It would have taken me ages if I had to do this alone.”

“Yeah… Well… I had to stop right away. Because, you know, they were fighting. Emma hasn’t seen them just yet so I had to step in and see what I could do. I said ‘All right lads, let’s calm down’ but of course, I get ignored. A punch gets thrown. Someone hits the ground. I get out of there stat. At first I thought, someone felt a little jealous. Turns out, it was something else entirely Pretty sure both of them were into something seedy.” Bilius reached for the other cold glass of juice and immediately downed it until it was empty. 

“Anyway, you should have been there mate. Although something tells me you’ve seen crazier things.” Despite being younger, Jasper has been in Merlin Rogue longer.Bilius had no doubt that the younger male has his fair share of stories to tell.

jasper groaned at that.  bilius hadn’t asked yet for help with the rest — he didn’t even know if he would — but of course, he planned to help his coworker.  friend, perhaps, was a better word?  he supposed you could only hang out so many times outside of work before you crossed over into friend territory.  “of course.  i do not envy you, either.”  at least he wouldn’t have to help unpack.

“I know,” he said confidently. If the other was going to admit it, he wouldn’t deny it either. “Have you ever gotten so wasted on the job you couldn’t continue?” he asked. He was genuinely curious. He laughed at the man’s attempt at Russian. “Needs some work,” he critiqued. “Children turn into sad, old drunks,” he commented. The argument wasn’t sound at all, but maybe that wasn’t what he was looking for. Sometimes all he needed was to get another word in. “Something like that,” he said. “Though I wouldn’t think too far into it considering we both just took two shots of vodka together.” He grinned. “Wouldn’t want to get the wrong idea.”

“A fair point,” she mused, tapping a finger to her chin.  “it’d be sort of an anti-hero moment, wouldn’t it?  Coffee might make up for it, very true.  Or something stronger.  If you’re offering I’m not going to say no.”  She stood up slowly, brushing off her slacks.  Maybe sitting on the ground in light color slacks was a bad idea, but it had been a nice spot for awhile.  

She couldn’t stop herself from snorting when he said what was on the inside was even more impressive.  She doubted it.  “And you’re so humble,” she praised.  “Maybe I should buy you a drink instead.”  She paused.  “Either way, we’ve said the word drink enough times in this sentence that I now require one, whether we’re doing a bit or not.  Come on.”

.

She was bored.

Work used to give her a sort of thrill.  It felt so bad to steal memories – despite the fact that it was government sanctioned badness.  But what used to be thrilling had become monotonous.  And what had once been exciting was now something she felt the need to escape from.

And so, she took a personal day, hoping a day away from the office was exactly what she needed.

She hovered around the edges of Diagon Alley – tucked away in the shadows and unbothered by whether she ran into a muggle or a witch or wizard.  She stood in the alleyway, clutching one of Princess’s collars in her right hand, just waiting for someone to get close enough.

When she finally felt another’s presence she turned, forcing her eyes to well up with tears.  “Excuse me,” she didn’t look up, playing at distraught pet owner.  Her cat was safe at home, but no one else needed to know that.  “I’m sorry, but if it isn’t too much trouble do you think you could help me look for my cat?”

.

"personally, they can get fucked.  professionally, i don’t particularly care as long as they still tip.  but come on.  don’t be a prick.”

20. Name someone who’s failed you. What did they do wrong? How do you feel about them now?

“i’m sure they’re fine.  they seem big.  i think noah stays in shape, he seems like a fairly muscular man.”

“i want him to choke me out.”

What’s personality trait you hate in one of your close friends.

“emma’s really pessimistic.  i mean, i get it, but.  live a little.”

Talk about one of your worst memories involving someone you hate.

“when rabastan and i were screwing around — you know, as horny teens will do — we were in the lestrange manor and rodolphus walked in on us.  mortifying, terrifying, humiliating, my life flashed before my eyes.  he was shockingly okay with it.  they can both choke now, though.”

What’s one of your most prized possessions that got destroyed or taken away?

“i managed to get pretty much all of my stuff into my trunk before i ran away from home, so i don’t know if any of my prized possessions didn’t make it.  i guess i kinda miss my siblings, though?  sometimes, every once in a while.”