julianxwood:
Take A Break
Never in a million years would Julian ever not miss a real match with real players and real cheering from the stands. His own memories of them were already distorted as he replayed them over and over again. He wondered if Mia ever regretted actually hurting anyone—but he wasn’t about to be the one to tell her the truth of what happened in that last match. But that was just part of the game.
Maybe it takes a degree of heartlessness to be a beater. They had just as much weaving to do as everyone else, but no one to keep track of but themselves.
Julian snorted at her offer, though he only considered it for a second—this meant that he was the one limiting how much was actually getting consumed. “Both you and I know that’s a terrible bet. These aren’t even moving targets—and you don’t have a keeper in your way of them.”
Not that Julian was going to volunteer to be the one in the way of anything between what was coming from her bat and the target. Instead he swiftly shot upwards to get a better view, having to be the one to, somewhat ironically, chase after the bludger once it met the target.
Julian wasn’t sure what he had said or done that made her put on her game face. “And I thought you didn’t want to practice today?”
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“Fine, is there something else we can bet on? I’m not feeling like paying for drinks tonight,” Mia said. Although, to be fair, she rarely paid. There was usually some guy around who wanted to buy her drinks and chat her up. Either that or some fan that wanted to thank her for knocking out some player on another team the week beforehand.
Mia bit her lip when he asked the question. “You’re the one that questioned how hard I work,” She said simply.
People didn’t get to be professional beaters without hard work. And Mia knew that Julian knew that. But she always had an edge about her when it came to proving herself. She was the youngest of 4 kids, all of whom were boys. She was the foreign kid who moved to England. She was the petite girl beater. All of that went into proving herself. But quidditch gave her that chance, to show how good she was, and to make others take her seriously.
She sighed deeply before saying, “I just know a lot of people don’t take me or what I do seriously. I work my ass off, Julian, and I’m good,” Mia said the last word with determination. “But sometimes I also want to be the young person I am and go get drunk at a pub.”











