Episkey

“Don’t touch it,” she chided as he reached up and did just that. “Do you have any bruising salve at home? Amy has a bunch in the flat, it’ll help a bit if you don’t mind popping over.” 

‘‘That’d be great- honestly...god it really fucking hurts.’‘ Ted huffs, rubbing his wrist in an attempt to stop himself from pushing on the sore skin.

“Big enough that it’s embarrassing that you got it from a door.”

‘‘I would feel attacked by this if it weren’t for the fact that it is true...god it’s embarrassing.’‘

“Well, you’ve passed the blue stage,” Glenda grimaced as she peered at the bruise. “Purple and green are not great colors on you, doesn’t look too good.” 

‘‘It hurts like a bitch’‘ Ted huffed, wincing slightly at the pain that erupted when he completely forgot it was there and touched it.

“You should add modesty to that list.”

“Shouldn’t healers be at least partly good therapists?”

‘‘Oh it’s already on it, after my extremely impressive intellect’‘ Ted stated with a playful grin.

“Alright then, tell me your price and I’ll make sure to give you the money” she teased, resting her head on his shoulder. 

“What is that supposed to mean?” She asked, chuckling as he mentioned the whole Slytherin thing. Andromeda nodded her head understandingly. “Well, to be fair, I never cooked before, so it’s fun to experiment. Besides, is not like I have anything else to do” she hummed softly. “One day you should cook for me, though, because I’m always cooking for you” she suggested. “Because now I’m curious about your culinary skills, Mr. Tonks” she grinned.

Ted had to admit moments like these were nice. No patients, no stress - just talking with a friend. He needed these ‘boring’ relaxed periods in his life where nothing happened even if he hated how restless it made him. 

‘‘Clever, thinks outside the box and can warp most things to something positive,’‘ Ted explains, nodding to himself - as if he was confirming his own explanation. ‘‘Well, I would be happy to cook for you one day, I make some mean Italian food.’‘ He lets out a soft laugh, looking over at her for a moment. ‘‘How are you feeling by the way? Like- in general.’‘

“They’re always an option or a last resort,” Amelia said, trying to keep the situation light, but knowing that there was a lot going on in Ted’s mind. She’d known him for long enough to be able to tell when his thoughts were swirling all over the place. “Well with the cry and wank plan, I’m thinking the wall’s gotten to at least Plan D. I’d rather not have to patch your head up, and we both know you’re the one who would actually know how to do that out of the two of us.”

“They do, but sadly enough, hard to ignore, and even worse to push away.” Amelia grinned when Ted laughed in earnest, thankful to see a bit of his normal personality shining through the turmoil. He mentioned almost telling Andromeda, and Amelia nearly wished he had. She loved Andromeda as well, and had always loved seeing two of her friends as friends. Amelia didn’t know how Andromeda felt, but she remembered just how badly it had hurt to keep how she felt from James when she thought he didn’t return the feelings. “That’s better than saying nothing,” she offered. “Were those the only reasons you didn’t tell her?”

Ted wasn’t sure what he had done to deserve the Bones’s in his life, but he must’ve done something real good. For someone who didn’t have any siblings, a few of his friends had been able to give him a pretty good idea of what having siblings would be like. Annoying jokes and all. ‘’Plan C’’ Ted compromised with a laugh, trying his best to not let his spirits be entirely in the dump.

‘‘I mean that and she used to date a mate of mine, back at school of course but...’‘ Ted had to admit it sounded like he was grasping at straws but he was just that type of person. No matter how much he wanted to tell Andromeda or what he may want- if his friends' happiness would be somehow compromised he never really went out of his way to attempt something. The only reason he even got into Quidditch was because a friend of his chose NOT to try out for the team back at Hogwarts. ‘‘I just don’t want to lose Andromeda, I guess? She’s an important friend and I don’t want her to feel some sort of weird obligation I suppose. I’m a big coward, aren’t I?’’

“Mate,” James sighed, looking over at Ted with a serious expression. “What part of me makes you think I will give you a good answer? I fancied a girl for seven years, Ted. Seven years. I loved her, everyone knew, because it was painfully obvious. She probably even knew. I am very bad at this whole thing. I’m the worst person you could possibly ask.” He shrugged, “Might be worth a shot.” But after he spoke he laughed slightly, “Please don’t do that, you’re the healer. I wouldn’t know what to do if you hurt yourself.”

‘‘Oh god, you don’t think Andy knows? Right? She wouldn’t right? I’m not THAT obvious, am I?’‘ Ted gasped, his eyes filled with terror as he looked over at James. ‘‘If she does I’m seriously throwing myself onto the nearest vampire as a mild snack.’‘ Now, to be fair, Ted had never met a vampire nor had any idea if there were any in England currently- but he would gladly track one down for a nice and easy way out.

‘‘I mean, I’m capable enough to give semi-decent instructions while bleeding from my head. I think.’‘ He just knew that once in his fourth year, Ted had gotten unlucky enough to piss off a Slytherin 7th year that accidentally slammed his head so hard into a wall that he saw stars and somehow gotten an Outstanding on the herbology test that followed.

Amelia sighed along with Ted’s groan as he rested his head on her table, her hand patting his back absentmindedly. When she’d gotten a text from both Silas and Edgar saying Ted was worried about Andromeda once again, Amelia had immediately invited him over. The trouble was, she was barely able to express her emotions to her boyfriend and felt like she was the least qualified person to help her friend through his romantic dilemma. Nevertheless, Ted had been there to mediate many a Bones family argument, usually between one of the brothers and Amelia, and she knew she couldn’t leave him out to dry.

“Well, at least you’re thinking things through better than a fifteen year old bloke would. Any fifteen year old bloke would cry and wank and pretend he didn’t do either of them to insist he didn’t have feelings. I feel like having it out with yourself’s better than denying everything. Trust me as an emotion denier.” She couldn’t help but chuckle as she helped lift him from where he was laying on the table. “I mean, that could cause insomnia which could according to some people help the whole in-love thing, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”

‘‘I mean- that’s something.’‘ He bitterly laughed, a cry and a wank honestly would be preferable to emotional turmoil had it worked. ‘‘Alright, so, maybe I should keep the wall as plan B.’‘ Ted suggests, moving his head and looking up at Amelia with the least pitiful expression he could muster.

‘‘Emotions really suck, like majorly.’‘ The healer lets out a proper laugh at his comment, pushing his face up from the table and leaning back. ‘‘I considered telling her at one point, you know? But considering her family are all absolute gits - spare for one or two and she has shown zero interest romantically...I just chose to shut up and talk about the weather.’‘ Ted stared into the wall, as if it’d help. ‘‘I talked about the bloody weather.’‘

“Well first things first, don’t hit your head against a wall. You’ll concuss yourself and last time I got a concussion I started dancing on a table… Not sure it had anything to do with the concussion, but, um…” She furrowed her brow, gaze becoming distant as she thought back on it. There was probably drinking involved, she couldn’t quite remember. She shook her head out of it took a sip of her drink.

“You know, it’s not gonna go away unless you do something about it. Even then it will only go away if once you’ve done something it falls to shit.” It usually fell to shit for her. “Be more concerned with thats stopping you from doing something about it and if that is stronger than the feeling.” She leant back in her seat. “And if you’re just scared shitless, nothing wrong with a little liquid courage.” 

‘‘I’m 99.9% certain that wasn’t your concussion.’‘ Ted chuckles, allowing himself to smile at least a little bit in his pitiful state. He always prided himself on not being one to drop his emotional turmoil on his friends. Ted would sit hours on end at home, going through his own feelings in isolation and make the proper decision based on that - or well that was at least if he had time to do so.

‘‘What isn’t stopping me?’‘ The healer huffs, sitting up properly and leaning back into the uncomfortable chair. ‘‘She, first of all, used to date a mate of mine, which I’m certain is against some sort of...friend rule even if I don’t talk to him anymore.’‘ Ted uncomfortably shifts in the chair at the thought of his former friends disapproving glare. ‘‘She’s way out of my league, we’ve been best friends for some time and it’d be sort of creepy, I guess.’‘

Not in the sense that he disliked her, quite the opposite. Ted was just frustrated at being unable to speak his mind and feeling like some liar that was taking advantage of his friendship with Andy. ‘’I feel like some 15 year old boy, this is dreadful.’’ He allows his eyes to wander outside, he feels absolutely miserable. Ted used to be in denial, especially when he first realized it - but it was no real use to pretend the obvious wasn’t happening. Ted just had to fill in the nasty trope of fancying one of his best friends and doing so since age 15 or so. Or was it 16? ‘’Do you think I’ll get over it if I just hit my head against a wall hard enough?’’

Andromeda snorted a laughter and shook her head slowly. “You are too kind to me, Teddy” she sighed dramatically, wrapping her arms around him and hugged him as they kept on walking. “You are like, a machine of nice compliments, I should start paying you” she joked softly.

“Of course, I’m not even surprised by now” she chuckled as she shifted back into a decent walking position. “You, my friend, are looking it at the wrong way. Do you know how much karaoke  person can make while cooking?” She said knowingly. “Well, personally, I find it quite relaxing, like potion brewing” she grinned, it wasn’t a secret she was a fan of potion brewing.

‘‘Please do pay me, I like money.’‘ Ted hums, eyes wandering around their environment. He honestly wasn’t sure where the need and habit of wanting to know what was around him came from. 

“I’m not sure that implied that you weren’t great,” she pointed out with a laugh.

‘‘It sorta did, a little bit’‘ He holds up his hand with a gesture of tiny, ‘‘a tiny bit.’‘ Ted is still smiling though, closing the bottle properly and grabbing a nearby label. Using his normal hasty handwriting as he finishes everything up.

“I don’t have reason to doubt you,” Josette admitted with a shrug. “I’m just surprised is all.” 

‘‘I suppose I don’t look like the typical healers there’‘ Ted can get the image of the nurses running around rather vividly in his head, the annoyed huffing and puffing of Nurse Levoy and her pointed glares his way. 

“It would have far exceeded the punishment of overhearing someone loudly talk about quidditch in a pub, yes.” 

“You’re a healer,” Josette repeated, eying him dubiously

Ted only hums in agreement, his eyes glued to the small message before he types up a quick response and nods.

Corban often wondered why people assumed he was someone approachable, then he remembered that’s exactly how he sold himself. “Well, yes, that’s the whole point of quidditch” Corban pointed out knowingly. He used to be a beater and he always aimed for the head, it was more fun that way.

‘‘Yes! BUT , but here it is. The Gryffindors would aim only at MY head. They had it out for me I swear.’‘ Ted sat up, sending Corban a curious look. ‘‘Do you think I pissed one of them off somehow? Stepped on their little ego?’‘