Who: Kendall and Felicia
What: Bonding time and drinking games
When: Backdated like whoa... pre-season ish
Where: Muggle Pub
The problem with being a woman in quidditch was … well, on most teams you were a minority. She certainly wasn’t traditionally pretty or ‘fit’ like the majority of female quidditch players, either -- and while she’d finally come to terms with that, it had been a sore spot for her in the past.
The advantage to being a female quidditch player, of course, was quite often being surrounded by fantastic looking men. Granted, some of them weren’t the nicest - but she had her flaws too, and she wasn’t exactly a delicate flower when it came to trash-talking the other teams. Kendall was certainly -- sweeter than some of the men that she’d dealt with in the past. He was a terrible flirt, though, and she’d already mistaken his flirty nature for a pass at her once - to horrifically embarrassing results.
Well, she wasn’t going to make that mistake again.
She lifted her hand to knock on the door of Kendall’s flat. “Oi, open the door before my adoring fans catch up to me!”
Kendall was never the most punctual of people. In fact, they had started telling him practices were starting a half an hour before they actually did, just so he would be on time. So it wasn’t completely unexpected that he wasn’t quite ready when Felicia showed up. He was just pulling on his pants when Felicia was yelling through his door. He grinned making his way through the flat, not bothering with his shirt. “I’m sure you can manage if they do.” he called back.
“Although, why you thought it’d be a good idea to lead them to my door.” he said cheekily when he opened the door, “Is beyond me. The rumors could be scandalous.” he stood aside letting her in. “And you’re early by the way. I’m not nearly ready.”
“Rumors like what, me setting up my fans with an apparently shirtless seeker?” Because she was sure there wasn’t going to be any rumors about her and the other fellows. There never were. She refused to slip up with her words even if the sight of him shirtless never ceased to please the eyes. Felicia crossed her arms over her chest.
“And I’m not early, you’re just perpetually late and I occasionally forget to allot for what I can only assume is you checking yourself out in the mirror for twenty or so minutes before you actually leave.”
“I own plenty of shirts. Too many, in fact. Makes it hard to pick one out.” Kendall said with mock seriousness. “And its only five minutes. Don’t judge.”
He waved her to follow him as he made his way back to his room to finish getting ready. Three shirts laying on his bed because he really was indecisive. “Well since you are here, make yourself useful and pick a shirt for me? I still have to brush my teeth. If I take too long you might have to pull me away from the mirror.” he teased slipping off into the next room.
After a moment he can back out and leaned in the door frame. “So where are we heading tonight? I pretty sure we can’t go to that one place as we got barred last time we were there.”
“So you’re telling me the reason that you’re always late for things is because you can’t decide which colour brings out your eyes the most?” She half-laughed, following him into his room and perching on the edge of the bed to examine his shirts.
“I suppose you get sick of wearing blue all the time.” She was probably the last person that he wanted to ask about fashion sense, anyway - it had never seemed important when people were always focusing on how ‘big’ she was instead of what she was wearing. “I think you should wear this one,” she said, picking up a distinctly bright green shirt, “So I can actually find you in the sea of women who’ll be surrounding you.”
While he wandered into the other room, she settled down on her palms and glanced at her feet. Once he returned, she shrugged.
“If you want to go the anonymous route, we can always go to a muggle pub.”
“Don’t lie, you appreciate the effort.” Kendall said with a smile taking the green shirt from Felicia, sliding it on. “Nice choice by the way. This is one of my favorites.”
He rolled his eyes at the mention of swarms of girls. “Its not that bad. Although it is rather annoying. Can’t have drink in peace. Downside to not taking Charlie, is I can’t pawn them off on him. He likes the attention.” All Kendall really wanted to do was go out and have drinks with Felicia and not be bugged by crazed fans. Which was harder said than done.
“You are brilliant! This is why I keep you around.” he said as he finished buttoning up his shirt. “A muggle pub. Fantastic. You know, I’m getting good at passing for a muggle. Last time I went out I only confused like, two people.“
“Two out of the grand total of three that we ran into,” she mused with a shake of her head. Maybe she’d known that the shirt she picked up was Kendall’s favorite - they were good friends, after all. And
only friends, because saying otherwise meant she had to admit to a crush on him that was not going to be reciprocated.
She laughed. “If you’re all that worried about girls hitting on you, I’ll just pretend to be your date. I’ll roll my eyes at your stupid jokes and cast my gaze longingly at the door - that sounds about right, doesn’t it?” Hopefully he knew that she was kidding around with him.
“Let’s get going, then. Just apparate to the nearest exit and wander around, does that sound all right to you?”
It’s not that Kendall didn’t like Felicia, because he did. Rather a lot actually, it was just, they were teammates. And more often than not, she was the one who made sure he didn’t get knocked unconscious during games. So if things went bad, he’d probably end up in the hospital.
Not to mention it would screw with the whole team dynamic. No, things were better this way. Right?
“No, no. You got it all wrong. You’re suppose to
laugh at all my stupid jokes, and glare at any girl within three meters of me. Tsk. I though you knew this.” He grinned as he grabbed his keys and offered his arm to Felicia.
“Sounds like a plan. A night of drunken debauchery awaits. Let’s go show them how its done.”
“I didn’t say it was supposed to be a good date,” she said with a shake of her head, taking his arm and letting him lead the way toward the exit. “But you’re right, we shouldn’t be wasting time with pleasantries.”
In reality, she probably would end up laughing at his stupid jokes (and glaring at any girls within three meters of them) if she drank enough. She liked Kendall - he was a sweet man to her, and he didn’t make her feel - fat. She grinned, grabbing her wand to apparate. Pre-drinking was all well and good, of course, but when you were a big-deal quidditch player you had money to burn.
“What’s your plan for the night, then? Pick up a lovely lady and then leave me all by my lonesome, or stick with me until the bad karaoke starts?”
Kendall rolled his eyes walking along side her, waiting until they apparated to answer her question.
“Are those my only options? Because I was totally banking on getting you drunk enough to sing bad karaoke with me.” he said leading her down the street. “I’ve heard a rumor that you are pretty fantastic and someone has to help me carry a tune.” he shook his head with amused smile. “Thinking I’d leave you halfway through the night. Come on now. You know me better than that.”
“Right, right. I forgot that you’re not Spinnet.” She let him lead the way while she followed in step with him, choosing to ignore the comment about her vocals for the moment. They’d jump over that hurdle when it came to it if they had to.
“And you forget that I am a tank, Ken. I’m much more likely to drink you under the table than for you to get me drunk enough to sing.” She nodded toward the door of a pub from which lively music seemed to be coming from.
“I think this place ought to do. The music is tolerable, at least.”
“Is that a challenge, Bulstrode?” he asked opening the door to the pub. “Because I think I’m just going to have to accept that to prove you wrong.”
He followed her in, looking around the place to assess the crowd, which was pretty decent. Not to crowded, but not dead. Felicia sure did have a talent for picking out good places. “Bar or table?” he leaned in to ask over the loud music.
“Table,” she said immediately, heading toward the middle of the place with a smirk. “And if we’re going to do this, I think it’s only fair that you decide what we’re going to drink.” She
was fairly confident in her ability to get completely trashed while not passing out or doing anything stupid before Kendall.
“If it’s a challenge, what do I get if I win?” Because she was competitive by nature, sure, but she wanted something for winning.
Kendall followed her over to the table and sat down pondering what they would be drinking. “Giving me all the hard choices tonight. Typical.” he said with an air of mock annoyance. He would totally go with drinking firewhiskey, but he was pretty positive that they didn’t have that here. (No he did not learn that the hard way thankyouverymuch.) “Whiskey or tequila.” he offered with a shrug.
Really, make the indecisive person make the choices, good plan.
“As for the prize for winning... I dunno. I’m sure something good can be thought of between now and the time the winner is chosen. I feel prizes chosen whilst drinking are better than ones decided on sober.”
Felicia was pretty sure that prizes chosen whilst drinking were just more likely to get both of them in trouble in the long run, but Kendall seemed pretty set on it and she didn’t feel like deciding both what they were going to drink
and what she would get when she won their little bet.
“Fine, fine. Tequila it is,” because whiskey was just poor-quality firewhiskey, as far as she was concerned, “if we use the limes.” Otherwise the taste was a little too medicinal for her liking. “Hey. I give you the hard choices in the bar and you give me the hard choices on the pitch, Ken.” She often found herself defending him, but sometimes it was strategically more beneficial to protect someone else.
Kendall was tough enough to take a couple of bruises, anyway.
“I can deal with limes.” he said waving over waitress, who was probably trying her best to flirt with him but he didn’t take much notice. He turned his attention back to Felicia once he was done missing the pout on her face as she walked away.
“And which hard choices would those be? The ones where I have to put my duck and dodged skills to good use so little Zoey doesn’t get knocked of her broom?” he teased lightly. He picked up his beer that was delivered with the shots and took a sip. “But then again, I can see the dilemma, so I’ll accept that as a fair trade.”
At least he seemed to understand the fact that she sometimes had to make choices that ended with him having to avoid a few bludgers. She smiled, rubbing a hand over the back of her neck again and snagging his beer to take a sip of it before they started on the tequila. This didn’t seem like a good idea.
And
she didn’t miss the pouty waitress. “I think you ignore girls on purpose sometimes, Ken.” Which might explain why he hadn’t had a girlfriend in … well, some time now.
“Hmm?” he looked up from moving the shots with a bit of a confused look on his face. “What do you mean, I don’t ignore...” He trailed off following Felicia’s gaze over his shoulder. “Oh well. Vapid waitresses, yes. That’s not going anywhere so why bother?” He said, waving off her comment. He most certainly did not ignore girls on purpose. Okay maybe he did, just a little bit. But it was very annoying when all they are after is a pretty face and a good lay. Merlin forbid they actually ever want to
talk about something.
“Besides, I’m out with you right now, of course I’m going to ignore others. How much of a complete ass would I be to bring you out only to talk to other people?” he gave her a smile and lifted his shot in a toast. “Come on, I’m pretty sure your goal tonight is to get me drunk enough to sing karaoke to some muggle song I don’t know. Then take pictures and never let me live it down.”
“Well, I wasn’t about to take pictures until you mentioned it,” she managed with a smirk and a shake of her head. All right, so Ken
was good at just paying attention to her. She liked that the idea of an easy lay for some sexy waitress didn’t appeal to him -- that was more than she could say for most of the men that she knew.
And he didn’t completely ignore her when they were out. Most of her teammates were good with that bit, thankfully, but some of the men she’d dated in the past -- well. She didn’t want to get into it.
“I think the Tattler would be very interested in those pictures, don’t you think?” She set his beer back down and then nodded to the shots. “All right, all right. Let’s get this started so I can win and we can think of a good prize.”
“That just low. You wound me Felicia.” he shook with laugh downing his shot.
“What, all the money you’d make off those pictures not a good enough prize for you? They’d probably pay really well, being as they’ve yet to get any incriminating pictures of me yet. And that’s just if you win. You act like I don’t even have a fighting chance.”
Kendall leaned back in his chair thinking. “I dunno. How about,
if you win, I’ll share one of my secret hidden talents with you?” Well, at least he thought it was still a secret. There were moments when he was pretty sure that Felicia was close to knowing just about everything about him, as much time as they spent hanging out on and off the pitch. “I win, I get the same. I know you’re holding out on me.”
Felicia took her own coordinating shot with Kendall, taking a squeeze of her lime afterward.
“You know as well as I do that I don’t need the extra money, Ken. You’ve got to offer me something that I actually want.” She smirked, waving a hand in the air. When he finally offered her something else, she paused to consider it.
“I am acting like you don’t have a fighting chance because you don’t have a fighting chance, love.” She picked up a second shot, “but I think that I like the idea of that prize. As long as your secret isn’t something, you know, gross.”
“Is that so, sweetheart? I’ve been out drinking with you enough times. I think I can hold my own.” he picked up a second shot as well smirking at Felicia from across the table before taking it.
“Please. When have you ever know me to do something gross.” he flipped the glass and put it back down on the table. “Wait don’t answer that. Anything that happens when I hang out with the guys on the team don’t count. But at all other times, I’m a complete gentleman. Debonair,even. None of my talents are gross, trust me.”
She had been about to bring up a few times with the other blokes from the team, but he managed to avoid her bringing that up by bringing it up himself. Felicia shrugged her shoulders easily. He
had been out drinking with her before, maybe he
did stand a chance.
The tequila was warming her enough that she didn’t really care.
“Charming, maybe, but not quite debonair. You’d need a suit for that, I think.” She snickered, flipping her own glass as well. Without missing a beat, she grabbed another.
“How is it that you always end up drinking alone with me, Ken?” She was sure he had better things to do.
“I could get a suit. If I wore a suit, I’d definitely be debonair.” he matched her once again with the shot. She certainly wasn’t going to make this easy on him.
“I don’t like the way it sounds when you phrase it like that, like I have nothing better to do or something.” he said honestly, before taking the shot in his hand. “I don’t
end up drinking with you, I
choose to drink with you. There is a difference, you know.”
“I meant more because I think most other people drink with blokes,” she amended after a moment, making sure that he was still meeting her shots. She shrugged. She wasn’t going to admit that she didn’t think she had much going on as far as entertaining him -- but then again, they’d been friends long enough he probably knew how she stood on certain things.
And she’d been trying to get better! She was a goddamned famous quidditch star, she should’ve had men bowing at her feet.
“If you get a suit, though, I’d have to get a ball-gown -- and then I’d look like a glittery asteroid. I don’t like where that plan is going, mate.” Felicia laughed, reaching over to pat his arm .”How’s it going there, Ken?”
“I go out drinking with guys too. It’s just … different drinking with you. I like it.” He shrugged a shoulder before getting lost on a train a thought following the mention of ball-gowns. Kendall had never seen Felicia dressed up like that before and he was certain that she would not look like a glittery asteroid.
“Hmm? Fine. It’s going to take more than four shots of tequila to bring me down. Give me some credit.” He said being brought back to the conversation. “Although I’ve just decided I’m definitely getting a suit now, if it means you getting a dress.” he gave her a charming smile before sliding over the last shot they had from his first order of drinks.
“I own dresses,” she protested, “In fact, I was wearing one at that stupid quidditch thing.” It had been utterly boring, and much like watching her own team drink -- but without the fun of knowing anyone at all. Felicia took the drink from him with a snort and downed it a moment later.
Okay, she was really starting to feel light-headed. Hopefully Kendall was going to cave soon. “I just don’t own any gigantic sparkly monstrosities. Why, what’s so intriguing about that? Other than trying to watch me walk around in heels.”
“I’m still mad I missed that. See if I go on vacation again.” he said with a dramatic sigh before taking a sip from his neglected beer.
“Why? What’s wrong with me just wanting to see you dressed up? I bet you looked really nice. Not that you don’t always do, but you know, I just imagine you’d look really pretty dolled up for a special occasion.” And it was probably just a small hint, that Kendall had enough tequila when he started saying practically everything he was thinking, but he wasn’t about to admit that he was done. He was still holding out hope on winning.
“As if you had any way to predict it was going to happen. It seemed very spur-of-the-moment. And most of the blokes that were there just ended up drinking too much and making a fool out of themselves. I’m sure you would’ve just made them look bad by being sweet and charming.” Felicia too got rather loose-tongued when she drank, but so far she felt that she had a pretty good grip on this. She was just tipsy enough to realize that Kendall had called her pretty but not fully register it.
“I think you’re going to lose on the next round,” she said, waving over the waitress and ordering another two shots for each of them. That would probably do it, she was sure.
“Drinking beer between your shots is a rookie mistake, by the way.”
“Probably so. I’m good at being the sweet and charming quidditch guy.” he said giving her a bright smile. “And I don’t think so, that’s totally a myth.”
Kendall might have been tipsy enough to say what he was thinking aloud, but he wasn’t drunk enough to miss the fact Felicia wasn’t going to comment on it. Or even respond really. Unless her thinking he was about to lose was her response. That she thought he was drunk already. This is why he shouldn’t say things like that. Things were good they way they were. No need to ruin them. He picked up a shot once it was delivered and held it out to toast Felicia. “Here’s to my inevitable win.”
She was going to ignore what might’ve been his flirtiness until the cows came home, mostly because she didn’t want to misunderstand him again. They’d become good friends after that little misunderstanding, of course, which she was glad for - but she didn’t think that a second misunderstanding would go nearly as well. Perhaps he was serious, but that wasn’t something she could entertain right now.
Thinking about it too much would just end in silliness. Felicia smirked, toasting Kendall and downing her shot.
Well, that was starting to tingle. “
My inevitable win, you mean. Think you can take another one, Kenny-boy?”
Kendall wrinkled his nose at the nickname. He didn’t mind Ken, liked it even, but Kenny always had irked him slightly. Very few people could get away with calling him that and Felicia just happened to be one of them.
“I think you calling me Kenny-boy is a sign that I’m winning.” he said with a smirk picking up the last shot. Drinking so many tequila shots so quickly was probably (definitely?) a bad idea. He’d feel it the second he stood up for sure, but he was in a good mood, and was pretty sure with one more shot he could con Felicia out on to the the dance floor. Maybe. Always worth a try.
“I dunno, do you think
you can take another.” he challenged leaning on his elbows, raising his brows at her.
Felicia was testing whether he was drunk enough for nicknames not to matter to him. The fact that he could still stand up and get them more drinks wasn’t a good sign, though. She snorted.
“I think I’m just fine, thanks.” But then again, she hadn’t tried to get up yet. As long as she didn’t have to move from the table for a little while she’d be able to win. If he decided to do something silly, though, that might be another story. Maybe if she stalled for a little while she’d feel a little less light-headed.
“That’s fantastic.” he said with a grin moving from his seat across from her to standing next to her. “So that means you’ll come dance with me then, right? Because you’re feeling just fine, and just enough buzzed to fall for my charming smile and a pretty please.”
He held out his hand to her, said smile on his face. “So what do you say? Small time out in this contest for some fun?”
Ah, she knew that was where he was going to be going. She rolled her eyes. “You know that I’m a terrible dancer, of course. You’re just thinking that I’m drunk enough to think this is a good idea?”
Felicia wasn’t getting to her feet just yet. “I didn’t hear the pretty please,” she points out with a little smirk of her own. All right, so maybe she did have some interest in dancing as long as she wasn’t by herself. This was why she liked going out with Kendall -- he was always lots of fun.
“Lies. All lies. I’m wounded you would think such a thing. And you are not a terrible dancer. Never once have you stepped on my toes.”
He slid into the booth next to her, so he could be at eye level. “Pretty please?” Kendall said batting his eyes at her. It was probably unfair, just a little bit, but chances were she was already immune to his blue eyes, and if she wasn’t, well, all’s fair in love and war, right? “Come dance with me? I promise it’ll be the most fun you’ve had so far tonight.”
“Right, because if I stepped on your toes then I don’t think you’d be standing.” She blinked as Kendal slid close, furrowing her brow for a moment. Okay, so she
wasn’t immune to those lovely blue eyes, damnit.
“Fine, fine. But don’t expect me to save you from beautiful women after they throw themselves at you.” Or more than likely, when they shoved her out of the way to dance with him. That tended to happen too.
Kendall grinned brightly, like he just caught the snitch and won the game. “Brilliant!” he said getting up and holding his hand out for her again. “And don’t you worry. I am apparently really good at ignoring women on purpose. And usually when ignored, they go away.” he said leading her out to the dance floor, being careful to make sure they weren’t separated along the way.
She slipped her hand into his and let him pull her up to stand. “Some of them just get bitchy at me if you ignore them,” she points out with a half-laugh, rubbing a hand over the back of her neck. It might’ve been partly a joke, but it was certainly true in some situations.
This was going to end badly.
“Ah.” he said as if something just started to make sense. “Well then I’ll just have to set them straight, won’t I? Just because they’re jealous doesn’t mean they have the right to take it out on you.”
Once they reached the dance floor, he still didn’t let go of her hand. “And anyone who gets bitchy with you just because I’m not talking to them is obviously not worth my time, so if you feel like punching someone in the face, I’m not going to stop you. I don’t want other people treating you badly because of me.”
“See, this is how we end up getting thrown out of bars.” Because when he told her it was just fine to clock any woman who was actually being mean to her meant she was probably going to actually do it.
She puts his hand on her hip since she’s feeling a little cheeky and she’s drunk enough for it. “Seriously, I don’t know how you manage to avoid the tabloids so well. They must be blinded by your good looks and choose to ignore your indiscretions.”
“And you wonder why I have such an ego. This just means you’re not allowed to complain about it anymore.” Kendall said with a laugh, matching her motion with his other hand and swaying with the music. “And you know its because I’m a well behaved respectable gentleman. Which translates to boring in tabloid talk. That and I know better than to get thrown out of wizarding pubs. Wreak havoc where know one knows your name, and the people who do will never know.”
Felicia couldn’t help but laugh when he spoke. “Exactly. We should come to the muggle pubs more often, they seem to be at least a little less obnoxious.”
She let herself lean a little closer, but made sure to keep the boundaries of ‘appropriate’ and not as clear as she could manage to. Kendall was her friend, and she had to remind herself that even though he was terribly beautiful and friendly and -- okay. Thinking about something else now.
“I think we’re going to have a good season.”
“Agreed. Haven’t had to sign a single autograph all night.” he said nodding his head. Definitely muggle pubs more often. “Hmm. Is that really the conversation we’re going to go with?” He asked raising his brows at her. “Alright. I suppose I could make it work.”
He twirled her out gently. “I believe we are going to have a fantastic season. For mulitple reasons. And only half of them actually have something to do with quidditch.”
