Late Nights (Devereverwood)

The fire crackled in the hearth and Ollie had his shoes kicked off, feet up on the coffee table that probably cost more than all the furnishings in his and Kit’s house combine. He liked Dora, spoiled as she was. He saw the warm heart in her, masked by the act she put on for others in attempt to fit in with a crowd she’d always wanted to be a part of. He had been quite happy for her when she moved out of that tatty little flat and got herself in a nice, safe home – even if she hadn’t paid for it on her own. She’d earned it, hopefully not literally though Ollie desperately avoided the subject just in case. Dora, as kind as she was, was far too sexual a creature for the half-vampire, and he shied away from any subject he knew she would turn to innuendo. He was not often successful. At least she wasn’t actually interested in him, not like she was with his brother. Kit, the poor sod, had the unlucky charge of playing friend to a witch who would one day, sooner or later, no doubt show up in his bedroom wearing an obnoxiously tall pair of heels and nothing else. It was fun to tease Kit about on occasion. His older brother could do with a good shag, but Dora was not his type. He wasn’t sure who’s type Dora was, come to think of it, but she’d clearly been someone’s type for a short while at least, because here he was sitting for her fatherless daughter.

He heard the door unlock as if on cue. His attention was diverted, not for the first time, away from the sleeping baby girl upstairs and he hadn’t been thinking about the time at all. He snapped up off the sofa, the sound of Dora stumbling drunkenly in through the door giving his heart a little jolt. He liked Dora, but she didn’t like everyone, nor did everyone always like her. A certain blonde who’d he had been snogging on the sofa was offender numero uno. Ollie kept himself out of it as much as he could and he didn’t fancy a drunken Dora starting on with his girlfriend. Echo was sure to win in a fight against the single mum, he’d put money on it, but he wanted to avoid such an event regardless of the obvious outcome. He gestured silently for Echo to be quiet and trotted out to the corridor to meet Dora. Good, she was heading upstairs anyway. “Fed, changed, and sleeping,” he replied of Pansy. “She should be good until morning.” By the looks of it, Dora might be the one struggling come sunrise.

Ollie stood awkwardly as Dora flirted halfheartedly with him in that innocent way she always did. He knew it meant nothing on her end, nor on his, but Echo was just in the other room and the witches needed no other reasons to dislike each other. Thankfully, Dora’s attention turned to her fantasies of his brother – gross – and she headed upstairs without even attempting to see him out. That was all for the better. Ollie waited a moment until he heard her bedroom door shut, then the sounds of her stumbling toward her bed, before heading back into the lounge. “I could go for some chilli cheese fries right about now,” he said to the blonde. He laughed and raked his fingers through his hair. “Babies put me in the mood for something messy. No idea why.” His words were elongated with sarcasm, as much of the whole night had been a mess. Pansy spit up her dinner. She splashed soap everywhere during her bath. She spit up again for good measure which required a quick bath in the kitchen sink. Then had a back end explosion that required yet another bath.

There were times when Ollie still didn’t quite understand the turn of events that led him to where he was now; Echo sidling up to him and giving him that teasing seductive look. His sister’s best mate! Why? How? Oh yeah, Tessa. She had a way of dropping hints like bombs, and ever since she’d gotten a whiff of the possibility that Ollie found Echo attractive – not to mention fun, smart, and an all around good time, Tess had been making comments and poking her nose in. He would have thanked her for it, had that not seemed like a totally strange thing to do. Speaking of strange, why the hell was he thinking about the Leaky’s bartender when he had his gorgeous girlfriend hanging around his neck. Ollie leaned forward to kiss her just as she pulled away with a smirk. “Naughty minx,” he muttered under his breath as she turned to search for her coat. Moving fast enough to zip right by her, Ollie dashed into the kitchen where Echo’s coat was sitting on the counter near the sink drying after having baby spit washed from the collar. Thankfully Echo hadn’t been wearing it at the time. Coat in hand, he returned faster than should have been possible and stopped right in front of her. “M’lady,” he said, offering the coat in his extended arms as he bowed forward so low he could have licked the floor without much effort. He turned his head up, body still bent at the waist, and grinned up at her through curtains of soft brown hair.

Without warning, but not wholly unexpectedly, Echo pounced. She leapt onto his back and wrapped her legs around his middle and ordered him toward food. He toppled slightly but recovered quickly enough, his vampire-like agility affording him more than enough coordination to keep himself and the blonde upright. “Guess I have to slap my own ass, now? Sheesh, it’s like you’ve never ridden a horse before.” He shook his head dramatically to ensure she could see his disapproval without view of his face, smacked his right bum cheek with his open palm, then began a gallop down the corridor toward the front door. He whinnied as his pace slowed, pulling the door open with one hand and reached his free hand behind him to support Echo. He had not intended to cop a feel of her bum, but really, if he had to make sure she stayed up, there wasn’t any more appropriate – nor enticing – place to support.

“I know a place you’ll like,” Ollie said with a more natural volume to his voice now that they were outside. He doubted Dora was still conscious upstairs, and if she were awake enough to look out the window, she’d be met with a dark drive and a nearly moonless night. Ollie could see through the darkness perfectly and waited until they’d reached the end of the cobbled walk before setting Echo to her feet. “You mind?” he asked, slipping his hand around her waist without waiting for permission. He pulled her close to his frame and gave her a huge, toothy grin before turning on the spot. They both vanished with a crack.

Sounds of the city trailed down into the alley where Ollie and Echo appeared, a busy street just before them. It was late, but the neon lights of the still opened shoppes and diners reflected off the thin layer of snow, giving the whole scene a more romantic air than ought to have been possible in a dirty alleyway. Ollie suddenly realized he’d left his own coat at Dora’s house as the wind nipped at the back of his neck. He’d fetch it later. No doubt he’d be minding Pansy again within a fortnight and he had others at home he could use until he saw Dora again. “This place,” Ollie gently tugged at Echo’s hand in the direction of the busy street, turning onto the main road and appearing before a run-down old diner with only half the letters of the sign lit properly. Ollie brought his fingers up in a closed point, kissing at them like a stereotypical Italian gesture to emphasize how delicious the food here was.

“’Bout time,” he said emphatically, waggling his bum at her as he pulled open the diner door and stepped inside first. The smell of grease and garlic hung thick in the diner air, making Ollie’s mouth water. There would be nothing healthy on the plastic covered menus here, despite the hopeful little “Heart Healthy” section crammed beneath the fried sandwiches and hosted a whopping two items. Had a blind man given even a cursory glance at the nutritional information for the Western Salad (complete with friend chicken and more Ranch dressing than should have been allowed by law) or the Grilled Chicken Platter (grilled chicken smothered in white sauce served with chips), he would have been left laughing. No, the Sunrise Diner (open all night) was not a place for the health-conscious and that was precisely why Ollie liked it here.

Flicking an old chip off the vinyl bench, he offered a seat to Echo at the booth near the window then slid into the other side. The lights outside on the snow was a lovely sight if she got bored of reading the old timey newspapers that had been used to wallpaper the diner. He glanced up at the headline of the article stuck up above Echo’s head; INVASION IS UNDERWAY. A black and white picture of an old German airplane flying over a destroyed city was stagnant below that. Muggle pictures were so boring sometimes, just staying still and never moving, but this one felt heavy. Perhaps it was the ominous headline above it that seemed just as applicable today as it had been less than 40 years ago. A tired looking elderly man shuffled up to them and dropped two plastic covered menus on the table in front of them, then turned around and left without so much as a ‘how do you do’. Ollie didn’t need a menu, he knew what he was getting, but he opened it up regardless and made a point of telling Echo which dishes to keep away from, and which were worth her time.

Cheesy fries and a chili cheese dog were his top choices tonight. He wondered if Echo would be opposed to a double order of chips, and then nearly knocked himself in the head as he realized what a daft thought that was. The day Echo turned down food of any sort was the day You-Know-Who wore a frilly pink tutu and danced in the middle of Piccadilly Circus. Double cheesy fries, then. He wouldn’t even bother asking. Ollie liked it when her eyes lit up over food or something sweet he’d done – which generally involved food, not because she was a gremlin who ate all the time but because it was easy to predict what she’d like in that arena and Ollie was notoriously lousy when it came to the fairer sex. Wooing them, at least. He had loads of girls who were friends, but only a handful of girlfriends and none he liked as much as he liked Echo. She was real, and fun, and loud. He liked all of that. He especially liked when she made him feel important, as if finding a dingy diner like this was some spectacular fete. Ollie shrugged confidently, then leaned in as if he were about to let on a great secret to his mystical food-finding powers. “You’ve gotta eavesdrop better in the locker rooms, love. After a match, win or lose, the lads are always on about how they want to recharge. That’s when you hear about these little hole in the wall places.” He leaned back and gave her a charming grin. “Then you invite your older, snobbier brother out for lunch and watch in horror as he attempts to clean the silverware without his wand.” Ollie chuckled, remembering Kit’s face as he tried to maintain a polite expression while he practically rubbed the silver off his fork with a paper napkin. Kit wasn’t really a snob, not to anyone who knew him, but he was a bit uptight. It was amazing how well the brothers got on, considering how opposite they were.

Echo locked him into his position on the diner bench by placing her feet on either side of him. He wasn’t planning on going anywhere and she wasn’t really stopping him from moving. She was just being cute, which Ollie liked but also made him act awkwardly in response from time to time. He placed his right hand on her left foot and gave it a little wiggle. “Is that why you’re always sweaty after work? You know you’re s’pposed to shower after your matches, you dirty bird.” He was teasing, and even if she did come over a little sweaty from time to time, he only noticed because of his heightened senses. And besides, he liked the way she smelled, it was earthy and soft.