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fantasticbeasts_kinkmeme) wrote2016-12-25 04:42 pm
fantasticbeasts_kinkmeme) wrote2016-12-25 04:42 pm
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Prompt Post #2
ROUND 2
Seeing as we've reached 4,000 comments in Round 1, it's time to make a new one. Same (lack of) rules apply. Gentle reminder to everyone to refrain from posting extremely long prompts, though. While no word limit will be imposed, take note that it is very unlikely for someone to fulfill your prompt if your prompt alone is already several paragraphs long and containing a number of specifications.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
-(01/14/2016) We now have a TRADING POST where you can exchange fills with people.
-The prompt freeze is over! You may resume posting prompts. The next freeze is scheduled on February 8, 12:00 AM (PST) or if this round reaches 4,000 comments; whichever comes first.
-Due to popular demand, we now have our first couple of rules!
RULE #1: No prompt must exceed 250 words. Any prompt that exceeds that WILL be screened.
RULE #2: Please state RPF in the subject line if your prompt involves real people.
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Fill: It's the Little Things, Episode 4b: Simple and few
(Anonymous) 2017-02-02 05:08 pm (UTC)(link)Graves stood outside the office of which Newt had been granted temporary usage. He smoothed his hair (even though he'd already done so before coming) and straightened his suit (he'd cast a pressing spell on it before leaving his own office) with his free hand -- his wand hand being occupied levitating shrubbery. He had also thought about popping home to pick up Joyce, but, given the day's earlier scene, he didn't think his dignity could bear up under the spectacle of bringing his pet to work.
"Newt, it's me." He magically amplified his voice through the door while he knocked.
"Come in." Though the voice sounded a bit harried, the reply was unhesitant. "Come in, Percival," the voice repeated, more warmly as the door started moving inward. He felt himself smiling before the opening door even revealed his host. "I hear congratulations are in order?"
"Hm?" He queried as he nudged the door shut. "Oh, the sting." He shrugged and moved carefully into the room, watching his step in the magizoologist's domain. "Ah." He set his gift on the desk and finally took a good look at the other wizard. "I see Higgins found you." Newt looked even more disheveled that usual, tie dangling loose around his neck, buttons undone, and shirttail peeking from under waistcoat.
"Auror Higgins was most scrupulous in his handling of the murtlap." Graves willed his gaze up from the hint of wiry pectorals, to the exposed hollow of throat, and up the slender column of the neck to the other man's face. "The creature, I'm afraid, still needs some reassurance of its safety." Newt loosed an explosive sigh between the fingers of his left hand as he leaned against his desk. "A lot of reassurance." Their eyes met and they shared a tired chuckle. "What's this, by the way?" He asked after their quiet mirth subsided, indicating the potted tree with a hand barely removed from his mouth.
"A souvenir," the older wizard replied, not taking his eyes off the expressive digits and tired features reanimated by curiosity. "Take a good look." He watched the magizoologist's face as he examined the tree and saw the tiredness disappear completely in a breathtaking smile of pure wonder.
"Is this Niffler's Fancy?" Newt apparently (and fortuitously) had no need of a reply. "It is, isn't it." He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the tree's roots, trunk, and branches in succession, murmuring incantations. "I have to take this down right away." He jumped to his feet and moved to his case as, under his magical care, a few of the plant's buds plumped and started to open. "You'll come down, too, won't you?" He invited with a warm, open smile from the entrance to his true domain.
"You don't mind?" Graves must have been more tired than he thought. His voice sounded husky in his own ears.
"Not a bit." A twinkle in those green eyes underlined the sentiment.
"Then it will be my pleasure. Shall I?" Without waiting for an answer, he once more levitated the tree while he followed Newt down the ladder and into his sanctuary. It wasn't an easy trick managing the steps and navigating the astonishing progression of landscapes while simultaneously keeping his eyes on his host, his burden, and an awesome parade of fantastic creatures. "You found and captured all of these beasts on your own?" He knew the answer, but... that was an Erumpent over there.
"Rescued, for the most part," the magizoologist corrected him, stroking the head of a yearling Graphorn in passing. There was no modesty, false or otherwise, just love for his creatures. "This one, however," he said as they approached a partially hollowed tree, "is another story." His tone was still affectionate, but there was an exasperated undertone. "How's my little nuisance today?" A dark, mole-like snout peeped out from the hollow, followed by the rest of what must be the Niffler. The small beast made a series of small grunts and squeaks as it proceeded to rifle Newt's pockets. "Oh no you don't, you greedy little troublemaker." He pulled the creature away from his waist and held it up to his guest. "Percival, this is my Niffler. Niffler, Percival has a present for you."
The small magical animal clearly understood the word present. It (he, the Auror mentally amended) squeaked more loudly and finally turned his attention to the older man. He started dancing in Newt's arms as the tree, now with a few leaves fully unfurled, floated toward them.
"Happy birthday," Graves said, for lack of anything else appropriate. He settled the tree quickly as the Niffler launched himself through the air to land amongst the metallic foliage. He watched the now squealing beast wriggle in paroxysms of glee, repeatedly stroking every open leaf on the tree. Newt's eyes, when he met them over this display, shone with almost identical joy. The Auror felt his own features shift to mirror that happiness.
"Anything," the younger man breathed.
"What?"
"Anything you want. Name it and it's yours."
"It's just--" Graves stumbled over words, breath yet again stolen by his companion's smile and tongue tied by embarrassment. "It's no--" When had their positions shifted so utterly? "I didn't..."
"You broke protocol for me, Percival." Humor and mock-accusation joined the glint in those verdant eyes.
"Well..." The altered expression at least allowed him the breath to chuckle. And loosed his tongue enough to respond, "I'll think it over."
"You do that," Newt replied, still smiling. "In the meantime, do you think you could feed the mooncalves for me?" He gestured toward a more grassy, moonlit habitat, from which progressively more plaintiff cries were coming. "It sounds as if they're rather hungry and I have to check on the new guy."
"What happened to anything I want?" Graves asked with a raised eyebrow, finally finding his conversational footing once more.
"Well, you're welcome to some of the Nundu's steak, if you're partial to raw antelope."
"I'll pass, thanks." He could feel the tension melt from his shoulders as they shared another brief laugh. "What delicacy do I feed a mooncalf?"
"The pods are over there..." The magizoologist pointed him in the right direction before heading off toward a lagoon in another habitat.
Graves thought about the aforementioned Nundu as he tossed pods to the long-necked mooncalves. These wide-eyed creatures, his own affectionate Joyce -- even the graphorns -- he could understand. But a giant beast fabled to have destroyed whole villages?
"Remind me never to make him angry," he requested of a mooncalf, scratching its head. "And, I just talked to a beast." 'Too much time with Newt,' he thought, smiling again.
Speaking of... Now that the creatures had been fed and quieted... Was that singing he heard? He gave the mooncalf a last pat and then followed the sound to the lagoon he'd glimpsed earlier.
🎵 "Bluebird, bluebird, this is my lucky day." Was that 'Bye Bye Blackbird' Newt was singing as he sat by the water? He'd said he didn't know anything about No-Maj music. Yet it also seemed unlikely that he'd memorized the tune from a single hearing... "Blackbird, bye bye." 🎵
"Newt?" Graves queried softly, not wanting to break the spell the man's lovely singing voice had cast.
The magizoologist raised a finger to his lips. "The music calms them," he explained, pointing to the water. The beast last seen snarling and scratching in mindless anger was now peacefully floating in the shallows with another murtlap. "Their tastes otherwise don't seem to be as refined as Joyce's, but..." With a smile and without another word, he started another song. "There's a saying old, says that love is blind..." 🎵
The Auror couldn't place the tune immediately, but he listened, as enraptured as the creatures in the water were. Newt's voice lacked the quaver that was currently en vogue, but his voice, and the sentiment in it, was pure... And resonated in his human listener.
🎵 "There's a somebody I'm longing to see..." A tiny, distant, conscious portion of Graves's mind finally recognized the song. "I hope that he turns out to be..." The rest of him was subsumed by the man who looked up at him as he sang. "Someone to watch over me." 🎵
He was able to move forward, closer, when those green eyes turned again to the water. His pulse, impossibly, seemed both to race and keep the even tempo of the song. When he reached Newt's side, he ever so carefully crouched down beside him, not wanting the smallest rustle of grass or leaf to disrupt the music.
🎵 "Although he may not be a man some girls think of as handsome..." The singer met his eyes again and continued with a playful, knowing smile, "...to my heart he'll carry the key." The Auror's own heart lost tempo at that, then raced ahead. "Won't you tell him please to put on some speed..." Newt's smile faded away into a more earnest expression. "Follow my lead..." His voice roughened ever so slightly. "Oh how I need..." Scarcely daring to breath, Graves reached out and cupped a flushed cheek in an inexplicably unsteady hand. "Someone to watch over me." ♫
Green eyes closed as he leaned forward and took the last, lingering note with his lips. He pulled away slightly after a moment. He felt Newt's hand come up and warm fingers brush down his own cheek. Then, he closed his eyes too and both men leaned forward for another, longer kiss.
It was warm and soft and head-spinning. Their lips parted after a timeless moment, but neither lowered their hands. Eyes still shut, Graves rested his forehead against the other man's.
"A cup of coffee, a sandwich, and you." He was too breathless to sing the words, even if he'd wanted to.
"Hm?" Newt drew back a few inches and they both opened their eyes to lock gazes. He wasn't smiling, exactly, but somehow he... glowed.
"You asked me earlier what I wanted," Graves explained. He did smile as he continued, "And that's all that I want." He heard the other man hum the refrain from the song. 'The things I long for are simple and few...' "Just a cup of coffee, a sandwich, and you," he finished aloud, still not singing, still grinning like a fool.
Newt's only response, for the moment, was to pull the Auror in for a third gentle kiss.
"Are you asking me on a date, Percival?" He asked when their lips parted again.
"Yes, Newt." It was difficult to maintain a confident tone under the beam of such a warm, open smile. "Yes, I am."
"I'll take a chance."
"For coffee?" Graves thought of the song lyrics again.
"For more than that." He had never in his life felt this... giddy, as Newt raised his other hand and held his face in both. "For much more than that."
---
*The lyrics referenced are in the lady responding part of the song and she sings that she'll take a chance "for coffee, but not for romance".
[Well, that's all for the story that covers the original prompt. Don't know if there'll be future episodes of them in an official relationship. Might be best left to readers' own imaginations, I suppose.
Anywho, thank you for reading!]
Re: Fill: It's the Little Things, Episode 4b: Simple and few
(Anonymous) 2017-02-02 07:59 pm (UTC)(link)Re: Fill: It's the Little Things, Episode 4b: Simple and few
(Anonymous) 2017-02-07 02:28 pm (UTC)(link)I came across Niffler's Fancy while looking up magic plants and just had to use it. The Aurors were just supposed to show the positive changes / healing on Graves's part, but I had too much fun with them... I may have to bring them back in other stories.
Re: Fill: It's the Little Things, Episode 4b: Simple and few
(Anonymous) 2017-02-02 08:54 pm (UTC)(link)Thank you so much for writing this story; I loved every word of it. If you ever want to revisit this 'verse, I'll gladly read more, but as it is, I love where you left off the characters. <333
Re: Fill: It's the Little Things, Episode 4b: Simple and few
(Anonymous) 2017-02-07 02:34 pm (UTC)(link)I've got an account on AO3 now, so maybe after reposting there, I'll add to it. Probably not new chapters (though I see Graves & Newt dancing in Graves's apartment and a grumpy downstairs neighbor shouting and thumping with a broom handle), but I'd love to write about the Auror team slowly catching on about their boss and the magizoologist.
Re: Fill: It's the Little Things, Episode 4b: Simple and few
(Anonymous) 2017-02-03 10:04 pm (UTC)(link)Re: Fill: It's the Little Things, Episode 4b: Simple and few
(Anonymous) 2017-02-07 02:35 pm (UTC)(link)