Hold Up

[Lexy Fletcher]

This was effing ridiculous. Lexy had never expected a deal to go so badly that she'd need to hide somewhere untraceable. Somewhere she wouldn't even think to find herself. The brunette argued eith herself, could being beaten up and her wands taken away really be that bad? Did she need to resort to such a tragic and disgusting way to hide? After apparating though she knew the answer was yes - and that after this she'd probably need to request that Zero move as well. It was too easy for them to trace her to Zero and sometimes Lexy thought the girl might be better off. While she may not be in any danger - these people were greedy and seedy, and her best friend shouldn't be around them. Nor should her best friend's daughter. Lexy only sold to them because money was money, and she did enjoy having extra to spend. Lexy took a deep breath staring at the door. This was going to be worth it. She'd make it worth it. After all she had a few hundred on her, she could give him those. "Alohamora." She whispered, wand pointed at the entrance before she entered quickly and slammed the door shut behind her. She looked for the figure of the man before she began speaking at a volume he could hear. "Listen i don't have much time to explain, I am not in a good or safe position, I need somewhere to lay low. I know I'm not fond of you and you loathe me, but if you let me stay I'll give you some coin. Deal. Deal." She spoke fast not letting Gabriel Fletcher get a word in edgewise before she began charming his door so if they did find her it would be hard to get it. Not like they could steal anything from this place anyways - it was empty and just as dingy.

 

[Gabriel Fletcher]

After getting home from work, Gabriel had stuck a ready-made lasagna in the oven and cracked open a beer, ready to relax for the night. Sure, he could probably have cooked himself something with magic, but it seemed so much more complicated and risky than doing things the muggle way. At least, his oven had started less fires so far than his wand. Taking a swig from his bottle, he headed into the living room, looking around for the television remote when suddenly a figure appeared in the doorway. "Jesus f**K!" he said. How the hell had she got in without him hearing? He needed to be more alert - especially now Lexy was harassing him. Only, when she started to talk, it wasn't to demand money, but to offer him some in exchange for letting her stay at his place a while. Gabe set his beer down and nodded, trying to make sense of the situation, and then deciding it was probably best if he didn't. He didn't need to get involved in whatever illegal stuff this girl was into. But if she needed his help, he wasn't going to throw her out on the street. "Sure," he said. "OK. Um... how long do you need to stay?"

 

[Lexy Fletcher]

Lexy tried to hold back a giggle at the startled expression on the boys face. It helped that she was turned now from him making sure every window had a charm on it, and every entry point was darn near blessed by magic. She wasn't risking her life for this. "A couple days, at most, until i can get to my supplier's residence without the worry that they followed me. i don't want her or her sister in danger because I'm an idiot." She spoke bluntly. She needed to demand protected drops from now on. She worked with one person, half payment up front. Something to keep her safe. Once Lexy was done flitting about the house she paused in the living room to calm her quick-beating heart. The brunette, after obtaining the oxygen she needed from her deep breathing, Lexy looked around the apartment. She noticed that there was a machine of sorts cooking the food she assumed Gabriel was going to eat. "You know it's quicker to cook using magic yeah?" She asked, moving around and casting charms here and there so that the dishes would do themselves, that a broom might start sweeping. It was weird that he seemed to be using muggle equipment. "You know how yeah?" she asked, not trying to be insulting, but genuinely curious.

 

[Gabriel Fletcher]

Gabriel watched nervously as Lexy charmed the windows. How dangerous were these people? And what the hell had she done to get herself into this mess? No - he had to bridle his curiosity. He wasn't going to get involved. And anyway, Lexy was safe here; nobody would ever come looking for her at the apartment of some insignificant guy like Gabe. She was untraceable. "Right," he said, suddenly feeling embarrassed about the state of his house. It was hardly fit for hosting guests. He gathered up some empty food packets and bottles and carried them to the trash, where he suddenly realised Lexy was casting spells to help him clean up. "Hey!" he said. "What are you doing?" He washed his hands in the sink and dried them on a crusty looking towel. "Yeah. I know. I just like to do things my way. So get off my stuff, yeah?" Gabe grabbed the broom to stop it sweeping, and leaned forward on the end. "I know you like to use your fancy spells, but that isn't my style." He was obviously lying now, but he was smiling at Lexy, his eyes twinkling. "So if you want some lasagna, you'd better back off." He glanced toward the hall. "Did you bring any luggage?"

 

[Lexy Fletcher]

Lexy nearly jumped when Gabriel's voice raised at her. She didn't think her use of magic would shock him that much. They were wizards, he had bought a wand from her. Sure there were things Lexy still did the muggle way, but all of the cleaning? Often times she traveled too often to do so. "Think you need to rewash your hands and redry them. Scourgify." She said and cleaned the towel which looked questionable. The brunette listened to his words but the smile on his face, why on earth was he smiling at her like that. "Oh...kay." She spoke with an obvious air of disbelief in the man's abilities. She couldn't help it - why would a wizard live the way he did. Lexy was raised with magic, though her father was a squib and couldn't preform any, her mother was a very talented witch and did most of the things around the house using her wand. Perhaps Gabriel's father was a muggle and taught him to be the same. "I had a bag. The decoy had my clothing in it. Luckily I guess that's the one they took. Unluckily that means i have no luggage." She shrugged the teddy bear off her shoulders, and opened it up, laying out the fancy, artfully made wands on the table making sure all of them were there. She then slipped them away. "Wouldn't happen to have a shirt i can wear would you? In exchange I'll finish doing your dishes?" She offered with a wide, questioning smile on her face. She'd never felt so pathetic and helpless in her life. "They're just new wands, why would someone wanna steal them. Though i suppose I did have coin on me..." She wondered if that's what they were after, and knew she'd have to carry soemthing in case change needed to be made. Regardless she walked away without a scratch on her so what did it matter.

 

[Gabriel Fletcher]

"What did I just say?!" Gabriel said, exasperated. It had been literally five seconds since he'd told Lexy to stop cleaning, and already she was at it again. Didn't she know she was the guest here? Suddenly Gabriel softened. She wasn't his guest because she wanted to be. She didn't have any other choice. It was like she'd said when she'd arrived - neither of them were very fond of each other. So maybe he could let it drop.

Gabriel wanted to reply to her question about the shirt, but couldn't, because the moment she shrugged off her teddy bear backpack, he started howling with laughter. He laughed for a solid minute, as if it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen in his life, and then finally managed to choke out, "Holy s**t! You keep your wands in a teddy bear? You are adorable!" Miss Fierce and Nasty wasn't really so fierce after all, it seemed. At last Gabriel managed to get a hold of himself, clearing his throat and stifling the last of his giggles. "Uh - yeah, sure, I think so. Wait here. And if anything else has been cleaned by the time I get back, I swear to God, I'm handing you over." With that, Gabe dashed into his bedroom, digging around in his drawer for a shirt that might not swamp Lexy, which he soon realised was a futile endeavour. In the end he picked the one with the least creases (at least it was clean) and headed back into the living room, looking for Lexy.

 

[Lexy Fletcher]

Lexy tried very hard to look angrily at Gabriel, but she felt her face grow increasingly hotter and hotter until she was forced to cover it with her hands. How could she forget that her wands were in her unassuming bag. Not to say she didn't love this backpack - it was her favorite. But it wasn't threatening. "Shove off!" She retorted until he finally stopped laughing and left the room to find her some clothing to wear. Lexy had to take a few deep breaths before finally she begun to remove her heels, and set her jewelry to the side, inside of the felt boots. She thought of removing her shirt in preparation, but realized after a moment she wasn't in her own house. The petite woman looked around instead, and found herself over by the TV. She'd never seen the thing below it before, and was crouched over in heavy concentration looking at the plastic cases, and the shiny disks revealed when she opened them. "What the hell?" She asked herself, before looking at a machine that looked like it would eat them, judging by the size of the hole. Lexy extended a finger and pushed a button with a square on it, but nothing happened. So then she pushed one with a sideways triangle present, and still nothing. She looked at the television - she knew what that was from her three days of muggle studies. She pushed a button on the side, and then another until suddenly the technology whirred to life a little too loudly, scaring the girl backwards. "Yikes!" She yelped, trying to make it stop but unsure of what button started it.

 

[Gabriel Fletcher]

Gabriel was half expecting to find his living room and kitchen completely spotless when he returned, so was surprised instead to see Lexy jumping backwards from the television, yelping in surprise. Once more he failed to contain his laughter. When he had her attention, he tossed the shirt at her. "You've seen a TV before, right?" He shook his head. "It's fine. Just press the red one." Gabriel crossed over to the stove and checked on the lasagna. He might normally have eaten a snack beforehand, but for some reason he didn't want to start eating crisps in front of Lexy. Suddenly something struck him. "Um, bathroom's at the end of the hall, on the left," he said. Then he remembered. "Right - you already know that." Lexy had already explored his house on the night she'd burgled it. "When you're dressed, maybe I'll show you how to work the TV."

 

[Lexy Fletcher]

Lexy's face turned red. "I've seen a Tv, in class once, in a book.... I've never owned one!" She spoke over the contraption. The brunette took the shirt and stood in her spot. She looked at Gabriel as he spoke and chuckled herself. "I know your house better than you do." She insisted. "Like your secret hiding space for things you find valuable. But really bedside table?" Lexy insisted on gaining verbal control, though she was still embarrassed to have been called adorable - and been caught surprised by the TV. The brunette left the room to the bathroom and couldn't help but leave it spotless when she returned to him in the oversized shirt. It was long enough that it fit her like a dress, and she could have worn it as such if she made some minor adjustments to it. However she felt this was the most comfortable way to wear it. "So weird, muggle made lasagna?" She inquired with a small chuckle, making her way across the room.The oven buzzed a noise she figured meant the food was done and used her wand to open the door. She then cast a spell and levitated it into the air, above where his reach was. "This is enough for you?" She asked, before bringing it closer to her. "Maybe I'll eat it myself." She teased. It wasn't a large portion, frankly she wasn't hungry, but being that she had magic on her side she felt that teasing her new host was easy enough.

 

[Gabriel Fletcher]

"Heeey," Gabriel said, rolling his eyes, but Lexy had already left the room. It wasn't his fault he didn't have any decent places to hide stuff. And he wasn't about to stash a bag of runes underneath his floorboards, just in case some lunatic debt collector came after him, anyway. While Lexy was in the bathroom, Gabe knelt in front of the TV, choosing a film to put on while they ate dinner. His hand paused over the horror he and Saveli had watched together the last time she'd come over. He still hadn't seen or heard from her since that night, nor made any attempt to contact her himself. He felt bad about it, he really did - he didn't want Saveli to think he'd been using her - but something in his gut told him the reason she hadn't been in touch was because she'd felt just as little connection as he had. Their night together, it hadn't meant a thing. After all those years of chasing her, he'd realised that evening that he wasn't actually in love with her at all. He'd been in love with the idea of her. Or maybe he'd just wanted what he couldn't have. Either way, there was nothing left between the two of them, and Gabe knew it.

Hearing Lexy re-enter, Gabe turned his head. "How come I had to give you my wand at the doorstep, but you get to keep yours?" he said, inserting a thriller into the DVD player and getting to his feet. "Eat it, if you want. There's another one in the fridge." But he was already getting two plates out of the cupboard, cleaned courtesy of Lexy. Behind him, on the television, the film's titles were already opening. "Look, I live alone, I don't prepare myself a banquet every night. Come on, before it gets cold, or you drop it. And don't knock it before you've tried it. It's not bad."

 

[Lexy Fletcher]

Lexy rolled her eyes. "Because, Mr. Fletcher, you are often too busy staring at me to ask for my wand." She spoke before lowering the pasta down to the counter and letting it land with a soft thump on the material. She turned and looked at his plates. "Are your silverware cleaned or should i be worried about that as well?" she teased before looking into the dish. "You know it's so strange to me. You live on your own. You don't have magic obviously. Whether it's your wand or you can't use it isn't my problem. How could you protect yourself. What if this was some clever ruse and I was going to kill you?" She inquired, though it wasn't and she wasn't - she felt it was a good question. Lexy always used magic to protect herself. She was proficient, maybe more, with spells, charms and defenses. So she wasn't concerned about someone getting past her defenses unless they were a hit witch or Auror. "Worse what if those people show up. It's four on one if you don't have a wand usable and ready." She wasn't trying to frighten the ebony haired man, she only was honest about the situation they were in before they got cozy eating lasagna.

 

[Gabriel Fletcher]

Gabriel's mouth opened, and closed again. "I am not!" he finally managed to say, but his protesting was in vain, because he'd been staring at Lexy from practically the minute she'd entered. He rolled his eyes, not deigning to ask her question about the silverware. He wasn't a slob. And he would have cleaned the dishes, too, if he'd needed one. When he was by himself, he tended just to eat his ready-meals from the packet.

As he spooned out the lasagna onto the plates, he considered Lexy's question. He might have been offended, except she didn't sound as if she meant to be unkind. Just curious. "Then I guess I'd have to hope you bury me in something classy," he said with a grin, before sobering. She was serious about this, and with good reason. He had no way to protect her, if by some stroke of incredible misfortune the people after her did come knocking at Gabe's flat. He threw the spoon in the sink and shrugged, grabbing Lexy a fork. "I won't need one though, will I?" he said. "They're not going to look for you here. As for your other question, I generally try to avoid being on such bad terms with people that I need to protect myself from them." He cocked a brow, smiling, and slid Lexy's plate toward her. "Let's eat. We're missing the start of the film."

 

[Lexy Fletcher]

Lexy couldn't help but take her turn cackling at the man's expression when she had called attention to his flirtatious glances. She wasn't an idiot, or born yesterday - and she was aware she looked good. She worked hard to be as such. often times it was more difficult being a woman as men did not have to work as hard to get the attention they wanted, just a small smile - perhaps that was why Lexy wasn't easy to make a relationship with. She believed it was only worth it if the man worked as hard as she did. It was only fair. "Bury you in pink pasties and a tutu." She muttered smiling, grabbing gold of the other plate that was slid toward her. "I don't normally make enemies either, I mean I did with you but you couldn't beat me in a fist fight let alone with magic." She laughed, heading over to his couch, sitting cross legged. on the middle cushion, which still left ample space for Gabriel.

It was nearing half through the movie and Lexy had finished her food and used magic to navigate the plate to the kitchen. The apartment was still rather warm, and with all the excitement of the day before the brunette knew it she had begun to doze off. Her head lulled first, then shoulders sagged. Her mind went blank the sound of the movie music all she could hear. She wasn't even aware that her legs, now tucked beside her, had stretched out slightly, and slowly she drifted into a leaning position, head on Mr. Fletcher's shoulder, weighing him down by the second.

 

[Gabriel Fletcher]

Gabriel rolled his eyes, but the smile on his face betrayed his amusement. It was strange; he'd never felt comfortable being teased before. His usual response to being made a fool of - whether in good humour or not - was to turn irritable and grumpy. But with Lexy, he almost found himself enjoying being poked fun at, if only because seeing her smile lit up something in his chest that hadn't been lit for a very long time. He couldn't even recall Saveli ever having made him feel that way, nor decide exactly what it was that made him feel so soft. All he knew for sure was that he wouldn't mind Lexy sticking around.

Half way through the film, Lexy began to slump, and the weight of her head on Gabriel's shoulder grew heavier and heavier, until finally her breathing fell into a slow, rhythmical pattern. He whispered her name, not with the intention to wake her, but to confirm that she had indeed fallen asleep. No response. For a few moments, Gabriel sat as still as he possibly could, hardly daring to breathe for fear he'd stir her. She'd had a long day. He watched her eyelids twitch slightly, resisting the temptation to stroke her hair. That would have been weird. They weren't even friends, for God's sake. Gabe was just lending her the couch for a couple of nights, and then she'd be out of his life again forever.

The happy feeling in his chest faltered. Out of his life forever. Slowly, carefully, doing his best not to rouse her, Gabriel eased himself out from underneath her, resting her down on the couch with her head on a cushion. Then he fetched a blanket and draped it over her sleeping form, pausing to watch her a moment longer before switching off the TV and the light. He left the light in the hall on. And then he went to bed, pulling up the cold sheets and staring into the darkness for as long as it took to yield to the temptation of sleep.

 

[Lexy Fletcher]

Lexy wasn't sure when she fell asleep, nor was she sure what roused her, but suddenly Lexy's blue orbs were snapped open, facing the Television watching the title screen. For a moment, whilst her sesitive iris' adjusted, she lay there blinking. She then realized while she had gained a duvet of sorts, she'd lost her house guest. Rather she was his house guest. Her host, she finalized in her head. Standing Lexy lumbered her way gently into the bowels of his flat, making it to his room before she stopped. "Rude a**" She muttered before opening the door. "Oi!" she spoke a little louder than her normal, fae-esque tone. The brunette rubbed sleep from her eyes before entering the bedroom. "How come it is that I was left out on the rock hard couch an' you've got a nice warm bed. It's nippy out there." She moaned, the Scottish in her accent very uncontrolled and evident when she opened her mouth. Her hair was a mess about her head, but it wasn't as if Lexy cared, she just wanted somewhere more comfortable and warm to sleep after all.

 

[Gabriel Fletcher]

When Gabriel woke, he'd almost forgotten about the events of the previous evening, and nearly jumped out of bed with fright at the sound of Lexy's voice. Switching on his bedside lamp, he propped himself up on one elbow and squinted towards the door, where his guest was standing with mussed hair and tired eyes. It took him a moment or two to process what she'd said - and even then he wasn't quite sure what she was trying to accomplish. Too tired to figure it out, he simply grinned sleepily, flipped up the corner of the duvet, and said, "Plenty of room in here for two."

 

[Lexy Fletcher]

For a moment Lexy thought she'd given Gabriel a heart attack and that she'd have to explain to the wizagamont why her fingerprints were on nearly everything. The brunette was relieved though when he came to his senses and remembered that he had indeed invited the fox into the sheep pen upon welcoming her into his home. Lexy looked at the duvet, and then at Gabriel's sharp features, raising a brunette brow. She wondered if this was something more than it appeared. But she was tired, her feet and back sore. The bed called her name slowly, Lexyyyyy come lay down; it called gently, so she listened and slowly made her way over to Gabriel's side. "Your heat is rubbish." She complained a little more, before crawling into the bed under all the covers and nearly losing herself. She slept on a fairly small bed at home - she didn't need more than a kids bed at her height, and they were often cheaper. Slowly Lexy pushed her feet against Gabriel's legs. "Your house is cold." She added, driving home the point that her tiny form was frigid, and needed warmth. "And if you tell anyone we did this I'll kill you myself. Got away with it one." She chuckled at the end of her sentence, not one to allow her bad image to be torn down by a little cuddling.

 

[Gabriel Fletcher]

Oh, Merlin, she was actually taking him seriously. Gabriel hadn't expected that. He sort of stared as Lexy crawled into bed with him, wondering whether he might actually still be asleep. Her icy cold foot on his god-damned leg told him otherwise. "Mother-****er!"" he said, without any real malice. In fact, he was laughing. "Yeah, it's cold 'cause I have to spend this month's electricity on replacing everything you stole." That wasn't true, but he hoped he might make her feel a bit guilty for what she'd done to him. He'd never get over that. Gabriel rolled his eyes. "I've seen your teddy-bear rucksack. You don't scare me any more," he said. Then he turned over. "Face the other way. You're too small to be the big spoon."

 

[Lexy Fletcher]

Lexy rolled her eyes at his comment about his electricity. As far as the brunette was concerned it wasn't her fault. And she spoke as such. "Hey. You tried to rob me of my payment first!" She argued, though there was no anger in her voice. She instead placed her other foot against him trying to get the appendages warm. The comment about turning over caught her off guard. "Who said I was going to spoon you." She grumbled, all the whole turnin over gently trying to keep the long t-short down at an acceptable length. She finally pressed stubbornly against him, though she couldn't complain because this was much warmer than she had previously been. Finally she let her breath out and closed her eyes, preparing for a semi-restful night.