Get Ready to Ignite

[spoons]

get ready to ignite

i wanted a place for christian drabbles, so

important dates can be found in my timeline

(anything with characters not my own has been approved by the characters' parent)

[spoons]

June 2021

The letter has been in Christian's bag a few days before he remembers it exists. Its kind of how his mind works - he either does something immediately or he forgets about it entirely for a while and remembers at the most inopportune moment. Like right now when he knows there's somewhere he's forgetting to be, but instead is stood in the entrance hall willing his mind to remember where and digging through his bag for some sort of clue.

He gives up when some of his friends pass him on the way to get lunch, Jasper not even breaking stride as he pushes him towards The Great Hall - reminding Christian that he needs to eat. He considers protesting for no real reason other than to be contrary, but then his hand comes across the sealed envelope and he decides his brain can go to hell for letting him forget to even read the thing, let alone getting to the stage of forgetting to reply. Luckily the sender is more than used to this.

Christian lets Jasper manhandle him towards the Gryffindor table where Toby is already sat chatting with some of the other WFABW lot as he scans the start of the letter from his sister. There's four pages to get through but the first few paragraphs normally set the tone off, and his mind is eased by the fact it seems pretty conversational. At least he's not forgotten something he needed to respond to. He slides in next to Dom easily, and she offers him a smile as she and Toby carry on their discussion about the blatant misogyny in muggle media. Y'know, standard midweek lunch time chat. He grins back squeezing her leg lightly under the table, before finally turning his full attention to the letter from Florence.

Jasper deposits a sandwich in front of him as he digs around his bag for a scrap of parchment and a quill, "Flo?" he asks as he turns to make his own. Christian nods in response, "Yeah, she sent it with that package last week, I just forgot about it until now."

He and Florence have always done the letter thing, ever since he started school. She's of that generation where even though she does have a quivlet and it is actually always on its just not her preferred method of contact. Don't get him wrong, she uses it (they were hexting over the weekend actually about something one of the kids did) but she likes writing letters still. So, every month or so, this is where they end up.

Its a longer letter so he needs to take notes as he goes - just so he doesn't forget anything in his reply. Essentially the entire first page is about her new kitchen and he can't help but grin at it because she's been going on about getting it redone for bloody ages. He makes a note to tell her he can't wait to see it. She moves on then, telling him about the rest of the family and how their parents are apparently coming home for summer which.. fairly awkward as he has no intention of ever moving into their house. Which luckily Florence knows and she promises to smooth over for him. Legend. He glosses over anything mentioning his brother pretty quickly but their other sister's news is more interesting, and suddenly he's got a list of possible dates when he can go see his sister dance as the prima ballerina for the Royal fucking Ballet's next season. Incredible. Until he notices a line at the end of the passage which makes him pause - let me know if I should get a ticket for Dominique as well.

See, the thing is. He hasn't actually told her about Dom. At least, not recently. Not in the "hey so that girl who used to be my arch nemesis is now actually the person I gravitate to and spend a very high percentage of my time with". He's not entirely sure why, either, but he hasn't. Maybe he was waiting to see her in person.

His head snaps up to look at Jasper as he laughs at something Baggy's said or done or whatever, Christian doesn't know. Jasper, who's stayed with them enough by now that he knows his sister. She sends him packages too sometimes and its cute, really, but not if they're discussing Christian in their correspondence. Except something about that assumption doesn't seem right. He can imagine Jasper telling her, yes, but only if he was writing the letter next to Christian and telling him he was about to do it, not behind his back.

It occurs to him in a flash. Emily, his niece, who should be sat somewhere at the same table as him right now but isn't because he was supposed to be meeting her anyway. He's up like a hex, letter scrunched in his hand as its a damn well talking point for them now whether the second year wanted it to be or not.

"But you didn't even eat the sandwich!" Jasper says in vain as Christian careens over the table to get back to the entrance hall via the shortest route possible. Dom doesn't even bat an eyelid.

[spoons]

April 2025

She's looking at him with pure excitement. Its the same look she gets when she presents him with a piece of choreography she's particularly proud of, and when they're in the studio he will always match her enthusiasm - but they're not in the studio right now, they're in a cafe. Naturally, Christian is wary.

He's been dancing in the same space as Dianne for as long as he's been dancing. They had a few overlapping classes growing up, but they also teach at the same studio now. She's got a few years on him and also spent her adolescence in the competitive circuit with her partner, so she's got a solid reputation behind her in the industry. Awards and titles, sure, but also just experience that Christian does not have in their field.

He doesn't really want it, either. Never wanted a permanent spot somewhere, preferring to fill in when people need it rather than being the main one people rely on. Dianne knows this, so when she asks him to be her new partner he know's something's happened. He's just not sure what.

"Woah, woah, woah," Christian holds up a hand, stopping her mid-sentence, "Dianne Maria Jones, cal-"

"Strallen," Dianne interrupts him, and its at that moment he stops and really, truly looks at her. Her eyes look tired but her body looks relaxed in a way he hasn't seen in the last few years, like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders. He knows what she's going to say next before she says it, "I went back to my maiden name."

And, well, that would explain it. Christian can't really say he's surprised. He can't imagine both working and living with a partner, the strain that must put on a relationship. Not just their personal one, but their professional one too. He and Dom work, he thinks, because they know their limits. By this stage they both know when they need to back down, but if those lines are blurred then that limit must be harder to see - and easier to overstep.

"I'm sorry," is all he says. All he needs to say, really, before she's off again explaining what she wants from him.

They've been here before, he and Dianne. When she'd needed a last minute replacement for a comp because Sean was injured last year. This isn't an injury, he knows, but its a fill in all the same. Except she's talking about 6 month contracts and photo ops and.. wait. What.

He stops her again, "Wait, you want me to replace him on that dancing show!?"

"That dancing show has been my most regular gig for the last four years now, y'know," she looks at him like he's a child, and he bristles at it, "I can't return on my own, but you might not need to take a celebrity partner."

Christian thinks about pointing out that people often split up amicably and still work together, but something in her tone stops him. If they haven't spoken about it before there's probably a reason for that, and the last thing he wants to do is make Dianne uncomfortable - but teaching adults who've never danced before is completely different to teaching young kids full of energy, and ballroom isn't really his area of expertise like it is hers.

"Seann had a partner last year though, are you sure I won't need one?"

"Yeah. His new fiancee," and oh, shit that definitely explains that one then, but Dianne carries on before he can even consider asking any questions, "Don't worry though - there's a few professionals every year who just take part in group numbers... and help with choreo... maybe stand in if someone is ill or something but that's happened like three times in 22 series."

"This is series 22!?"

"... this is series 23."

He's stalling with his question and Dianne knows it. She takes a deep drink from her coffee to give him a bit of time to process what she's asking. Christian himself stays silent as he thinks, and then he's pulling out his muggle (work) phone to check his calendar for later on in the year. He knows its empty, but he just felt the need to do something with his hands.

"Starts September," Dianne speaks up, breaking off a chunk of the cookie that had been forgotten between them since the conversation started, "The line up does need to be confirmed by the end of next month though. I'll give you three days to talk it through with Dom," and then she picks up the rest of the cookie and leaves him to think.

[spoons]

July 2037

Christian stares at the photograph in his hand in pure disbelief for a second before he comes to his senses.

"The fuck is this?" He asks his best friend dramatically waving the frame as he does so.

Jasper just raises an eyebrow at him from across the table, and, true, Christian could have phrased that better. He always gets a photo from Jasper for his birthday - just like Jasper always receives one from him for his. They've been doing this for over decade ever since Jasper came across the frame on one of his many travels and for some reason thought of Christian, and then gave it to him for his birthday with an artsy naked trying-to-be-seductive shot of himself in it.

Honestly, the picture has been the most tasteful part. Its a god-awful frame - made with various seashells that on their own are lovely, but molded into the shape of a pig and functioning as a picture frame... well, its one of the oddest things Christian has ever owned.

Naturally, he'd handed it back to Jasper on his next birthday. Wrapped, of course, as it was a present, with a picture of himself in it - butt naked, with his arse pressed against Jasper's own french doors.

"I thought now I'm a dad I should get the girls involved! It seemed like the right time," Jasper replies, and its true. He is a dad - but he's a dad of three and this is the first time he's put children in the frame.

Christian notices Lily take a swig of her drink to mask her laugh. She and Dom have been involved in this game since almost the very beginning. Its probably due to the unspoken rule that the frame must always be on display in the current occupant's house, although Christian hasn't worked out yet if that means they try and keep it 'tasteful' for their cousin or if they try and make it worse. They do come from a family of renowned pranksters, after all.

As if reading his mind, Dominque takes the chance to look over his shoulder for the first time and doesn't even try to hide her laugh. She'd been particularly proud of the picture they'd last used (a protest shot with a picture of Jasper added to a prominent placard, a circle around his face with a line through it, and the words "Down with the Kirke-triarchy") so its good to know she approves of its replacement.

He looks again at the photo in front of him, "But these aren't even your kids," he points out, ".. And that's my sister."