Anticipation's On The Other Line

[Eli Swan]

August 21st

Real champagne was expensive, but the fake champagne tasted just as good to Eli. He happened to have a bottle of both, tonight; one bottle of real champagne that Mr. Winkle had let him walk away with for being one of the last members of the birthday party to depart. That hadn't actually been intentional--he'd climbed aboard the floating ship at just before midnight and had gotten lost somewhere in its bowels for the better part of an hour. Still, he wasn't planning on admitting that to anyone, least of all the party's host, and he wasn't going to turn down a free bottle of champagne. He hadn't told Angie about that, thinking that he would save it for a special occasion--he hadn't realized the special occasion would have happened so soon!

When he'd gotten called in to Christopher's office alone, he'd been thinking the worst. Although he liked the man and they got along very well on missions, Eli felt as though his performance over the past few months had been really quite abysmal, and so he was dreading what the older man had to say. Much to his surprise, Christopher told him that he had actually been doing fairly well over the past fifteen months, which had lead him to throw Eli into a few 'sticky situations' to see how he would handle them. Eli's indignation at having been subjected to things like the aging curse and his near-death by asphixiation was only temporary, because the next thing that Christopher said was that he felt confident enough in Mr. Swan's abilities to recommend promotion.

The eighteen months he'd spent as an Apprentice, when his summer internship after sixth year was thrown in, was still a far cry short of the twenty-four that were typically required, so Christopher warned that the promotion probably wouldn't become official until after their next mission, which began in September and would take them into the late months of the year. Even so, Eli was thrilled by the news, and he wanted to celebrate with Anige. He was in a good mood anyway because she had just gotten back from being gone for half of August, and the idea of doing something special that night stuck in his head as a marvelous idea.

Stopping to buy a second (much lower quality) bottle of champagne and some groceries on his way home, Eli took the dogs out on a speed-walk and then started the nicest dinner he knew how to make, with lots of fresh vegetables and herbs, and even some slices of mozarella cheese that had been particularly pricey in the market. He didn't know when Angie was going to get home, but he was hoping he could have the meal mostly done by the time she did. About halfway through he opened up the champagne--the cheap bottle, because he felt bad opening the nice one without her--and started to sip on it. He was already feeling pleasantly buzzed by the time he heard the door open and the dogs start barking.

"Annngieee!" he called happily, grabbing his wand and turning the flames on the stove down so that he could leave for a moment without burning anything. Sliding his wand into his back pocket, he poured a hasty glass of champagne--which he filled far too high, because tipsy Eli is not coordinated Eli--and took both his glass and hers with him to the living room. "Guess what? Actually, no, here--drink champagne, then guess what," he said with a grin, holding out a glass and realizing after a moment that he was holding out the wrong glass. He switched his arms with a blush, hoping she wouldn't call him on his buzz.

  

[Angie Swan]

As per usual, after coming home from assignment, Angie was exhausted. That, combined with the jumble of worry knotting up in her stomach at going home, left her a little apprehensive. Things hadn't exactly been settled when she'd been whisked away to South America on the first of the month, but she hadn't had a choice. Of course while she was gone she was half wondering about what Eli was up to while she was gone and the other half worrying that one day he would wake up while she was gone and no longer feel the same way about her. It certainly wasn't pleasant, but it was reality, for her anyway.

Still, she'd tried to neaten up a little bit at the office before heading home. Ang had no idea what to expect, but she self-consciously felt the need to be presentable, even if that could only be solved by a bath and some sleep. Regardless, she wasn't a mess when she unlocked the door to their flat, greeted by the barking of the doors and a glass of... champagne?

Quirking an inquisitive eyebrow at Eli, who seemed a little too happy to see her, Ang accepted the glass, the second one, easily after setting her bags down on the floor by the door. She took a slow sip, eyeing him over the glass, but her lips curved into a smile nevertheless. "I have no idea, what?" She asked, hoping it would explain his cheery mood. Not that she was complaining, but he seemed to have dipped into the champagne before she'd even gotten home.

  

[Eli Swan]

Seeing her for the first time in weeks was like getting a breath of fresh air after being stuck in the dungeon-like offices below Gringott's for an entire day, or feeling the sunlight after wandering a decrepit, cobweb-filled tomb for a week. Eli's first impulse, other than to smile, was to wrap her up in an all-encompassing hug and cover her forehead in kisses, but that, while pleasant, would not further their conversation. And he'd probably end up burning dinner, which he didn't want, because he'd already put a lot of effort into dinner. So instead of that, he beckoned for her to follow him into the kitchen, taking another sip of champagne and chattering away to her as they walked. "I'm making dinner, does it smell good? I haven't ever done it with this many vegetables and herbs before. I think it'll be good. It's fancy, to go with the champagne," he said with a chuckle.

"We're celebrating," he declared, getting more towards the subject at hand. "Because," he said importantly, turning around with something of a swagger and fixing her with a serious look. "You're finally home and I missed you, and the flat's terrible when you're not around," he said, looking at her for a minute longer before breaking out into light, easy laughter. "I'm kidding. Well, I mean, I'm not, because all of that's true, but it's not why I got champagne. I got champagne because by the end of the year--in a matter of mere months--you will be living with a full-fledged Cursebreaker," he announced proudly, puffing up his chest in exaggerated bravado and holding the pose a moment before breaking into laughter again. "Christopher told me he's putting in his recommendation for it today, and it'll be official once we get back from our September trip. Isn't that great?" he asked eagerly, with a grin. Holding up his glass of champagne, he asked almost shyly, "Toast?"

  

[Angie Swan]

Angie followed Eli into the kitchen, amused by him and no longer tired after the little skip of a heartbeat he'd given her. He had a funny way of showing it, but apparently he was still the same as she left him, which was good, she supposed, because she'd been dreading that it wouldn't be the case. "It smells delicious, I missed your cooking almost as much as I missed you." She countered with a wink. Ang took a sip of her champagne with a small sigh. They'd settled into this at an alarmingly fast rate, despite all of Angie's hesitations, she couldn't help but to enjoy their new level of comfort.

At his news, Angie grinned and raised her class in toast. "Congratulations!" Wow had it gone by fast! He had a leg up on her, having that summer between sixth and seventh year to start his internship, but Ang was alright with that. She still had a while before she got promoted, but that was to be expected. It wasn't like they shoved her behind a desk all of the time; she was out there, on missions, learning first-hand what it would be like. It certainly wasn't boring. "That's so exciting, I can't believe it's almost that time." She was a little disappointed to find that he'd be off again in September, but likely so would she. They were never going to get more than a week or two at home at the same time, so they'd just have to make do. "And then next summer we'll both be out on our own." That was as terrifying as it was thrilling. They didn't get to work together much either, because of the gap in their apprenticeships, but that was probably for the better right now.

  

[Eli Swan]

"Or maybe out together," Eli supplied with a hopeful half-smile. It wasn't too perposterous, really; bigger cases often took more than just a solitary Cursebreaker on the team, and they would both be too young and inexperienced to take on an Apprentice of their own for several years to come. If not as soon as Angie promoted, then it would probably happen eventually, anyway. They only had the rest of their lives together, Eli thought a bit giddily. This was not the first time that he had felt this way about someone--but it was the first time that long-term happiness had seemed so within reach, so achievable.

"Hold still," Eli said, setting his champagne glass down on the table. Before Angie could ask why, he leant in a planted a light but sensuous kiss on her lips, then pulled away with a grin. "Had to get that out of the way. Now," he said, looking around and picking up his glass of champagne again. "Why don't you tell me about your trip while I go not-burn dinner?" he joked.

  

[Angie Swan]

Wouldn't that be something? She had to marvel at the possibility. Spending all that time together, if that hadn't made her heart skip another beat, the kiss would have. Damn if he didn't know how to make her melt instantly. He was either very aware of what he did to her and was trying to get a rise out of her, or was completely oblivious and she didn't know which suited him more. It was hard to talk with her heart in her throat, but Angie took a long sip of champagne to help, moving to lean against the counter to watch him in the kitchen. Nothing about them was conventional, but she was glad at least he knew how to cook well enough to attempt something like this. Angie was far from domestic, and this left them far from starving.

"I actually quite enjoyed this one, though South American indigenous people are very clever in their temple designs." She only indulged his request to get her mind off of the butterflies in her stomach. Those mixed with champagne were a bad idea and she knew it, but she couldn't do much about either right about now. "The jungle is beautiful though, if I'd known about it sooner, I would have taken Care of Magical Creatures just to go study there. It's fascinating." Perhaps she'd do a little studying on her own about it someday, when she wasn't preoccupied in all of her free time.

She took another sip of her champagne, looking at the almost-empty glass with a disapproving stare; it was going down far too easily. "What were you up to while I was gone?"

  

[Eli Swan]

Eli moved easily around the kitchen; he was comfortable here, and cooking had become second-nature to him since he'd been stuck in Hogsmeade for so much of the past few months. He'd gone out for two weeks in June, one in July, and for about nine days in the first half of August, but compared to last summer, when he'd been gone for literally months, it seemed like he was pratically drowning in free time, and cooking was far cheaper than eating out. Dinner was very close to ready, and by the time she'd finished talking he was extinguishing flames beneath pans and starting to look for something to eat it off of.

"We went out for a bit. A pretty quick trip, to India--no, wait, the island one. Indonesia," he corrected as he located a pair of plates. "There wasn't a lot of curse-breaking to do, though. I think they only wanted us to go because I speak Malay. It was right there close to the border with Malaysia. The weather was pretty nice while we were there, though, and it was easy so we actually ended up seeing the sun for most of it," he said with a grin. Angie, of course, knew how intensive a typical cursebreaking mission could be, especially one whose treasure was located underground, on the other side of a labyrinth of curses and booby traps. South American temples actually sounded quite pleasant compared to the tombs, crypts, and caves they usually found themselves in.

Using the spatula to move all of the various food items from the pans to the plates, Eli took another sip of his champagne and ended up finishing the glass. Once he'd plated up the food--comprised of pasta, seared vegetables, and bruschetta, which was a fancy Italian way of saying toast with things on it--he moved to grab the bottle of champagne and refilled first Angie's glass, then his. There didn't seem to be very much left in the bottle, so after frowning at it for a moment, he moved back to Angie's glass and filled it up more, then did the same to his. "After this we have more champagne--better champagne. It's real stuff that a rich guy gave me at a fancy party last week," he explained with a grin.

Setting the champagne bottle in the empty sink, Eli moved the plates to the table, putting them close together so that they could sit side by side instead of across the table like they usually did. "Bon apetit," he said with an over-exaggerated wave of his arm towards the table, laughing again as he retrieved his glass and went to take a seat.

  

[Angie Swan]

Angie couldn't help but to take a moment and just enjoy this. Coming home after a long trip to dinner and champagne was certainly a warm welcome. "I see how it is, going to fancy parties without me." She looked over the rim her glass at him, clearly amused. Eli had gone above and beyond with this dinner, but that didn't mean she was going to stop teasing him. Of course if she wouldn't be able to stop if he didn't stop topping off her glass. One bottle empty and another to go? That sounded like a bad plan. Hopefully with food it wouldn't go to their heads too fast.

Taking a seat, she was able to set her champagne down and let it lie for a moment. Unable to help herself, Angie toed off her shoes under the table. There was no sense in torturing her feet any longer today. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to get me drunk." The minute the words left her lips, Angie wished she could take them back. She remembered very clearly what happened when they were drunk together and he did too and she hadn't meant to make it awkward.

"What did you make? It looks tasty." She said in an effort to move on from her slip up, ironically reaching for her champagne to take a minute.

  

[Eli Swan]

Eli couldn't help but look up at her with some surprise when she asked if he was trying to get her drunk. She quickly looked away, bringing the champagne to her lips. Eli could tell why the statement had made her feel awkward, but he wasn't going to let it ruin their moment. He was enjoying this too much to let it become uncomfortable. "The thought had never crossed my mind," he said honestly. He drank frequently, and sometimes he got quite drunk, but it wasn't his intention, on a night like this. It just seemed like a good way to celebrate, with champagne. A classy way to celebrate, since they were about to be moving up in the world. His promotion would mean a raise, and hers would follow only a few months later. This was what Eli had always dreamed of as a kid; being able to make a decent life for himself, without having to work under some lord or lady who would never see him as a real person.

"But don't worry, Angie, if you get horribly drunk, I'll make sure you go to bed and I won't tell anyone," he teased. "I'm not the sort of friend who would let you fall asleep on the stairs outside, or turn your hair purple while you were out." All antics that had happened. The former was something they had witnessed once or twice in their own apartment building (though the drunks on the stairs were probably coming home from the pub, not going out from their living rooms, when they fell asleep), the latter something he remembered Harrision Primpernelle doing to one unfortunate fifth year while they'd been at Hogwarts.

Turning his attention to the food, Eli reached for the fork and prodded at one of the vegetables, testing to make sure the texture was right. It certainly smelled good, but he couldn't be sure. "This all looks fancier than it sounds. Except the toast. That's bruschetta," he said with a sage nod. "Which I think is just Italian for toast," he added with a grin.

  

[Angie Swan]

Angie narrowed her eyes at him briefly, at least they could keep the light, teasing tone between them, despite her slip. She just had to make sure she didn't end up a drunk disaster and they wouldn't have to worry about it. Talking about the food was a lot easier than her slip up and she easily followed along. The food smelled absolutely heavenly, especially after being on assignment with little more than snacks for her meals. "Keep this fancy stuff up and it's what I'll expect when I come home." Angie said after a bite of the pasta. It was delicious and helped to settle her stomach a little bit.

"I'll have to figure out how to return the favor sometime." She could, with enough practice figure something out. Angie could get the hang of anything with enough practice. "And it's delicious, really. Thank you." She smiled warmly at him, nudging him with her foot beneath the table. She could get used to this, she really could, against her better judgement. It was easy to picture, especially with both of their promotions and related raises coming their way. They wouldn't be scraping the bottom of the barrel for much longer and that though was a relief. Ang had saved up quite a bit in her last year of school, putting her allowance away instead of spending it; selling off her nicer dresses and jewelry that she no longer needed, but she'd gone through quite a bit of it by now.

  

[Eli Swan]

"You don't have to do that," Eli said with an easy smile as her foot gently grazed his leg. He wished that he were barefoot, so that he could return the gesture, but he was wearing shoes at the moment. Maybe he could slip them off by just stepping on his heels and nudging his shoes off to the side? He started to do that and was pleased with how easily the footware was disposed of. "I like spoiling you," he teased, moving his right foot over to brush against the top of her foot before planting it back on the ground. He didn't want to be too aggressive or anything--especially since he was a little self-conscious that his socks might smell bad, nevermind that Angie would never be able to smell them from this distance, no matter if they stunk or not. Still... he'd never done this with anyone before, so he was self-conscious.

"But I'm glad you like it," he said, taking a few more bites and another sip of champagne. "Tell me more about the jungle," he prompted as he continued to eat. He had been to the jungles of South America, actually, for an extended period of time--and had even lost his virginity there to a girl who had Angie's middle name--but he didn't really care if he already knew about what she was talking about, he still liked to hear her talk about it. Tenatively, Eli reached for her left hand with his right, taking it in his and lightly rubbing his thumb against the back of her hand as he reached for his champagne, eyes focused on her to encourage whatever stories she wanted to tell.

  

[Angie Swan]

He could protest all he wanted, but Angie would figure it out. Breakfast, she could probably handle breakfast one morning while they were both home. Ang nearly dropped her fork when she felt his foot brush against hers. She'd just been being a brat, she hadn't expected him to think of it as any more than that. Still, it sent a shiver up her spine she hadn't been anticipating either.

Trying to recover gracefully, she didn't even have long to think on it as she felt his hand take her free one. This was all really, well, intimate and it hard for her to keep up. Angie really wasn't complaining; she'd found herself daydreaming about things like this- or had a long time ago. Back when their social classes was the only big difference. Now though, she knew better, was trying desperately to be practical, but he was making it so difficult.

"It was hot, which I was not a fan of." Nope, not at all. "But the civilizations were so intricate and yet still primitive? I don't really know how to explain it." She really was terrible at it. "But the structures, so impressive, I can't believe how big they are!" The Muggles had to be impressed because they think they did them with no magic, but they knew better. There was no other way it all could have been done. Sure some of it, but those things were huge. "Then we went into the mountains; it's amazing how everything changes with the elevation. It was much cooler there and the caves were so interesting." She felt like she was rambling, but it was a great distraction from everything else she was trying not to pay attention to.

  

[Eli Swan]

Eli was oblivious to Angie's discomfort. His entire adult life, 'flirting' had consisted of very secretive, very hushed gestures conducted under the table. Something innocuous, that could have been intrepreted as innocent enough. Mirroring such a gesture was the proper response, if you were interested. Eli had no notion that this was not how the rest of the world worked, so it had seemed fairly second-nature to him to brush his bare foot up against hers, after she had initiated it. "That sounds nice," he agreed with a small smile. "I haven't been up into the mountains. When we were there last year we were down near the river," he said, taking his hand away from her for a moment to cut some of his food up, then returning to his former position gently rubbing the back of her hand. "It was hot and muggy the whole time. Mosquitoes, too. Mosquitoes everywhere. I thought I was going to get eaten alive--My arms had swollen up the size of beater's bats before our local guide gave us this salve that got then away from us," he told her, not even blushing at the reference to Maria. It had been so long ago, and nobody--except Cash--knew about the full extent of their, ahem, physical relationship.

The memory of that, though, did send a little heat to his cheeks. He tried to get his mind onto something else, but it still tripped towards that sort of act, though this time perhaps with a different partner.

Not yet, Eli told himself. That sort of thing might be coming, eventually, but probably not for years. If they were going to do that, they'd have to be married first, wouldn't they? And if they were going to do that, they'd have to break the news to Cash first, and they'd have to be entirely sure that this change of his was permanent. There was no use thinking about anything of the kind, because it would be so unreachable for so long--and in the meantime, Eli was fairly happy with just this. Being able to hold her hand, being able to kiss her when he could. He didn't need to see what she looked like without her dress on, nope nope nope, and he didn't need to put his hands anywhere that was normally covered with clothing. Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope.

  

[Angie Swan]

Oh yes, Angie hadn't really had to deal with any of the bugs, just a bit in the jungle, but the mountains had been pleasantly void of the snakes and things too. Up there they had slightly more dangerous things to worry about, but no real pests. The storytelling was helping her to relax a little bit, as was his thumb on the back of her hand. It was an odd sort of comfortable, but comfortable nevertheless. It was a good thing too, if she knew where Eli's thoughts were wandering, she probably would have skittered out of the kitchen and hid in her room.

Sliding her hand out from his for a moment, Angie reached out for her champagne, taking a decent sip, though it hardly seemed to make a dent in it! She was starting to get that warm fuzzy feeling that booze gave her, though she hardly recognized it, as it wasn't something she'd felt in a long time. Ang was pretty sure the last time she'd been drunk was with Cash, the Christmas before they'd graduated. Getting drunk with Cash was no big deal though, this could potentially be a big deal, if she became as much of an idiot as she usually did.

After cutting up the last little bit of her dinner (she was famished okay?), Angie was unsure of what to do with her free hand now, so she settled for putting it right back where it was- or close to it. Tentatively she ran her fingertips over his knuckles, tracing lazy circles without really thinking of how it could come across. She just knew that she'd liked the feeling of his hand on hers. "I think I could skip that part of the continent then." The bugs were definitely the worst part of her job. Angie had been able to cast aside a lof of her upbringing and had gotten used to having do do for herself, but she was never happy about the bugs.

"Where haven't you been that you'd still like to go?" She asked as she set her fork down on a mostly-empty plate. Their job allowed for extensive travel, but there were still places they hadn't been yet and she was curious to know if he had anywhere left on his list of places to go.

  

[Eli Swan]

Eli was very aware of where Angie's hand was when she slipped in back to his and started running her fingertips along his knuckles, to the point where it was almost distracting him from what she was saying. Luckily, he didn't drift too far into his own thoughts--or, more appropriately, lack of thought in favor of the vague feeling brought on by the continual motion of her hand on his--and was able to snap back to the present moment when she asked him a question.

"Oh," he said, racking his brain for an answer as he absently bit the inside of his lower lip, eyes travelling up to the ceiling. "Hmm," he hummed as he thought, drumming one finger against the tabletop and being careful to keep the motion slight enough that it wouldn't disturb what she was doing. "Somewhere fancy," he decided, looking back over at her with a goofy, lopsided grin. "We always go to these rural, rough-and-tough sort of places. I guess the pyramids in Egypt are kind of civilized, since they have the big city right nearby, but if I were just travelling to travel, I'd go somewhere like--like Prague or Paris or Venice. Somewhere where they have big orchestras that perform every week, and you can go and see them whenever you like." Eli had only been to see a proper orchestra twice, and both occasions had been as special outings during Hogsmeade weekends, with his NEWT music professor and fellow students. There were many things that he had played on his violin that he would loved to have heard as they were written, with all the pieces, but such a dream seemed far too extravagant for a lower-class boy, now that his days of music lessons were over.

"What about you?" he asked, turning his body more towards her as he took another sip of champagne.

  

[Angie Swan]

She'd eaten way too fast, but it had been so good and she'd been so hungry that it was hard to keep any kind of a civilized pace. Leaning back in her chair contentedly, Angie reached out with her free hand for her champagne, pondering Eli's answer to her question. She always forgot he played the violin for some reason. It was strange, considering he played so well, from what little she'd heard anyway. It would make sense though, that he would want to go somewhere like that, somewhere with a little bit of grandeur. Angie had been those places. It felt like another lifetime ago, but she'd been to Paris on a shopping trip with her mother and to Italy as well, though she'd been down to Sicily instead.

"I think you'd enjoy Paris. It's such a vibrant city." It had been several years since she'd been, but she remembered the hustle and bustle and everything being so cheerfully busy. "I'd like to go back someday." She mused, though that was not what she wanted to answer when he countered the question her way. Bringing both hands to wrap around her champagne class, she held the edge against her lip while she thought. Her immediate thought was that she wanted the exact opposite. "I'd rather go somewhere even more remote I think. I really enjoyed our trip the the Himalayas." Anywhere cold was actually fine with her. "Peru maybe? I think I have a thing for the mountains?" She chuckled quietly at how silly that must have sounded, but it was true. It made her painfully aware of how different their upbringings had been. Luckily it hadn't seemed to matter; they both got here just fine.

Arching her back a little, she was also becoming aware of how much she'd rather be sitting anywhere other than this wooden chair, but she didn't want to rush anything. Instead she adjusted so that she was leaning forward onto the table, spinning her champagne glass on the table idly with her fingers.