AN: Ever since DH I've been over run by plot bunnies just dying to be set free, and amazingly none of these plot bunnies have had the slightest thing to do with DH. In fact, I've been looking back and I've decided to focus on the happy times for now. This is one of the three plot bunnies I've had lately, and this one came first just because it's the shortest. Please R/R and let me know what you think. RLNT is one of my favorite fanfic couples ever, but I've never written them before so I'm a little scared.
Nymphadora Tonks Cannot Turn Corners
He has been doing it again, that thing he does so often. That realization he has every few weeks (sometimes days) has crept over him again where he believes she is too good for him and he is too old, too poor, too much. She sees it come over his face and knows what it is immediately. In her low mood she is unable to coddle him, unable to do anything except feel sorry for herself and her poor arm, which she bashed when she walked in and didn't turn the corner completely.
Nymphadora Tonks has a problem turning corners. She has a problem wearing white without staining it. She has a problem walking without tripping. All these things are problems that she has had a lifetime to get used to, a lifetime to understand.
But this… this problem has her floored.
She has heard the argument so many times that she could recite it for him: his points and her counterpoints, his insecurities and her attempt at sweet understanding. He's old; she doesn't care. He's poor; she's not exactly the sodden Queen of England herself. He's dangerous; she's a damn Auror for Merlin's sake! But for all her finer points, Tonks has never been able to stand stupidity long. And today, with her arm (and heart) hurting and that familiar look on his face, she has simply had too much. She explodes in a flurry of flashing red hair (she doesn't see it turn red, of course, but Remus does and it scares him).
"Look at this!" she screams, pulling up the sleeve of her robe to show him her bruised arm. He looks, afraid not to.
"Do you know how I got this, Remus? Care to venture a guess? Maybe inquire as to whether I got into a duel with a death eater today?" When he says nothing, she plows on. "I ran into a wall! A bleedin' wall! Do you know why? Because I can't turn corners. I can't. It's physically impossible for me. I try to, but it never works out. I always end up bumping against the wall at full speed and knocking myself the rest of the way around the corner. How many normal witches do you know that can't even turn a corner without hurting themselves, Remus? Eh? Is that a quality men like you look for in a bird? A complete and total lack of coordination?"
He continues to look at her in shock, choosing wisely to not interrupt now that she has gotten started. Tonks regards his scared look with grim satisfaction and promptly holds up her hand to tick off her faults (inability to wear white among them). He listens through all of them with that same grave, perplexed look on his face, never stopping her to argue or make a point. When she is finished for the moment, she breathes in deep and is surprised at the tears that come to her eyes.
"Remus…" she says, and touches his arm. Her hair is fading to a less scary pink but he looks no less grave. "Remus, you are so good and kind and smart and I don't deserve you. I don't. I'm clumsy and silly and I say all the wrong things at all the wrong times and I'm selfish too. I'm selfish because I know all this and I still won't let you go. Not to mention the fact that I have the balance of a drunken toddler troll with a bad case of vertigo and I…"
But Remus couldn't help it: he let out a bark of laughter at that last part and soon she is following him, wiping the tears away briskly as she chokes on laughter and tears. He stares at her a long moment after they've calmed down and she shifts under his gaze, flustered but not embarrassed. Finally he allows himself another sad smile.
"That was the most absurd thing I've ever heard in my life," he says, not unkindly as he strokes her hair back out of her face. "I love you because of those things. Why would you…" he pauses, and in that moment he is seeing through her, deep down inside of her where all of her secrets and fears are. He looks dumbstruck at his own realization, a radically different realization than the one he has every few weeks (sometimes days).
"Oh," he says. And his voice is small.
Now, she thinks, he gets it.