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Written for -
Hogwarts Arithmancy Class.
Duelling Club Plot Point.
Chance Meeting
Gideon sat at the bar, nursing a tumbler full of whiskey. Another bad relationship, another bad breakup. Would he ever find someone he liked, who liked him, to enjoy a relationship with without drama, and arguments, and the occasional hex?
He was beginning to think it would never happen.
Molly was happily settled with Arthur. Fabian was still in the honeymoon period with Hestia. He was the only one who seemed to have any trouble with love.
A man appeared beside him, ordering his own whiskey. Gideon glanced at him, and looked away quickly. He looked familiar, but Gideon was fairly positive the two had never actually met before. The man seemed lost in his own thoughts, and Gideon didn't feel like talking anyway, so he went back to staring morosely into his drink.
Who needed love anyway? All it did was bring heartbreak in the end.
It wasn't long before Gideon took another glance at the man. He didn't seem to be drinking the whiskey he had ordered, he seemed more interested in nudging his glass, and watching the single ice cube twirl and dance in the liquid.
"What are you staring at?" the man asked, making Gideon jump.
"Nothing," he replied, turning his eyes back to his own drink.
"Then why did you just jump like a school boy when I asked you a simple question?"
"I didn't," Gideon stressed, looking at the man. He was handsome, Gideon thought. Blue eyes, brown hair, high cheekbones.
"What's your name?"
Gideon blinked at the sudden change in direction the conversation seemed to take.
"Gideon Prewett," he replied edgily.
"You're in the Order. Benjy Fenwick," the man said, holding out his hand. Gideon took it, shook it and dropped it. He'd known the man seemed familiar. He was one of the newest inductees.
"So what has you looking so down?" Benjy asked, again nudging his glass. Gideon watched the ice for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders slightly.
"Nothing particularly interesting," he muttered.
"I don't believe you, but okay. Myself, I just broke up with my boyfriend. He came home and told me, bold as you like, that he's been cheating on me for about six weeks and he loves his 'new man'. Jackass."
"Sucks," Gideon replied. "I just caught my partner in bed with another man."
"Sucks," Benjy agreed, finally picking his drink up and downing the lot, before asking the bartender for another. "Want one?" he asked Gideon, who declined, gesturing to his still almost full glass.
Drowning his sorrows had seemed like a good idea when he came in the bar, but now, he didn't really want the drink in front of him.
"So, what are you going to do now?" Benjy asked after being served.
"What do you mean?" Gideon asked, frowning.
"Well, are you going to sit looking in to your glass all evening, or are you going to let me take you out?"
"Why would you want to do that?"
"Because you're hot, we're both single, and rebound sex is always good."
"You're an arsehole," Gideon said after a minute, scowling. "You might not be bothered that your relationship just went up in flames, but I'm not, and I certainly don't want 'rebound sex'."
"Geez, chill out mate, it was a joke. Well, the rebound sex part was. But seriously, let me take you out for something to eat. What have you got to lose?"
Gideon didn't answer for a minute. He couldn't figure out if Benjy was being honest, or just trying to make a fool out of him.
"I won't sleep with you," he said eventually.
"But you'll let me take you out?" Benjy hedged. "I know a really good Italian Restaurant in Muggle London, that if we hurry, we should still be able to get a table at."
"Alright," Gideon agreed after a slight hesitation.
"Let's go," Benjy said grinning cheekily. Leaving his still full drink on the bar, he took Gideon's hand and literally pulled him to the door.
Pausing slightly, he gave a squeeze to the hand he was holding.
"I'll show you how you deserve to be treated," Benjy said, a soft smile replacing the grin.
Gideon didn't reply, he merely followed Benjy to the apparition point. Still feeling slightly vulnerable, slightly, heartbroken, and his confidence knocked, a night out being treated well seemed like a breath of fresh air.
If anything followed on from that, well. It could only be good, right?