in 2013 i wrote a series of drabbles/poems for bartimaeus, every day, for 365 days. it was for the most part a challenge for myself and i'm not planning on posting any of them. but this is something i wrote a little after it was over in a similar format, and i thought you'd enjoy. post-TPG mild au where kitty has a high position in the government and attends plenty of philanthropic galas.
Her smile stirred up something in him in the same way that sparkling cider did not but should have.
"What do you think of me, Bartimaeus?" she laughed, as she waltzed herself beneath his arm and turned to face him.
Messy-haired, breathless, in a hastily-tailored tuxedo, he felt like naught but a replacement for the boy who ought to have been there. He never was anything more than a replacement, in the end—but he still stared at her with starry eyes, and held her close enough to hear her heartbeat;
"You're tremendous," he whispered. And meant it.