Chaser 2, Holyhead Harpies

Prompts:

Genre: Humor

5. (song) Mad World by Gary Jules

8. (quote) 'Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.' - Mark Twain

9. (setting) a Muggle restaurant

WC: 2,173

A/N: So this is a lighthearted romantic humor piece, which is also kind of Modern Shakespearean!Comedy AU, while also being a Muggle!AU, and honestly I'm pretty sure I got cavities from writing it. Also, there is no McD's on Newbury Street in Boston (at least not that I know of). So... enjoy!

~Mel


All around me are familiar faces

Worn out places, worn out faces

Katie sighed as she stepped into the McDonald's on Newbury Street. She'd moved to the United States a year ago to get her masters in journalism, but it had yet to feel like home. As familiar as Boston felt to the London she'd left behind, with it's bustling streets and old buildings, it was the small differences that reminded her how far from home she'd gone.

Katie hung her bag on a hook in the employee locker room, grabbing an apron and tying it around her waist. As she did so, she heard footsteps behind her.

"How's it going, Kit-Kat?" Angelina, her friend and co-worker, ruffled Katie's hair, grinning at the reactionary "Oi!" that escaped the girl's lips.

"How many bloody times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" she said in mock annoyance, and Angelina's grin widened.

"As many 'bloody' times as it takes!" Then she was out the swinging doors, hips swaying and curls bouncing.

Katie followed into the main kitchen, which was bustling in preparation for the impending lunch rush. She nodded to the workers she recognized, smiling in sympathy as their tired eyes met her own.

She relieved the girl at the register, telling her to go take a break, before logging in and calling up the next customer.

"Hello, welcome to McDonald's, how may I help you?"

"You're British."

She looked up, startled, into the most beautiful blue eyes she'd ever seen. They belonged to a tall man with curly brown hair, tan skin, and high cheekbones. He was easily the most gorgeous man Katie had seen in America. "You're Scottish," she said.

To her relief, the man laughed. "Why, yes, I am. I just moved here a week ago. I'd never been to a McDonald's before, and I thought that since I was in America, I should try it's most famous cuisine."

Katie grinned and rolled her eyes. "You'd be better off trying a coffee from Dunkin' Donuts if you really want to feel like a local. Everyone here seems to think it's better than anything in the world, but give me a cup of tea any day."

"I heard that!" Angelina yelled from three registers away, and Katie blushed. Angelina probably had more coffee running through her veins than blood at this point. She said it was what kept her going through her two jobs and class.

Her blush deepened as she realized she hadn't even asked this man for his order yet. "I'm so sorry, what did you want to order? I was so shocked to hear a familiar sound that I completely lost my head."

"It's fine . . . Katie," he said, squinting to read her name tag. "It's actually quite nice to hear your accent, as well. These odd people don't pronounce their 'r's, did you know that?" He leaned forward as if divulging something scandalous.

Katie laughed. "I'm from London. I don't really pronounce my 'r's either."

"Yea, well, not everyone can be from Scotland. Someone's got to come in second. Or third, in London's case."

"Oi!"

The man grinned. "Sorry, sorry, just taking the micky. I'll have a burger, fries, and a drink, as well as a chicken nugget kid's meal, if you don't mind."

She was already tapping in the order when she realized he'd said 'kid's meal', and her heart sank. She hadn't thought he was much older than she, probably no more than 25, but if he already had a kid, he was off-limits.

"What's the name for the order, sir?" she asked, and he smiled.

"Don't worry about the 'sir' part. You'll make me feel ancient. Just call me 'Oliver.'"

She snorted. "Of course. Because what's more Scottish than being called Oliver?"

"Being called Callum?"

She shook her head as she handed him a drink cup. "Your order will be ready soon. It was nice meeting you, Oliver."

Her heart fluttered as he smiled at her once again. "You too, Katie."

She hardly heard anything that was said to her for the next hour.


Went to school and I was very nervous,

No one knew me, no one knew me

Oliver had gone from being unfamiliar with McDonald's to a regular in the course of four days. Every afternoon, when his sister would leave for work, he would drag his nephew to the McDonald's down the street and let him loose on the playground while he waited to see Katie again. He'd buy a coffee for himself and a kid's meal for Matthew, and simply sit there, one eye on the playground and one on the registers.

On his fourth day, he had company.

"So, Scottish McHottie." He looked up, startled, as a tan girl dropped into the seat in front of him. "Come here often?"

"Scottish McHot—do I know you?"

"I work here." The girl flicked the brim of her McDonald's employee hat. "I'm on my break. Name's Angelina."

"I'm Oliver."

"I know. But it took three days for Katie to actually tell me your name, so I called you 'Scottish McHottie' in my head. Honestly, I like it a lot better than 'Oliver.'"

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"You should get it changed."

He snorted a laugh.

"So, anyways, Oliver." She leaned toward him, and he tensed. "You like Katie."

It was not what he was expecting. "I—What?"

"You've come in here every day since you met her. All you buy is a Happy Meal, which means you're not suddenly addicted to the food, and you sit at this table, one of the few that gives you a decent vantage point of both the play structure outside and the registers."

He shifted in his seat. "You know my habits well for someone who hasn't been working every time I've come in here."

She grinned, cat-like. "I've got friends. Anyways, I know you like Katie, and I know you've been dragging that poor kid, whoever he is, back here every day as an excuse to see her again. Please tell me that kid is at least related to you, because I know he's not your son, despite Katie insisting that that's who the Happy Meals are for."

Oliver sat in shock for a moment, processing the information this girl had thrown in his face. Katie thought he had a son?

"Wait, how'd you know Matthew wasn't my son? How'd you possibly figure out that I was coming here for Katie and not because Matthew was obsessed with your playground?"

She glanced out the window to where the little boy was sitting on a bench with an unopened box of nuggets on his lap, scowling and refusing to go anywhere near the play structure. Oliver followed her gaze and blushed.

"Look, my break's almost over, but I came here to tell you something. Katie hasn't been working afternoons this week because she's got midterms. She works again on Saturday. Come in around 2:45, but not before. That's when she takes her break. Can you do that?"

Oliver nodded. "I can do that. But, wait, why are you setting us up? What's in it for you?"

Angelina smiled as she stood. "Katie's become one of my closest friends since she moved here, but I can tell she really misses home. The two minutes she spent talking to you was the happiest I've seen her in a long time. I wouldn't mind seeing that happiness a bit more often."

She walked back towards the counter.

"Hey, Angelina," Oliver called, and she paused, turning around to look at him. "Thanks. Katie's lucky to have a friend like you."


I find it hard to tell you,

I find it hard to take

It had been a week since the last time Oliver had frequented the fine establish of McDonald's. Katie spent every shift with one eye on the door, hoping to see familiar brown curls walk through, but no such luck. It took Angelina three days to catch on, though it would've taken her less had she not been so preoccupied in flirting with Fred Weasley, a new hire.

"Katie, why are you staring at the door? Who are you expecting to walk through it?" Angelina's voice cut through her thoughts, bringing her back to the present.

"No one."

"Bullshit."

Katie shrugged. "Ange, lay off. I'm not expecting anything."

"It's that Scottish guy, isn't it?"

"You know about that?"

Ange rolled her eyes. "Of course! I was there when he blatantly flirted with you! You insulted coffee, you abominable tea drinkers."

"Tea is a perfectly acceptable morning beverage, where I come from! Even better, it's acceptable any time of the day!"

"As is coffee!"

No one batted an eye as the two girls bickered. They had this argument daily.

"No, it's n—"

"You can't change the subject on me, Katie. This is about Scottish McHottie."

Katie balked. "Scottish McHottie? Where'd you come up with that?"

"When he came in here two days ago. You did good, kid. If I didn't have a thing for mischievous redheads, I'd do him."

"He came in here two days ago?" Katie felt herself blush. "I didn't see him."

Angelina grabbed Katie by the arm and shoved her towards the employee door. "He's going to come in here in five minutes."

"What?!"

"Good thing you came straight from class. You look like a human being. However," she grabbed Katie's chin and attacked her with a lip gloss dug out of her purse, "you could use a bit of a touch-up."

Katie struggled to free herself from Angelina's vice-like grip. "Ange, he's got a kid. He probably has a wife."

Angelina looked at her, a hard look glinting in her eyes. "Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please," she said, before shoving Katie towards the door.

"Did you just quote Mark Twain as dating advice?!"

"Go take your break!"

A magazine was shoved into her hand as she was propelled onto the floor. There weren't many customers at 2:45 in the afternoon and she didn't smoke, so she took her breaks at the table near the window. She had a clear view of the registers, just in case something happened, but she could also watch what was going on outside.

She glanced down at the magazine as the bells at the door chimed.

"Welcome to McDonald's," she heard Angie call, and then someone sat in the seat in front of her.

She glanced up.

"Hello," Oliver said, his smile widening at the look of shock on her face.

"You came back!" She blushed hard as she said it. "I—I mean—"

"Aye. I've actually come back every day since we met, but you haven't been working in the afternoons, and I help my sister out in the mornings."

"I had midterms," she said stupidly.

"Katie, would you like to have dinner with me sometime?"

"Um." She glanced at Angelina, who was busy with a customer and offered no support. "Would your son be okay with that?"

Oliver chuckled. "If I'd known Matthew was killing my game, I'd have refused to babysit him ages ago."

"Babysit?"

"He's my nephew. My sister's husband walked out on her and I was considering moving out here anyways, so... I told her I'd stay with her for a month to help while she figured things out."

Katie swallowed. "Why would you ask me out if you're planning on leaving in a month?"

Oliver shrugged. "There's not much left for me in Scotland. Why move back there when there's the prospect of something wonderful here?"

The way he looked at her made her blush as she realized he was talking about her. At the same time, her heart fluttered.

"So, will you go on that date with me?"

She grinned, grabbing the Sharpie out of her apron pocket and pulling his hand towards her before jotting down her number. "Call me," she said, standing up and heading back to the employee room.

As the door to swung shut behind her, she heard a distinctly Scottish-sounding whoop, and she laughed out loud.

For the first time, she thought Boston might just become her new home.