It wasn't often that Lee listened to his own interviews. Every time he couldn't help but think how off putting and egocentric it felt to sit and preen over his own voice. It also made him start to overthink everything about his performance, and that was a sort of insecurity he didn't need. If it came on the radio he'd immediately go for the knob and switch it to something far less grating and ego-destroying.
He was in George's apartment above his shop when such an interview came on the radio. George was cooking while Angelina was setting the table. Lee began to reach for the wireless's knob when he heard Viktor Krum's voice come on.
"This will be my fourth time in Canada," the Bulgarian said. He could imagine the barely-there smile he'd given. That was the place in the interview where Lee had tried to ask different and better questions, and Krum had tried to be more charming. "It's a beautiful country, but in the Americas it's very hard to know how to order pork products. Everyone had different names for bacon and ham and such. That's the most difficult thing going country to country. Food."
"Is there a certain regimen you stick to, since you're an athlete? Or do you have a certain food you always crave. You look like a ginger-biscuit sort of man, to me!"
"My nutritionist would not like me to say it, but yes, I have quite the collection of biscuits in my bag always."
"That and medicinal teas," Wireless Lee said with a laugh.
"Yes, the worse they taste the better!" Krum said with a small snort of a laugh.
Lee found himself grinning at the interview. It was dumb and mostly inside jokes about what they were eating at the time, but it had been nice.
"What're we listening to?" George asked, bringing over a steaming casserole dish that smelled a bit off.
"My interview with Viktor Krum the other day," said Lee, giving the dish a look of distrust. "What's that you got there?"
"It's supposed to be shepherd's pie," Angelina supplied, giving it a sniff. "We have some chicken I can make into sandwiches, though."
"No! I sat down and actually cooked a real meal! We're going to eat the bloody thing," George said, taking a spoon and slopping some of the questionable sludge onto his plate.
"I'll eat it once you have," said Lee with a smile, but his eyes kept going to the Wireless. "Once you've eaten it and you've not sicked up after, that is."
"We can listen in to your interview while we wait for the pie to cool," Angelina suggested, seeing Lee's distraction. It gave a short reprieve from the congealed gunk he was not going to eat.
"We don't have to listen to it. It's just me and Viktor."
"I thought we were calling him Krum?" George asked, a wicked look on his face.
"That's right, you were complaining about 'that bloody annoying Krum' not two weeks ago," Angelina laughed. "But now it's Viktor?"
"Soon he'll be calling him Vicky, I just know it."
Lee had noticed how simpatico Angelina and George's thinking had become since they moved in together a few years ago. Normally he quite liked it, but during this moment he wasn't sure what to do with this particular teasing.
"We can turn the Wireless off, I don't care," he said with a shrug, feigning nonchalance. The couple shared a look before George reached over and turned the interview's volume up. They sat in silence as the interview went on and Lee felt his face become warm."
"So you haven't been seen dating much, and I'm sure all our listeners are dying to know what you do for a good time," Wireless Lee's voice asked, almost sounding giddy.
"Well, having interviews with the charming reporters like you is one of my favorite good times."
"If you think this is fun, you should come out to dinner with me after! We can find out if poutine is all it's cracked up to be."
"Are you flirting with Viktor Krum here?" George asked with a laugh.
Lee, who was gulping down some water nearly spat it on the table. He choked on it and coughed and spluttered as Angelina patted his back.
"M'fine!" he gasped, beating his hand against his chest a few times.
"Glad you didn't die on us," George said, taking a bite of his food and immediately spitting it out. "Don't eat the pie. It's off!"
"Sandwiches it is!" Angelina said, not looking a bit disappointed.
The interview ended just as Angelina finished whipping up some sandwiches, and George turned off the Wireless as an advertisement for ear wax removing charms came on.
"What a great interview, Lee!" Angelina said, handing him his plate. "I didn't think Krum could do anything other than grunt."
"There's a lot more to Viktor than meets the eye," Lee said, taking a bite.
George gave him a scrutinizing look that Lee refused to meet.
"Merlin's lacy knickers!" George proclaimed, nearly tumping his water over. "You were flirting with Krum!"
"No I wasn't! That'd be entirely unprofessional!" Lee spluttered.
"Ohh, you were. I could hear it in your voice. 'Maybe you should come out for dinner with me after.' Real smooth that! Did it work?"
"I mean… We did have dinner, but—"
"Were there candles?"
"Candles? Er, yeah I think there might have been, but I wasn't— "
"What about music and drinks?" asked Angelina.
"Yeah, there was some of that as well, but really— "
"Did you flirt as madly with him over dinner as you did in the interview?" asked George.
"Look we had dinner, but it wasn't, like, a flirty dinner or anything," Lee finished, knowing how very lame he sounded.
George and Angelina both hooted and whooped, and Lee's face went so warm he was certain he could toast his sandwich from it, given enough time.
"Guys, don't… I have to interview him again in a week or so, and can't have this kind of thing throwing me off."
"If you weren't interested in him and weren't flirting I don't think it could throw you off. After all, you are a professional!" George said. His tone was teasing, but the look on his face made it clear he was prying for truth. "A person could do a whole lot worse than an international Quidditch star with a funny accent.'
"His accent isn't as heavy as it was," Lee ground out before he could help it.
George let out an 'oooooo' while Angelina's eyes lit up.
"You're not dating anyone, are you?" Angelina asked.
"No, I've not done much dating since…"
Lee stopped talking.
George sobered completely from his earlier glee, which made Lee's heart hurt.
Lee and Fred had a thing for a bit there during the war. It'd been nice and new and lovely— then Fred was gone… He'd dated a bit here and there, but nothing had developed into anything. He had been too busy to make a new relationship have a chance to really grow into something more.
"Well, if you're not dating anyone, then there's no reason you couldn't give it a go!" said Angelina.
"Not interested," said Lee, trying to move on from the topic, "Also, last I checked, he's into women."
"Last I checked, men can be interested in both," Angelina said with a shrug. "But it sounded to me like he might be flirting there. I've never heard him be that open and talkative with anyone but Hermione Granger back in my sixth year."
"That was quite some time ago. He's not a teenager anymore."
"Well, you can always do an exposé with him to see if he's a bisexual or something," George snorted.
And with that Lee was thoroughly done with the conversation.
"Really helpful suggestions, everyone, but I am not the least bit interested in Viktor Krum," Lee declared, quite impressed with how he'd not sounded biting or rude. "I do need to get going though."
"Ohh don't leave because of a bit of teasing," George prodded.
Lee stood from the table and gave a smile. "I'm leaving because I have things to do, not because of any juvenile teasing. Thanks for the sandwich, though!"
George gave a good humored wave of his hand, while Angelina wrapped another sandwich for Lee and gave him a hardy pat on the back. He loved George and Angelina, truly he did, but that didn't keep him from wanting to snap their heads together when they got on a tear about something. Back when they'd all been teens Lee had felt a bit more like he was in on all the jokes, but that hadn't quite kept up after Fred passed. George had been in such a dark place, and Lee, for all his efforts, hadn't been able to reach his friend as readily as Angelina and even Ron had. George was still his best friend, but it wasn't the same as before. It was lonelier than before. They each were busy with varying careers, and he was a third wheel to a couple, and he missed Fred. He couldn't quite say Fred was the love of his life, as they'd never gotten to 'I love yous' when it abruptly came to an end, but it'd been one of the friendships of his life. Even if they'd not worked out romantically, it was a friendship that would endure anything. Well, anything other than a giant wall crushing his friend to death.
Mood positively soured, Lee decided on some retail therapy to turn his mood around. He hadn't taken the time to look about Diagon Alley in ages, and highly doubted George and Angelina would be outside the shop or their apartment any time soon. He poked about a few stores, and bought himself some new scarves, quills and sweets when he came upon the tea shop that had popped up in Fortescue's place. He missed the ice-cream parlor and was a bit ticked another hadn't replaced it. On principal he'd never been inside, but today curiosity won out. If anything he'd be able to frown and complain about the place being shit later.
The place smelled rather nice, and he had to admit it had a homey feel to it, despite being only a few years old. There were little handmade signs next to jars of different blends, each describing the flavors, possible medicinal purposes, biscuits that could go well with the teas and more.
"Hello, can I help you?" a cheery woman in her fifties asked. She felt a bit like an odd combination of Luna Lovegood and Professor Sprout. She seemed a bit misty and hippyish, but had a hardy earthiness to her.
"I'm just browsing," Lee said, hands in his pockets.
"Would you like to try a sample of tea and biscuits while you look about?"
"Oh! Er, yeah sure," said Lee, not one to turn down some free food, especially after the dismal meal he'd had at George and Angelina's. He continued aimlessly poking about until he saw a little sign saying 'Celebrewteas! Here are brews to celebrate your favorite celebrities. Special blends that take favorite flavors mentioned by celebs.'
"Ah, you're in one of my favorite section. It was my niece's idea," said the woman handing him the tiniest tea cup he'd ever help and a biscuit.
"Did she come up with the pun?"
"Oh no, I'm afraid the name 'Celebrewteas' was all me."
Lee gave a snort hearing it out loud, before downing the tea. It warmed him through, the spicy aromas of cinnamon and other spices he couldn't identify making him immediately perk up. "Hey, this is a nice blend."
"Thank you! That one is Viktory Tea," she said pointing to a jar in the Celebrewtea section. There was a small picture of Viktor Krum looking almost pleasant, pumping a snitch above himself he'd clearly just caught. The picture was a few years old, as Krum looked a bit more chiseled in the jaw now.
"Is this really something he would like, do you think?" Lee found himself asking, staring at the photo.
"Well he mentioned a few of those flavors in a fan magazine a few years ago, and," she said, before leaning in. "Don't tell anyone, but he orders this exact blend each time he's in here."
"Oh? He comes in here?"
"Not often, as he's a busy man of the world and all, but he buys out full sections in the medicinal teas."
He gave a small chuckle. Yes, he was well aware of the medicinal teas Viktor had on hand. He'd been forced to drink such a brew before. It might be nice to buy him a few of his favorite teas.
"Would you mind pointing me to some of those?"
She gave an eager nod. "A fan of Krum, are we?"
"No, but I have a friend who's a big fan that would love a collection of Krum-endorsed teas," he hastily lied.
She went about pointing out teas, and a discount they gave if you bought a little case of teas and biscuits. It was a cute little box, much nicer than the haphazard duffle he'd seen Viktor look through before. Yes, he thought it might be nice for him to have all those teas labelled and organized, especially since he was always travelling. Maybe he'd even smile a bit more broadly having the small comfort there for him. Lee hadn't seen Viktor really smile much, and found himself imagining it. Viktor had such warm friendly eyes when he wanted to, and the few times he'd been able to get him to laugh he'd had a lovely smile.
He found a magically expandable set of tea drawers that fit the bill rather well, and looked for other blends that might be useful for a Quidditch player with different medicinal needs, as well as a few blends that were just enjoyable. He handpicked different teas and biscuits, doting over different blends for almost forty five minutes.
"You have a very lucky friend, to receive such a thoughtful gift," the woman behind the counter said, ringing him up for a wooden case of tea and biscuits that ended up costing several galleons.
"Oh it's nothing," he said, handing the gold over.
He was just buying some tea for Viktor, that was all. It wasn't very thoughtful. Probably other people had already bought him something similar. Who knows. Maybe it would prompt a better interview from Krum. That was the real reason he was buying it, anyways! Nice gifts prompted better interviews and guaranteed more of them! Maybe he'd need to take him out to dinner too, just to make sure. After all, Viktor Krum was a rather grumpy unapproachable sort. Sure, Lee had been able to get him to smile and laugh, but he needed to make sure that smile stayed in place and that their relationship stayed pleasant. That was the only reason he'd bought galleons worth of tea, and he'd proudly say so if anyone asked!
a/n: Thanks so much for the reviews! If you want to see more of this story, let me know! :)