Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply.
Claimer: I own this idea.
Pairing: Seamus/Pansy

Pansy bit her lip. She faced the man in front of her and took a small step backwards, her feet sinking into the lush burgundy carpet of the long hallway of the Finnigan household. She glanced at his seductive smile he wore pinned to his face and it took all of her self-discipline not to run straight back into his arms. But no, she couldn't.

"C'mon Pansy. Give me one reason – one good reason – why we shouldn't be together."

"I'm rude and I hate your friends," she retorted quickly, though she knew that wasn't exactly true. She could be rude, and she didn't like many of his friends, but she did like Dean, even though Seamus thought she didn't, and she was never rude to people she liked.

"And I hate yours." Pansy's eyes widened in surprise. "We're even," he concluded. She raised her eyebrows at him. She should have remembered Seamus wasn't one to give up a challenge.

"I always steal the duvet," she reminded him.

"I like the cold."

"I like lots of attention."

"I like giving it to you." Pansy took another step backwards, but she wasn't surprised to see Seamus take a step towards her.

"I like lots of compliments and frequent intervals, and I don't like them being repeated."

"Alas, fair Pansy, there is so much to compliment it would take a thousand years or more to run out of them." She felt her cheeks turn pink, but she tried keeping her cool. Seamus certainly knew how to charm a lady, but he was not getting his way.

"I get jealous easily," she said, knowing how men hated possessive women.

"I have very few female friends."

"My cat always claws you to death." Pansy almost rolled her eyes at herself. Like that was going to work.

"I would climb Mount Everest to spend a moment with you. I'm sure I can live with your cat."

"You hate Draco."

"You hate Dean." Pansy took another step back, not surprised at his persistence. This was Seamus, and he never gave up. But, why would he not realise she didn't want to be with him.

It took two seconds for her to realise she did want to be with him. He knew it, and he wanted her to know it too. She hated the idea of love, and he craved it. She never wanted to feel love and he had fallen in love with many people too easily. "I'm a messy person," she said, trying to erase the thoughts in her head.

"I enjoy cleaning." Pansy took a final step back and found herself backed into a wall. No way out now, she realised, only forwards. The next door was just past him. Why on earth did she decide to have this conversation in the most enclosed hallway in the house?

He walked closer to her, and she could count the freckles on his nose, see his smiling eyes. "I always fall for an Irish accent…" she whispered, looking up at him. When had he gotten so tall?

"Good job I'm Irish then."

"Seamus, we can't be together because… because… I love you, that's why." She watched him smile, and he pushed a strand of hair away from her face.

"And, why, would that stop us being together?"

"Because I don't want to love."

"Take a risk. I thought you were always the one that took the jumps. I love you Pansy Parkinson. And I think this is right for us both."

"You love me…" she murmured, realising it was rejection that she was scared of all along. It hadn't been love, it had been loosing it and she knew Seamus would keep her heart safe. Seamus always got hurt, he never caused damage himself.

"You know I do." He gently kissed her lips, and Pansy felt the all-too-familiar jolt of happiness echo down her spine.

"I love you," she said as they parted, knowing that this time, she meant it fully. Knowing that this time, it was all going to be fine.

"Love ya too Pans." And wrapped an arm around her back and under her legs and picked her up. "And now, fair lady, I shall escape your cat, and carry you to the bedroom." Pansy giggled, and kissed him, smiling.