Series: 23 for 23
Title: Twenty-One: Never the Same Way Twice
Author: Jmaria
Rating: FR-15
Disclaimer: I own the World Walker, JK owns All.
Spoilers: AU!post OotP, set in my Interoffice Stereotypes universe.
Series Summary: Twenty-three stories and crossings of worlds (read: insanity) to celebrate twenty-three years.
Part Summary: You can know someone for a lifetime and never see them for what they are…
Words: 1060
A/N: First quote comes from the fifth into, second comes from I'm So Tired by The Beatles. Connected to the Interoffice Stereotypes story. This is how Katie, er, met Flint.

23 for 23
Twenty-One: Never the Same Way Twice

There was no great bang. There was some semblance of peace and the worlds, words and faces flowed through her mind.

I wonder should I call you, but I know what you would do.

"I have never, ever felt so violated," Katie Bell huffed, teetering a little on her feet. "I mean, the nerve of that man! Expecting me to just fawn all over him for seven years? And then he doesn't even have the decency to cheat on me decently?"

"There's a decent way to be cheated on?" her companion asked gruffly. He had a nice voice, but the love of Merlin, she couldn't place his face to save her life. Of course, she'd just consumed the better half of a bottle of Ogden's Firewhiskey. Merlin knew, she might not even be able to recognize her own face.

"Of course! She's got to be amazingly hideous," Katie narrowed her eyes. "And it has to be when he's completely pissed."

"Sober as a priest, eh?"

"And she's divine and sweet, and he was comforting her! Ugh, it's enough to make me vomit!"

"Might be the drink."

"Oi, don't you go besmirching my drink!" Katie gasped. "It's my very best mate right now!"

"Getting you completely pissed makes you rather eloquent, doesn't it, Bell?"

"You know, you keep using my name like you know me, but for the life of Harry Potter, I cannot place you one teeny tiny little bit. Why is that?" Katie grumbled, poking at his stomach. Which was surprisingly fit and not at all flabby as that appalling shirt made him look. "Do you do lots of abdominal crunches then?"

"Suppose so," came the gruff reply.

Katie peered up at him. Dark hair, squared jaw, dark eyes, and the straightest, sexiest smirk she'd seen on a bloke in ages. Oliver was definitely dethroned in that category, along with his title of boyfriend. Stupid Scottish bastard. Wait a minute.

"I know that smirk!" Katie huffed, slapping a palm to his chest. "I was on the receiving end of that bloody smirk for nearly four years, weren't I? You are a right bastard, Flint! Lettin' me go on and on and all this time -"

Flint caught her wrist in his hand, cutting off her spiel just by his touch. A shiver skittered up her spine that had nothing at all to do with the chilly temperature or her skimpy outfit. She blinked twice before she realized neither one of them had spoken for several moments.

"You clear now, Bell?"

"What?"

"Had a moment there, looked like you'd be sick," The smirk disappeared and he glanced up the alleyway. "You live in Muggle London, right? Grab you a taxi to get you home."

"How did you know that?" Katie frowned at him. And why would Flint care about her getting a taxi home?

"You said that you chucked Wood out of your flat and snapped away his clothes, remember? Cackled like a loon goin' on about how he ran naked up the street," Flint gave a tiny smirk at that. "Not less than he deserved, mind you. Chucking you over for that simpering Clearwater chit."

"Penny's not a bad person. She'd just lost a lot," Katie chewed her lip. "But thank you for saying that. Even if you don't really mean it."

"Mean what?"

"I'm no great beauty, and I'm an awful drunk. And I harp on and on about Quidditch and I pick apart other players and I'm definitely not a girly-girl who needs a big strong Keeper for every tiny little thing -"

"That's what that stupid git said to you?" Flint's face darkened into a fierce scowl. It was far more intimidating than any he'd shown on the Quidditch pitch in all the years she'd known him. "Dumb bastard ought to be shot for his stupidity. And his utter blindness."

Katie's smile wobbled a bit. Merlin knew what came over her, but the next she knew she was standing in front of him leaning up to kiss him on the cheek. Her fingertips brushed over his nape and she pulled him closer. At the last minute, she changed her own direction and pressed her lips to his. Flint was tense. She could feel that in both his lips and the chorded muscles of his neck and shoulders.

Her mouth drew down into frown after several seconds of no response. God, what she been thinking? Just because Flint was being uncharacteristically nice to her didn't mean he'd actually meant it. She was a drunken, blubbering mess. Katie tottered back on the her heels and plastered a depressing little smile to her face.

"And now I've made myself even more pathetic. Accosting my ex's schoolmate enemy all because he's being nice. Of course, Flint, you've never been nice to anyone who's played against you so I don't know why now would be any different -" Katie blustered on, turning away from him. God, this was humiliating. Where the hell were her mates? Oh, that's right, they're off with the Twins being sickeningly in love with each other. Her words choked her. "I'll just floo myself home. Thanks though."

"Are you out of your mind?" Flint boomed, catching her wrist again and drawing her back gently. "You'd smash your head in on the fireplace."

"Really, you're just making this worse," Katie blinked back the hot, embarrassing tears before they had a chance to escape.

"Hell," Flint ground out before his lips met hers again.

Katie gasped, her arms twining around his neck like some romance heroine moments before the ravishment. His big capable hands grasped her at waist and nape, but the pressure wasn't what she'd expected. He handled her like she was a fragile bit of porcelain. Katie hissed out a groan, her hand clenching in the shaggy mess of his hair. Her tongue dipped into his mouth, putting him at a loss for a turn. His hand fell from her neck to join the other on her waist, pinning her his bigger frame. A groan slipped from her lips as she felt him straining against her. Bloody hell. She'd wasted eight years pining over Wood when Flint was - well, made of stone. She giggled at that thought, which ended the second kiss.

"Marcus," Katie pouted as he started to pull away. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Marcus growled at her. "You just giggled at me during our snog."

"No I didn't!" Katie fisted her hands in his collar. "I giggled at myself."

"Huh?"

"Oh, shut up and snog me, Marcus Flint."