Head of House, Ravenclaw, Round 8, Prompts: Escape, Mikado (yellow), Action: Sprinting, WC: 1075
AU, probably.
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"You said you liked Mikado," Ron explains, grinning and gesturing to the freshly-decorated room before us. My mouth has fallen open in complete horror - although I am slightly impressed at how he managed to source some of this stuff. "Do you love it?"
I can't speak. The room has definitely been decorated, but not at all how I expected. For one, the wallpaper is not that bright, floral colour like I had shown him, and hinted at, two weeks ago. Instead, it is made up of many faces of Japanese Emperors, all in monochrome colours. There are gilded frames, shrines to the Emperors and Japanese culture. An ornamental plate - complete with Japan's first Emperor, Jimmu - sits atop the mantelpiece, not the carriage clock I had suggested.
"Um…" I try, but falter.
"You said Mikado. This is Mikado! I googled it!" exclaims Ron, gesturing to the ornamental plate. He seems so enthused that I almost laugh. But it isn't quite funny knowing that he has fully furnished the front room in our first house together with Japanese Emperors and not the beautiful, warm yellow I had intended.
"I meant the colour, you idiot."
Ron guffaws. "That's a ridiculous name for a colour."
I glare back at him, but he continues laughing. Obviously, he doesn't feel serious enough about us living together that he finds it so hilarious for him to decorate our living room with Emperors, instead of the very specific colour I supplied him with.
"I have to leave."
More often than not these days I wear shoes I can run in. This is because I enjoy sprinting, and I don't enjoy the feeling of not being able to do it. I run to escape situations and people and to get places - because it is significantly faster than walking. So, with Ron having presented me with such a situation, the best - and only - option is to escape on foot. This way, I get in some good exercise, and some much-needed distance from my boyfriend, the genius Ronald Weasley.
Surely it wouldn't have been difficult to find out that mikado is a colour? I mean, jeez, he's decorating a room. It's not difficult.
Now I'm breaking from my walk into a run, loving the feeling of the ground against my trainers, loving the distance I'm putting between myself and home. It's been stressful, and I've noticed that I have been running a lot more. Pretty much daily sprints. And it doesn't always help. The feeling of escape lasts a little while, the sprinting is great for endorphins, the adrenaline courses through me, and I can ignore the rest of the world, focusing on just my breathing.
But then I'm back, and Ron is still there, and the house is still incomplete, and my parents have left messages on the landline, and Harry has sent ten texts about what he should cook for dinner - Ginny, his wife, is away at a Quidditch thing for her team - or whether I think he should get a microwave meal.
All I wanted was for Ron to paint the room in a damn mikado yellow. Bright, colourful, beautiful. It was going to have sunflowers in to compliment the yellow, and magenta cushions to contrast. Maybe I would have even added a bold, electric blue throw. Alas, no. I am stuck with wallpaper with faces on it, and glorified, gilded frames. How the heck did he even manage to find that wallpaper? Did he get it specially printed?
Am I even allowed to tell him that I hate it? After he spent time and effort decorating for me?
Merlin knows.
So I keep running, sprinting.
My legs burn with the effort, and I know I'm tiring. But the adrenaline is stronger. I have to keep going. I'm not far enough away. Not far enough. Not far enough.
And I wonder, will I even be far enough? And what does that even mean? What, exactly, am I escaping from?
I love Ron, I do. I love our house, and our friends, and our lives. He's charming and funny - and occasionally dense and rude, but that's just him - and he makes great food sometimes (he tries), and he's been really accommodating for living in our muggle community. What is there to escape from?
The answer has always been resting in the back of my mind.
When I was younger, I used to get claustrophobic. Entering a room felt too closed-in, hallways were a nightmare, and lifts were beyond thinkable. I would panic seeing a small space, knowing I would have to go through it. The feeling of being too close to people with no way out was horrendous. And I would argue that maybe this is what's happening here.
Me, sprinting away from a claustrophobic life - or, rather, the fear of a claustrophobic life.
I love Ron. I just feel sick thinking about not having a way out, which is a horrible way to look at a relationship and a life. Being so emotionally open with someone makes me panic.
And yet…
He decorated a room with Japanese Emperor's because he thought that was what I wanted. He didn't think twice about the choice, didn't confirm what I meant, just accepted that I might want something out of the ordinary for our home. Although he didn't interpret what I meant by mikado, he technically stuck to what I had asked for. He wanted to please me.
Heck if I don't adore that about him.
So, I think, that I don't want to escape him, but that I want to escape the fears I have about being in a relationship. Because I'm not afraid about Ron.
I turn back and run towards home. Ron is waiting for me when I get there.
The room is the same, Ron sitting on the settee, head in his hands. Except for one other thing. On the mantelpiece, between ornamental plates and figures, is a vase filled with sunflowers, just as I had imagined.
"The flowers are beautiful," I say, out of breath but smiling. He cricks his neck to look up at me.
"They were the only yellow things I could find. Hermione, I'm so sorry, I didn't think at all -"
I silence him with a kiss.
"It doesn't matter. I love you, Ronald Weasley. No amount of strange wallpaper is going to change that."
He grins.
"Well, that's a relief, because it is non-refundable."
And I laugh.
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Thanks for reading!
