Tobias/Mafalda - August 1972
WHO: Tobias & Mafalda
WHERE: The Gibbon house
WHEN: August, 1972
It had been a pretty fun weekend for Mafalda. She spent a couple of days with Estella at her home before they were forced to go back to school and it was too bad it was Sunday evening already. They had really spent what was a typical girl weekend together and it was just an all around pleasure to be away from home and silly arguments between family members. Plus, her mum picked up drinking again and that was the last thing she really wanted to be around.
As herself, Estella and Tobias all sat in the living room watching a bit of telly, Mal looked up as Estella left the room to get another drink. This left Tobias and Mal together and while that shouldn't have been a problem, she had been finding herself more drawn to the eldest Gibbon and always wanting to talk to him, or at least wanting to take a quick glance. Yes, it was certainly obvious that she thought he was quite the fit bloke, but it was her best friend's
brother. Her best friends really
old brother. Well, not really old but --well, these were thoughts she should have been thinking and it was
really awkward.
Leaning back into the couch, she looked over at Tobias, thinking of something to say. Plus, it was a commercial and they were always boring. "So ... do you know what you're going to do now that you're out of school?" She knew he was well out of school, but Mafalda didn't know his every want and desire. Hell, she had no idea what he wanted to be or do. Merlin, she didn't even know what she wanted to do herself.
Come over and be with your sisters, they'd asked. Stop being a hermit in your dingy flat, they said. Tobias
really hated his parents. Didn't they not know he was a really important and integral at the hospital now? It wasn't like Florence or Estella were going away forever, it was just Hogwarts. He could come visit them on Hogsmeade weekends. If he wasn't busy or something. It wasn't that Tobias didn't like his sisters, he was just annoyed that instead of actually doing something with his sisters, he was sitting on the couch, watching telly with Estella and her friend.
Her very annoyingly hot friend. Sixteen year olds were not allowed to be so hot. Tobias kept his eyes on the screen and tried his best not to move so much. But then Estella had to go and leave him alone with the hot girl. Mafalda, which was an absolutely ridiculous name, moreso than Tobias, but it didn't take away from her attractiveness. Mafalda was talking and Tobias was trying his best to keep his eyes on the television because the worst thing in the world would be for Estella to come back in here and catch Tobias thinking inappropriate things about her fellow sixth year. There was a reason Estella was a Slytherin, and Tobias didn't fancy finding out why.
"I'm a healer. I spent the last year doing an internship at St. Mungos. I took the weekend off to spend with Estella and Florence before they go to Hogwarts for another year," Tobias said in an even tone, trying very hard not to look at her. This commercial was bloody boring.
Mal had no bloody idea he was already doing something with his life. It wasn't like she asked Estella about him at all. Well, maybe once or twice. You know, just to ask how he's doing or how the family was in general. She didn't want to seem eager about Tobias at all. Well, she wasn't eager, but she definitely liked looking at him and --
bloody hell, this was the longest commercial break ever. Was it really necessary for Estella to leave when she did? Now she was very alone with a very hot bloke and she really didn't know how to act around someone like him. Especially someone as sophisticated as him. Honestly. A healer?
"Wow. A healer?" she echoed. "That's really neat. Estella never told me you were a healer." For a moment, she looked over at him in admiration, though shook herself out of her thoughts and looked over at the tv. She really didn't want him to think she was staring. Or worse, crazy. "Whats it like, if I may ask? I mean, I hear all sorts of things, but ... I don't think I've ever met a healer, other than my family healer, but she's kind of a bitch." Before Mafalda realized it, she stopped herself from rambling and looked over at him again, idly wondering how badly he wanted to get up and leave.
She certainly hoped he wouldn't leave. Something about him made Mal want to sit and listen to him all day long.
"Yes. Only I've just become a healer, so she probably didn't think it too important, being an intern and all that." Maybe. He and Estella didn't really talk about that kind of stuff. They talked, but not as much as usual. Really, it was all about how he was doing in his flat and how he wasn't dating anyone. Yet. There was always the yet, because his mum asked about it too, it was just hard to find a girlfriend when you were working so much. Even the other guys he was working with now, they didn't have girlfriends much.
"And um, it's work? Like people come in and I help them. I'm starting to specialize now, in Spell Damage, but we have to rotate around for awhile. Like if there's an emergency, I need to be able to work with the plant and poison guys if I need to. Or with that weirdo in creature induced injuries. He's always singing or laughing. I really don't like him," Tobias said, in confession to her own confession about her healer. "I don't really do family stuff though. I like emergencies. Regular coughs and stuff is boring."
It was definitely interesting to sit there and listen about it. She had no idea why she was so drawn to him, it was strange, but definitely something she wasn't about to stop. But once he said it was
work she leered slightly. Of course it was work. Work was always work. Bloody hell. "That's really interesting," she admitted, finally moving and situating herself so she was facing him, full attention on what he had to say. At least there was conversation and not just silence during boring commercial breaks, which had eventually ended, but she still wanted to talk to Tobias rather than watch the telly.
"What kind of emergencies? Like, what was your worst?" She was probably being too nosy now, but she was really interested for some reason. Probably because it was just him talking. "I wish Estella had told me more about you. Other than you just being her big brother. There's more to you than that." Yes there was and she really wanted to learn. She blushed slightly, realizing she was staring and then realizing that she just told him she basically wanted Estella to talk about him. "Oh, god. I'm sorry. I should stop talking," Mafalda said with a nervous laugh. She felt like a complete arse.
"I uh," Tobias never faltered with his sentences. Ever. But the presence of a girl, a fit one such as Mafalda, and having her lean close to him like that? Not at all conducive to proper sentence structure and grammar usage. And she was acting interested in his life. In him. Why was she doing that? That was not normal little-sister's-best-friend behavior. And it made Tobias really pleasantly uncomfortable.
"There was this guy with horns once. He was pretty mad and every time he yelled, he sprouted another horn, in the most unfortunate places. But it just made him madder and well, we finally had to sedate him. That was my first day of work. There's other stuff, but it's not really suitable to talk about," Tobias said, turning to look at her too. She wanted to know more about him? To have Estella talk about him? To her? He agreed that she should stop talking, but also Tobias didn't think that that was quite the way to do it. On an impulse, (which he would chalk up to hormones, loneliness and her proximity) Tobias leaned forward and pressed his mouth against hers in a soft kiss.
Seeing him pause like that made Mafalda blink. Oh god, she had murdered all of his brain cells and he would never be able to go back to work or make money or ... bloody hell, what had she done? She would have to profusely apologize for looking like such an asshole now. She really didn't mean to fail so epically. But of course, once he began to speak again, she regained complete composure, or at least complete faith in the fact that she didn't kill his head.
But once she began listening again, a smile grew on her face as he spoke about a man growing horns when he got mad and it only making him even angrier, and really, that was quite something. Something to really think about. "That sounds really --" before she finished her sentence, she stopped, though only to find that his lips had found hers in a really unexpected kiss. Blinking, Mafalda took a second, but finally kissed him back, glad that he finally took initiative. Grinning and blushing at the same time, she pulled out for a second, only to speak.
"It's about time you did that," she said before going in for another kiss, this time making sure it had some sort of ...
something behind it.
Tobias was ready to jump up off of the couch when Mafalda pulled away, because it was
oh so wrong. She was Estella's friend. Estellas sixteen-year-old friend. Still in Hogwarts. And also Estella was in the kitchen, getting them drinks. And he was sitting here, and Mafalda was snogging him
again. Tobias put his hand on her neck and kissed her back
very well, because he was pretty sure Estella was going to come back in here this very moment, but he couldn't
stop himself. It was like he knew it was wrong, but his body didn't agree and really, he could've pushed her back onto the couch and turned it into a full-blown snog, but he couldn't.
No, no, no, no, this
was wrong. Tobias broke off the kiss but didn't pull away. He looked into her eyes, torn and distracted – her pulse was right under his thumb, he could feel their mixing heartbeats and just breathed with her for a moment.
"We can't." Tobias wasn't sure for a moment if he'd actually said it outloud. "You're Estella's friend. I'm her brother."
She wasn't sure how it happened, but it did and she really liked it. But, oh god. He was like four years older than her. But wait, sixteen. That wasn't
too young, was it? Maybe not since he kissed her and---god, that was excellent. And he kissed her back after she kissed him. There was definitely something wrong with this, but that's not how it felt to her. It just felt really good and thats all that mattered to her in that moment.
When he pulled away, she closed her eyes for a moment, knowing she did something that was wrong, but he didn't move back to the other side of the couch. That was good, right? But still, she could see in his eyes he felt this was wrong. Sighing, she lowered her head when he spoke and as much as she wanted to nod and agree with him, she couldn't. "You can do whatever you want. And right now, telling me this is wrong is not what you want." Oh god, she felt like a idiot. She really did, but there was no denying that that kiss they shared definitely had some sort of feeling behind it.
Lowering her head again, she sighed and mumbled beneath her breath. "Bloody hell."
No, no he really didn't want to stop, and his sister was just an excuse, because that kiss was bloody
wonderful. Tobias couldn't remember kissing someone like that, ever. He nuzzled her lightly, kissing her once again. This time was softer and a kiss filled with regret. He pulled away, a look in his eyes asking forgiveness as he did so. This wasn't fair, but it was
wrong in so many more ways than it was right, but it was still
so right.
Tobias heard Estella and her mother laughing from the hallway and he jumped back, sitting back against the couch and facing the telly like nothing had happened. Tobias bit his lip and tried not to think of the way Mafalda's lips felt under his, as Estella passed him a drink. He couldn't hear anything above the rush of blood in his ears and he couldn't concentrate on the telly, but he had to. They'd been watching some crap show, and now he had to go back to that. "Thanks," he said, hoping his voice didn't sound too off, to Estella.
