Work Text:
The beast’s warm breath tickled Charlie’s face as he brought his hand to its neck. She was magnificent. Scales the color of obsidian, spikes as sharp as swords forged in the sturdiest of metals, eyes like flames embedded in a living jewel.
However, when he looked to his side, Charlie saw the brightest jewel of all, whose mouth hung open, awestruck, with eyes the color of emeralds, shining bright as treasures under the sun and hair like molten gold, looking ever so soft: his best friend, the most precious of all jewels, Felix Rosier.
The dragon’s sudden snort snapped Charlie out of his contemplation, and he focused his attention back to the beast. They’d just captured it, after it had escaped, flying above muggle Poland, and Charlie was quite glad not to be in charge of all the paperwork.
This Hungarian Horntail was a fierce one, but Felix and Charlie were extremely efficient when paired up, and this first mission had only cost them a few scratches, an old cloak and perhaps some strands of hair singed off, but that didn’t really matter.
At the present moment, they’d managed to tie the dragon down, and for some weird reason they’d had to bring her to Ireland because there was a magizoologist there who apparently really wanted to meet a dragon and just couldn’t afford to go too far away from their laboratory, so they’d paid extra to have the dragon brought to them, and of course it was Charlie and Felix who had to take care of it.
“They couldn’t even send an extra person. Damn budget cuts.”
Felix looked at him and smiled.
“We don’t need an extra person. You’re more than enough for me. Plus, the zoologist should be here soon.”
Bloody hell, how did Felix always manage to make him feel all fuzzy inside?
“It’s magizoologist, not just ‘zoologist’, Rosier.”
The two turned around and saw a familiar face, grinning.
“Scamander! Fancy seeing you here!” Charlie went forth to shake their friend’s hand. “So you wanted to see the beauty?”
“Oh yes.” The magizoologist (not a mere zoologist, mind you) turned to look at the Horntail and let out a gasp. “And my, oh my, what a beauty she is! What’s her name?”
“I called her Misty, after the weather we had to capture her in,” Felix answered, gazing fondly at their captive. “But dragons aren’t usually given names. I wish that it weren’t the case...”
“So you two are dragon tamers, eh?”
Charlie looked at his best friend and smiled. “Correct.”
“Still friends?”
“What do you mean? Of course we’re friends. Why?” Felix asked.
“Oh. I thought that… You know what? Nevermind. I guess that I won my bet with Tonks.”
“What bet?” Scamander’s grin grew wider, revealing her small dimples.
“Well there’s no fun in telling now! This is something that you’ll have to figure out on your own.”
Newt Scamander’s daughter was truly… something. Just as eccentric as her father, with a jumble of her parents’ personalities, resulting in a one of the most interesting people Charlie had ever met. He’d trust her with his life, but not with a sandwich.
Felix and Charlie exited the cavern, leaving Scamander alone with the dragon.
To be completely honest, they were a bit scared to get between Scamander and whatever new beast fascinated her. What was funny was that, despite their being good friends, he’d never learned her first name. She’d introduced herself as Scamander and that’s what they’d called her ever since.
For a few minutes, neither Felix nor Charlie said a word, both admiring the scenery. Rolling hills of a lustrous green (Felix’ eyes were prettier, though); cliffs falling into the sea; fog creeping towards them from the coast; salt in the air, filling their nostrils.
Soon, though, the fog had become so thick that Charlie could barely see Felix anymore, even if he was just a few meters away. He began walking towards his friend, but it seemed that both of them had had the same idea, and they bumped into each other, falling down.
“Ouch!” Charlie cried in pain as his head hit the ground.
“You okay?” Felix had fallen on top of him, hands on the ground, Charlie’s head between them.
Oh. This was bad. This was very bad. Charlie couldn’t breathe. Felix’s face was so close. Too close. Their lips a few inches apart, and that was all Charlie could think about. His brain had fried.
For a while, neither of them moved, only staring in each other’s eyes (how were his friend’s eyes so pretty?), and the air felt like it was filled with electricity.
Suddenly, as Scamander called them, the moment was gone and they scrambled to their feet, cheeks red.
“Thank you a lot, guys! I had the time to study a bit… Misty, wasn’t it?”
Neither Felix nor Charlie answered, both too caught up in what had happened -in what could have happened- just a few seconds before.
Scamander didn’t seem to notice, and continued talking about her researches about the differences between the tempers of beasts in order to categorize them following her own scale.
“…so really, werewolves are clearly very similar to humans, as they are humans, except for during the full moon, which makes them closer to vampires. Then again, vampires don’t have a ‘time of month’, an werewolves are very different in many ways regarding the temper, as vampires keep their intellectual capacities intact, whereas werewolves have many difficulties with controlling themselves. I need more tests subjects, of course, which is why…” She went on for about half an hour, and Charlie would truly have loved listening, as neither Scamander nor conversations with her boring, had his mind not been solely focused on Felix.
Had they nearly… kissed? Did Felix really like him back? And this wasn’t even the first time something like that happened.
The exact same electricity, and an interruption. There was always an interruption. He turned towards Felix and saw that he was looking at him too. They turned away, embarrassed, and didn’t speak until at least half an hour after Scamander’s departure.
“So…” Charlie started, unsure of what to say.
“The Horntail. We have to bring Misty back to Romania.” Felix said very quickly, avoiding Charlie’s eyes.
In a few days, they’d probably act as they normally did around each other, just as every other time similar ‘incidents’ happened. They’d become very good at pretending they weren’t madly in love with each other.