Ficlet: "Skin Deep"
Mar. 16th, 2007 09:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
averygoodun42This was inspired by the new ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
romancingwizard challenge, but I'm not submitting it there because a) I'm not a member, and b) it doesn't qualify for several reasons (over 500 words, doesn't have the theme of Spring anywhere, or a canon spell).
But, here, unbetaed, is:
Title: Skin Deep
Pairing: Goyle/Midgen
Genre: Romance/Fluff (no, not a real category, but that's just another reason not to post it there)
Rating: G
Word count: 526
Prompt: 18. Gregory Goyle/ Eloise Midgen - skin deep
Summary: Her nose is off center. It used to bother me, but it doesn't now.
Her nose is off center. It used to bother me, but it doesn't now.
At first it bothered me because she wasn't perfect like Pansy or Daphne. Whenever she looked at me, it always seemed lopsided. It gave me the creeps.
I'm not sure when I figured out that she only looked lopsided when she was looking at me. It might have been when she looked me in the eye at dinner one night and smiled just a little, or it could have been when she tilted her head during Herbology and looked at me from underneath those long eyelashes.
Draco was always making jokes at her expense – whenever he forgot about Potter – and Vince would always laugh. I laughed at first, but somewhere in there, it stopped being so funny. Somewhere in there, I realized that if she heard me laughing at her, she wouldn't give me those looks anymore. That thought bothered me.
I smiled back at her one day, and she started talking to me. I think it surprised Draco when I chose to talk to her, but that didn't matter so much. Her nose bothered me still, but in a different way. It bothered me that only a girl who was the class joke would be interested in me. It bothered me that Draco and Vince laughed whenever they saw us together. It bothered me that they thought I couldn't do better. It bothered me that I thought so, too.
But, after a few weeks of talking, I realized something: She was interesting. Not only was she interesting, but she listened to me as if she was interested. She actually wanted to hear what I thought. She seemed to think I could think.
At first she had to really push me to talk. She would do it nice like, but it was still painful. In the end, it was her disappointed look when she gave up after I answered her with a shrug and a grunt that moved me to try talking. I realized I didn't want to disappoint her. I didn't like that look on her face.
It was hard, but I started trying to think of things to say to her. She seemed to be interested in Herbology, so I took extra care to listen to Professor Sprout so that I might have something interesting to say. It was worth the effort when her small lopsided smiles became huge glowing smiles. And then one day, she kissed me.
It shocked me, and all I did was sit there and stare at her. I watched as her face went from shy and happy to scared and embarrassed before I realized what had happened. She was getting ready to leave, and it was then that I realized I didn't care whether her nose was centered or not. All I knew was that I didn't want to see tears falling on either side of it.
Her nose is off center, but it doesn't bother me anymore. I like it that way. After all, her smile is only lopsided on the outside, 'cause inside, it always hits me dead center.
romancingwizard challenge, but I'm not submitting it there because a) I'm not a member, and b) it doesn't qualify for several reasons (over 500 words, doesn't have the theme of Spring anywhere, or a canon spell).But, here, unbetaed, is:
Title: Skin Deep
Pairing: Goyle/Midgen
Genre: Romance/Fluff (no, not a real category, but that's just another reason not to post it there)
Rating: G
Word count: 526
Prompt: 18. Gregory Goyle/ Eloise Midgen - skin deep
Summary: Her nose is off center. It used to bother me, but it doesn't now.
Her nose is off center. It used to bother me, but it doesn't now.
At first it bothered me because she wasn't perfect like Pansy or Daphne. Whenever she looked at me, it always seemed lopsided. It gave me the creeps.
I'm not sure when I figured out that she only looked lopsided when she was looking at me. It might have been when she looked me in the eye at dinner one night and smiled just a little, or it could have been when she tilted her head during Herbology and looked at me from underneath those long eyelashes.
Draco was always making jokes at her expense – whenever he forgot about Potter – and Vince would always laugh. I laughed at first, but somewhere in there, it stopped being so funny. Somewhere in there, I realized that if she heard me laughing at her, she wouldn't give me those looks anymore. That thought bothered me.
I smiled back at her one day, and she started talking to me. I think it surprised Draco when I chose to talk to her, but that didn't matter so much. Her nose bothered me still, but in a different way. It bothered me that only a girl who was the class joke would be interested in me. It bothered me that Draco and Vince laughed whenever they saw us together. It bothered me that they thought I couldn't do better. It bothered me that I thought so, too.
But, after a few weeks of talking, I realized something: She was interesting. Not only was she interesting, but she listened to me as if she was interested. She actually wanted to hear what I thought. She seemed to think I could think.
At first she had to really push me to talk. She would do it nice like, but it was still painful. In the end, it was her disappointed look when she gave up after I answered her with a shrug and a grunt that moved me to try talking. I realized I didn't want to disappoint her. I didn't like that look on her face.
It was hard, but I started trying to think of things to say to her. She seemed to be interested in Herbology, so I took extra care to listen to Professor Sprout so that I might have something interesting to say. It was worth the effort when her small lopsided smiles became huge glowing smiles. And then one day, she kissed me.
It shocked me, and all I did was sit there and stare at her. I watched as her face went from shy and happy to scared and embarrassed before I realized what had happened. She was getting ready to leave, and it was then that I realized I didn't care whether her nose was centered or not. All I knew was that I didn't want to see tears falling on either side of it.
Her nose is off center, but it doesn't bother me anymore. I like it that way. After all, her smile is only lopsided on the outside, 'cause inside, it always hits me dead center.
