Title: Riverside
Author:
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Tonks/Colin Creevy
Warning: post-series AU
Rating: SFW
Summary: Have you ever been kicked in the nuts by a superhero?
Notes: For , who actually wanted a different Colin. Oopsie.
Have you ever been kicked in the nuts by a superhero? You have now, kiddo, and it could be worse—it could be a giant like Hagrid or a powerful wizard like Harry, but instead it’s a Metamorphmagus like Tonks who gives you a smile like a sunrise just before she kicks you.
“That’s for taking advantage of my good nature, Creevy.”
You groan in the mud, clutching your aching balls and thinking, Okay, that wasn’t what I was hoping for. Kissing Tonks is like a dare—You never know who she’ll be when you open your eyes—except no one dared you, it was just you and Tonks and the river and Tonks laughing because the mission was a success and you’re both still alive. And she smiled and said, “You’re okay, Creevy,” and then—
And then.
In the first war with the Dark Lord they never let kids as young as you fight, but this time they need every able body, everyone with an ounce of power and a good heart. You have both, Harry said so while affectionately ruffling your hair, and when you were assigned to accompany Tonks tonight she didn’t complain or say, “Oh, no!” like the twins, even if they were teasing.
She’ll complain next time. Knowing Tonks, she’ll even say why.
You mutter, “Sorry, Tonks,” between flashes of blinding white pain and releasing any hope of future generations of Creevys.
She looks at you a moment then holds out her hand. “Come on, Creevy. We need to get back before they worry.”
“Erm—yes—” You push yourself up to your knees, then clutch her hand to get to your feet. Your first kiss. A total disaster. You’re seventeen and you’ve kissed a girl and you’re never going to tell anyone this story.
“And, Creevy—”
Her mouth is like a sunrise, too.
“When you kiss a girl,” she says when she lets you breathe, “you do it like that. Okay?”
“Oh. Yes. Thanks.”
Before the week is out Tonks will make you a man, as the saying goes, and you will walk around feeling proud and changed and even a little taller. And when you die—no, no details about that, it’s better to wonder—you will remember this moment, and the taste of Tonks, and the sound of the river and the smell of the mud and what it was like to kiss your hero.
For now, you run with her along the riverside to safety. You steal a kiss just before you Apparate and catch her smile of approval. On this side of the river, you’ve lost your heart for good.
end