Chapter Four - Tumblr Posts

1 year ago

The Things We Do For The Fleet

Chapter 4: PJ’s

💙eventual Leonard McCoy x fem!reader💙

⚠️: none

word count: 1,420

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Leonard had looked back at his quarters and the three neatly packed boxes in the corner near the door. It probably said something about him that all he had to pack up were two boxes of paperwork and a box of clothes, but he tried not to mind it as he left to go and find Y/N’s quarters. Three doors to the left Leonard thought to himself as he walked down the hall. “Don’t be weird, that’s all you gotta do” He told himself as he came to Y/N’s door. “It’s not like either of us chose this, we’ll just work it out together,” he said as he brought his hand to the pad that would set off a bell of sorts inside. Don’t be nervous, it’ll all be fine Leonard rocked back and forth on his heels. Alright so she’s not here, better luck next time he turned back the direction he came from, but just then he heard the door slide open. Leonard turned back to see two things: 1) The girl he had frightened near to death this morning, 2) She was soaking wet and wrapped up in nothing but a little periwinkle towel. Where’d she even get that? The Star Fleet only issues plain white towels, it was just as this thought crossed his mind that he recognized, with wide eyes, that he had been staring. “I’m so sorry!” Leonard apologised as Y/N looked at her feet and blushed. So much more awkward than I thought it would be. “I suppose it is your turn to be sorry” Y/N mumbled shyly, but jokingly as she continued to look down. Leonard chuckled, “Hey, listen it’s kinda awkward, but we’ve been roomed together” He told her as he now scratched his neck and looked down at his own feet. “Oh,” Y/N gasped airily, “You must be Dr. McCoy then,” She murmured, holding out her right hand for him to shake while the other clung to her towel. “I guess I must,” Leonard joked lightly as he took her hand in his. They looked at each other for a moment and then jumped apart as though electrically shocked when they realised that they were still shaking hands. “Would you like to come in? I’ll only be a moment changing, and then we can discuss who’s quarters we’ll be moving things into,” Y/N offered, “Oh there’s not much to discuss, I only have uniforms and paperwork, I figured I’d end up moving my things to your quarters, seeing as I don’t have many things,” Leonard attempted what he hoped was a charming smile, but probably came off as a tight lipped grimace. “Well you could come in and wait anyways, and then I could help you start to bring your things over, if that would be okay,” Y/N asked, eyes still glued to her feet, “I would love to come in,” Leonard replied softly, trying to match her quiet and small energy so as not to scare her too much more. “Okay,” She seemed to perk up a bit more at his acceptance of her offer. She beckoned him in, in a manner that seemed to show that they had been standing out in the hall like this for some several minutes. “Oh,” Leonard began in slight shock, I’m not sure what I expected, but somehow this wasn’t it, although it does fit her he looked around the room, “It’s very… I guess it’s very uh, angelic” Leonard stumbled over his own words in an attempt not to insult the sheepish girl in front of him. “Oh, that’s okay, we can change if you like,” Y/N scrambled to offer in a bashful tone of voice. “No, no, I like it, it’s so much more peaceful than the rest of the ship. I can see myself very relaxed here at the end of the day,” Leonard assured her. “Okay, but if you change your mind, we can still change it,” She told him, “Umm, anyway, I should go change,” Y/N seemed to have just remembered they were still only wearing a towel.

The Things We Do For The Fleet

Y/N walked into the bathroom, where the tub was still full of, now tepid, water and half dissolved bubbles. She let out a crestfallen sigh as she drained the bath. Oh well, better luck next time I guess Y/N turned away from the bath and put her pyjamas on to the sound of water swirling down the drain. She watched herself in the mirror, did she really want to go back out to that man in these pyjamas? The longer Y/N looked at herself the more she wanted to crawl into the small space between the counter and the hamper and never come out. Maybe this wouldn’t be happening if you would just buy yourself normal, grownup pyjamas she looked at her reflection sternly in a silent admonishment. She couldn’t really stay in the bathroom forever, eventually Dr. McCoy would come looking for her. With one more long look at herself she tied back her hair and opened the bathroom door again. Dr. McCoy looked up from his spot on the couch, Y/N could feel her cheeks grow warm as his eyes roved over her form. After a long moment of silence he finally opened his mouth to speak, “Cute PJ’s, darlin. Wanna come help me with my things or would you rather stay here?” Dr. McCoy asked Y/N. She just nodded her head numbly, Darlin?, she thought as she continued to nod slowly. “That’s not exactly an answer to an A or B question,” Dr. McCoy remarked with a small smile. “Oh! What was the question?” Y/N asked and was about to apologise, "You wanna come with me to get my things?” He asked, stopping her before she could begin to say sorry again. “I’ll come with you,” Y/N nodded and slowly walked up to the couch. Dr. McCoy stood up and put a hand on her back to guide her out the door. Y/N stiffened at his touch and his hand fell away, she couldn’t help but berate herself for reacting in such a manner.

The Things We Do For The Fleet

She walked out of the bathroom, dressed in an adorable cloud nightgown with little bows on the sleeves. Gee, I guess we’ll both be wearing nightgowns to bed he took in her whole form with the nightgown draped over her, “Cute PJ’s, darlin. Wanna come help me with my things or would you rather stay here?” Leonard offered her. She nodded at him blankly, Right, the light’s on, but whoever was home just left, “That’s not exactly an answer to an A or B question,” he told her with a soft smile. “Oh! What was the question?” Y/N asked and Leonard could tell she was about to let another apology spill from her lips. “You wanna come with me to get my things?” He rephrases the question for her and she nods once more. “I’ll come with you,” She walked up to the couch to meet him as he stood. Leonard put a hand on her back to lead her out the door and she stiffened at the touch. She must not like to be touched much, he pulled his hand away and let it fall by his side as they walked back to his quarters. Leonard punches the pin into the keypad and the door opens to reveal an empty room with just the three boxes he left by the door.

The Things We Do For The Fleet

The door opened and his quarters were empty save three boxes just inside the room. “Where are the rest of them?” Y/N asked not meaning to be impolite, although she couldn’t help but feel that she came off that way. What can he really have if it all fits in three boxes?, “Nothing else, it’ll be easy, light lifting,” Dr. McCoy assured her. “You take the one marked clothes, I’ll get the other two,” Dr. McCoy ordered. Y/N picked up the box she was directed to and began to walk out the door, she heard his footsteps follow behind her shortly. It’s not that it was a very long walk to begin with, but it certainly felt a lot longer when she was just staring at a cardboard box and hoping she didn’t run into anything. Y/N put down the box and pressed the pin into the keypad before kicking the box the rest of the way in the door.

The Things We Do For The Fleet

This sound is awesome, it’s what I’ve been listening to the entire time I’ve been writing this fic.


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1 year ago

"'Professor,' Ginny says politely because for all she has learned to resent Snape, he’s her head of house, her teacher.

'Miss Weasley,' he says, head inclining the perfect amount like he’s practiced it.

She nods in response, and idly wonders what the Malfoys would think if they knew he was here.

'Did you say something?' Snape asks, eyebrow lifting.

There’s a slight buzz in her ear, but she brushes it off with a firm shake of her head. 'No, sir.'"

Is this the first time Snape uses Legilimency on Ginny? And if so, why would he look into her mind in this moment? Was it because she thought of the Malfoys, or was he listening before that?

Yes.

If you think about it, these scenes from the beginning of OOTP are the first time we see Snape The Double Agent. At this point, he’s already gone back to Voldemort and paid his respects, maybe taken his licks for not coming immediately when he was called to the rebirth ceremony. He’s engaged in the double agent work that he never actually did much during the first war. (How much time passed between him telling Dumbledore about the prophecy and Voldemort disappearing? Not much, I don’t imagine.)

So this is Snape, in the Order of the Phoenix, not just Dumbledore’s secret contact, but out in the open for all Order members to see, most of whom Snape probably doesn’t trust. And does Voldemort know he’s in the Order? Does he know he’s there and sent him there to spy? Or does he just think Snape is spying on Dumbledore, et al at Hogwarts? Hard to say. But he’s playing a really, really dangerous game. One he knows he has little chance of surviving. But he is working every contingency, and when everything has to be planned that carefully, any rogue outlier is a problem.

Ginny Weasley, Slytherin student, is an outlier. She doesn’t carefully fit and he isn’t sure if or how much of a threat that outlier might be. Even if just as a girl who might have loose lips and talk about the Order in her common room. It’s one of the reasons he starts giving her so much attention. It’s threat assessment. (Not so much threat as a dangerous witch as much as a leak or a rogue vector.)

So, yeah, he’s using legilimency on her here. He needs to understand her better, understand what she thinks about him being here. To see how much she actually understands. Keep in mind though, that legilimency isn’t mind-reading. You don’t just get to hear someone’s thoughts. It’s messier than that. He’s trying to get a general read on her.


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