both
pairing : ron x pansy x cormac
word count : ~1.4k
for : @hptriadsnet
ron takes a hold of cormac’s arm and tries to keep his voice steady. “you can’t just put evidence in your pocket, cormac, there has to be a chain of custody.”
cormac looks from the hand on his arm then back up to ron and smiles, flexes his arm just a smidge. “chain of custody, chain of command, why is it always chains with you, weasley?”
ron snatches his arm back and cormac chuckles as he walks away. ron seethes.
it didn’t take ron long to figure out that being an auror just wasn’t for him. he’d done his fighting and he was done with hit. he didn’t need to keep hunting down dark wizards to get his fill in live. but detective? figuring out puzzles and out thinking the opponent? that he could do. that he wanted to do.
so he made a lateral move within the department of magical law enforcement and settled in quite nicely. that is, until cormac decided (on a fucking whim, apparently) to sign up and they paired him with ron.
ron’s nearly quit three times in as many months. half the department has refused to work with the two of them together. it’s a disaster.
cormac sets his plate on the table and pulls out a chair next to ron.
“the whole of the ministry cafeteria and you choose that particular seat?” ron asks.
cormac smirks, like he’s won. “does my sitting next to you bother you?”
“no,” ron shrugs, casually turning his attention back to his own plate. “i think it’s sweet you want to sit so close to me.”
cormac huffs and moves to the other side of the table and ron winks. “the better to play footsie with, good choice.”
“will you shut up,” cormac snaps, “just tell me about the damn case.”
they arrive at the scene and pansy’s heart drops to her stomach. of all the people, the best the ministry could send was ronald weasley?
“hello, miss parkinson,” cormac greets professionally, unaware of the fuse between her and his partner just waiting to be lit.
pansy’s only vaguely aware of cormac introducing himself and ron as she waits for ron to say something, anything about her. but he doesn’t, instead he’s just as professional as cormac, if only a little quieter.
cormac presents her with the evidence she’s been brought onto the case to examine and she keeps an eye on ron as she explains her theories. again, she waits for it, for the smart comments, for the disregard of her work, for a call out on her past, but again, it never comes.
cormac thanks her for her input and leaves her with the evidence for a deeper examination and the two of them turn to leave. she can’t stop herself.
“weasley,” she calls, but she stops herself when he turns around. “ron, i mean,” she corrects.
and he smiles. it’s small, and a little lopsided, but he smiles. “thanks,” she says, suddenly hyper aware of how naive she sounds.
“for being decent,” she answers. and he smiles bigger, nods, leaves without saying anything else. the door shuts behind him before pansy lets herself smile too. maybe working with weasley wouldn’t be so bad after all.
working with ron is fine, better than fine, even, they’re almost friends. but working with both ron and cormac? it’s hell.
it’s a wonder they ever get anything done, with how much they bicker and fight. once more, everyone else seems to think they hate each other? pansy figures maybe it’s because no one ever spends enough time with them to see it, but they far from hate each other.
when you hate someone you don’t spend extra time watching them walk away from an argument. when you hate someone you don’t bring them their coffee perfectly right every morning. when you hate someone you don’t find excuses to touch them even if you’re fighting with them in the process.
no, these two most definitely did not hate each other.
pansy starts with ron first. she knew his buttons, knew it would be quicker, easier. and she was right. it doesn’t take much. the first time she’s obvious with her flirting he damn near trips over air. which, she has to admit, is quite fun to watch.
once he realizes that there’s no punchline, that she’s really flirting with him, he starts flirting back. it surprises her, really, how decent he is at it. he’s not smooth or debonair by any means, but the things he does are genuine and she has to remind herself that she’s playing a game because despite herself, she actually likes it.
but she can’t. it’s a game, a game she’s playing for his own good, and the well-being of anyone who has to work with the two of them again.
when cormac starts growing distant and quiet, brooding off by himself whenever she’s around, that’s when she moves on to him. she’s a bit more coy with him, a bit more vague, so that by the time cormac actually gets around to asking, “wait, what about ron?” he’s already into deep.
“what about ron?” she responds, looking at him with a smile pulling on her lips. “ron and i aren’t anything,” she adds, softer, her hand on his chest.
she hadn’t actually planned on kissing him, but she also hadn’t planned on cormac being a lot more forward than ron. his lips collide with hers and she nearly melts. his hands grasp onto her hips and a fire sparks in her stomach.
after a few moments she finds it within herself to push away, to smile and play it off. but as the fire inside fades it’s replace with the smoldering coals of something else.
the next day she invites ron on a date, drags him to the shitty dive most of the aurors and detectives, other dmle staff, hang out in. cormac’s not there yet, but he will be.
in the meantime ron grabs them some drinks, finds them a quieter corner in the back and they get to talking. pansy can’t believe but she finds herself leaning into him, listening, caring, about his stories. and when he asks her about herself she can’t stop her lips from replying.
and then he tells a joke and to her absolute horror, she laughs. because it’s actually funny.
he rests his hand on her knee, sending a chill up her thigh and she moves closer. their laughter fades and he’s staring into her eyes. his kiss is much different than cormac’s. softer, slower, warmer.
this is it, the moment she’s planned for months. so why does it feel so horrible? she pulls away from ron, her speech ready on her tongue. but cormac keeps going. he looks to ron.
“she kissed me like that too. just yesterday, in fact.”
ron looks at her, hurt, confused, and she hates herself. “it’s not what you think,” she starts, “it’s not what either of you think.”
“i think you’re playing games with us,” cormac starts, but pansy cuts in.
“please, before you continue, just - just answer this one question for me.” ron and cormac both look at her like she’s lost it. she takes a breath, hating herself for falling for either of these two idiots, let alone both, but knowing that if she couldn’t have either, the least she could do was let them have each other.
“who exactly are you jealous about right now?”
cormac opens his mouth to speak, like the answer is obvious, but nothing comes out. it seems to take ron a second to even work out her question, but when he does he realizes that cormac hasn’t answered. when he does, he realizes that he doesn’t have an answer for it either.
“both,” ron says after a moment, his mouth dry, words low. he looks up to cormac, who’s staring down at him, face set in concentration. the next thing ron knows, cormac’s reached down and grabbed him by the collar, bringing their lips together in a long awaited collision.
everything clicks into place and ron is filled with a surge of adrenaline. he grabs at cormac’s cloak, pulling him closer, holding onto him for fear that if he lets go he might wake up from this dream.
cormac pulls away first and ron is left breathless. “he said both,” cormac says, and ron realizes that pansy has left the booth and is quietly trying to leave. cormac takes a step towards her, but keeps a hold of ron’s shoulder. “i say both, too.”
