At long-last, Noel closed the Kindling app on her phone.

Sometimes it was difficult not to get absorbed into the world of Perry Hotter. The writing wasn't bad for being a kid's book and it managed to suck her in until the magical world almost seemed more real than her own.

Binge reading in a an era where she'd had to rely on her notes a lot was a dangerous thing.

At first, Noel had balked at the idea of tackling such a long book series, but she was tired of not understanding the references and it was engaging enough that once she had started, she really wanted to continue.

Besides. She could take notes. She'd maybe gotten a bit too relaxed in that regard, but Perry Hotter was fun. She could do better! Honestly, anything was better than when she returned from her mission with Natalie, sore and confused and with more dogs and boyfriendly concern than she'd expected.

She remembered almost nothing after their first date and her dossier on Michael was lacking.

You like Michael Hunter. He runs Blackforest Tactical. You have a MyFace Official relationship, but neither of you are on MyFace. Go see him. You'll figure it out. But DO NOT kiss him.

She had noted his number and their text history was in her phone. They seemed to be comfortable around each other from what she read before her job, but now she got sweaty palms and all tongue-tied, even in texts. She wasn't trying to dodge him. It was just easier to plow through the entire Perry Hotter and the Magician's Rock than it was to schedule a dinner date.

She saw him when they went to walk the puppies, --if the two small mountains could still be called puppies it was only a technicality-- but it was easy for them to fall into silence when she had Perry Hotter and the The Hall of Redacted Information pulled up on her phone.

But now... now things were getting heavy in the book. And she needed a friend to help her talk through all the feelings the author was making her have.

She'd put off talking to Michael for far too long.

Dammit whined and scratched at the door before Noel had a chance to knock. Her nerves made the moment before he opened the door absolute hell. She'd been pretty much avoiding him. He was forgiving. Too forgiving. He had to want something from her.

Would she be invited in? Was it weird to show up unannounced? Noel checked her wrist, realized that she didn't wear a watch regularly, and started to fish out her phone to check the time.

He could be mad. He be--

--opening the door. Ready with a smile.

"Did they really make all the Perry Hotter books into movies?"

Reveille lay on the floor at Ranger’s foot as he sat on his couch reading. A stack of files lay on his coffee table, a share of the neverending paperwork associated with his business. When you own your own business work doesn’t end when you go home.

Laying the folder he held on the table, Ranger signed and dated the last page inside before closing it. He set the closed file on top of the stack and leaned back. Reveille sat up and rested her head on his leg. While still a puppy, she was already larger than several full grown medium sized breeds. Ranger scratched behind her ears before brushing her head aside so he could stand. He knew what Miss Rev really wanted.

Food.

A pair of large buckets sat in the apartment. One of them was empty, except for the crumbs at the bottom, the other had only a little water left. Ranger retrieved a bag of dog food from the pantry Reveille sat patiently… Except her tail which pounded against a wall like someone was hammering nails into the studs.

The hammering continued until Ranger finished pouring food and adding water. Once he set the water bucket back down reveille knew she could dive into her food. Normally Miss Rev was a calm puppy. When it was food time she took off like she was in a Scooby Doo cartoon before sliding to a stop at her buckets.

Ranger pat her side before he walked over to retrieve his phone from the coffee table.

No new texts. No missed calls.

He didn’t expect there to be, for one his phone hadn’t made any noise to indicate there was one. It was also the case that Noel and he hadn’t been as textually active of late. Actually, communicating period had been a bit more sparse. It was somewhat understandable, she was plowing through the Perry Hotter books for the first time. They are hard to put down once you get going. There was also the issue of Noel was running of notes of their relationship sometimes. Ranger had only seen them once so he didn’t know how heavily she relied on them, but he knew she’d been on a long series of missions that risked her memories. Likely made him feel like a person she is telling herself to be around instead of it having been as organic as it had in the first place.

And finally, their relationship had a wall it was up against. As close as they may get, with or without her power affecting memories, they could never kiss. Sure, he could kiss her, but she couldn’t reciprocate. And, yes, the physical aspect of a relationship certainly isn’t what defines a relationship, but it can be noticeable when it is limited.

Ranger had memories that meant she couldn’t kiss him because she couldn’t know them. Though, he had been preparing for a way to remove that obstacle if Noel would be willing to help. While even with the memories removed her kissing him would still be problematic given her power, it wouldn’t be a complete no-go.

There was a whine and scratch at the door. Reveille’s head shot up out of her food. She looked to the door, then to Ranger, then back to the door. As she did she couldn’t decided if she wanted to sit or stand. Nothing got Reveille as excited as when Dammit came to visit. Dammit was a bad influence.

Ranger went to the door and Reveille followed on his heels. Noel stopping by was a pleasant surprise with how distant she had been lately. What was more surprising was that when he opened the door she asked, "Did they really make all the Perry Hotter books into movies?"

”All seven. The last book even got two. And half of ‘em were pretty good.” Ranger said as he moved aside for her to come in and more importantly, to not be a man shaped wall between two very large puppies. ”Want t’ watch ‘em? I think I might have ‘em around here somewhere.”

All seven, plus one for splitting the last one into two... Eight movies. Man. It all got so dark, no wonder they split the last one.

It was easy to ignore what might have been some weirdness because she hadn't given him a chance to have any of it. There was no 'maybe should we hug?' there was just a simple invite in to watch movies on the topic at hand. It would have been difficult to say no considering that Dammit had made herself at home, nosedown in Revvie's food.

"Y-yeah. Actually. Are you busy tomorrow?" She checked her watch-less wrist again, unsure of the time and irritated at having someone else's habit.

"Or, I guess I'm asking if watching them all in a row is as bad an idea as it sounds." 2 hours a piece, 8 movies... 16 hours? Noel had 16 hours to burn, easy. And her sleep schedule was already thrown by staying up to the wee hours reading. She stepped in the door and had that odd moment of maybe she should have done something. Relationship rewards or something? Cheek kiss for him only? Her notes were absolutely silent on the matter and had only urged her to go and be around him. Which she had not done. Not really.

"Hi. I'm s--" What? Sorry? She wasn't. Noel changed tac. "How are you?"

Watching all the movies in a row? ”Sounds like a terrible idea.” Ranger laughed. That was essentially twenty hours of footage. ”I’m in.” He could maybe make that work. Noel had been distant and if she was here and wanted to watch them, he’d find a way to make it work. Jude did an amazing job of filling in when Ranger was not at the office.

Ranger shut the door behind Noel. Dammit had already shot in and decided what was Reveille’s was hers and Reveille was pawing at Dammit’s face to try and stop her.Eventually she hit Dammit with her side to bump her out of the way.

Noel started and stopped. Then asked how he was.

”I’m well. Been busy this evening, He gestured to the stack of files on his coffee table, ”nothin’ too bad. Better now that y’r here.” He smiled at her and move to put his hands on her sides. ”How’ve you been?” He wondered if something was up with her showing up unannounced and her stopping herself from saying something.

She hadn't expected a yes on the movie marathon. "What?" She was laughing incredulously at his unusual acceptance too. It smacked of friendship. Like what a best friend might say. This is a dumb idea, but I'll stick it out because I'd rather do something with you than do something smart.

"That's a whole chunk of time." She warned him, as if he hadn't also realized the time commitment. He had stacks of papers and the puppies would have to go out. Food would happen in there somewhere... but time together was what she'd suggested to herself.

'Better now that you're here' had a real nice ring to it when it tasted like truth. It was the kind of thing that made her want to be incautious and wrap him all up and keep him forever. Instead, she put her hands on his forearms. Acknowledgement that they were touching and that it was okay, but she wasn't exactly throwing herself into his arms. Maybe they should have been at that point, but she just wasn't.

A spiral of doubt made her question why she was there if she wasn't "at that point," but when she focused on things like the jokes and the easy smiles it made her answer his return courtesy question in a way that even surprised her.

"Better. Now that I'm here."

She wanted to be here. It would be nice to be at that point.

"I've been putting it off, but I feel like I know very few people here. Right now, I mean." And isolating herself further hadn't really helped that. "Knowing about people isn't quite the same." And trust was a thing born from experience and confidence.

"Besides, having just read the books, I can tell you all the ways the movies get it wrong." It was hard to believe the movies had gone over that well. Were the later ones rated R or something?

”Almost twenty hours… Might want t’ make it a two-day event. Like a music fest.” Ranger suggested as a way to mitigate the problems otherwise watching all the movies would have. Food, puppies, sleep, putting out fires at work… Only once with a literal fire.

Noel returned the touch, placing her hands on his forearms. And she said that she was also better having been there. It was nice and right, and Ranger could tell some of what they had was lost if not much after what she said next. She knew very few people “Right now…”, she had been distant lately, and while she didn’t shirk away from his touch she was making a less intimate contact.

The question was how much was what she remembered and how much was her working from her notes? And how good were the notes? Ranger had spent years learning about people before he met them from dossiers on JWICS. Those documents were almost as good as actually knowing the person. The advantages of tier one DoD intel officers and shrinks working on them. Noel had to compile her own notes and didn’t have as impartial of a perspective.

”I can understand that, I’ve had t’ swoop in an’ hustle based on nothin’ but what some Pentagon egghead thought I should know. No substitute f’r real interaction t’ know someone.” Ranger stopped and laughed to himself at a thought, ”We could go dancin’ again if we need t’. Worked a couple times before.”

”THat’s the best time t’ watch ‘em. When y’ get t’ the ones that are less than stellar in the middle y’ can still follow the plot since y’ already know what happens. Besides who would complain about goin’ on that whimsical ride a second time right after finishin’ it the first time?”

"Yeah, but... wait, what do you mean hustle? Were you going in and seducing people?" That wasn't accusation, that was the most ridiculous thing she'd imagined all day. An egghead telling this smooth operator how to canoodle? Noel was rolling her lips around just trying to keep that giggle to herself.

> ”We could go dancin’ again if we need t’. Worked a couple times before.”

She was determined not to be embarrassed about that. If he thought it was funny and it made him feel as smiley as he looked, then it couldn't be that bad.

"Well, if you're not oppOSSED!"

Dammit, having fought half-heartedly and then been rebuffed from her second dinner, came to nip at Noel's calves. It was possible Noel would have forgotten and would feed her again. Instead, it made the memorymancer yelp the last half of her word and jump forward. There was a brick wall in the form of Michael there, so Noel didn't get too far. In fact, she got quite a bit closer.

"Dammit!" Her outrage was almost rote by now. "You already ate! Go lay down!" There was gesturing. And as stern a voice as she could manage. And when she turned back there was Michael. Like. Right there.

"Movie time?"

Ranger chuckled. Maybe this was one of those times his experience didn’t line up with most Americans… Or Noel forgot what else hustle meant. ”No, like hustlin’ a game of pool. Swindlin’.”

When Dammit made her displeasure at being vacated from the food bucket known, Ranger laughed out loud. Noel’s yelped out the end of her sentence and jumped toward Ranger. He moved one arm around her to steady her before she turned to chastise the puppy. Ranger just continued to laugh.

The puppy dealt with, Noel turned back and asked if it was movie time.

”Movie time.” Ranger said in answer. ”If y’ wanna rustle up a drink I’ll put away the files an’ grab the movie.” Ranger said and moved to grab the files. Once he had them he turned and said, ”An’ I’m certainly not opposed t’ goin’ dancin’.”

It was only one of his favorite pastimes.

Files away he opened a drawer full of movies, dug out the first Perry Hotter movie, and then had to do the usual remote control hunt. The tv remote was easy to find. The Blu-ray player remote was trying to find where all those missing socks wound up.

Dammit, thankfully, went and found her spot in front of the couch. His couch wasn't too far off where hers was, only mirrored for being on the opposite side of the building. Dammit had her favorite spot and that translated perfectly.

For having jumped on him, Ranger stayed marvelously unmoved and unphased. Noel resolved to work out more as a result. He should have budged at least a little.

But alas, it was movie time. Michael had his tasks and he knew just where he kept his things. Noel was dismissed to fumble her way around the kitchen. Water seemed like a good idea. Water and ice, because she was feeling fancy. The things here were familiar like returning to a grandmother's house after a long time away. Nostalgic almost.

> ”An’ I’m certainly not opposed t’ goin’ dancin’.”

"If I've done it before, it can't be that bad." But why they had to go somewhere to dance was beyond Noel.

One cup for Michael. One cup for Noel. She set them down and gave herself full marks for delivering them with ice. Noel plopped herself down on the couch and Dammit wriggled her chin up onto her knee, their usual arrangement. "Okay so the first one, they're, like, 10." Such babies. She had to think back through quite a bit of plot to get the first book right in her head. "The Magician's Rock." She was actually getting a little excited.

Dammit behaved, Noel found drinks, and Ranger found the remote he was looking for in a drawer. Why it was in that particular drawer was beyond him.

”Y’ seemed t’ enjoy it every time we’ve gone dancin’.I’ve had t’ teach y’ a couple times, but that’s not a big deal. Two-steppin’ is a dance drunks can manage.” As long as they have rhythm.

Ranger put the disk into the player and sat down next to Noel on the couch. Reveille plopped down at his feet after taking a moment to figure out how to manage with Dammit taking up half that space. ”I think so. Eleven at most.” Noel said the title and Ranger hit play.

It had been a few years since Ranger had last seen the movie. It had aged decently well, but was still rough by modern standards. Ranger set the remote on the coffee table, took a sip of water, and then put his arm around Noel. It was good having her there with him.

Two stepping did sound a little familiar. Or maybe she just wanted it to.

He settled in around her, and thought it was a little stiff at first, by the middle of the movie they'd joked and compared notes, and found an easy way to be in proximity. Apparently Dammit had eaten Michael's copy of this book so they couldn't even go look up a detail. Noel didn't bother grabbing her phone, either. Sometimes, it was just better to let the movie do its movie thing and have the book be the book.

And to see the words on screen with real people attached... Noel was already sure she'd have a little trouble remembering this wasn't real.

"There's no such thing as magic, right?" She rolled her head around so she could see him better from where she'd ended up leaning in. It was better than watching the cringe-worthy CG centaur.
They should have gotten a mutant stand-in, but noooo. Some producers were married to their CG visions.
"Just mutant-magic. So far as we know." She was just... just checking.

They had made it a fair way into the film when Noel asked about magic. ”Just mutant-magic.” Ranger confirmed. Ranger had seen wild things, but nothing that couldn’t be explained away as some mutant power. Though, as they say,” any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Before the discovery of the X gene mutants must have simply been regarded as wizards or something. ”But the posi-trac rear end on a Plymouth might be true sorcery.” A Joe Mud reference. It was likely lost on Noel.

So far the movie had been a bit of a return to form for them. Being close, joking, and discussing things from the book to how bad the CG was. A definite improvement over how distant Noel had been lately. It was good.

”Which book are y’ on now?” Ranger asked. He wanted to know how far forward he could discuss without spoiling the books. Well the plot, there was no spoiling the whimsy.

> ”But the posi-trac rear end on a Plymouth might be true sorcery.”

She didn't even bother giving him the "you know I have no idea what you're talking about" look and went straight for running her hand over her head and saying "Whoosh".

There were only credits on the screen for now, having just finished the first movie. Inserestingly enough, Noel sorta recognized the music. Probably from a commercial or something. The memorymancer took a moment to stand and stretch before they started the next film and Dammit took that as an invitation to invade Noel's spot. Because of course she did.

> ”Which book are y’ on now?”

"Hmm. The one where everything starts getting really crazy and dark, I guess. I'm only part of the way into The Mixed-Blood Duke. That thing's realllllly long compared to some of those earlier books. Plus, I guess, the more adult themes." How were they going to sit there and watch that? Noel might have been an adult, but she might just have to cover her eyes and have Michael tell her when it was over.

She shrugged and gave Dammit a healthy nudge that prompted the pup to get back on the floor, tail wagging. Begging for pets was one thing, but stealing her spot was quite another. She could be invited onto the couch eventually. But now it was a matter of principle that she stay off it.

"Hey what house are you in? You know, if hats could talk and we were in magical England.” Probably the brave one, right? "I took a quiz online and I think I was in the badger house." She was bringing up her phone notes now, in fact...

“Whoosh”

Ranger laughed as Noel ran her hand over her head. ”It’s from a bad movie.”

When the credits rolled Noel stood to stretch and Ranger went to the drawer to fish out the second movie, Perry Hotter and the Hall of Redacted Information. He switched out the discs in the Blu-Ray player while Noel answered his question. She was on the Mixed Blood Duke.

”Yeah, those last four ‘re long.” The comment about adult themes confused him though. Ranger didn’t remember any of the Perry Hotter books being particularly adult. Sure they got darker and as the characters aged some more adult stuff would happen, but nothing much he’d consider an adult theme. ”An’ they do take a significant turn in tone from the whimsy of the first few.”

Ranger turned back to the couch to see Noel evicting Dammit the damn opportunist. Reveille was giving Ranger a look to make sure she was noticed being good. He gave her a scratch behind the ears. ”Good girl.”

"Hey what house are you in? You know, if hats could talk and we were in magical England. I took a quiz online and I think I was in the badger house."

Noel was in Hufflepuff. While Perry Hotter wasn’t super popular in the military, it wasn’t like the Revenger comics, it was popular enough. Hufflepuff was the house that tended to be generally regarded as the one to just quit if you were sorted into. People often forgot it was the Hufflepuffs who stood to fight at the end in numbers only second to Perry’s own house of Gryffindor. Ranger didn’t think less of Hufflepuff’s out of hand. They weren’t Slytherin’s, the worst of the worst.


”Gryffindor… And y’ know there’s an American school too right?” Ranger asked with a gleam in his eye. The American house had the greatest of the magical world’s secrets.

Yep. Gryffindor. The brave one. He got the next movie set up and Noel felt like she had to occupy the couch enough to justify Dammit not getting back on so she stretched all the way across the cushions.

And Ranger didn't even call her a paste eater for being in the fluffy be friends with everyone house. "Honeybadger don't care." In fact, she had to demonstrate how much she didn't care by putting her hands behind her head. Yeah. She would make the Hufflepuffs cool by force if she had to. Dammit nosed at her side looking for a place. Guh! Okay. So Noel was a little ticklish.

"But Lions are cool too, I guess." Funny how just by having a house, somehow it was a matter of pride now.

> "And y’ know there’s an American school too right?”

"No?" She supposed it made complete sense that there'd be an American school. Noel made room for him. Just a little room lest Dammit think that room was for her. "What're the American houses?" She was looking for them on her phone now, but the way that Michael looked seemed like he had something up his sleeve.