A result of some late night/early morning boredom. I was just thinking about how much I love Polly/Diggory fluff and that there isn't enough of it here so. ta-da! Enjoy!

Boredom

"Another summer day gone to waste," Diggory moaned as the rain outside battered the roof.

"What a fine week this has been," Polly agreed looking sadly outside the wet windows. "Won't it ever stop?" she asked no one in particular.

"Doesn't seem like it," Diggory moped.

Polly sighed seeming very bored and Diggory suddenly found himself very apprehensive about this boredom. If she was too bored, she might leave. And didn't want her too leave. What's more, she might think of him as boring and Diggory certainly couldn't let that happen.

He shook his head frustrated with the irrational thoughts. Polly knew he wasn't boring. Not with his loony old uncle around leastways and since when does her opinion matter anyways? He wondered.

Ever since they had buried his uncle's rings, Polly and Diggory had been visiting each other every summer. This summer he was staying with his uncle again but it proved to be a so far bland summer with only the occasional lightning to break the dreary rain.

It had only been during the past two summers however that Diggory had discovered a certain awkwardness in her company. It wasn't that he didn't like Polly, far from it. which that was probably what the problem was.

Another problem too was the fact that it wasn't as easy to be innocent anymore. They couldn't quite play the same games they had played six years ago; they were too old for them. And while Diggory could think of a number of things he would certainly like to do with Polly. that wasn't exactly proper.

She turned back to him and he flushed realizing he'd been staring at her. She seemed not to notice however. Instead of giving him an expected reproving glare, she smiled a mischievous smile at him.

"Do you remember climbing in that tunnel above the building?" she asked him.

Silly question, he thought. Of course he remembered. It was that tunnel that had started everything.

Instead of saying this though, he nodded a yes.

"We could always go exploring up there again," she suggested.

"Exploring!" he burst out. "But we know where it leads!"

"Have you got any better ideas?"

"Well. no. I haven't." He looked down at his feet. "I guess it's better than doing nothing."

She nodded. "Most definitely. Plus you uncle's snoring from the parlor is really getting to be quite irritating."

He forced a laugh as he followed her to the tunnel.

It was almost exactly as he remembered it. Polly was almost exactly as he remembered her. She was adventurous and stubborn as ever. Only the sweet features of Polly the girl were morphing into the lovely gentle complexion of Polly the woman. Her hair was a bit darker, no longer bleached the color of sunlight. Instead it was a sun-gold which he found he liked better and he wouldn't deny that he rather liked the way she filled out her dress more than she had when they were ten.

When they had crawled the whole length of the tunnel, they both sat down for a bit of a breather (and a sneeze or two due to the dust).

"See, I told you," Diggory said. "Leads the same place. What did you expect? Should it have moved by magic?"

"I wouldn't be surprised at anything," she told him.

He laughed. "Sometimes I miss it," he admitted.

"Miss what?" Polly asked.

"You know, Narnia. Adventure. A quest. Danger. Exploring."

"Oh that. Yes well, don't we all? Remember the toffee tree?"

He grinned. "That was fun I tell you. Poor uncle though. Remember what the animals did to him?"

Polly laughed and Diggory mentally congratulated himself for making her laugh.

"Served him right though. He had no business tricking me into taking that ring and then forcing you in after me!"

"He didn't force me," Diggory stated stupefied as Polly huffed to herself.

She stopped huffing at that however.

"What?"

"You remember. I went in after you to give you the ring to get home. Otherwise you couldn't have gotten back."

"Oh. I guess I never really quite realized that. What with your eagerness to explore and all. I'm sorry if I was so awful to you in all of that but I was just so scared and I ." she sniffed seeming to try to regain her composure. "That was awfully decent of you."

Diggory wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. Did she really think he would have just let her on her own someplace where he didn't know what she might meet and she had no means of getting back? What kind of person did she think he was? Well he certainly had to clear up any misconceptions.

"I couldn't have let you stay in who know's where on your own. Especially if you hadn't any way to get back. I know I may have been a beast to you during all of that too but I don't think I could have asked for a better person to share that with." He had gone a bit farther at the end than he had wanted to but it was done, he couldn't take it back now.

She sniffed again. "Really?"

Tentatively Diggory nodded hoping that was the right answer.

"Oh that's the nicest thing anybody's ever said to me!" she cried throwing her arms around him. He bristled at first not quite knowing how to react to this. But being that he didn't quite mind it, he began to relax.

He chanced saying, "You believed in me. And that was something I really needed."

She pulled back slightly and he resisted groaning at this.

"Of course I believed in you. You were my first and truest friend. Even if you were a bit thick." She said the last part teasingly though and sealed it with a soft, swift, kiss on his cheek.

His mind was reeling. He wanted to shout "THICK?" but instead he did something almost as unexpected as her kiss on the cheek. He leaned into her for another kiss.

"Whaaaatchooo!" the dust had made her sneeze. On him. He laughed so hard he thought his lungs were going to explode.

And she laughed too. In between laughter she gasped out an "I'm sorry!" and he returned an equally breathless "It's ok! Bless you!"

When they could finally breathe again she gave him a proper apology. "I really am sorry."

He laughed again. "I guess I can forgive you. But really, could you at least try to hold still this time?"

And without another word from her stunned face, Diggory had his hand around her neck and was pulling her towards him. "I'll show you thick," he muttered just before their lips met.

Polly let out a slight gasp, which sent hot shivers burning all over his face. For a moment, he'd almost regretted his spontaneity until that is she began to respond.

In a moment, her hands were in his hair as she clung to him just as tightly as he clung to her.

Several hours later, the two made their way out of the tunnel and returned to the room next to the parlor still filled with Uncle Andrew's heavy snores. Only this time neither one of them looked in the least bored.

~*~

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