#same with my scalp paint and face paint. kinda forgot that it’s not normal to see someone with a red scalp

[carcasstohounds]

tsa patted me down AND made me take out my ermines to scan and it fucked up my braids because it pulled out my hair ties too :( they took my boys!!! like i got them back but they r dear to me. leave osha and violation ALONE they did NOTHING WRONG

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

7, 13 & 25!! (for the writing asks c: )

7) when asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?

I answered this one HERE!

13) your strengths as an author

oooh time to gas myself up! I’ve been feeling a bit... insecure about my writing as of late, so this is a nice opportunity to remind myself that I’m still a boss at writing but a boss that feels insecure from time to time (which is normal!). I think I’m really good at descriptions and picking up on details that aren’t particularly noticeable/obvious to the average person. I love picking out unusual parts of atmosphere and highlighting it in unique/unusual similes/metaphor. I love my prose style especially in first person past tense and think I’m sort of kicking ass for my age?? I’ve really honed in on my craft since I started without unnecessarily pushing myself, and to write this well/understand writing in this way at my age is kinda my fave accomplishment! I’m not perfect, but I’m proud of where I’m at and couldn't be more excited to be seeing some of that reflect in publications!

25) copy/paste a few sentences or a short paragraph that you’re particularly proud of

This is actually one of my faves even though it’s considerably old! This is from Rewired and I probably wrote it a year and a half/two years ago? This is a scene where Reeve and the squad who are all sort of irritated with each other end up at a pizzeria in the late hours of the night and I love the chaotic energy here? I’m always surprised whenever I read this book because the prose is so good in parts, and so I’m sure more delish prose exists in this book that I’ve forgotten about, but this is one I can call to mind. I like the character interactions here/how everyone is talking to each other but also hardly thinking about each other at the same time. Also digging the specific details here? Ketchup caplets? Bangles? UV lights striping nail beds? It’s not perfect but I’m impressed?? Okay 16-year-old Rachel you do that!!

Context for this chapter since it’s pretty old!

Harrison orders us a deep dish large enough to feed all six of us, minus Emily because she doesn’t do dairy. Darren pumps napkins and caplets of ketchup onto his tray, and Foster brings eight straws, like two of us will screw up opening them, for some reason. Ris brings his car keys and Emily over to us at the same time, and drops each off at the table before b-lining for the ticket machine.

She takes a seat across from me, and her bangles do a sterling clink against the booth. Her hoops catch in her hair. She’s pasted glitter under her left eye. I almost reach over to touch it.

“I’m starving,” she says, and Foster passes her a straw. She tears off the paper with her teeth and bends the plastic between her fingernails. UV circles of the overhead lights stripe her nail beds.

“Em,” Harrison calls from the register. “What do you want?”

Foster’s stirring his Coca Cola with his straw so the bubbles sparkle off the ice cubes. His eyes look numb, and I can’t tell if it’s because he’s tired, or traumatized. A sparkle catches his lip when he takes a sip. A piece of ice traces his stubble. Like a tic, he knuckles his scalp over and over.  

“What happened to your hair?” I ask, and he looks up. His eyes are watery. Clouded over the pupil, like he’s blind, or crying.

I bristle at Emily’s wrist sliding between the crook of my elbow, but don’t shoo her off. She leans into my shoulder and smells like cheap cotton candy eau de toilettes. Her chin pinches my clavicle.

“You smell like shampoo,” she coos, and her breath warms the side of my throat. “Fruity.”

“Did Riley do that to you?” I ask Foster. His gaze bobs like the ice cubes in the Coca-Cola. The irises melting, too.

Lonan has a headache. He’s just getting some fresh air. I watch him from the back, shoulder clipped, like it’s cold outside, even though it’s seventy-seven degrees. The spider plant hanging above the door makes it look like he’s growing legs out of his head.

Emily kisses my palm. She sucks on the pinky.

Darren’s grabbing more drinks from the pull out fridge. He juggles cans of soda and juice and tightrope walks over to our table like Phillippe Petite between the twin towers. The owner, a stout older woman walks over and gently reminds us that they close in fifteen minutes.

Harrison brings the deep dish over five minutes later, which means we have ten minutes, and he rustles the receipts all flustered like into the pocket of his jacket. 

“Where’s Lonan?” He asks, finger dug into the oily cardboard pizza box. His free hand pats absentmindedly at his jeans, like he’s looking for a cigarette. “Shit, I forgot my lighter.”

“He’s outside.” I say. “Maybe he forgot his lighter, too.”

“Is there a problem, Reeve?”

“I’m just saying.”

He settles the deep dish onto the table and we have eight minutes now to finish it. The mozzarella bubbles whole milk and rennet. The last quarter of it is cleared of toppings, and just glimmers raw with tomato paste and half-mooned mushrooms. Foster cuts it out with the plastic knife and his hands shake. He passes it to Emily, and she eats it with a spoon. 

Also while paging through that update I found this gem which is so good?? 16-year-old Rachel really was serving?? How did I write first person present tense like this?? I no longer have this capability. 

The water is so cold, I almost think my nose will start bleeding. It cuts through my thighs, and then my pelvic bone, until it laps at my sternum. She treads it like an Olympian.

“Isn’t this stunning?” Emily flutes through the water, a powerful backstroke that splashes water into my mouth. She pokes a clump of algae with her toe. “Do you even realize how good this is for your aura? It’s, like, totally cleansing.”

She dips her face under water like she’s baptizing herself, and then comes back up blinking, and salted.

“Can we talk about the car?” I ask, wringing my hair out even though I know it’ll only get soaked again.

“Reeve, why are you so focused on that fucking car? Just enjoy the swim,” She inhales, then punctures the water like a pinhole. When she’s under, it’s so dark, I almost have trouble finding her. For a while, all I see is a whirlpool of red hair, and I think maybe she’s drowned, and I think, maybe it’d be better that way.

Also because I usually dislike the beginnings I write, I actually really like the first paragraph of Feeding Habits lol:

There are no rules, just remember, Eliza is vegetarian. She’s into earth tones, neutral tones, leafy greens, root vegetables. It’s all new. The day she announced her diet change, she also announced a desire to repaint the kitchen, to fit the new aura, to fit the new ethics, but she wants to paint the kitchen blood red, and Lonan is still a meat-eater. He reminds himself: there are no rules, just remember, Eliza is vegetarian.

Thanks for asking! :)

[thestrangepolicy]

spring

fic fill for the IronStrange Haven Discord challenge. 1.6k, post-endgame (handwaves how that goes), ironstrange & background happy/pepper. written for the @ironstrangehaven weekly prompt of “spring”

Tony texts Stephen on the car ride back from the SI meeting, On my way home, thank god.

That bad, Stephen texts back; Tony assumes there’s supposed to be a question mark at the end of that, but voice-to-text isn’t good as it could be on most phones, and Stephen prefers dictating most of the time. Kinda comes with the fucked-up-hands territory.

Could have been worse, Tony types out. He glances up at the driver who’s replaced Happy while Happy and Pepper galavant around the planet on their honeymoon. The guy’s polite and drives well, cautiously without being annoying about it, but Tony misses Happy. Misses Pepper, too. It’s good for both of them. Better than Tony ever was for them. But still. We still on for tonight?

Stephen’s response is quick enough that Tony grins at himself, not that he’d ever admit it: Just way when.

The drive to the compound is uneventful. It’s still bright out when Tony dismisses the driver; he showers quickly. He throws on some random assortment of clothing that Pepper had picked out for him once upon a time. Not the formal stuff he wears in front of anybody that cares about his company, but the sort of stuff Peter had once called ‘athleisure’ while rolling his eyes.

And then Tony heads downstairs, to the bottom floor of workshops in the compound. Pepper and Rhodey and Stephen are the only other people on the planet with authorized access to it. Even FRIDAY doesn’t have write access while she’s online on this floor. He taps a message into his phone: Whenever’s good.

He gets a message back immediately. Roger that. God, it’s good to imagine Stephen waiting for a message from him.

Still, though. Even when suddenly there’s some familiar sparks of gold in midair. It’s unsettling to see out of nowhere. Tony trusts Stephen, he’s made his peace with the fact that magic is part Stephen’s life as much as the Iron Man suit is part of his, but Tony still hates magic. Especially when Stephen isn’t actually physically there to be all stoic and reassuring about how it’s perfectly harmless.

Sometimes it’s hard to forget Stephen’s the same dude who turned a black hole into butterflies with like a couple words and funny-looking hand gestures.

The sparks of gold resolve into a solid circle, and then there’s somewhere else inside it, and there’s Stephen with both hands in the air, staring right at Tony. Tony waves. Stephen rolls his eyes and gestures for Tony to go ahead and enter the portal.

Tony steps through, and the portal closes behind him, and he’s not in the compound anymore. Good.

Stephen is somehow dressed more casually than Tony is. He’s wearing sweatpants worn thin at the knees and a sweatshirt for Boise State, which Tony knows Stephen didn’t go to. Whatever. Thrift store nearly-chic is kinda Stephen’s thing. Tony slips his glasses off before stepping forwards into Stephen’s arms. He rests his face against Stephen’s shoulder, and all the tension goes out of him. He leans against Stephen with most of his weight, and Stephen only sways a little bit. “Hi,” Tony says.

Stephen presses his face into Tony’s hair. “Hi,” he repeats. His voice is deep and rumbly and as shamelessly pressed up against him as Tony is, he can feel it, and, oh, that’s nice, isn’t it. “That bad?”

Four hours of board meetings, a harried lunch with Pepper and Happy, then five more hours of negotiations with more managers and lawyers than Tony ever wanted to see in one room again. “Coulda been worse,” Tony says into Stephen’s collarbone.

Stephen kisses his temple once, drily. “That bad, then.”

Hours of being condescended to by a bunch of MBA assholes who’d backstabbed their way up the chain of command at other companies before being hired in by SI managers who had no idea what they were really supposed to be hiring for? “Yeah,” Tony admits. “That bad.”

Stephen steps back, lets Tony look around for the first time.

It’s some kinda cabin they’re in, sparsely but respectably furnished. A couple windows with the curtains pulled back, but all there is outside is white -- snow that’s already fallen, and snow that’s still falling. It’s certainly a change from New York, where spring has brought mostly fitful showers of rain at the most inconvenient times of day. Everything in it seems old in a normal way. Normal rug on the normal hardwood floor. Normal kitchenette with an old linoleum floor. Normal weird paintings of the woods on the walls. The best thing’s the fire in the fireplace, already roaring strong enough that there’s three or four logs alight.

Stephen guides him towards the couch. Stephen lies down first, his back against one of the armrests, one leg splayed over the length of the couch, and fuck yes. Tony kicks off his shoes and climbs after Stephen, letting Stephen arrange him, Tony between Stephen’s legs, his back to Stephen’s chest, hell yes.

From this angle, the place is even more weirdly, humbly charming. There’s a deer head or whatever that’s called mounted over the front door. Tony lets his eyes wander. There’s bookshelves near one of the doors that heads darkly to some other part of the cabin. “Where are we?” he asks.

“We’re on a lakefront, not that you can tell right now.” The snow outside the windows is falling harder now. Through the window, there’s nothing but white. “About twelve miles away from a town called Beatrice, Nebraska.”

“This your old stomping grounds?”

“In a manner of speaking. This cabin belonged to my father.”

Tony squirms against Stephen’s chest. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“Good question,” Stephen says. He shifts a little too until they’re both comfortable, Tony’s back to Stephen’s chest. “I’m not sure.”

“Mm. I know that feeling.” They don’t talk about old stuff much. Old stuff being things like, well, dads. Tony suspects if they ever started talking about it, they’d have a hell of a lot in common.

“I...sold most everything I owned, before.” Tony knows what before means, when Stephen says it. It always means the same thing. “It was one of the few things I didn’t sell, ironically because I had the agent ask too much for it.” Stephen’s voice is low and ironic the same way it always is when he talks about his past. Tony always wants to interrupt and tell him to stop being so self-deprecating, but on the other hand, there’s enough ways that Tony’s a hypocrite already. “I more or less forgot about it after getting to Kamar-Taj. And then...everything after that.”

‘Everything after that’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting, but Tony knows better than to ask. He aims for impertinent instead. “I bet you brought all the boys up here to sleep with during high school.”

Stephen’s huffs with laughter once, abruptly. “Hardly.” He smooths both hands over Tony’s hair, fingertips just barely dragging over Tony’s scalp. It’s nice. “Victor brought his girlfriends here, though who knows what they really got up to.”

Right. Of course. Dead older brother. Tony sighs and slides his hands over where Stephen’s knees bracket him, and he squeezes. “Good plan,” he says, deflecting. “Cozy. Isolated.”

“Hmm. That’s what I hoped for.” Stephen slides his hands down the sides of Tony’s head. He presses his fingertips into the hairline just behind Tony’s ears and doesn’t even laugh when Tony shivers. “Wong has the Sanctum for a few days if things go to plan. I know you’re busy, but…”

Stephen’s fingertips run up and down his neck, gently, over and over again. Tony could purr. “I’m free for at least thirty-six hours. If things, well, go according to plan. Oh, fuck, do that again.” Stephen obliges and draws his fingernails through the short hairs at the nape of Tony’s neck. “God. Yes. Perfect.”

“I, for one, hope the plan goes accordingly,” Stephen teases. He drags his hands down Tony’s neck to his shoulders. Must be a good pain day since Stephen then runs his hands over Tony’s upper arms, slowly but firmly.

It’s just...nice, the way Stephen touches him. Appreciative but never presumptuous. Whenever they’re together, Stephen seems pleasantly surprised by what he’s allowed to do, and it kinda breaks Tony’s heart every time, in a good way. At the same time, selfishly, he loves it. Loves the way Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme is careful about touching him, about taking.

“Hey, Stephen?”

“Hmm?”

Tony laces his fingers of one hand between Stephen’s. He traces his thumb over the scars on the back of Stephen’s hand. There’s a lot he wants to say, though he can’t get any of it straight in his head. This thing between them, it’s new and fragile and very, very weird. He can’t really believe it’s happening half the time.

And it’s all the weirder because, yeah, getting away is good for Tony, a rare thing, but he’s pretty sure it’s even rarer for Stephen. The guy is on-call 24/7, and Tony’s pretty sure the scope of what Stephen’s responsible for is, like, mind-boggling and horrifying. And as far as Tony can tell, the guy’s only friend is Wong, which is just flat-out depressing.

All the same, it’s a relief being in some shitty little cabin outside of a small town in Nebraska. It’s a relief ceding just a little control to Stephen, letting him decide where they meet so that for awhile they can just breathe.

Tony doesn’t know how to say any of that, though. Even if he did, it would probably be a bad idea. So instead he squeezes Stephen’s hand lightly, and he says, “Thanks.”

Stephen hums and kisses the back of Tony’s neck once, chastely. The snow keeps falling. It’ll be dark soon. Tony closes his eyes, luxuriates in the warmth rolling off Stephen and off the fire, and for now, he rests for awhile.

[of2worldsxmuses]

IT WASN’T ME

When: Friday, August 23rd following the para Ladies Night Out.

Description: Deviano reminds Charlie of what she did at ladies night. 

Warning: None

Deviano was at his home working on a piece he wanted to make for his guest room, when he got the text from Charlie to come get her from the club. He didn’t hesitate to go get her. But when he got there, what he saw was Valeria and Charlie making out. He smirked and bit his bottom lip, but was quickly brought out of his thoughts by Ezra telling him to get his girl, “Yeah I got her.” He smiled and headed over to Charlie, “Okay you two, that’s enough love, let’s go home.” He carried Charlie out of the club and put her in the car. After he strapped her in, he got in, and headed to his studio, “So you had fun tonight huh?” He smirked.

Charlie didn’t know how Val found her, but pretty much as soon as she sat down, her friend came back. Drunk and needing to makeout, she pulled her best friend in for another kiss. They made out until she felt someone pulling her away, making her whine drunkenly. “Hey… Gimme those lips.” Before she knew it she was being carried away and found herself sitting down again. When she heard Dev’s voice, she opened her eyes and smiled. “Dev… Where did you come from? I had so much fun.” She then began to sing. “I kissed a girl and I liked it, taste of-” she paused and thought about the next word, “-Tequila…” She laughed.

Deviano couldn’t stop himself from laughing, he had never seen Charlie like this, but he thought it was cute. He made sure she was strapped in before pulling off, “You asked me to come get you, but you didn’t tell me I was going to get a show as well.” He shook his head as she sang her song, “I’m glad you had fun, but I do hope that you were only kissing Val tonight, you were only kissing Val right?”

Charlie found the song stuck in her head after she’d kissed Val and Claude. It made her giggle. “Oh yes! I texted you. I’m sorry, mi corazon, I forgot. Val’s lips made me forget.” She licked her lips, her thoughts were fuzzy, but she was still able to form a response–or at least she thought she could. “I kissed Claude too! I don’t know who is the better kisser, Val or Claude.” She chuckled.

“Yes you did baby girl, and I came right on for you.” Deviano wasn’t too upset seeing Charlie kissing Val, he actually thought it was kinda hot. But what he didn’t expect to hear was that she kissed someone named Claude. “Who the hell is Claude?” Now he was annoyed.

“Thank you for coming, daddy. You saved my life! I’m going to ride your dick so hard tonight… Val is going to ride Ezra!” Charlie said with a chuckle. “Claude is a Montague Dominant.” She simply answered, her smile growing brighter as she pictured the domme’s lips on hers. Who knew that kissing a woman could be so hot? She sure didn’t.

Any other time Deviano would be all over that, but not tonight, and definitely not with her in the state she was in. “ I think tonight you should just rest, and then talk to me when you’re sobered up.” Hearing Charlie kissed some Montague dominant was not what he wanted to hear. “So is this you drunk, going around kissing random people?” He was furious right now, but she was drunk, and he couldn’t hold her actions against her, but it still sucked.

Charlie felt herself growing upset right away, she wanted to have sex. Why couldn’t she have what she wanted? Val was going to have sex… “But I want to ride the Ddddd…” She chuckled, remembering what Val had said as they separated for the night. “Who’s drunk? I’m not drunk…” She retorted, despite her words clearly slurring. “Claude is not random people. She’s my friend and I think she needs to ride a dick too…”

Deviano couldn’t believe this was happening right now, he wanted to be upset because Charlie admitted to kissing some Claude guy, but she was drunk off her ass, he honestly didn’t think she knew what she was doing.  "You’ll get the D, just not tonight.“ He shook his head at her denying she’s drunk, "Baby girl, you are totally drunk, but you will sleep it off.” He let out a breath of relief when she said Claude was a she, “Claude is a woman? Oh okay…” He calmed down quickly, because he couldn’t not be mad at her kissing Val, and then be mad at her kissing another woman.

Charlie knew that Dev was speaking to her, but it all sounded like gibberish. On top of having too much to drink, she’d also had a full day which included fixing up two cars and meeting potential buyers. To say that she was exhausted was an understatement. Curling up in the passenger seat as best as she could, she fell asleep right away. When she awoke, it was already bright outside and her head was pounding. “Oww…” She grumbled as she sat up, quickly scanning the unfamiliar surroundings. “Where am I?”

It didn’t take long for Charlie to fall asleep, and he was happy for that. Deviano took her to his studio and laid her in the bed so she could sleep it off. The next morning he got up, laid some fruit, juice and medicine by the bed, and went to finish his painting. He looked around when he heard Charlie stirring, “Morning baby girl, you’re in my studio.” He went back to painting, not wanting to disturb her, just in case she wanted to go back to sleep.

Panic sets in for a moment, making Charlie wonder who she went home with last night. When she heard Dev’s voice, she finally was able to breathe normally. “How did I get here? What happened last night?” She tried recalling the night’s events, but nothing came back. All she remembered was girl’s night with Val and Claude. They got to the club and she remembered telling them that she had to be up early today. Other than that, nothing.

Deviano put his paintbrush down, and walked over to the bed, and sat next to Charlie, “You texted me, and asked me to come pick you up, and when I got there, you and Valeria was having a lot of fun making out with each other.” He chuckled and pointed to the medicine, “You should take those, it will help your hangover.”

Charlie placed her pointer fingers on her temples and began massaging them. Her head hurts, they felt like they were about to explode. She only looked up when she heard Dev’s remark. “No way… I didn’t do that.” She’d never been into women, why the hell would she kiss Val? Reaching for the meds, she took them and chugged some water. “I don’t kiss girls and I know I wouldn’t kiss Val. She’s my best friend. That’s like me kissing my sister if I had one.”

Deviano moved behind Charlie and moved her hands and started massaging her temples, “Oh you certainly did, and myself and Ezra was there to witness it. Why would I ever make something like that up?” He wasn’t the least bit upset with her, because he knew she was just having fun. “Well you made out with your sister last night, and you even told me that you made out with Claude.”

Charlie stopped what she was doing and let out a moan of contentment when Dev began massaging her temples. She knew he wouldn’t lie to her about what happened, it still didn’t sit well with her however. “I know you wouldn’t. I just can’t believe I would do that.” She mumbled, her eyes growing wide at what he said next. “No way! I would not do that with Claude. Did you see me kiss her too? Because if you didn’t, it never happened.”

Deviano continued with the massage to Charlie’s temples, while he continued trying to explain what happened last night. He did appreciate her knowing he wouldn’t lie to her, “It was definitely not what I expected to see, but it is what it is. When you drink a lot, you lose your inhibitions, and that’s what happened. But as long as you weren’t kissing any guys, I’m not tripping.” He laughed so hard at her refusal to believe she kissed Claude, “Well you told me you did, so I can only go by your word. But if you wanna go on the if I saw it rule, then it never happened.” He continued laughing, because he knew more than likely, it happened.

Charlie felt sick all of a sudden. She’d always respected Claude. How could she face the other woman now? She was a Montague and was always around. It wasn’t like she could simply ignore her or run the other way when she sees her next. “Oh no…” She covered her face, embarrassed beyond reason. “I can’t believe I kissed Claude! She must think I’m weird or horny or just bat shit crazy.” All those things were mumbled onto her palm and she didn’t even register what Dev was saying.

Deviano didn’t want to make Charlie feel worse than she already did. “I’m sure she doesn’t think any less of you. That’s what happens on nights out, and you’re letting loose, and having fun, so I’m sure she understands.” He kissed the top of her head, “Don’t beat yourself up over it.” He picked up the bowl of fruit, “Here, you should eat something, and let me finish massaging your scalp.”

Charlie knew that Dev was trying to make her feel better, but she still felt awful. Plus, there was also the part where she’d kissed someone who wasn’t him. Yes, she knew that they weren’t in an exclusive relationship, but she also promised him that she would never be interested in anyone else either. He was being really nice to her, and had even kissed her head which made her feel even worse about herself. “You’re not mad at me?” She asked when he tried to get her to eat.

“No, I’m not mad at you.” Deviano could understand why Charlie would think he would be. But in all honesty, they never said anything about being exclusive, he knew where his heart was, but he wasn’t going to force her to feel the same way. She has called him her heart on several occasions, so he knows how she feels about him. “This was just you letting loose and having a good time. And the fact that you kissed your friends, it made it easier for me to grasp. But I’m not gonna lie, for a moment when I thought Claude was a guy, I was really upset.”

Charlie couldn’t understand why Dev wouldn’t be upset with her. But then again, maybe she was just projecting her feelings onto him. Just because he’d said that she was his baby girl, it didn’t mean that what they have was exclusive. For all she knew, he could be flirting or even sleeping with other people, even though it was doubtful. “I don’t do that though… I don’t get drunk and I’ve never kissed my friends before.” She said with a sigh, before she turned to look at him. “You were?” Maybe he was attached after all…

Deviano smiled, and wrapped his arms around Charlie, “Well like they say…. the lot first time for everything.” He rubbed her shoulders, trying to be as supportive as she needed him to be. He wondered why she was shocked to hear that he was upset at the thought of her kissing some guy. “Of course I was, I don’t want to think about you kissing another man. I know it may be selfish of me, but I want to be the only man kissing those beautiful lips of yours.” He meant every word of it.

Charlie melted in Dev’s embrace, she always did, so it wasn’t much of a surprise that she would now too. “I know, I just don’t like to think that I’m that kind of a drunk.” She explained with a sigh. “I don’t think it’s selfish at all…” I would hurt anyone who dares to kiss you. She wanted to add, but she knew she couldn’t be that way with him. He wasn’t hers. Wanting to make things light again, she smiled at him and asked. “You said I can’t kiss another man. So does this mean you’re okay if I kiss or fool around with a woman?”

Deviano chuckled lightly, “Don’t you worry, alcohol has a way of bringing out things in you, and if that means you are a flirty drunk, then that’s not a bad thing.” He wasn’t going to judge Charlie for doing things while she was intoxicated, that would be silly, not to mention it was just a little harmless fun. He was glad that she didn’t think his comment was selfish, “Good, because if it was, then I was just going to be selfish.” He laughed, and looked at her when she asked about messing around with women, “Don’t get it twisted, just because I am giving you a pass on this night, don’t think there is endless amounts of passes. Because if you continue to do it, I am going to believe that women is who you really want to be with.”

“I will never drink that much ever again. My head is hating me right now.” Charlie groaned. She wanted to ask Dev about the status of their relationship, but she was still too scared to go there. She knew that she would never want anyone else, and although she was drunk last night, she did still texted him to come get her. That alone told her that she was his. “No, you’re not being selfish. If you are, then I am too because I don’t like thinking about you kissing other people.” She shook her head slowly. “Apparently, I find women sexy when I’m drunk, so you’ll just have to keep me sober from now on.” She chuckled.

Deviano continued massaging her temples, “You were pretty wasted, but it will pass, and you will be back to normal soon enough.” He liked that he was able to take care of her, and be here for her. She was so important to him, and he just wanted to make sure she was always okay. He smiled hearing her say that she didn’t want to think about him kissing other people, “You don’t have to worry about that baby girl, I have no desires to kiss anyone else.” He laughed, “I’ll definitely keep you sober from now on. If you have a ladies night, just know it will be ladies night and Deviano.”

Charlie closed her eyes and allowed herself to relax. “I know. Your massage is helping too.” She told him with a gentle smile, liking how easily he could take care of her. “You better not. Unless you want to see me kick someone’s ass.” She wasn’t even joking around about that, she’d never been great with sharing and for some reason, she was even more selfish when it came to Dev. Her eyes popped open again and she let out a laugh. “You’re ridiculous, mi corazon. But fine, if you’re going to tag along on my ladies night, I just won’t go on one anymore or maybe I should crash your boys night, if you ever have one.” She said teasingly.

Deviano smiled, “Good, I want you to feel better.” It was nice knowing that he could make Charlie feel better, and he was going to continue finding ways to do that. He couldn’t hold back his laughter at her threats, “Not that I don’t think that would be sexy as hell, but I don’t want you  getting into any trouble, so I am not going to make you kick anybody’s ass. It will never come to that il mio solo ed unico I am here for you.” He smiled and laughed, he loved seeing her smile, “I mean you can go, but I’ll be there. And I will happily let you come to my boys nights, but I am sure my boys won’t be happy about it, but it is what it is.”

“You always do, mi corazon.” Charlie returned, knowing full well that only Dev could comfort her this thoroughly. “Since you don’t want me getting into trouble, then you better behave or you might just have to see me kick some bitches ass.” She teased and felt her breath hitching when she heard him call her his one and only. Her heart felt like it was about to burst and she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “I won’t bother you on your boys night. I promise and if I do have another girl’s night, I won’t drink again.” She kissed him then, passionately because despite her inability to tell him how she felt, she did want him to know that she was only his. When she pulled back, she smiled and said. “I think I can eat something now. Feel like feeding me breakfast, mi corazon?”

Deviano just liked hearing the little things from Charlie, she will never know how much her calling him her heart meant to him. She was so amazing, and he couldn’t believe he was so lucky to have her in his life. “I’ll behave I promise, because it is already enough crap going on around here, we don’t need you being added into that.” He had no desire to be with anyone else, she was his one and only, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. “I think not drinking is the best idea, or limit your drinks to one or two.” He smiled, and kissed her back with so much passion. He would never want to kiss another pair of lips, because they couldn’t compare to hers. Once they pulled apart, he sat up when she said she could eat, “It will be my pleasure to feed you breakfast baby girl.” He started to feed her bacon from her plate, and they spent the remainder of the day in bed holding each other and watching movies, it was the perfect day for him.

[ithoughtyouweredifferent]

Chapter 16 Someone elses Ears Eyes and Hair

@superwholockbooknerd526 @panacebean @genericusernameblahblahblah @casual-vaporwave

Previous Chapter

Table Of Contents

Word Count: about 5,600

Maybe it made you a bad person. Maybe it made you a terrible girlfriend. Either way, you weren’t complaining when you accidentally fell asleep in front of Lin’s tv Sunday night.

You woke up in his bed tucked up beside him. You didn’t remember him even waking you up but he must have carried you in there. You stayed still so as not to wake him up. He looked so young and relaxed, he had a slight smile that just came naturally even in sleep, just the corners of his mouth turned up but a smile nonetheless.

You were still in your jeans and top and from what you could tell he had changed to a pair of pajama pants and white shirt that had paint splatters every here-and-there. This was the sort of perfect moment that put all of your worries on hold. The museum wasn’t bugging you, you didn’t have a musical to write, you didn’t have bills to pay, there was no stressful meeting today, for just a moment everything felt perfect.

You smoothed some of his hair out of his face, it was definitely a good thing he was getting it cleaned up tomorrow. From every picture you’d seen of him over the years, the long Hamilton hair was a good look on him but he looked younger and more free and happy without it framing his face. It never ceased to amaze you seeing before and after pictures of people and how just changing their hair seemed to alter their whole face.

“Good morning,” he murmured without opening his eyes but you felt his arm around you tighten

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” you said softly

“You didn’t,” he said even though you both knew you had. Slowly his eyelids fluttered open, how could they possibly be so bright and alert already? “You are so beautiful,” he breathed and you felt the blush ghost over your face,

“You’re none too bad yourself,” you told him,

“I’m serious you must be one of the most beautiful people I have ever seen,” he said pressing his forehead against yours

“Yes with my raccoon eyes and bed head,”

“Doesn’t matter, you’re gorgeous,”

“You’re too sweet,” you said tilting your head to kiss him lightly, “but we’ve got a lot to do today,” you sighed and tried to roll over but he held you tight against him,

“I love you,” he said and you smiled softly

“I love you too,” you said, it was easier now, you weren’t sure what had changed. Maybe you had just needed to get it out that first time but you still meant it just as much and you knew he did too.

“Enough for ten more minutes?”

“Five,”

“Good enough,” he agreed and kissed your nose and nestled his head into your neck breathing deeply trying to go back to sleep. You waited a minute enjoying the moment before turning it upside down

“Oh I forgot to tell you, I read that it takes 36 hours for the hair dye to fully set and get the full effect,” his eyes snapped open and jerked his head up so fast his head hit your chin

“What!”

“Yeah, don’t worry it’ll be fine, it’s not like anybody will see you today anyway,”

“We have that meeting with Alex today,”

“We do? Must have slipped my mind,” you said trying to fight off a smirk

“No, absolutely not. I will not-”

“We made a deal. Either you do it or I’m not going,”

“You are an evil horrible person,” he said pulling his arm out from under you to push you to the side.

“You can tuck it into a beanie or something,” you suggested rolling back over and propping your head up using your elbow. He pushed you lightly on the shoulder just hard enough to throw you off balance and make you fall back down,

“Come on Lin. You gotta do it, I’ll love you forever if you do, pleaasse”

“Why are you like this! You are a terrible evil monster,” he said sitting up turning his head to face away from you. You sat up as well and scratched the base of his scalp. You saw his jaw slacken and you grinned, “I cannot believe I’m going to let you dye my hair before I go into a seri-aah-ous meeting with the other half of this project,”

“A seri-aaa-ahh-s meeting?” You mocked and he tilted his head backward. “Is that a yes?”

“Breakfast first. Give me a minute to digest what I’ve just agreed to.” You giggled and stopped scratching to cover your mouth, “I never said you should stop that,”

“You kinda did. I can’t cook breakfast and scratch your head at the same time and I think an edible breakfast would be ideal so I have to cook,”

“Be glad I love you because I really hate you right now,” he said and you laughed before rolling off to stand up on the other side of his bed.

“Chip beef on toast sound good?”

“You planned this didn’t you?” He accused when you pulled a small ziplock bag of various seasonings and a can of corn beef out of your purse along with kool-aid, you turned your face away

“You should know a proper human being always carries a bag of assorted seasonings to perfect the flavor of chip beef and gravy on them at all times,”

“You’re inc-”

“Incredible. I know, you can thank me later when you’re sitting down with a plate of heaven in front of you,”

“I was leaning more towards ‘incorrigible’” he said and you kissed him lightly grinning before getting to work while he watched leaning against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Too salty?” you asked holding the wooden spoon up for him, he narrowed his eyes,

“You’re going to poison me aren’t you?”

“Darn you caught me,” you said waving the spoon in a slow circle closer to his mouth, very tentatively he tried it,

“Holy shit that’s good,” he said and you smirked, “if this is poison write my ticket, how long til that is ready?” you giggled,

“Five minutes tops, get out the flatware, would you? Please?”

“Get some toast going would you?” you asked and he sighed heavily,

“You are killing me,”

“Yeah let’s see if you say that when you’ve got a plateful of all this,” you said waving the spoon around again.

“You might need to stay over more often if it means I get food like this,” Lin said between bites. You smiled a bit watching him practically inhale the fairly basic breakfast.

“I don’t understand how haven’t just starved to death yet,”

“Good thing I’ve got you to keep me in check,”

“You know what else I keep you in check on?” he raised an eyebrow, “Honoring your promises, I’m going to start mixing up the kool-aide and stuff,” you said and stood to take your plate and wash it before going through the cabinets to get everything you needed.  

“Why!” he asked. It would wash out easily enough and would be basically instant, but he didn’t need to know that,

“Because I already took the day off work to meet with your idiot friends about this so you have no choice but to honor your end of the bargain,” he groaned in response and your smile only grew, screw the museum, “Sharkleberry punch or Pink Lemonade?” you called over your shoulder,

“Go ahead and give me the sharkleberry, at least I’ll smell a bit nicer,” you giggled at his response, “I’m going to rock the pink,” he added after a moment,

“I know you will.”

“So how do we do this? It’s not like you can just dunk my ear in a bowl of kool-oh” he saw you had a comb with you,

“It might take a few coats to get the full effect,” you said “Unless you want me to use actual paint?” he began vigorously shaking his head,

“I don’t trust you that much,”

“I figured,”

“So you’re just going to paint my head?” Lin asked as you came over to him with everything, you took his plate to wash and let him stare at the kool-aide and conditioner mixture for a minute while you did so.

“You ready?” you asked smiling wickedly,

“Not at all,”

“Just making sure,” you started scratching that spot on the back of his neck again and saw him relax some. “See? Easy,” you picked up the comb and began brushing, basically just rubbing it in along the outline, “You know, I’ve had this picture in my head of you with pink hair since the second day I knew you and we joked about changing your identity,” you said off-handedly,

“What?” He asked whipping his head around to look at you making a stripe of paint across the side of his neck and head,

“Lin! You just...you-there’s a stripe,” you said stumbling over your words trying not to laugh, “You there’s a...oh my gosh,

“What did you just do?” he almost growled,

“Nothing! Just let me fix it,” you bit the inside of your lip to hold back a laugh,

“What are you doing to me!” he began reaching blindly for your hands,

“You’re the one that jerked around! Be still or I might mess up more,”

“Mess up my a-aa” he stopped when you scratched the spot on the back of his head again and you snickered,

“There? See all done,” you said walking around to face him and held up a compact mirror.

“What have you done to me!” he shrieked covering his eyes and you laughed,

“You’re getting it cut tomorrow,” you reminded him,

“But the stripe across the side! I can’t believe you-”

“Lackity lac, lackity lac lac laac!” You lunged for his phone to read the text before he could

“Hope you have some great new ideas today” the phone vibrated again, “1 hr?”

“30 min! See you then! :)” you shot back before Lin could snatch his phone back,

“I hate you,” Lin said and you shook your head,

“No time for hate, we’ve got to get ready and go meet your friend,”

“You surprise me,” he said and you raised your eyebrows, “I just always assumed you’d be incredibly against rewearing clothes you slept- oh you have got to be kidding me!” he said as you pulled a clean outfit you had army rolled in the bottom of your purse, “What else do you have in that thing?” You pulled out a toothbrush in a ziplock bag as well as a normal hairbrush,

“I went out on a limb and assumed I could use your toothpaste after I made that magical breakfast for you,” you said and he rolled his eyes,

“Do you have a pillow and blanket in there too?” he started to reach over into your bag and you slapped his arm,

“Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to go through a lady’s pocket book?” he looked like he wanted to be swallowed by the floor, “Thought so, now we’ve got to get ready, you told Alex we’d meet him in half an hour and that was almost five minutes ago,”

“But you told him that!” he sputtered and you grinned and pointed to his room, “unless you want to wear a paint and kool-aid/conditioner hair dye covered shirt and winnie the pooh pajama pants with funky morning breath, go get ready, ”

“Yes mom,” he grumbled trudging away, you smiled to yourself, you could almost feel the mood change “You better be ready before I come back-and I’m an actor!,” he called and basically running away. You smirked and switched tops hardly having one all he way off before the next was on and all but jumped from one pair of pants to another so you were sitting back down with a make-up wipe your old clothes laid out beside you when he came back out,

“Wha-wha but you?” he stammered out, stunned,

“Close your mouth hun you’ll catch flies,” he blinked rapidly at you, “Give me two minutes to brush my teeth and I’ll be set,” you said walking past him as he stood stunned in the kitchen area.

“You had on lighter jeans before,” he said walking into the bathroom, you nodded and agreed as best you could around your toothbrush, “they’re dark now and the patches are gone,”

“That’s typically how changing clothes works,” you said with mock sweetness as soon as you had spit out the toothpaste

“And you’re shirt is blue, it was orange and tighter,”

“They should take back that Pulitzer and give you a Captain Obvious trophy instead,”

“You’re wearing a different bra too,” he pointed out and you pulled up your shirt that had fallen when you’d bent over the sink

“Yes I know, that’s because I put a different one on, are you ready?”

“But isn’t that supposed to take like forever?” you slapped your hands onto his bathroom counter,

“Lin. As much as I would love to explain to you how bras work I have somewhere to be, are you ready or not?”

“Yeah let me find my wallet,” you nodded and you began walking exaggeratedly slowly towards the door

“Hey are you missing something?” he asked almost running back to you holding something behind his back,

“I don’t think so why?”

“Because I have these!” he pulled the shoes you had worn yesterday out from behind his back smiling proudly,

“And I have these!” you said pointing to the pair of fold-in sandals on your feet. His mouth dropped open, “And this, I thought you might appreciate it,” you pulled out a beanie you had swiped off his dresser earlier in the morning when he wasn’t paying attention but that wasn’t worth mentioning at the moment, “now hurry, I don’t know where we are going,” you reached on the coffee table to grab the messenger bag holding all of the journals and folders of papers you had made him pack last night in case he got in a rush today,

“Fine alright alright,” he said pulling on the hat and flipping his keys in the air before locking up, “Time check?”

“Like fifteen-twenty minutes,” you replied and he nodded, “super power walking it is,” before grabbing your hand and starting what was basically a slow run down the sidewalk. His pace seemed to only pick up as you went further along. You weren’t overly familiar with this end of the city but he seemed confident.

“Lackity lac, lackity lac lac lac lacity lac lackity ackity lacity LAC!”

“Your pocket’s ringing,”

“No duh,” he said almost out of breath, “Yeah I’m almost there, and hey you’ll never guess what I’ve got with me,” you heard Alex say something, “No better! A person!” pause, “No it’s my Socrates, my muse, the love of my life, the other half of all of the this-what-oh yes we’ve got that too right? The journals and stuff?” he looked at you and you smiled patting the messenger bag, “yep all set, I can’t wait for you to meet her,” you leaned closer and Lin turned up the volume so you could hear what was being said,

“If you have some sort of imaginary friend or blow up hula girl or something I am calling it quits on this project and calling your mother who I might recommend a psychiatrist to,” you slapped your hand over your mouth,

“Almost there?” you mouthed, and Lin nodded,

“Well we’re in front of your building bud, see you in a minute,” Lin said and hung up,

“You need new friends,” you said and he raised an eyebrow, “Someone who has at least a little bit of faith in you,”

“Oh trust me, this guy has more faith in me than he does in gravity,” he promised.

When Lin knocked on the door you could feel your insides writhing with nerves. Lin squeezed your hand reassuringly and gave you a warm smile but it didn't do much good.

"Hell-woah who is this?" Alex asked surprised and you wished the floor would swallow you but you held your head up,

"This is her. She's been working on this project with us can I uh can we come in?" He asked and Alex nodded quickly opening the door wider and waving for you to come in,

"Sorry, of course, yeah just make yourselves at home, just um, did I hear you right? Are you real? Did he hire you because I am really sorry about this if he did."

"Last I checked I was real and if you are paying me to be your friend I demand a raise." Lin snorted a laugh,

"So you're really for real? And you are actually helping him with this because, and I'm really sorry if this comes out rude because that is honestly really truly not how I mean for it to but usually he works slow but we meet our deadlines and I agh this is coming out wrong I'm sorry, I'm just really surprised I was convinced you were an imaginary scapegoat for him to use because of how behind he is"

“What? Behind? I’ve been trying to help with the construction of all this for a good few months now, I thought we were actually ahead of all the deadlines,” you said furrowing your brow and Alex snorted,

“I don’t know what sort of deadlines you’re working with but by our book, we have clearly defined characters, at least nine songs plus as much of the random this goes somewhere that makes up another song or two,” he said almost bitterly and you cocked your head surprised,

“I don’t understand we’ve got what? Fifteen? Sixteen? as complete as they can be and several including the opening all but done, umm? Right?” You asked and Alex shook his head,

“Not that I’m aware of,”

“We do!...should I just umm spill? Okay ah,” you shook your head “Can I cover your coffee table in paper?” Alex gave you a shrug/nod saying whatever you want I am still lost

“Here’s the basic character map,” you said taking out one of the sections of paper from the accordion binder, Alex’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head, and Lin leaned back into the couch clasping his hands behind his head

“I must be dreaming,” Alex said in awe as you spread out the papers and a small part inside of you died,

“We have Marirea, new girl, biggest concern is helping her mom and waiting on her dad to get there. She returns some of the feelings to Terry the low-key felon but is wary,” you spread out different papers, “a bit outspoken compared to how conservatively she was raised, she gets weaseled into Interrogation a lot like umm,” you tried to think of a good comparison, “nevermind I’ll get back to that when I’ve got the music stuff out, her main song is A Chance the second song in the show but here’s her relationship chart,” you pushed forward a piece of graph paper and Alex’s jaw literally dropped at the neat handwriting of everybody’s name with an arrow and brief explanation.

“Isabella. She is the owner of the shop that was ‘robbed.’ Her backstory isn’t addressed hardly at all but we know that she is lifelong best friends with Meredith, secretly in love with Meredith’s ex--Jacob--and that she has the perfect personality to have an antique shop very warm and friendly. She’s over dedicated to everything she does, friends with the kids because she volunteers all over the place and has had to give more than her fair share of motivational speeches at school assemblies. She is very submissive, she doesn’t want to put herself out there, she keeps quiet and in the background, she doesn’t tell people what she wants and she doesn’t upset other people. However, this changes over time and she is the shining star example of character growth.

“Jacob. Town Trouby, Lin’s probably talked your ear off about him, in case you hadn’t noticed I am 97% sure he is writing that role for himself but he’s not going to say it out loud,” you glanced and Lin who had a smug grin on his face. “Anyway, he’s probably a pot head but we aren’t going to talk about that and he’s kind of like the Usnavi/Burr equivalent type narrator and he has a big number basically all to himself that we haven’t got much on yet but he’s really just a major part of most other songs and-hey are you okay?” you asked looking at Alex who was in his own state of shock, “Lin maybe umm help me out here?” You looked at him when Alex remained silent, “I don’t even know what has and hasn’t been talked about…” they both kept looking between you and each other having some sort of silent conversation while you stood there awkwardly.

“If you want to move all that stuff in here so we can all sit at the real table?” Alex finally cleared his throat and suggested. You picked the papers back up and followed the sound of his voice,

“I’m really sorry if I came off too over powering, that was an incredibly immature and inexcusable way of introducing myself earlier,” you said when you were all in the kitchen, the new setting felt like a good place to start over, “can we just try that whole thing again?” you sounded so dumb,

“All the way over as in back to the front door because that was really not cool or just-”Lin piped up and Alex elbowed him while reaching out a hand,

“Hi I’m Alex, I am basically the brains behind instrumental soundtracks and the stuff nobody pays attention to under the lyrics,” you shook his hand firmly,

“I’m Y/N and I’m trying to help make the normally listened to stuff on a musical soundtrack,” you said, “and um big big fan of your work by the way,” you added in a small voice, “it’s amazing and fascinating how you could even imagine putting everything together, I mean I can barely handle a good keyboard but being able to hear it all-sorry nevermind, right,” you cut yourself off before you got too animated, “So I don’t know how this works. Do we just word vomit what we’ve got and then you go wrack your brain and try to unravel it all or-”

“Or,” Lin said, “we just talk about what’s new from last time we met and revisit old stuff to keep it fresh, for instance. We have this,” Lin flipped through one of the manilla folders finding a paper with lyrics, “The rest of the opening,” Lin opened up his laptop and hummed the tune while he waited for it to wake up and he pulled up the recording from one of your practice sessions.

He skipped forward to about where he had found the actual song to be last night. You had never listened to the recordings of your sessions; Lin frequently assured you he had that under control.

“Holy cow we are amazing,” you said when it was done and both of the guys laughed, you felt your cheeks grow warm again, “Sorry, I don’t um, I’ve never actually gone back and listened to these, wow-was that really you and me?” Lin grinned nodding,

“She’s right that’s actually really great. I noticed on your papers earlier you had some instruments written down?” Alex asked looking at you,

“That’s actually me!” Lin said sounding absurdly proud of himself, “I don’t know if you’ll be able to make it work but keeping in with some of the traditional instruments from each character underneath them because so much of this is about finding the balance between your past and your roots versus your future and where you are and well, who you are so if we could incorporate some of that in with their actual music,” Alex nodded,

“Can I see those again?” He asked and you flipped through the folder, “I cannot believe you are actually this organized. When you didn’t even have more than just a bunch of five-inch D-ring binders as far as organization when you made your second big show and then again and again. I didn’t think you ever would,” Alex said as you pulled out a paper per character,

“So many trees,” you huffed in a sort of apology when you gave him the last one, he started tapping different spots on the table as if placing each of the instruments he was looking like in their own section. Maybe it was where in the world they were from or maybe how he would fit them in the Pit or how they’d line up on his sheet music, you just watched in fascination.

“This, I can see this, okay what else’ve we got?” he asked and you looked at Lin, you had no idea what ‘else’ you had considering you knew you were far past wherever Alex thought you were,

“Here’s a basic list of what songs we have, as close to a ‘genre’ as you can get and what happens and who is in them,” Lin pushed several papers forward, “lyric sheets we’ve just scrawled out or talked through when we weren’t planning to so we didn’t record,” basically another whole book was placed on the table, Alex looked up at you,

“I take back every negative thing I have ever thought about this or either of you. This is fantastic, you know that right? Real potential, but what have you got on the one kid, you’ve never shown much interest in doing stuff with kids and you’ve given this little guy an incredibly tragic backstory and wait-you’re going to make me compose a song for a like 6 year old to sing at his parents tombstones like this and why did you leave me remember when...song?” He looked at the two of you like your heads were on backwards, “What sort of sadistic monsters are you?” he was joking but you still felt nerves eating away at your stomach, “I really hate that I can already feel this working out--Lin can you put a hat on or something. I get that you’re an artist and it works on some people but you’re not some people and that is incredibly distracting” you giggled when Lin flicked your arm and stood up to go retrieve the beanie,

“You can get me a picture of that for future reference though right?” Alex asked quietly as soon as Lin was gone and you grinned,

“Totally, and um, thanks for letting me in on this. I didn’t realize just how much trouble I was causing between the two of you,”

“Nah, I’m just a little overwhelmed and you caught me way off guard, I swear I’m usually a really nice guy,”

“That’s what Lin always said,” you said with a bit of a laugh

“What do I always say?” Lin asked coming back in and plopping down next to you,

“That you’re an idiot,” you said tucking the ends of his hair up into the hat back hidden from sight, he sighed,

“Thank you,” Alex said to Lin, “Now, about this instrument representing the people, you realize I’ve never even heard of some of these right? In fact I am fairly certain that I saw a documentary the other day about this thing,” he pointed to one of the instruments, “and there was only one family left in the whole world that are known to know how to play it so we might have a bit of a hard time getting it in our orchestra,” he explained and you both nodded,

“Of course,”

“You’re in charge of the Lacamorchestra you know what works and what doesn’t,” Lin said and you saw Alex shake his head and slightly roll his eyes at the title. You looked at what papers Lin had gotten out and realized you had a long meeting ahead of you but it would be worth every second of it.

“I still don’t get why you haven’t you shown me all of this before?” he asked as he flipped through your work one last time as you got ready to leave,

“Yeah, why haven’t you shown him all of this before?” You asked looking at Lin trying not to sound accusatory but he was supposed to have been handling all of this stuff, he just shrugged

“I didn’t know how. This whole co-writing thing is new to me and I didn’t want to misrepresent half of what the plan was because that would be a mess,”

“You guys are freaks, you realize you’ve literally been finishing each others sentences for half of this meeting. Did you somehow lose the ability to complete them on your own or something along the way?” Alex asked and the two of you looked at each other and shrugged again,

“He’s an idiot,”

“She’s an idiot,” you said at the same time and glared at each other trying not to smile but broke into face splitting grins after only seconds

“Please don’t tell me you’re that couple and I’m going to be the awkward third wheel now aren’t I?” he asked and sighed heavily, “Okay fine just keep the pink hair kinky stuff out of my kitchen,” you and Lin both laughed, “I’m serious,”

“It was the deal to get her to come here,” Lin said trying to defend himself, “she made the terms and still got the short end of the stick. A day of stepping out of my usual shell in exchange for-”

“For an introduction to you,” you looked at Alex, “and a temporary boost of self confidence and preparation to sign my life away to what will probably be a solid and successful career if my current happy employment fails plus perfect blackmail material,” you said smirking at Lin,

“You really are a heartless evil monster,” Lin said and you shrugged,

“Are you complaining?” you asked and he just pursed his lips refusing to answer,

“Alright get out of my house before you guys attack each other or something,” Alex said trying to usher you out, “I’ll work on this and I guess just keep doing what you’re doing,”

“Will do,” you said trying to shake Alex’s hand again but he pulled you into a hug in the doorway while Lin checked his reflection in the window to make sure the beanie was secure,

“Never stop being amazing,” Alex said slightly muffled by your coat before pulling back leaving you absolutely stunned, “Bye!”

“Have a great day Lackity lac,” Lin said guiding you back down the hall,

“And stop calling me that!” Alex called but Lin just grinned wrapping an arm around your waist,

“You know, you are absurdly amazing on all fronts and truly everything I could have ever imagined wanting. Thank you,” he said kissing the side of your head leading the way back to his place, this time by subway. You were going to do this and it was going to be something good.