#urbaenia

[bobmckenzie]

rewatching f/o content and catching a detail you missed is like finding a cookie at the bottom of a cookie jar that you thought was empty

[bobmckenzie]

diner date night 🥰

[bobmckenzie]

good lord

[bobmckenzie]

I am definitely overheated... but it's not because of the weather :)c

[bobmckenzie]

Look After You | danny x caitie moodboard

As Becky helps her dad prepare dinner, she can't help but ask, "Is she really going to go back out there?"

"Hitchhiking?" He continues when she nods, "It seems like it. Unless the two of us can come up with a reason that'll convince her why she shouldn't."

She knows a good reason, and it's standing right in front of her: the man who hasn't had a date in as long as she can remember.

Caitie's nice, she's pretty, and she's fallen right into their laps like one of those damsel-in-distress princesses from the movies Debbie always puts on at sleepovers. So why can't Danny O'Shea be her prince? He's already been acting like her knight in shining armor.

She looks up at her dad with a self-assured smirk, the gears already turning in her mind. "We can think of something."

[bobmckenzie]

˗ˏˋ tag directory !

romantic ships ! bob mckenzie: #peanut butter and jelly donut randall steckle: #randalltag richie goodman: #richietag louis tully: #louistag danny o'shea: #urbaenia stick coder: #sticktag andy keselowski: #short shorts dork elric abital: #elrictag dark helmet: #helmettag crushes ! rabbit: #rabbittag joe: #tomatjoe 🍅 randy: #randytag ted: #tedtag barbara: #barbaratag michael: #michaeltag clark: #clarktag adam: #adamtag maurice: #mauricetag nami: #namitag penny: #pennytag maru: #marutag

platonics / familials ! doug: #🔹️doug pam: #🍻 pam rosie: #🏒 rosie flatliners: #🩺 flatliners ghostbusters: #👻 ghostbusters benchwarmers: #⚾️ benchwarmers becky: #🏈 becky walnut lake market crew: #🛒 twister crew: 🌪️

[bobmckenzie]

danny ramble because i'm in my feelings!! 😵‍💫

thinking about Danny being the overlooked child growing up bc his older brother was the popular sports star who brought home trophies and had games to go to and was charismatic, popular, etc while Danny was a little awkward and his interests were more solitary. to top it off, at school he was never "nerdy" enough to fit in with the AV club kids but never "cool" enough to fit in with the kids in his mechanics class. sure he had people he'd make small talk with and somewhere to sit at lunch, but he never really made friends, never was able to be known as more than Kevin's younger brother until Becky was born and he started connecting with other parents in Urbania. For most of his life he felt basically invisible.

Now he's a staple of the community, everyone knows the man who runs the gas station, who makes small talk in check-out lines and always leaves great tips at the diner. but STILL he's never really had a best friend, never had someone to share deep secrets and fears with...

and then I show up out of the blue, some random hitchhiker who on the surface he has nothing in common with. there's almost twenty years between us, I know nothing about cars, or football, I'm so shy compared to him, and I have no clue what it's like to be a parent. but something just... clicks. we make each other laugh, we like the same music, movies, like listening to each other ramble about mechanics or books... and for some reason the things that don't make sense to tell anyone else, make sense to tell each other, whether we mean to say them or not.

it's more than the attraction, though there's that too. beneath the butterflies and the flushed faces, the hearts that race when hands brush passing a lug wrench to tune up Becky's go kart or a spoon to stir dinner with, the compliments that we try so hard to make sound casual... it's all so easy. because beneath it, we're each other's best friend.

[bobmckenzie]

looking at him thru the danny-lense 👁️👁️

[bobmckenzie]

Almost Midnight

word count: 1514

blurb: Danny takes the New Years opportunity to give Caitie a first-kiss do-over

tw: mention of non-consensual/unwanted kiss

Danny steps outside, leaving the door to the porch open a crack and the sounds of the party behind. Finally, he thinks with a smile and a sigh, gaze landing on the brunette leaning against the railing. The past fifteen minutes he'd been weaving through his brother's crowded house looking for Cait, getting pulled into small talk about the new year and the football team's upcoming game when all he really wanted was to find her.

"There you are," he says, approaching as she turns to him, her lips curving into a smile.

"Hi." She rubs the arms of her jacket, breath coming out in a puff of white smoke. "Is it almost midnight?"

He nods. "A few minutes. You okay? Becky and I were wondering where you went."

She waves a hand. "I'm fine, yeah. Just needed some air. We should go in if you want to see the ball drop."

He shrugs and meets her at the railing. "I kind of needed some air myself, actually. I, uh… think Becky's about to have her first kiss."

Caitie's eyes widen. "Really? With Junior?"

Danny nods. "He's a good kid. But if I don't stay out here," he laughs, "I'll find some way inside to stop it from happening, probably end up embarrassing Becky and making an idiot out of myself."

She gives him one of those soft smiles that always make him feel like he's just said exactly the right thing. "You're a great dad, Danny." She lets out a short laugh, looking away. "I know I say that a lot, but it's true."

And yet the compliment never fails to give him a surge of confidence and a flushed face. "Well, I know how important this is. She'll remember it for the rest of her life, and I'd rather it be a positive memory than one I have to beg for forgiveness over."

"Do you remember yours?"

"Hmm? Oh—" He laughs, nodding as he realizes what she means. "I was in third grade. A few of the girls were playing truth or dare, and one of 'em got dared to come over and kiss me. It wasn't great for my self-esteem, I can tell you that much. What about you?"

"It…" She shakes her head. "Yeah. I mean, it happened two months ago, so..." At his look of confusion, she continues, "It was just one of the guys who picked me up when I was hitching—a few days before I ended up here, actually. Some truck driver. He sort of… Well, he really just leaned over, grabbed me by the face, and slobbered all over me for a few seconds before I managed to push him off and get out of there." She laughs, shrugging, smile faltering when she notices he can't force himself to find anything amusing in the story.

"Were you alright?"

The genuine concern sends a pang of longing through her. What must it be like to have a man like Danny always by your side, with so much care in every action, so much tenderness in his words and in his eyes? She can imagine no safer feeling, and absolutely nothing she'd ever wanted more.

"I was fine," is all she can manage to say, too distracted by his proximity and the realization that they're talking about kisses. Her first one was something she'd been dreaming of her whole life, and now it'd been taken away by someone who thought she owed him it for helping her get from one state to the next.

These days when she thought of kisses, it was only Danny who came to mind. Daydreams of sleepy kisses in the morning, quick afternoon pecks while cooking dinner. Celebratory smooches after Becky's team won a game, and long, slow kisses once they were alone in the night. She tries so hard not to think about things like that, tries not to make being around him so difficult for herself. But every day she falls deeper in love with the man before her, and the daydreams come whether she wants them to or not.

Danny shakes his head. God, he hates thinking about what she went through on the road. He'll never let her back out there—maybe it's a pigheaded way of thinking, but he can't help it. If she still wants to go to Montana, he'll take her there, but he won't let her put herself in that kind of danger again.

Not as long as he can help it, anyway, he thinks with a painful stab to the heart. If she leaves, there's no way to look out for her. No way to know she's alright.

He wants her to stay so badly… the possibility of her leaving constantly looms overhead, hurts him so much he's not sure how he'd ever handle the real thing. The idea of a future with her won't leave him alone. What would she think if she knew how much he wants her? How he can picture rings, a wedding… waking up to her every morning. Building a life where Becky has a mother who loves her and he has a wife to come home to every day. A family of three instead of two.

She's already said she likes Urbania. That Montana was just a dart on a map. That the two of them make a good team. But could she ever see him the way he sees her? Beautiful, comforting… a person who feels like home and the drop of a roller-coaster all at the same time.

"That's hardly a fair way to have a first kiss," he replies, voice gentle, though it's hard to hide the hatred for the man he'll never know. "It doesn't count."

She lets out a short, humorless laugh. "It may as well." Behind them, the sounds of the ten second countdown travel outside through the cracked door. "It's probably the only one I'm ever going to get."

Seven, six…

He doesn't understand how she can be so insecure, so unaware of the beauty that floors him every day. It isn't fair for her to think that way, isn't right for her to live thinking the only man who'd want to kiss her was some asshole who thought he earned it.

Five, four…

He inches closer, gaze traversing over her face, and her heart skips a beat. She thinks she imagined it at first—then he steps forward again and she knows she didn't. Her breath catches.

Three, two…

Slowly, giving her all the time in the world to back away, he reaches a hand up to cup her face. His hand feels so warm against her cheek, skin rough and calloused from work, yet his touch is so gentle.

One…

He angles up, slightly onto his toes, close enough to brush noses. When his thumb strokes her cheek her eyes flutter shut, lips parting ever so slightly.

Happy new year!

He closes the gap with a sigh, just barely pressing his lips against hers, the ghost of a touch. As cheers incite from inside the house he steps a little closer, kisses just a little firmer. It's innocent, polite even, a kiss that could easily be brushed off as nothing more than friendly. And yet it has his heart pounding, has her blood running hot.

This is the way her first kiss should be, he thinks. Gentle. Slow. Just as delicate and precious as she is.

It's everything she dreamed of, has her stomach flipping, butterflies swarming inside her, fists balling at her sides so she doesn't reach out and lace her fingers in his hair or grab a fistful of his sweater.

He forces himself to pull back, to not get carried away, to not take it somewhere he can't come back from.

It takes a second for her to open her eyes, dark brown meeting dark blue, a second of silence passing between them, the sounds of the party long forgotten.

A firework boom in the distance makes her gasp, both flinching away, heads turning just in time to see the gold sparks go off in the distance, quickly followed by blue and green. Then the French doors squeak open and draw their attention back to the house, where a few members of the football team come bounding out, raving about the fireworks they're sure they just heard.

As more guests pour out of the house the porch changes from a bubble of solitude into a crowded extension of the party, surrounding the pair with loud laughter and clinking glasses, music seeping out from the open doors.

There's no time to talk about it, no time to let it sink in and wonder what it means. Each thinks it was just a friendly kiss to the other, and each wishes it was so much more.

"Happy New Year," Danny says to her with a soft smile, just barely loud enough to be heard over the oohs and ahhs of the crowd as they watch the fireworks.

"Happy New Year," she returns breathlessly, wondering if he knows he just made it the best night of her life.

[bobmckenzie]

too sleepy to comprehend his question 🤝 too sleepy to realize her answer doesn't make any sense

[bobmckenzie]

my new favorite image

[bobmckenzie]

legiiterally just got flustered over the thought of Danny making a sandwich. girl wth

[bobmckenzie]

WALK WALK FASHION BABY WOERK IT MOVEW THAT BIPTCH CCARAZY

[bobmckenzie]

the superbowl: "Vince Lombardi trophy"

my brain immediately:

[bobmckenzie]

every time I think about the backstory I made up for Danny and Becky's mom I have to laugh... the hoops I went through just so I could say they weren't in love with each other... 💀💀💀

[bobmckenzie]

THE COZINESS... THE CRISSCROSS SITTING... THE SMILE 🥹🥹🥹