The Perils of Playing Emma
Summary: Meg is desperate for something to do during the Free P.lay hiatus, and what better than playing matchmaker for her favorite broadcast couple. But the best laid plans don't always go the way they should and Mariel and Tyler might have other ideas.
Pairings: Turnsalcecoewood (Tyler/Ryan/Mariel/Meg)
WC: 9024 AO3
Free P.lay was on hiatus, and Meg found herself bored out of her mind without those two days of screwing around while filming that they were somehow allowed to call a show.
She needed something to do.
She needed something she could dedicate the time she usually spent coming up with stunts to, something that wasn’t twitter or reddit.
It wasn’t hard for her to come up with, the new goal she wanted to achieve, really she had a plan in mind the moment she started bemoaning the loss of Free P.lay. She was going to play Cupid for her two favorite broadcast booth babes.
She wasn’t sure why Tyler and Mariel had started this joke that they were dating, or even why they were still keeping it up, but she could see some real feelings there. Meg was certain it was up to her to help them realize those feelings, she was just going to need a little help of her own to do it.
---
The Patch was over and Ryan’s hand was in hers as she lead him over to an abandoned part of the sound stage. He watched her suspiciously, even as he followed, not that she knew why every time they’d done this before it had been enjoyable for the both of them. She just had to get them away from the main set; Ashley and Gus were both still talking by the mainstage and the broadcast crew were doing their usual after podcast reset, including the two members they were going to talk about.
She pulled him into the corner, taking his other hand in hers so he wouldn’t try to escape. “Ryan, I’ve got a plan, are you going to help me with it?”
He gave their joined hands a small swing, “Knowing you and your plans, I should probably say no.”
“You haven’t even heard what it is yet.”
He hummed, a small sound to show he was considering her point, “Alright, tell me your plan and then I’ll say no.”
“Shut up, asshole. Don’t you think that Mariel and Tyler make a cute couple?”
“That feels like a leading question.”
Meg couldn’t help but roll her eyes, but she wasn’t going to let Ryan being difficult ruin this for her, “Just answer the damn question, Haywood.”
He gave her hands a squeeze and ran his thumbs over their backs, his way of apologizing, “Sure, for a fake couple they’re adorable. So get to your plan, so I can say no.”
“You do this every time, you always act like you’re going to say no, but we both know you’ll do it anyway.”
Ryan smiled, she knew it was supposed to be a smirk, but it always seemed a little too lovestruck at the edges -- she liked it that way. “Just like we both know I already know you want to set Mariel and Tyler up.”
His foot darted back to keep from being stepped on as she stamped hers on the hard cement of the soundstage, it echoed dully as she pouted. “If you already knew why were you such an ass about it or, better yet, how did you already know?”
“It’s not like you didn’t spend a significant amount of time on Free P.lay talking about their quote unquote relationship, not to mention all the time you spend when we’re together cooing over their twits.”
Meg knew she was frowning, but she didn’t like being this transparent, even if it was Ryan. “Fine, but you cooed too, that Texas line was suave as hell.”
“Yes it was, dear,” he said, and if it were anyone but Ryan it would seem patronizing, “and yes I’ll help you try to play matchmaker with our coworkers.”
Her frown quickly became a grin, the kind she could feel splitting her face as it stretched from ear to ear. She pulled on their still linked hands so Ryan would bend down enough that she could press a quick kiss to his cheek. “This is going to be great,” she promised and let go of his hands so they could both get back to work.
She skipped back to her desk, the sounds of Fiddler on the Roof trailing faintly behind her.
---
It didn't take Meg long to come up with the first part of her plan, and by that Friday she was ready to put it into motion.
The first step of that plan involved making her way over to the glorified cubicle that Tyler lovingly called an office.
“Hey Ty,” she greeted, laying a hand on his shoulder to get his attention when she wasn't sure he heard her through his headphones.
He spun around in his chair, and when he noticed it was Meg trying to get his attention, he smiled widely. Meg had always thought Tyler had a nice smile, it was always so warm and inviting, and she thought it was cute how it always made him cock his head to one side, it reminded her of an excited puppy in a way.
“Hey, Meg, what can I do for you?” he asked after a minute of them staring at one another.
Right, her plan, she'd gotten a little distracted by Tyler's smile, but she was here to set him up with one of their other coworkers. “Well, I was wondering if you and Mariel were doing anything together this weekend?”
He looked at her a little strangely, his smile still in place but it quirked up at the edges. She fought the urge to fidget or to confess her plan, as she waited under his heavy gaze for him to answer.
“No, we aren't doing anything that I've been told about,” he said.
“I know it's a little short notice, but how would you two feel about doubling with me and Ry tomorrow? We were gonna go to dinner and play a round of mini golf, but then Michael, Gavin, and Lindsay bailed last minute.”
It was almost like the hadn't been invited at all, she thought, as she made the saddest looking face she could so Tyler would agree to fill the spot that had been abandoned.
He answered much sooner than she expected him too, “Sure, sounds great. Should we pick you up, or?”
Meg broke out in a wide grin as Tyler agreed, “That sounds great, I'll text you the details. See you tomorrow!”
She left Tyler’s office to go tell Ryan that the beginning of her long plan to make Tyriel a reality had been successful. It took her the whole walk over to the Achievement H.unter office to shake off the strange urge she'd felt to kiss Tyler's cheek, like she usually kissed Ryan's, when she left.
---
Meg couldn’t figure out why she was feeling so anxious, but she’d spent most of the day bouncing around the house trying to dispel some of her nervous energy.
She’d changed her outfit three times before Ryan told her she looked fine -- with that look in his eye like he was worried about her and her sanity -- and she was still tugging on the hem of the shirt she’d landed on, as she thought about changing it. As it got closer to the time she’d told Tyler to pick them up she started to pick up random items around the house and moved them to places they didn’t belong as she paced through the rooms looking for something to do.
She didn’t actually start to worry about her anxious feelings until she snapped at Ryan, “Don’t wear that, wear your nice nice new jeans, the darker ones.”
Ryan stood in the doorway watching her with the expression of a small animal who’d just stepped in front of a moving vehicle. “I’ll change, as long as you promise you do remember that I’m not the one you’re trying to set up today.”
“Don’t be silly Rye-Rye, you would know if I were setting you up.”
“But who would you be setting me up with?” Ryan asked. Meg was pretty sure it was meant as a joke, but the part of her that had spent a regrettable amount of time scrolling through the ship tags of tumblr had her strangely nervous brain barreling down paths she didn’t really want to consider right now. Thoughts of Tyler, Mariel, and now Ryan in all combinations and situations, she really needed to get this date started so the matchmaking part of her brain could give it a rest.
Ryan came back out, having changed like Meg asked, and the hand he set on her shoulder helped steady her. “This can still be a nice night out, even if you can’t be the Emma you’re trying to be.”
She smiled up at him, thankful not for the first time that she had Ryan in her life, “Right, just a night out with friends.”
---
“Tyler, I’m going to beat you to death with this club and leave you in that water feature,” Meg said, keeping her voice low and even so the child on the hole beside them couldn’t hear her threatening.
“Don’t be a sore loser Meg, it’s not very sportsman like.” Tyler was teasing her, his competitive side something she should be used to from their time competing against each other on Free P.lay, but his teasing was something that was leaving her strangely heated.
“Sore loser! You’re a dirty fucking cheater, Coe.”
“I don’t see Ryan and Mariel complaining,” Tyler said, smirk firmly in place as he used his club to point to the other two.
Mariel was leaning against Ryan, like she was too bored to muster the energy to stand on her own, but Meg could see fond smiles on both of their faces even if Mariel was doing more to hide hers.
“That’s because they’re losing,” Meg said, remembering she was mad at Tyler, and she wasn’t going to let how cute Ryan and Mariel looked distract her.
“My love can’t be bought,” Mariel said, “but Tyler’s can, I think Ryan and I can come up with a way to stage a comeback. Right, dear?”
For a second Meg thought that dear was directed at Ryan, and she waited for him to join the other two in the fight against her. Until Tyler nodded in agreement, already writing down numbers for the hole they’d just finished, and she thought how silly it was that she would assume it was Ryan in the first place.
“Ryan you can’t take their side,” Meg pouted as a way of distracting herself from her own mistake. She did wonder a little bit why, after their nice dinner, she had to deal with all of them ganging up on her. Especially when she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had as much fun on a double date. They had laughed and talked over their food, things quickly dissolving into the same bickering it always did when they were on the Free P.lay set. Mariel and Tyler had really made it seem like just that, a double date. It gave Meg hope that she could give their jokey fake relationship the final push it needed to become something real.
But now that they were at the mini golf course she wasn’t as sure what was going on. Tyler was driving her to distraction with his smug cheating and Mariel seemed to be having more fun making whispered comments to Ryan that had him laughing. Mariel and Tyler had barely spoken to each other since they’d gotten to the course, and Meg wasn’t sure what that meant for her plan.
“It’s two against one, Turney, and we’ve seen how Ryan handles peer pressure in golfing situations,” Mariel said, giving a friendly knock of her golf club against his.
“We have?” Meg asked, watching as Ryan’s face lit up and a pink blush flooded his cheeks.
“You watch our videos?” Ryan asked, and Meg thought he sounded a little like he was being strangled.
“Only the stuff you’re in, buddy,” Tyler said.
“There’s a lot more downtime in the broadcast office than you’d think,” Mariel added.
“Have to say, thought you’d get a little more into this, Ry,” Tyler said, a wry smile as he continued to play their game.
“Ryan and I both agree this would be a lot more fun with the bombs from the game.” Mariel’s hand lightly curled around Ryan’s bicep as she spoke.
“Though the view is much nicer here than in the game,” Ryan said, a finger under Meg’s chin to lift her face so he could steal a kiss as he stepped up to take his turn.
“I think that’s something we can all agree on,” Tyler said. Meg could feel the strangest feeling creeping up her spine that all eyes were on her and Ryan.
It took a while for them to finish their round, Meg suspected it was because at some point Mariel and Ryan started to compete to see who could get the highest score. They had finally finished and now Meg was watching Tyler carefully as he added up their scores. He was pressed along Ryan’s back as he used him like a table, Tyler’s hand pressed to one of Ryan’s shoulders to keep him bent at the waist. Meg kept her hand on Ryan’s shoulder so she could see what Tyler was doing, her hand on top of Tyler’s, as she watched his tiny pencil move across the scorecard. Mariel wasn’t even feigning interest as she leaned against Meg, scrolling through the the pictures they had take throughout the night, making small noises of approval when she found one she liked.
“Alright,” Tyler said when he’d finished doing his math, a hand placed gently on Ryan’s hipbone to return him to his upright position, “and in dead last we’ve got Mr. Ryan Hay.wood and just barely ahead of him my lovely Mariel, both with scores in triple digits.”
“Let’s skip to the part where you tell everyone how I won, Coe,” Meg said.
“And tied for first-”
Meg didn’t let him finish, snatching the paper scorecard out of his hand, “You’re a dirty cheater, Tyler C.oe, let me see that.”
Tyler leaned over her shoulder, a warm hand at her waist as he balanced himself, and she could practically feel him smirking while she checked his math. She frowned and shoved it roughly back in his hands when it all checked out. “I still think you rigged the game somehow,” she said.
“Well if you really want to give him a piece of your mind we have a whole segment for it. I think you know someone who can make sure your call gets in,” Mariel said.
“Or we could leave the wives at home and go out for a rematch game, some time next week,” Tyler asked his smile teasing but she thought his tone sounded hopeful.
“If you do, me and Ryan are just going to get together and gossip about how bad you both are in bed.”
“Sounds like fun, Ty, shame Mariel and Ryan won’t have anything to talk about,” Meg answered, already looking forward to this rematch.
When Tyler finished his laughing -- whether it was at Meg’s fake innocent smile or Mariel’s grumpy face she didn’t know -- he said, “Great, it’s a date
---
Meg’s plan was going perfectly and she couldn’t be more excited.
When Tyler had dropped her and Ryan back off at their place, after what she thought was a successful double date, he’d been practically holding hands with Mariel where their arms shared the center console.
Now the latest staff party had supplied her with the perfect step two. It wasn’t the step two she had actually planned, but every good plan left some room for improvisation -- and she was pretty sure that was her saying that and not the vodka filled drink Michael had put in her hand when she and Ryan had walked through the door.
She actually hadn’t expected Tyler or Mariel to be there. Their attendance at parties like this one was sporadic at best; but she’d spotted them both in a corner booth, talking to some people she recognized from broadcast, when she’d first walked through the door. Even from across the room she could see how Mariel had dressed up for the event, revealing more of the woman’s tan skin than Meg was used to seeing at work. Her staring was noticed, and after nudging Tyler, the two of them raised a glass in Meg’s direction with matching smiles that read as mysterious from across the bar.
She downed her drink, and grabbed Ryan’s arm so she could drag him over to the bar, Ryan wouldn’t drink but Meg had the sudden feeling that she was going to need several before the end of the night.
By the time the party had reached full swing, and several bottles of various alcohols had been finished off, she had been given an opportunity she never even thought possible. Michael, in all of his drunk glory, had found a large round table somewhere in the bar and was recruiting people for a game of spin the bottle.
“Isn’t that a little juvenile even for us?” Ryan said when Michael came over to ask them to join.
Michael shrugged but there was still something akin to annoyance on his face, “Do what you want Ry-bread, but there are too many attractive people at this company to let a chance like this slip by.”
Ryan looked down at Meg and she recognized the look on his face immediately it was the same look he gave her every time she suggested a new stunt for the show. A look that always hit at different points on a scale of cautious optimism and nervous resignation, at least now he seemed closer to optimistic.
She didn’t even need to come up with a reason for Mariel and Tyler to join, the two sat down a few seats over from Meg and Ryan only seconds after them. Tyler gave her a wry grin when they made eye contact, like they were sharing some inside joke the rest of the table wasn’t in on. Meg had to look away, down at her hands on the table, before the alcohol and Tyler’s effortless charm had her saying something she’d regret.
The realization that the two would need to split up if there was going to be any hope of one of them landing on the other made her look up again. Brown eyes were the first thing she saw when she looked back up, she’d locked eyes Mariel. There was a cocky confidence in the way Mariel downed her drink and winked at Meg that that made her drop her gaze again, glad that the alcohol flush already present on her cheeks made her blush unnoticeable.
Jon and Miles took the two seats between her and Tyler before she could work up the nerve to look up again.
“Oh Meg, you got Ryan to come to a party and to play,” Miles said, “you really are a miracle worker.”
She could see Ryan ready to retort when Michael shut everyone up with the dull thud of an empty bottle being placed in the center of the table. “We all went to middle school, we know how the game is played,” Michael said, taking the last empty seat between Lindsay and Gavin. “So who wants the first spin.”
The bottle sat in the center of the table unspun for just a second after Michael finished speaking -- everyone at the table staring at the empty container in a way that reminded Meg heavily of the awkwardness of middle school parties -- before Lindsay reached out and gave the bottle a hard spin.
The entire table tracked the open mouth of the bottle as it made each rotation before finally slowing to point at Gavin. The rest of the group sat back and waited, most watching, as Lindsay leaned across Michael to share a kiss with Gav, one that would set the tone for the rest of the game. They broke apart smiling and Lindsay sat back in her seat so Michael could take his spin.
“This looks familiar,” Barbara joked as the bottle came to a stop in front of Miles.
“Not everyone got the same show you did Barb,” Miles said, shaking his head at her as he leaned across the table to share a quick peck with Michael.
They went around the table like that. Next came Gavin, then Barb, Aaron, Chris, and Ashley, before finally it was Ryan’s turn.
Meg thought the tight draw of his lips and the crease between his eyebrows made him look nervous as he reached to spin the bottle in front of him, much too worried for someone who’d just been kissed by Ashley in her opinion.
As the careful flick of Ryan’s wrist sent the bottle spinning around the table full of their friends, Meg found herself watching it’s path a little more closely than she had with the others. Maybe it was because she was seeing Ryan, or maybe it was because there was a weird weight coming from this game and its outcome that she was pretty sure wasn’t just in her head.
As the bottle slowed to a stop the worried look on Ryan’s face didn’t change, and Meg followed the line of the bottle until her eyes landed on Tyler. If it were someone else she would almost describe the look on his face as eager, one arm already on the table extended so he could meet Ryan in the center. Ryan looked hesitant, but Meg had seen first hand how suspicious he could get over things like this -- it was something about working in the Achievement H.unter office that broke you. He was always waiting for the other shoe to drop even when the first one hadn’t fallen in the first place. A kick to the leg of Ryan’s chair got him standing enough that Tyler’s free hand could cup his jaw and pull him into a kiss.
It was a short kiss by all accounts but, even though she wasn’t a part of it, she thought it stretched longer than even those between long together couples. Tyler’s hand cupping Ryan’s face made it so Tyler was in control of when it ended, and she couldn’t help but think it might just be something about Ryan that made you want to take control of him. They parted seconds later and as Ryan sat back down Meg could hear the hitch to his breathing that she was so used to being the cause of.
She didn’t have time to think about that, it was her turn now. The bottle spun faster than it had all night as she gave it a hard twist. Meg wasn’t sure if she knew who she wanted it to land on, or even if she cared at all, but she was certainly surprised when it came to rest in nearly the exact same spot it had just left.
Tyler looked surprised, but pleased, as he stood again, Meg rose to meet him. Their distance and height made her certain before they had even met that there would be something off about the angle, but to move from their spot would feel too much like breaking an unspoken rule.
He cupped her cheek, much the same way he had Ryan’s, and his hand was warm and calloused in a way it didn’t get from playing videogames for a living. She could almost imagine the way hands like that could feel on other places on her body, and the gentle tug forward to finally connect their lips distracted her from any guilt she could have at the thought.
His lips were warm and soft against hers, their gentle movement with hers almost enough to distract her from the bite of the table into her hips. The scrape of his beard on her face helped make an already good kiss great, she always liked the weeks Ryan let his grow out for that same reason.
She almost felt sad as they broke apart, Tyler pulling away from her and only the hand still cupping her cheek kept her from chasing his lips. She sat down as he took his hand back, his smile shy as he looked at her and Ryan. It was Miles’ turn.
Miles spun and then Jon after, and their trip around the table had almost finished, there were only two people left and they were the only two spins Meg really cared about.
A firm hand wrapped around the bottle’s base and gave it a spin. Meg watched Tyler and not the bottle this time, watching his eyes move as they tracked it instead, she wanted to see his face when it landed on someone. The bottle stopped and instead of the emotions she expected to see -- disappointment, excitement -- she saw surprise, enough that he let out a startled laugh as he stood up again.
Meg’s eyes dropped to the bottle to see Ryan, it was pointing back at Ryan.
“I’m starting to think this game is rigged,” Jon groused, Tyler and Ryan already meeting in the center of the table in front of him.
“Little jealous, are we, Jon?” Miles asked.
“Of who? Ryan or Tyler?”
Miles shrugged, “Either answer’s right.”
Tyler and Ryan broke apart at that, both giggling a little at Miles’ joke, but Meg could see the pink high on Ryan’s cheeks and knew there was something going on in his head that they would need to talk about.
Now it was the last spin, and Meg realized she didn’t really have a plan no matter what the outcome. If Mariel landed on Tyler they would kiss much like everyone else at the table, and if it didn’t she would kiss someone else and the game would still be over. At least if Mariel landed on Tyler Meg could try to convince her that dating him would mean she could kiss him whenever she wanted -- it was an argument that drunk Meg was certainly finding compelling.
Mariel’s hand was on the bottle when Tyler leaned over and whispered something to her that went unheard by Meg thanks to the loud din of the bar -- but she could hear drunk Burnie shouting about something with Joel. Mariel was smiling even as she used her free hand to shove Tyler away from her.
Meg was sure the bottle only went around the table once before it stopped in front of Ryan.
She didn’t seem disappointed but there was a slight pout to her face, like she thought she would have a slightly different outcome, and she pushed Tyler away again before he could say whatever comment he had that went with the smirk on his face.
“I’m not leaning across this table, Ryan, come over here.”
There was something about Mariel that made you want to do what she told you -- the same something that made Meg want to do the opposite to see what she would do. It was that same something that had Ryan leaving his chair and walking over to her.
She didn’t stand up to meet him. When Ryan was close enough Mariel tangled her hand in the front of his shirt and tugged him down until he met her. There was something hard and aggressive about it, that Meg could imagine would leave Ryan, or anyone else, breathless. She wondered if there was any softness to it or if, much like the woman herself, the sweetness was something you had to build to.
She let Ryan go and he sat back down in his seat looking wrecked. Meg knew what jealously felt like and this feeling in her chest was much too wistful.
“So who wants to grab a new drink and go another round,” Meg asked. She was no longer sure what she wanted to get from this game, but she knew she needed another drink and another chance to see where her spin might land.
Most of the group returned to their round table with fresh drinks, though there was a hole or two -- most notably Chris and Aaron who probably didn’t want to risk landing on one another again despite Barbara’s jokes about future Social Disorder episodes.
Lindsay grabbed the middle of the bottle and gave it a spin, once it seemed like everyone who was playing had returned, and the game started again.
Meg nursed her drink as the game went around her, she laughed along with the jokes being told and kissed Barb when the bottle pointed at her -- responded with the correct gesture at the joking cat calls from the drunker of her male friends. Her mind, however, was somewhere else. She couldn’t help but remember how it felt when Tyler was kissing her and imagine how it must have felt for Ryan to kiss Mariel.
They were a dangerous kind of thoughts, not those of a woman trying to play matchmaker for the two parties involved. She could all but see what a pretty picture the two of them would make together. It created a complicated mix of emotions for her, emotions she would attribute to vodka until someone else could determine otherwise.
If she put a little something extra into her kiss with Ryan when his spin landed on her, well that had nothing to do with any feelings of guilt she wasn’t having.
Her own spin left her staring up at the woman she’d just been thinking of. At least now she’d get an answer.
Mariel had made Ryan come meet her, but she must have decided Meg was close enough. She was already standing and leaning across the table, hand outstretched toward Meg.
There was a bite of the table against her skin and the nip of Mariel’s teeth on her lower lip. It was hard and rough and she could feel the hand fisted in her blouse pulling her closer.
She doubted she looked as unaffected as Mariel did when she sat back down, shirt untucked from her skirt and lipstick mussed, breathing a little harder than she should.
She thought she might get a second to gather herself again before Tyler and Mariel got their spins -- and they inexplicably found a way to land on her and Ryan again. But Miles had barely spun before he was grabbing Jon by the hand and excusing them both.
“C’mon,” Michael said, “they couldn’t decide they wanted to fuck in the bathroom between rounds, or wait out the last three people.”
They were all still laughing when Tyler spun, and Meg’s laugh died in her throat as it once again pointed at her. At least she could be sure she remembered the feeling of his hand on her, and his lips on her, and that surprising softness to him. At least this made her and Ryan pretty even now, it wouldn’t be weird for them to go back home and talk about this, communication was one of the stronger point in their relationship.
Tyler leaned over to say something to Mariel, once he’d pulled away from Meg once more, and though she still couldn’t hear what he said the gesture Mariel made in response did nothing to clear things up.
She was pretty sure none of them knew what to do, when Mariel’s spin was pointing into the empty space where Jon and Miles had once been sitting. “It’s between Meg and Tyler, I think that means they both go,” Lindsay announced, their sudden rule keeper of the night.
“You two go,” Meg said, to distract from the sudden panic she was feeling at the two of them watching her like she was prey, “I’ll just be an impartial observer.”
She wasn’t sure if she was pleased or distraught at how right she was about how the two of them looked together. Tyler’s gentleness as he cradled Mariel’s face to fix the angle of their kiss. Mariel’s hands fisted roughly in the front of his shirt to keep him close. Pleased or distraught, she at least knew for sure she was excited.
Mariel pushed Tyler away when she was done, and Meg wanted to pretend that the look they shared was one that held some sort of promise, if they at least went home together at the end of the night she could pretend that this matchmaking thing wasn’t a complete bust. All of this before half-lidded eyes were turned on her, “You’re turn Meg.”
The kiss was softer this time, like Mariel could see the panic in Meg’s face and this was her attempt to not scare her away. Her hand was heavy on Meg’s shoulder, making sure to hold her in place until Mariel was finished with her. This gentler side was almost worse than the alternative, conjuring thoughts of sleepy Sundays while cuddled on couches that she shouldn’t be having about Mariel at all, let alone in the bar.
When Mariel finally let go of her, Meg sat back down feeling much more conflicted than she had before. She had started this as a way to see two of her friends happy, and now she wasn’t sure what she was doing anymore. Maybe she should have gone into all of this with a little more caution, or a better plan.
Afterall, playing with matches a girl can get burned. She just hoped it was her habit for melodrama that had her thinking that.
---
A series of long conversations with Ryan had at least helped settle her nerves by the end of the weekend.
It didn’t take a genius, or even someone who knew Ryan as well as she did, to see that he had been just as affected as she was by their impromptu game of spin the bottle. She had been a little worried about what that could mean for the two of them, but their relationship had always worked well because they talked to one another.
Nothing quite fixed a hangover like long talks about the potential for opening their relationship.
If they could manage to figure out what was going on with Mariel and Tyler’s relationship, that is. Meg would go to her grave insisting that there was still the potential for something there, and the longer she tried to make it happen it seemed like they might be the ones to drive her into that grave.
It was strange though, she thought, that the longer she tried to set them up with each other the more it seemed like they wanted to get with her and Ryan. It was a ridiculous thought, why they would want to join her and Ryan when they couldn’t even sort out their own shit. Any flirting had to be in her own head, a byproduct of paying such close attention to the relationship she wanted to have happen.
She still wanted to give it a try, or she thought she did. She wasn’t sure how to feel.
Talking about it helped though, Ryan was always good at helping her organize her thoughts. Ryan helped her figure out the rest of her plan, she did still want Tyler and Mariel to at least address their feelings. He even listened as she gushed about the night before, adding details from his own experiences where they could be applied.
The longer they spent cuddled together talking about the two of them the more Meg wanted things to work out her way. She wanted to get RT’s cutest couple together and, if she could manage it, she wanted to give Michael, Gavin, and Lindsay a run for their money for RT’s cutest polyamorous crew.
It was a work in progress, but talking to Ryan helped her feel less stressed.
It meant she could record another episode of the Broad-cast for Barbara when Mariel was in the cast with her without a problem. Mostly without a problem. She had a feeling there would be a few screen grabs floating around where she was staring dreamily at Mariel, but after a full season of Free P.lay they probably wouldn’t be the first.
“Before we get to the other questions I pulled for today’s episode I thought we’d get this one out of the way early, since it’s been asked before,” Barbara said after they went around introducing themselves.
“If it’s been answered already why the hell are we answering it again?” Meg asked. She didn’t think she could really be upset, depending on the question, when she and Mariel were doing the same bit from the holiday podcast. Mariel had surprised her by changing into one of Meg’s Heart You shirts and a skirt that matched Meg’s own, though she was certain that her’s was much longer than the one Mariel had on, there was a lot of the tan skin of Mariel’s thighs on display.
“Because of all the questions I got this week, this made up half of them, thought we could just get it out of the way early.”
“Is it about our worst gifts, cause I have an answer for that one,” Lindsay said.
“From user Tyriel_5ever,” Barb read, “when are Mariel and Tyler going to date for real?”
Meg was watching Mariel’s face carefully after the question was asked, she saw the heavy sigh before Mariel smiled and rolled her eyes for the sake of the camera. “We are dating, have been for weeks, months. Just ask Meg she’s been doubling with us.”
When the attention shifted to Meg she played along, laughing along with the rest of the group. “For sure, we went mini golfing. You don’t mini golf with someone unless you’re serious about them.”
Mariel nodded like that settled things, and shoved at Meg’s shoulder from the opposite bean bag, “Show the pictures, I moved the best ones to an album.”
Meg was surprised. She hadn’t noticed that Mariel had saved her pictures, as much as she liked taking them she didn’t go back through them very often. She let the conversation continue around them while she scrolled through the “Date Night” album Mariel had created. They were all good, most of them Meg didn’t remember taking, though the couple she featured in were probably taken when Ryan had stolen her phone.
She found a picture where Tyler was standing closer to Mariel than Meg remembered him ever being. His hand on her waist and his mouth by her ear as he whispered something to her, she did remember the sound of Mariel’s laugh after whatever he’d said. It did look unquestionably coupley, and after Mariel’s approval she sent it to Patrick to put up.
Meg was a little captivated by the rest of the album.
The picture she had sent to Patrick had been focused on Mariel and Tyler, but while the two had been standing close together they were both looking off camera, where she remembered Ryan had been standing just out of frame.
There was the selfie she’d made Mariel take with her, Meg with her tongue sticking out and Mariel striking a dramatic pose, that had had them all laughing after the picture had been taken. Meg was realizing now that it had been a lot easier to talk Mariel into taking it with her than she thought it would.
Mariel and Ryan leaning against each other, bored, while Tyler and Meg had been arguing. A picture Mariel must have taken, based on the angle, Mariel’s annoyed expression much better than Ryan’s.
Meg and Tyler standing with their faces much too close together as they were arguing on another hole, a smirk tugging at Tyler’s face and even Meg thought she looked a lot less angry than she remembered being.
Ryan and Tyler each making a silly face at her camera, their own poor attempt at a selfie that she found strangely adorable. Tyler had managed to give himself an extra two chins while Ryan gave the camera his wide, open mouthed grin, his eyes squeezed shut.
The last one she remembered at least, remembered flagging down someone who looked like they would take a decent picture, the four of them lined up outside of the mini golf course. She and Mariel standing in the center, each with an arm around the other’s waist, while Ryan and Tyler had their arms wrapped around their other side.
Meg made that one her background, and didn’t think much more about it, trying to become a more active guest on the podcast.
When the hour was up Meg went back to her desk, trying really hard not to over analyze the annoyed expression that had been on Mariel’s face when her relationship with Tyler had once again been considered fake. She had a story to work on, she didn’t have time to worry about anything else. But she still found herself back in Stage 5 much sooner than she expected, needing to ask someone a question about the filming schedule for the week.
She had already opened her mouth, ready to shout for whoever would answer her question, when she saw Mariel and Tyler. They had obviously just finished resetting the set for the live broadcast later that day, and they’d moved to the side of the set. She stopped where she was at, trying not to make a sound as her mouth still hung open. She wasn’t trying to eavesdrop or spy but she also didn’t want to scare them away.
Mariel was standing close to Tyler, her hand curled gently in the front of his henley, as she was telling him something Meg was too far away to hear. Mariel laughed at whatever he said in response, her grip on his shirt pulling him closer, his smile soft and blindingly in love as he looked at her. That marked the end of whatever conversation they were having, and Meg was glad she’d caught the end of it as she watched them part. Tyler pressed a small, almost thoughtless kiss to the corner of Mariel’s mouth, the kind of kiss that a couple who has been together for ages shares so naturally after standing so close to one another.
She realized that for once, Tyler and Mariel didn’t know they had an audience. That they weren’t acting for anyone other than themselves. That changed things.
---
She couldn’t wait to tell Ryan what she had seen.
She was ready to burst as she left Stage 5, she hadn’t even bothered to find out the answer to her question, she just had to go.
She'd stormed into the Achievement H.unter office, ignoring their recording light as she ran in. She was pretty sure that she'd shouted to Geoff that she would bring Ryan back soon. They were only filming AHWU, Ryan wasn't even in that show if he could help it.
“Mariel and Tyler are dating!” The words were pushing and shoving in their haste to leave her mouth, they had barely closed the office door behind them before they tumbled out.
“Mission accomplished then?” His eyes darted like he was waiting for an ambush and his hand fidgeted like he wasn’t sure if he should put it on her shoulder to comfort her.
“No, Rye-Rye, you don't get it, I think they've really been dating the whole time.”
She let him have the second he needed to stare blankly at her as he tried to figure out how he was supposed to respond.
“Which means they’ve been doing all this with us because they like spending time with us,” she prompted trying to speed his realization along
“So?” She waited a second, knew he would get there himself eventually, “Oh!”
“Yeah, oh.”
She saw when he started to get shy, when he started to curl in on himself because he was worried about getting too excited for something that would get yanked away from him. He kicked at the ground in front of him with the toe of his shoe, “So what are we going to do?” he asked, like they hadn’t spent several hours discussing just that this past weekend. Like he didn’t already know exactly what she wanted to do about this.
“Same thing we were doing before Ry, just leave it to me, I’ve got just the plan.”
She had a skip back in her step when she left Ryan to get back to work, humming under her breath as she went.
---
Meg wanted to launch into this new plan right away. She didn’t have the patience to wait when she was so sure things were going to go her way, but knew if she went straight from talking to Ryan into her plan she would mess things up. She was too excited, too nervous, and it was obvious in her anxious energy as she bounced around the office. So she finished up the story she had started before going to Stage 5, and then running off to find Ryan, and she let Ashley grab her to record for the Know, before she put anything new into action.
At the end of the workday she found herself back where she had been when this whole plan had started, the doorframe of Tyler’s tiny office.
“Hey Ty-Ty, you and Mar are gonna watch the game this weekend, right?” she asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.
“We were thinking about it,” he said, spinning in his chair to face her.
“Well it’s my alma mater playing,” she said, finding nonchalance hard under the weight of Tyler’s wide smile, “so Ry and I are going to be watching for once. You two should come over and watch it with us.”
“You sure, we wouldn’t want to intrude-”
“Whatever excuse you’re about to make is stupid and I don’t want to hear it. You know when the game starts, bring beer when you come.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Maybe it was because his response was so glib, but Meg couldn’t help but dip down and press a feather light kiss to his temple. If she was reading the situation wrong, she hoped it would just seem like she was being her usual touchy self. If she was reading it right, well, “Great, it’s a date.”
---
She was still getting ready when Mariel and Tyler came knocking on their door. She knew she didn’t have to tell Ryan to get it, though they were both used to their friends just walking in. She wondered if that was Tyler’s southern charm shining through, she didn’t think Mariel would have a problem just walking into their house. She could hear them moving through the house, from the front door to the living room where their large TV already had the pre-game show playing. She couldn’t quite hear what they were saying from her bedroom, but she could hear the low rumble of Tyler’s voice and Ryan’s lilting chuckle.
She’d always planned on Tyler wanting to watch the game, even before she’d asked him over, back when this was originally a step in her plan to get him and Mariel together. Watching the game wasn’t a problem, she always tried to catch at least one her alma mater played, and from what she knew about sports this was a pretty important one. It just meant she had to arrange things carefully so Tyler could watch the game and she could have her fun.
Ryan hadn’t minded too much when they’d gotten home and she’d made him rearrange the furniture.
After she finally admitted that she couldn’t hide in her bedroom any longer, she snagged a beer from the six pack on the counter in her kitchen, she was a little surprised that Tyler had actually brought it with him. She made her way to the living room, finally able to make out what the three of them had been talking about without her
“They really do have a chance to take it all this year,” Tyler said, “their defense is better than it’s been in years, their offense could use some work but it’s early in the season.”
“You know they’re gonna lose since you said that, right?” Mariel pointed out. Meg could all but see the smirk on her face as she said it.
“The damn curse isn’t real.”
“We’ll see at the end of the game.”
Ryan for his part was nodding along, she knew he didn’t really care what came out of this game, or who the winner was anyway, he did have some opinions on how he’d like things to end. He was always very agreeable to those he wanted to impress, he probably would have nodded along to anything Tyler said, not that she could really see Ryan or his nodding with Mariel sitting in his lap.
“Hey, that’s my seat,” she teased, poking Mariel’s shoulder as she passed so the other woman would look up at her.
“Yours looked more comfortable,” Mariel said with a shrug, Meg didn’t miss how she wiggled farther into Ryan’s lap or the way Ryan stilled her with two large hands on her hips. “You can take my seat.”
Tyler grinned at her, eyes darting away from the start of the game for just a minute so he could quirk an eyebrow at her. She slid into his lap slowly, giving Tyler enough time to stop her if she was crossing a line. He kept his arms spread wide across the back of the small couch and it was like he was inviting her to take a seat in his lap. And, she doubted Mariel had worried too much before joining Ryan.
That’s why she didn’t worry as much about turning to lean against the armrest of the couch and throwing her feet into Mariel’s lap so she could sit more comfortably. Even as Mariel rolled her eyes she’d grabbed Meg’s ankle to make sure her legs stayed where they were supposed to.
They stayed like that: Mariel with her hand on Meg’s ankle, occasionally drawing nonsensical patterns with her finger on the skin there; Tyler had moved one arm from the back of their couch to wrap around her waist to keep her in his lap, his grip would tighten when the game would get tense; Ryan with his hand in hers because she’d stolen it from the back of the couch.
It was comfortable, warm and cozy.The four of them watched the game in an easy silence with only the occasional outburst if one of them got worked up about a particularly bad play or call.
By halftime it seemed like Tyler was right and he hadn’t cursed the team, a fact he was eagerly relaying to his legion of Sportsball followers on twitter. “Are you really tweeting about the game, you’re on a date,” Mariel said.
“It doesn’t usually bother you, honey,” Tyler said. His chin was hooked over Meg’s shoulder and his eyes were on his phone, she could watch him scrolling through his feed where it was sitting in her lap.
Mariel rolled her eyes, looking up at Ryan like she couldn’t believe Tyler didn’t get it and wanted to get him on her side. “I have to put up with you all the time, Meg and Ryan aren’t as used to it.”
Tyler must have looked suitably chastised when he set his phone down, Meg thought Mariel looked pleased when he did. “Is this a date?” he asked, “We were just doubling, was startin’ to think we were gonna have to do something drastic.”
“Tyler ‘Meg and Ryan date me’ Coe?” Mariel teased.
“Yeah, you were a master of subtlety on the Broad-cast. ‘Oh Meg we match. Look how cute we are.’”
“At least I didn’t change Gavin’s title to Polyamory Pursuer,” she snarked back.
Meg found it funny how quick the two of them were to snip at each other like this, but things stayed light between the two of them. It was like any other argument between couples when both of them knew it was a stupid argument to be having in the first place, only it was about Meg and Ryan.
“Ryan’s the one who started talking about it in the first place, and you were in the booth, you know Michael didn’t come up with a title ahead of time.”
“This is a date,” Meg chimed before they could get much farther from that subject, “if you want it to be.”
“If we say yes, do we have to start letting you win on Free P.lay,” Mariel asked.
“When has anyone ever let me win,” Meg whined, “Ryan’s the one who always gets it easy.”
“I get it easy! You pick on me all the time!” Ryan said.
“What! You win at internet show-and-tell and you win the stunts,” Meg said.
“I don’t win all the time.”
“Oh yeah that’s right, you only win when you give your competition a head injury,” Meg said, pulling out her favorite trump card.
She expected a response, Ryan usually had some quip at the ready, it made his silence almost surprising. It was less surprising when she shifted in Tyler’s lap as he leaned sideways and she felt the quick press of Mariel’s lips on hers.
“Game’s back on,” Tyler announced, as they all settled back into their spots. Meg smiling softly and Ryan’s ears pink.
“That might be my new favorite way to shut you two up,” Mariel said.
Meg thought it might be one of her favorite way to be shut up.
As the watched the game, Meg thought about just what had gotten her here. She’d just wanted something to do, and playing matchmaker had seemed like a good way to spend her spare time and a better way of making her friends happy.
Now, well, she was pretty damn sure she’d made her friends happy. She was feeling pretty pleased herself. Now she was thinking it was time for matchmaker Meg to retire. She had had her fun playing Emma, and now it was time to enjoy what she had achieved.
