#sorbetshark

[sunnyfaller]

Sorbet Shark Cookie my beloved

[f0rgetf0rgetting]

Dibujitos de Sorbet Shark xq soy joto.

Drawings of Sorbet Shark because I’m gay.

[wavemaker9]

Sometimes you intend to write a (late) short toni/mel fic for Day 2 - Language and it ends up being long and 50% about carmen having no chill

Title: Judgy Characters: (Human AU) Spain (Antonio), 2P!Nyo!America(Amelia), Nyo!Spain (Carmen)

Antonio sees her first, sitting up a bit in his chair and lifting a hand in a wave, trying to get the American’s attention. “Amelia!” he calls out, nodding when he sees her wave back and then gesture to the counter, indicating her intent to grab a coffee before sitting down.

The action gets the attention from the other woman already seated at the table, and Carmen turns quickly to get a look at the third. She glances over the other for only a handful of seconds before she turns back and frowns at Antonio. “That’s her?" she asks, speaking in a low voice.  She sticks to Spanish instead of the English used by the other customers around them, both for secrecy and out of habit. "Really?” It’s Antonio’s surprised look at her reaction that further dips the corners of her lips, and she sighs heavily, allowing her weight to shift slightly to lean on one of her elbows a little harder than the other. “Don’t look at me like that, Toño. You’re seriously impressed by her?”

Antonio nods, a little indignantly, and confirms he is, and she would be too if she knew how to give anyone a chance. It’s his turn to roll his eyes a bit when he gets the response back that she does, but that it isn’t her fault if no one can meet her expectations. “As impossibly great as they are,” he says back in the same language. His words are spoken in the manner of a breath, quiet and soft, only loud enough for her to hear.

She shrugs in defense, countering it’s not a bad thing to have standards, offering he should try it as well some time. She even notes that, when they first met after she’d moved to the city, she saw that he had high expectations in others, as well, so it’s such a shame to see him losing them with the dates he’s finding now.

This time when he rolls his eyes, it’s not a slight thing. He exaggerates the action a little, leaning back in his seat with a scoffing breath. “I’m not; Amelia’s a wonderful woman!” He seems to catch himself as it suddenly occurs to him that his voice might have been a bit louder than truly intended there. He casts a glance around to be sure no one’s paying attention, even if the chances of him being understood are low. He can see Amelia look over as she collects her coffee and pastry, focus apparently caught at hearing his voice raise above the chatter of the other customers. He gives a small wave to her, hoping to pacify her curiosity, and then turns back to the other, lowering his voice again. “She’s a good, clever woman, and you would like her if you weren’t so judgy.”

“If she were as great as you keep saying, I’d like her even if I were judgy,” Carmen counters back, then adds quickly, “which I’m not. I’m discerning, not ‘judgy’.” She ignores the less-than-convinced ‘mmhmm’ her friend gives back to her.

Instead, she turns to flash a pleasant smile at Amelia as the redhead approaches and carefully sets her items down on the table before starting to sit in the chair to the side of the pair. Across from Carmen, Antonio moves swiftly to his feet upon noticing Amelia’s arrival, standing until Amelia sits and then returning to his seat as she slides her chair in.

“I thought I told you that you don’t have to do that,” Amelia points out, herself speaking in English. The pleasant smile on her face and the teasing tone of her voice makes it clear she’s not upset by the action, though. “I mean, not that I don’t appreciate it, but you don’t have to worry about that.”

Antonio matches the smile with a practiced ease, and matches the language as well when he counters back a little playfully that she did say that, but it wasn’t that he had to do anything. “I wanted to do it, nothing more than that.”

Carmen flashes him an amused smirk and teases under her breath to him, still in Spanish, “Always the charmer, eh, Toño?”

Antonio’s eyes widen just a touch for a second before thinning instead as he swings his gaze to her. He shoots her a look that both of them have gotten very good at giving each other, reserved specifically to respond to the sly comments they sometimes manage to fit into conversations at the other’s expense. “You’re mixing up charmer and charming, my friend,” he whispers back to her in the language.

“Ah, not me,” she says back immediately, barely slow enough for him to make it out, before turning her attention back to Amelia, who’s staring between the two of them as they talk. Carmen reads it without a second thought as bemusement over the two bickering in some unexpected gibberish to her. “Sorry about that,” she speaks up in English with a clearer voice, lifting a hand and offering it to the other to shake. She grips Amelia’s hand tightly, although is a little surprised by how firm the handshake is made in return, though not letting it show on her face. “Since Antonio apparently don’t know how to be polite, lemme introduce myself. I’m Carmen.” She resists the urge to let her smirk widen as she catches another look shot across the table.

Still in Spanish, he mumbles, “I’m gonna fucking fight you,” under his breath at her, though his tone is almost playful sing-song in quality, signifying the true emptiness of the threat.

In an equally playful warning, Carmen shoots back, “You’d lose~.”

Amelia speaks up abruptly, maintaining a smile as she gives a final shake to Carmen’s hand to draw her attention back. “Mel. It’s nice to meet you,” she declares, switching the conversation back to English again, before freeing her hand and moving it to reach for her cup of coffee. As she lifts it up, she lets it rest at her lips, forming a little smirk as she asks if they do this a lot. “The back and forth bit? It’s kinda funny to watch.” Here she takes a sip, enjoying the heat of the drink before setting the cup back down.

“We were just stopping,” Antonio answers her, eyes locking onto Carmen, warning for only a second before letting his expression soften as he turns back to look at Amelia. “Sorry, we just spend most of our time together speaking in Spanish. It let Carmen keep using it like she wanted after she moved here and it was good for me too, y’know? Before I met her, the only other person in town that I knew who was really fluent in it was my aunt.” He gives a faint chuckle, lifting a hand to rub at the back of his neck a little. “Didn't mean to ignore you or nothing, though; it’s just easier for us so we usually fall back to it. We’ll stick to English, though.”

Amelia waves off the worry, admitting she completely understands. For Antonio, it’s a reminder to a conversation that’d briefly come up between them, but for Carmen, it’s an explanation as Amelia says that, coming from a family of kids originating from all over the place, she definitely gets how nice it can be to find someone who can speak the same language you can.

Antonio nods and gives a soft word of thanks for her not being too upset by the behavior that could easily come across as rude. There’s a beat or so before he adds on with the rushed quality of having just remembered something, “And also for being able to stop by today.” He cuts off a response from her of it not being a big deal, emphasizing that it is to him. “I know you said you were busy, but I appreciate you stopping even for a little bit, and Carmen does, too.”

It’s as Antonio is gesturing to her that Carmen gives a muttered, “Speak for yourself,” though she keeps it in Spanish as an added layer of security just in case she’s not quite as quiet as she means to be.  

Immediately, the other ex-Spaniard’s eyes fall back to her again, looking as if she’d just reached across the table and pushed his drink into his lap. “What the fuck are you talking about?” he asks, forgetting his previous promise to stay in English as he leans across the table slightly to half-whisper in the other language to Carmen, “You said you wanted to meet her. I asked her to come meet us today because of you.”

Carmen shrugs her shoulders slightly, before reaching for her own coffee. “And now I’ve met her. Toño, you went on and on about her in such wild exaggerations-.” She manages to catch a mumbled comment from the other, insisting the comments he made hadn’t been exaggerations, but she only continues unfazed by the defense. “You say that, yet I come here and just confirm my suspicions.” When he starts to tilt his head and lift an eyebrow at her, she reminds him, “Remember your poor standards?”

“Judgy,” Antonio grumbles.

“Discerning,” Carmen corrects.

Antonio is fighting the urge to throw up his hands at her stubbornness. Instead, he lifts one of them to gesture abruptly in Amelia’s direction. “Will you just talk to her for fuck’s sake?” he asks. “It’s the least you can-.” There he catches himself again, remembering Amelia’s presence next to him and turning back to her with an apologetic smile. The good news is that she seems to be trying not to laugh watching the two, which at least implies she’s still not offended by all of this. He still worries that this can’t be a good impression when they haven’t been dating for a very long amount of time. They’re starting to get more comfortable with each other, sure, but if a newer significant other of his kept whisper-shouting in a language he didn’t know while gesturing at him, he’d at the very least be concerned.  

“Don’t worry about me,” Amelia reassures back in English, prying a piece off of the baked good on her plate and lifting it. “Please, finish your conversation.” She pops the bite into her mouth, smiling at Antonio around it. “I’m really- I promise, I’m just fine.”

Carmen can see the hint of worry passing over Antonio at his girlfriend’s reaction, and so she decides to show the other a little mercy. What are friends for, after all? Speaking up again and, thankfully for Antonio, following the other’s lead of using English again, she says, “No, we’re sorry, this meeting was supposed to be about you.” She reaches forward to set her hands on the table, letting the words hang for just a moment, before she continues with a nod toward Antonio, though still keeping most of her attention on Amelia. “I was just curious to meet the person that my friend seemed so enamored by, y’know? He said you two met here, right?” Carmen rests her elbows on the table then, lifting hands up so that she can set her chin on the fingers as they interlock. “I’d love to hear the story.”

Antonio starts to speak up, pointing out that he already mentioned it to her before, but Carmen briefly shifts her gaze onto him without turning her head, pointing out, now in English, that he’ll sometimes exaggerate when telling a tale, picking the words that sound best for what he wants to say, not necessarily for what actually happened.

“I want to hear how a normal person tells the story,” she teases again, resisting the urge to break out a wider grin when she can hear a couple curses strung together to build an insult, muttered at her in Spanish under his breath.

Amelia resists another smile as well, watching Antonio further grumble and cross his arms for a moment. It only last for a moment, though, before Antonio seems to push the sour reaction aside to put on a smile as he turns to Amelia again. When both sets of eyes are on her, she resigns to telling the story, even if she doesn’t think there’s particularly a lot to tell. “I don’t know, I mean, it wasn’t anything too special or anything. I’d just had a bad day and had stopped by for a much-needed coffee, which ended up spilled all over my shirt when we bumped into each other-.”

Antonio pipes up to say, “Which I apologized for,” which gets another wave of a hand and a shushing sound from Carmen. He knows he shouldn’t, but the instinct to shove at her with his foot from under the table is definitely still tempting.

Amelia chuckles again, nodding in confirmation of his defense. “You did, you did. And buying me another drink and then letting me vent at you when you saw how stressed I was was very sweet, too.” She turns back to Carmen then, adding that they’d talked for a bit, then happened to run into each other at the shop a few more times after that, before Antonio had ended up asking her out on an actual date.

Carmen’s eyes are already back on Antonio though, smirking at him again. She makes a drawn out hum of a noise, one that already has Antonio preparing for some comment on the details. Sure enough, in Spanish she makes a low comment at the other, pointing out that he’d never said that he let her vent at him. “You really must have been smitten, huh?”

Without even thinking, he’s switching into the same language once more. “I was being nice,” he shoots back instinctively, his body leaning forward a little and nodding at the other. “Maybe you should try it some time, too?” His lip pulls up into the hint of a sharp smirk, offering it could do wonders.

Carmen lets out a sharp laugh, before dismissively insisting that she is nice when she wants to be, just like he is. “Apparently unlike you, though, I don’t act like it’s a chivalrous act to let a woman I barely know complain at me for an afternoon just to get her number.”

“It wasn’t to get her number!” Antonio snaps back immediately, his voice momentarily rising again, smile dropping back down into an pseudo-offended frown at the very suggestion. He doesn’t catch himself enough this time to think about looking around to see who might have noticed his slight outburst again. There are very few at other tables who seem to notice for a second, none of which seem to be able to follow in the foreign language enough to keep paying attention. At the table, though, Amelia keeps watching the two as they slip back into their back-and-forth argument yet again, finding herself once more struggling not to break out into laughter.

Luckily for Antonio, his voice naturally falls back to a normal speaking tone as he continues his defense. “She’d had a bad day and I made it worse so I wanted to help. Besides, we started talking about other topics within a few minutes. You’re making it sound like we sat at a table for an hour with only her talking about how shitty her day was.” He shakes his head slightly, releasing a deep breath. “Not that it’s any of your business what we talk about anyway. I only brought you so you’d get to see what she’s like. I ain’t asking you to judge who I date.”

Carmen’s face softens slightly, and though it’s intended to come across as understanding, the slight smile her face still wears has the expression coming across as more sympathetic in a pseudo-pitying way than anything else. “You know I only do it because I want what’s best for you, Toño. You have a lotta potential and I don’t want to see you waste it all on someone who ain’t worth your time.”

There’s a part of Antonio who regrettably understands that reasoning. He’s been guilty of making similar arguments to people he knew who he felt weren’t quite living up to all he thought they could surely be, warning the occasional slacking or aimless acquaintance that maybe they were missing out by not having some kind of goal to work toward. But still, his pride can sometimes lead to him being a bit hypocritical, so when he hears such an excuse said to him, it only gets him to frown further in almost defiance. “I can manage my own potential just fine, Carmen. You know me.”

“I do, but-.”

“And besides, right now I believe that Amelia is what’s best for me. She’s the best person I’ve ever met and you sh-.”

A surprised ‘aw’ noise comes up from the side of the table, before Amelia leans in a little and puts a hand on Antonio’s arm to get his attention. Her expression has switched from complete amusement at the whole situation to something a bit more touched, and she asks, in perfect Spanish, “Is that really true, Antonio? You think I’m that great?”

He turns to her with an expression almost seeming confused that she could doubt him on that, nodding practically immediately. “Of course, Amelia,” he responds, carrying on in Spanish without thinking about it. The same as he’s been doing through most of the conversation, really, even if it’s to a different person now. “I think you-,” and there is when he stops for a half second as the words she said fully click in his mind. He looks over to Carmen, as if for validation that it’s not just him that heard that. He sees that her eyes have widened a touch in surprise- not to mention embarrassment -as well, and she’s turned to look back at him, as if trying to size up if he really didn’t know, before they both turn their eyes back to Amelia. Slowly, Antonio changes the ending of that sentence, “...are speaking in Spanish right now.”

Amelia shows a small smile, one that doesn’t seem based in guilt exactly, but still acknowledges that this probably won’t be able to be swept away as a neat new fact to be brought up and then moved past. It’s not helped by the fact that Antonio’s expression is surprisingly hard to read to her in the moment, seemingly caught somewhere between a vague sense betrayal and an amusement of his own. Maintaining the switch to Spanish, she questions, “I didn’t tell you exactly which languages were spoken in my family before, huh?”

After a beat, he shakes his head, answering simply, “No. No, you didn’t.”

Her smile grows a little wider and she lifts her shoulders in a shrug-like gesture. “Well,” she says, dragging the word out just a touch before continuing, “one of them might be Spanish.”

Here he laughs, mouth curling into a lingering smirk of a smile. He nods then, expression starting to slowly find itself in more of the amusement side of things. “I gathered,” he states, before letting out a long sigh. “Ah, you must think I’m an idiot,” he finally says.

“You must think I’m an asshole,” Carmen speaks up from her side of the table. She’s split her hands and turned them palms inward to rest her forehead against, face tilting down towards the table.

Antonio lets out a quick laugh, practically only for a second, before reaching across the table and teasingly nudging at one of the other brunette’s forearms. “Maybe this’ll at least teach you to be less judgy in the future.”

Carmen’s head snaps up slightly, locking thinning eyes onto him. “I’m going to fight you.”

Antonio’s smirk finally breaks out into a full grin. “You’d lose.”

Amelia grins, too, letting out another laugh and explaining that this is partly why she didn’t speak up about it earlier. That she didn’t mean to step too far on their privacy, but that the two’s playful arguing was kind of too hilarious to miss out on. “Sorry,” she starts to say, but then immediately corrects, “but since you two were talking about me half the time anyway, I’m not that sorry.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Carmen admits, lifting her head fully from where it’d been resting this time, and instead moving one of her hands to offer to Amelia again. “Just so you know, I was only giving you a hard time to give Toño a hard time,” she insists as Amelia, still smiling to show no ill will, accepts the hand shake. “And I gave him a hard time, but he’s honestly pretty great. I only fuck with him because that fact tends to mean his ego requires knocking down every so often.”

Antonio laughs once more, though this time it sounds noticeably a little more faked. He mutters some comment about his not being the only one, but chooses to leave it at that. Carmen considers responding, but figuring she’s apparently stuck her foot in her mouth enough today, instead pushes her chair back from the table. She thanks Amelia for stopping by to meet her, again apologizing for the bad first impression, but offering that she’ll end it now so that they can look forward to a better second impression. Amelia tries to protest, offering that she really isn’t mad. She didn’t take any of Carmen’s judgements harshly at all, finding them more genuinely amusing than anything.

Carmen gives a thankful smile, but still stands and starts to collect her purse. “I appreciate that, but really, I think it’s for the best. You may not be that upset, but Toño hates looking bad in front of people and our main form of affection is competition and taking shots at each other, so.” She flashes a smile to him as she swings her purse over her shoulder, though stops a step into her departure in order to turn back to Amelia.

She leans over and rests a hand gently on the redhead’s shoulder, leading her carefully to lean in as well to better hear what Carmen has to say. “Honestly, though? I can’t really be mad at you waiting for that reveal either. You got me- both of us, really -pretty good.” When given a response that that wasn’t really the intention, she lifts her other hand to wave off the words almost immediately. “Take the compliment, Mel. I mean, that’s the thing that’s got me actually starting to see what might have impressed Toño so much before. What can I say? We both find appeal in a good challenge.”

There’s a beat where Carmen’s foot shifts, as if she’s about to step away again, before she leans in further. Her voice lowers slightly, like a whisper, but still with just enough volume so she knows Antonio can hear. “In fact, if things don’t work out between you and Toño, maybe-?”

“Carmen,” Antonio finally speaks up, waiting until the other set of green eyes have fallen to him. He keeps the charming smile on his face, even if it's not quite fooling anybody present, and asks pleasantly, “Weren’t you going?”

Carmen’s shoulders shake as if in a laugh, even if no sound leaves her lips. She straightens herself back up to her full height, giving a quick nod to Antonio. She considers a simple word of goodbye, but instead spares one final comment to point out that she notices he didn’t stand up for her like he'd done with Amelia. With that and a final pat at Amelia’s shoulder, she turns and heads to the door, heels clicking on the wooden flooring as she leaves.

Antonio releases a breath after she’s gone, before turning back to Amelia. He considers switching back into English with the other’s departure, but if Amelia seems so comfortable with it, he really would like to stick with Spanish. “Sorry about her,” he offers. “I like having her as a friend but she can be…,” he trails off, letting a glance in the direction of the door she walked out of give him a few seconds to consider the diction he wants to use, “a lot.”

“She’s fine,” Amelia counters with an easy shrug, turning her chair slightly to face more towards Antonio. “Almost half the people on earth have a friend like that and the other half probably are a friend like that. You really don’t have to worry about it.” She reaches for her coffee again, but just curls her fingers around the cardboard for the moment. “Besides, the most harsh things she said were just not being impressed by me, which I guess she’s flipped on?” She slightly raises her eyebrow at Antonio as she lifts her cup to her lips then. It’s a small gesture to ask for a correction if he, knowing the other woman better, might feel like Carmen had just been being nice after caught.

He nods, though, confirming aloud that he suspects she was being sincere. “She wasn’t wrong when she said she liked a challenge.” He chuckles, admitting with a shrug and a tilting of his head that he sometimes chalks that up as the reason for the majority of her behavior.

Amelia lets a moment or so of silence pass as she finishes her drink, before setting it down and turning her attention back to Antonio with another raise of an eyebrow. “So was she wrong about it for you?” She can see just a flash of an initial reaction, a smirk that twitched to his lips for a second as his eyes glanced to the side, before he’s shaking his head in rejection.

“Ah, y’know me, I don’t-.”

Amelia cuts him off with a skeptical humming noise, shaking her own head slightly. “See, I’m beginning to suspect maybe I don’t?” She keeps her voice still light, so as not to sound critical or accusatory in her statement, but she turns her head slightly, thinning the closer eye and teasingly sizing him up.

His shoulders sink a little and he rolls his head to the side, showing the hint of a grimace. “The things Carmen said about me were-.”

“I don’t care what Carmen said,” Amelia counters, though a moment later she nods as if considering her words and acknowledging the error in them. “I mean, I do care a little. Her talking about you going ‘on and on’ about how much you like me is very sweet.” She puts a finger up to warn him to wait as she sees a smile start to come onto his face as he opens his mouth to respond. “But.”

His smile pulls to one side, now looking a little suspicious himself. “But…?” he repeats.

“But,” she continues once prompted, dropping her hand back onto the table, “I more specifically meant the things you had said.”

“Me?” Antonio questions again, eyebrows lifting and then furrowing, revealing his surprise. “What did I say that made you stop trusting me?”

She shakes her head again, though. “It’s not that I stopped trusting you. Toni, it-.” She stops, catching herself and considering the name before offering up instead, “Toño?” When she gets a shrug and a non-committal answer about either working back, she sighs and leans in a little with a firmer, “Antonio. Which do you like more?”

“I’m fine with both,” he insists again, making his voice a little firmer to try and better sell the statement. “If you’re used to using Toni-.”

She rolls her eyes and makes a frustrated little noise, before reaching over and tugging sharply on the rolled up sleeve of his shirt. “I only called you Toni because you said when we first met that everyone called you it. Which do you /want/ to be called?” She waits somewhat patiently when he falls silent in consideration for a moment, before answering that he prefers Toño. She can hear it said half in the tone of a question though, an unspoken comment on the end that while he may prefer that, he really would not be put out still being called Toni by her. “Toño it is then,” she declares with a small smile.

She continues right afterwards, though, not daring to give him the time to distract her focus from the point at hand. “That’s part of what I’m talking about, though,” she explains. “I mean, I know everybody puts on a little bit of an act around people to get them to like them, but-.”

“You think I’ve been putting on an act with you?” Antonio interrupts, before reaching out to wrap his fingers around the hand Amelia’d last rested on the table. He gives it a half squeeze and maintains the hold, leaning forward in his chair slightly as he tries to reassure her against the idea. “I would think, given what you apparently heard, you’d be certain that I’m not pretending about how I feel about you.”

“I don’t think that’s what you’re hiding, no,” Amelia agrees. She moves her hand slightly, though only to ease out of his grip just enough where she can comfortably turn her hand over in his, wrapping her own fingers around his hand. “But you’re clearly not being entirely open with me about how you feel about other things. I mean-,” she leans back slightly as she spares a quick chuckle, “I did just now have to pry what nickname you want out of you.”

He lifts his free hand to make a swiping gesture, waving off the concern. “Because it’s not important. I mean, most people find Toni easier, so most people use it. I wasn’t lying about that.”

Amelia immediately rejects the idea that she’s trying to call him a liar or anything over this, still not wanting this to sound like a harsh accusation. However, she does counter that most people would probably start calling him Toño if he pressed on preferring that. “And again, I get it. I’m guessing it’s the same reason you won’t swear in front of me unless you think I can’t understand it, or that I normally see you playing the diplomatic with strangers while you’re threaten a friend you’re more comfortable with to fight as a joke.”

“Amelia, I don’t understand,” Antonio finally admits. His shoulders have slumped slightly and though he’s as careful as he usually is to keep a full frown from his face, the corners of his lips pull wide and the smile on his lips is worn in more bemusement than anything else. “You’re saying that it’s bad I don’t pick fights or swear in public with you?”

“You don’t do it in private either,” Amelia points out simply. She can see Antonio consider the response for a moment before nodding in acknowledgment of that. He starts to say something but she lifts her free hand to gesture for him to let her add something. “I mean, I don’t wanna sound like I’m complaining about you being respectful or polite to me. Really, that’s not my point here. It’s just….” It takes her a moment before she finally finds the right way to word what she wants to say, “Yeah, most people expect you to say ‘Fine’ when an acquaintance asks how you’re doing, but when your girlfriend does, it’s okay to be honest about how you’re feeling.”

She gives another breathy laugh and rolls her shoulders back a touch. “I mean, practically everyday with you is ‘just fine’. Every inconvenience ‘isn’t really that big of a deal’. And like- some people are just like that; I get that. No matter what happens, they really don’t get mad about it. But I don’t think someone who tells their friend,” she lifts that hand up to gesture air quotes as she fights another laugh, “‘I’m gonna fucking fight you’ is one of those people, y’know?”

There’s something akin to guilt that passes over Antonio’s face, and that gets Amelia to add quickly, “Again, I’m not mad. It’s just… if we’re gonna be dating, I think you should start to feel like you can show me what you’re really like, don’t you?”

Antonio sighs, and then nods, and then pulls his hands back, retreating them to fold together in his lap. He’s quiet for another moment before admitting aloud that that sounds like a fair request, though he tries to explain that he was only doing it with her in mind. “I mean, even over the short time we’ve been dating, you’ve been….” He trails off into an airy laugh, before sighing again. “Amelia, you are strong and ingenious and determined and just generally amazing in a way I didn’t expect. In a way I very rarely see in people. I… very much like you and… I guess I worried if you saw something you didn’t like in me, you might be tempted to back out. There are traits I’ve had for years that I just… didn’t want to scare you off.”

Amelia’s smile had turned into something touched by his words, until the last few lines, where it cracks wide and slanted again. “Wait, so- what?” she asks in the exhale of a laugh. “You’re just gonna trip over yourself to act like Mr. Perfect for as long as we’re together? I mean you’d have to be open eventually or you’re gonna be putting on that act forever, plus I’ll never get to know what you’re really like.”

“That’s not a bad thing,” Antonio muses quietly.

“I think maybe it is,” Amelia counters back quickly. “C’mon, Toño, two things you already thought were turn offs about yourself are things I’m totally fine with. I mean, honestly, that’s like at least a third of who I am as a person,” she jokes, pleased to see it get a quick laugh out of the other. “Like… all I’m asking is just for you to relax and be yourself, alright? Sure, there’a chance I won’t like you, but I’m betting there’s a higher chance I will.”

Now it’s his turn for his expression to soften, a smile, more gentle and warm, easing back onto his features. He looks at her for a long moment with that, before his smile drifts again and he lets out a slow sigh, before speaking up to apologize. “I didn’t mean to lie to you or anything like that. I wouldn’t-.”

Amelia immediately protests the term ‘lying’, reiterating once more that she doesn’t consider it to that level. “If anything I’d just say you’re…,” her gaze drifts slightly, trying to pick the right word, before she grins again as the perfect choice comes to her. “A little too judgy about yourself,” she finishes, eyes flicking back down just in time to catch the other’s reaction.

There’s a half second of almost offense, but it’s quickly swept away by surprised laughter. He turns back to the table, resting elbows on the wood and tilting his head down, making the shaking of his shoulders stand out a little more. He finally picks his head up just enough to get out, “Oh, I can’t believe I have a second person I apparently have to fight now.”

The play-threat only gets a smile out of her, though, glad to see even that step taken. Another second passes before she leans in, looping one of her arms around the closer one of his to pull him nearer as well. She makes a humming noise, the kind of skeptical acceptance given to a person who has suggested a wild but not technically impossible idea. Then she presses her lips, still curled into a grin, to his cheek and murmurs back a simple, “You’d lose.”

The new bout of laughter she gets from him at the joke, before he turns enough to pull her into a proper kiss, is entirely worth it.

[wavemaker9]

A warning just because there’s a focus on dead parents and specifically the mourning of them so like yknow. It’s not exceptionally sad about it but just as a heads up.

Title: Visit Characters: Audrey, Amelia

Audrey’s face always falls naturally into a frown. It’s something that has been pointed out to her recently, and though she’s been trying to practice adjusting her neutral expression to be more of a flat-lipped look than a vague, unaggressive glare, it’s a hard habit to break out of. Still, right now, it saves her a little extra work, since it means that her face has less distance it needs to fall when she genuinely frowns, olive-colored eyes staying locked onto the cemetery gate as the car slowly pulls inside. Her grip on the flowers in her hand tightens a little, before her gaze moves over sharply to Amelia in the driver’s seat, brows dipping slightly as if trying to judge the other’s body language.

Amelia remains calm, though, focus staying fixed on driving smoothly along the thin road within the lot. She must be playing it cool, because even when Audrey visibly turns herself to aim at Amelia, the redhead doesn’t acknowledge her attention at all.

“What are we doing here, Amelia?” Audrey finally asks, and her voice is already just a touch on edge. She doesn’t exactly mean to come across quite as hostile as she is, but she suddenly feels put under a spotlight she didn’t agree to, one she has to assume Amelia knew to place her in position for given that it was Amelia’s insistence that they bring the flowers.

Amelia’s lucky that the location she’s looking for isn’t too far away from the entrance off the street, as she doesn’t exactly want to have this conversation while trying to twist and turn along the curves here. She’s letting the car drift to the side of the small road and reaching to shift it into park when she hears her name said again more curtly. “Hold on, hold on,” Amelia requests, before finally getting the car safely stopped to where she can take her foot off the brake.

Once she can turn her focus from that, it falls fully onto her girlfriend instead. She reaches her hand out, coming an inch or so from Audrey’s before hesitating. They’ve gotten past Audrey’s initial inexperience with contact, but given that this is a touchy subject, she still gives a few seconds of wait. It’s only after she can see Audrey turn to look at the hand near hers, but not pull her own hand out of reach of Amelia’s, that the redhead allows her hand forward, carefully and gently taking the pale one in her grip. It’s a little bit of a relief to see Audrey’s expression soften slightly at the touch.

“It’s just- look, we don’t have to, but… I was just thinking about what you said last week.” Green eyes squint a little, trying to rewind back to focus in on what specifically would have prompted this. “After I introduced you to my parents, remember? I figured- I dunno-.” She turns her own face away for a moment and gives a shaky laugh of her own, suddenly feeling in trying to explain her reasoning like she has no idea what she was thinking herself. “Maybe it’s stupid, I don’t know. You just seemed really upset about your parents not getting to meet me and I- I wanted to make you feel better. I wanted to find some way to make that happen for you.”

She pulls her hand away after another moment, lifting both up to run down her face slowly. “This probably wasn’t the way to try and fix it; I’m sorry. We can go if this’d make you uncomfortable or upset or-.” Her voice stops sharp at the sound that comes from her side, a sniffling sound that had clearly been attempted to be covered up. Her eyes find Audrey’s face again in an instant, and a wave of guilt hits her to see Audrey visibly fighting tears in the passenger seat. Her hand reaches back for Audrey’s again, taking it and rubbing at the back of it with her thumb, spilling out a handful of apologies and assurances that she didn’t want to upset Audrey doing this.

“We can go- I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done anything, we can go, I just- I didn’t mean to- we can just go.” It’s a little awkward, trying to reach over with her far hand while keeping the other one’s hold on Audrey’s hand in tact, but Amelia still manages to shift the car back into drive with her free hand, pressing her foot down on the gas again. The tires shift on dirt and gravel as they start to roll forward again, Amelia’s free hand once more moving, this time to the steering wheel.

“Stop,” Audrey says suddenly, spoken as a shaky breath that comes out sounding more heavy with tears than she means it to. The hand in Amelia’s grip pulls free, rubbing with frustration at her eyes, while the other hand reaches over to touch fingers against the hand on the steering wheel. The blonde waits until she can feel the brakes reapplied, slowing the car back to a full stop, before she moves that hand to shift the car into park. “I’m not- I’m not upset,” she manages to get out, still struggling to wipe at her eyes.

“Yeah, you look totally fine,” Amelia counters back. Her shoulders dip a little and she reaches the hand now freed from holding Audrey’s up. It moves to Audrey’s cheek, softly touching the skin there to help with wiping at the tears. “Seriously, Aud, if you’re not up for this-.”

“I want- I want to do it,” Audrey insists, starting to nod in confirmation before remembering the other’s hand on her cheek and keeping her head a bit steadier. “I’m not- I’m not upset because of you, I promise.” A slight hiccup from the tears breaks up her words for a second before Audrey sniffles again.

Amelia frowns at her, though not in a judgemental way. She’s not doubting what the other is saying, but she feels bad for putting her in this situation again anyway. She’d already felt bad when Audrey had gotten upset during their conversation about it before, and to see her fully crying now hurts, too. “But you’re upset-.”

“No,” Audrey corrects, shaking her head before taking a deep breath, though it sounds a little choppy as she does it. She rubs the hand that’d been at her face onto her skirt, trying to dry it off a bit. “No, I’m not- I mean, I’m crying, yes, but I’m not upset.” Another deep breath, and she finds a little extra comfort when Amelia reaches her hand back across the blonde’s neck to rub reassuringly at her shoulder. “I want to do this, I just- it’s just-.” She gives a small chuckle, one more judgemental of her own behavior than finding anything actually humorous about the moment. “That’s really sweet, Amelia,” she finally says, lips pulling into the struggled attempt of a smile. She takes another breath, this one coming out a little smoother as she starts to settle, though just barely. “I’m just… really touched and… and I guess it made me think about how much I miss my parents again, too, so I’m a little upset at that, but also it made me…,” she glances away, trying to work out a way she feels comfortable expressing the thoughts she means. After a beat or two of her thinking, as well as another sharp inhale as her breathing settles, she looks back to Amelia and finally offers, “really glad I have you in my life instead?”

There’s a soft, but wide smile spreading out onto Amelia’s face. It’s not much in terms of being expressive, but to Amelia, it doesn’t need to be. She knows her girlfriend well enough to read between the lines, and so the hand resting on the steering wheel lifts and reaches to cup Audrey’s face, this time on the other side. She leans in, guiding the other closer as well. Her actions are slow and easy, pressure light enough to allow Audrey to pull back if she wants, but the blonde closes her eyes and lets herself be led into a kiss. It holds for a few seconds before another sudden inhale and sniffle mix prompts Audrey to pull away. Amelia allows a soft chuckle to slip out at that, before responding back, “Love you, too.”

Audrey glances away again, but can’t do much to disguise the red on her features, already bad enough from her crying and now made worse at that. Still, the corners of her lips have pulled back and up a little, signifying the hint of a smile.

They sit in the car for another minute or so, giving Audrey the time she needs to compose herself again until they can step out. The two tombstones aren’t that far from the car once they do start over, and Amelia lets Audrey step closer first. The blonde’s glad she’d decided on flats instead of heels thanks to a whim on the way out the door, for it makes it much easier to step across the uneven grass, though she does let her hand rest on her mother’s tombstone to steady herself a little as she leans over to set the flowers between them. She spends a few moments adjusting them so that they sit properly, before standing again and moving back to position herself level with Amelia.

There’s a few moments of silence, and in them Amelia reaches down, finding Audrey’s hand again and taking it, intertwining their fingers as an extra source of support. It seems to be what was needed, for Audrey finally finds her words again. She greets both of them, her mother first, then her father, giving a soft nod to each tombstone as she does. There’s another beat, a deep breath, and then Audrey lifts a hand to gesture at Amelia, “This is my girlfriend, Amelia. Um-.”

She falters, but Amelia picks up for her when Audrey can’t sort past her loss of words. “Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Greene,” she says, nodding to each marker as well. They both have a simple, but well-designed picture of flowers carved into them, and under that, their names, dates, and a declaration that they were a beloved spouse, parent, and friend. It’s only half intended that Amelia squeezes Audrey’s hand in the moment, but she’s glad she did it when she hears sniffling start up again. “It’s really nice to meet you both. I’ve heard only good things from Aud, I promise.”

A half-breaking chuckle slips out of Audrey’s throat before she swiftly turns towards Amelia, burying her face against the redhead’s shoulder as tears start up again. Amelia reaches with her free hand for Audrey’s free hand, taking that in her hold instead and releasing the other one. The blonde reaches forward with the now released hand, finding Amelia’s jacket and curling fingers into it, as Amelia reaches the arm around Audrey’s shoulders, rubbing her back soothingly.

Amelia hesitates herself, sparing a moment as she tries to work out what to say, before continuing. “We wanted to make sure I could meet you both, though. Aud met my moms last week so- they loved her, by the way. You two raised a really great woman. Though, I mean- she’s your daughter, as if I have to tell you.”

Audrey breaks out into another tear-mixed laugh, shoulders bouncing up and down in amusement as she presses her eyes against the fabric of Amelia’s jacket. Amelia chuckles as well, questioning what Audrey thinks is so funny; she’s being honest here. The pale face lifts up a little, and Audrey uses the movement to lean in, brushing her lips against Amelia’s cheek. When she pulls away, she nods in agreement, acknowledging that she knows that, but claiming that she thinks it’s funny that Amelia is leaving herself out.

Her eyes are still very red, but Audrey’s settled her voice again enough to speak with mostly steady words as she turns back to the tombstone. “I told her last week that I knew you two would have loved her if you could have met her- I guess she didn’t believe me and wanted to see for herself.” Her eyes flicker back to Amelia, and she leans into the redhead with a soft, teasing bump of her arm and torso. She waits a few seconds before gesturing forward and nodding as if in confirmation. “See, they can’t find a single bad thing to say about you.”

“I mean, we did just meet. Give them time,” Amelia counters back, a playful smirk slipping onto her lips as she leans back into Audrey in return.

The visit lasts a little bit, with Audrey and Amelia trading turns telling stories about how they met, how they started dating, things like that. Amelia can tell sometimes that Audrey feels a little silly, standing there recounting tales they both know seemingly to air. It’s a conversation that had come up between them before; Audrey’s struggles between being a woman who always preferred facts first and could not, with evidence, justify the theories of spirits or an afterlife or anything like that, but also being a woman who loved and missed her parents very much, and was comforted by the idea that they might be in a better place, that they might be able to listen to her when she occasionally visited their graves to tell them about changes that had occurred in her life.

Audrey herself is most relieved by having Amelia there, though, someone else to help her feel more justified being there. She’d always believed before that she’d feel more comfortable going to her parents’ graves alone, no one around to judge her if she teared up or talked too long to what she sometimes reluctantly considered was probably just the air. There’s a surprising amount of comfort to be found in Amelia’s place at her side, though. A relieving feeling of solidarity and support that she never expected to feel. She finds that thought again, that she is glad for the redhead’s place in her life, creeping back into her mind, as they finally wrap up their visit and give their goodbyes.

Amelia notes again it was good to meet the two while Audrey punctuates the visit by saying they’ll stop by again when they can. Amelia notes the word choice, the inclusion of her in this ritual that Audrey’d previously only felt comfortable doing alone, and she doesn’t say anything about it as they turn back towards the car, but there is a warmth growing in her chest at the realization.

They only let go of the other’s hand when they make it back and split to open both car doors, sliding inside. Amelia starts the car back up, but doesn’t pull away yet, giving Audrey another moment when she notices the blonde staring forward, seemingly caught up in her thoughts. When a few more seconds pass, she reaches her hand over, folding it gently on top of one of Audrey’s. It’s enough to snap the woman out of her thoughts, and she turns to look at Amelia in surprise for a moment, before her expression softens to something of gratitude.

“Thank you, Amelia,” she says, smile forming slowly on her face. She twists her hand around so that she can hold onto the other’s as well. “This… this meant a lot to me,” she admits, and then a second later lifts her other hand up to set fingers gingerly against a jaw, holding Amelia’s face still so that she can lean in to kiss it.

It’s a small thing, a lingering peck if anything, but when Audrey pulls back from it, she smiles once more and declares, “I love you, too.” It’s not the first time she’s said the words, but she speaks them, explicitly like this, so very rarely that it immediately prompts a matching smile on Amelia’s face before she leans back in for another kiss.

[wavemaker9]

Day 3: Night Sky and it’s a long overdue fic for aud and mel

Title: Starry Eyed Surprise Characters: Nyo!2P!Australia (Audrey), Nyo!2P!America (Amelia)

Amelia catches Audrey shivering hard out of the corner of her eye. The blonde’s trying to hide further in her coat, but there’s a chilling wind whipping across the ground that seems to find the tiniest cracks in clothing to slip through. She eases her pace back to match the other’s better. “Sorry,” she offers after a moment, showing a sympathetic smile to the other. She’s at least a little relieved when Audrey makes an effort to show her an even forced smile in return. “I know it’s cold-,”

“And early,” Audrey chimes in, trying not to sound too frustrated, but unable to completely hide her displeasure at the current situation. “And in the middle of nowhere. You do know where we’re going, right?”

Amelia grins, nodding confidently and assuring her that it’s kind of hard to lose your way when your planned path is ‘up’. When Audrey seems unimpressed with the joke, Amelia spares a chuckle and insists that she takes this path a lot, so Audrey has nothing to worry about. She catches those green eyes shift to the side, lips pulling into a thin, strained sort of smile.

Mel leans against the other playfully. “It’ll be worth it, I promise.” There’s a pause again, before she speaks up to add a word of thanks for Audrey humoring her on this. She admits she knows this isn’t exactly Audrey’s ideal way to spend the morning, and that the younger woman would probably prefer still being asleep and warm right now. Audrey nods slightly at the statement, though without looking directly at Mel to do it, so that it feels more like a vague confirmation than any specific criticism. Amelia reaches to grab the blonde’s hand, squeezing, and adds, “I really appreciate you being here.”

It’s no secret the southern Nation reacts best to, what she has always perceived as well deserved, praise and recognition. This case is no different, and it’s clear how the edges of frustration ease on her face a bit at the expressed acknowledgement. After another moment, she shrugs a bit. “I guess it’s not that much of a hassle. I just hope this sight is truly as good as you say it is.”

Amelia promises it is, an earnest tone to her voice convincing Audrey over again to at least give it a shot for the other. It also helps when Amelia then lifts her free hand to gesture up the side of the small mountain, adding that they’re close to where they were headed anyway. The brunette fights a few snickers when she can hear the other mutter a simple word of ‘Good’ under her breath, but does allow herself to squeeze the hand she holds a little tighter.

True to Mel’s word, it’s only another couple minutes before Audrey starts to notice that the path they are taking feels like it’s beginning to level out. Amelia leads them down a side path from the main one that allows hikers to try going further up the mountain if they may wish. Distantly, Audrey doesn’t understand how anyone would want to keep going further given how far they’ve already had to walk to get here.

“Over here,” Amelia says, before suddenly stopping sharp, using the hold on the other to pull her back, too. Audrey protests the action, even starting to argue that it doesn’t make sense for Amelia to do so when they’ve apparently finally made it. “No, I mean- I don’t want you to see it when we walk up.”

Audrey’s face scrunches up a little in confusion, asking, “Isn’t that the point?”

“Yeah, but- not right away?” Amelia offers back, further explaining that it’s way prettier seeing it all at once, and she thinks that will be the way that Audrey will appreciate it most. “I want the whole view to be a surprise.”

“It’s probably not as big of a deal as you’re making it,” Audrey counters, intending the words to come across as a reassurance that Amelia need not put so much effort into the presentation, though the blunt quality she says it with makes it sound more critical than desired.

Luckily, enough time with her has made it so that Amelia can take a reasonable guess that the response was more a lapse in tact rather than any actual aggressive insult, supported by how Audrey only holds her normal sort of frown rather than anything actively annoyed. It’s also backed up considering the blonde is still trying to look past Amelia to see what’s supposed to be so special up ahead. Still, Mel can’t resist a simple tease of, “God, Aud, thanks for keeping an open mind.” Sure enough, Audrey speaks up to try to say that wasn’t what she meant, and Mel has to interrupt to reassure the younger woman that she does get what was trying to be said. “Even if you don’t think it’s a big deal, though- and I think you’ll like it more than you expect -then that’d be all the more reason to help give it a chance to become one, right?” She reaches her free hand out, taking the remaining one of Audrey’s, and pulling both of the blonde’s hands close, keeping them in her hold as she puts her own hands together in front of her. “Please?”

Audrey stares at her girlfriend for a long moment, before sighing and half rolling her eyes up. She shrugs her shoulders slightly in acceptance, half-lifting her arms in a gesture of waiting to find out what she’s expected to do, then. “So you want me to… close my eyes?” Amelia’s expression immediately picks up into a brighter grin as she nods, answering it’ll only be for a minute. She adds something about the sun almost being up anyway, which switches Audrey back to confusion. “What about the sun now?”

“Don’t worry about it, you’ll see,” Amelia answers, chuckling as Audrey asks if she realizes that doesn’t exactly ease her worries. She lets one of Audrey’s hands go, sliding her fingers up the arm to rest on her shoulder instead, helping guide her the last little way. It takes a few moments to find the spot she thinks will work best, and she deals with a couple complaints and questions on if Audrey can just open her eyes already. “Patience, Aud,” she insists, sparing a moment to reach up and touch her fingers to Audrey’s cheek, a quick warning before leaning in to press her lips to the spot instead. It’s still a little amusing how Audrey fights the slight smile that her mouth attempts to curl into a moment after processing the peck. “Almost.” She moves to stand next to the blonde, double checking the view one last time, before finally giving permission for the other to open her eyes.

The first thing that processes when Audrey does is a line of red along the side of the sky. Most of the sky is still dark, but she realizes that’d been what Amelia was referring to before. With the oncoming sunrise, the sky has started to light up, fire red and orange catching on clouds hanging low over the horizon and fading into the dark black that fills the rest of the sky, dotted with spots of white. Their distance from the city is just enough so the stars can still be seen in the air above them, shining bright and spilling down into the much brighter and more colorful lights of buildings in the far distance before them.

In the still lingering dark, though, it takes a moment before Audrey catches sight of what she guesses Amelia really wanted her to come see. Spreading down along the ground beneath the higher point they stand on is a field filled with flowers. There’s a varied mix of colors dotting the field of green grass and leaves, blues and purples and whites and yellows, with a few other colors scattered along the way. They all catch the light of the rising sun, and the lighter ones stand out in the sea of shadowed green. At a glance, it can almost look like the night sky reflected down below itself, a starry expanse of the earth’s own.

Audrey has to admit, she can see why Amelia was excited now.

“Wow,” she breathes out, and can see out of the corner of her eye how Amelia’s mouth splits into a relieved grin to see the positive reaction. “I…,” she trails off for a moment, before turning her head further towards Amelia. “Yeah, you were right, this is beautiful.”

Amelia’s smile slants with confidence and she leans to the side slightly to tap Audrey’s arm with her elbow. “See? Open mind. I know what you like.”

“I mean, most people know I like flowers. That’s not really so impressive-.”

“Aud,” Amelia says in a groaned tone, leaning more into the other as a playful push. “Can you just appreciate a thing for once?”

Audrey spares a small chuckle, turning more completely to Amelia, nodding her head slightly and admitting that she does appreciate it. “This was beautiful. I’m glad you could show it to me.” After another moment’s passing, she thinks to lean in, pressing a light kiss to Amelia’s cheek. As she pulls back, she adds, “I still wish it didn’t have to be quite this early-.”

She almost misses the opportunity, still caught off guard by the kiss the other gives her. Even small as it is, Audrey usually reserves initiating kisses for more special moments, ones of genuine appreciation, so it’s a true confirmation that her plan was worth it for Audrey to find the action worthwhile now. Still, she focuses back in on the conversation quickly enough, sliding in an elongated, “But,” waiting for the rest of the sentence she assumes has to be there.

Audrey breathes out a half laugh and says in the same way, though not drawn out quite so long or playfully, “But... I also understand why that was important now.” She reaches for Amelia’s hand again, giving a firm squeeze and adding, “Thank you for sharing this with me.”

Amelia’s expression brightens further and she squeezes the hand back tightly. “Of course!” she says, before adding an admission that she wishes she could show Audrey more things like this. “There’re plenty other places with beautiful scenery like this I think you’d like- even just other places in this city.” As if her memory is jogged by the statement, she starts to turn to look over her shoulder, gesturing toward where they came. “Actually, there’s this place higher up the path that-.”

“Amelia,” Audrey cuts in, crossing her free hand over her chest, partially in disapproval but also in trying to stop the cold again. The other tugs lightly at Mel’s hand, trying to pull her attention back forward. “I need sleep.”

It seems to work in drawing her focus back onto the pair, and Amelia shows another smile bordering on smirk at the other. “Yeah, yeah, okay, fair,” she agrees, nodding in the same direction she’d been looking, but this time with a slant down to indicate a full return to where they’d started. “Next time, then. I’ll make sure it’s in the evening, instead.”

There’s an emphasized word of thanks given to her as Audrey starts towards the path down again. Mel might usually laugh, just a little, at the other’s eagerness to get back home and catch a couple missed hours of sleep. However, she lets that slide, much happier to focus on Audrey as the blonde pulls her along as well. After all, Amelia figures the Australian can’t be too unhappy given the little smile that still lingers on her face.

[wavemaker9]

Was supposed to be way shorter/more lighthearted for day 2: Music, but just kinda got away from me, whoops. anyway, here’s a couple of meme boys

Title: I Said Maybe Characters: Australia (Kyle), 2P!America (Al)

Al follows the gentle strumming down the hall, through the open door, and into the room where Kyle sits. Fingers absentmindedly pluck the different strings, gauging how they sound. The guitar’s been pulled half into his lap, not enough to be ready to properly play it, but enough where Al can recognize he’s obviously moved it. The music covers up his steps enough so that he can stand next to the younger man by the time his presence is noticed, grinning down at the other. “Looking for lessons?”

The moment Kyle realizes the other is there, he jumps, hands slapping onto the strings to try and silence them quickly. He moves in a rushed scrambled to try and put the guitar back, as if not already noticed and thinking he may still have a chance to hide his curiosity. Al can’t help the chuckles at the other, especially when Kyle finally looks up at him, asking what’s up.

Al’s grin widens as he moves to sit down on the floor next to Kyle. He tries very hard not to full out laugh at the innocent, curious expression the Australian wears, but the attempt to pretend as if he wasn’t just obviously caught is so poorly executed and classically Kyle that it’s more than a little hard. “Nothing much,” he answers, playing along in the same empty way, considering he isn’t even attempting to hide his amusement. “But I’m way more interested in what you’re up to.”

Kyle laughs, too loud to not originate from a little nervousness. He reaches up, rubbing the back of his neck once and letting it drag back along his jawline. “I mean-,” he starts, then switches to, “y’know, just-.” Another stop, then start again. “It’s just I-.”

“Kyle, c’mon,” Al interrupts, shaking his head slightly before reaching over to pull the guitar from its place again, setting it on his lap but pushed forward so it’s still a little in front of Kyle. It’s close enough and at the right position so that Kyle could reach out to strum it again if he wanted. “You know I’m fine with you checking out my guitar as long as you’re careful.”

Kyle gives a quick shrug, smile easing into a thin, irked thing as he admits, “Yeah, but usually when people say that, it’s cause they know me and they know I’m not, so I just won’t.” When Al moves the guitar forward a bit as if to gesture that Kyle can check it out again if he wants, he lifts a hand to wave off the offer, though smile easing again to show his appreciation of the opportunity given.

Al tilts his head down a bit, so that his eyes have to look up to keep focus on Kyle, giving the immediate impression of doubt. “You can be careful for like five minutes, right?”

Green eyes shift to the side and Kyle gives a sheepish chuckle. “I mean, in theory, but.” He falls silent, shrugging as he leans back a bit to rest against the bottom of the sofa he sits by. “It really don’t matter anyway,” he finally adds, “since you don’t gotta worry about it. Promise, I won’t touch your guitar again.”

Al gives a small chuckle of disbelief at the response, pointing out he already said he wasn’t worried about it to begin with. “If you wanna play my guitar, seriously, I’m fine with that,” he insists, before adding, “I’ll even teach you some more songs if you want. Or just some more of the basics.” He pulls the guitar just close enough to put his hands in a more appropriate position to play, strumming his fingers along the strings a few times. He keeps up the gentle playing, keeping the volume quiet as he continues talking, “I know you said you already learned one song, but learning a little more might help next time you wanna strum while I’m out of the room.” Unlike the mostly random plucking of notes Kyle’d played before, Al’s fingers run smoothly across the strings. The notes hum in combination with each other, blending and fading in a way the sharp sounds from before did not. It draws a more satisfying sound from the instrument, but seems to make Kyle a bit more tense.

Sure enough, the Australian laughs, this instinctive anxious response he can’t help, and shakes his head immediately at the suggestion. “No, no, no,” he answers quickly. “Thanks,” he then adds, “but hard pass.” To accompany his refusal, he adjusts his legs a bit, pulling them a bit closer to him and twisting to turn his body half away as a further note of there already being an end to that discussion. “Trust me, there’s no point in you trying to teach me anything.”

Al immediately takes offense, expression souring a touch as he leans forward slightly over the guitar, fingers stopping their movement along the strings. He tries not to let things get to him, but he knows he’s both a good musician and teacher, and the very insinuation that he wouldn’t be is upsetting to hear, especially from his boyfriend of all people. “C’mon, I’m a good teacher,” he says, adding that Kyle can ask any one of the students he already offers his help to when able. “Give me a shot and I promise you’ll see-.”

Kyle interrupts, lifting a hand to wave off the other’s concern. “Ain’t doubting that you’re a good teacher, mate. I know you’re great at that and whatever.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

Kyle’s grin widens, but less in amusement and more in surprise upon realizing the other hasn’t caught on. “Oh, Al, mate, you ain’t realized the kinda student I am.” His arms tuck back in, crossing over each other on his chest. “Trust me, you’re dodging a bullet by me saying no.”

A doubtful breath of a laugh leaves Al’s lips, raising an eyebrow at the other. “Is that so?” Al’s head tilts and his eyes thin a bit at the other, trying to judge what the other knows that he doesn’t yet. “And what’s so bad about student Kyle that’s worse than any other kid I might teach, exactly?”

Kyle’s mouth twitches into a frown at that, glancing back at Al. “I mean, the whole point of you not teaching me is that you never have to know,” he answers, legs pulled a little closer again. To distract from the movement, he brings both knees down to the sides, folding his legs in front of him instead. There’s a gap between the two actions, though, just barely clear that the second is not a continuation of the first but an addition to. It’s small enough, but Al can pick up on it slightly.

His confused expression starts to bleed more into a touch of concern, realization slowly sinking in that this is really something Kyle’s not completely open to talking freely about, even if he can’t figure out why. Usually Kyle’s a pretty open book, so it’s strange to find that this is one of the subjects he’s not so willing to share on. Al starts to ask if the other is okay, but catches himself, knowing he’d never get an honest answer out of Kyle that way. The other’d just get quiet and dismissive, not what Al’s looking for right now. There’s a beat or two as he considers his options, before he lets his smile ease a bit and says he’ll need a bit more convincing if Kyle really wants to scare him off. “I’ve taught a pretty good number of kids; you’re gonna have to give me some reason on why you’re supposedly worse than any of them.”

“I actually don’t, though?” Kyle shoots back almost immediately. “It’s weird how I actually really don’t have to give you any reason; I can just say no, I don’t want you to teach me.” A harsh edge not so much creeps into his voice, as jumps out suddenly, declaring its presence in a shout. He’d seemed to be getting a bit antsy before, but there’s a sharp defensive quality to his tone now that wasn’t nearly so strong the last time he spoke.

Al recognizes it instantly, given Kyle’s nasty habit of often flipping from cheerful and lax to harsh and aggressive when feeling cornered on some topic or another. Immediately, he reaches out, putting a hand on Kyle’s upper arm. The touch is careful, firm but gentle enough to remind Kyle that he’s among friends here. He speaks up to say as much, explaining he didn’t mean to actually upset Kyle and apologizing for hitting whatever nerve was struck. He adds that he just was curious why this was a topic Kyle was so avoidant of, but if it’s that serious, they can just drop it.

Kyle spares a second as if to rerun his own behavior back through his mind, but when he also has to agree he came off harsher than he might have specifically meant to, he sighs and nods in agreement, even if he keeps his gaze off of Al. “Yeah, yeah, sorry. I just….” He hesitates, eyes flickering off to the side before finding the carpeting they’d managed to find of interest before again. “I- y’know how I don’t trust doctors?” It’s a bit of a weird segue, but Kyle can see Al roll with it well enough, nodding in confirmation. “Yeah, I’m kinda the same with teachers,” he admits. “And like, I know there are exceptions, but it’s still hard to get past that general rule and I... don’t want that association tied to you, y’know?” His grin widens slightly, soft yet still seeming a bit sheepish in nature, as he finally turns his attention back completely to Al. “I really like you.”

Al’s own expression mirrors back the smile, returning the sentiment as well. He pauses for a second afterwards, though, something not quite clicking in his head. “But I do still teach in my freetime,” he points out, voice sounding a little careful, though unnecessarily. It’s not as if Kyle is unaware. Not only has it just come up, but they’ve discussed this before. Kyle’s seen him once or twice in the past specifically working with kids. Kyle can be forgetful sometimes, sure, but this would be a pretty big thing to overlook if it was such an issue for him. “You’ve never had a problem with that, right?”

Kyle’s quick to wave off the very idea, though. His body language eases almost instantly, shoulders settling a bit as his hands come up, moving more easily to cross wrists over each other and then pull the hands away, dismissing the very idea. “Nah, course not! Like I said, you’re a great teacher, I know that.”

Al blinks, then again, confusion slowly spreading across his face as he gradually realizes that Kyle’s being completely genuine right now and not just fucking around with him. When that fully sinks in, he blinks again, head tilting to the side slightly and shoulders leaning back, as if somewhat struck by that fact. “What…? But you just said-.”

Kyle realizes in reading Al’s face how what he’s saying must come across. “No, sorry, I ain’t explaining it right. Please don’t think I’m- this ain’t about you, I promise. I just-.” He stops, tries to pick out the proper words, and then after a few seconds of considering lets his shoulders drop. “Gah, this’s so hard to explain without getting into it.”

“Yeah, that’d probably just be easier,” Al confirms, though adds that he’s not going to make Kyle tell him, though. It’s just hard for the older man to understand why he wouldn’t be happy with Al teaching him if he supposedly doesn’t think Al’s bad at it.

“No, I-.” Kyle frowns a touch in consideration, before finally sighing. “If I just tell you flat out, you ain’t gonna make a big deal about it, are you?” He’s reminded that Al is the least likely of the two to make a big deal about anything, but waits for the following nod and confirmation to finally agree to just come out with it. Or least, to try. It’s still easier said than done admitting the issue, and he takes the easy way out in referencing earlier words said. “I mean I already kinda said it? You’re great at teaching kids music, sure, but this time around you’d have to be teaching me.”

Al blinks again. “...Yeah, that is how these things generally go.”

Kyle can’t help a little bit of a chuckle, shaking his head a touch at the other’s sarcasm. “Funny,” he says with more than a touch of deadpan irony himself. “I’m being fucking serious, though.”

“I am, too,” Al cuts in. “Seriously, I know you can learn things really fast.” The pleasant smile that he’d let start to ease onto his features falters and then falls sharply when Kyle bursts out into laughter, immediately asking where in the hell he got such a ridiculous idea from. “From watching you do it.”

“Bullshit,” Kyle answers with a hard roll of the eyes. He leans back until his back hits the bottom of the sofa again, moving his whole body away, though only an inch or so. It’s more for the show of physically rejecting the very idea than any actual want to move positions. “I don’t know who you think you been watching, but it sure as fuck ain’t me. Trust me, nine times outta ten, might as well be a brick wall trying to pick things up.”

Al counters with examples, though, things he’s seen Kyle seem to pick up quickly. Over their time together, he’s heard Kyle brag about a handful of things that he’s good at. He pulls his arms together, resting them on the wood of the guitar as he counts off fingers from one hand with the other, listing off different hobbies like singing, cooking, drawing. “You said you learned a little guitar so you could play Wonderwall and you did it in like no time.”

“Yeah, cause it’s the meme guitar song, Al,” Kyle says with the tone of almost stating the obvious. “Like I’m not gonna figure out how to play the meme guitar song.”

“But you figured it out,” Al points out quickly.

Kyle’s mouth curls into an embarrassed sort of smile. “Well... sorta. I really only learned the first bit and the chorus. Other parts don’t really get used and it was just extra to have to keep track of.” The smile completely drops when Al starts laughing, leaning forward to shoot back for the other to show him a single time anyone’s ever cared about any other part of the song for any part of the classic joke.

Al throws his hands up in admitted defeat before admitting he was less judging and more just amused by the thought process of it. Once his laughter can die down, he adds again that Kyle did still learn it though. “Unless you just plucked strings on the guitar until you happened to find the right chords, monkeys-writing-Shakespeare style, you had to learn it.”

“Yeah, but-. I mean, I ain’t saying I can’t learn anything.”

“Okay, good,” Al responds quickly, pleased smile coming back to his face in satisfaction of at least getting that confirmed. “That’s a start.”

A half-irked sigh leaves Kyle’s lips at being argued on this point again. He leans back hard against the sofa once more, enough force for the movement to be audible as his arms fold again over his chest sharply. He wants it to be obvious he’s not happy about the other not accepting what he’s saying. “And the end,” he finishes for the other, before leaning forward again and uncrossing his arms just a moment later, the message sent. “Al, I didn’t have anyone teaching me that directly. Just taught myself using some youtube videos to get the basic steps.”

This time he leans back again slightly, though his hands come down to his sides instead, palms pressing on the carpet. “Same with the other shit. I mean, I’ve always naturally been good at singing, but like cooking and drawing, anything I’ve wanted to learn, I’ve just gone out and got books or videos or shit to teach myself with.” His shoulders pick up a bit and the corner of his mouth twitches into more of a smile when he adds, “Y’know, know there’s a lotta cool tech advancements over the years and stuff, like I’ll never not love being able to go visit family in just a day or so, but like. YouTube videos don’t get enough love, y’know? Sorting through cooking books and trying to read all the steps was always way hard.”

“Imagine how much easier it’d be if you had someone helping you through the steps.”

“Al,” Kyle whines out at the other’s statement, sitting up straight only to let himself fall to his side towards Al.

The American’s quick enough to grab for the guitar and slide it to the side a bit so that Kyle’s landing has him resting against his leg rather than the instrument himself. He stares down at the other, amused grin spreading onto his face, and mirrors back a similarly whined, “Kyle.”

The reaction only makes Kyle put on an exaggeratedly grumpy pout. “Al,” Kyle says again, this time more flatly, and he sighs when his own name is just said back in the same tone again. “Al, you ain’t listening, Al.”

Al’s mouth twitches open into a wider grin, shaking his head down at the other. “Kyle, okay, fine, you wanna try explaining it to me one last time, Kyle?”

Third time must be the charm. This time his repetition back finally gets to the Aussie, and the younger can’t help the smile that breaks out onto his face either, turning his head slightly to try and muffle laughter into Al’s jeans. He pushes himself to sit back up once the laughs die down, letting out a final breath and really trying to figure out what he wants to say to get Al to understand what he means. Finally, he takes another deep breath and speaks.

“I just really suck at being taught things, okay?” His hands lift up in a vague shrugging motion before flopping back down into his lap. He knows those words won’t help immediately, but he doesn’t know how to start explaining better than that. He at least hopes that maybe if he can start things off, it’ll get the words going at least, and sure enough more come. “I just…. I had heaps of teachers when I was little. Art was always handing me off for someone else to handle. And they all agreed I was a lost cause learning-wise, y’know?”

Al’s expression sours at the very sound of the words. “Just sounds like you had a lot of bad teachers; that’s not on y-.”

“Nah-,” Kyle starts, but then flashes a grin at Al once the words process, correcting his words, “I mean, yeah, they sucked, but like. They weren’t wrong about me, and that sucks more, y’know?” His gaze falls back to where it’d settled before, finding a spot on the carpet by the coffee table leg that he could keep his eyes stuck to, instead of having to look back over at Al again. “I was a lot of trouble to teach.” Still looking off at the floor, he tilts his head to the side slightly with a half shrug, brows raising in a conceding expression as he adds, “And still am. I suck at focusing on the lessons given. If I don’t get something right away, it feels like it takes forever and wastes both our time trying to get it down. Even when I know the shit and especially when I don’t, I fuck up what I’m trying to do a lot and then that just makes me feel worse and I end up fucking up even more.”

His shoulders start to sink as he keeps talking, at least thankful to feel like he might be getting somewhere in having Al understand him, but now feeling like he stumbled into the trap he was trying to avoid, blabbering on about problems he always feels he should be better prepared to handle after so long living. “I forget work or failing to do it right makes me skip it altogether. Then on top of everything else, I get in trouble for that and I just…,” he takes a slow breath, letting his head dip and his arms come up, running both hands through his hair. “I hate it?” When he lets his hands fall back down and lifts his head up, he finally turns his gaze back to Al, adding, “I really hate it.”

The guitar is already being lifted out of Al’s lap, set to the side so that he can move over, sitting down next to Kyle instead of across from him. He lifts his arm closest to the other, reaching it around Kyle’s shoulders. “Hey, c’mere,” he murmurs, pulling the other against him in a half hug. He lets the other have a moment, just leaning against him, letting his breathing steady, before offering that he has seen a lot of the same things before. “You know you basically just described a lot of the kids I teach, though, right? Kids are like that all the time, Kyle. It doesn’t make them bad students.”

Kyle nods his head slightly in acknowledgement, but is also quick to point out that while that’s excusable for kids who are actually young, humans tend to not be so understanding when the kid is technically thirty years old, or ninety, or two hundred. He argues that it gets less acceptable at that point.

“But plenty of adults feel the same way, too, Kyle. Nobody learns things immediately and lots of people struggle with things. It took me a while to learn all the instruments I know; I just kept with it long enough to see the progress.” There’s a beat before Al can’t help an extra little chuckle that escapes him, adding, “Hold on, you really think I’m gonna get mad at you for not learning a song fast enough? Kyle, I’m me.”

Kyle sighs and rolls his head to the side slightly. “Yeah, I know but…. Listen, Al, logically, I know all the shit you could say. I know you’re a super chill guy and nothing fazes you and you know what you’re doing and you’re sure that if you give it a try, it won’t be like that or you’ll be able to handle it if it is. But… I can’t guarantee that. You can’t guarantee that. And as long as I can’t, I’m just gonna worry the whole time that I’m gonna frustrate you- or frustrate me because of you. Or even just you realize I’m not as great as you- for some reason -think I am and decide I ain’t worth it anymore. I don’t wanna accidentally fuck things up between us, especially not just because I can’t get a song right after the hundredth try.” He leans his head back to the other side this time, letting it rest against Al’s shoulder, before reaching over to grab for the other’s hand, pulling it into a tight hold. “I really fucking like you, mate.”

Al’s shoulders shake slightly with a bit of laughter, mumbling, “So I’ve heard.” His hand rubs up in little circles on Kyle’s shoulder, leaning his own head over to rest it against Kyle’s.

“Mate, I can count on one hand the number of classes I’ve ever had where both the teacher and me didn’t get frustrated at myself by the end of it.” His head turns so that he can press a kiss against the American’s shoulder. “I know you’d be a phenomenal teach and I really do appreciate you offering the help, but I’d worrying about it the whole time instead of learning anything, anyway. Promise, you don’t gotta worry ‘bout it.” He tilts his head up, flashing another small smile up at the older man. “Sides, you’re covering guitar anyway. What do we need two guitar players for?”

There’s the soft sound of quiet laughter, Al sparing a chuckle even as he pulls his hand free from Kyle’s to connect with his other one, fully looping the Australian in the hug. Kyle takes the chance to move his hand back, sliding it behind Al instead.

Al breaks the quiet first. He knows he could try to argue every point Kyle’s made, but he also knows Kyle well enough at this point that he probably wouldn’t get very far with anything he said. With the mood Kyle’s put himself into now, trying to pull him out by arguing with him on this sort of thing wouldn’t do anything. Like Kyle said himself, he probably already has a vague idea of every counter argument Al could make, and the guy’s too good at digging himself into deeper places just to hold onto the mindset he’s gained for himself. Al knows to hold onto his points for later, so when he opens his mouth to speak, he instead just answers the question already asked with a simple, “Two times the Wonderwall.”

It has the desired effect. Kyle almost immediately bursts out laughing, leaning his torso over slightly and using his free hand to hold against his stomach as he snickers into Al’s arm. He chokes out a shaky, “Fuckin- goddamnit, you’re right.” It takes a few moments before he can settle the giggles, even adding, “The one downside. Truly-.”

“Hold on,” Al says suddenly, head lifting back up a bit. The movement jostles Kyle, who finally quiets his laughter completely, though still doesn’t go entirely quiet, questioning what Al’s reacting to. Al wastes hardly a moment responding with the question, “You said videos worked for you?”

Kyle’s brows drop for a second in confusion, at first taking a moment to process what he’s referring to before remembering the point brought up before. “Oh, yeah, uh- sure, yeah. Helps being able to see what they’re talking about, pause shit, run it back, that sorta thing.” His expression brightens a bit as he insists it’s actually really helpful. “I’m telling you mate, internet videos are a lifesaver in disgui-.”

Al’s own expression has flipped back to a big smile as well, offering, “I could do that.” He sees Kyle’s grin falter in surprise and then another bout of confusion, and he hurries to defend himself. “Seriously, I’m sure it’d be easy enough, and if that’d help-.” Kyle points out that there are already plenty of videos out for that sort of thing, but it only gets Al to smirk at the other. “Yeah, but none by a- what’d you say -’phenomenal teach’, so.”

The arms pull free from where they’d been looped around the younger, reaching for the guitar to pull it back into his lap. He leans back towards Kyle again, whose expression seems a little caught off guard by the whole suggestion, but still growing with excitement towards the idea, too. “I’m sure it’d be helpful for other people, too. You could watch it on your own so you’d feel more comfortable, and then just come to me if you had questions or something. Still get the benefits without a lot of the factors you were worried about.”

Kyle starts to nod a bit, seemingly starting to agree that that would be a much better option given his own concerns, before stopping and twisting slightly to face Al more directly. “Hold on, you’d… you’d really go through all that just for me? Even after I said you didn’t need to worry about it?”

Al nods only too easily, seeming completely accepting of the whole thing. “Yeah, of course I would.” He reaches back for Kyle’s hand again, giving a reassuring squeeze that’s quickly returned. “I don’t want a bad history with this sort of thing to stop you from learning something if you want to, so I can easily help you get around it until you ever feel you can get past it completely. If you think this’ll actually help, I’m happy to do it.”

There’s a warmth to the smile that spreads across Kyle’s features, and he reaches up to grab Al’s face with his hands, pushing himself up on his knees a bit so that he can lean over the guitar and pull the other into a kiss. “Too sweet for your own good,” he teases when he pulls back.

Al’s own smile is soft and wide as he insists he’s just wanting to help, before adding after another moment of thought, “Also, I don’t think ethically I can let you go any longer of your life only knowing a third of Wonderwall. Even secondary meme parts are still important.” The line gets another sudden fit of small giggles from the Southern Nation, as well as an agreement that that is indeed important. When the laughter dies down between them, he speaks up again to confirm with Kyle that he’d be alright with learning the instrument this way. There’s still a bit of hesitation, but it’s a definite point of victory to the American when Kyle finally seems to agree. “Good! And, because I know you, do you promise to actually come to me for help if you do have questions?”

This gets Kyle to hesitate completely. He pulls back a bit, smile slanting sharply into a mixed sort of grimace instead. “I mean… yeah, maybe, sure.” He shrugs a little dismissively. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, though. Anything I don’t get, I can-.”

“Come to me for help on it,” Al insists firmly, adding that the whole point of this is that he doesn’t want Kyle feeling like learning this is a struggle. “You can’t be afraid to ask questions if you got them. Tell me you’ll come ask me questions, even just one.”

Kyle gives a heavy sigh, but it’s the kind of exaggerated inconvenience than anything else. “Yeah, I mean-,” he starts, arms pulling back completely to cross over each other again. He falls silent, having to mentally acknowledge that the other has a good point, but still not wanting to promise to one of the few remaining parts he’s still not super comfortable with. “I said ‘maybe’, so.”

He shrugs again, once more intended to dismiss the conversation from following the path it’s started down. Al picks up on the action and its desired effect as well, and decides to humor Kyle given the steps the other has already taken today. So instead of pressing again, trying to take that ‘maybe’ and turn it into a ‘yes’, he takes it and makes it into something else he’s sure will get Kyle to ease back up again.

The next thing Kyle hears are the guitar’s strings being played again, fingers strumming out a tune Kyle recognizes instantly from specifically learning. When he turns back to Al, the man’s wearing a wider smirk and thanks Kyle for the cue, before immediately singing out, “I said maybe soooooo.” The last word makes Kyle fight off laughter, doing his best but struggling as Al sings the next line, adding the drawn out word onto the end there as well. It’s when he sings the last two bits, changing ‘afterall’ to ‘after oh’ and ‘wonderwall’ to ‘wonder woah’ to the rhyme that finally breaks Kyle.

Fighting off the laughter, Kyle reaches for the guitar instead, managing to pull it from Al’s hands and set it over to the side instead. He silences the following protests almost immediately by putting his hands back onto both of Al’s cheeks, pressing and pulling him in for a kiss with only one thing to preface it, “Can’t believe how much I fucking like you, you goddamn adorable meme.”

[wavemaker9]

sorbetshark replied to your post: If the swap au did happen after mel/austin started...

(Pre)teen dal is also old enough to do her own research to try to figure out what her Dad is going through, probably comes to mel with things that might be wrong because she really can’t reconcile that her dad is disgusted by her entire existence

sorbetshark replied to your post: If the swap au did happen after mel/austin started...

But like, as terrible as the conversation would be, I don’t think there would be anyway for Daliah to leave a conversation with s!aus and believe that’s her dad? So when things settle, her agreeing with her grandparents that that wasn’t Austin. Probably still hurt or affected by the conversation they had, because it was still her dads face and voice, but she’d be more inclined to believe that couldn’t have been her dad

sorbetshark replied to your post: If the swap au did happen after mel/austin started...

Ez there is so much about this I just adore. I love the concept of there being an Austin that starts out warm to an Amelia that just doesn’t trust like that, especially when it’s usually the opposite for them???? It’s so good and I’m so glad he’s comforted even by s!mel’s presence

in reverse order, same same it’s really fun to have austin caring more about someone, especially mel, than they do him in the moment, it’s very uncommon and new. and that is a good point, her being old enough to grasp that like hey no this /isn’t/ her dad like he normally is. yeah, i like her trying to put a lot of work into researching different reasons for what might be the cause of him behaving like this. very determined to figure out something that justifies any of this. even when he’s back, her still trying to do research for a while afterwards to find some reasoning so she can move past it and prove to anyone who still doubts him. 'dad loves me and he loves uncle kyle and he loves grandma and grandpa and him being cruel to any of us doesn’t make sense so i have to find something that does’. also when austin’s back to normal and her cautious for a moment until she can just tell now /this/ is her dad and cue big hug because she’s glad he loves her again and he’s glad to be able to see her again and know she’s safe and he’s back with her. 

[wavemaker9]

sorbetshark replied to your post: [[MOR] doug finding completely reductive and...

i like the juxtaposition of doug and amelia both calling kyle kid bc for mel its definitely an endearing thing! kyle is like her kid brother and she loves him and wants to protect him even if hes an annoying pain in the ass

yeah, that’s very good. both doug and summer do the thing of like using language that would normally be endearing but specifically to like put kyle into a childish position in relation to them so they keep authority, so her using it in an endearing way is probably a little weird as time goes on. but i do like that probably initially actually being a factor in kyle liking mel so quickly, she reminds him of his best friend! isn’t that nice? :)

trollybazoo replied to your post: [[MOR] doug finding completely reductive and...

i love that the very first example is about someone not liking doug

i mean what other example could there possibly be. that’s probably just consistently how he greets people, it always applies