with broken pencils

like sixth graders | chris & dany

danylamby-blog

Even though Dany was kind of outraged that Chris had actually never thought to mention something as awesome as being in a band, the smile on her face was currently threatening to crack her face in half. Chris was so cool. The younger Chapman’s invite was the total opposite of cool however, and Dany’s smile grew even wider. “Of course I’ll come!” She gave his shoulder another push, lighter than the previous one. “I’m sure Carson’ll want to come, too.” Even if he protested, Dany would make him go—the entire town should have been checking this out already. Why had she not heard of this already? They had musicians. In Sawyer.

She wondered if Chris sang. That would have been totally adorable, especially with the way he and his brother’s accents differed from the rest of the locals. Not to mention that any singing ability period would have been a refresher in Dany’s life, as there were a lot of things Carson McGregor could do, but holding a note was not one of them. Dany had just opened her mouth to ask more questions when they reached the bottom floor of the hotel; she gave an excited squeak as the door opened, allowing music to flow in to them.

“I’ll be there.” She grabbed Chris’s hand swiftly and began pulling him toward the noise. “Let’s go!”

#para: dany #like sixth graders #para

Chris followed Dany into the room, letting her guide him by the hand and smiling at how easily affection came to her. He'd been stupidly lucky to have her as a friend the past few weeks. It didn't take much imagination to realize how terrible everything that had happened recently would've been without her. At this point, he was pretty sure that he'd let himself get dragged into a Britney Spears concert just to make Dany smile.

This was better.

Chris flashed their tickets to the guy at the door, who gave them a nod and let them in. The opening act was already in full swing, a few songs into their set, from the look of the crowd. Chris didn't mind--he wasn't a huge fan of waiting around for things to start. He'd rather miss the first few songs than have to wait around for the band to show up.

The next song started up, this one slower and softer than the one before. People around them started to pair off--couples clinging to each other like kids at a school dance, friends throwing arms over each other's shoulders and swaying. Chris squeezed Dany's hand, giving her a grin. It sounded stupid, given how much time they'd spent goofing off on the dance floor earlier, but he asked anyway. "Can I have this dance?"

like sixth graders | chris & dany

danylamby-blog

Although it was difficult, Dany worked to put Carson’s plight out of her mind after she and Chris stepped into the elevator. This was supposed to be her birthday weekend, and even if Carson was in the middle of a freak-out, she knew he’d only feel worse if he discovered he’d thrown off her ability to have a good time.

She liked the way Chris leaned into her, and although there was a warmth to it, there definitely weren’t any butterflies, but that was good, too. Dany liked Chris. He was the warmer counterpart to his brother—Aaron may have smiled more when she and Carson were around, but she was aware of his regular standing within the town, even before the article—and she liked that she could be close to him without it being a big deal.

There had been no whispers within the town about her and the younger Chapman being an item; either they were still stuck on her and Carson, or the new addition had just left them confused. But that was just as well—even if she hadn’t known about Chris’s relationship with Emily, Dany couldn’t picture dating Chris, and it wasn’t because it had been a while since she’d dated anyone. He was just so young.

“I haven’t been to a show in forever,” Chris said as they elevator opened, and Dany had been just about to admit the same was true for her when he continued: “Not one I wasn’t playing in, I mean.”

The noise Dany emitted was a very poorly-contained squeak. She was glad the elevator door had just closed. She let go of Chris, gawking. “What?! You’re in a band?” She shoved at his shoulder lightly with both hands. “Why didn’t you tell me??”

#para: dany #like sixth graders #para

Dany's enthusiasm was catching. Chris rocked to the side, exaggerating the response to Dany's shove, and let out a huff of laughter. "Secret identity, you know? But um. Yeah, I'm in a band. It's nothing serious; we just kind of blow off steam, and Pete lets us play at the Tavern sometimes." He'd drawn the line at karaoke nights, for which Chris would be eternally grateful. He heard more than enough yowling from his neighbor's cats; he didn't need that noise following him to work. He wouldn't mind seeing Dany on stage, though. He had a feeling there wasn't much she couldn't do.

"We've, uh--we've actually got a show coming up, soon. If you, you know, wanted to come." Smooth, Chapman. He was still smoother than Aaron, though, so he didn't feel too bad about his utter failure to be nonchalant. He had a lot of fun with his band, even if he wasn't really tight with his bandmates. It was something that he didn't take too seriously, and that gave him a chance to vent. He knew they weren't going on world tours any time soon--ever, really--but it would still be cool to have more than his brother and girlfriend show up for the band instead of the alcohol. And it would be kind of useless to deny that Dany's opinion meant a lot to him.

like sixth graders | chris & dany

danylamby-blog

Dany hadn’t actually been following Carson, it was more of her just exploring the suite, because seriously, had they walked into a Hilton when she wasn’t looking? But all of the the unnecessarily ornate details kind of made her uncomfortable; this was just yet another example of something she’d never have been able to afford on her own. But hey, it had been a gift. Kind of. Dany was pretty sure she’d have rather shacked up in a motel than have to see the look on Aaron’s face when that girl had kissed Carson. Ugh.

Carson’s utter obliviousness afterwards completely baffled her. Seriously, how did he not get it? You pine after a guy for a month—she’d been there after every lunch date, every movie night, and Carson had moped hard—but when you finally get him, you push him away? It didn’t make any sense. Although, since meeting the Chapmen, Carson had kind of stopped making sense in general. It was strange, watching her typically level-headed friend make irrational decision after irrational decision. She kind of wanted to chain Carson and Aaron to a table and throw away the key until they would just talk to each other, but they would probably just end up starving to death, because they were both obstinate fuckers. God.

When Carson totally brushed her off in the bedroom, Dany tried not to take it personally. Making Carson do anything he didn’t want to do was like drawing blood from a stone—you’d basically need to defy physics to get your desired result. And so, after admiring the view of Dublin down below from the room’s windows (maybe there was some merit to being on the top floor), Dany ended up floating over to the other bedroom, where Aaron was trying to pretend he wasn’t totally miserable, and Chris was busy pretending he hadn’t noticed his older brother was currently down in the dumps.

For a few seconds, Dany kind of wanted to strangle Carson. She wondered if a judge would accept that she had done it out of love.

“He’ll be fine.” Dany honestly hoped so. She liked Aaron, and hated knowing that he was hurt because her best friend had suddenly decided to take up a new hobby: being stupid.

Chris seemed pretty determined to get her downstairs to the show, and to be honest, Dany was kind of stoked. Free tickets were one thing, but Death Cab for Cutie and Mazzy Star? Awesome. Trying to push her worries out of her head, Dany looped her arm through Chris’s and pulled him close, fishing her phone out of her purse at her side to send Carson a text. “Going downstairs to the show. Convince Aaron to come!!”

After a few seconds, she quickly sent another one.

“TALK TO HIM FIRST!”

#para: dany #para #like sixth graders #ooc: OBSTINATE FUCKERS

Chris leaned into Dany's touch easily, smiling. He'd never been huge on physical affection--there hadn't been a lot of room for it in his family, and he'd quickly learned to tone everything down around Emily--but once he'd fallen into step with Dany, he'd quickly grown used to it. It was nice, and it was so uniquely Dany that he couldn't help but feel better around her.

Chris hit the button for the elevator while Dany fired off a few text messages. It seemed doubtful that Carson would be able to stop bashing his head against the wall long enough to read the messages, but Chris didn't mention it. Carson and Aaron could deal with their shit without Chris or Dany having to obviously choose sides and argue about it. Though he was pretty sure that they were both on team what the fuck are you idiots doing, so it wouldn't be a problem anyway.

Chris hadn't heard of the opening band. He had some Death Cab on his iPod, and liked what he knew of theirs, but he tended to lean more toward rock and punk music. He liked stuff that he could jam to and lose himself in. Music was an escape for him, and he liked it to drown out his thoughts, not highlight them. He was curious, though. "I haven't been to a show in forever," he said. "Not one I wasn't playing in, I mean." They had a few locals who played at the Tavern, but the atmosphere was always different at an actual concert, where you were surrounded by people and could really lose yourself in what you were experiencing.

budding bromance | elliot & chris

Elliot would be the first person to admit that he was oversaturated in women. He watched porn and flirted, made sure that every woman who walked by knew that he was paying attention, and did his best to make it known that he liked ladies a hell of a lot more than most normal people did. He liked their bodies, liked how they looked, and he’d honestly never met a chick he didn’t like… except Maddie in high school, but she’d been a downright bitch to him.

And honestly, this girl was a fucking babe. But she’d been flirting with Chris, and he’d been flirting back, maybe. Probably. That had seemed like flirting to him. He even had a cute nickname for her. That was flirting material right there, and he was definitely going to make sure that Chris knew how much he appreciated having him back in his life. Pussy was definitely the best gift he could get a man.

But there was still a massive problem in the way. Himself. Elliot knew that chicks loved him, thought he was handsome and amazing, and while they were definitely right, it made being a wingman really fucking hard, even if they were playing the ugly chick-pretty friend routine. Elliot always ended up getting them both. He had to make himself as unattractive as was humanly possible to this girl, and that was going to be difficult since she’d already seen his face.

He knew what he had to do.

It was a big sacrifice and pretty much meant he had to give up going after this girl for the rest of his life, but it was okay. Chris deserved to have a shot with a girl this pretty. Elliot threw his head back and laughed, a little too long and a little too forced, before looking back at the girl. “I’m gay,” he said bluntly, faltering after a moment.

It was like one in the morning and he was in there with Chris. It would make Chris look bad, being out so late with a man, so he leaned forward slightly and shot the girl a bright smile. “But Chris isn’t. He’s just super, super accepting. A really good guy. I mean, he is just seriously fantastic all around, and anyone would be lucky to have him.”

He leaned back, giving Chris a pointed look.

God, Elliot was such a great friend.

#para: elliot #budding bromance #para #ooc: it took me a long time to stop laughing long enough to reply to this seriously #featuring: molly

"I'm gay." It was a good thing that they hadn't ordered drinks yet, because Chris probably would have choked. He gave Elliot a wide-eyed look, flashing back to how he'd talked about Cooper at the bar, and briefly wondered if this was some kind of confession. But then Elliot continued, he caught the pleased look on Elliot's face. You little shit, he thought affectionately, resisting the urge to burst out laughing.

"Oh, I've been down that road," the waitress--fuck, what was her name? Meredith? Mary? Molly, that's what it was--said, flipping her notebook shut and dropping it into the pocket of her apron. "He doesn't call after." She winked at him, and Chris felt his face heat. "Well, that aside, I'm going to get you lads the special."

She walked away, pausing to talk to the kids at the other table, and Chris turned to Elliot, pulling a face. "She was kidding," he said. She'd given him her number a while back, but he'd ditched it almost immediately. Despite recent events, he did have boundaries. Though he wasn't sure how far he was willing to push them tonight--did he have the right to really ask Elliot about exactly what was going on between him and Cooper? It had been so long since they'd really spoken that Chris wasn't really sure if he could ask. He picked up a salt-shaker and toyed with it to have something to do with his hands.

He chickened out, settling for the easier topic. "I was trying to set you up with her, man," he said, amusement clear in his tone.

like sixth graders | chris & dany

Chris had always liked Dublin, if only because it wasn't Sawyer. Small towns were suffocating, sometimes, and that was something above anything else that he'd come to realize in his relationship with Emily. You couldn't move in Sawyer without someone noticing and starting some kind of gossip spiral, but you could lose yourself in Dublin, where people weren't as interconnected and nosy. There was a lot of freedom in that feeling of relative anonymity, and it had always worked well for Chris. He'd never dealt with the backlash of it, though--not until he was standing on the other side of a closed door, wondering if he should skip the show and stick around for Aaron, who looked like he was about three seconds from drowning himself in the hotel mini bar.

But Aaron was stubborn, and it wasn't like there were strong lines of communication between them to begin with. Even if they'd been on much better terms lately, neither of them had really talked about anything important in months without the help of alcohol. He would have a better chance at getting Aaron to go on stage and sing karaoke with the band than getting him to talk about the scene downstairs.

Anyway, he reasoned, it was Dany's birthday, and she deserved more than to have her day overshadowed by all of the drama Aaron and Carson had found themselves angsting over. He stepped away from the door and walked over to her, smiling slightly. "He'll be fine," he said, hoping to convince himself as much as her. "Let's go to the show, birthday girl."

#para: dany #para #like sixth graders #ooc: THIS IS SHORT #but my dad is being a jackass and i wanted to have this up before i went to work

bloody mary || chris & charlie

She let out the breath she was holding, and nodded to herself. She should have realized that this asshole was just trying to push her buttons. Usually she would have been able to use her wits to determine liars, but maybe the events of the week had taken a bigger toll on her than she had realized. And that was big.

Or maybe the bartender was just being fake nice, and didn’t want to hurt her feelings. But if he actually thought she was young, wouldn’t he have asked for an ID? The more she thought about the possibilities, the more her head hurt, and she passed her glass to him for a refill. She suddenly hated thinking.

“Who’s saying you look thirteen?”

She glanced at him, not sure if she should say. But then again, why not? It’s not like Luke was her buddy, or that she’d care if the bartender smashed that idiot’s face. For all she knew, he didn’t even know who that guy was.

“Um, this guy, Luke, he came by the bookstore, and words were exchanged. I may have called him a prostitute at some point, I am not sure.” The alcohol was making her pretty hazy, and put her elbows on the bar, resting her face on her hands.

#para: charlie #para #bloody mary

Chris fumbled the bottle in his hands, only barely managing to keep from dropping it. He set the bottle down and gave Charlie a look. "Luke? Tall guy, spiky hair, perpetual bitch-face? That Luke?"

For the most part, he'd managed to push his encounter with Luke to the back of his mind over the past few weeks. He tried to convince himself that it wasn't really that big of a deal--okay, the guy had been an asshole and had scared the shit out of him, but did he really still need to be freaked out about this?--but it didn't really help. When it came down to it, he'd sooner blow his car up than go back to that garage alone.

It was ironic, though, that Luke had called Charlie a prostitute after trying to get Chris to blow him in exchange for fixing his car. He resisted the urge to pour himself a glass a vodka and join Charlie. He didn't like the idea that this girl--who was younger and smaller and obviously bothered--had a run in with this guy, and he wondered how many other people this had happened to.

budding bromance | elliot & chris

Elliot had never been the strong and silent type. He was more like the ‘oh my god, what the hell am I doing?’ type at any given time, and normally this made him talk people’s ears off. There were only a handful of people he didn’t feel obligated to get all chatty with at any given time, and Chris fell squarely into that category. He knew Chris liked him, which meant he didn’t need to talk constantly in order to gage whether or not Chris liked him. Elliot was comfortable with this.

The drive to the diner was pleasantly quiet. He enjoyed just knowing that he’d gotten a friend back, because he’d been feeling sorely lacking in that department lately. Sure, he could go to Dublin and pay a stripper fifty euro to pretend to be his best friend for the night, but there really wasn’t anything emotional in that. He just wanted someone to hang out with, and thankfully Chris was that kind of someone. He loved Cooper, really, but sometimes he wanted to go out and be with people who liked to go out. Chris was really just a well-rounded friend.

When they got to the diner, Elliot slid out of the car, grinning broadly at Chris. “Man, this place is a dive. These waffles better be like fucking Zeus came down and made them himself, bro, or I’m gonna be so pissed.” He wandered towards the door, a little unsteady at first, but he was sobering up and he figured a cup of coffee might help to get him back to normal, if he could achieve such a thing. “You know what I’m talking about, right? Coop told me once that the gods ate this shit called Ambrose or Ambrosie or something and it was like the tastiest shit ever, you know? So I figure that it’s gotta be waffles. The god’s have damn good taste.”

He paused in the doorway and looked over at Chris. “You’re not like a secret god or something, are you? ‘Cause that shit would be legit, you know?”

#para: elliot #para #budding bromance #featuring: random karen gillan waitress #chris does not actually know her real name #name tags are a foreign concept #idk what this is i just thought i would set up some wingman action #featuring: molly

Chris snorted at Elliot's rambling, smiling slightly. "Ambrosia, I think," he said, wandering a few steps behind Elliot. It was funny, what stuck with him from school and what didn't, but he'd always had a soft spot for adventures, history, and heroes. Mythology was a check in the all of the above box for that. "And hell yeah. I'm probably going to have to smite you to keep my secret safe now, though," he said, ducking past Elliot and into the diner.

It was a pretty modest place. Chris wouldn't call it a dive any more than he'd call the Tavern a dive, but he had weird standards. The people here were always friendly and the food was always good, so he could ignore rust stains and peeling paint if he needed to. He knew from experience how difficult it was to keep a busy and understaffed place clean without killing yourself over it, so he appreciated what he got. "Morning, Merida," he called to the girl behind the counter, who perked up and gave him a faux-annoyed look.

"You need to come up with better nicknames, Chapman," she said, picking up her order-book and pointing toward a table for them to sit at. The only other people around were a couple of younger kids, huddled together over a sketchbook on the other side of the diner. Chris slid into one side of the booth, not bothering to look at the menu. Usually, he sat up near the register and chatted with the waitstaff, but this was nice, too.

"What else am I supposed to call you? You're Irish and ginger," Chris said.

"I'm Scottish," she corrected.

"Then you're in the wrong town."

She rolled her eyes, a smile pulling at her lips. "I'm guessing you're getting the usual," she said, and when he nodded, she turned to Elliot, looking him over. Her smile turned to a smirk, and she said, "And what about your cute friend?" Chris raised his eyebrows at Elliot. Maybe this wasn't the deep conversation he'd thought they'd be having, but Elliot had never been one to shy away from girls.

bloody mary || chris & charlie

She took the glass and downed it too, the sting of the second drink as sharp as the first one, but now she actually felt a warmth in her chest that was spreading in her limbs with a tingle. She wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol it was just the power of suggestion, but she actually felt a tad better. No, not better. Just caring less about how bad she felt. Her throat felt like it was on fire, and she decided to focus on that, leaving the rest behind.

The bartender -What was his name? Had she asked it?- was being nice to her again, perhaps guilty about snapping in the beginning. “Oh trust me. Nothing can make this week worse, so why not? Besides, I am tired of everyone talking about drinks and hangovers, and me sitting there not knowing anything about them. I don’t like not knowing stuff.” Well, that wasn’t totally accurate. She had learned a few things recently that she wished she could erase from her mind.

“Can I ask you something? Do I look thirteen?” She had no idea where that had come from, since the encounter with Luke was at the bottom of the list with her problems, and she was not the one to instigate a conversation, especially with a stranger. And yet, when she said it, she actually felt a weight lifting from her shoulders -not one of the big ones, but still- and found herself scared that he would say yes.

#para: charlie #para #bloody mary #so late #so so late

"Can I ask you something? Do I look thirteen?"

Part of Chris wanted to answer with a joke--fifteen, maybe--but the nervous look in the girl's eyes made him reconsider. He knew what it was like to be underestimated or looked down on for stupid shit like his age, and he didn't want to rub that in if that was her problem. "Nah," he said. "There's a reason you didn't get carded." Namely, that Chris was distracted by his other customers and she hadn't looked young enough for him to immediately bother with. But hey.

He was trying to balance keeping other patrons happy with having this conversation, and he hoped it wasn't too obvious to everyone around him that he was only half-focused on anything. "Who's saying you look thirteen?" he asked, mixing a drink for one of his regulars, but focusing on the girl. He should probably ask for her name, but she was already talking and he didn't feel like taking away her outlet.

danylamby replied to your post: Text:

Text: No way!! <333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333!!!!

Text: <3 x infinity deal with it

#chris replies #danylamby #texts #texts: dany

Text: <3.

Text: <3333333333333333333 i win :))

#danylamby #ask chris #texts #texts: dany

pushing buttons | chris & suzy

suzyethans

Suzy drew in a sharp breath, aware of the way her whole body was shivering. She was going to die before she had a chance to write for The New Yorker, god-fucking-damnit. Her ears registered the sound of movement and it took a while for her head to catch, realizing that her companion had joined her on the floor. Ordinarily she would have laughed at his almost childish stance, but as of right then, she could only think the doors aren’t on the floor of the elevator, you jackhole. He was talking to her, but she felt the words fly right over her head and promptly disappear into more panic, a smooth wall pressing down on her on all sides.

Her legs, cramped up beneath her weight, were starting to ache, and her palms, pressed against her fingernails, had begun to throb. A smaller, more simplistic part of her bore her focus down to the pain, and she heard Chris’ last words clearly.

“And then you can go write a scathing article about it.”

She snapped her head up to lock eyes with him, anger rearing up in her with sudden force. For once, she didn’t have a witty comeback at the ready, so she just glared at him with malice. He looked back calmly, and she fervently wished she was stuck in her with someone like Carson, who she could verbally throw around the room.

“I refuse,” she said, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice and failing; “to deal with this.”

She paused, drawing out the silence between them.

“This… this isn’t me.”

#ooc: no worries!!!!!#also this is short but i wanted to reply to SOMETHING before work #posting my schedule for the week on the OOC blog js #pushing buttons #para #para: suzy

Chris leaned back slightly when Suzy lifted her head to throw a glare at him that could've given Hell a second Ice Age. He wouldn't put it past her to slap him on a normal day--who knew what would happen now that she was actively panicking. He watched her warily, trying not to let it show, as she started talking. Her voice was shaking, and he couldn't help the sheer amount of pity he felt for her in that moment. He tried not to let that show, either, because he knew it was the last thing he'd want in this situation.

"This...this isn't me."

He tilted his head at that statement, not sure what to make of it. Most of what he'd said before seemed to have gone straight over her head, and he doubted anything else he said was going to be receive well, so he changed tactics. Maybe if he could get her talking, she'd have something to focus on, and it would stop her from full-on freaking out. "What isn't you, Suzy?" he asked. He wasn't sure when he'd turned into Dr. Phil for Your Mortal Enemies, but whatever.

bloody mary || chris & charlie

She had a feeling he was just pitying her, but even so, it felt good to be treated nicely by someone. “Thank you. It’s nothing, just….let’s say I had a hard week.” She gave him a small smile and took the glass, staring at the content. She had never had vodka before, but if tv shows were to be trusted, she should probably take it easy. Then again, doing what she thought was right hadn’t really helped her recently. She lifted the glass and downed her drink, nearly spitting it out when she felt the burn. She resisted the urge to cough, and sadly realized she wasn’t feeling any dizzier, at least not enough to feel better.

She passed the glass to the bartender, squaring her shoulders. “Another one. And you don’t have to pay for them, it’s fine.”

#para: charlie #para #bloody mary #grossly late and short SORRY jesus

Chris fought back a smile at her reaction to the drink. He could remember doing the same thing when he'd first started drinking. She recovered quickly, though, and he raised his eyebrows at how fast she'd squared her shoulders and ordered another one. He wondered what had happened in the past week for this girl to make her so intent on drowning it with alcohol--especially since she didn't seem to drink it often.

He made a mental note to keep an eye on this one, and anyone who might try to take her home. He'd load her into a cab himself if he needed to. He poured her another drink and slid it over. "Don't drink that too fast," he warned. "Believe me, the hangover isn't going to make your week better."

middle ground || chris & devon

devon-hearst-blog

Devon ran her hand through her hair. It had been a hell of a shift- Jason had called out, Rosie was being a fucking twat, and she’d been stiffed twice. Plus, she was still expecting Chris to come see her and she looked like shit. She’d thought everything went really well when she went to see him at work but he’d never texted her, or called. She’d even gone so far as to ask Carson if he was seeing anyone.

She sighed, running her hand over her face, then looked in the mirror of the bathroom at work. She rummaged in her purse, finding a lip gloss and mascara. She freshened her make up, finger combing her hair before she gave up and threw it into a messy bun. She hadn’t expected it to be such a shitty day when she’d told Chris to come see her. Devon wanted to impress him, maybe get him to show some actual interest, but honestly, she didn’t know if she could today.

There was banging on the bathroom door, and she rolled her eyes. “Just a moment, yeah?” Devon called, putting her stuff back into her bag. The banging continued. She pulled the door open, angry. She’d had enough trouble today, she didn’t need anything else. “Rosie, I swear to God. What is so fucking important?” She crossed her arms, glaring.

“Well, if you don’t want to know about the guy at the front looking for you, I guess I’ll go tell him you aren’t interested!” Rosie sneered, “But I guess there’s just so many guys looking for you it’s hard to keep track.”

“Don’t be a twat.” Devon pushed past Rosie, bumping her shoulder against the other girl’s on the way. She stopped at the entrance to the kitchen, composed herself, and walked out with a grin on her face. She spotted Chris standing a bit awkwardly at the front of the place and headed his way. “Hey, handsome. What can I do for you?”

#para: devon #para #middle ground #late late late sorry

Chris spotted Devon almost immediately--you couldn't miss that smile if you tried, and, well, he was trying. He rubbed at the back of his neck. You're not that guy. He'd never wanted to be. But now he was increasingly reminded of the fact that he hadn't told Emily that he was going to do this. And maybe he was doing more harm than good by trying to clear the air with Devon. But it was too late for that now.

"Hey, handsome. What can I do for you?"

He smiled slightly at the nickname, and then nodded toward the door. "Want to talk outside?" he asked. He could see Devon's nosy co-worker coming back to her post, a glint in her eyes, and he wasn't feeling up to having an audience to this conversation. He held the door open for Devon, glad to be back outside, where it was less crowded. He worried at his lip for a moment before finally deciding to just get it over with.

"I'm, ah...I'm seeing someone," he said, looking up to see her reaction.

henleyatlas-oldblog

#chris

budding bromance | elliot & chris

Elliot somehow managed to get in the car, although it was an absolute chore trying to get the seatbelt across his chest. He simply didn’t have the hand-eye coordination to pull it across him, and trying to snap it into place was the fucking hardest thing he had ever tried to do. Somehow he managed to do it- and he was pretty sure his hand was guided by God, not his own mind- relaxing back in the seat and looking around. Chris had had this car in high school, he was pretty sure. The guy needed a new ride or something.

“You want me to talk to Coop for you?”

“Oh,” Elliot murmured, clicking his teeth together rather distractedly. It was difficult to answer that. He didn’t even know how to talk to Cooper, but maybe that was the problem. He was too close to Cooper, close enough to where he would help his best friend hide a body if it came down to that, and that probably hampered whatever good judgment he had. He really didn’t have much to begin with, so it left him at a definite disadvantage. “Um. If you want to. Do you talk to him much still anyway?”

He would be kind of upset if it turned out they were communicating regularly, especially considering the fact that he hadn’t talked to Cooper in ages. He missed him so badly it almost ached. “If you decide you want to talk to him, tell him I miss him, please.”

#para: elliot #para #budding bromance #in other news i really am britta because i am THE WORST

"Um. If you want to. Do you talk to him much still anyway?"

Okay, maybe Chris was stepping in a little farther than he should. He really hadn't talked to Cooper much more often in the past few years than he had Elliot, and he'd always been closer to Elliot to begin with. "No, not really," he answered, not taking his eyes off the road. "I mean, I talked to him a few weeks ago, because he wanted to see if I could bring some music for the bakery, but uh...no, not really." Chris listened to the raw sadness in Elliot's voice and sighed. "I will, man." He didn't see how Cooper could doubt that.

They lapsed into silence as Chris drove. The past few weeks had been like waking up, in a way. He'd spent so much time being closed off to everyone but Emily and (occasionally) Aaron that he hadn't allowed himself to think about everything he'd given up. That had always been easy enough when he worked nights and slept during the days, limiting the amount of time he had to bump into the people he used to be close to, but he'd been missing those friendships more and more as time went on. He wasn't sure if any of this had ever been worth it. The thought made him bite his lip, guilty.

He pulled up to the diner, not surprised at how empty the small parking lot was. He pulled the keys out of the ignition and looked over at Elliot. He punched him lightly on the shoulder. "C'mon. Let's get some damn waffles."

bloody mary || chris & charlie

Oh great. She was probably gonna get beaten up by a barman she had never met before. The list of people that she pissed off was expanding rapidly, and for once in her life, she had no idea why. Usually, she took some pleasure in insulting annoying people, and she was satisfied when they left her alone, but never before had so many people been angry with her in such a small time period. And now she had barely uttered a sentence, and there it was again.

For a moment she thought of yelling at him to feel better, but then realized he would probably insult her like all the others, probably kick her out too, and sighed, defeated. “Sorry.” She cleared her throat and considered what to order, when she remembered she barely knew how any drinks tasted besides beer. “How about some vodka?” It was the first that came to mind that contained a lot of alcohol, and that was exactly what she wanted. Screw caution, for once.