somethingwithturquoise | MHA #4; Tuesday Evening [09/01].

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MHA #4; Tuesday Evening [09/01].

Summer had sort of been wishing her class hadn't been moved to Fridays this semester, because that would have given her something more to focus on for a good chunk of the day that wasn't kind of obsessing over the state of her apartment, which was fine, obviously, and it was kind of stupid that she was even nervous about Barry coming over for pizza and a phenominally dumb movie and meeting her cat (god, she really used that as a framing devise, didn't she, wtf), but there they were.

Thankfully, she actually did manage to distract herself pretty effectively by deciding to actually dig into a little bit of economic theory for her class, with Pancakes curled up and purring and complicating the whole lap part of using a laptop, but, whatever, it was cute, although Summer did make sure to have at least one moment of serious discussion with her.

"Seriously, Cakes, don't be a brat. If you're good, I promise, there will definitely be some of that dank Nebulon 9 catnip in your future."

And Summer was just going to take Pancakes' continued purring and leaning into the chin scratches she was getting as an acceptance to these terms and conditions.

[[ for that guy! ]]

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"Well I turned most of them into dinosaurs yesterday," he said boggling a bit at Pancakes before shrugging it off and following Summer to the living room. (Hey, if Pancakes was happy with a box, he's taking that as a win) "There were a couple of students who noped right out of it which I expected. Most of older students jumped in with no hesitation so I'm saying it went off pretty well. So what interdimensional bad movie did you pick for us today?

But now Pancakes had a taste for it, Barry. Just wait until next time, and if there's no box...

"Yeah," said Summer, as she set the pizza box down on the coffee table, where she already had some plates and napkins waiting, and then perched herself on the edge of the couch, "I see can dinosaurs being a hit, that was a good choice. And it's Two Brothers," she reached over to grab the DVD from the table and handed it over so he could get an idea of what he was about to be in for, although, really, the cover left a lot of ground untouched, "it's just called Two Brothers, and it's one of the stupidest things I've ever seen, you're going to love it."

But in her anticipation to gauge if he would actually love it, she was also going through a mental checklist for everything about the evening to spot at least one thing she'd skipped over, which had her back on her feet. "Oh! Drinks! I forgot to grab drinks! What would you like?"

Alas. Barry had turned Pancakes into a box junkie. Maybe there's box rehab for cats if she hits rock bottom.

"If it's a stupid action movie, I'm going to love it," he said taking the DVD cover and started laughing. "Holy shit! Yeah, this looks idiotic."

And then he read the part about the Mexican Armada.

"Oh, fuck. I'm going to need a copy of this."

He was still standing when Summer popped up off the couch and he finally took in the setting. It was just... nice. There were no vistas, alien landscapes or Ted Allen asking questions. For some reason it made him feel content and relaxed. He hadn't felt that 'warm and fuzzy' for a long time. Mostly because he's not a warm and fuzzy person but this seemed to just hit home.

And then he realized she had asked him a question. "I'm good with just water," he said kind of meekly but smiling. "Unless you have something prepared. I'm good with that too."

There was something in that moment for Summer, too, when she realized he'd been sort of looking around, that nervous kind of anticipation about whether or not, with all the bells and whistles stripped away (well, one bell, maybe, although it was more of an explosion), it was still...okay.

"Not really," she admitted, with a small smile back, a small hitch up of her shoulders. "Not unless you wanted to crack open a bottle of Lotus wine before I turn it into jello shots tomorrow."

"Well, I don't want to take anything away from your job," he said, just standing there enjoying the moment. "But honestly, I'm not that big of a drinker. But if you're going to have a drink I'll just have one of what you are having."

"I figured you'd say something like that," Summer said, because she paid attention, dammit, but she did sort of feel like she'd forgotten how to move for a moment there. Forgotten, or just didn't want to, but then realized she'd probably start feeling a little silly if she didn't.

"I'll be right back," she said, before brushing past him a little to head over to the kitchen, but looked back with a grin. "Want to get the movie set up? I mean, if you think you can figure it out."

"I think I can handle that," he said, watching her leave and then popping the movie into the DVD player. As he turned around to look for the remote he suddenly realized they were going to be sitting on the couch. Together.

Now, normal people might just sit down on the couch and be done with it. Barry on the other hand spent about five seconds trying to determine the proper position he should take so that when Summer came back he would be sitting in a spot that was not too close or too far away from her and would also ensure that both of them wouldn't see any glare on the screen.

And then he sat down and turned on the television set where part of the trailer for Two Brothers started to play. "It literally looks like someone dropped acid in the middle of writing the movie and it went an entirely different direction."

There was a little bit of a delay because Summer figured, while she was over there, she might as well see if she could tempt Pancakes to at least consider playing with one of the toys because it seemed like kind of a waste if they were just going to sit there untouched, but she wasn't having much luck. Pancakes regarded the dangling mouse with as much cool consideration as she gave to the mere presence of air, and Summer, unimpressed with her dedication to the box, just set the mouse down on Pancakes' back, where she expected it would probably remain until the cat decided to move. Which would probably be a while.

She shook her head, went to the kitchen, fussed around maybe a little bit, and then returned with two glasses of ice water with lemon, handing one over to Barry before probably ruining all his calculations by sitting just slightly within the margins of the 'too close' range.

"Yeah," she said, "I wouldnt' be surprised if that's exactly what happened. It's a giant rambling mess."

Okay. There were a lot of calculations that happened there, Summer. But her being somewhat closer... Well he didn't seem to mind.

"Let's get this shit show started shall we?" he said kicking off the movie and leaning back on the couch. "Here's hoping that there's really good beheadings. It's not a shitty action movie without a really bad fake head.

She didn't know! Her own calculations on just where she was going to put herself were way more simple and direct, right down to the way she tucked up her leg under her after grabbing a plate and a slice that left her angled just a little more towards Barry.

"I didn't know that was requirement," she admitted, sounding amused, even if she immediately started to go back and think if there even were any beheadings. Then she remembered that the whole thing was so chaotic that she had absolutely no idea. But there had to be, right? Especially once the old ladies showed up...She was just going to try not to worry about it.

Okay. So now Barry had a choice. He could either shift away slightly which could possibly give Summer a hint that he was uncomfortable or he could just-

Ugh. This was so obvious.

“Hey look! Giant computer animated attack cats! This movie has fucking everything,” he said as he pretended to stretch his arms with one arm happening to land and rest on the back of the couch.

Maybe the talk about cats would distract her from such an obvious movement.

Nope! Not even a little! Summer had seen this movie, she knew all about the cats already, thank you. But she was willing to oblige him in turning her attention to the TV, even if it was partly so that the big grin she suddenly couldn't keep off her face wasn't just focused on him and that move.

"Oh, you don't even know," she gushed. "We're just getting started."

“Well I’ve already seen the spaceships in the trailer that are shaped likes Sombreros,” he said relaxing now that the arm movement was out of the way. “I’m expecting this will lead to a very sensitive portrayal of ethnicity.”

No. He was not expecting that. But he was comforted by Summer’s smile that he only caught a portion of.

"It's probably a good thing," Summer said, settling just a little bit more against the back of the couch, "we went with pizza instead of taco, huh?"

“Hmm?”

You’ll have to forgive Barry as he was distracted by Summer’s hair brushing against his arm.

“Oh, right. Totally. Besides pizzas travel better than tacos,” he looking a little bit pink.

What was he saying? Tacos? Really?

“Despite the crazy story line the movie is shot pretty well,” he said trying to regain a bit of his composure.

With that, Summer went quiet for a moment, shifting her focus on the TV to consider the movie from that perspective, while wondering if maybe she was talking too much, if she was just being too distracting. Obviously, Barry woudl want to, you know, actually, like, watch the movie, and here she was just making bad jokes about tacos.

But still...

"The budget for this thing was probably as insane as its plot."

Maybe she'd cease the commentary when she actually did run out of things to say. Or when the action really got amped up. She thought, as the city burned around the two brothers and the hordes of mutant space cats and tomato guns attacking each other.

“We’ll have to check the credits later,” Barry suggested. “When it’s written, produced and directed by the same person you usually get shhhhhhhhhhiiiiit is that a fucking tomato gun?”

Summer can probably relax as it’s fairly obvious talking trash through a movie is something Barry likes to do. Barry is obviously relaxed as his hand slipped to Summer’s shoulder and didn’t realize it at all.

Edited 2020-09-01 22:33 (UTC)

"That is a fucking tomato gun," Summer confirmed.

But was a fucking tomato gun more distracting than the fact that, now that there was hand on her shoulder, Summer was just going enjoy that for a moment before shifting a little, until her other shoulder was leaning into Barry's?

When Summer's shoulder made contact with Barry, he was no longer watching the movie. He just turned his head and was watching Summer with an amused look. It wasn't that the situation was funny. It's just that he felt good.

"Comfortable?"

That question just prompted Summer to make a few minute adjustments until she could answer with the utmost confidence. "Yes."

She hadn't really been watching the movie much at all, but now she wasn't even bothering to look at it, either, looking over at Barry now to meet his eyes with a quiet, hopeful, "You?"

"Yeah," he said in a volume that was somewhere above a whisper. "Honestly, I haven't been this comfortable in a very long time."

He couldn't tell you squat what was happening in the movie right now. And for once he wasn't thinking a million things at once.

So he just leaned in to give her a kiss.

To be fair, even if they had been watching the movie, they still probably wouldn't really be able tell what was happening.

Something with rapid gunfire, maybe? Or was that just the crazy beating of Summer's heart right now?

Whatever. It didn't matter. There were obviously more important things going on right then. She was more than happy to abandon all hopes.of making any headway on that pizza as she shifted at least one more time so that she could better lean in to return that kiss, closing her eyes with a sigh of relief, because if he hadn't, she was so going to, but this was, like, way better.

Barry turned more to lean into the kiss, pulling back gently just catch his breath a little bit and smiling.

"We may have to watch this movie again," he joked. "We're missing some very important plot points. Not that I care."

"We really aren't," Summer assured him, her own breath turning into a small laugh. She took a moment, mostly for her head to catch up with her racing heart, eyes dancing over Barry's face as if to confirm that, yeah, this was definitely happening. And she moved in to kiss him again, hand finding his chest, curling up there in his shirt to maybe better keep him there.

Oh, Summer. Barry wasn't going anywhere. In fact the hand that was on the couch and her shoulder was now moving up to cup the back of her her head and face. When he did get a chance to breathe he chuckled again. "See? Movie and pizza can be nice?" he murmured against her lips.

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