somethingwithturquoise | MHA #4; Friday Evening [09/11].

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MHA #4; Friday Evening [09/11].

So, Barry was coming over again for another movie night, although, for Summer's intents and purposes, it really didn't have much to do with a movie at all. Which was maybe why a stupid amount of time was spent between her class that morning and now figuring out a clever way to get the lighting in her living room down to a nice moody setting, why she'd made the most out of some nice vanilla-floral candles, and why Pancakes was pretty much blazed out of her mind on catnip in the other room, which she figured should buy them significantly fewer rude and poorly timed interruptions than last time...

And the best part was that she didn't really feel nervous, or anything like that, just excited and pleased, which was just sort of...nice. And she was even a little curious about what kind of movie Barry would actually pick, despite her hopes to not really get the chance to watch much of it.

[[ for that guy, of course, and thus concludes my spamming you with Summer ]]

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"Oh, fuck no!"

Barry, so help her, if that fumbling didn't yeild results and fast, then Summer was not going to hesitate to take those controls from you and throw that at her TV to break it, because she had enough trauma on that level thanks to that one time she and her dad actually switched bodies for a while and, hey, she had enough money now that she could just buy a new TV, and a new TV was a hell of a whole lot cheaper than therapy.

So when the screen finally went blank (and not a moment too soon), she all but collapsed back on the couch with a sigh of relief. And then she was just going to need a moment, pressing the heels of her hands to her eyes as if to press out everything she'd seen in the last whirlwind of minutes.

"Okay," she finally said, once she recovered, her hands staying where they were for a moment longer, and then they just sort of dragged down to her mouth, and then off her face. "So, technically, that's not my dad, because this is obviously from one of those dimensions where he goes on to become a big shot movie star because I was never actually born."

So here came another fun layer to this whole spectacular catastrophe!

And then, another thought:

"Ohmygod, so all that partying and meeting Kristen Stewart on Leo's yacht just went to a whole new level."

Hi, okay, wow, like, thanks....she hated it. So much.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck," Barry groaned. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

This only reminded Barry that whenever he fucked up? He fucked up big time.

"It's okay. I got another movie," he said rushing his words as he looked at one of the alternates he had downloaded. "It's a movie rip-off from ~~meta~~ Weekend at Bernie's which has a woman and cats that-"

And that's when Barry saw that it was written and directed by Jerry Smith.

"-Is a piece of shit, so never fucking mind."

He let out a groan and hunched over a bit so he could massage his head with his hand. "I am so fucking sorry."

"It's fiiiiiiiiiine," said Summer, who tilted her head back and closed her eyes and let out a long breath that was very clearly trying to do a lot of heavy lifting in convincing herself that it was fine, and, to push it even more: "It's fine."

She lifted her head again, if only to shake it a little. "I mean, how were you supposed to know that my father was breaking new gender-bending ground on otherwise classicaly regarded Hollywood blockbusters in what I assume were the mid-2000s in a completely alternate dimension?"

And that that would even ever be a sentence that would leave her own mouth?

There was another sigh, the sort that she was maybe a little too familiar with, of resignation and a weird sort of acceptance that this was just her life, before she turned her head finally to look at Barry with one brow quirked.

"Did your algorithm seriously pull up Last Will and Testimeow: Weekend at Dead Cat Lady's House II?"

Because, wow, that was a deep cut right there.

Edited 2020-09-11 18:08 (UTC)

Shit. She knew that one?

Barry groaned and flopped back on the couch rubbing his eyes as he did. "Yeah? I know. It's stupid. I was looking for fucked up movies we could make fun of. In my defense it was described as the Citizen Kane of movies with dead bodies and cats."

He sighed and looked over at Summer with a pitiful look. "I'm so sorry. I didn't think my movie choice would literally traumatize my girlfriend. Look, I got other movies that have nothing to do with the algorithm. I got ~~meta~~ for Spaceballs, Ghostbusters and this one documentary on migrant workers I did when I was 11."

It was a little preachy but it did win an award at Cannes.

Edited 2020-09-11 18:15 (UTC)

It was brought up at literally almost every family holiday since they'd discovered it, really.

But, quite frankly, everyone knew that Kit and Catdaver: Whiskers from the Grave was the much superior dead body/cats film.

"Well, that last one sounds uplifting," Summer murmured, although she had to admit, she was more than a little curious about that, but maybe not exactly at this time. "And believe me, this barely even scratches the surface of trauma, this is just my usual dumb luck..."

But then there was a pause, because in all of that, there was definitely one little detail in that that stuck out just a bit, and now she eyed Barry with a sort of speculative wariness.

"Roll that back a little, though," she said. "Traumatize your...what?"

Yeah, like that was going to go unnoticed!

Barry blinked. Once and then twice.

What did he say? His brain rewound a few seconds and replayed the conversation in his mind.

Oh.

Shit.

"Uh. Yeah," he said carefully watching for Summer's reaction. "Girlfriend. I mean... that's what's been in my head. I didn't want to label us or anything because I didn't want to fuck it up somehow. If you don't feel the same way I-"

Geez. Was it hot in here?

"Should I go? I feel like I really fucked things up. Maybe I should go."

Edited 2020-09-11 18:44 (UTC)

Summer was trying incredibly hard to keep her reaction very steady and guarded, but that pretty much went right out the window as soon as he said that it'd been in his head, and holy emotional whiplash, Ratman, but this purest of Freudean slips right there was quite possibly one of the greatest things to ever happen to her, even better than him lying about the solar converter to get her on that first date.

She almost didn't know how to respond that didn't involve some sort of squealing sound, but she did manage a "Don't..." as she reached out to grab his hand in case he did try to leave.

There was a moment, before she realized if she was already reaching for him, already leaning in, then she might as well just close the rest of the gap and pull him in for a kiss.

Okay. Barry wasn't about to refuse anything right now but he was experiencing his own emotional backlash right now but at least he wasn't breaking out into a cold sweat right now. But now-

Well there was kissing right now. And his brain was not thinking about anything else at the moment. And the anxiety level was definitely taken down a few notches.

"I'm... I'm not going," he managed to say when he finally found the words. He almost apologized for the movie again but decided going back to the trauma wasn't a good idea.

"So. That's okay. Saying that?" he asked because this whole thing was very confusing. Barry might be able to clone a human being but actually navigating social situations was still a difficult thing.

"Oh, it's definitely okay," Summer gushed, grinning a little, but staying very close, as if she maybe didn't fully believe that he wouldn't just up and run if given an inch of space to do so. "I, um...." A breath of a laugh escaped her for her sudden inability to find her own words. "I've been thinking about it a lot, too."

And the fact that putting a label on it sort of terrified her because she was pretty sure she'd never had anything with a label on it that didn't wind up being destructive or dysfunctional in awful, usually-dangerous-for-the-other-person ways, buuuuuut....

"It might make three-minute dates tomorrow a little awkward," she added, because levity was always a safe place, "but I only signed up to support the bar, anyway."

Barry's brain was flying high until the three-minute dates were brought up.

"Three-minute dates?"

For like. A second.

"Well," he said, leaning back on the couch and looking a little smug. "As long as I'm still your boyfriend at the end of the evening I don't think that's a big deal."

Yes. He was being a dork and confirming that with verbal statements. He might be a genius but he still can be an idiot.

"I mean," said Summer, who was definitely going to take a moment to just enjoy that incredibly dorky smug look on his face before taking advantage of him leaning back on the couch to settle in against him, hand on his chest, leaning in for another swift kiss, "I can't make any promises, but I'm pretty sure you'll be okay."

Because she might be an adorable badass, but she still can be a brat.

"Well if you decide to dump my sorry ass, just text me it's over and I'll just become a fucking hermit for the rest of the year," Barry joked, as his arm went around her shoulder. "I'll start washing my hands constantly and come in all pitiful on Wednesday nights to drink whatever fucking nasty jello shots you make until Jeremy and Roxie sign me up for a 12 step program and I turn to Jesus."

"Well, that's fucking grim," Summer snorted softly. "I wouldn't want that kind of blood on my hands."

Actual blood? Yeah, okay, whatever. But that? No one wanted that.

Barry laughed

"Yeah, yeah yeah," Barry said, poking her in the side. "I'm just saying: I'm secure enough with you that I'm not going to freak out about you going out on three minute dates. I've been around this island long enough to know that weird shit happens and more fucked up things happen on the weekend. So if it does? Don't worry about it. I'll be fucking fine."

"And I've been around this island long enough," Summer submitted, after squirming with perhaps some exaggerated cuteness at the poke, then looking over at him, "to know that there's not going to be anything in any of those three minutes better than this."

And then she had to...had to!...let her gaze drift over toward the darkened TV screen.

"Misguided movie algorithms notwithsanding."

Seriously, bro, just pick a damn movie you like!

Barry smiled. And gave her a small kiss. “I’m probably going to fuck something else down the road,” he said sincerely. “But it won’t be picking out a movie.”

He’s so checking IMDB to ensure no blood relative on either side is in a role going forward.

“By the way, the migrant worker movie is pretty boring so if you want we can put that on and ignore it all night.”

So you were really going to use phrasing like that, and then try to go into migrant workers, huh, Barry?

Summer bit her lip against a comment, but she wasn't as successful at keeping back a grin,, and she shook her head a little. "Yeah, but you made it," she said. "I want to be able to actually pay attention to it. And....maybe I should be honest about something. I..." She laughed a little. "...really didn't invite you over tonight because I wasnted to watch a movie, anyway..."

Barry was only confused for a second, really.

“Oh?” He asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement. “What did you have in mind? Jell-O shot tutorials? Pottery? Scrapbooking?”

Summer could only answer that question with a smirk before leaning in to get right to the kissing.

So, yeah. Something like that.

Okay. That. Yep. That's good. Totally good. No complaints here.

Barry? Good with the kissing.

Going forward though he was totally picking out boring movies.

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MHA #4; Friday Evening [09/11].

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