tumbataure | 178th page

John.

[no wonder we can't fake it until we make it you can't even get my name right. who the hell is jack. crosses arms and looks at him uncomfortably. i don't like real breakups but fake ones suck too]

What'dyou think's gonna happen to Heather if we break it off?

[isn't that the whole reason they did this in the first place]

That's what I said.

[isn't it? he thought that was what he'd said. stares uncomfortably back at john for another few seconds then drops into a chair and stares at the desk instead.]

I don't know. She's, she.

[has a momentary breakdown running through disaster scenarios. what if she gets adopted by the joys. oh god no that can't happen.]

I don't know. Every time I think I've got a handle on, on anything, it just flies apart, I just. All I know is I have to keep Heather safe, but I don't know how to do that without— I mean you're really okay with this?

What? You're like a roommate except we get paid to live together. What's not awesome about that?

[man he came to terms with their arrangement a long time ago, who knew aaron was still kicking around issues about it. must be the baker thing. hey, deal with it.]

Besides, you're a good dad. Why screw up her life just because we have to pretend to be a couple once a month?

[unfolds his arms and shrugs, scratching behind an ear idly. if he was pissed last night, he seems to have mostly forgotten about it. i mean he hasn't, because he holds grudges like a son of a bitch, but with the trigger thing and everything else in between he kind of has to prioritize]

Look, I was pissed. You screwed the pooch once, it ain't gonna happen again, so just come home. You can play footsie with white bread all you want as long as you keep it under wraps, it's seriously none of my business.

[laces his hands behind his neck, looks up at the ceiling. john is right. aaron knows john is right. it's not even that The Arrangement feels that wrong, what feels wrong is more the farce that aaron keeps turning it into every time he sees craig.]

That's kind of it, I don't even—

[internal parse error. because the idea of infidelity is so alien to him except that it isn't because he's being so constantly unfaithful. it's. he doesn't even know who he is anymore.]

I— No, we're. We're done. I'm not. He and I are done.

[just as soon as i tell him.]

Okay. [holds hand up to stall the mental breakdown. shh. paper bag, aaron. breathe.] He was a douche anyway. [between you me and the fence post. at least au graham is. cranky bitch. kind of half-smiles like, it's a joke, ehh? eh? crack a smile man. loosen up.]

[shrugs and tries to breathe evenly. doesn't even really feel like defending craig, to be honest, which is a little odd.]

Well, so are you, honey.

[half-smiles back. that was a joke. remember last night? yes? aaron is making a visible effort to loosen up, but that's not really his natural state.]

Seriously, though. Thanks. For. For everything.

[co-parent, partner in crime, breadwinner. oh poor choice of narration but you get the idea.]

Yeah, yeah.

[clears throat and one-shoulder shrugs at him. don't be gay.]

Hey, help me get these decorations down. The wedding's off.

What wedding?

[sorry, he was just really self-absorbed for a minute there. remembers in like a half-second.]

Oh! Good! I mean, not, it's not... No, that's definitely a good thing. I mean I know arranged marriages work some of the time, and marriages of convenience aren't totally intolerable all of the time, but I don't even think they like each other.

[gets up on a pew and starts untacking tacky things. eyebrows at john over "totally intolerable" because that was a joke and when aaron isn't panicking over craig it's pretty tolerable.]

Oh, that reminds me, Sergei wanted to apologize for upsetting you? Apparently kind of a lot.

He didn't upset me.

[upset is what housewives get when the electric bill is too high. i'm not getting the vapors. purses lips at his back while he pulls some strung up crap down and rolls it into a tangled ball. tosses it in a pile on a pew to get to later]

What d'you know about him anyway?

[like seriously if he actually thinks about it he knows next to nothing. he's just a weird guy with a russian name who's brother works for the mayor. he's always been around i guess? but they don't talk a lot. so he doesn't get why he got groundhog day deja vu from him]

His name is derived from a Latin family name best translated as "servant?"

[shrugs as well as someone can when he's unpinning stuff from the rafters. celtic crosses. cardboard boob cutouts. you know, typical religious iconography.]

Next to nothing, I guess. Just the stuff everyone knows, I don't think I've had much of a chance to sit down and get to know him or anything.

[holds a hand out incredulously when he delves into nameology like, really, 1 how do you even know that and 2 why did you feel the need to tell me. nerd.]

I feel like I know the guy. From somewhere. It's...weird.

[points a finger at him to preemptively shut him up before he makes any offcolor assumptions. goes back to tossing junk into the pile]

Don't think he's ever said two words to me before today.

Edited 2013-05-28 03:54 (UTC)

[raises his hands in surrender when john points to him, because. he wasn't. he actually wasn't, because first of all it would be hypocritical in the extreme and second of all because it actually hadn't occurred to him.]

Maybe it's just, you know, the nature of the small town? I don't really know the feeling, I guess.

Whatever. I'm forgetting about it. It's gone.

[like some kind of past-life crap or something. he won't forget about it though. it's in his nature to latch onto weird. will obsess until he figures it out.]

That's good enough for now.

[finishes stuffing pile of decoration junk reduced to a tangled mess in a bag and holds it out for the rest of whatever daniels holding]

Sure, if you say so.

[shrugs. hey whatever john wants to drop without further comment, aaron is just fine with dropping including tacky decorations. drops the handful of tacky decorations in the bag and climbs down from the pew.]

Hey, Smith and I made applesauce today and nobody died or skipped out on the bill, so... That went well.

[that's not even a euphemism.]

Wow, it's almost like you're a functioning adult.

[is that why you smell like baby food. ties bag off and tosses it in corner, dusts hands off. looks around church. handiwork pays off.]

Careful, sweetheart, that almost sounded like a compliment.

[no it didn't, but sass is his default setting so this is familiar territory. surveys the church with john.

So are you refunding their deposit, or what? I can never remember the rules.

You kiddin? This is the church you're talkin about.

[pls. generous and benevolent until it comes to money policy. at least he's a self-aware priest.]

Money in the bank. We can hit the town later, grab a bite. What say you?

[he still has to finish up the day here but you know. got money to burn. make plans. not dates.]

Sounds good, just as long as we don't go to the inn.

[wait. there's nowhere else in town. except the—

yeah they're not going to the bakery.]

On second thought, inn sounds good. It's not like they'll make me take another shift today. I hope. For everyone's sake.

[picks a stray shred of paper from the wall.]

I think the Joys are busy with the sheriff tonight, so Heather should be free.

Inn it is. Least Rita can fry up some decent steak n eggs. Wanna pick her up on your way out?

[pointed eyebrow raise. trusting you to do the thing and not fuck it up. heather not rita. don't pick rita up. you don't know where rita's been.]

Yep. Meet you there when you're done here?

[eyebrow raise right back at john because what no he's not going to pick up rita what are you talking about rita scares him only slightly less than rita's wife who is really terrifying.

it's a really complex eyebrow raise okay?]

[eyebrow language. like he has any idea what goes on in that freaky head of yours. for all he knows all rita has to do is shake some bread rolls at you and you'll come runnin with your pants down]

Uh huh. Gimme a few hours to finish up.

[eyebrow language that is completely different to the conversation they're actually having apparently]

[finds your lack of faith disturbing. justified, but disturbing.]

Okay. See you there.

[platonic shoulderpats on the way out. facepalms a yawn as he goes because he didn't sleep at all last night and they might not have invented coffee yet here in which case daniel is about to die.]

178th page

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject