underachievement | IC INBOX + OPEN POST / memes, psl, etc.

want to grab enough for two?

You have no allergies right?

nope. but you knew that already.

Then I'm double checking
Not that it wouldn't be funny if a peanut killed you.

i'd like to see it try

I don't know what to say to that

just say you're on your way. you made me hungry.

I'm grabbing my toothbrush and shit
I'm pre-on my way

ok fine i'll see you soon

Yep

[ She loves not using military jargon.

Along with her toothbrush, Jess packs a fresh shirt and underwear, that are folded on either side of a mostly full bottle of bourbon. Lastly, her phone charger, in case his is occupied or incompatibly outdated. She locks her door and heads out, then has to mill around the dead lobby of the restaurant for eight minutes. She browses the missed calls on her phone until their order has finished cooking. The final leg of the journey is the shortest; there's nothing to delay her along the remaining twelve blocks. The smell of sautéed vegetables and peanut sauce us her intolerably tempting companion the whole way.

Jess knocks curtly on the door, prepared to hand off the plastic bag stacked with boxes of pad thai. Ideally, she would bee line for the kitchen and serve herself right away, but the dogs won't have it. ]

[ frank mutes his hockey game two seconds before the knock comes, over-sharpened senses hearing her from too far away. that and half the dogs were already barking about her impending arrival. whatever. he throws the remote down and goes to the door to receive her, throwing it open and staring at her a moment as if trying to prove to himself she's really there. he's in a hoodie and jeans and seems calm as hell. maybe even eerily so, but today he can't help but feel alright. it just happens that way sometimes. without being asked, he takes the bag from her and holds it up high enough the beasts won't destroy the food as they nose in to greet jessica. max and rocky are especially insistent on getting all of her love while the rest wag their tails and wait their turn. before he loses his nerve and before the dogs swallow her whole, frank leans in for a quick, gentle kiss. almost immediately, he's pulling away again and letting the animals swarm her as he retreats to the kitchen to plate their meals. ]

[ The kiss might make her freeze, if she weren't being battered around the legs by dog bodies. She doesn't have the time or wherewithal to think about how she isn't used such brazen displays of affection. As she leans down to pat at the constantly moving targets that are the dogs' heads, her mind can leap right to assuring her that there was nothing bold about what he did. They aren't out in the open, and even if they were, no one's watching. The first half of that settles fine but she's not around to believing the second. She fakes it okay.

With the dogs around, she can give her paranoia a shallow rest. They're an early warning system for creeps, as they proved when they announced her arrival. Jess gets to each of them, and that still leaves all of them wanting more. Tough. She's starving and they've eaten already. The pack follows her to the kitchen, panting and thwapping one another with their tails. ]

I think you need more dogs. [ Sarcasm! /o/ ]

[ he's reaching into one of the taller cabinets for plates when the wolf pack strides in. frank turns to smile at them, starting with their leader, pulling back down his sweater from where it rode up to reveal he doesn't wear shirts under his hoodies because he's a heathen. frank laughs lowly at her facetious suggestion, plating their food and going to grab himself a beer. if he knows her, and he does, then she b'd her own b so he doesn't bother asking if she wants some of his. ]

I might be fostering a Bernese mountain dog.

[ There are worse ideas than beer but, yeah, she would prefer her own B. Jess snatches up a fork and digs into her dish, leaning over it until the noodles are safely in her mouth. Then she ducks out to grab her bourbon. Returning with it in hand, she fishes a glass out of his cupboards, surprised with her own familiarity. She pours herself a double, in the interest of fewer refills, grabs her food and joins him.

She's barely had half a second to get a look at him. It's like she forgot that his beard has been banished, because it keeps taking her off-guard. Maybe what was so strange about the kiss in the doorway wasn't the kiss itself but how it felt. Eh, a little column A, a little column B. ]

With a tragic past, no doubt. [ She looks over the dogs to pick out the one that's least recognizable to her. So that's what a Bernese mountain dog is. Good to know? ]

[ he drops his fork on the plate with a clang and picks up the food in one hand and his drink in the other, tapping his elbow against jessica to get her to follow back to the living room. he turns to the big fluffy dog after sitting back down on the couch and taking his first bite. ]

Don't let her fool you, Juno. She would die for you in an instant.

[ Jess accompanies him couchwards, glaring at his back when he undermines her to the new addition. Yes, she definitely would die for most any dog, even a bad one, but she doesn't appreciate being called on it. ]

That doesn't mean anything. I'd die for assholes. [ She has a sip of bourbon before setting her glass on the coffee table in front of them. Her plate is stabilized with two hands as she falls back into the sofa. ]

[ frank shrugs a shoulder to concede the point and takes a long swig from his beer, resting it between his thighs when he's done and balancing his plate on one knee. ]

Did you just agree with me?

What? No. [ Did she? Or has he just cornered her into admitting she thinks more highly of animals than people? Petulantly, she knocks her knee into his -- using zero strength to ensure the safety of his food.

The walk over stoked alive an appetite that must have been building all day. She devours the first half of her meal without savouring any of it. Once the aching emptiness in her stomach abates, she slows down to take a breath and a drink. Eating was such a good idea. It's a pity she didn't have it.

Bourbon going down, she glances over to him and softly double takes. She huffs into her glass and has another sip. It's one thing to keep forgetting he shaved, it's another but inextricably connected problem how handsome he is having done so. He didn't always look this good, that's impossible. Absence made her heart grow fonder, and she'll blame Frank for that like he planned on it. ]

[ he snorts, predictably letting it go so that jess can go back to having the upper hand. he takes another bite and sinks back into the worn cushions so that his shoulder brushes hers every time he lifts his fork. then he takes a long swig of beer to wash down the mouthful. it really is good, but he's distracted by the way she's looking at him, a familiar feeling raising the hair on the back of his neck, though it isn't danger he's sensing this time. his throat goes dry as he catches jessica's gaze in the scant space between them, forcing himself to look back at the game though his brain refuses to focus on the play. ]

What're you lookin' at, huh? [ it comes out gruff, but deeply bemused as he continues in on his food. ]

[ Caught in the act. Jess tears her eyes away and feigns interest in the screen. Granted, of all the sports, she finds hockey the most exciting to spectate. It's the violentest one. And it's about as far removed from soccer as one can get. ]

It's what I'm not looking at. [ When was the last time she saw him without the beard? It'd have to be the simulated soiree, when he got an eyeful of her all cleaned up, as well. But for real? Longer than she's going to try and remember. Jess jabs a red pepper with her fork and pops it into her mouth, fighting off a smile. She can practically feel him buzzing from her attention. Dogs really do take on the personalities of their owners. They learned it from watching him. ]

[ juno lays at their feet with a low sigh as if cementing jessica's thoughts in the moment. frank smiles into his food and shakes his head. ]

You really hated that beard. [ he chuckles before taking another drink in an attempt to hide how affected he is by her scrutiny, but truthfully he isn't trying that hard. and even if he did, he would suck at it, so. ]

I can't believe I never told you. [ That's not true. Of course she can. She doesn't regret omitting her disgust, but also she doesn't miss the compulsion -- and she hasn't had the distance to notice that. A part of her is always going to be trying to protect him, but she doesn't have to think through everything she says before she says it, lest it influence him in some way. To take an action as small as shaving, God forbid. She can't believe the measures she had to go to just to kind of barely sleep at night.

she wouldn't have liked him to make the change on her account, not remotely like she likes this. his choice, on his time, for his reasons. so what if they didn't work out how he was hoping? not doing it for her is the most For Her thing he could have done. scraping together the strewn remains of her meal, she finishes it in one big bite and sets the plate down in front of her. Jess reclines with her glass, admiring the blush creeping up to his ears. her audience is thwarted by a big wet nose sniffing closer to her plate, forcing Jess to scoop it off the table before it gets a tongue rinsing. she darts off to deposit it in the kitchen, stepping over resting dogs on the way to and from. ]

[ he laughs some more, watching her go with a disgustingly wistful expression. ]

I knew. [ an assurance that he hopes annoys her, a little. he looks down at his food then and realizes she ate much quicker than him so he makes an effort to clean his plate before she comes back. he gives up though and ends up setting it down on the floor for the dogs to descend on. frank shifts into the corner of the couch so he has support from two sides to watch her return, feeling a pleasant tingle through his belly as he lifts the beer bottle back to his face. ]

[ Her lip and nose twitch. She is successfully annoyed by that. That means he was orienting himself around her, a step ahead of her perceived step ahead of him. ]

Yeah, you read me like a book. [ A sexy book, at the moment. Jess slots herself in right beside him, sort of taken with the look he's giving her, or taken with the freedom not to fear the consequences. The loaded air between them is thrilling her smile into staying, so underhandedly she can't tell that it's still there. The charge of it isn't burning. The dogs are at rest, and the two of them are awake, which for them is safe as houses. For her, this is when real life is hardest to keep a grip on. These are the memories that the silence drowns out, that she loses over and over when the flashbacks pour in. It's worth it, to dig them out again and again. Every time she adds a new one, it gets the smallest bit easier. ]

Only took me, what? Two years? [ or however long it's been. his eyes shift closed for a moment when she leans against him, relishing in the warm contact even through the heat of the night. ] You back to work yet?

[ he has been having trouble wading back into the kind of work he did before, unsurprisingly. unchallenging, physical labor comes naturally to him even now, but he can't focus. working for money seems almost beneath him at this point. it must be different for jess though, right? she's always been naturally snoopy. he's more worried about her interactions with anyone "real" and there's a note of concern in his deep voice he doesn't bother masking. ]

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