Re: um... idk.dsudisFebruary 19 2009, 04:30:26 UTC
Lucy's a little derailed by Matt yelling at her, and John presses the momentary advantage. "Lucy, what are you doing here?"
Brittany's looking toward the bedroom--tempted to go and get the kid, who's still crying a little, but Matt's voice is there too, quieting him, and Brittany doesn't need to see the bandages on his head again, or his Silent Bob all covered in dried blood. The question distracts Brittany as much as Lucy, keeps her still.
"I--" Lucy looks around for a second, like she's forgotten why she came, like she wandered into John's apartment looking for a paperclip. "My building. The landlord has a cousin who knows a guy, or something--"
Well, of course he does. Jersey.
"--And we got to the head of the line for solar panels. They needed us all to leave while they're installing them, in case of whatever. My rent will probably--"
"I'll pay it," John said. "Whatever it takes to keep you in a building with the lights on." To say nothing of the elevators running.
"Yeah, that's what Mom said, too," Lucy said. "I tried to call you, but--"
Lucy ran down, staring at Brittany, anger momentarily defused.
"Lucy, this is Brittany, she's, uh..."
"Matt Farrell's babymama," Brittany offered helpfully, and Lucy's eyes went saucer-wide.
Matt called out--lower, this time, sing-song, "I thought we agreed we weren't calling it that."
Brittany rolled her eyes. "Matt knocked me up four years ago during a one-night stand at a con."
John decided not to even try to explain that any further. "Brittany, my daughter Lucy, I don't know what her last name is today but it probably starts with G." Gennero was the safe bet, of course, but by the end of this conversation she might be going with Gabriel, or Gruber.
Re: um... idk.dsudisFebruary 20 2009, 02:52:29 UTC
Well, he is also, reciprocally, objecting to being called Brittany's babydaddy (although explaining the term to Jason proved much easier and less embarrassing than he'd expected; apparently "well, he's your daddy and you're my baby" only rates an "I'm not a baby" from a three-year-old, and even then he succumbed pretty easily to "well, of course not, but big-boy-daddy just doesn't sound right").
Re: um... idk.dsudisFebruary 20 2009, 03:32:33 UTC
So John comes home one day and Matt's not there, and that's not a big deal, or shouldn't be. They've known each other a couple of weeks, been sleeping together for half that time, and even someone as computer-addicted as Matt was bound to get stir-crazy one of these times when John left him alone for a day. There's no note and he didn't call, but his stuff's still here. There's no good reason for John to keep wandering aimlessly around the apartment--not pacing, just... unable to settle--for half an hour, until Matt comes back.
"Hey," Matt says, smiling brightly and wide-eyed, so that even that one word reads like a lie. "Hey, you're back."
John gives that one a slow, thoughtful nod. "I am back."
"I was just meeting with an old friend--well--somebody I used to know--uh, briefly, anyway. She saw me on the news, tracked down my email address."
She. And even as he knows it's a hell of a leap, John thinks, well, of course. Of course eventually Matt was going to remember that the world was full of a) women who were b) his own age and c) now aware that he's a goddamn hero. It might even work out better for Matt than it ever did for John, and in any case it's up to Matt to figure it out.
"Yeah, she--Brittany, Brittany Morse, I met her, like, four years ago at this con--convention, I mean, not, um, what is con even short for, the other kind?"
"Confidence trick," John interjects quietly, watching the kid throw off tells like a busted exhaust pipe throwing off sparks. "Or convict, take your pic."
"Right, no, but--convention, a computer thing--she's a programmer, she does web design now--and she--man, she was so, so too good for me. I actually remember being, like, in the elevator on the way up to her hotel room and thinking, wow, this woman is so much more socially competent than I am. I had no idea what she was even doing with me. It was kind of amazing."
Also kind of amazing: watching Matt work up to saying something unpleasant. He looks more and more like he's lying as he goes along even though John suspects he's actually telling the truth. Just not the I'm going to go pack now part.
"Um, and--so she emailed me the other day, you know? And she didn't come right out and say--she asked if I remembered her, you know, she even kind of made it a test. But I did remember her, so I went to see her today, and she--I--John, she--"
"Yeah," John says, because he likes the kid enough to want to make it a little bit easy. "I know."
Matt actually stops dead and stares at him, stunned, and then says, "How could you--John, she has a kid."
John remembers Holly saying it's positive, and he's hearing the same kind of weird roaring in his ears, only--oh, shit.
"She didn't say--she didn't say anything, she didn't ask for anything or demand anything or push it--but the timing is right and he, he looks like me, I think. I never used to know what people were talking about when they said, you know, he's got your eyebrows or your nose or something, I never saw it, but Jesus Christ, that kid looks like me."
John lets himself lean against the counter, rubbing one hand over his face. Matt sounds stunned, but not like he's running off to marry this girl--Brittany, right. "What's his name?"
"Jason, he's three, he--he's a whole little person, you know? He talks, he likes dogs, his favorite color is green, Brittany's totally conned him into liking vegetables, and he--the day of the fire sale, when the telecoms had gone down and they'd taken over the media, he--he tells me, he says the tv was broken so he and his mom went to the park, and he met a big dog named Roxie who was really friendly and he fed her a treat. That's what he remembers. They went to the park. And if I--if--I would never have--"
It's remarkable, actually, that Matt hasn't had more of these moments before now. And the important thing, here, is that he's come back to John to have it. John pushes off the counter and pulls Matt into a hug, mutters, "Hey, you're good, you found him. Everybody's fine."
Re: um... idk.dsudisFebruary 20 2009, 04:07:27 UTC
Oh, god! With insecure John wanting to make it a little bit easy and Matt came home to have his freak out about events and a dog named Roxie and and and!!!!! Your layers of avoidance tactics are the BEST! Please keep writing things to keep not writing other things until you run out! *MWAH*
Brittany's looking toward the bedroom--tempted to go and get the kid, who's still crying a little, but Matt's voice is there too, quieting him, and Brittany doesn't need to see the bandages on his head again, or his Silent Bob all covered in dried blood. The question distracts Brittany as much as Lucy, keeps her still.
"I--" Lucy looks around for a second, like she's forgotten why she came, like she wandered into John's apartment looking for a paperclip. "My building. The landlord has a cousin who knows a guy, or something--"
Well, of course he does. Jersey.
"--And we got to the head of the line for solar panels. They needed us all to leave while they're installing them, in case of whatever. My rent will probably--"
"I'll pay it," John said. "Whatever it takes to keep you in a building with the lights on." To say nothing of the elevators running.
"Yeah, that's what Mom said, too," Lucy said. "I tried to call you, but--"
Lucy ran down, staring at Brittany, anger momentarily defused.
"Lucy, this is Brittany, she's, uh..."
"Matt Farrell's babymama," Brittany offered helpfully, and Lucy's eyes went saucer-wide.
Matt called out--lower, this time, sing-song, "I thought we agreed we weren't calling it that."
Brittany rolled her eyes. "Matt knocked me up four years ago during a one-night stand at a con."
John decided not to even try to explain that any further. "Brittany, my daughter Lucy, I don't know what her last name is today but it probably starts with G." Gennero was the safe bet, of course, but by the end of this conversation she might be going with Gabriel, or Gruber.
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Ahem. MOVING ON.
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"Hey," Matt says, smiling brightly and wide-eyed, so that even that one word reads like a lie. "Hey, you're back."
John gives that one a slow, thoughtful nod. "I am back."
"I was just meeting with an old friend--well--somebody I used to know--uh, briefly, anyway. She saw me on the news, tracked down my email address."
She. And even as he knows it's a hell of a leap, John thinks, well, of course. Of course eventually Matt was going to remember that the world was full of a) women who were b) his own age and c) now aware that he's a goddamn hero. It might even work out better for Matt than it ever did for John, and in any case it's up to Matt to figure it out.
"Yeah, she--Brittany, Brittany Morse, I met her, like, four years ago at this con--convention, I mean, not, um, what is con even short for, the other kind?"
"Confidence trick," John interjects quietly, watching the kid throw off tells like a busted exhaust pipe throwing off sparks. "Or convict, take your pic."
"Right, no, but--convention, a computer thing--she's a programmer, she does web design now--and she--man, she was so, so too good for me. I actually remember being, like, in the elevator on the way up to her hotel room and thinking, wow, this woman is so much more socially competent than I am. I had no idea what she was even doing with me. It was kind of amazing."
Also kind of amazing: watching Matt work up to saying something unpleasant. He looks more and more like he's lying as he goes along even though John suspects he's actually telling the truth. Just not the I'm going to go pack now part.
"Um, and--so she emailed me the other day, you know? And she didn't come right out and say--she asked if I remembered her, you know, she even kind of made it a test. But I did remember her, so I went to see her today, and she--I--John, she--"
"Yeah," John says, because he likes the kid enough to want to make it a little bit easy. "I know."
Matt actually stops dead and stares at him, stunned, and then says, "How could you--John, she has a kid."
John remembers Holly saying it's positive, and he's hearing the same kind of weird roaring in his ears, only--oh, shit.
"She didn't say--she didn't say anything, she didn't ask for anything or demand anything or push it--but the timing is right and he, he looks like me, I think. I never used to know what people were talking about when they said, you know, he's got your eyebrows or your nose or something, I never saw it, but Jesus Christ, that kid looks like me."
John lets himself lean against the counter, rubbing one hand over his face. Matt sounds stunned, but not like he's running off to marry this girl--Brittany, right. "What's his name?"
"Jason, he's three, he--he's a whole little person, you know? He talks, he likes dogs, his favorite color is green, Brittany's totally conned him into liking vegetables, and he--the day of the fire sale, when the telecoms had gone down and they'd taken over the media, he--he tells me, he says the tv was broken so he and his mom went to the park, and he met a big dog named Roxie who was really friendly and he fed her a treat. That's what he remembers. They went to the park. And if I--if--I would never have--"
It's remarkable, actually, that Matt hasn't had more of these moments before now. And the important thing, here, is that he's come back to John to have it. John pushes off the counter and pulls Matt into a hug, mutters, "Hey, you're good, you found him. Everybody's fine."
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Also, yeah, narrowly-averted apocalypse looks different when you're three. *g*
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Awesome and adorable.
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Thank you! I, uh, never really thought of it as "real" fic, so this is the only place it exists. It's like an easter egg!
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