(no subject)
Who: Belinda Harris (Jack the Giant Killer) & David Fisher (Papa Bear)
What: Belinda invites David over to her apartment to have "The Talk"
When: Backdated - February 26th around 8PM
Where: Belinda's apartment
Rating/Status: PG-13 for naughty words / Completed over AIM
Belinda: Trying to get someone a drink and pretend like things were normal when the words 'I think we should talk' have been uttered was comparable to trying to head into Ragefire Chasm with a 14th level Hunter. It was not only impossible, but you would probably end up facedown on the ground before you left the doorway. Either way, Belinda grabbed a couple of drinks and sat next to David on the couch, sipping and trying to gather up her thoughts. It wasn't like a bad talk or anything. Necessarily. "So how was work today?" she asked him, curling against him just a bit, and her hand resting comfortably on his shoulder.
David: Having had very few relationships during his younger years, David was still well versed in the old-fashioned 'I think we should talk' statement, meaning that most likely he was doing something wrong or something about their relationship wasn't sitting well. The age difference? There wasn't anything he could do about that, doubtful that even getting a pierced ear, growing a goatee and buying a Harley would fix that. Maybe it was his not-so-recent strain of drinking, which had lead on numerous occasions to an embarrassing display -- why would that even be an issue? He had stopped drinking (for the most part) two weeks ago and had been going biweekly to a counselor. Hell, it could've been just him. Managing to push a small smile onto his serious face as she handed him the drink and sat down next to him, David lightly cleared his throat before his pale blue gaze found the glass of water he had set on his knee the second she had handed it over, his smile faltering. "Can... Can we just... You said you needed to talk." He looked up from the water and turned towards her, jaw twitching as he forced another happy-go-lucky smile.
Belinda: And here she'd been hoping to ease into it. She nodded, though, setting her glass down on the coffee table. "It isn't anything bad," Belinda said, first, shifting her weight a little bit and looking up to him again, then back down to her hands, which tended to move when she talked about things like this. "It's just... we've been seeing each other for a few months, and I just wanted to talk about where we're, you know, going. The future and stuff." It'd seemed so much more urgent when she was thinking about it, for the past few weeks. Where were they going? What were they doing? What about the future? She fully accepted that she was probably just being a girl about the entire thing.
David: Oh honestly, Belinda was being such a girl. Stopping an eye roll mid-thought, David instead watched her unblinkingly, focusing all his attention on her and holding onto his water glass, which was by now getting slightly sweaty in a tight grip. Though he wouldn't deny that the square of his shoulders did relax a fraction when she hadn't headed down the road of 'I think we should see other people'. "The future," David intoned, blonde eyebrows knitting briefly in a small frown. The truth of the matter was that while David was completely happy with things continuing just as they were, obviously Belinda wasn't. He had almost 20 years of life on her and there was no doubt in his mind that she wanted to talk about the future because while that ship had sailed for him, it was still staring her straight in the face. "Truthfully... I haven't thought about it too much." That was for damn sure.
Belinda: "Oh," Belinda said, shrugging her shoulders a little bit and shifting her weight slightly. She reached for her glass. Why'd she even put it down to begin with? Water was an excellent distraction. She took a drink, and looked at the glass. "Because, I don't know. Not right now or anything, but I kind of want to do the marriage, kids, family thing. Some day." She didn't add the soon on. She was twenty-six, and if there was such thing as a biological clock, hers was quietly starting to go tick tock from the ether. Or wherever biological clocks hung out.
David: Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Mentally, David began to beat his head against a brick wall. Maybe the breaking up conversation would've been easier than this... Then again, the toughest things in life were the things most worth it more often than not. Nodding, David felt the glass slip a fraction and leaned forward, setting it on the coffee table, before leaning back, an arm lifting and tucking itself around Belinda's shoulders. "You should, some day..." David trailed off to an uncomfortable silence as he gave the shoulder opposite him an affectionate rub.
Belinda: Letting out a sigh, Belinda shook her head a little bit, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Some day," she repeated, and then took a drink of her water. "With you?" she asked him after a second, despite herself sounding incredibly vulnerable. She tried to steel her voice when she went on, "that's all I wanted to know. Do you think it'll happen, one day?"
David: If there ever was a deer-in-the-headlights moment, now would be it. 'With you? Do you think it'll happen one day?' His initial reaction to her question had been to state that there was no possible way they could ever create a family together... That he was stuck in the middle of a three year old son and a messy divorce that could permanently severe his relationship to the one thing that David felt he had done right in his life. However, such a blatant statement, while a forte of David Fisher's, was most certainly not fair to Belinda or the chance at proving himself wrong and actually having a future with her sometime down the line. "I think we shouldn't dismiss the idea." He replied.
Belinda: Sighing softly, Belinda shook her head a little bit, reaching forward to set her glass of water down. "You know what? This whole talking thing was a mistake." It wasn't fair of Belinda to expect any kind of solid answer, especially only after a couple of months, but she'd desperately wanted one anyway. She moved to get up, standing and heading toward the kitchen, glass of water in hand. She was too impatient and impulsive to be satisfied with 'we shouldn't dismiss the idea' as an answer. But that was her personality flaw, not David's fault. She poured her water out and set the glass in the sink.
David: The repressed eye roll finally appeared after Belinda stood and walked into her kitchen. Biting back a sarcastic retort having to do with 'communication obviously being inferior to sex’, David managed to calm the fire of indignation inside of him, before speaking up. "Come on..." He stood, grabbing his water glass and walking into the kitchen. "You know as well as I do that this wasn't a mistake..." He dumped the remaining water out into the sink before placing his empty glass beside her's. "Because if it is then it's only a matter of time before we start labeling us as a mistake..."
Belinda: Pursing her lips, Belinda leaned back against the counter, crossing her arms over her chest. And everything about her body language wasn't exactly good. "It was a mistake to try to ask you where you see us going in the future. You haven't even looked. I don't know, I guess you've had the whole family thing already, so," she started, before biting her tongue. 'Be careful' wasn't in her vocabulary, though she was making an effort to not say anything she'd regret. She took a deep breath.
David: Now, David was a connoisseur of mad or anything-other-than-content body language, although he was also a particularly rare brand of dense and didn't back up or leave the area immediately, instead leaning up against the counter right next to her. It was pretty plain to see that David and 'pleasant conversation' had nothing in common, although the curveball she sent his way moments before forced a small sigh out of him and his jaw to square briefly. "So... What? My family has nothing to do with this."
Belinda: Belinda was trying hard not to let this descend into a fight or argument, though she'd never been particularly good at holding her tongue, either. "How could you possibly think that you already having a family doesn't have anything to do with the conversation I just tried to have with you?" she asked, choosing her words carefully. "It has everything to do with this. I'm talking about a family, and you've already got one," she snapped, using tones David had never been unlucky enough to witness. "So why would you want another one?"
David: David sighed again, a hand lifting as he pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes squeezing shut briefly before he replied. "We've established that I have a family." He started, voice tired and a bit rough around the edges. "Though, what we're talking about tonight has nothing to do with them and everything to do with us." His hand dropped down from his nose to the edge of the counter where he pushed himself up off of it and turned to face her. "When the time comes, if I want another one, I won't throw a guilt trip on myself because I'll know that if the chance of having another family means being happy, I should take it."
Belinda: Belinda took another breath, looking up at him after a second and shrugging her shoulders. She pressed her lips together, and sighed. "I think the problem is that you're saying 'if'," she said, after a second. "And I want to say 'when'. I didn't go to a female-heavy college, but just about all the girls I did go with are married with kids and a house and a picket fence or whatever," she laughed a little, breathlessly. Not exactly an amused laugh, but one nonetheless. "And I just don't want to wait on an 'if' forever. I mean, I know it's soon. We've only been dating for a few months. I just wanted to see if our expectations and hopes lined up at all."
David: Sympathy. Belinda might not have asked for it or even wanted it, but David's face clearly said it. Actually, if he was going to pin down an exact moment when the sympathy began to show up it was somewhere around the breathless laugh and picket fence. The rough edge of his voice all but disappeared, replaced instead by a somewhat softer tone. "I'm not sorry my answer didn't sit well with you, Belinda. But it's the truth and you are just going to have to be patient." He leaned forward, hands pressing on the edge of counter on either side of her. "Unless you want to break down and marry Milton."
Belinda: "Patience?" Belinda asked, raising her eyebrows a bit and laughing a little, shaking her head. "Papa Bear, if you know me at all, you know that's not in my vocabulary." The crack about Milton made her laugh a little more, and she lifted her arms to rest them up around his neck. "Well, Milton would be thrilled," she said, trying to hide the fact that she was smiling. It didn't work. "Yeah, that's it. I'm leaving you for Milton," she joked, grinning up at him. "Though since he's Horde, our kids will probably be Taurens and Orcs. See what you've doomed me to?" She winked.
David: Exhaling, David visibly relaxed, pressing his forehead against her's, eyes closing for a few moments before reopening. "Don't I know he would be... Mr. and Mrs. Milton Stankiewicz." He smiled then, envisioning the monogrammed towels of MS and BS respectfully. Straightening partially, he looked down at her and smirked. "Some matchmaker, huh."
Belinda: Belinda laughed a bit, shaking her head again and leaning up to kiss him gently. "You suck at matchmaking. If Milton is my alternative to you. Or maybe that's all part of your fiendish plan. My Lawful Neutral boyfriend is secretly Chaotic Evil in disguise." Sometimes it was worth saying these things to get David to make that little confused face.
David: David didn't have time to give her a fiendish cackle as she kissed him instead, although he preferred that to a cackle of any sort anyday. There was that confused face Belinda had undoubtedly wanted to see: eyebrows knitting, mouth opening a fraction and the corners tilted down. Thankfully, the confused face was short lived, replaced instead by content as he straightened and tucked his arms around her waist, pulling her into a hug, resting his chin on the top of her head with a sigh. "No doubt he could afford a house with a picket fence as well as a state-of-the-art laser nose hair trimmer."
Belinda: Belinda made a face at him, though he probably didn't see it very well from that angle, and tickled his side a little bit. "Yeah. And I hear those go for at least ten or twenty gold," she said, innocently, at the perfect position to kiss his neck. And so she did, with a little smile. "Okay. Couch?" she asked him, before taking a step back and taking his hand. "Scary talking time is over. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming."