Fiction: checkin' it twice
Title: checkin' it twice
Rating/Warnings: T
Pairings: April/Andy
Disclaimer: It's a rental.
Summary: I want to treat April like a queen, and queens deserve flowers… and massages. Chocolate. Booze. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds. Treasure chests - full of scarves! Different kinds of lubes that warm up when you rub ‘em on stuff!
A/N: Prompted by the amazing middle_cyclone for help_japan. Additional thanks to the lovely weasleytook for cleaning up my 3AM rambles into something legible.
###
Andy is broke. He’s so broke it’s not funny. His brokeness is not even endearing in that struggling artist kind of way that looks so hip in the movies.
He just sits around thinking of things he can’t do to prove to April that when he’s around her she makes his cheeks feel warmer than they normally do and his ears do this weird ringing thing that Kyle says are both from his blood rushing to his head when she’s around (whatever, that sounds kind of dramatic and Kyle’s usually full of shit).
It takes awhile, but somewhere around their four and half week anniversary, he comes up with a great idea. No, really, it’s more like: The Best Idea.
He decides that since he can’t afford to splurge on a huge bunch of expensive gifts that show how much he likes April, then he’ll just make a list full of awesome stuff and tick them off one by one. (That way it’ll last longer. Ladies love that.) If it’s up to him, they’ll be together forever so it’s not like he’s in a huge rush anyways.
###
i. flowers
April is finishing off her cup of coffee when she rounds the corner of the Parks Department offices and sees the pile of pink and yellow daisies in a nice glass vase on her desk.
She doesn’t need to know that he pulled those from the small garden around the Ramsett Park sign or that he stole the vase from the lobby.
Although even if she did figure that out (she’s a super genius, so she probably already has) the look on her face when she looks around the room and catches him standing outside the entryway across from the permits desk is so worth it.
Every so often, throughout the day, he takes breaks from sitting at his stand waiting for shoes to shine and wanders around the hallways. The third time he walks by Parks, he sees April sniffing the flowers before returning her attention to her computer screen.
Andy has to bite his bottom lip because it feels like his smile is going to split his face in half.
###
ii. massages
They’re watching Frequency late on a Sunday afternoon because even though they had plans to go sneak into a movie, who can walk away from Dennis Quaid, that dude who played Jesus, and time travel? It’s got a little bit of everything for everyone.
He loves hanging out with April because she loves watching the same kinds of movies he does. She likes to laugh at parts he wouldn’t normally laugh at and repeat lines in a deeper or weird voice. He feels smarter when they watch movies together, like he’s watching with Ebert or Roeper or one of those angry muppets that hated plays so much.
He notices she keeps stretching her neck out in weird ways, like she’s trying to get it to crack. It’s distracting and doesn’t look very successful based on how she keeps doing it, so he makes a show of putting his hands on her shoulders and giving her a look that he hopes says that he’ll take care of it. Which he does; take care of it, that is. He gives great massages.
He mentally ticks another box off his List of Awesome and is pleased that even if you’re giving massages to help relieve actual back pain, you can still end up making out.
###
iii. chocolate, booze
When he’s given the details of Ben’s birthday party by Leslie, he reacts in three stages. First: Cool! April and I’ll probably show up. Ben’s a nice guy. Second: Do you need a band to play? My band could play. Third: IT’S OPEN BAR? ARE YOU KIDDING? I AM THERE! Do you need someone to show up early and help set up? When does the bartender get there?
It turns out they were going to get a DJ, so while he won’t be scoring any extra promotion or payment for performing, he can at least take advantage of the free bar. Which he does. They do. April and he. He and April. There’s a lot of drinking going on and April laughs a lot more when she drinks and he loves the way her face lights up when she laughs, so different from how it looks normally (which is still so pretty) - he just wants her to keep smiling all the time. If she’s always smiling, she’s always happy and he just wants her to always be happy because she’s such an awesome person.
When they leave to start their short walk home, Andy makes a show of stopping at one of the two all-night gas stations in Pawnee and getting two candy bars. Since they’re both still pretty drunk, they pretend to be characters out of a British movie minus the accents. The gas attendant looks half asleep, so Andy breaks character and gives him a big smile when he takes the Milky Way and Snickers from the metal tray beneath the glass surrounding the booth.
They bicker over who will get what and Andy’s tempted to run back and get a second Snickers, just to drop the subject. But then April snakes a hand around the edges of his collar and yanks his mouth down against hers.
After a long, sloppy kiss, he hands over the Snickers without another word.
###
iv. diamonds, rubies, and emeralds
Andy takes the change from his tip jar and buys costume jewelry in the crank machines in the front of the local grocery store. One time, Kyle accidentally slips him a five instead of a single and Andy stares him down until he leaves, too scared to ask for change, so he’s even able to go to the local flea market and find some necklaces that aren’t made of plastic or candy.
April likes the one with the green and pink in the shape of a shamrock (even though she’s not Irish). He tells her she’s his good luck charm, to explain the otherwise random purchase. He can’t really explain why he got it, because if he’s totally honest, no, she’s not really a good luck charm. He hasn’t won the lottery or anything (not that he can afford to play) and he’s not gotten any record deals within the month and half they’ve dated. But, as stupid as it sounds in his head, when he admits it to himself, he feels lucky just having her as a girlfriend.
So, he should be the one wearing the necklace, really. If could pull it off or the green didn’t clash with his eyes.
###
v. treasure chests - full of scarves
He’s having an off day and can’t stop thinking about the next item on his list. Which may or may not be on there as a direct result of having seen Aladdin one too many times, as a kid.
April doesn’t wear scarves at all, at least not when it’s as nice and sunny out as it’d been for the last few weeks. He’s left feeling like he’ll need to improvise and find the April Equivalent of this. Something that she’ll actually like instead of giving him that funny look that means she appreciates his efforts but really doesn’t have anything to say about the outcome.
He tells Ron about his predicament and once Ron’s finished distancing himself from being interested in a) romance, b) April and Andy’s romance, c) scarves, and d) treasure chests, he gives Andy a thoughtful look and tells him not to worry about it.
The next day, Ron shows up with a smallish wooden box and gives it to Andy with a wink and a gruff nod. Andy opens it and finds a bunch of different colored tissue paper inside and a note that says “GIRLY OBJECT TBA” in Ron’s slanted handwriting.
For a guy who might as well have picked e) all of the above to cover all the things he hates, Ron sure seems always ready to go to bat for the people around him. He also likes hugs more than he lets on. Andy knows a joyless hug when he feels one (he gives hugs to a lot of people, he’s got a pretty large reference group to draw from) and he definitely gets a little squeeze every so often from Ron.
He spends all day looking for the perfect thing to put in the box. It feels like a game, since the box isn’t very big and April has a very specific taste in gifts (no matter what she says to him about it) and there’s just a lot to consider so that the whole thing comes together perfectly.
It finally hits him on his way home from work and he reminds himself to burn a demo of his band’s new album before he goes back in tomorrow. All the songs they’ve recorded so far are April-centric (which makes sense because it’s called April Ludgate is the Best Ever: Volume One) and even though the full album isn’t finished yet, he’s pretty sure she’ll get the gist of the vibe he was going for.
He also writes a note to himself that he needs to call up his buddies and get crackin’ on the second half of that, as soon as possible. He's got a ton of new material to record.
###
vi. different kinds of lubes that warm up when you rub ‘em on stuff
Well, this one’s pretty self-explanatory and works out real good. They really do warm up when you rub 'em on stuff! It's so neat! April digs them, too.
That’s all the information he’ll divulge at the time besides giving a big grin and a very stern, throat-clearing cough.
###
When he finishes with his original list, he spends the whole day making another one. It’s twice as long.
Rating/Warnings: T
Pairings: April/Andy
Disclaimer: It's a rental.
Summary: I want to treat April like a queen, and queens deserve flowers… and massages. Chocolate. Booze. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds. Treasure chests - full of scarves! Different kinds of lubes that warm up when you rub ‘em on stuff!
A/N: Prompted by the amazing middle_cyclone for help_japan. Additional thanks to the lovely weasleytook for cleaning up my 3AM rambles into something legible.
###
Andy is broke. He’s so broke it’s not funny. His brokeness is not even endearing in that struggling artist kind of way that looks so hip in the movies.
He just sits around thinking of things he can’t do to prove to April that when he’s around her she makes his cheeks feel warmer than they normally do and his ears do this weird ringing thing that Kyle says are both from his blood rushing to his head when she’s around (whatever, that sounds kind of dramatic and Kyle’s usually full of shit).
It takes awhile, but somewhere around their four and half week anniversary, he comes up with a great idea. No, really, it’s more like: The Best Idea.
He decides that since he can’t afford to splurge on a huge bunch of expensive gifts that show how much he likes April, then he’ll just make a list full of awesome stuff and tick them off one by one. (That way it’ll last longer. Ladies love that.) If it’s up to him, they’ll be together forever so it’s not like he’s in a huge rush anyways.
###
i. flowers
April is finishing off her cup of coffee when she rounds the corner of the Parks Department offices and sees the pile of pink and yellow daisies in a nice glass vase on her desk.
She doesn’t need to know that he pulled those from the small garden around the Ramsett Park sign or that he stole the vase from the lobby.
Although even if she did figure that out (she’s a super genius, so she probably already has) the look on her face when she looks around the room and catches him standing outside the entryway across from the permits desk is so worth it.
Every so often, throughout the day, he takes breaks from sitting at his stand waiting for shoes to shine and wanders around the hallways. The third time he walks by Parks, he sees April sniffing the flowers before returning her attention to her computer screen.
Andy has to bite his bottom lip because it feels like his smile is going to split his face in half.
###
ii. massages
They’re watching Frequency late on a Sunday afternoon because even though they had plans to go sneak into a movie, who can walk away from Dennis Quaid, that dude who played Jesus, and time travel? It’s got a little bit of everything for everyone.
He loves hanging out with April because she loves watching the same kinds of movies he does. She likes to laugh at parts he wouldn’t normally laugh at and repeat lines in a deeper or weird voice. He feels smarter when they watch movies together, like he’s watching with Ebert or Roeper or one of those angry muppets that hated plays so much.
He notices she keeps stretching her neck out in weird ways, like she’s trying to get it to crack. It’s distracting and doesn’t look very successful based on how she keeps doing it, so he makes a show of putting his hands on her shoulders and giving her a look that he hopes says that he’ll take care of it. Which he does; take care of it, that is. He gives great massages.
He mentally ticks another box off his List of Awesome and is pleased that even if you’re giving massages to help relieve actual back pain, you can still end up making out.
###
iii. chocolate, booze
When he’s given the details of Ben’s birthday party by Leslie, he reacts in three stages. First: Cool! April and I’ll probably show up. Ben’s a nice guy. Second: Do you need a band to play? My band could play. Third: IT’S OPEN BAR? ARE YOU KIDDING? I AM THERE! Do you need someone to show up early and help set up? When does the bartender get there?
It turns out they were going to get a DJ, so while he won’t be scoring any extra promotion or payment for performing, he can at least take advantage of the free bar. Which he does. They do. April and he. He and April. There’s a lot of drinking going on and April laughs a lot more when she drinks and he loves the way her face lights up when she laughs, so different from how it looks normally (which is still so pretty) - he just wants her to keep smiling all the time. If she’s always smiling, she’s always happy and he just wants her to always be happy because she’s such an awesome person.
When they leave to start their short walk home, Andy makes a show of stopping at one of the two all-night gas stations in Pawnee and getting two candy bars. Since they’re both still pretty drunk, they pretend to be characters out of a British movie minus the accents. The gas attendant looks half asleep, so Andy breaks character and gives him a big smile when he takes the Milky Way and Snickers from the metal tray beneath the glass surrounding the booth.
They bicker over who will get what and Andy’s tempted to run back and get a second Snickers, just to drop the subject. But then April snakes a hand around the edges of his collar and yanks his mouth down against hers.
After a long, sloppy kiss, he hands over the Snickers without another word.
###
iv. diamonds, rubies, and emeralds
Andy takes the change from his tip jar and buys costume jewelry in the crank machines in the front of the local grocery store. One time, Kyle accidentally slips him a five instead of a single and Andy stares him down until he leaves, too scared to ask for change, so he’s even able to go to the local flea market and find some necklaces that aren’t made of plastic or candy.
April likes the one with the green and pink in the shape of a shamrock (even though she’s not Irish). He tells her she’s his good luck charm, to explain the otherwise random purchase. He can’t really explain why he got it, because if he’s totally honest, no, she’s not really a good luck charm. He hasn’t won the lottery or anything (not that he can afford to play) and he’s not gotten any record deals within the month and half they’ve dated. But, as stupid as it sounds in his head, when he admits it to himself, he feels lucky just having her as a girlfriend.
So, he should be the one wearing the necklace, really. If could pull it off or the green didn’t clash with his eyes.
###
v. treasure chests - full of scarves
He’s having an off day and can’t stop thinking about the next item on his list. Which may or may not be on there as a direct result of having seen Aladdin one too many times, as a kid.
April doesn’t wear scarves at all, at least not when it’s as nice and sunny out as it’d been for the last few weeks. He’s left feeling like he’ll need to improvise and find the April Equivalent of this. Something that she’ll actually like instead of giving him that funny look that means she appreciates his efforts but really doesn’t have anything to say about the outcome.
He tells Ron about his predicament and once Ron’s finished distancing himself from being interested in a) romance, b) April and Andy’s romance, c) scarves, and d) treasure chests, he gives Andy a thoughtful look and tells him not to worry about it.
The next day, Ron shows up with a smallish wooden box and gives it to Andy with a wink and a gruff nod. Andy opens it and finds a bunch of different colored tissue paper inside and a note that says “GIRLY OBJECT TBA” in Ron’s slanted handwriting.
For a guy who might as well have picked e) all of the above to cover all the things he hates, Ron sure seems always ready to go to bat for the people around him. He also likes hugs more than he lets on. Andy knows a joyless hug when he feels one (he gives hugs to a lot of people, he’s got a pretty large reference group to draw from) and he definitely gets a little squeeze every so often from Ron.
He spends all day looking for the perfect thing to put in the box. It feels like a game, since the box isn’t very big and April has a very specific taste in gifts (no matter what she says to him about it) and there’s just a lot to consider so that the whole thing comes together perfectly.
It finally hits him on his way home from work and he reminds himself to burn a demo of his band’s new album before he goes back in tomorrow. All the songs they’ve recorded so far are April-centric (which makes sense because it’s called April Ludgate is the Best Ever: Volume One) and even though the full album isn’t finished yet, he’s pretty sure she’ll get the gist of the vibe he was going for.
He also writes a note to himself that he needs to call up his buddies and get crackin’ on the second half of that, as soon as possible. He's got a ton of new material to record.
###
vi. different kinds of lubes that warm up when you rub ‘em on stuff
Well, this one’s pretty self-explanatory and works out real good. They really do warm up when you rub 'em on stuff! It's so neat! April digs them, too.
That’s all the information he’ll divulge at the time besides giving a big grin and a very stern, throat-clearing cough.
###
When he finishes with his original list, he spends the whole day making another one. It’s twice as long.