InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "they better be fried!"

Michaela "Jezza Belle" Jones (jezza_belle) wrote in nevermore_logs,
@ 2021-11-24 00:01:00

Entry tags:

arthur a bland, michaela jones

WHO: Michaela Jones, Arthur a Bland
WHEN: Tuesday evening
WHERE: Her apartment
WHAT: A relationship!?!?! talk
WARNINGS: TBA

Michaela couldn't remember the last time she had felt...anything about a man. Certainly not enough to keep anyone around long term, anyway. So many of her relationships had gone so very badly, and she had been through so much and then along came the sweetest, funniest, most loveable man...and he had lived in a cabin by himself for decades and oh he was also a Merry Man.

Every time she saw Art, her stomach got all swoopy, and she giggled like an idiot, and she was fairly sure she had even let out a soft moan the last time they had hugged. But if he had noticed, he hadn't said anything. She needed to get her feelings out so they could either be nipped in the bud, or something could be done about them, because she hated feeling so ridiculous.

She pulled her hair back into a high ponytail on top of her head. She was sans wig tonight and her natural hair was shorter than she usually wore it, but it looked cute swept back away from her face. Then she headed over to flick the kettle on and await Art's arrival so they could figure out whatever...this was.

(Post a new comment)

tan_thy_hide
2021-11-23 12:30 pm UTC (link)

Art wasn't ordinarily one to get nervous around folk. It probably helped that he had a very low base-level self-awareness when it came to appearances, though if you asked him he'd tell you that it's all just people, innit. Excepting the cops and the fashies, of course, but who cares about those tossers? When he didn't have to scrape to survive or keep watch over his shoulder for the Sheriff and the feds, Art was just happy being Art, and he'd never felt the need to be anything different.

But, cor, that text from Michaela had put him in a right tizzy.

Mickey was brilliant. She was clever as hell, and so bloody talented – when she got on stage as Jezza, she was electric, though to be honest she was just as great singing a few idle bars in a t-shirt while the kettle was bubbling. And she was kind, she had this sorta gentleness, right? And she laughed at his jokes, and basically all this to say it was no downgrade at all to be Michaela's friend because who wouldn't want to be Michaela's friend? A bloody knob, that's who.

So yeah, Art had thought about kissing her again, pretty vividly after Halloween, but they'd agreed to be mates and you don't just spring a kiss on your mates, 's just rude.

They... had agreed to be mates, right?

Only, now he was thinking about it, Art wasn't so sure they'd ever had a conversation about it, as such? It'd more been like... 'oh shit, you're Tuck's daughter??' and 'oh shit, you're Tuck's mate??' and by the time they'd both finished boggling over that they'd had a good lot of other stuff to talk about and, you know, the topic just hadn't come up again.

But he'd have known, right, if she was into him that way! Alright, yeah, it'd been a decade or three since he'd been in an actual relationship, and dating, well, living in a remote cabin for twenty-odd years had a way of hampering that, but he still had eyes, he could tell when a person was flirting with him!

And then, that message: I have... the biggest, most ridiculous crush on you.

She did?!

So, so maybe he couldn't tell when a person was flirting with him?

Hence: a tizzy was what Art was in as he knocked on Michaela's door and wondered in rapid succession what she'd meant by 'do something about it', like was this a 'one more time to get you outta my system' or should he have brought flowers, and did people even do flowers anymore and shit why was he finding it so hard to remember how to talk to girls??

(Reply to this) (Thread)

jezza_belle
2021-11-23 12:36 pm UTC (link)

Michaela heard the knock and she let out a little squeal before she could stop herself. "Oh my god, get yourself together!" she hissed under her breath, before rushing to the door.

When she pulled the door open, she was chewing on her lip and grinning. "Come in come in, if you hear a weird sound that's my heart pounding in my ribcage!" she blurted out, and then blushed furiously.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	tan_thy_hide 2021-11-24 04:17 am UTC (link)
	Art actually cocked his head to listen before he realised it was a figure of speech, whereupon he stood and blinked stupidly at her across the threshold, struck by the glow of colour in her cheeks. "O— oh," he stuttered, and that was a rarity, too. Arthur never got tongue-tied. "Well, ah, well, we'd best shut the door 'fore it does a runner, hey?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

jezza_belle
2021-11-24 05:10 am UTC (link)

Every single thing he said was amazing and out of left field and it made Michaela grin. She gave the door a push and it whoosed closed behind them as she beckoned him inside. Her favourite fuzzy purple chair was calling to her so she collapsed into it and glanced over at him.

"This is awkward," she said, twisting her face up. The kettle flicked off, finishing it's boil and she shot it a sideways glance. "So you're not...completely horrified by what I said?" she asked, her eyes glued on the kettle and not Art.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	tan_thy_hide 2021-11-24 09:34 am UTC (link)
	Art had dropped onto the couch, where he was currently trying to remember how exactly words went together, but he kept getting distracted by Michaela's face. So she was the one who spoke first, and the question came from so far in the left field, he stirred in confusion. "What, why, why'd I be horrified?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	jezza_belle 2021-11-24 09:38 am UTC (link)
	"Because you're-" Michaela mimed 'a big deal' badly, "some literal hero, and to you I must seem like some silly girl with a crush," Michaela spelled out her fears. "I wouldn't blame you if you were horrified." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

tan_thy_hide
2021-11-24 09:52 am UTC (link)

"What," Art repeated, not comprehending, because what?? He shifted along the couch so he could lean across the gap between the pair of them, reaching for her arm. "Mick, nah, you can't be thinkin' that! I mean, I mean, look at you!" He made a vague sweeping gesture that was meant to encompass Michaela and her classy apartment with its artworks and pageant crowns and bright colours, but probably looked more like confused gesticulation. "Silly! You're a bleedin' superstar!"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	jezza_belle 2021-11-24 09:55 am UTC (link)
	The edges of her lips quirked upwards and she reached out for him as well. "That's very sweet," she said, and she meant it. "I'm not literary hero superstar, but I'll take it! So you...you're uhm...interested? In me?" Why was this stuff so difficult to navigate?! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

tan_thy_hide
2021-11-24 10:28 am UTC (link)

Art was not used to being called a hero. He knew how to find the right kind of trouble, alright, and he was proud of it too, but usually that got him labelled things like 'commie' and 'asshole' and 'the defendant'. He'd take hero, don't get him wrong! He'd for sure take it if it was Michaela saying it with that little quirk of a smile and a lingering blush warming her cheeks, but it felt strangely grand.

"Well, yeah!" That was a no-brainer, of course he was into her. "I just thought, y'know. I mean, you prolly got fellas lining up the street for the courting."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	jezza_belle 2021-11-24 10:55 am UTC (link)
	Art really thought that? Well that was sweet. Misguided, but sweet. "No, that's- Not at all," she sighed. "And then guys I have dated? Mostly assholes. Which was why I mostly stuck to hooking up, but then I met you," Michaela bit her lip. "And you're this funny, sweet, wonderful guy who makes me feel safe and seen and you make me laugh." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	tan_thy_hide 2021-11-25 02:03 am UTC (link)
	If Art were a blusher, he'd be the one red in the face now. As it was, he beamed goofily; Michaela thought he was sweet! "I like it when you laugh," he said earnestly. "Plus, an' I mean, there's this brilliant smile comes with it, an' then sometimes you get this wee dimple, right hereabouts." He reached closer to tap the place on her cheek with an index finger. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	jezza_belle 2021-11-25 10:42 am UTC (link)
	Michaela listened to Art describe her face, her chest flooding with warmth as something became abundantly clear. "Ohhhh," she said, grinning. "You have a crush on me too," she said, her nose wrinkling as she smiled at him. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

tan_thy_hide
2021-12-01 11:42 am UTC (link)

The words sank in slow, honey-slow like her unfurling smile, and Art found himself mulling them with a kind of surprised fascination. He— Did he? Was that what this was?

Well. There was the whole wanting-to-kiss-her thing, o' course, and, and other things. 'Course he was attracted to her, she was an attractive lady! And stunning, 'specially when she smiled the way she was now. He wasn't lying about that smile, she had a killer one, did Michaela. No, killer was the wrong word: Mickey had the kind of smile that smoothed out all the wrinkles in the world, 'specially with that hint of a blush in her cheeks, it was everything soft, and— "Blimey," he realised aloud, and he gave a stunned, delighted sort of laugh. "I bloody do, too!"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	jezza_belle 2021-12-01 12:08 pm UTC (link)
	At that, Michaela beamed and she moved closer to him. "Well then," she laughed, "I suppose what we do about this, is go on a real date? Sometime soon? What do you think about that, Art?" How in the world was this happening?! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	tan_thy_hide 2021-12-03 11:53 am UTC (link)
	Art beamed all the wider, her laugh filling him with a comfortable warmth, like sitting 'neath the sun on a clear autumn day. "I think that sounds bloody marvellous!" he said effusively. "What do folks do for dates these days, then? What's the go?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	jezza_belle 2021-12-03 11:56 am UTC (link)
	"Let's see", she said, inching closer still. "They go out to restaurants, or they go to see a show. To the movies. To a museum, though so much of that is just stolen artifacts, so- Maybe not a museum!" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

tan_thy_hide
2021-12-04 01:59 am UTC (link)

Her arm was brushing up against his, and Art leaned into her, idly tracing a finger down the back of her head. "Mm, yeah, an' I'm banned for life from the Natural History Museum. Oh, and the Met, too. That one's a Marian ban, so I ain't game to break it." He and Marian had marathoned their way through the Ocean's movies over the summer. Bit of fun, lots of talking over the action and ripping into the schemes, arguing about how they'd do the heist better. When they'd made it to Eight and the Met Gala heist, well, they'd both been a good few drinks deep by then and the Met was only a train ride away and Marian had realised a whisker after Arthur that they were no longer talking hypothetically and swiftly forbidden him from the museum on pain of death.

"Where do you like to go?" he asked. "If we was doing the Michaela tour of the city, what's the first stop?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

jezza_belle
2021-12-09 12:07 pm UTC (link)

Michaela laughed because honestly the fact that Art was banned for life from several museums was too good.

Oh god, where was the first stop. "See, this is hard because I have no social life," she laughed. She went to work and she went to visit her family and she went home. Very occasionally she went out for a drink with the express purpose of finding someone to fuck, but Art already knew that, because that was how they met. "Probably watching some of my dear friends perform?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	tan_thy_hide 2021-12-09 01:28 pm UTC (link)
	"Dinner and a show!" Art grinned, immediately on board with the idea. "There's a proper date! An' you've got the inside scoop, bet you know all the best gigs, right?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	jezza_belle 2021-12-09 01:34 pm UTC (link)
	"Well the best gigs without me in them," she winked. "Dinner and a show sounds perfect." Michaela had honestly not expected this conversation to go like this. Though something was still niggling at her. "You're not- Art, you're not just- You're not settling for me, are you?" He had been alone for so long, she worried. (Reply to this) (Parent)