Dr. Horrible thinks the status is NOT quo. (billy_horrible) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-11-10 01:24:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, billy horrible, hale santiago, tinkerbell |
Who: Tinkerbell, Billy Horrible, Hale
When: Last month
Where: Local coffee shop
What: Meeting the boyfriend. Or the friend. Both?
Rating/Warning: Low
Status: Complete
Tink was a little nervous. None of her good friends had met Billy yet. He was like a secret that she’d been keeping to herself. Though it was exciting and fun to have such a secret, it was also a little nerve-wracking. She was falling head over heels for Billy--as awkward as it was--and he didn’t even know her friends or family. Not that she was ashamed, it was just that the opportunity hadn’t presented itself yet.
Now the opportunity was presenting itself. She was the first one to the coffee shop, sitting at one of the back tables with her iced tea. She held it nervously, almost gingerly, between both hands on the table, ignoring the condensation leaking between her fingers. Billy should be here any minute now, and then Hale. She’d spaced out the timing by ten minutes so she could prep her new boyfriend about meeting one of her oldest friends.
It was going to take a lot more than a few minutes to prep Billy into anything that was a suitable human being, but Tink could most certainly try. Godspeed, everyone, godspeed.
Billy entered the shop at the appointed time, easily spotting Tink and giving a wave that was both awkward and what he liked to consider precious. Then again, he was a bit biased. He made short work of buying coffee (decaf, always decaf. Right now, especially decaf. Because holy balls any amount of extra caffeine would be a poor life choice) before making his way over to the table she’d picked. “Hi. Hello. Haha. I said that twice. Great. We’re starting this off amazingly.”
Billy was absolutely awkward and precious. He didn’t have to try too hard at it to be both. Tink loved that about him. She loved a lot of things about him, actually. He wasn’t fake, he was himself no matter what.
And he made her laugh. He was probably not trying to be funny, but he was. And she loved that about him, too. So, laughing, she nodded. “A great start. It’s okay, though. Relax.” She was grinning over her coffee cup at him.
“Relaxing. Yep.” He shook his head though and then plopped down on the chair across from her, decaf sloshing but not making it completely out of his cup even as he set it down on the table. “So. Meeting the friends,” he said, awkward. “Is this like… a step above parents or…?” Billy really wasn’t trying to be funny right now, but hey, if she liked it that was absolutely awesome.
“A step above parents?” She asked, not sure what that meant. It took her a moment to process what he must have been saying. “Oh. You mean… like, a step before?” She wasn’t sure she was ready to introduce him to her parents yet. Or meet his. That thought was a bit terrifying. She had to meet his parents?? What if they didn’t like her?? Her face fell just slightly at that thought.
“Er. Below. Yes.” Billy frowned at that, blushed pink and then looked back down at his coffee. “What you said.” Billy’s parents, for the record, were super nice people who even tolerated him. There was no way they wouldn’t like Tink. But that was not a conversation for today because yeah horrifying, thanks.
“It’s, uh. Okay.”
Then it was doubly horrifying. She was feeling awkward, feeling unsure of herself. Not exactly the best place to be in when introducing her new boyfriend to her long time platonic friend. Tink shifted her weight in her seat as she thought about it and then, suddenly, leaned forward across the table. “I think we should kiss.”
Well, if she thought that was a good idea, Billy certainly wasn’t going to say no. In fact, he was just going to go right on agreeing with her. Because that made sense. Instead of saying so (because, man, that would have been too easy), he just leaned in closer, thankfully missing their coffee cups, and kissed her. It was one of the least awkward ones so far.
Hale had stood outside for a few minutes, trying to figure out how the best way to go about this was. Tink was his best friend outside of Dyson and had been for years. But this was a new situation - meeting her boyfriend when all he knew about the guy was that he had a video blog. He pushed open the door to the coffee shop, his eyes scanning the room for the familiar blonde head and he smiled when he saw her and began making his way over to her and the young man she was sitting with. He reached the table just as they kissed and he looked away briefly before clearing his throat. “Do I need to step away for a few more minutes?” he asked, hoping that Tink’s boyfriend would realize he was joking by the grin on his face.
Tink jumped a little at the sound of one of her dearest friends clearing his throat. She’d know that throat clear anywhere. She spun around a bit in her seat, lifting her hand to cover her lips, as if she had something stuck in her teeth. “Hale!” She said, and the grin from behind her fingers spread to her eyes. “No! ...um… this is Billy.” She added, going rather pink.
“Aaahhhhh!” Which was half spoken half… something else. Not quite a yell. Just like Billy didn’t quite fall out of his chair. “ Haha. I mean. Hi. Hello. Oh.” A pause. “Hi.” He offered absolutely no hand to shake, but Hale did get a rather energetic eye twitch.
Hale couldn’t help but grin at the nervous jump Tink gave. And it only widened at her blushing. “Hey Tink,’ he said, rocking on his heels a bit. “And actually I do. I need to get some coffee, I just wanted to let you know I was here,” he said before looking at the guy sitting opposite her. “Hi Billy,” he said nodding at him, not offering his hand to shake either. This was new and weird to him because he’d never had to do this. He’d never had to be introduced to one of Tink’s boyfriends. It had always just been a change in status with somebody they already knew. “I’ll be back in a minute or two,” he said before heading to the counter to place his order, deliberately taking longer than necessary to give them a chance to do whatever they were going to do before he got back.
He’d never been introduced to one of Tink’s boyfriends because she’d never really had one before. She’d had friends with benefits and completely, awkward, almost-but-not-quite relationships, and there’d been one-way-streets of affection… but this was the first time that Tink was really crazy about someone who was just as crazy. About her... obviously.
“Okay,” Tink said, giving him a smile. She shifted a bit in her seat, making sure that her clothing wasn’t skewed, or anything. “...you’re gonna like Hale. He’s… he’s good people.”
“He’s only one person,” Billy pointed out, but took a second to calm his nerves and stop doing that weird talk laugh thing he did when he got really weird. Billy wasn’t exactly lacking in introspection and he knew it was sort of lame when he did that.
“But no. Cool. I’m sure he’s cool. If you’re friends with him and all.” Look. He was trying.
Hale made his way back with his coffee and some pastries he’d bought on impulse. He didn’t know what Billy liked, if he liked any sort of pastry, but figured there was a good chance somewhere in the assortment he’d gotten was something the other man would like. He took one of the empty chairs at the table, depositing his purchases in between all of them. “I didn’t know about either of you, but I needed something to eat. I didn’t really get much of a lunch break today,” he explained. “Alright, I’m just going to ask - am I the only one who feels a little awkward right now?” he asked, looking at the two people he was with openly. He could talk to people all day long at his job and never think twice, never feel a moment’s awkwardness but he didn’t know what to say to this guy. And he wanted to like him because he could tell how crazy his best friend was about him, he wanted Tink to be happy. And selfishly yes - he wanted to like him so that she might feel a little more inclined to like Kenzi if he could ever get those two girls in the same room together.
Tink gave a little laugh. It was nervous. She was pink. She nodded, then, giving a gentle sigh, too, at the end of her little laugh. “I’m not the only one, then.” She said, reaching over to nudge Hale with her elbow. Boyfriend. Friend. This was strange for her. But good! She wanted them to meet!
“Maybe we should have done this with shots of whiskey, or something,” She added, giving Billy a smirk.
“Liquid courage doesn’t always end perfectly,” Billy said, poking at one of the pastries with an expression of wonderment. It wasn’t that the pastries were all that interesting, it was more the case of whether or not he could eat them and not being super hyped up with sugar and then extra anxious because of it. Really, it was an issue he had.
“This is awkward. Sorry.” He frowned, and then tried turning the frown into a smile, but it only came out twitchy and a little closer to a grimace than he might have liked. “It’s probably me. I mean. No. Yes? But you’re a cool dude. I can tell.” He gave a pause. “So how about that weather?”
“Come on Tink, you know you shouldn’t ever get wasted with the person your best friend’s dating until at least the second time you’ve met. Third’s better though, you’re more likely to remember their name after you’re drunk,” Hale said unable to resist the urge to tease her. “It’s not you Billy. It’s just, I’ve known TInk most of my life, she’s practically family and I don’t think either of us have ever been in this position before. I don’t really know how to act here,” he told him with a shrug before taking a bite of his pastry.
He gave a soft laugh at that question about the weather, hoping that the other man was making a joke after he did it so that Billy wouldn’t be offended. It just seemed like a good moment to make that sort of a joke after they’d all acknowledged it was a little awkward here. “Tink tells me you have a video blog I should check out sometime,” he said, hoping that if they could get to talking about work they could get past the awkwardness.
Tink gave an apologetic look to both boys. First to Billy, then to Hale. Her two men (besides her brothers, of course) in the same place at the same time. It felt like worlds colliding. Just get her brothers in here, and then, for good measure, Terence from her dreams. That would really make her head spin. Full on Exorcist turn.
Except, no. That movie was fucking freaky.
“Sorry. I know it’s weird. I just wanted you two to meet. I mean, Billy, you have to get the Hale stamp of approval. No pressure, or anything.” She said, a little pink blush creeping up her cheek. “And Hale, you know I won’t really care if you don’t approve, right?” She added, teasing both boys in two quick blows.
“You should see my Vlog,” Billy agreed, considering -- oh, who even really know what he was considering. He didn’t most days, and today was definitely a weird one, so he just -- you know. Wouldn’t. Or something. “It’s Horrible.”
Yeah. That was the joke. Because that’s what his blog was called. ...Because it was his last name.
He didn’t really think that Tink needed to look so apologetic about things like these. Billy really just was the sort that shouldn’t be taken in public. Hale seemed normal and cool, and she was… well. Tink. So she was perfect, obviously.
“Is it a real stamp? But I think that should exist.”
“I’ll order one. A rubber stamp that says ‘Hale Approved’ on it.” Tink said, giving Hale a little wink. Then Hale would have to chase after Billy and smack him with the rubber stamp. Tink would have to get the whole thing on video. Youtube gold. Or, better yet, Horrible Blog gold.
Hale gave Tink a pretend hurt look at her comment about not really caring whether he approved or not. “Mean,” he told her with a distinctive teasing note in his voice. If she wasn’t sure they’d get along she wouldn’t have introduced them, and he’d long ago realized that Tink’s judgment of men was pretty good. And everything about Billy so far was striking him as good for his best friend.
“You’ll have to send me a link. I’ll check it out. Probably more fun than paperwork,” he said turning his attention back to Billy. He loved his job, he did. Unfortunately his degree and job description seemed to be keeping him chained to his desk more than in the field lately. He knew that analyzing the information to get a picture of the suspect was important but it didn’t stop him from getting restless sometimes when he wasn’t able to get out there and actively look for the person who’d committed whatever crime they were looking into.
He grinned at the question about the stamp. “It’d be awesome. Tink - I know what you should get me for Christmas,” he told her, his grin widening when he noticed that little wink. “First order of business - giving it to Billy here. You’re a good guy,” he told him as a statement of fact, not a judgment.
“Christmas present? Done. I’ll email you that link, too.” Tink said, then lifted her water glass to gulp from it. She wasn’t feeling quite as nervous now as she’d been feeling before, but there were still a few nerves in there. A deep blush crossed her nose and cheekbones when Hale gave Billy his stamp of approval. She was pleased.
"Well," Billy said, going a little pink himself and sitting on his hands just so he wouldn't flail and knock anything over or --- gesticulate too wildly in general. "Gosh. I haven't felt so approved of since I looked in the mirror last."
That didn't even make sense. But Billy was pleased anyway. Girlfriend approval. Girlfriend's male friend who was not a boyfriend approval. Decaf coffee. It didn't really get better than this.