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[sub][color=slategray]A [@smarty0114] & [@Silent Observer] collab
Featuring: [color=31ba9f]Jamie Callaghan[/color] & [color=997fdb]Marshall Radley[/color]
Location: Radley Home[/color][/sub][/center][hr][hr]

Jamie Callaghan had fucked up. He was aware. He had let school politics interfere with his life. He’d been stupid and he’d fucked up. Above all of that though, he knew that if he let this tear him and Marshall apart he’d regret it. So, here he was, seated in his [url=https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwixkaSy3crdAhXLq1QKHY1zBtkQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fnewatlas.com%2Fmercedes-benz-f-125-research-vehicle%2F19868%2F&psig=AOvVaw2iQqxKJy-fxhPRdI1bg0Tp&ust=1537572320388368]car[/url] in front of the Radley’s less than humble abode. In his passenger seat were a bouquet of purple hyacinth, because roses were cliche, and Jamie had no clue what Marshall’s favorite flower really was.

Taking a deep breath, Jamie stepped out of his car and walked up to the Radley’s front door and rapped his knuckles three times against the dark wood door. After a moment, Martelle Radley opened the door, clad in a black tank top and holding a cereal bowl in her left hand. [color=eadcee][b]“I was wondering when I’d see you,”[/b][/color] she said, smirking at Jamie as she took a bite of mint-chocolate chip ice cream. 

[color=31ba9f][b]“Hey Marty, can I, uh, talk to Marshall?”[/b][/color] Jamie asked, chewing his lip in anticipation of her answer. He hoped he’d been right about surprising Marshall like this. If he’d been wrong...well he didn’t want to think about where else they could go from here. All he knew was that it wasn’t good.

Marty grinned at Jamie’s request, and stepped aside, waving Jamie in with a flourish. [color=eadcee][b]“He’s upstairs, first door on the left,”[/b][/color] she said, giving Jamie an encouraging smile. [color=eadcee][b]“Good luck, you’re gonna need it.”[/b][/color]

With that ominous warning hanging over him, Jamie steadily climbed the stairs, and calmly walked to Marshall’s door, where he knocked twice, and waited, prayed, for Marshall to answer.

Behind that closed door, Marshall was doing what a Marshall does in the very few hours of free time he has. After days filled with drama club, yearbook and dance committees, vocal lessons, dance, and schoolwork, it is nice to come home and unwind. Despite being quite the social butterfly during all of these activities, Marshall tends to keep his door closed at home during these recharge sessions. Presently, he was relaxing in a gray chaise lounge, one hand propping open his current novel of choice and the other hand holding a mug of steaming tea while soft acoustic [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVvK9FKLn78]music[/url] played through his Assistant set up in the room.

When there was a knock on his door, Marshall didn’t even look up from his book before responding, [color=997fdb][b]“Come in…”[/b][/color] Assuming that it was just his sister. Maybe she had a snack, that would be a divine addition to this moment of peace he was enjoying.

With one, shaky, deep breath, Jamie stepped through the door, and into Marshall’s room, holding the flowers out in front of him like some form of protection. [color=31ba9f][b]“It occurred to me, while I was lying in bed this afternoon, that I had a very exciting date to look forward to, and also an apology to give,”[/b][/color] Jamie said, smiling nervously down at Marshall before extending his hand out to offer him the flowers. [color=31ba9f][b]“These are for both.”[/b][/color]

Distinctly not Martelle. Marshall looked up from his reading and immediately closed the book and held the cover flush against his chest, as if he had something to hide. He blinked as he stared at the unexpected person in the doorway of his bedroom. Alarm bells sounded in the back of his mind… Jamie was here, in his room, he was not prepared, is it clean enough, did he look cute enough, panic! Despite the alarms, Marshall kept his facial expression cool. [color=997fdb][b]“Nathan, we’re talking.”[/b][/color] He said, and his Assistant lowered the music volume to ambient background noise at his pre-programmed command. Nathan heard that one quite frequently.

Marshall sat up a little straighter, putting his book cover-side down on the table next to his chaise lounge, beside the mug of tea that read “Drama Queen” with a sparkly pink crown — a birthday gift from Ophelia in years passed. He took in the site of Jamie, looking dashingly dressed and slightly hidden behind a bouquet of purple flowers. [color=997fdb][b]“How did you—”[/b][/color] Marshall began to ask, before answering his own question. [color=997fdb][b]“Marty.”[/b][/color] Moving over on the lounge, Marsh put his feet to the floor and patted the spot next to him, beckoning Jamie over.

Jamie smiled, and took Marshall’s invitation to sit. Grinning, he looked over at Marshall, and sighed, before launching into the speech he’d rehearsed in the car. [color=31ba9f][b]“Look, we are very, very different people, and we have very different friends. And you and I both know, our school can get...messy. That said, just because you and I are in the center of it, doesn’t me youandI, have to be at the center of it. I don’t want our relationship to hinge on what happens at school. So, can we just agree, to keep politics in the hallways?”[/b][/color]

[color=997fdb][b]“Our relationship?”[/b][/color] Marshall inquired with a raised brow. It was the phrase that stuck out the most in Jamie’s sudden word vomit of an apology. Perhaps he didn’t mean it like that, or he was just getting ahead of himself, but that was a conversation that they had yet to have. Letting the rest of Jamie’s word sit in his mind before responding, Marshall gently took the flowers from his date’s hand. He sniffed them and then let out a small laugh as he appraised the bouquet, [color=997fdb][b]“This is a first…”[/b][/color]

Jamie smiled. [color=31ba9f][b]“And hopefully not the last,”[/b][/color] he said, placing his hand on top of Marshall’s and squeezing gently. [color=31ba9f][b]“So, can we go on our date now? I have a reservation at a very nice restaurant that I would hate to see go to waste.”[/b][/color]

[color=997fdb][b]“I meant the flowers. No one’s ever brought me flowers before, unless it was after a show.”[/b][/color] Marshall set them down on the table gently. Before they went anywhere, Marsh had something to say first. [color=997fdb][b]“Politics in the hallways, I can get behind that. But, no more writing about me or my friends without talking to me first, okay? I don’t want to stand in the way of your passion, but I also don’t want to be surprised by being pounced on by nosey underclassmen fishing for details about my personal life…”[/b][/color] In Marshall’s mind, that seemed like a fair enough request. He then sighed and looked down at his lap, [color=997fdb][b]“But… I’m also sorry. I shouldn’t have implied that you don’t have friends, I felt really gross after. Despite the recent revelations about the people I associate with, I don’t take pleasure in being mean. I was just… hurting.”[/b][/color]

At that, Marshall stood up and smoothed his shirt down. He was dressed nicely in a pair of gray dress pants and lavender cashmere sweater with a white collared shirt underneath and the sleeves rolled up to quarter length. It was the outfit he had originally planned to wear for their date, and he had put it on after school wishfully thinking that he might still have a date. Some wishes do come true, it seems. [color=997fdb][b]“How nice of a restaurant, exactly? Because I can up the bougie if I need to. I feel like you look way better.”[/b][/color] That wasn’t too much of a surprise. Jamie always dressed well, Marshall wasn’t sure if it was his own fashion sense, or all of the shopping trips with Selena, but whatever it was definitely worked for him.

Jamie smiled a leaned in to plant a kiss on Marshall’s lips. [color=31ba9f][b]“Mr. Radley, tonight we are going full bougie.”[/b][/color]