jakob

carved on a tree || wade & joey

What other people called 'annoying,' Joey called endlessly entertaining. That didn't mean he one-hundred-percent let Wade get away with everything; when he walked around attempting an Italian accent Joey made an effort to roll his eyes as much as he could and not laugh (he laughed a lot) and not play along (he tended to very interestedly respond with some other random Italian dish, as if they were having a real conversation). They had to get ready eventually, though, and Joey waited expectantly for Wade to go first since he himself only took around twenty seconds to be public-ready, even for dates. One time he forgot how to tie his tie and hid from Wade's view for a while, but that was the only time he'd surpassed ten minutes, and he ended up just wearing a button-up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows anyway. Joey was also smart enough not to try and shower when Wade was going to, 'cause the bathroom turned into an American Idol audition. Canadian Idol? Whatever the case, Wade took his entire damn life.

While he was doing God knows what in the water, Joey busied himself with getting into a white button-up, black blazer, and black jeans, lest Wade tease him for being too formal. He stopped in the living room a moment and questioned his reflection, wondering if perhaps he was getting too old, or if his hair was getting too long, whether his eyes were brown or green. Yes, yes, and probably hazel. Joey was for sure not satisfied with these answers and skewed his face to test the wrinkles gradually deepening before deciding it was best to just turn away, his fingers automatically pushing through his hair. He swore he could hear Wade exiting the shower at the same time and stopped to listen, holding his breath, before sighing uncontrollably. "Wade, are you ready?" The ensuing noises sounded like a kid that was woken up for school an hour ago and was now pretending like they'd been up the whole time. Joey struggled not to outright laugh at him, folding his arms in an effort to look stern and leaning to one side.

Wade came out in just his towel and seemed to stare for a few moments. Torn between impatience and adoration for just how ridiculous he was, Joey fixed his mouth in a line, struggling not to smile too dumbly at him. How are you ready? It’s only... Joey waited. Oh. Oh well. Hi. He opened his mouth, preparing to say something smart, but Wade stopped him with a hand coming to rest gently over the back of his neck, lips finding his. Joey swayed a little, embarrassingly enough. You look great, Bruno. Joey lost the rest of his composure. "You too. You know, you could conceivably wear that towel to the restaurant." Thought about what you’re having? I already know. Italian. Joey almost argued that they were going to the same place, of course he was getting Italian, too, then looked extremely annoyed. "Gonna need a big bottle of wine to deal with you, you know." But he was still stepping closer to Wade like the tiny distance was killing him.

You think we could just skip dinner and stay home? "Ye - oh," he mumbled, quickly trying to forget his near agreement when Wade was obviously joking. He met him in another kiss anyway, his fingers lacing easily through Wade's and his lips curling up without giving him a choice. He trusted Wade's lead to the bedroom, a smile apparently permanently plastered on his face. I don’t know what to wear. Would they mind if I just wore a towel? Is that normal in Italian culture? "Of course. What do you think I wore to my sister's wedding?" I’m fully immersed in it, by the way. Penne. Ravioli. Cannelloni. Tortellini. My accent is better than yours. Joey almost told him that that was probably true, considering he was barely halfway fluent in the language and still spoke it like an American anyway, but then he'd ruin his image. Instead he just pretended to be very incredulous. No, but I’m serious. What do I wear. I’m helpless, Joey. Helpless!

Joey looked affronted. "I just stopped being straight. I can't help you with fashion." He was headed to the closet anyway, pushing through hangers and studying all of Wade's wardrobe. After a few moments he stopped, pulling out a whole suit on one hanger, apparently missing a jacket. "A vest, oh my God, wear that. That's a Professor Walcott look." He held it up to Wade's chest, evidently trying to realize his vision.

stop the cavalry — River/Ari

it probably had mostly to do with the fact that ari was fundamentally against any sort of group fun or celebration, but basically, his feelings towards christmas directly paralleled chandler bing's feelings towards thanksgiving. he didn't necessarily have any negative associations with the holiday, though; however it could be argued that a lot of kids from divorced parents detested having to do the whole switch-up every year. ari quite liked both his parents, no annoying step parents yet, so he didn't fit in that category, luckily. he really hated the 'pretending to be grateful for the shitty pen your friend got you because they felt like they needed to get you something' and the 'finding gifts for people you really could not give less of a shit about' aspects. still, you got holidays off school, you got a little christmas money if your family was well-off enough... more recently, ari had finally made a friend, and said friend was a huge christmas fan. so, that made things better, even if it all still felt very phony.

seeing river getting all amped up about any given holiday always led to ari getting excited, too, like it was contagious (and his parents actually noticed the difference, despite never noticing anything else about him - so it must've been a big deal. they thought he'd taken uppers, seriously). he occasionally got annoyed at even the prospect of it and river seemed to pick up on that fact, which unfortunately meant he still had to deal with a constant stream of christmas propaganda. river always managed to sneak in little festivities. usually it was an ugly as all hell christmas sweater, which, y'know, no big deal, except river managed to make even the ugliest items of clothing pretty cute. ari wasn't sure whether to be jealous or endeared to it. otherwise river had a candy cane hooked in his mouth, or tinsel somehow stuck in his hair, or a huge mug of peppermint cocoa. ari revolted by wearing as much black or greyscale as possible and generally being an eeyore.

when ari chanced a visit he was greeted with river blaring 'last christmas,' to which he frowned at nastily but still made his way inside with a quick nudge to river. he barely argued with the idea of watching some christmas movie, because river was offering up 'elf' and it was probably the least obnoxious of all of them while still remaining festive enough for river's standards. plus, ari could relate to whoever the hell will ferrell's dad was: cranky and stressed out all the time. moreover, if river's eyes were on the movie, ari could probably get away with showering him with attention. not that he was typically averse to it, of course. this just helped to avoid river's inevitable smartass commentary.

he easily fell into a habit of simultaneously toying with river's sweater and soothing through his hair (though not very helpfully - he was probably adding to the bedhead they had both already fallen victim to in their position). he hardly touched their popcorn or watched the movie itself, instead turning in towards river and almost tucking his face in the bend of his shoulder. after some time he tried to meet river in a kiss, and ended up hovering in the air inches away because river paid him no mind. ari opened his mouth to comment before thinking better of it, figuring river was messing with him anyway, and instead began drawing invisible pictures along river's hip. river again appeared too invested in what he was watching to care at all, and then ari was, quite frankly, attacked by a piece of popcorn. ari blew it back impatiently, watching it fly off somewhere to the side of the bed. "you're being really rude. i'm a guest."

he was, of course, exaggerating, but he was mildly annoyed when river faked pity. did you want something? ari continued looking miserable. to be fair, it was kind of amusing. if it’s important, i’ll pause the movie for you... ari promptly used the hand previously sifting through river's hair to push his head away lightly and withdrew into himself, shifting aside until he wasn't completely invading river's bubble. "yeah, i wanted some space, loser," he replied, but he was grinning, still mostly turned towards river even when he was acting subdued. "no need to pause, you're totally occupied."