fandomtownies | Fandom Post Office, Wednesday (01/02)

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Fandom Post Office, Wednesday (01/02)

Ringing in the new year had been a quiet exercise for Beauty, who'd suddenly backed out from going to the party at the last minute (a case of unexpected nerves). Now, as she set herself up behind the counter at the post office with her writing supplies and the beginning of a letter home, she was feeling pensive, thinking about all the strange things that had happened to her in the past year, and wondering what the new one would be bringing.

She wasn't one for making resolutions, but she did promise herself to approach the coming year with an open mind and a sense of adventure.

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She's probably out around lunchtime, but otherwise is happy to be helpful.

Sometimes during the morning when things usually died down a little (as if it was really a busy day as it was), A.J. put together a vanilla hazelnut milkshake, and sneaked out of the diner to deliver it to its intended recipient. "Hey, you."

Beauty had been thinking about spending her lunch over at Luke's, so she looked up with a happy smile when A.J. walked in.

"It's my milkshake delivery," she said. "I should tip the courier, shouldn't I?"

A.J. was probably figuring that she or at least someone would be stopping in for lunch, but he was so bored and distracted that he couldn't exactly wait until then. "You should," he nodded. "It's really only just common courtesy."

It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that Beauty still would stop over for lunch. It wasn't exactly the most exciting day around her place of work either.

"Hmm," she mused. "You're right, courtesy is important." She stood on the rung of her stool and leaned across the counter to give A.J. a quick kiss. "Did you have a good new year's eve?"

Smiling a little at the quick peck (he was hoping that's what she had in mind for a tip), A.J. answered honestly, "It was okay. Could have been better." He hesitated before continuing, his expression turning sheepish and a little pink, head ducking. "I, uh, I thought you'd be at the party..." The fact that he hadn't seen her there the entire night really had him thinking about what he'd talked to Charlie about and feeling like a total tool for it.

Beauty ducked her head and looked guilty. "I was going to go, but I wasn't sure if there'd anyone I knew there, and...I got cold feet. You know me, and parties. I guess I should have asked you if you were going."

Was he upset at her for not being there? Beauty worried.

Biting his lip against a light wince at that last part, A.J. paused a moment before saying anything. Charlie was right; he should have asked her. What was he thinking, believing that she wouldn't-- Or maybe that was it. maybe she really didn't want to go, and she was just saying that she got cold feet for some reason. He shifted a little. "Eh, it wasn't much," he found himself assuring her; maybe if he didn't make a big deal out of it, she wouldn't feel bad about just not wanting to know. Or something. "No big deal. You didn't miss much."

Except, well, possibly having to see how he and Annette acted. Which, yeah....Face now burning, A.J. was starting to believe that maybe it was better that she wasn't there.

That look on A.J.'s face told Beauty that there was something definitely wrong, and she looked up at him through her hair.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I was just...I was afraid of being there alone. And I...I really should get over my shyness about inviting boys out for things, shouldn't I?"

"I was gonna ask," A.J. found himself saying quickly in response to that, before even thinking about it. "But I thought you'd probably...I didn't want...well, I thought maybe you'd...probably..." The quickness of the initial statement was fading very, very quickly as his brain was catching up with his mouth. Even if the 'inviting boys out for things' wasn't applying to him (...who else would it? What other boys would she want to? Why was he suddenly so set to find out?), she said the problem was that she was too shy to ask, thus negating his whole theory. "...want to go with someone else to one of these things for a change." He gave a soft, lame smile. "You know..."

Beauty shot A.J. a confused look. "Why would I want to do that? Even if I did want to go with someone else, I don't really know anyone else. And I don't! Want to go with someone else, I mean."

Was that a hint? Was she being too clingy? A.J. had said he'd thought she'd be at the party, which suggested he'd hoped she'd be at the party. And that suggested that he liked spending time with her enough to not be sick of it. But then why would he think she should ask someone else?

"I guess I should have said that I was feeling shy about asking you to things, not...'boys'. Because there aren't any. Other boys, I mean."

There were two ways that could have gone. One way was the one where A.J., in a weird sort of attempt to compliment her, would have tried to comment that he couldn't believe there wouldn't be any other boys, but it would have turned out with him messing up and instead being all incoherant about how it's not like there would be a problem with any other boys, which might have left Beauty thinking that he meant that he didn't want to be the one boy who... And on like that. OR it could have turned out that he would take the comment for what it was, smile like a dork as his face turned pink, and asked, sheepishly, "R..really?"

Thankfully? It was the latter that he seemed able to do at the moment, rather than the flustered former. He bit his lip nervously against that dorky grin.

A.J.'s response was perfect, considering the crazy bit of rambling Beauty had just hit him with. She exhaled in relief, the smile coming back full force.

"Really. And I hope you don't mind that. I, um...I don't expect to be the only girl. Or boy. I mean, I know I'm not, there's Troy too, but I mean..."

Cue more rambling. Beauty rolled her eyes at herself. "I'm afraid of chasing you off," she admitted.

Listening to Beauty certainly wasn't helping with the blush at all, especially not with what she was saying. He dropped his head, realizing that he was feeling more than a little ashamed about all that. But milkshake delivery time wasn't exactly the place to talk about that. Especially when he hadn't even talked to Troy about that yet.

A.J. was definitely going to just focus on that last bit, lifting his eyes to look at her through a few strands of hair. "Believe me," he said, with a wry grin, "I...really don't think you have to worry about that. Like, ever."

That answer put a lot of fears to rest for Beauty, and tension just flowed out of her. "You either," she replied softly, just in case A.J. might have had the same worry. "I'm happy doing things on my own, but they're more fun when you're there. Even if it's just drinking a milkshake."

Which reminded her that she really should do that, before it melted, and she picked up the cup and took a sip. "Well, maybe I shouldn't word it as just drinking a milkshake. This is delicious."

A.J.'s smile eased a little, though the pink stayed. He really was one hell of a tool. See how much easier things were if he just got over himself every once in a while? Maybe Charlie'd been right. And it was impossible for him to feel bad about that.

"You expected anything less?" he asked, teasingly, as he leaned forward on the counter and grinned at her.

She rested her arms on the counter and leaned toward him, so that their noses were bare inches apart, and grinned back. "No, but you always manage to give me a little surprise anyway. Which makes me feel so guilty that I haven't done any of those things I promised I would, like your foot rub or teaching you to fish, or...anything, really. What kind of a- a, you know, um...friend, am I?"

She'd started to say girlfriend, but was she? They'd never talked about anything like that. A.J. didn't call Troy his boyfriend, maybe they were just friends who loved each other and really liked spending time together, and kissing.

God, this relationship thing could be confusing.

The red in his face spiked a bit again when A.J. noticed Beauty's slight falter. What was she faltering for there? But, you know, there she was, bare inches from his nose, and so he decided to lean forward to put his forehead against hers and grinned at her instead. "A lazy one," he teased.

"I am," Beauty agreed, her nose wrinkling a little with combined laughter and embarrassment. She liked that, when A.J. leaned his forehead against hers. It was like there was only the two of them, and nothing else around.

"But I'll be better, I promise. Maybe we should wait a while for the fishing, though."

"Maybe," A.J. agreed warmly, still keeping close. "Just a bit. A little chilly. You don't look too busy right now, though, I could probably call you up on that foot massage one right here..."

Beauty probably shouldn't have even considered something like that at work. But he was right. It wasn't like there was anything happening, she hadn't even had any customers yet today.

"You'll have to come around behind the counter. I can't reach your feet from here."

A.J.'s grin grew wider to think that she actually would; he half expected her to argue the idea. "I was just joking," he said, blushing as he chuckled. "I should actually probably get back before the kitchen boys, out of spite, go and erase my artwork on the specials board. Buuut..." He paused, biting his lip. "You doing anything tomorrow?"

Blushing, but secretly a little relieved that he had been only teasing, Beauty shook her head. "Until classes start again, the only thing I've got on my schedule is this job. So I haven't got anything at all planned for tomorrow."

"Good," A.J. gave a very small nod, because he didn't want to disturb their spot too much. "I'm coming over, then."

Beauty gave him a big smile. "I'll ask Adah if she wouldn't mind giving me the room to myself," she replied. "Are you going to let me paint your nails too?"

Really, she was mostly teasing about that part. Poor A.J. had already suffered the trauma of having his hair died, after all.

"Only," A.J. grinned, "if it'll match my haaaaaair."

Then, feeling something in that moment, the grin softened a little bit and he found himself going to close the short distance between them with a light, lingering sort of kiss. Doing it made his heart do a little jump of objection, worried about how she'd take it, but, at the same time, he couldn't ignore the little buzz in his head telling him that it was right.

It was pretty unlikely Beauty would ever protest a kiss from A.J. She gave a soft, happy sigh, returning the light kiss, and then smiled as they separated.

"I'll see if I can find the right color," she whispered.

A.J. drew in a breath, building into his happy, lopsided grin. If anyone were paying particular attention, there was also a slight bounce in there. Very slight. "Well, don't stay up all night over it, or anything," he commented. He was thinking about another kiss, but didn't want to overdo it. And he also figured that if he kissed her again, then he'd never get back to work, and it was surprising enough as it was that he hadn't been fire yet.

"You thinking of coming to the diner for lunch?"

"If you can stand to see me again today," Beauty teased. Holding back on any more kissing was probably a pretty good idea. Especially if they didn't want to both end up unemployed.

"I think I'll manage," A.J. said. And figured the fact that he still wasn't making any move toward the door yet was decent proof to his statement.

"Then I'll be there, as soon as my lunch break starts."

Beauty figured she might as well just plan on spending every Wednesday lunch at the diner, and stop worrying over whether A.J. wanted her there or not. It wasn't like he'd ever chased her off before.

She wasn't making any attempt to chase him off, either.

"I'll look forward to it," A.J. said, and he would. And he made the attempt at another light kiss before finally heading out. "See ya then."

Like it was forever from now and not a few hours. Man. He was such a dork.

Or mod your own service.

I have snow!

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Fandom Post Office, Wednesday (01/02)

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