BONER AU: DAY AFTER

[forkedroad]

Annabelle had always been a decent sleeper, but whenever she and the Tanners were due for some excitement, she often slept restlessly. The previous night had been different, despite her excitement; she'd pretty much fallen asleep the second she'd flopped onto their bed into a deep, hard sleep, soon drooling pretty ungracefully.

And the next day, they all awoke more or less frantically—or at least, Lauren and Annabelle certainly had. Lauren, out of anxiety, and Annabelle out of excitement. The three of them had done their thing, aiding the nice town they were in with their talents.

Now that all the excitement is over, the three of them have been paid for their efforts. They've been invited to a boundless meal, as well as wine and ale, in the evening, because the town, frankly, loves to party, and has a great reason to celebrate. But that invite, though accepted, doesn't help them soon enough, and so they've found themselves at a pub for some lunch.

They're seated at a communal bench table, and the brothers are sitting next to each other across from Annabelle. Annabelle has been desperately trying not to look at Lauren more than she would normally, which has made her realize she has no idea how often she does or doesn't do that kind of thing. Right now, her jaw is set against her palm, thin fingers curled into her dark, wild hair while her eyes are lid downcast at her food, which she's kind of just. stabbing relentlessly (but not so frantically so as to make a pub-wide scene) with her fork.

It's not that she's in a bad mood, or anything—she's been quite chipper, if somewhat stilted and odd. At the moment, she's just lost in reminiscence. She's trying to find what the hell had come over here the night before. She bites her lip, and the fork slips, causing an unpleasant squeak against the porcelain.

Comments

[mylastchance]

Lauren winces with ever clank of the fork, trying hard not to worry about what Annabelle is thinking. They hadn't talked at all about what had happened the night before, and as Anna's mood visibly worsened so did Lauren's anxieties. Did she regret it? Did she hate him for it? This and an immeasurable number of unrealistic worries bombard him, making it hard for him to enjoy their victory. While Lauren had been trying his best not to think about what had happened the previous night it was really hard for him not to worry when Annabelle was sullenly smacking her fork into her plate.

His whole body was tense, and he thought he might have been getting a headache. He hadn't slept much the night before, for various reasons, and now he was physically tired from the fight, as well as mentally fatigued from Anna acting like a fucking weirdo.

"Um... S'a nice town..." He tries to give Anna a look that mentally communicates calm the fuck down without Susan noticing.

[wild_magic]

Whether Susan has caught on to any of the awkwardness or odd behavior is probably hard to discern, as he just chatters away most of the time even if no one else is responding or if their responses are awkward. At the moment he's quietly looking around the place as he eats, at the other customers and whatever else catches his attention, before Lauren's words grab his attention instead and he shrugs with a little smile.

"I guess so... It would be better if it had more exciting things to look at or do though." Apparently the day's events weren't exciting enough for him, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.

1/2

[forkedroad]

Annabelle lifts her eyes, awkwardly catching Lauren's, and she gives him an incredulous expression that's almost a petulant what????.

[forkedroad]

Thankfully, she's distracted by Susan, and she gives him a little half smile. She relates to that part of Susan, and adores it. She continues to harass her food, but far less frenetically.

"This town's all a bunch of adult fun," she responds, her smile and eyes a little dark. "It's no wonder you're bored. Perhaps you'll enjoy the bonfire. I heard they may have performances."

[mylastchance]

He rolls his eyes at adult fun. All towns were the same, it's not like any business could profit out of offering children things to do. Speaking of the festivities tonight only make his mood worse.

"I wish they wouldn't." He picks at his own food gloomily now. He doesn't see why the whole town has to celebrate some stupid orc defeat. They weren't even that tough. Stupid hick town. "It's not a big deal."

[wild_magic]

Susan laughs at Lauren at that.

"You just don't wanna go because you're shy." But it doesn't curb his own enthusiasm at all, and he continues after that.

"What sorts of performances, do you think?"

[forkedroad]

"Maybe not," Annabelle agrees with Lauren, lifting her fork to point it at him. There's some mangled potato speared through on it. "But it means free food and entertainment, so why complain?"

She flashes Susan a grin when he calls his brother shy, and pops the bite of abused food into her mouth as she answers him.

"Dancers, maybe. The theatric kind. Music."

Okay, that doesn't sound so fun. Or not thrilling, anyway. But Annabelle thinks it sounds nice.

[mylastchance]

He frowns when Susan calls him shy, but he doesn't argue. "Loud music, and people drinking too much."

See, it could be awful for reasons besides his shyness.

[wild_magic]

Dancing didn't sound so exciting, but theater did. He hadn't seen many of those kinds of performances before after all.

"I hope they do the theatric kind, that sounds fun. So does people drinking too much! They always do funny things then." And he can laugh at them. Solid plan.

[forkedroad]

"They do!" Annabelle agrees with a laugh. Sometimes Annabelle is one of those drunk people. Thankfully, not often.

She pauses, trying to think of what to say to Lauren. She studies her fork, inspecting it needlessly. "I'm sure you'll see something you find interesting. You just have to learn to look." As she says this, she rolls her eyes up to hold his gaze.

She tries not to smile.

[mylastchance]

He shakes his head as Susan and Anna laugh about drunks. To be honest, they could be pretty funny, but they could also be really annoying. Especially when it was someone you knew and had to keep an eye on, like Anna. He was glad Susan was still too young to be able to convince people to serve him. Of course then Annabelle pauses and Lauren stares at her curiously. When she says that and then meets his gaze he immediately looks down at his plate.

What the fuck??? Did that mean????? Was she trying to hit on him? Was she going topless to the party or something? Oh god no don't think about that. He tries very hard not to think about how he has seen her tits and in fact quite a bit more of her, but it's very difficult to push the mental image away. He shifts in his seat uncomfortably as he shovels more food into his mouth.

[wild_magic]

Susan can tell Lauren is uncomfortable, of course, and he glances at him with a curious look before going back to his food. It would be pretty hard for him to not notice something was going on, obviously, but that didn't mean he would say anything just yet. Lauren is uncomfortable enough right now and that's too funny to ruin.

[forkedroad]

"Anyway, Susan," Annabelle continues, taking a large bite out of the quarter loaf of bread provided with her meal, and talks around it as she chews. "If you don't have any fun tonight, we can be sure to find you something interesting to do in the next stop over. But you'll have fun, I think. Bonfires are always so invigorating, I find; back where I lived, it was always too wet and too lonely for that sort of thing."

Annabelle watches Lauren as she chews, finding his behavior too amusing to feel bad for him.

After Lunch

[mylastchance]

It's only a brief moment later that Lauren finds himself following Annabelle's footsteps up the stairs. He didn't like this awkward feeling that sat between them, or the way he'd argued with her at the lunch table. He didn't exactly understand what was wrong, whether it was him or her or both of them perhaps, but he wanted to get it sorted. Though he rarely admitted it and hardly spoke words of affection to her, Annabelle was someone special to him. He valued her friendship, if nothing else, and he didn't like knowing he might have done something to upset her. He doesn't understand Annabelle as much as he'd like, but he feels pretty confident saying there's something going on that he doesn't understand here.

He knocks softly on the door to their shared room. "Anna?"

[forkedroad]

Annabelle is chilling on their bed, ankles crossed as she reads. When she hears Lauren knock, she rolls her eyes as if incredibly inconvenienced, and drops the open book on her face. She sighs, sitting up, letting the book fall down wherever.

"Yes?" she asks. She still feels weird and irritated; and she was hoping Lauren would be distracted by Susan and that she would have some time to figure out her own shit a little better. But of course he didn't. He's too nice.

She shakes out her arms a little, like trying to shudder off the bad, confusing feelings. Then, expectantly, she swings her legs off the edge of the bed, staring at the door.

[mylastchance]

He does open the door, unaware of her exaggerated annoyance and physical slapstick maneuvers, to see her sitting on the bed. Unfortunately, even though he's decided to come up here he still doesn't really know what to say.

"Um... Are you mad at me?"

[forkedroad]

Annabelle's posture slackens.

"No," she says pointedly, huffing out a sigh. "I mean, I got annoyed at the table, but I don't really get why. But—I'm not mad about last night, though..."

[mylastchance]

Oh.

Okay.


"Are you.. sure?"

[forkedroad]

Annabelle bites her lip.

"I mean, I think so." She feels her cheeks burning red. All of this is so new, but not in a fun way—it's just uncomfortable, but she's determined to persist and push through in favor of learning. This is pivotal. She looks away, feeling unusually coy. "I don't regret what we did. When I think of it, no part of me reacts unfavorably. I connected with a part of me that I didn't think existed."

Her eyes fall, distant and distracted. She feels uncharacteristically shy, and doesn't know how to look at him. "...But I don't know what it means, now. I don't know if I should be worried about where it came from, for either of us, or if I should be concerned about our paths ahead."

[mylastchance]

He enters fully, closing the door behind him. He watches her as she speaks. Part of him wants to seat with her, but a larger part of him is afraid of getting too close. It wasn't as though he hadn't thought about the same thing, what it meant for them. He'd assumed Annabelle wouldn't have any trouble deciding on the meaning so he's surprised, but not at his lack of understanding her. Annabelle was nothing if not difficult in every way.

"Do you want it to mean something?"

[forkedroad]

"No, I don't," she admits easily, shaking her head. She knows it isn't lady like at all, but it's only curiosity. She pauses, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Is...that alright?"

Normally, she wouldn't be so concerned—but sex is intimate, and Lauren is her close friend.

[mylastchance]

It's a bit strange, he feels relieved, and yet at the same time it stings. He doesn't show it, instead looking forward at the room as he listens to her speak. Was it alright? It probably wasn't supposed to be, but he wasn't hurt for what had happened between them either.

"I'm not sure." he finally answers, wishing he had a less confusing answer to give. "You're my friend. I'd like it to mean something, but I don't want anything to change either."

[forkedroad]

Annabelle's eyes fall, and she picks some linty little pills off one sleeve of her sweater as she thinks. It's confusing for her too. Such that she doesn't know how to behave, or what she wants. She feels herself flush when she remembers how it felt to kiss him, and how it felt when he put his mouth on her, underneath her skirt.

"I guess—" she tilts her head, pensively knitting her eyebrows together. "I mean—it means...a lot. It does mean something," she says and rolls her eyes up to look at him. "—to me, that is. You are my friend, and I feel priviledged to have that sort of experience with someone I care for and trust. But...even if that kind of thing happens, I don't want to change what we already have?"

Annabelle looks confused at her own words. She decides she hates this type of conversation.

"I don't even fully know what I'm saying."

[mylastchance]

He does move forward now, sitting down near her, although he's careful to give her distance, not wanting to encroach on her space. She's all nervous energy, and his anxiety stops him from acting how he normally would. He hopes his awkward manners don't stop them from working this out though. Despite her confusion he finds himself agreeing with her. He feels, at least, like he understands what she's saying. He also feels like he agrees with it.

"...I feel the same." He normally worries over his words, about saying the wrong thing, but right now he has no way around his own bluntness. "I don't want to date you. That's not the right kind of love for us."

[forkedroad]

Lauren's awkward manners never bother Annabelle, because she's rather ill mannered and awkward in other ways herself.

In fact, she feels some of the unnerving tension dissipate a little bit when he sits down beside her. The tension in her shoulders leaves, and she sighs with relief at his words.

"Exactly," she responds, rewarding his candidness and pointing in his direction before letting her hand join its other in her lap. She laughs a little, then puts her face in her hands, still smiling. "I was so worried. Sorry for being a git. I felt I was going to burst from my skin."