penguins who fuck

The light squeeze that was returned had Julian smiling gently. It felt familiar and he could feel something inside of him become comforted by the gesture. When he had first met Giordi he had never expected for a friendship like the one they shared to come out of the soft “hello”. He expected him to become a new face he had to remember or just someone else he would pass in the streets, but instead he received someone who would help him grow into the man he became and, god, how he hoped he understood the impact he had made on him. He received someone who he just knew Jake would have adored.

Giordi flinched has Julian’s body moved, the jerky movement harsh and expecting. It was a reflex. He was scared he’d said the wrong thing. Maybe he shouldn’t have said that-- maybe Julian didn’t want Giordi to see him that way. He was ruining it. He’d given him the wrong words. Anxiety flooded his stomach, deepening like a river after a hard rain, as Giordi anticipated the moment Julian would grow tired of him and his fumbling truths and leave. The feeling of unease threatened everything surrounding it before Jullian let out an awful sound and was pulling Giordi’s body closer, hot breath hitting the curve of his ear. 

“You mean Operation? That’s actually really convenient because I have this wrench stuck in my ankle and nobody else can seem to get it out.”

“Well fuck me, you should have opened with that. Wrench in the ankle. Christ, I haven’t seen a case like this since 1999.”

“Well, you’re my designated human, so that means you’re gonna have to take my cactus. Consider it a peace offering, from my people to yours. His name is Bartholomew.”

“Yeah, yeah. He should probably stay with me. Y’know, to keep the peace. For our people. I wouldn’t want a war to break out over this. Maybe you should regularly check up on him, too. For, uh, reports.”

“Housewives? Hm, I’m picturing baked sweets and all of us dressed up like adults discussing a book using fancy terminology — I’m down. Well, if you’re really that passionate about them, we should. That way you can fulfill your excitement of book clubs and I can meet more people.”

“Yeah? Alright, let’s do it. We can meet on Tuesdays and everyone will be required to bring, like.. house food. Whatever mum’s cook. We can give each other suburban names, too. I’ll be Mary Alice. You can be Betsy.”

“Saturday is perfect. I’m afraid that if we join the bake-off dimension we might never leave. Well, we could always do a quick grocery run together before we start so we can be all prepared and whatnot. We may be gone for a while, we should prepare.”

“Yeah right, we gotta’ be ready. Be prepared. This expedition is bigger than the moon landing, we don’t want to be caught out without toothpaste. But, uh, we should be efficient with our time here. If I do the supply run whilst you do your run run, we could be saving minutes and optimising on screen bake-off drama.”

“A friend club sounds like of pathetic, and I’m going to opt out of a blind dates club, but a book club doesn’t actually sounds too bad. I do really enjoy reading books, though… Isn’t that sort of thing for old people?”

“Book clubs are for literates and housewives, Emma. They are suburban treasures. An oasis in this wasteland. They are very, very important for the soul -- young and old -- and we should definitely, definitely start one. Right now.”

“Okay! Good because actually, either way I was going to make you marathon with me. And when you say it like that… We definitely have to. I’m free this weekend, if that works for you. It’s probably best to do is sooner rather than later before I get a job and become an adult and have to do things. I just go running in the morning but we can start in the afternoon and just watch until we feel like stopping? How about…. We see what happens, yeah? Then I’ll decide what to tell my friends.”

“This weekend? Yeah, alright, sounds good. I’ve got Saturday free, if that works. That way it can merge into Sunday, we could potentially be in our own bake-off dimension. We should probably stock up on supplies, like toilet paper and stuff. Who knows how long we’ll be gone.”

“I think my back is still all screwed up from that plane ride. You wouldn’t happen to know how to realign someone’s spine, would you?”

“I was pretty decent at that medical buzz game. You know, like the one where the guys nose lights up? I could help you out, fix you right up.”

“Awh, man. My cactus died…”

“Must be the alien thing– your species isn’t used to our vegetation yet. I was reading a handbook and it suggested ‘to avoid similar incidents you should consider storing all future cacti with a human’. It sounded serious, Cinna.”

“Well have fun being in love, running away together and whatnot. Just remember how your dear friend Emma is lonely and disapproves.”

“Eloping with your friend’s cat isn’t something many people would generally approve of, Ems, so, no resentment there. But, uh.. if you’re lonely, we could start something, yeah? Like a book club. Or a friend club. A ‘blind dates for Emma’ club.”