sad lump of soggy haggis

Fine, fine. -steps back as he does, saying with a little teasing tone and a little exasperation- I’ll let you get the sodding cuppa. -runs a hand through her hair, sighing in tiredness as she follows him towards the kitchen, slumping down on the nearby sofa with a small huff- I’m exhausted… What time is it? It’s got to be something like 1am, hasn’t it? I’m too old for this…

-lets him be sweet and gentle with her, her body exhausted suddenly from all of the emotions, and smiles softly at him when he offers- Yeah, could use that. -despite saying this she slides her arms up around his neck and threads her fingers up into his hair for a moment, pulling him just a bit closer, and sighs contentedly at the feeling of him near her before kissing him again softly, pecking her lips slowly from his lips to his ear and then sort of folds into a hug, nestling her head into the crook of his neck- Love you, Jeremy Wood. 

-listens carefully, watching his eyes intently as he talks and nods along when he talks about them staying strong for the kids, her eyes filling with tears when he says ‘they lost their aunt Marls’, but she swallows hard and they dry up as he finishes rambling, and she wants to say so much in response but he’s really said it all for her so instead she just nods once again and takes a small step forward, leaning in to kiss him softly, one little tear rolling down her cheek as she does, and after a moment when she pulls away she speaks very low, resting her forehead on his- I love you… I missed you.

-wipes his thumb under her eye- Love y’too, girlie. ‘N m’sorry, again, for bein’ so distant, yeah? Be different from now on, alrigh’? -wipes under her eye again, shifting to kiss her softly and then kisses each of her eyes, leaning back after- Can I make you a cuppa? 

-can’t help but feel her skin warming at his arms around her, her muscles relaxing into him even if she didn’t mean for them to, and takes a slow breath as she closes her eyes and listens to his words, nodding at the end, looking down toward the grass through the window as she replies- It’s not about the…sex, Jer, it’s… -breathes in deeply and turns around in his arms so she’s still pressed up right against him and her hands are resting on his arms, looking right into his eyes- It’s the fact that I feel like Niall knows more about your grief and Calista knows more about mine than we know about each other’s. You… -sighs heavily, admitting her part in it which she DOESN’T like to do- we just stopped really…talking. I just– -says the next part fast cause it’s vulnerable and she hates it- I don’t know when you stopped being my best friend. And that’s not something I want to take a “breather” from–you being my best friend. 

-starts at the feeling of his hands on her shoulders, blinking back tears and breathing very evenly as he speaks, but has to bite her lip hard when he says her name and is not doing the best job of holding it together, so keeps quiet for a very long time, her body rigid until she finally can take a breath without the threat of sobbing, her voice very flat- You’re an arsehole.

-blanches a bit at his last comment, appalled he’d even go there, and averts her eyes, looking at the table and blinking rapidly for a few long moments before speaking in a hushed tone- We’re all mourning, Jer. -says with a little more force and indignation as she stands up and moves away from him- I’m fuckin’ mourning too, you ever think about that? -goes over to the window and crosses her arms over her chest, very much trying to physically hold in all her emotions-

-immediately feels bad- Joce-- -S I G H S again like “jeremy u idiot” and scrubs his hands over his face when she faces away and feels so very guilty for playing that card and slowly comes up behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders and then slowly running them down her upper arms, trying to ~comfort and apologize- Joce, m’sorry. Shouldn’t have thrown that at you. Know you’re mourin’. Know what Marls meant t’you. M’sorry, yeah?

-raises her eyebrows (trying to swallow down the angry beast that still exists surrounding this topic) and retains a light-hearted tone- Well, if you’re not engaging in secret affairs with him, why’s it feel like he spends more time in my house than I do? -shrugs- S’fine, I mean, I practice with Calista all the time, but eventually we ought to resume practicing on each other, is all I’m saying.

-s i g h s because he thought MAYBE he got out of this talk, and rubs his hand over his face again, ignoring the bit about calista because he is forever a little >___> at cal even tho he does like her- Joce...c’mon. S’not like he’s here by himself. Brings Mags over. ‘N he’s also not here loads. Mungo’s still has him comin’ in at all hours ‘n s’not like he’s got loads’ve others t’watch the kid, yeah? Still mournin’. 

-i’ll be honest she’s pretty disappointed when the kissing ends and they’re not in the bedroom (girl is thirsty), but still has to fight hard against a smile while rolling her eyes, her cheeks flushed unbeknownst to her- Hardly, Mr. Wadcock. Dunno what sort’ve snogging Mulloy expects from you, but you’re quite out of practice for my standards.

-is amused, rolling his eyes and fully leaning back from her while chuckling, rubbing his hand along his jaw- Told y’time ‘n time again, Joce. Gotta let up with those wild fantasies’ve yours involvin’ Mulloy ‘n me engagin’ in secret affairs. ‘Sides, he’s a shite practice partner.

-okay so to be clear she really wants to fight him on this because, it’s joce, so she has SO much more to say, and she’s literally got her mouth open prepared to bite back about his snogging argument but frankly when he starts to come towards her her heart starts racing like a lil schoolgirl and her desire to win the argument is WAY outweighed by her desire to snog him, so instead of pushing him away she instinctually grabs the collar of his shirt and pulls him towards her, and since she’s sitting and he’s standing this probably makes him almost fall over, but she is undeterred and is very voraciously involved in the snogging-

-snogs up on her for a good couple of minutes after trying not to fall on top of her and kinda calms down on the kissing, hands still cupping her face and pulls back just slightly, looking over her face and giving her a small crooked grin- Up t’yer standards, Mrs. Wood?

-scoffs VERY verbally when he’s talking about Mulloy and his opinions on their marriage, turning away just slightly so that she doesn’t even see his hands for a moment, but then when she does see them she pretends she hadn’t, huffing and throwing her arms up when he’s finally finished- So you think it’s fine we only talk about the kids every night, you think it’s fine you spend more time alone with bloody Mulloy than you do with me, you think it’s fine I can’t remember the last time you properly snogged me for the fun of it? When did a boring marriage become fine, Jeremy? -looks at him with a little desperation and a little flabbergasted, also inwardly still wanting to rant a whole lot more about niall-

Fuckin’-- -huffs a breath- No. No, alright? No I don’t fuckin’ think a borin’ marriage is fine but it takes two borin’ fuckin’ people t’make a borin’ marriage and we’re not fuckin’ borin’, Joce. We’re still recoverin’ from survivin’ a fuckin’ war so m’sorry if you’re feelin’ like m’bored’ve ya. -shifts forward in his chair- ‘N oi! That snoggin’ bit? S’not all on me, girlie. -gestures between them- Takes two t’snog, yeah? Don’t it? Could come ‘n grab me ‘n give me a snog for the hell’ve it, but y’haven’t. But, fuck, if it’s snoggin’ y’want-- -shoves himself out of his chair and strides on over to her all irritated, takes her face in his hands, and LAYS one on her-

-raises her eyebrows at his sigh as though it is a personal offense to her and doesn’t catch what he says and REALLY wants to cut him off to ask but he’s finally talking so she bites her tongue (literally) and crosses her arms over her chest defensively while he talks- It’s not–! -takes a breath, steadying herself- It’s not saying we’ve a bad marriage or whatever Mulloy has put in your head, it’s just…to teach us how to talk! I don’t know, Jeremy, I just don’t think it should be this damned difficult t’get you to talk to me. -her shoulders slump, posture looking a little defeated at that last bit, but it’s Joce so she still retains a good bit of pride and defensiveness, the sadness in her voice is very slight-

-deadpans, giving her a look- Don’t go draggin’ Mulloy into this. He’s not the root’ve all’ve our problems, Joce. ‘N he doesn’t go on ‘bout us havin’ a bad marraige. Just not a fan of the idea, him. Anyway, -shakes his head, getting off track and sits back up, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table, clasping his hands together for a moment before holding them out to her placatingly- S’not ‘bout me not wantin’ t’talk t’you, girlie. S’just.. -shakes his head again- Just don’t think we need t’talk ‘bout it. Counselin’ ‘n all that. ‘N--dunno. We’ve been fine up ‘til some knobend put it in your head that we needed it. 

-huffs a bit because she kind of hates it when he’s all diplomatic like that and sets her jaw, running her fingers through her hair in frustration before dropping her hands in her lap- I never said I wasn’t up for talking– -cuts herself off and mutters in exasperation- Ugh, you are so infuriating! -in a normal tone again, clearly trying to keep her tone even- I am asking you for your opinion, Jeremy. I’m sick of talking about it without you saying a word!