#future!jyderley

It was a Friday afternoon, and Marley’s last class of the day had been cancelled -- which was a great thing, because this weekend was also Ryder’s birthday. She’d been planning for ages the perfect gift, not bothering to think about why she was trying so hard or why it was so important that she do something special. And after weeks of planning, she’d finally gotten it right.

Jake and Ryder had given her a key to their apartment ages ago to use in emergencies, and while this wasn’t exactly one, they both had class today too. Jake had told her she could sneak in after class and and decorate for the birthday boy since he was terrible at birthdays. And with an extra hour to decorate, that meant Marley could make sure everything was perfect -- Jake’d probably be grateful that Marley had outdone herself to make up for his lack of enthusiasm.

She felt a little weird, but the apartment seemed totally dark and still, and she turned the key slowly, careful not to drop the bag of party supplies or gift-wrapped presents that were in her arms. Nudging the door open, she headed down the hallway quietly, just in case either one of them actually were home sick and napping or something. She didn’t think either of them skipped class a lot, but they weren’t as close as they all once were, and even with permission coming inside alone like this was weird.

As she tread down the hallway, she heard voices to her left, and her head snapped that direction right as she heard Ryder say, “I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now, and live in it forever.” It was morbid curiosity, really, but he’d seemed distant lately, and Marley was worried that he’d gotten back together with Marissa or something after he’d bumped into her last week. The girl had treated Ryder terribly, and she knew he deserved better -- and her cheeks blushed a little at the thought that maybe that somebody better could be her.

But it couldn’t. Marley’s eyes locked on the two figures entwined in the couch, and her jaw dropped when she realized that Ryder had been talking to Jake. She dropped the bags she was holding, staring in surprise and feeling her face grow hot with complete and total embarrassment.

“Oh my God, I’m -- I’m so sorry, Jake said you guys weren’t going to be home, I just... oh my God, I’m just going to go,” Marley squeaked awkwardly, raising her hand up to cover her eyes. “Um, there are -- presents and stuff, happy birthday, bye,” she blurted out all in one go, dashing out of the apartment before either one of them even had time to get up or say a word.

KITTINA (even though this already died I’m still doing it :p)

Gives nose/forehead kisses: Tina. She’s honestly just so relieved to be affectionate without it being called Asian kisses, and it’s her baby steps towards being comfortable doing other things with kitty in public

Gets jealous the most: Kitty. It took Tina a while to start coming out to people at McKinley so she was never quite sure what was going on while she was an hour and a half away 

Picks the other up from the bar when they’re too drunk to drive: Kitty. When she’s the one drinking, she usually already has arrangements made beforehand, but Tina’s a little more spontaneous about it and sometimes needs her new girlfriend to bail her out :-p 

Takes care of on sick days: They live far away from each other so it’s not really easy for them to get to each other on sick days right now, but Tina’s probably more likely to send Kitty messages to boost her spirits during the day when she’s sick. Moral support ftw

Drags the other person out into the water on beach day: Kitty. She’s the more active of the two

Gives unprompted massages: Both. They’re both a little high strung sometimes so you never know when it might be necessary

Drives/rides shotgun: Tina. She’s a little bit afraid that Kitty might secretly have road rage.

Brings the other lunch at work: Kitty. She’s a little more rebellious than Tina so would probably skip school every once in a while to show up at McKinley in the middle of the day and convince Tina to take the rest of the afternoon off because why not?

Has the better parental relationship: Tina. Kitty’s parents seem sort of absent whereas Tina’s apparently support her goals. 

Tries to start role-playing in bed: Tina. Let’s be real, girl has some weird vampire fetishes that she probably never got to act on with Mike. 

Embarrassingly drunk dancer: Kitty. she’s still a good dancer but she’s normally really good, so her drunk dancing is a big departure from the normal and she’s embarrassed by it. 

Still cries watching Titanic: Tina cries at everything, omg. 

Firmly believes in couples costumes: I feel like Tina’s way more likely to be into that than Kitty is, although she probably protests more than she needs to

Breaks the expensive gift rule during Christmas: Both, tbh. Kitty just likes to spoil Tina and Tina didn’t have any friends but her parents for so long that she likes having an excuse to buy stuff. 

Makes the other eat breakfast: Kitty. Her time playing lacrosse reminded her that energy’s an important start to the morning and that coffee alone doesn’t count as breakfast

Remembers anniversaries: Both. They’re both organized and smart, I doubt they’d forget :-p

Brings up having kids: Probably neither. They’re both independent and driven women, it’s not on their agenda for a long time

SARLEY

Gives nose/forehead kisses: Both. They’re both really affectionate and would totally just go for it. 

Gets jealous the most: Not jealous per se, but Marley sometimes worries that over time she won’t compare up to Sam’s previous girlfriends (she’s crazy obvi)

Picks the other up from the bar when they’re too drunk to drive: Marley’ll come get Sam if he ever gets too drunk with the guys or something, but it doesn’t really happen a lot. 

Takes care of on sick days: Both. Sam learned a lot from taking care of his siblings growing up so he knows what to do when Marls is sick, and Marley just likes taking care of him anyway 

Drags the other person out into the water on beach day: Sam will totally pick Marley up and carry her into the water with him if he has to. 

Gives unprompted massages: Sam. He always notices when Marley looks a little bit down and uses it to try and boost her back up. 

Drives/rides shotgun: Sam. Marley just doens’t like driving that much so she’d rather be his passenger. 

Brings the other lunch at work: Marley. She’s the only person Sam trusts not to mess up his food, so when he forgets he asks her instead of Stacey. 

Has the better parental relationship: They both have awesome parental role models whose footsteps they’re going to follow in someday. 

Tries to start role-playing in bed: Sam. He’s going to end up using a blanket-cape and acting like a superhero without even thinking about it someday. 

Embarrassingly drunk dancer: Have you seen the two of them sober? Put them together drunk and it’s the funniest dancing duo the world’s ever seen.

Still cries watching Titanic: They don’t watch it. Sam converted her to Avatar as her James CAmeron movie of choice. 

Firmly believes in couples costumes: Both. They debate whether they’re going as superheroes or dystopian fiction couples most of the time, though. 

Breaks the expensive gift rule during Christmas: Neither, but Marley goes way overboard with little things and Sam usually gets her one big present. 

Makes the other eat breakfast: Sam. Marley’s not as weird about food in roadtrip verse but Sam’s still more of the health freak.

Remembers anniversaries: Marley, but only because she’s better with dates. Sam would have a good idea of around when they are because they’re important to him too. 

Brings up having kids: Sam. They’d both want a family but Sam would just end up mentioning it sooner, either talking about throwing a football with Sam Jr. or whatever. 

JARLEY/JYDERLEY

Gives nose/forehead kisses: Marley. She’s all about cute displays of affection. 

Gets jealous the most: Jake. He likes the arrangement the three of them have but it seems almost too good to be true, so he’s not a big fan of anyone that seems like they might be a threat to it. 

Picks the other up from the bar when they’re too drunk to drive: Marley. Marley’s not a big drinker so she doesn’t usually put herself in those situations. 

Takes care of on sick days: Both. Marley’s just a natural caretaker and shed’ want to make sure she does everything she can to help Jake feel better, but sick Marley’s so sad that Jake can’t ignore it and tries to help. 

Drags the other person out into the water on beach day: Marley. She likes being in the water better than she likes being exposed up on the shore, but it’s more fun when there are more people to play with her in the waves. 

Gives unprompted massages: Both. Marley just wants to help Jake relax after a long day, and Jake’s just generally handsy – any excuse to touch Marley, he’ll take it.

Drives/rides shotgun: Jake. Marley gets nervous driving in the city so even when they go back to Lima it’s just habit for him to drive instead. 

Brings the other lunch at work: Marley. She likes to be cute and surprise Jake sometimes, although she’s careful not to be too intrusive; if he seems like he’s busy that day she’ll just drop it off and leave instead of trying to eat with him. 

Has the better parental relationship: Jake and Marley both have great relationships with their moms but mostly leave their dads unmentioned. 

Tries to start role-playing in bed: Marley. Jake knows she’s not comfortable and he’s learned from past experience not to try to push her until she decides for herself she’s ready.

Embarrassingly drunk dancer: Marley, for sure. Jake uses his pro-dancing skills to mask it so she’s not embarrassed later.

Still cries watching Titanic: Marley for sure. The boys just sit on either side of her and just let her drown in emotions

Firmly believes in couples costumes: Marley! It’s a little bit harder to find costumes when all three of them go out together, and Jake’s a lot less agreeable than Ryder, but she still tries to convince them every year.

Breaks the expensive gift rule during Christmas: Neither. Jake and Marley both understood that money was tight growing up, so if anyone’s likely to spend too much on Christmas, it’s Ryder.

Makes the other eat breakfast: Jake. He’s still careful to make sure Marley doesn’t fall into any of her old habits when she’s stressed.

Remembers anniversaries: Marley tries to keep them all straight for the three of them, but she also surprises Jake every year on the day the two of them started dating in high school as well.

Brings up having kids: Jake, probably. Marley’s a little awkward about the whole three-way relationship thing and isn’t sure how it would all work, so she’s too timid to broach the subject.

“I can’t prove anything to you, Jake! I’m just as scared about all of this as you are, okay? But... but when Ryder told me he kissed someone else, I was really scared. I thought for sure, okay, this is it. This is the end, and they both know they’re better off without me now. But then he said it was you. And suddenly everything was different. I didn’t know that this was going to happen, and I don’t know if it’ll actually work long term, but -- it its own weird way it makes sense, doesn’t it? You, me, Ryder... I’m really happy, Jake. I don’t want whatever this is to end, no matter how unconventional it might be. But the only way I’m ever going to be able to prove that is by loving you -- loving both of you -- for as long as you’ll let me.”

“Ryder... Why are you fighting me on this? You kissed Jake, and it meant something to you. I get it. I really, really get it. It’s like... suddenly everything that’s happened since I came to visit last fall, it all finally makes sense. So why are you still saying you want to be with me? I don’t want to stand in the way of you guys being happy. Maybe -- maybe I was just in the way this whole time, you know? Holding you both back, keeping you both from finding something better. If that something better’s with each other... All I ever wanted was for you both to be happy. So please -- please let me out-stubborn you? I don’t want you to feel like you have to make things work with me just because you wanted it for so long. Not everything’s worth the wait.”

10/10

I...What happened with me and Jake, we were just fooling around, helping each other out. It didn't mean anything. I just...I know how much it hurts knowing that someone you really like is with someone else. The three of us have a lot of history together, I've had to watch Marley and Jake be together, Jake's had to watch Marley be with me. I know how much that hurts and I don't ever want her to feel like that. Ever.

[Ryder] Ugh, that sucks.

[Ryder] The hangover part I mean, everything else sounds awesome!

[Ryder] Now I’m hungry…but Jake’s aggressively spooning me and I can’t get up.

[Ryder] …Hah! Oh god, autocorrect, so funny. I meant he’s…shooting. Yeah! Shooting!

[Ryder] Because we’re playing Call of Duty!

[Ryder] Because that’s our thing!