#myask

By six in the evening, however, it’s less laughing gas and more anesthesia gas, and they’ve decided that they can do what they want. They’ve gathered around on the games stage, having dragged beanbags and poufs of varying sizes over in front of the huge new couch (“No, Angela, it is not named cousin!”) and a handful of people are sharing blankets as well. They’ve got some of the decks for Trivial Pursuit out and they’re just each tossing out questions and seeing who can end up answering more. It’s about as chill as when they do something like “No Wrong Answers”, but there’s an added coziness to it that is so indicative of the end of the year and the wrapping up of 2024’s filming.

Angela is running just a little bit late, having gotten sidetracked while she was working with Patrick on something between shoots, and when she arrives to the games stage, everyone is already all piled in and squashed together.

Typically she’d end up with Amanda, but Amanda has Tommy’s head on her lap and she’s playing with his hair.

Shayne and Court are (of course) snuggled together, and Spencer and Alex have decided to take one end of the couch rather than stay behind the scenes for this last one.

Damien is the only person without someone next to him, and he gives Angela a shy smile when he notices that she has noticed this. “There’s always room for you, Anguhllah,” he tells her, and that puts a smile on her face in return. She takes him up on his offer and she settles next to him, but she keeps a couple of inches between them since she knows Damien isn’t always the biggest on physical touch. There are a lot of people in this area right now, so she’s trying to give him his personal space.

They’ve got a couple of different decks of Trivial Pursuit cards from different editions, such as Silver Screen, Decades, and Family Edition, as well as the most recent version of just basic Trivial Pursuit so there’s something for everybody that’s there.

As they go around and read random questions, Angela is getting cozier and cozier in the couch. The pain reliever she took for her headache after lunch is finally starting to really kick in and the lack of pain is making her relax.

They make it a couple of more rounds before she realizes that she’s leaning into Damien from hip to shoulder on her left side. She has no idea how long she’s been sitting like this, but it seems that Damien… doesn’t care, since he’s never one to shy away from asking someone to please leave his personal space when he needs it. He hasn’t said anything at all, nor has he tried to move away from her. If anything, his arm has come to rest across her back, fully giving her permission to relax against him. She’s grateful that they have the lights kind of low in here compared to their average lighting set up because her cheeks have absolutely gone pink, as have her ears.

Close, personal touch with Damien like this is pretty few and far in between, and so any time she gets to experience it, it feels like something magical. It’s almost reminiscent of when a cat chooses you to snuggle with and you feel like you’re not allowed to breathe or get up to pee until the cat sets you free, because this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, even though it literally isn’t.

Typically, Angela only ends up touching him a lot if he needs comfort for some reason, or if they’re celebrating a win in a really competitive game and everyone’s arms are wrapped around each other or shoulders are being squeezed. It’s never like this.