#rayaotic

Now, there’s been plenty of interesting things that Jeremy has witnessed.  He’s fought a dragon in the void and everything.  But he could honestly say that was the first time he saw what was essentially a mound of netherrack with legs.

Looking at the legs, he recognized the boots as Matt’s.  So either this thing stole his friend’s shoes, or it’s just Matt carrying a comically large amount of netherrack.  Which, honestly, is pretty easy to figure out.  “Hey,” Jeremy called out.

The mound stopped on its path and rotated towards him, as if anybody could see anything through all that.  “Oh, hey!”  Yup.  Just regular ol’ Matt.

Walking up to him, Jeremy sighed dramatically.  “Y’know, I figured it was just you, but I was also kinda hoping it was some weird new monster.”

Careful not to drop anything, Matt tried to only laugh a little.  “Nah, I’m just working on some stuff.”

Really, anything that warranted carrying around netherrack in such large amounts at once was probably going to be pretty interesting.  “What kind of stuff?”

“Don’t…  Don’t worry about it, it’s a surprise.”

“C’mon, Matt, you’ve known me for ages, I won’t tell anybody.”

He started leaning as if to try looking Jeremy in the eye somehow, then decided against it as the weight of the whole mess shifted with him.  “Look, I swear you’ll be the first to see it.”

“You mean after you make sure Geoff thinks it’s good, right?”

“No, I mean you’re gonna be the first one I let see this.”  Matt shuffled his feet for a moment.  “I’d shake on it, but if I let go of all this, I’ll probably suffocate.”

Jeremy blinked for a second and stepped out of Matt’s previous path.  “I’ll take your word for it.”

-

Geoff looked up and down the corridor again.  “Yeah, looks great.”

Matt tried wiping his hands on his pants, but remembered he was wearing gloves and decided to suffer.  “Really?”

He gave Matt a good pat on the back.  “Dude, you always do an awesome job.  Of course it looks good.”

“Aw, thanks, man.”  Slightly hurried, Matt starting glancing up to the position of the sun and back to Geoff.  “So… is that about everything?”

“What, you in a hurry?”

Matt stiffened slightly.  “What hurry- I mean, what makes you think I’m in a hurry?”

Geoff took a step back and took a good look at Matt.  “Uh, everything?”

That’s fair.  “Look, just…  Just don’t tell anybody anything, alright?”

Raising his eyebrows a little, he leaned in closer to Matt.  “Yeah, I won’t, I promise.”

“Great.”  Without missing a beat, Matt only turned around and ran the other direction.

“Wha-”  By the time Geoff had a sentence put together in his head, he was already alone.  “... Well, how am I supposed to accidentally spill all your secrets now?”

-

Jeremy had just closed his door for the night when he heard knocking.  “... What?”  Cracking open the door, he peeked through.  “Oh, hey Matt.  What’s up?”

The surrounding torches were just bright enough for the redstone grounded into Matt’s cheeks to not give away how nervous he was.  “I, uh, wanted to show you something I’ve been working on.”

Opening the door wider, Jeremy’s eyes widened a little, too.  “Is it that new building Geoff wanted?”

“No, no, this is, uh…  A personal project.”  Matt clasped his hands together.  “And it looks a lot better at night, so…”

He rubbed his eyes and stepped back out to join Matt on the edge of the logo.  “Sure, dude, lead the way.”

“Awesome!”  Just before turning around to head towards this mystery build, for just a moment, Matt looked… giddy?

Luckily for Jeremy’s sleepy self, that didn’t exactly translate into walking fast.  “Sooo…  What can you tell me about this mystery build?”

“Well, I can tell you that telling you it looks cool at night was already too much.”

“Overly complicated way to set off fireworks.  Gotcha.”

“Nope!  No.  Definitely not.”

A good laugh was just what Jeremy needed to wake himself back up enough for this walk.  “So-”

“Don’t just guess more, dude, we’re almost there.”

“Alright, alright.”

After a couple more minutes, Jeremy nearly ran into Matt when he stopped abruptly.  “Here it is.”

Leaning past Matt, Jeremy mostly just saw some weird blocks jutting out across the ocean, seemingly in random placements.  Glancing up and around, though, he noticed more sticking up into the air.  “Okay, so…  What is it?”

Spinning around, Matt offered a hand to Jeremy.  “You kinda have to walk through it to see.”

After Jeremy took his hand, Matt started walking backwards, leading him into the center of the formation.  It looked practiced, but Jeremy noticed him trying so hard to not look to see where he’s going.  “Hey, uh, if you’re nervous, you can just show me another time-”

“No, no, I’m fine.  Check this shit out.”  A few more steps, and Matt’s boot landed on a tripwire.  A click, and a click, and some of the blocks around them set on fire, the orange light complimenting Matt’s red.

“... So this is what all that netherrack was for?”

“Told you not to worry about it.”

They laughed, and as they laughed they started walking again.  More and more of the structure was set ablaze, every few steps after every few steps, until Matt stopped just before a pressure plate at the end of the walkway.  And then, they stood.  Jeremy let go of Matt’s hand to look around at all the lights around them, while Matt carefully watched his (joyful) expression.

Jeremy faced Matt again.  “Dude, this is awesome!”

Matt brought a hand up to fidget with the edge of his hood.  “I’ve been trying to figure this thing out for a while, honestly.”

“You did amazing.”  Looking around again, Jeremy noticed something.  “Hey, doesn’t this seem… heart-shaped?”

“Uh… what makes you say that?”

“Well, hearts are pretty recognizable I think.  So it’s kinda hard to accidentally make one, too.”

Matt’s fidgeting hand moved to pull his hood to cover his face a little, although it didn’t make much difference due to his cheeks very literally glowing.  “I, uh, see where you’re…”  Rather than finishing his sentence, he turned 90° left and stepped down into the water.

Grasping one of his hands, Jeremy kept him from fully stepping off the platform.  “Dude.”

He let his weight shift to the foot in the water, only looking back slightly when this made the stitches throughout Jeremy’s arm start tearing loose.  “What?”

“It’s alright, Matt, get back up here.”

“... No.”

“Dude, really, it’s cool.”  Matt stopped leaning away so much and turned his head to better see Jeremy.  “Honestly, I kinda hope it’s supposed to be a heart.”

Stepping back onto the walkway, Matt fully faced Jeremy again.  “You do?”

Taking Matt’s other hand now, Jeremy looked into his eyes.  “Well, yeah.  Not sure if you’ve noticed, but I kinda love you.”

“Wait, really?”

He gave Matt’s hands a gentle squeeze.  “Yeah, I do.”

Still not looking away, Matt pressed a foot down on the pressure plate behind him.  And soon after, a dozen fireworks shot into the air above them.  “I… I love you too, man.”

Jeremy watched them with just as much awe as he watched the fires, before he started to laugh.  “So it really was complicated fireworks, huh?”

Matt wrapped his arms around Jeremy’s shoulders and pulled him close.  “Shut up, dude.”

-

Considering how excited he was, Matt was kind of surprised with how well he slept.  And he knew he was very well rested, because when he heard knocking on his door, he wasn’t annoyed by it in the slightest.

“I’ll give you those directions in just a sec, Ge-”  As Matt opened his door, he instead saw Jeremy.  “Oh, shit, hey!”

“Hi!  I didn’t wake you up, did I?”

“I was just about to get up anyway, dude.  What’s up?”

Jeremy shuffled his feet a little.  “So, I wanna do something cool for you, too…”

“Which you absolutely don’t have to.”

“I’m going to, shut up.  But, uh…”  He brought his hands out from behind his back, revealing a massive bundle of wildflowers.  “This is all I have time for right now.”

Matt looked between all the colors of the flowers and Jeremy’s smile, and suddenly felt hyper-aware of how much he must look like he’d just woken up.  “Oh, gods, thanks, man.”  Gently taking the flowers in one hand, he tried to brush his hair with the other.  “You wanna come inside for a bit?  It’s way too early right now.”

“Yeah, absolutely!”  Awkwardly tiptoeing, Jeremy slipped past Matt, careful not to knock the flowers out of his hand.  He looked around the room and gave a soft sigh.  “I really don’t come here often enough, do I?”

“Well, I mean…  I’m hoping last night made it clear enough for me, but you can come over anytime.”  The two looked into each other’s eyes for quite a bit, until Matt coughed and turned towards a bench along his wall.  “Uh, here, have a seat.”

“Thanks,” Jeremy said as he sat down.  Waiting for Matt to join him, he started to laugh.  “Oh, gods, everyone’s gonna be so confused once they find that.”

He smirked a little as he set the flowers down gently on the bench beside him.  “Don’t worry, I’ll rig it with explosions by the time you guys get back-”

Quickly moving from casually sitting to being bolt upright, Jeremy pointed at Matt.  “Don’t you dare, Matthew!”  Slowly lowering his hand, he did the most blush-adjacent thing a zombie could manage.  “It’s really great.”

Pairing: Barbara/Mica

A New Ghostmate

       It was supposed to be a joke. Haunted houses aren’t real. Yet here Barbara was, playing Mario Kart in her new house with her ghost roommate.

       “How do you play this game Babs?” The ghost said, crashing into every obstacle and banana. “I have no idea what this console is. You called it a Switch?”

“Yeah Mica. It’s the latest Nintendo console. Do you know what Nintendo is?” Barbara asks.

“I’m not an idiot Barbara. I know what Nintendo is. I just . . . haven’t played a console since the Super Nintendo.” Mica replied, trying to adjust to the motion controls.

       “Well Mica, you need hands first. And please don’t call me Babs.” Barbara says, pointing at Mica attempting to play with transparent stubs. “You really shouldn’t look like a stereotypical ghost to play games. Kind of no fine motor control.”

       Mica scoffs. “I guess I could mimic what I looked like in life, but it’s been a long time. My human appearance wasn’t great for scaring people.”

       Barbara can’t help but chuckle at this. “What, a withered old lady ominously floating around, moaning and groaning, spewing ectoplasm isn’t scary? Afraid your ghost form will have brittle bones too?”

       Mica looks down. “I was 23 when I passed. I had come home after college for break . . . we were asleep when some racist jackass who had a grudge against my father decided it’d be a good idea to burn my house down. We never made it out.” She says quietly.

       Barbara can’t speak. She felt awful for making jokes and not thinking about the fact that no matter what the reason, Mica is still a ghost, which means she died unfulfilled in life.

       A period of silence passes before Barbara claps her hands together. “Say, what if I help you pass on? That’s why you’re a ghost, yeah? You never achieved your goals or some shit.”

       Mica looks up. “You know, that’s a swell idea! I wish I had thought of it!”

       Barbara smiles. “So . . . what did you want to do that you never did? Skydive? Run a marathon? Eat really good hummus?”

       “I never got to go on a date. I was too busy with my studies and the options I had weren’t that great.”

       “I can’t believe there weren’t any good looking guys for you to date. Though I’m not sure why, given I don’t know what you look like.”

       Mica laughs at that. “Oh, let me focus for a second.” She says as she begins to glow and shift. The standard sheet appearance began to slowly dissipate, revealing a very attractive, dark skinned, young lady. As the sheet finishes dissipating, a large swath of luxurious hair falls to Mica’s shoulders and she opens her eyes. “How do I look?”

       Barbara looks Mica over before quickly averting her gaze. “You might want to make some clothes up Mica. Looks like you appear exactly as you did in life before you died.”

       Mica looks down to realize she’s stark naked. She quickly manifests a blouse and long skirt. “Listen it’s hot during the summer in Texas! It was easier than running the A/C or that obnoxious fan all night.”

       “It’s okay Mica. Now why couldn’t you get that date? You’re gorgeous. Every guy must have been drooling over you.”

       “It wasn’t the guys I wanted drooling over me.”

“Oh. Oooohhhh.” Barbara responds in realization. “You play for the other team. Tell you what, I’ll take you out on that date you want.”

“Will you really!?” Mica exclaims. “That’d be so wonderful Barbara! But I don’t even know what I want to do on a date. Like I said, never got to go on one.” “Oh wow. You’re really serious. Okay, uh . . . .” Barbara sat there, pondering. “Can you leave the house or are you stuck here?” Mica sighed. “I can’t leave the premises. The yard, the house, I have free reign but beyond that I’d need a body or something. Maybe, not sure. Never tried.” Barbara laughs at that one. “You’re pretty funny. Okay, how’s this for a date? What’s your favorite meal?” “I like a nice beef wellington. Ooh, and maybe some ceviche or something. I also really really like sushi. I also can’t say no to nice apple pie.” “Okay, uh . . . I’ll Google how to make those things and then I’ll go to the H.E.B., get the ingredients, and make you your favorite dishes, which by the way were you guys rich or what because those are really fucking fancy dishes.”

“We weren’t poor but we had a comfortable life. Got to have fancy meals for nice events. Perks of your parents being a couple of attorneys.”

“Oh wow. Okay. So yeah, I’ll get the ingredients and make you all that delicious food, then we can chill and watch a movie. I have Netflix!” Barbara says cheerfully.

“What’s Netflix? Is it like Blockbuster?” Mica replies, confused.

“Oh my you really haven’t been able to get out of this house in twenty years, have you? It’s like Blockbuster but all online. Don’t have to go out to a store or anything.”

“Oh wow! That’s so cool. Must take forever. AOL is so slow to start up.”

A cold chill fills the house as Barbara takes a minute to recompose herself.

“Okay, no. Like Nintendo, the internet has updated and improved in the past twenty years.” Barbara finally replies. “But getting back on track, yeah I’ll make your favorite foods, we’ll watch a movie, cuddle, and then maybe go lie down in the backyard on a soft blanket and stargaze. How does that sound?”

“Listen, I know that this is our first Christmas together, and more importantly, our first Christmas party together.  But there’s something that I want to do with you.” Barbara was very careful, turning her whole body to her girlfriend as she played video games on the couch.

“Is it butt stuff?” Lindsay didn’t even miss a beat, and didn’t miss a shot as she mowed down aliens with her battle rifle.

Barbara snorted and slapped Lindsay’s shoulder.  “We can’t do that at a Christmas party!  No.  This is much more important and intimate.”

Lindsay groaned as she watched the kill screen bleed across the TV.  “What’s more intimate than that?”

“Stop it!  Why would you link anal and Christmas?”

“What if you wanted it as a gift?  You should understand these things, Barb.” Lindsay set her controller to the side and resting her hand on Barbara’s.

“I don’t want that as a gift.  I wouldn’t have mentioned the party, if it was.  No, I want is… well, I want to get you a special gift early, if you’ll accept it.  For the party.”

“Is it… weird lingerie?”

“Lindsay, no!  It’s not anything sexy!  I want us to get each other Christmas sweaters.  For Christmas and the Christmas Party.”

Lindsay furrowed her brow.  “I thought you liked to dress up all pretty.  That’s when you get all dolled up and look so lovely.”  Lindsay knew that she was totally smitten for Barbara at last year’s Christmas party, whe n she was all dolled up in the dress that made her look like a gorgeous painting.  And Lindsay couldn’t help but watch her with awe.

Barbara blushed and turned her hand over to wrap her fingers around Lindsay’s hand.  “I do, but I also want to wear sweaters as well.  I know it isn’t really cold enough in Texas to really need them, but I just think it would be cute.” Barbara’s blush turned from a faint pink to a full on rosy red, “And I… I might’ve been wanting to find someone to do this with for a while.  The other people I’ve dated… they weren’t really into it.”

“Oh.”

Barbara tried to pull her hand away, shaking her head, “Never mind, it’s a little too dumb, even for me.”

“Barb, no!  It’s not dumb, why would you ever think that?”  Lindsay held a little tighter to Barbara’s hand, pulling her closer to wrap her free arm around her shoulder.  “It’s an adorable idea!  You should know by now that I love ridiculous clothes!”

Barbara melted into Lindsay’s chest, smiling happily, “Really?”

“Barbara Dunkelman.  I would love to go with you to the Christmas party in a ridiculous Christmas sweater that you picked out for me.  And to have you next to me, wearing the sweater I picked out for you.”

Barbara hummed happily, slipping her arms to wrap around Lindsay and hold her closer.  “Thank you… I… you’re the best.”  Barbara mentally kicked herself for tripping up over the words.  They hadn’t said ‘I love you’ to each other yet… even if they had come really close to doing so, and, Barbara at least, felt like they were in love… she just didn’t think they were really ready to say it, yet… Not now.  So she settled for snuggling close to her girlfriend and watching the virtual destruction that she enacted upon the poor species of aliens.

-

“Who knew it would be so hard to find sweaters in Texas?” Lindsay remarked dryly as she flicked through the rack of winter clothes in what might have been the third clothing store she stopped at.

“It doesn’t get fucking cold, Lindsay.  Though with the some of these people whine, you’d think we were in fucking Alaska.” Michael crossed his arms and whined, looking around.  He did not sign up for this.  Lindsay asked if he wanted to hang out and maybe do a little shopping.  He did not expect to be dragged all across the fucking city looking for a dumb sweater for Lindsay’s girlfriend.  “Isn’t she Jewish?  What does it even matter?  Just grab one and go.”

The screech of metal hangers on the clothing rack stopped with a forceful click of plastic on plastic as Lindsay whipped her head around to shoot daggers at Michael.  “Let me tell you, Michael Jones, this fucking matters.”  Her hard demeanor fell and she almost looked like she was pleading, “This is our first Christmas together and she said that she wanted this.  That she’s wanted this for a long time.”  Lindsay drew herself up and turned back to the rack and began flicking through the sweaters once more.  “And so, I’m going to find her the fucking ugliest sweater I can.  With or without your help.”

Michael rolled his eyes.  He might’ve thought that this was a dumb mission, he wasn’t going to leave his friend hanging.  He was an asshole, not a monster.  “You know you might have better luck going to a thrift store.  A fucking charity shop, or whatever.  You’re thinking far too fashionably.  Fuck, if you didn’t care about how Texas it would be, gift shops might have something.”

The screech of metal on metal stopped once again, but when Lindsay turned to look at Michael, she had a smile on her face.  “Thanks, Michael.”

-

Barbara was beginning to worry that maybe this wasn’t the best idea.  The sort of sweater she was looking for apparently just didn’t exist in this state.  Maybe she shouldn’t have tried to force this sort of thing.  Maybe she should have just surprised Lindsay with whatever she could find.  But there was something about this silly idea she had had for years now, that she just wanted it done right.

Barbara sighed as she started to go through the rack of sweaters of the third clothing store she had been to today.  Every sweater was either too tame and fashionable, or obviously meant to profit off of the ugly sweater aesthetic.  She would scream if she saw another sweatshirt printed with a ‘Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal’ on it.  She would fucking do it.  She honestly got angry just thinking about the number that she had seen just today, not including the number she had seen over the last week of looking.

But before her rage could get any higher, her phone tickled with the chorus of cat meows that she had set to notify her when Lindsay called.  Barbara calmed herself with a breath before answering her phone, “Hey, Baby!  How’s it going?”

“I think I found you the perfect sweater.” Lindsay’s cheer bubbled over the phone, but it made Barbara’s heart sink a little.

“Really?”

“You don’t… seem very excited about it.  Is something wrong?”

“Oh no, no!  Not at all, that’s great.” Even Barbara could hear the flat tone in her voice.

“What’s wrong, babe?”

“I just… I just can’t find anything!  I knew that it’s be hard, but it’s near impossible!  And I swear, some of these dumb sweatshirts aimed at college kids will make me scream.” Barbara flicked a hangar to the side to reveal yet another blue sweater with tasteful red speckles.  Too tame.

“Babe, do you know how long it took to find one?  A fucking long time, and some of Michael’s brand of helping.  And  I don’t care what it is, it doesn’t have to be the perfect gift.  It’s just a sweater.  And if you pick it, I’ll love it no matter what.”

“I know I just…” I love you so much “I really care about you and I want to make this good.” Barbara flicked another hangar, barely noticing the sweater at first, listening to her girlfriend tell her that their relationship wouldn’t be in peril over ugly Christmas sweaters.  And then she noticed the knitted piece in hand.  “Lindsay, baby, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt you, but I just found the perfect sweater.  God, it’s perfect!” Barbara snatched up the sweater as Lindsay’s laugh crackled over the phone.  “You’re like my good luck charm, baby, everything’s been looking up since we got together.”

-

Barbara’s green and black dress shimmered under the bathroom lights as she dabbed a little more ruby shadow on her eye.  The fabric fluttered when she moved, causing even more pinpoints of light to overtake her form.  She moved back to look over her eyes and set the brush down when she confirmed that she was happy with it, and she could finally move on to her lips.

“You look beautiful, baby.” Barbara jumped a little as Lindsay caught a hand around her waist, resting her chin on her shoulder. 

“I think you look pretty good, yourself.” Barbara blushed as she took in her girlfriend.  Lindsay was already done up, having begun before Barbara had even arrived at her apartment.  The formfitting maroon dress hugged her curves and accentuated her hips nicely, transitioning beautifully into the black tights with silver flecks running through them.  Her own makeup had a theme of emerald, matching her girlfriend’s outfit in a delightfully couple-y way.

Lindsay giggled happily and pressed a kiss to Barbara’s cheek before slipping away to let her finish up her makeup.   “I hope that bag you brought also has a sweater in it.  Because I have yours ready to be revealed, and I don’t know if I can wait any longer to show it to you.”

Barbara placed her brush down and picked up her blush.  “It does contain a sweater.  A fantastically bad sweater.”  Her joking manner fell a bit, leaving only really adoration, “I’m glad you agreed to do this.”  She wasn’t even sure that Lindsay heard her, but she smiled all the same.  She glanced over to the door where the woman she loved disappeared behind, just for a moment.  She had to say it.  Tonight.  She resolved herself to doing it tonight.

-

“I’ve been waiting for this moment ever since I saw this sweater, Barb.  I think you’re going to love it.” Lindsay was sitting on the couch, a perfectly wrapped present clutched to her chest, eagerly awaiting her girlfriend to come and sit down with her.

Barbara reached into her bag, pulling out a long, festive garment box, topped with a big red bow, before going to join Lindsay on the couch.  “I have as well.  And I know you’re going to love this.”

Lindsay began to hand over her bundle, before quickly pulling it back into her chest.  “Wait.  Do you want to do this right now?  Do you have any preamble, or anything?”

Barbara thought for a moment, before just shaking her head.  “No.  Oh!  Well, first,” She leaned in a pressed a soft kiss to Lindsay’s lips, “I want to thank you.  For doing this with means.  It seems silly, but it means a lot.”

Lindsay followed Barbara’s lips for a moment, wanting to keep on kissing her.  “No, no, honey, it isn’t silly.  Especially if it really means something to you.  And this is really fun, and I can’t wait to see what you picked out for me.”

Barbara smiled, hoping the powder blush on her cheeks covered the real blush forming.  “Here.  I thought this was the perfect one for you.” She presented the garment box to Lindsay with near uncontained excitement.

Lindsay’s dimpled smile was probably one of the prettiest that Barbara had seen since she agreed to go on a date with her.  “I will admit; Michael was the one who found it.  But I approved it and bought it!  So that counts, right?” Lindsay took the box and replaced it with her rather crumpled looking present.  She placed the box in her lap and waited for Barbara to open hers first.

“Let’s see…” Barbara carefully pulled at the tape, trying to rip the paper as little as possible.  “We have a… red sweater.  Oh, wait, there’s green stripes, too.  So, a red and green sweater, very Christmas, and- oh!  Oh, Lindsay!” Barbara pulled the sweater out of the paper and unfolded it in front of her.  The sweater did indeed, look very Christmas-y, with its red and green patterning, and the coils of sequined Christmas lights making its way along the sweater.  But was very much not Christmas, and made the sweater perfect in Barbara’s eyes, was the almost joyful ‘Merry Hanukkah’ emblazoned across the front.  Barbara grasped the sweater close to her chest and looked upon Lindsay with all the love she had.

“Do you like it?”

“I love it, Lindsay!  I love it so much!”

“Oh, well,” Lindsay turned a red almost as bright as the sweater in Barbara’s hands, “I’m glad.”

Barbara reached her hand out to touch the box in Lindsay’s hands before manipulating the sweater in her hands to try and pull it on.  “Open mine, now!”

“Right!” Lindsay pulled the lid off the box, and was already cooing at what she could see.  Cats in Santa hats.  “Barb, that’s so cute!”

“Pull it out and see the rest of it!” Barbara called from the middle of her sweater.

Lindsay pulled the sweater out to reveal the variety of cats in Santa hats and Christmas Elf hats all surrounding the scrolling text ‘Meowy Christmas’.  “I see that we had a somewhat similar theme.”

“Do you like it?” Barbara watched Lindsay’s expression carefully, now thoroughly cuddled in her sweater.

“Of course I love it, Barb!  It’s perfect.”

“Come on, put it on!” Barbara was nearly jumping with excitement as she pulled Lindsay up.  She was already reaching for her phone while Lindsay was pulling the sweater on over her head.  She had to get a picture of them together, right in the moment.  “Oh, you even look perfect in it!”  Barbara couldn’t help but giggle at the blush that was now overtaking Lindsay’s face.  “Look at you!” Barbara took Lindsay by the waist and drew their bodies together.  Lindsay was avoiding her eyes, one hand coming up to cover her face, and hide the blush that had reached her ears.  “I love you.”

Lindsay froze under Barbara’s touch, and for a moment, she was worried, “What?”

Well, she could repeat it, and hope that Lindsay responded favorably, or try and brush it off… “I love you, Lindsay, I really do.”  She felt like she was almost pleading with Lindsay, hoping that she would feel the same.

And Lindsay began to laugh.  “I… I love you too, baby.”  She covered her face with both hands after she said it, a little bit in disbelief.

“Really?” Barbara’s voice cracked slightly as she looked at Lindsay.

“Yeah!  Of course!  I’ve loved you for a long, long time, Barb.” Lindsay took Barbara’s face in her hands and gently brought their lips together, reveling in the moment of them holding each other close like this, sure of their love.

Matt didn’t pay attention to the timer on most days.  He was planning on just letting the meeting with his soulmate happen whenever, without all the anticipation.  But he really, really wish he had paid attention when he saw that it had hit zero while he was at a convention with hundreds and hundreds of people all day.  It absolutely could be anyone, and they could live on the other side of the country, or maybe not even in the country at all.

This sucks.

---

On his way home from RTX, Matt decided that if this mysterious soulmate doesn’t at least live in the same time zone, it was a lost cause and he’d just be single forever.  Sure, the internet was a wonderful way to communicate, but time zone differences would still make that awkward.

But, also, he ended up making friends with another community member, and was a little suspicious to learn that he does in fact live in the same time zone, and did in fact go to RTX, and happened to be at the community hunter panel Matt was at the day the timer hit zero, but brushed it off.  Jeremy over there never said anything about soulmates, and Matt wasn’t excited for what would happen if anybody in South Carolina found out he ended up with a dude, soulmate or not.

---

Okay, look, when him and Jeremy got hired together, he did get his hopes up for a second.  And a few more seconds sprinkled throughout the next few months.  But shut up.  Nope.  Of course it couldn’t be him, he’s talented and Matt just has really long fingers and is pretty alright at video games.  Yup, this would be a terrible matchup, just ignore the fact that everybody’s started calling them a hivemind and they get along perfectly and wow Jeremy must be working out those arms look like both an attack on Matt’s person and an invitation to be held at any time.

In all seriousness, though, he really didn’t know if it was meant to be or if he was just getting his hopes up because coincidence after coincidence kept piling up around him.

Again, this sucks.

---

One particular instance of Matt totally not thinking about how great it would be if he was Jeremy’s soulmate shut up was when they were moving into their respective apartments.  He offered to help Jeremy move boxes, and by help he meant be there to keep him company so that he wouldn’t get bored to death moving all these darn boxes around.

“You wanna do this with your boxes, too?”

“I might be considering that.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes, and so that conversation tapered off.  They already had several other conversations of varying lengths, and after each one things were silent aside from music, Matt just looking around at various things until the next one picked up.  These various things ranged from his phone to scenic blank wall.  But this time, Matt decided on watching Jeremy.

As he was picking up a box he already brought inside simply to go put it in a different room, that was the exact moment Matt started becoming more aware of Jeremy’s arms.  And it wasn’t until later that they started getting even more muscular, so he was in for quite a ride.

What with the whole you(‘re-supposed-to)-know-exactly-when-you-meet-them thing, Matt was over 20 years into his life and only just now thinking about any specific person in any kind of way that’s at all similar this.  So of course Jeremy would notice right away that he was staring at him.  He set the box back down to look at Matt with a mix of concern and confusion, and the way he rested his hands on top of it gave Matt a perfect view of the zeroes on his own wrist.  “What’s up?”

“Oh, uh, nothing, sorry.”  On the inside, he was screaming at himself.

“You sure?”

“I, uh.”  Matt looked at Jeremy’s face to get his mind off his arms, but then he just got caught up in his soft face and warm eyes.  “Wh, I, I thought there was a bug on your shirt.  But I couldn’t tell.  Yeah.”

Jeremy made exaggerated motions pretending to search every single fold for a bug (even going so far as to check inside his shoes), and Matt got to laugh off the fact that he was absolutely screwed.

---

He managed to go a whole year of working together without actually bringing up the topic of soulmates to Jeremy.  To be fair, it was Jeremy who brought it up to him first.

They were just sitting there, alone, in silence, waiting for a couple videos to finish rendering before going home.  And Jeremy just kept looking from his timer to Matt’s and back again.

“Sooo…”  Jeremy kept staring directly at Matt’s timer as he broke the silence.  “Who’s your soulmate?”

“I wish I knew.  It went off at RTX one year and I didn’t pay attention to it at all.”

“Huh.”  He looked as if he was planning to add on more to that, but decided against it.

“Well… what about you?”

“Same thing happened to me, actually.”

“Oh.”

“I, yeah, it’s, uh.  Probably some random fan.  For both of us.  This is probably all just a weird coincidence.”

“Yeah.”

---

And now, much, much later, Jeremy was looking at Matt’s timer once again.  But he was definitely not planning to talk about it this time.  Because, well, they were in the middle of a podcast.  He really did not need the internet to know about all that.

Then it eventually turned from occasional glance to just staring.  Then Michael and Gavin noticed the staring and joined in.  Really, it was just an awful situation for Matt.

“... What?”

“How long’s your timer been like that?”  Gavin gestured at it, although not in a very helpful way.

He moved his arm so it was a little less visible.  “An… amount of time.”

“Since RTX some year or another, right?” Jeremy chimed in.

“Hey, now.”

Michael was just looking at Jeremy to listen to him talk, but noticed the zeroes on his arm too in the process.  “What about you?”

Now it was Jeremy’s turn to try hiding it from sight.  “Uh…  Since RTX, some year or another.”

“Okay, but what year?”

“2013, I think.”

See, Matt already knew about the RTX part, but somehow the years never came up in that conversation they had.  And now everybody was looking at him.  Again.  “Really?”

“Yeah, why?”

“That’s the same year as, y’know.”  He brought the timer back up for everyone to see.

“Alright,” Michael raised his hands.  “This is just.  How’ve you two not made out yet?  Come on.”

Gavin started trying to push Jeremy’s stool closer to Matt, with his foot, without falling off of his own stool.  Difficult stuff.

Matt was definitely feeling pretty hopeful about the whole soulmate thing right now, but he didn’t really want the realization to be happening in front of a live audience, so Matt started looking around for excuses.  “This could still just be a huge coincidence, though.”

After about the dozenth time of almost falling on his ass, Gavin decided that this might not be the best approach.  “Go sit closer to him!”

Jeremy laughed and moved his stool over with an “Okay, jeez.”  Then he leaned closer to Matt with a lower voice.  “I was never really sure if some random fan could make me as happy as you do, anyway.”

He was too busy looking away to see if the camera was currently on him, but he hoped that if it was it at least didn’t pick up how much he was blushing.  “Oh, wow.”

---

They waited for the cameras to turn off before acknowledging all that again.

“Are you-”  Matt placed his hand on Jeremy’s shoulder, although not making eye-contact.  “Are you sure…?”

Jeremy tangled their fingers together while he thought about what words to use.  “I never wanted anybody else.”

For a moment they just sat there like that, looking at each other, smiling.  It felt like there was nothing else in the world.  Michael and Gavin cheering soon reminded them that that wasn’t the case.  They even heard somebody in Broadcast shout “Kiss!”

“I, no, I’d rather not.”  Matt removed his hand from Jeremy’s shoulder, but kept their fingers together.  “Not that I don’t wanna kiss you, Jeremy, I mean, it’s just…”

“These guys aren’t worthy of watching that.”

“Yeah, there you go.”  Honestly?  How did I ever doubt we’re soulmates.  He’s perfect.

Looking at their hands with a smile, Jeremy thought of something.  “You busy later?”

Was he planning anything extreme?  Probably not, they didn’t start admitting their feelings to themselves until an hour ago.  Did Matt’s stomach let that stop it from filling up with butterflies?  Hell no.  “Not at all.”

---

“Sooo…”

“Yeah.”

“That’s.  We’re.  Huh.”

“Well, I, uh.”  Matt flopped into his couch.  “I kinda thought that might be the case from the very beginning?  But I didn’t really think it would actuallybe.”

“You thought it might be, but you thought it might not be.  Got it.”

“Look, man, you’re super hot and I’m basically a human noodle.  Can probably see why I’d still be a little confused.”

Jeremy finally sat down on the couch beside him.  “The whole noodley thing you’ve got going on is pretty nice, though.”

“Mind explaining that?”

He had to stop and think for a moment, like he wasn’t actually expecting Matt to want clarification.  “There’s more arm to hold me with?”

That was probably the worst, cheesiest answer he could’ve gotten, but Matt started blushing just the same.  “Wow.”

Jeremy looked a tad bit embarrassed at that, too.  “We’re gonna need more time to get used to this, aren’t we.”

Matt scooted closer to Jeremy and leaned on him slightly.  “I’m alright with that.”

He smiled wide and held Matt’s hand again.  “Cool.”

“Can we kiss real quick, though?  I may or may not have been wanting to do that for a while, now.”

_______________________________________

 Ray plopped down onto the couch,huffing loudly into the cushion.Laughter drifted into the room and he reached behind him to flip off Michael,who he knew was right behind him.

 "You're the one that wanted homemade cookies for Movie Night,Ray!"

 Grumbling,Ray sat up and inspected his black Halo shirt-which was splattered with raw cookie dough.He groaned loudly and fell back into the couch silently cursing his boyfriend.

 He heard Michael sigh and fabric rustling just before something soft was thrown at his head.Letting out a startled gasp,he grabbed at it and held it up.It was Michael's 'Rage Quit' shirt(which had somehow managed to avoid the cookie dough mess that was made in the kitchen,Ray noted grumpily).

He looked over at a smirking Michael,now only clad in red and black pajama pants."Hot."Grinning,he stood up and slowly took his shirt off,mock strip-teasing.Michael's loud laughter was muffled when Ray suddenly hurled his crumpled up shirt at his mouth.He punched the air."Bullseye!"

 "Fuck yourself,Ray," Michael replied with a grin,tossing the shirt into a nearby rocking chair.Ray was about reply with a witty retort,but the sound of a bell ringing interrupted him.He scrunched his nose up and quickly pulled on Michael's shirt while the latter sprinted into the kitchen to retrieve the most-likely burnt cookies before the fire alarm went off...again.

 In the meantime,Ray gathered up a few pillows and soft blankets and scattered them across the couch,creating a niche perfectly sized for him and his overgrown child of a boyfriend in the middle.He turned the lights off,the TV on,and booted up Netflix,looking for a good movie to watch.

 "Boring...boring...bo-that literally looks like gay porn...it's a fucking chick flick?!Aaaalrighty then,moving on..."

 Just then,Michael plopped down next to him,armed with a bowl of popcorn,a plate of cookies,and a bag full of redbulls.As he set them out on the table,Ray groaned loudly."Why doesn't Netflix have any good movies?Just one movie that's not a stupid over-done chick flick.Is that so much to ask?"

 Taking the remote from Ray's hand and scrolling through the list,Michael frowned at the TV. "Apparently it is,Jesus fuck.Oh hey!This one looks interesting.'Death Wish?'Nice."

 Ray leaned forward and inspected the movie cover."Well neither of us have seen it and it's probably not going to make us puke from the cheesiness,so let's watch it!"

Fucking finally,he thought.

 Michael hit play and leaned back into the couch,stretching his limbs out and balancing the popcorn on his lap.Ray pulled his knees up to his chin and leaned his head on Michael's chest,sighing contentedly when the redhead's arm almost involuntarily wrapped itself around his shoulders.God,I love movie night,he thought with a smile.

_____________________

Everything was going fine.

Then Michael had to go to the bathroom.

"I gotta take a leak," he announced loudly,and stretched,preparing to get up.Ray reached for the remote but Michael put up a hand to stop him."Nah,don't pause it,I'll only be a minute."

"You sure?"

Michael smiled."Positive." He leaned down and pressed a light kiss to his boyfriend's forehead,who grinned at him goofily.

Michael shuffled over to the bathroom and flipped the light switch on,rubbing his eyes as they were exposed to the harsh light.He did his business,washed his hands,and left the bathroom.It was only 2 minutes,at the most.

 He didn't expect the scene he 

came back to.

 Ray was sitting up straight,stock still.Michael wasn't even sure he was breathing."Ray?" he called.No answer.

Frowning,he walked up and waved his hand in front of Ray's face."RAY!"

No answer.

A loud scream caught Michael's attention and he turned to look at the TV.A wave of horror washed over him as he realized why Ray had gone so still.This was Maria's rape and death scene.

 "Oh,fuck,"he muttered,lunging for the remote.He quickly hit the power button and turned the lights on.He rushed over to Ray and knelt in front of him,placing his hands gently on his shoulders."Ray?Ray!Look at me!"

Ray's lifeless,watery eyes tore themselves away from the dark screen of the TV and pierced Michael's.Teartracks stained his cheeks and he was staring in silent agony.

 Michael could practically feel his heart breaking."Oh,Ray," he whispered.He climbed on the couch and pulled his boyfriend into a tight embrace,which was quickly returned.In the anguished silence,Michael's mind wandered and flashed to the past.

A scenario similar to Maria's had happened to Ray only 10 months prior.He had been walking home alone from work when he was ambushed and dragged into an alley.His phone was broken and his cries for help went unheard.Michael cringed as he remembered opening his door to a beaten,bloody,defeated Ray.

Since then,he had been attending therapy and taking medication for his depression.His recovery,though hard,had been going very well.Though he still had a long way to go,he had been doing great so far.

 And then this happened.

 Michael tightened his hold on his boyfriend as he silently cursed himself for not checking the movie for triggers.

 Ray wasn't the type to cry.He hadn't cried during a single therapy session,not even once his therapist finally found a breakthrough.But now,Michael could feel the back of his shirt becoming drenched with his boyfriend's silent tears.He almost felt like crying himself,but he knew he needed to stay strong.For Ray.

 After what felt like years,Ray slunk his arms out from around Michael's shoulders and gently placed his hands on Michael's naked torso."Michael," he said quietly,his voice raspy, "I'm tired."

Michael opened his mouth to say something,but quickly shut it,nodding instead.He knew Ray wouldn't say anything until he was ready to,and he wasn't about to force him to do anything.

 Without letting go of Ray,Michael slowly turned his body and leaned down into the couch until he was laying down on his side with his back to the open air and Ray's back to the back of the couch.Grabbing blindly around them,he managed to place a pillow under their heads and pulled a fluffy blanket over their bodies.

 Ray's left hand draped itself over Michael's waist,his right arm tucked beneath himself.He didn't bother to ask Michael to turn the lights off.

 They stared into each other's eyes for a few moments,trying to decipher what the other was thinking.Eventually,Ray leaned in and connected their lips.It was perhaps their softest kiss ever,and Ray's lips tasted a bit salty from the tears,but Michael wanted it to never end.

 When Ray broke away,he smiled up at his boyfriend."Thanks,Michael," he whispered,tucking his head under the redhead's chin.He let his eyes drift shut."I love you."

 Michael pressed a kiss to the top of his boyfriend's head.