bigapplesauce | Double Feature [closed]

Topher had been working in the office when he got Gabriel's texts. He'd given up on trying to discourage Gabriel from coming, but he had been expecting him to use the proper entrance - if not to the building, then at least to the office. Obviously those hopes were a bit too high, he realises as he hears the sound of his television.

He sighs and gets up, going into his living room and seeing Gabriel lounging on the couch. "Don't you knock?" he asks, but only with mild annoyance. And no, he hasn't called his goons off, they are perfectly aware Gabriel has come to visit. But they won't interrupt unless it's necessary.

"I texted. That's just as good." Yes, Gabriel has some boundary issues. In that he doesn't have many. He'll work on that...maybe.

"Have some pizza." He swings his legs off of the coffee table to poke through the pizza boxes. He pushes one in Topher's direction before opening a second and pulling out a piece covered in pepperoni.

He takes a bite, flops closed the lid of the pizza box (dropping his fresh slice on top) and reaches over to grab his stack of DVDs. "Mm. Well, we have lots of options. There is no fathoming the depths of my disappointment that this universe doesn't have Casa Erotica." He sighs wistfully. "I suppose it wouldn't be the same without me. Anyway. Sci-fi, fantasy, cult classics, 80s trash. There's got to be something here we can agree on."

At least he didn't come visiting Topher's bedroom while he was asleep or something. Could've been worse.

Topher decides to just roll with it. Besides being somewhat meddlesome (and having obvious boundary issues), Gabriel seemed reasonably alright. And what's the harm in pizza and movies? With his backup on alert, he might even be able to relax a litte.

He grabs a slice covered in beef and meatballs and sits down next to Gabriel. The pizza's delicious. He decides not to ask what Casa Erotica is and why it would have Gabriel.

"I feel like I get enough sci-fi and fantasy in my day-to-day routine," he points out, glancing over the options and picking up a copy of Psycho consideringly.

Don't give him any ideas, there, Topher.

Gabriel picks up his slice of pizza and peers over at Topher's selection as he takes a bite. "Not bad," he mumbles through his mouthful. "But Rear Window is better if you want to go Hitchcock." He hmms and nudges aside a few cases. "There's Dead Alive...can't beat comedy zombies. Clue? Clue definitely gets in the top two." He picks out the case and sets it out separate from the rest. "You choose another and we'll get goin with that."

No, Gabriel. No. Work on your boundaries.

Topher flips through a few more, and eventually picks out Back To The Future, which is always a classic. Clue sounds like a good one to start with though, so he gets up and goes to put it in the player before heading to the kitchen to grab himself a beer, as well as one for Gabriel. It might help with the relaxing.

"Thanks for the pizza," he says as he returns to the couch, offering a bottle to Gabriel. He figures he might try for some friendliness, since an impromptu movie night isn't actually all that unwelcome, even if it wasn't exactly planned or a mutual decision.

Gabriel smiles and takes the offered bottle, then clinks it's neck against Topher's bottle before settling back into the couch. "No problemo, mi amigo." He tips his bottle back, taking a sip, then lifts it to acknowledge it. "Thanks for this." It's be hard to say if he means just the drink and not the general putting up with him.

Anyway, in the next moment, he's shuffling through the DVD menu to start the movie. "Now. The important question is, have you seen this before." This is a very serious question. He needs to know how much color commentary he can throw in here without ruining everything.

Topher is no stranger to having problems admitting you just need some company, but that doesn't mean he's particularly good at recognising it. A tiny part of him still wonders if Gabriel is just trying to fuck with him, but he's putting it aside for now. Because yes, he needs company too.

"Duh," Topher answers immediately, leaning back with a slice and bottle to put his feet on the table. "Actually I've seen all the ones we've picked out. But they all warrant rewatching." Pizza, beer and movies. Very stereotypical guy's night in, isn't it? But then it's been ages since he's gotten to do something like this. Over a year.

It might be, but for the fact that neither of them are very stereotypical guys. Gabriel's definitely got Topher beat for guy's-night-in dry spells. Not counting illusory people of his own creation, it's been a very long time since he's done something like this.

"You know..." he considers as the movie starts, "The whole thing could be different in this universe. Maybe in this version Mr. Green orchestrated the whole nasty business." And wouldn't that be interesting. This is, after all, a world in which several of the classics of his universe don't exist. It wouldn't be a stretch to expect changes within the movies that do exist in both universes. "But if anyone but Madeline Kahn is playing Mrs. White, I call forfeit and demand to watch a different movie."

Yeah, but to be fair, Gabriel's old. So maybe if you count in how large part of their life it's been since last time, the competition might be a bit more equal.

"Agreed," Topher answers, because that would mean one of the best scenes wouldn't exist at all, which would be sad. "Though I suppose it means we can still be surprised by the ending."

He frowns thoughtfully. "Actually, that's a thought - all those things they got wrong in movies or shows... Maybe they got them right here? What if this universe has no Jar-Jar Binks?" he considers with a bit of excitement.

"Jar-Jar was a big hit with kids. From a marketing stand-point...." He cringes and shakes his head. "Yeah, no, you're right. Even if the action figures made back the cost a hundred times over, no." Gabriel watches for a while as the house guests arrive on screen, munching on pizza as he goes.

Fleetingly, he thinks that he would have liked to show up and breeze past the beautiful, scowling Mira on his way into Topher's apartment. He can tell that she's not out front at the desk, so there's no way now he can earn a fresh sneer except to actually seek her out. And really, why would he work that hard? An idea springs to mind, but he doesn't put it into motion immediately.

"So do you have a favorite?" He swigs back a sip of beer, before pointing the neck of the bottle towards Topher. "And Yvette's tits do not count as a character."

Before Topher can answer, there's a brief knock on the inside door and Mira walks in, looking down at a tablet computer. "Topher," she says, "the lab wants you to take a second look at these readings from the a seventeenth. There were some unexplained fluctuations-" It's only then that she looks up from the tablet. Her face transforms into the most beautiful sneer that Gabriel has ever created on a completely illusory construct. "Oh. You have company."

Topher gives Gabriel an extremely skeptical look until he changes his mind about Jar-Jar. Just. No.

He's just about to answer that Wadsworth has to be his favourite, largely because of Tim Curry, before he's interrupted. He turns in his seat, and inwardly groans a little. Mira doesn't like non-humans, especially when they're as powerful as Gabriel.

"Don't you read security alerts?" he asks with annoyance. He was actually starting to enjoy himself, and doesn't want to get questioned about having pizza with a - whatever Gabriel is. Not to mention she probably shouldn't be talking shop in front of him.

Mira readjusts her grip on the tablet in her hands and slides her gaze over to Gabriel for just a moment, as if she'd been caught out in a lie. Gabriel smiles and props an elbow on the back of the couch, tilting his head to talk to Topher. "She wanted to see me again. She thinks I'm sexy."

"I wanted-" She sighs and raises a wonderfully manicured eyebrow at Gabriel. "-I wanted Topher to look at these readings."

Gabriel throws her a glance before turning his attention back to Topher. "That's a lie. I can tell, you know." He wiggles his fingers next to his temple, indicating telepathy. With an indignant huff, Mira holds out the tablet to Topher.

Instead of waiting for Topher to look over the readings that probably are a little off from what he's used to seeing, Gabriel teleports the tablet into his own hand, looking over the familiar readings. "I know these! This was me!"

Mira growls in frustration and stomps around the table to grab the tablet back. With a wave of a hand, the tablet disappears completely and he grins up at her, inviting whatever else she can throw at him. She doesn't back down. She leans down and grabs the front of his shirt, pulling him forward to look her in the eye. Her cheeks are noticeably blushing. "Bring it back."

Topher manages to just quietly watch the two of them bicker, though with a certain amount of trepidation. He's never seen Mira like this. She can be a bit neurotic, sure, and she's generally fairly hostile to non-humans, but this seems a bit of a stretch.

It's not until she's actually grabbing Gabriel that Topher actually reacts though. "WHOA, hey, Mira, hey," he says urgently, jumping to his feet and taking her by the shoulders in an attempt to steer her away. "He's just messing with you."

Gabriel leans back and smooths down the front of his shirt, grinning at Mira as she pulls away. Even if it wasn't actually real, there's no denying that it was pretty hot.

Mira straightens her shirt with a quick tug and shrugs off Topher's hands. She rolls her eyes in his direction. "I'd figured that one out myself, thanks." She turns her gaze to Gabriel, but continues speaking to Topher. "As of now, this...person is presenting a security threat that is not acceptable. If he refuses to return the classified material, I'll be forced to bring in security."

"Oh come on, Mira. You know that's not going to accomplish anything. I'll just mojo my way of here with the information. No, won't work."

Mira props a hand on her hip while the mansion doorbell screams on the tv screen. "So what will work?"

"Oh, nothing big." He makes a show of making space beside himself on the couch. "Join us. Have a slice of pizza." She sighs and rests her face in the palm of her hand for a moment, as if she's contemplating just when her life took a turn for the weird.

"Fine." She finally says. "I will eat a piece of pizza and if you touch me, I'm going to cut off your hands." Speech given, she sits down not far from Gabriel and pointedly retrieves a piece of pizza.

Gabriel just smiles over at her, a little engrossed in her (his own) performance. "Yes, ma'am."

She takes a bite of pizza and a hint of a smile emerges on her face when Gabriel hands her a beer. She reaches for it, then directs her attention to Topher. "Sit down, I'd like to get this over with."

Edited 2013-04-11 07:46 (UTC)

Apparently Topher was overly optimistic in thinking he could just have a nice normal night with a potential friend. That's not how things are done in this universe.

He doesn't really think Gabriel is trying to be a security threat, just a pain. Or possibly he's flirting - mostly he can tell it's flirting because of Mira's reactions. Topher's not certain how regular people flirt, much less someone like Gabriel.

And he's not sure where this is going, or how it's gonna end up, but once again, perhaps he'll just have to roll with it.

"Right." He stops gaping at the both of them, and sits down on the couch. And grabs his beer again. Because he's starting to suspect he might need a little alcohol to deal with this.

The movie keeps going for a little while as they all watch before Gabriel remembers what he'd been asking Topher before. "So you like Tim Curry?" So he may have been mind reading. Just a little bit.

Mira finishes her piece of pizza, but doesn't seem in a particular hurry to get up and leave or make any more demands from Gabriel. He props his arm behind her on the back of the couch. If this were the real Mira, he knows he might be pressing his luck, but that's the fun in her not being real at all.

"Yyyeaah," Topher answers hesitantly, not sure if that's just a guess or assumption, or if he did feel Gabriel's mind brush against him there for a second. He's a bit too distracted from the whole Mira situation, to be honest.

"Yeah, he's great. Especially in Rocky Horror," he answers, taking a drink and trying to watch the movie instead of sideeyeing the other two.

Double Feature [closed]

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