Fic: Come As You Are (1/4)
Aug. 6th, 2011 02:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emerald_skiesTitle: Come As You Are
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
emerald_skies
Pairing(s): Tunny/Will/Extraordinary Girl (+ Tunny/Will, Will/EG, Tunny/EG)
Word Count: 30,247
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Every year on Halloween, Jingletown's hottest (and only) night spot, Club Suburbia, holds a costume party. This year, it takes a night of being something they're not in order to make Tunny, Will, and Grace start to see who they really are.
Author's Note: I'm not entirely sure how I came to Halloween costumes when I was kicking around ideas for this, but once I thought of it, it just seemed to fit. I sure as fuck wasn't expecting it to get as huge as it did though, hopefully it's not too crack-tastic and ridiculous /o\ This is dedicated tolooleebelle and pau494 for their amazingly patient and helpful beta work -- seriously, y'all are the best <3
"Tunny," Will calls through the bathroom door, "I'm leaving without you if you don't finish primping in the next five minutes."
"Go fuck yourself," Tunny snaps from inside the bathroom, "I'm not primping -- this costume is complicated."
"Oh come on, it's a fucking pirate costume. It's not like it has a million little pieces or anything, how complicated could it be? I had to put on full zombie makeup and I still got ready faster than you."
"First of all, you got ready faster than me because the rest of your costume is shit you already own," Tunny retorts. "Second, you didn't have to pretty much stand on one foot while you were getting ready, and third --" The door opens enough for Tunny to poke his head out, one eyebrow raised. "Your skills with makeup say more about you than they do about me." His face takes on an expression of mock concern.
"Is there something you want to tell me?"
Tunny doesn't know it, but his teasing isn't actually that far off the mark; Will's pretty sure he's not gay but, on the other hand, having a huge, raging crush on his best friend kind of rules out the whole heterosexual thing too. Will just manages not to wince at the painful near-accuracy of Tunny's joke, then recovers quickly with one of his own; he puts one hand on his hip and says, "Bitch please, you're just jealous of how fabulous I am," in his best stereotypical "gay" voice (which comes out sounding suspiciously like Big Gay Al from Southpark).
When Will punctuates the comment with a perfect Z-snap, Tunny's smirk dissolves into laughter. "Yeah, that's it, I'm totally jealous. Now shut up and give me the goddamn peg leg, I think I'm finally done putting all this shit on." After Will obliges, Tunny disappears back into the bathroom but, after a moment, he adds, "For the record, I still think you're a fucking sadist for making me wear this."
"You lost the bet fair and square, so I get to pick your costume. We agreed, remember?"
"I still think you cheated."
Will rolls his eyes and thinks Not this shit again. "If by 'cheated' you mean 'delivered the most epic Call of Duty smackdown in the history of Call of Duty smackdowns' -- twice -- then yeah, I cheated. Now quit bitching and let me see how you look."
"Okay." WIll hears some rustling and the distinct thump of Tunny trying his weight on the peg leg. "Okay, I'm coming out," (Will has to literally bite his tongue to keep from jumping on that comment), "Will, I swear to God, if you laugh at me I will end you."
Of course, when Tunny opens the door and steps out of the bathroom, Will can't help how he bursts out laughing -- not so much at the costume, but at the distinctly pissed off look on Tunny's face.
Well, okay, some of the laughing is at the costume too; an eyepatch kind of spoils any effect a murderous glare might hope to have. "Oh my God," Will gasps out between guffaws, "That's fantastic."
"Bite me, you fucking Thriller reject. Now I get why you 'forgot' to bring the sword," Tunny mutters. He tries to sidestep around Will but Will stops him by putting his hand on Tunny's shoulder. Up close, Will sees that Tunny's actually blushing now and still looks kind of pissed off, which makes Will start to feel like shit for teasing him.
"Hey," he says in a softer, kinder voice, "Relax, I was just giving you shit for grins, okay? You look good." Will swallows hard before he says what he knows for sure will calm Tunny down, "Grace will love it."
The slight smile this (predictably) gets out of Tunny makes Will's stomach do a slow roll. "You think?"
She'd be crazy not to, is what Will thinks. "I know," is what he says instead.
"Well all right, then." Tunny's smile widens into a grin that looks almost as wicked as it used to before he left. A pang goes through Will at the sight of it -- God, he missed that smile. He thinks about how Grace is the one who makes Tunny smile like that anymore, not him, and the pang sharpens.
That's it, Will thinks, I am officially fucked.
"Hey," Tunny's voice jerks Will out of his reverie. Tunny frowns slightly, his expression one of concern, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Will answers a little too quickly. He notices that his hand is still resting on Tunny's shoulder and pulls away like it burned him. Tunny raises an eyebrow, then heads toward the door without saying anything.
Will knows it's going to be a long night when he catches himself checking out Tunny's ass on the way to the car. Oh yeah, I am so fucked.
---
Somewhere between beer number three and beer number four, Will starts to think he might do something painful and permanent to Tunny if Tunny doesn't stop craning his head around to look for Grace. It doesn't usually bother Will this much -- Tunny always acts kind of out of sorts when Grace isn't around -- but the beers aren't mixing well with his frustration at himself and Tunny and life in general. If anything, the beers feel like they're only making Will's mood worse but, on the other hand, he figures if he drinks enough of them he'll either stop caring or pass out. Both options sound a lot better than dealing with this shit sober.
When Tunny turns to check the door again, Will nudges Tunny in the shin with his foot under the table. "Dude, seriously, she'll be here. Maybe she hit traffic or something."
Tunny gives him a look that almost makes Will grin in spite of himself. As far as Will can remember, Tunny's the only person he's ever known who can be a smartass using only his eyebrows.
"Okay," Will concedes, "You're right, Jingletown's too small to have traffic, whatever. Maybe her car broke down."
"Then she would have called." Tunny checks his cell phone again.
Will rolls his eyes. "Fine," he says dryly, "It's all a conspiracy designed to drive you crazy. We've been planning it for weeks."
Tunny's mouth twitches in a barely concealed smile. "I'm being a dick, huh?"
"You say that like it's a surprise. I see it as one of those facts of life -- grass is green, the sky is blue, and Tunny Clarke is a dick, stay tuned for news at eleven."
That gets an honest-to-God grin out of Tunny. "Whatever, I'm having trouble taking insults seriously from a dude wearing makeup."
"Zombie makeup, God damn it, it's what it said on the kit." Will moves to smack Tunny in the head but Tunny dodges easily.
Tunny turns on his stool to check the door again but then he glances over at Will and (to Will's surprise) seems to think better of it. Instead, he takes a healthy swig out of his beer, sets it down, and sighs. "She could at least tell me what her costume is instead of leaving us hanging with all this surprise bullshit. The suspense is killing me."
"You're just mad because your puppy dog eyes thing didn't work on her."
Tunny responds eloquently by flipping him off.
Tunny's amazing knack for getting his way just by getting this sad, pitiful look in his eyes used to drive Will crazy -- it was like kryptonite to pretty much every girl they had ever known growing up (even Heather, much to Will's annoyance back then). To everyone's amazement, Grace turned out to be immune; in fact, she had managed to give Tunny a taste of his own medicine on more than one occasion..
Grace's ability to see through Tunny's bullshit (and love him anyway) is one of the things Will likes best about her. Even though he bitches and moans about it, Will suspects Tunny secretly likes that about her too -- mostly because very few people have ever shown a consistent ability to keep Tunny on his toes.
A flicker of white over by the door of the club catches Will's eye; he almost drops his beer in shock when he looks closer and sees what it is.
Grace. To be more specific, Grace walking toward them in a nurse costume that literally makes Will's jaw drop. The neckline of it is low enough to tease (but high enough to leave some things to the imagination), and the skirt is short enough to show a very distracting expanse of her legs between it and the tops of her white thigh high stockings. The headpiece, stethoscope, and red heels top off the outfit and make it look like something straight out of the Playboy channel.
Not that Will would know anything about that. It's all the cable guy's fault that that channel just happened to find its way into Will's subscription.
Tunny's brows knit in a slight frown. "What's up with you?" Unfortunately, he takes a sip of beer as he turns to see what stunned Will so thoroughly -- he doesn't quite do a spit take when he spots Grace, but it's a close thing. Tunny winds up inhaling the mouthful of beer instead, and spends the next ten seconds or so coughing and swearing under his breath (what little he has of it, anyway). Will feels a touch of sympathy for him; beer probably hurts like a bitch when it goes up your nose like that.
"Jesus fucking Christ," Will murmurs faintly. Tunny nods, but doesn't say anything. Huh, something finally managed to shut Tunny up, Will thinks, still slightly dazed himself. Now I've seen everything.
Grace greets them both with a cheerful wave and casual, "Hi, boys" when she reaches their table. She stops and looks Tunny up and down, her expression one of distinct amusement. "I like your costume, it's very Johnny Depp."
Tunny looks entirely too pleased with himself at that (Will just barely manages not to roll his eyes).
"Thanks," Tunny grins back at her, "It took forever to come up with. I thought the peg leg was a nice touch, myself."
Will smirks and arches one eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Then why did you spend the entire ride here bitching about it and how sadistic I am for making you wear it?" At Grace's curious look, Will elaborates, "We were playing Call of Duty and we had this bet that whoever won the next match got to pick the loser's costume. I kicked every square inch of his ass, so he got to get in touch with his inner Long John Silver." He grins smugly at Tunny, who's giving him a look that promises painful, humiliating revenge at some point in the future. "Hey man, it was better than your idea."
"Which was?" Grace quirks an eyebrow at Tunny (just as his expression switches back to an utterly unconvincing innocent look).
"He was going to wear his uniform and use it to guilt free drinks out of people as thanks 'for serving his country'," Will answers for Tunny, complete with air quotes.
"Says the man who would so be dressed like Justin Bieber right now if he hadn't cheated like a bitch," Tunny retorts.
"I gave you the rematch you asked for and I still kicked your ass. You lost fair and square, so sack up and take your punishment like a man."
Grace raises one hand slightly, as if asking a question in a class. "Do I even want to know why you guys bet over Halloween costumes instead of something normal like...money?"
"We got bored," Will answers with a shrug.
"Don't knock it," Tunny continues, "Johnny doesn't play anymore because he lost to me last time and I made him wear a dress. He got all whiny just because someone got video of him singing 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President' while he was drunk and posted it on Youtube."
Grace's eyes widen. "Wait, 'Marilyn Monroe goes wild' was him?"
Both Will and Tunny stare at her in astonishment, then at each other, and then they both burst out laughing. "Oh my God," Tunny says once he recovers, wiping tears of mirth out of his eyes, "I'm so telling him you saw that."
Grace swats him lightly on the arm (even though she was laughing too). "You will not! You're both horrible people. And you," she rounds on Tunny, "You still owe me an apology for calling me a straight-laced goody-two-shoes."
Only the fact that his face is covered in zombie makeup keeps Will from smacking the heel of his hand against his forehead. As it is, he heaves a sigh and asks, "Tunny, what did you do?" I find myself asking that question way too often.
Tunny looks slightly uncomfortable. "We were talking about high school and I may have teased her a little--"
"He made fun of me," Grace interrupts, "Because I didn't go out and get wasted every weekend like you guys did in high school. According to him, I never learned how to get wild and crazy or otherwise do anything out of the ordinary because of that. Because I am," she raises an eyebrow at Tunny, "a straight-laced goody-two-shoes." She turns back to Will, "I took it a little personally and decided to prove him wrong." She gestures to her costume. "What do you think?
Will looks at her, decides not to answer that (on the grounds that his honest opinion would probably make Tunny punch him in the face), then glances at Tunny. "Tunny, I can't decide if you're a complete dumbass or an evil genius."
"I know which one he is," Grace mutters, still looking somewhat put out.
Tunny heaves an exaggerated long-suffering sigh, grabs Grace's hands, and pulls her into a hug. She's short enough that he can (and does) rest his chin on the top of her head. "I'm sorry," Tunny tells her with actual sincerity. He cups Grace's face with both his hands and looks directly into her eyes, "I'm a dick, Will can back me up on this," (Will snorts and raises his drink to that), "Can you ever," he kisses her forehead, "ever," then the tip of her nose, "ever forgive me?" He kisses her briefly on the lips then smiles at her again. "Please?"
Will sees Grace's expression waver, then start to soften. He can't honestly blame her; Tunny can make it really tough to stay mad at him when he sets his mind to it. It's a handy skill considering how good Tunny is at pissing people off in the first place.
Finally, fighting to hold back a smile, Grace relents, "Okay. Dance with me for as long as I want and we'll call it even."
Tunny just smiles wider and kisses her again. The way they're looking at each other -- like no one else is there -- makes something in Will's chest ache. Part of it hurts because no one's ever looked at Will that way (not even Heather). The other part, pathetic as it sounds, hurts because Will sort of wishes Tunny would. It's depressing and sappy and Johnny would probably make fun of Will for the rest of their lives if he knew, but there it is.
As Grace makes her way out onto the dance floor, Tunny starts to get up to follow her, but stops and looks over at Will in a way that actually seems kind of...concerned. He leans closer and asks in an undertone, "Hey, you gonna be okay here? I know it's a dick move to leave you here by yourself and--"
"Go," Will cuts him off with a wave, "Don't deprive me of the hilariousness I'll get out of watching her face when she sees what you call dancing."
Tunny makes a face and mutters, "Eat me," as he gets up to follow Grace.
"See, it's remarks like that and the way you won't go dance with your ridiculously hot girlfriend -- your ridiculously hot girlfriend that you don't deserve, I might add -- that really make me wonder about you." Will snorts in amusement when Tunny responds by flipping him off behind his back.
A song with a slow, heavy, compelling bass beat starts up just as Tunny reaches Grace on the dance floor. Will smirks, settles back in his chair, and waits; as Johnny once put it, even epileptics would look at Tunny's dancing and wonder what the fuck was wrong with him (which, coming from someone who still thinks the robot is cool, is saying a lot). Plus, potential amusement aside, watching Tunny make an ass of himself takes some of the edge off of Will's feelings for him.
Except, much to Will's surprise, Tunny starts to dance with Grace and actually doesn't suck. He's not exactly going to be turning up on Soul Train anytime soon, but he's still doing significantly better than what Will is used to out of him.
Of course, a lot of that is probably Grace's doing. Grace, it turns out, is a fucking amazing dancer, and something about that mixes with the natural chemistry Will sees between her and Tunny and makes the two of them look surprisingly good together. Distractingly so, even. Her hips roll and sway easily under Tunny's hands and the two of them aren't exactly pressed up against each other, but something about the look passing between them makes Will feel like he's watching something deeply personal. I can't watch them like this,, Will thinks. I shouldn't be watching something like this.
Except he can't take his eyes off them.
Will watches Tunny nudge his right leg between Grace's while he snakes one hand up her back to draw her snugly against him. He watches when Grace hooks one of her legs around Tunny's and bends back impossibly far over his arm while he holds her there and trails his other hand over her face, down her neck, between her breasts and down her stomach until it finds its way back to her hip again. Will watches as Tunny pulls Grace back up against him again and the look between them turns smoldering. Will's mouth goes dry at that look, and he can't help but notice that the hand holding the beer he sips from to fix that shakes a little when he sets it down.
It's that look and the way Tunny is grinning at her with his lower lip caught between his teeth that Will remembers something Johnny said once; that the way a person dances can tell you a lot about how they probably are in bed. At the time, Will had told Johnny he was full of shit, but now Will kind of sees Johnny's point. Will closes his eyes for a moment just to clear his head, but his imagination kicks in instead. For a split second, he's holding one of Grace's stocking-clad legs up over his hip so he can push all the way into her while Tunny pulls Will back against his chest so that he can suck a hickey into that one spot on Will's neck that--
Oh fuck. Will yanks himself out of that little daydream before it gets too far and winds up embarrassing him somehow. It's all too much -- to want your best friend is one thing, but to want your best friend's girlfriend at the same time seems fucked up on a pretty epically Freudian scale to Will. Besides, there's even less of a chance of that happening than anything Will could hope to have with just Tunny. A thought crosses Will's mind that makes him hang his head and smile bitterly to himself; This is what I get for listening to Johnny.
Will comes out of his brief mental fog just in time to catch some of the lyrics of a faster song that must have started while he was daydreaming.
"Sticks and stones may break my bones / but chains and whips excite me..."
Will takes that as a sign from God (or whoever the fuck is playing this cosmic joke on him) that this calls for another drink. Or twelve.
---
Grace intercepts Will on his way back to their table. Actually, he's paying so little attention to what's going on around him that he walks straight into her. Will briefly reflects that it's probably a bad sign of what his life has become that he manages not to spill a drop of his rather stiff belt of whiskey in the collision.
Grace's mouth quirks slightly in a crooked smile that she had to have picked up from Tunny (Will can't help but note that it looks just as good when she does it). "Nice save," she nods at the whiskey in his hand.
"What can I say? I'm a man of many talents." Will almost winces when his brain catches up with his mouth a couple of seconds later. Tossing innuendos at Grace is the last fucking thing I should be doing right now.
Grace's smile grows into a grin. "I bet. Let's see if dancing is one of them."
Except that.
Will downs the glass of whiskey in one swig that burns its way down his throat, ditches the glass on a nearby empty table, and lets Grace lead him out onto the dance floor. His brain replays all the reasons this is a terrible idea the whole time, but then it gives up when Grace guides his hands to her waist and moves in closer to him. It brings his earlier fantasy rushing back in dizzying detail. I am so fucked, Will thinks resignedly as Grace drapes her arms loosely around his neck.
"Are you okay?" Grace gives him a look of sincere concern. "You look like you have something on your mind."
That's one way of putting it. "I don't know," he answers slowly, "It's just been a really... weird night."
"How do you mean?"
An idea strikes Will that makes him smile a little in spite of his nerves. "Well, first of all, I'm trying to figure out where the fuck Tunny managed to get actual rhythm."
If Grace notices the obvious attempt to steer the conversation away from himself, she doesn't call him on it. "Come on, he wasn't that bad before." Will's answering look makes her burst out laughing. "Okay, fine," she concedes, "His dancing needed a little work."
"No, dancing is what his old moves wanted to be when they grew up." (Grace snorts out another laugh at this) "I'm guessing you had something to do with his surprise improvement?"
Grace nods. "I did dance in junior high and high school and there was this one day when Tunny really didn't want to do his normal physical therapy. I decided to get creative and, well," she shrugs, "The rest is history."
"Speaking of Tunny," Will changes the subject again, "Where is he? I thought he was supposed to be dancing with you to make up for being...well... himself."
"He was, but then he said he was going to go look for Johnny." She glances behind her with a slight frown. "I think he might have just wanted a break though, he was limping pretty badly. Why he couldn't just tell me that is anybody's guess," she says with a slightly exasperated sigh. She raises an eyebrow in response to Will's wry smile. "What?"
"Tunny hates dancing, mostly because he sucks at it -- or," Will amends, "He used to, and now he also probably doesn't like it because it hurts after a while. He'll do it anyway and never complain once about it though, because he knows it makes you happy. Well," he adds as an afterthought, "That and because he probably doesn't want to look like a pussy in front of you."
There's a thoughtful pause while Grace considers all this. Eventually, she regards Will with a curious look. "How do you know all this?"
"Well, first of all, I'm a guy. Then there's the fact that I've known the guy since second grade," Will smiles a little, suddenly feeling nostalgic. "I could probably read his mind by now if I wanted to." His smile widens into a slight grin. "After all, Johnny always did say that Tunny and I share a brain."
"You really care about him, don't you?" The question suddenly makes Grace's curious look feel uncomfortably like Will is being X-rayed.
"Fuck yeah I do, he's my best friend," he answers a little too quickly.
Grace notices. "That's not what I mean." Will's heart starts beating uncomfortably fast while the rest of him starts to feel distinctly trapped. Grace doesn't push it, though. "He talked about you a lot."
Will blinks, suddenly confused. "What?"
"In the hospital. When we'd talk he would always talk about you and Johnny and all this crazy stuff you guys did together. He talked about you the most, though, he said he felt like you understood him the best."
Will honestly has no fucking clue what to say to that. The part of him that handles wishful thinking is distracting him too much to come up with a good response anyway.
After another thoughtful pause, Grace gives him a rueful grin. "Y'know what's funny? I used to be kind of jealous of you."
There's a brief, dizzying, giddy second where Will almost tells her "Likewise", but he just barely stops himself. Instead, he simply asks, "Why?"
"Because Tunny has this thing with you that no one else can really touch," she answers easily. "I used to worry that I could never get as close to him as you already were."
If it were anyone else but Grace, Will would be certain by this point that this was all Johnny and Tunny fucking with him, but something in Grace's expression makes him believe her. Barely.
"He does love you, you know," Will begins hesitantly. "He's changed a lot for you, which is saying a lot coming from a stubborn fucker like Tunny. He's been with--" Will clears his throat and tries again, "There have been other girls," (A lot of other girls, he adds mentally), "But he acts totally different with you."
There's a lump in Will's throat by the time he finishes talking, mostly because that was the first time he ever admitted out loud exactly why he has no chance with Tunny, but the way Grace smiles and blushes a little takes some of the edge off the pain. The universe fucking owes me for this, he thinks with a touch of bitterness.
"I'm sorry," Grace snaps him out of his moping. "This is a party, I didn't mean to make it all serious and stuff." Before Will gets a chance to respond, she keeps going, "I forgot to say this before, but I really like your costume." She pauses to look him up and down the same way she looked at Tunny earlier, "It's a good look for you. I had no idea you could make zombie makeup look so good."
It might be entirely possible that this is just a sign that all the booze has finally started to fuck up Will's brain for good, but he's pretty sure Grace just hit on him. He waits a couple of seconds for the punch line or some other sign she was just fucking with him, but it doesn't come. Embarrassingly, Will feels a slight blush heat up his face, but at least the zombie makeup and the low lighting keep her from seeing that.
He can't do anything to hide his small, pleased smile, though. Grace answers it with one of her own and says, "You're cute when you smile like that, you should do it more often."
Will's starting to get tired of how off balance he keeps feeling in this conversation, but what the hell is he supposed to say to that? Try as he might, he honestly can't think of a response that wouldn't end with him looking like a dumbass, Tunny kicking his head in, or both. Will decides to go with the lesser (and less painful) of the two evils; "Um...thanks." Jesus fucking Christ, is she blushing too?
This time Grace is the one to change the subject. "So," she starts, raising an eyebrow at him, "I can't help but notice that you didn't answer my question earlier when I asked what you thought of my costume."
"Yeah, I didn't because there's no way I could have responded that wouldn't have ended in me getting my ass kicked."
"Come on," Grace gives Will the same pleading look he's seen her use to put Tunny in his place, "Please tell me? I'm really curious what you think."
The look hits its mark dead fucking center because, against what's left of his better judgment, Will admits, "Well, the words 'smoking hot' may have crossed my mind." Whatever, he thinks, I'm fucked as it is, it's not like it can get any worse.
Grace laughs, definitely blushing now, then considers Will carefully for a moment. She catches her lower lip between her teeth while she does it, which makes something in Will's chest ache again because it's another look she got from Tunny. Unlike their shared crooked smile, however, this expression looks even better when Grace does it.
"If I tell you something, will you promise not to make fun of me?" she finally asks.
"Uh...sure."
"There's a tiny chance," Grace says in a soft, almost flirtatious voice, "That I may or may not possibly have a little crush on you." She trails her hands over Will's shoulders and down his arms as she talks, her eyes never leaving his, until she grasps his hands and gently pulls them farther around her waist -- which just happens to pull her much closer into Will's personal space.
Will suddenly feels so light-headed that he almost stumbles -- he can't tell if it's because of Grace's perfume (something citrus-y, possibly oranges) fucking with his head or pure, honest-to-God shock. A giddy, slightly hysterical thought crosses his mind; Maybe the perfume is fucking with my head so bad that I'm hallucinating. That has to be it.
When Will finally manages to talk, his voice comes out surprisingly hoarse. "What about Tunny?"
"I love him, so much so that it feels weird to imagine life without him. But," Grace adds calmly, "I just also happen to like you."
"Good to know--" Will clears his throat, "But that's not what I meant." He swallows hard. "Please tell me he doesn't know."
Will gets the impression this wasn't an answer Grace was expecting. "Why?"
In a best case scenario, Will thinks he would probably lose Tunny's friendship for good (which is bad enough without the painful extra feelings attached). In a worst case scenario, well, "Because he would take off his fake leg and beat me to death with it if he knew." And Tunny would still hate him.
Grace gets that crooked smile on her face again. "Oh, I have a feeling you're misreading him. I don't think he would do that at all."
How she sounds so fucking calm about this, Will has no idea. Then again, something about it does manage to calm him down a little too, which is a plus. Confusion, at this point, turns out to be a lot easier to handle than freaking out. "What do you mean by that?" He asks slowly, "How do you know?"
Grace just winks at him. "Trust me."
---
The three of them wind up back at Tunny and Grace's house after Tunny comes back and tells them that he found Johnny leaving with some chick dressed like Courtney Love. Since going to this costume party was Johnny's idea in the first place, Tunny reasons, the three of them might as well go somewhere where the drinks are cheaper, the music is better ("none of this top 40 bullshit"), and they don't have to wait thirty minutes to use the bathroom just because couples seem to think that's a brilliant place to fuck.
That's how Will finds himself stretched out next to Tunny on the living room couch, staring into his beer like it holds the secrets of the universe while Tunny smokes out of a bong made of swirling black and white glass. MTV's late night block of music videos is playing on the T.V., but neither of them is really paying attention.
Will takes a hit off the bong every now and again, but not nearly as much as Tunny because Will figures that the alcohol is fucking with his head enough as it is. Getting any more wasted at this point would probably take Will into the realm of crazy Vegas weddings and possible trips to jail. What little weed he does smoke does help to take some of the edge off his nerves, but it's also sort of backfiring on him too. Mostly because watching Tunny periodically put his mouth on the tip of the bong keeps doing very distracting things to Will's imagination (and his breathing). At least Tunny doesn't seem to notice Will's apparent restlessness -- he's too busy talking Will's goddamn ear off (because, as they discovered long ago, getting high seems to make Tunny extra A.D.D.)
Suddenly, Will notices that Tunny has stopped talking just as Tunny snaps his fingers a few times about two inches away from Will's face. "Hello? Earth to Will, I've been trying get your attention for the last five minutes, dude."
"Um, yeah, sorry," Will mumbles as he sits up and nervously rakes one hand through his hair. He turns to give Tunny his obvious, undivided attention. "What's up?"
"I was saying that you look like you're a million miles away and you've been like this all night -- even Grace knows you enough that she noticed. What's up with you?"
Will just looks at Tunny in miserable silence. Where to start? A whole host of answers floods through Will's mind; some of them things he can't put words to, and others things he doesn't want to put words to. I have feelings for you, Will thinks, The love of your life has a crush on me and I sort of like her too, I miss how easy things used to be between us, I hate that I sometimes feel like I barely know you anymore, I wish I didn't want to kiss you until we both couldn't breathe, I hate that I can't tell you this even though you're the one I always go to when I have a problem... The list seems to go on forever.
"I just have a lot on my mind," Will finally says. Hey, it's not even technically a lie.
Tunny snorts. "Bullshit, you're bottling up some thing or another and beating yourself up over it because you think no one else can handle your shit." When Will doesn't respond right away, Tunny lifts an eyebrow. "Go on, tell me I'm wrong."
One side of Will's mouth twitches in a smile he can't totally control while something in his chest suddenly feels too tight. The mix of resulting feelings hurts, but also feels kind of awesome at the same time. "Whatever, man," Will eventually retorts, "My life is peachy fucking keen, thank you very much."
"Liar." Tunny smirks at him in challenge.
Will doesn't take the bait. "Blow me," he mutters, closing his eyes as he leans back and rests his head against the back of the couch.
They lapse into companionable silence until, after a moment, Tunny breaks it by saying, "Huh, that's new." Just as he's about to ask what the hell Tunny is talking about, Will feels Tunny's fingers slip under the heavy chain of his necklace and slide down to the padlock hanging from it, which also involves Tunny's knuckles grazing lightly over Will's chest. Will's breath catches in his chest but Tunny's hand stays where it is, even though Will's certain Tunny heard him.
"Um," Will swallows hard and tries again when he loses his train of thought for a second. How the hell is Tunny's skin so warm? "I've had it since tenth grade, I just pretty much never wear it. Heather gave it to me, something about being the Nancy to my Sid." Will cracks a grin, "I should have taken the comparison as a warning, it would have saved me a fuck ton of grief later."
"Do you miss her?" Tunny asks quietly. It's such a weird, unexpected question that Will opens his eyes to look over at Tunny. Tunny's watching him with this look on his face that Will's never seen before, doesn't know how to interpret. It makes the air in the room feel weirdly charged, and Will still can't concentrate because Tunny's hand still hasn't moved off of Will's chest. Will also notices that Tunny is just close enough that it would be so easy to just lean over and--
A quiet cough emanates from somewhere just out of Will's peripheral vision, which causes Tunny to yank his hand away from Will's chest as though it had run a current through him. The action leaves Will with a vague sense of loss that he fights hard to ignore; rather than think about it too much, he turns and finds Grace leaning against the entryway to the living room. Her hair, still slightly damp from the shower, is pulled back into a messy bun that goes oddly well with the black denim cutoffs and olive-drab T-shirt she's wearing now. After a second, Will realizes that it's one of Tunny's shirts -- it has "Clarke" stenciled on it in faded black. He doesn't dwell on it too much though; it inspires a confusing mix of feelings, and the way her legs look in those cutoffs is much more interesting anyway.
"I will never get tired of seeing you wearing my shirts," Tunny says to her with a warmth to his voice that wrings Will's heart. The feeling that he's watching something he shouldn't, something deeply personal, comes back again.
Grace smiles a little at that, catching her lower lip between her teeth for a second, then crosses the room and settles herself in Tunny's lap. She relaxes against him and rests her head on his shoulder while Tunny just puts one arm around her, a simple but powerful gesture. It makes Will think back to what Grace said earlier about being jealous of him and this so-called "thing" he has with Tunny. What the fuck was she worried about? They look so good together, there's no way in hell I could top that.
"So," Grace says, "I wanted to ask you something."
"If it involves a striptease, you have my undivided attention," Tunny replies with a smirk.
Grace doesn't dignify that with a comment. "Before I ask, I want you to promise you won't make fun of me again because if you do, I'm going to bed and you can sleep on the couch."
Will snorts at this, which gets him a reproachful look from Tunny.
"Traitor."
"Bite me, I'm not even a little bit sorry," Will answers back with a grin.
"As I was saying," Grace interrupts them, "I want you to promise me that you won't make fun of me."
Tunny heaves a dramatic, put upon sigh. "Okay, okay, I promise. Scout's honor." Will has to fight to control the urge to point out that Tunny never made it past Cub Scouts. Tunny glances over at Will, and one side of his mouth twitches in amusement, as though he knew what Will was trying not to say.
"Our little talk the other day got me to thinking," Grace starts carefully, "I've never smoked pot before -- actually," she corrects herself, "I've never smoked anything -- and, well, I was sort of hoping you guys could...um...help me out with that." She bites her lip and looks between the two of them, gauging their reactions.
Will raises an eyebrow and looks over at Tunny. "Dude, is she asking us to corrupt her?"
"I think so," Tunny says, sounding surprised.
"I'm game if you are," Will remarks with a shrug.
"I'm sitting right here," Grace mutters.
Tunny pretends to ignore her. "Totally, we'll be giving her the rebellious teenager phase she missed out on. It's so sad, like a kid who never got to go to Disneyland or something."
Grace glares at him. "I wasn't kidding about you sleeping on the couch, you know."
"Okay," Tunny raises both hands in a gesture of surrender. "Will's the one who got me into it, so he can do the honors."
Teaching Grace how to smoke out of a bong makes Will think back to the time Tunny was talking about. It was some lazy Saturday in the middle of the summer after eighth grade, and the pot had been absolute shit, at least half stems and seeds because they were fourteen and didn't know any better yet, but they'd still both had a blast getting high in Will's basement and laughing their heads off at South Park all afternoon. It seems like forever ago, but Will still remembers it perfectly -- it's one of his happiest memories, a time before everything started going to shit. Watching as Tunny laughingly tries to teach Grace how to blow smoke rings, Will wonders if Tunny remembers that day too.
Evidently he does, because after that they start reminiscing about all the crazy shit they did in high school (Tunny insists it's part of Grace's "rebellious teenager lessons", to which Grace responds by informing him that he will be sleeping on the couch if he makes fun of her about that one more time). All three of them start to relax more and more as the night wears on; Grace shakes her hair loose from its bun and drapes her legs over Will's lap (while still sitting in Tunny's), Tunny relaxes out of his usual unconsciously rigid military posture, and Will finds himself smiling and laughing a little more easily. It almost feels like old times.
After Tunny finishes telling her a story about a bottle rocket fight between him, Will, and Johnny that almost got them arrested, Grace just looks at both of them, smiling and shaking her head. At their questioning looks, she explains; "I was just thinking that you guys must have played some pretty amazing games of Truth or Dare back then."
"Oh God," Will cringes at the memories her remark prompts. "Don't ever play Truth or Dare with Johnny. Something always winds up on fire -- that is, when it doesn't involve someone being naked in public."
Tunny grins. "Like the time he dared you to skinny dip in the public pool down the block and then we took your clothes and bailed?"
Will groans and hides his face in his hands. "Fuck, don't remind me." Then, another memory occurs to him. He looks up and grins back at Tunny, "How about the time he dared you to streak at Homecoming? I still maintain that the only reason the principal didn't expel your skinny ass is because she thought you were cute. Tell me--" Will schools his face into one of mocking concern, "Did she give you a spanking?"
Tunny shoots him a distinctly withering look and says, "Don't think you're safe from getting the shit beaten out of you just because Grace gave my crutches back to the hospital. I only need one foot to kick your ass."
"You'd have to catch me first, gimp boy," Will retorts with a beatific smile.
"Children," Grace raises her voice to speak over them, "Don't make me put the both of you in time out."
"Would this involve a sexy school marm outfit?" Tunny asks. "Because I could totally get into that." He waggles his eyebrows at Grace, who laughs and lightly smacks him upside the head.
"You see how she treats me?" Tunny complains to Will, making an exaggerated show of rubbing his head where Grace hit him. "I'm in an abusive relationship."
Will snorts. "Psh, you totally deserved it." His next remark is to Grace, "If you think he's bad now, he was even worse in high school."
Grace looks at Tunny, one eyebrow raised, and then back at Will. "I can only imagine." She pauses, her expression turning thoughtful for a moment or two, then says, "How about we play some Truth or Dare right now? I'm feeling nostalgic, and don't worry," she smiles mischievously at Will, "I promise there won't be any public nudity."
---
Will has always been of the opinion that Truth or Dare is a completely bogus and stupid game. In every single game he'd ever been forced to play before tonight, the questions inevitably turned to stuff about sex, and the dares, well, Will's still a little bitter about that public pool stunt Tunny brought up earlier.
But this time, it's different. This time, it's actually kind of fun.
It starts with a surprisingly long streak of truths that lets them learn a lot about each other. Among other things, they learn that Grace is fucking terrified of spiders, that Tunny hit on Johnny's mom the first time he got wasted, that Will took piano lessons for a year way back when because he had a major crush on his teacher. The only problem with any of it is that every truth Will remembers about Tunny (and every smile it gets out of Tunny when he says as much) keeps leaving him feeling giddy and sort of light-headed.
Grace winds up being the first of them to choose a dare. Judging by the smirk that Tunny gets on his face (it's up to him to pick the dare), Will just knows it isn't going to end well. He just hopes Tunny won't be a total dick to Grace about it, and finds himself wondering whether he'd be more concerned for Grace's safety or Tunny's if Tunny's dare wound up going too far.
"I dare you to shotgun with Will," Tunny says.
Will feels some of the color drain out of his face, only to come rushing back with a vengeance. Oh fuck.
He must have made some sort of strangled noise without realizing, because Grace darts a glance over to him, frowns a little at his expression, then looks back to Tunny. "Shotgun? What's that?"
"One person takes a hit out of the bong, pipe, joint, whatever, and then blows it directly into someone else's mouth," Will answers numbly. It's also a conveniently sneaky way to get someone to make out with you, but Will doesn't tell her that part. He swallows, clears his throat, then asks, "Tunny, man, shouldn't she be doing this with you? It'd be sort of weird for me to..." he gestures lamely. The situation really has startled Will into a loss for words, but he's also trying to figure out what the fuck Tunny is trying to pull.
Tunny shrugs, his smirk still in place. "A dare's a dare. Unless someone's scared," he raises an eyebrow at Grace and holds out the bong to her. When Grace still doesn't move, Tunny nudges her playfully. "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure he's had all his shots."
It's a sign of how rattled Will feels right now that he doesn't even reflexively tell Tunny to go fuck himself (or something similar) for that.
He's about to tell Grace that she doesn't have to do this if she doesn't want to, but stops short when she grabs the bong, takes an impressively big hit off of it, passes it back to Tunny, and then shifts positions so that she can swing one leg over both of Will's, effectively straddling him. Then, just as Will's brain manages to catch up with that, Grace grabs onto his upper arms and presses her mouth to his.
For a second, Will's thoughts get entirely bowled over by his senses. The sharp, acrid taste of the smoke flooding into his mouth; the smooth slide of Grace's lips against his; the citrus-y smell of her hair as it frames the both of their faces in a soft, heavy curtain. It has to be the pot that's making him all light-headed like this, certainly not the hot girl making out with him in his lap -- the hot girl with an admitted crush on him, no less. Then Grace shifts her weight, creating just enough friction that it makes Will's loose grip on her hips tighten convulsively and leaves him choking back an embarrassingly desperate groan in the back of his throat.
Okay, so maybe it's not just the pot making him light-headed.
God damn it, Will thinks, Go almost a year without getting laid and suddenly you're all desperate and shit again like a fucking sixteen year old. The guys would die laughing if they knew. The guys including Tunny. That thought manages to bring Will back to reality enough that he doesn't react when Grace pulls away (even when she lightly nips at his lower lip as she does it).
"Wow," she whispers.
Will lets his breath (and a fucking ton of smoke) out in a slow exhale, the huffs out a laugh. "No shit." He glances over as Grace moves back into Tunny's lap and finds Tunny watching him with an oddly intense look. However, to Will's mild surprise, Tunny doesn't look angry -- even though Tunny's the one who set the dare, Will was expecting his inner jealous psycho streak to come out at some point anyway. As Will watches, Tunny clears his throat and looks away, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand and... blushing? Once again, Will reflects that this has been a really fucking weird night.
"So, Will," Grace's voice cuts through Will's musing, "Truth or Dare?"
Will picks dare, remembering her earlier promise that her dares wouldn't be potentially humiliating like Tunny's or Johnny's.
Mischievous humor flickers briefly through Grace's expression. "I dare you to shotgun with Tunny."
Okay, when Grace promised her dares wouldn't be humiliating, Will realizes in hindsight that he should've made her extend that to dares that could cause heart failure too. Hindsight's twenty-twenty, he thinks dazedly.
Tunny clears his throat and says hesitantly, "That's probably not a good idea." He steadfastly avoids looking at Will as he says it.
Ouch. Whoever said that thing about sticks and stones and how words can't ever hurt you was full of shit, judging from the sharp pang in Will's chest. He does his best to keep it from showing in his face though, just because now would probably be the worst possible time in the history of ever for Tunny to find out about Will's feelings.
"A dare's a dare," Grace throws Tunny's own line back at him. When Tunny's uncertain expression doesn't change, Grace raises both eyebrows at him. "What, so you're too good to get up close and personal with your best friend but I'm not?"
"That's not it at all, it's just..." he trails off and swallows hard, still not looking at Will. "That's not it."
Jesus fucking Christ, Will thinks gloomily, This just keeps getting better and better.
Grace shifts around until she's straddling Tunny's lap just like she did with Will. When she leans down and mouths at a spot just above Tunny's collarbone, Tunny lets his eyes slowly close and leans his head against the back of the couch.
"You know what?" She murmurs into Tunny's neck just loud enough for Will to hear, "I think you're just scared." She punctuates each word with a soft, barely there kiss that makes a trail up Tunny's neck until she breathes the last word in his ear just barely above a whisper.
Oh, she's good. Will's respect for Grace (and her understanding of how Tunny's mind works) rises several notches, especially when Tunny sighs heavily and says, "Okay." The way she understands Tunny is, much as Will hates to admit it, just more proof of how right they are for each other. That and their mesmerizing natural chemistry -- part of Will honestly sort of wishes Tunny had put up more of a fight, just to see what else Grace would have come up with.
As it is, Grace passes Will the bong and the lighter with a discreet wink, then settles back to watch. Will takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly, then takes his hit with another deep, steady inhale. He almost loses control of it when he sees Tunny bite his lip, his expression otherwise unreadable.
Okay, Will thinks nervously as he passes the bong and lighter back to Grace, Here goes nothing. With that, he leans over, just barely rests his fingers on Tunny's jaw (whether it's to keep Tunny's head steady or to keep his own hands from shaking, Will's not entirely sure), and closes the distance between the two of them.
It's absolute fucking torture to keep it as platonic as Will does, but he grits his teeth (figuratively speaking) and does it anyway to keep from freaking Tunny out even more. He doesn't move, doesn't tease Tunny at all like Grace did to him, none of it. In spite of the powerful urge to thread his fingers in Tunny's hair, change the angle a little, and do this damn thing right, Will even keeps the touch on Tunny's face as minimal as possible so Tunny can pull away whenever he wants.
Then it crosses Will's mind that he probably won't get an opportunity like this again, not even close. He can't exactly jam his tongue down Tunny's throat (much as he really, really wants to) because that would fuck things up beyond all recognition. He could try something subtle, though, something Tunny could easily misread that wouldn't freak him out but would still give Will something for all this pain.
After taking a second to pick something (hopefully) subtle enough, Will tentatively runs his thumb in a slow line down Tunny's jaw. He notes down every single detail he can while he does it -- from the warmth of Tunny's skin to the slight rasp of stubble Will can feel under his thumb. It feels pathetic as hell to relish something this small, but Will's going to make the best of this if it fucking kills him (which, given the way the night's been going, it just might).
Just then, Tunny's breath catches and forces him to pull back sharply, coughing out bluish smoke and rubbing his eyes to get them to stop watering. At first Will's worried that he still managed to freak Tunny out somehow, but the thing is, Tunny doesn't look freaked out. Surprised, maybe, but not freaked out. Interesting.
Once Tunny manages to (mostly) catch his breath, he nods at Will. "Your turn, dude," he says, his voice still slightly hoarse from the smoke.
Will picks Grace initially in hopes of responding to the dare she gave him, except he finds he can't really think of one that doesn't seem totally stupid. It's something of a relief when she picks truth. The only question he can think of is kind of stupid too, but it's something Will's been curious about for quite some time, and it's not exactly like he's going to remember any of this in the morning. Fuck it, he thinks, and asks her anyway.
"So why Tunny?" When Grace frowns, obviously confused, Will clarifies, "I mean, you guys seem so different, but it works. What made you pick him?"
"This ought to be good." Tunny looks expectantly at Grace with both eyebrows raised.
"Well, let's see," Grace's brows knit slightly in a thoughtful expression. She starts ticking off on her fingers, "He always knows how to make me laugh, he's interesting and easy to talk to, plus I like the fact that there's a really kind, good person hiding under all the tattoos and hostility," (this gets a snort of laughter out of Will, which earns him an unamused look from Tunny), "It's definite proof that you can't judge a book by its cover." Just as Tunny's taking another hit from the bong (and looking entirely too goddamn smug), she adds in a surprisingly casual tone, "Oh, and he looks great naked."
Will has to exert a superhuman amount of self control to keep from asking her for proof. Crush on him aside, she might possibly take that the wrong way.
Tunny laughs (and loses all the smoke from his hit in the process). "What can I say? She speaks the truth." The slight blush kind of ruins the smug effect he was apparently going for, though. After a second, he grins. "Holy shit, I just realized something." At the questioning looks he gets from both Will and Grace, Tunny explains, "A foxy older woman is using me for my body. I'm living my high school dream!" He shoves his shoulder hard into Will's. "And you and Johnny said it would never happen, you fuckers."
"You didn't even have to do something unbelievably gay like being her cabana boy to make it happen either," Will replies with a smirk, "Nice."
Grace arches a brow at Tunny. "I'd watch it with those 'older woman' comments if I were you." It lacks any real threat though, considering the way her mouth quirks in the beginnings of a smile as she says it.
When Grace asks him, Tunny picks truth, which doesn't really surprise Will. The thoughtful, mischievous look she gets on her face actually kind of worries him (judging by the way Tunny starts to look a little nervous, Will's not the only one). The thing that does surprise Will is Grace's question itself.
"What's your deepest, biggest fantasy?"
Link to Part 2
A/N: For the record, here are the costumes that I envisioned Tunny, Will, and Grace wearing:
Tunny's costume (plus peg leg)
Will's costume (plus zombie makeup) (for those who don't know, that's Sid Vicious from the Sex Pistols)
Aaaand Grace's costume (poor boys, they never stood a chance)
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"Courage is found in unlikely places..." -- J. R. R. Tolkien
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Cheers.
Author:
emerald_skiesPairing(s): Tunny/Will/Extraordinary Girl (+ Tunny/Will, Will/EG, Tunny/EG)
Word Count: 30,247
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Every year on Halloween, Jingletown's hottest (and only) night spot, Club Suburbia, holds a costume party. This year, it takes a night of being something they're not in order to make Tunny, Will, and Grace start to see who they really are.
Author's Note: I'm not entirely sure how I came to Halloween costumes when I was kicking around ideas for this, but once I thought of it, it just seemed to fit. I sure as fuck wasn't expecting it to get as huge as it did though, hopefully it's not too crack-tastic and ridiculous /o\ This is dedicated to
looleebelle and pau494 for their amazingly patient and helpful beta work -- seriously, y'all are the best <3"Tunny," Will calls through the bathroom door, "I'm leaving without you if you don't finish primping in the next five minutes."
"Go fuck yourself," Tunny snaps from inside the bathroom, "I'm not primping -- this costume is complicated."
"Oh come on, it's a fucking pirate costume. It's not like it has a million little pieces or anything, how complicated could it be? I had to put on full zombie makeup and I still got ready faster than you."
"First of all, you got ready faster than me because the rest of your costume is shit you already own," Tunny retorts. "Second, you didn't have to pretty much stand on one foot while you were getting ready, and third --" The door opens enough for Tunny to poke his head out, one eyebrow raised. "Your skills with makeup say more about you than they do about me." His face takes on an expression of mock concern.
"Is there something you want to tell me?"
Tunny doesn't know it, but his teasing isn't actually that far off the mark; Will's pretty sure he's not gay but, on the other hand, having a huge, raging crush on his best friend kind of rules out the whole heterosexual thing too. Will just manages not to wince at the painful near-accuracy of Tunny's joke, then recovers quickly with one of his own; he puts one hand on his hip and says, "Bitch please, you're just jealous of how fabulous I am," in his best stereotypical "gay" voice (which comes out sounding suspiciously like Big Gay Al from Southpark).
When Will punctuates the comment with a perfect Z-snap, Tunny's smirk dissolves into laughter. "Yeah, that's it, I'm totally jealous. Now shut up and give me the goddamn peg leg, I think I'm finally done putting all this shit on." After Will obliges, Tunny disappears back into the bathroom but, after a moment, he adds, "For the record, I still think you're a fucking sadist for making me wear this."
"You lost the bet fair and square, so I get to pick your costume. We agreed, remember?"
"I still think you cheated."
Will rolls his eyes and thinks Not this shit again. "If by 'cheated' you mean 'delivered the most epic Call of Duty smackdown in the history of Call of Duty smackdowns' -- twice -- then yeah, I cheated. Now quit bitching and let me see how you look."
"Okay." WIll hears some rustling and the distinct thump of Tunny trying his weight on the peg leg. "Okay, I'm coming out," (Will has to literally bite his tongue to keep from jumping on that comment), "Will, I swear to God, if you laugh at me I will end you."
Of course, when Tunny opens the door and steps out of the bathroom, Will can't help how he bursts out laughing -- not so much at the costume, but at the distinctly pissed off look on Tunny's face.
Well, okay, some of the laughing is at the costume too; an eyepatch kind of spoils any effect a murderous glare might hope to have. "Oh my God," Will gasps out between guffaws, "That's fantastic."
"Bite me, you fucking Thriller reject. Now I get why you 'forgot' to bring the sword," Tunny mutters. He tries to sidestep around Will but Will stops him by putting his hand on Tunny's shoulder. Up close, Will sees that Tunny's actually blushing now and still looks kind of pissed off, which makes Will start to feel like shit for teasing him.
"Hey," he says in a softer, kinder voice, "Relax, I was just giving you shit for grins, okay? You look good." Will swallows hard before he says what he knows for sure will calm Tunny down, "Grace will love it."
The slight smile this (predictably) gets out of Tunny makes Will's stomach do a slow roll. "You think?"
She'd be crazy not to, is what Will thinks. "I know," is what he says instead.
"Well all right, then." Tunny's smile widens into a grin that looks almost as wicked as it used to before he left. A pang goes through Will at the sight of it -- God, he missed that smile. He thinks about how Grace is the one who makes Tunny smile like that anymore, not him, and the pang sharpens.
That's it, Will thinks, I am officially fucked.
"Hey," Tunny's voice jerks Will out of his reverie. Tunny frowns slightly, his expression one of concern, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Will answers a little too quickly. He notices that his hand is still resting on Tunny's shoulder and pulls away like it burned him. Tunny raises an eyebrow, then heads toward the door without saying anything.
Will knows it's going to be a long night when he catches himself checking out Tunny's ass on the way to the car. Oh yeah, I am so fucked.
---
Somewhere between beer number three and beer number four, Will starts to think he might do something painful and permanent to Tunny if Tunny doesn't stop craning his head around to look for Grace. It doesn't usually bother Will this much -- Tunny always acts kind of out of sorts when Grace isn't around -- but the beers aren't mixing well with his frustration at himself and Tunny and life in general. If anything, the beers feel like they're only making Will's mood worse but, on the other hand, he figures if he drinks enough of them he'll either stop caring or pass out. Both options sound a lot better than dealing with this shit sober.
When Tunny turns to check the door again, Will nudges Tunny in the shin with his foot under the table. "Dude, seriously, she'll be here. Maybe she hit traffic or something."
Tunny gives him a look that almost makes Will grin in spite of himself. As far as Will can remember, Tunny's the only person he's ever known who can be a smartass using only his eyebrows.
"Okay," Will concedes, "You're right, Jingletown's too small to have traffic, whatever. Maybe her car broke down."
"Then she would have called." Tunny checks his cell phone again.
Will rolls his eyes. "Fine," he says dryly, "It's all a conspiracy designed to drive you crazy. We've been planning it for weeks."
Tunny's mouth twitches in a barely concealed smile. "I'm being a dick, huh?"
"You say that like it's a surprise. I see it as one of those facts of life -- grass is green, the sky is blue, and Tunny Clarke is a dick, stay tuned for news at eleven."
That gets an honest-to-God grin out of Tunny. "Whatever, I'm having trouble taking insults seriously from a dude wearing makeup."
"Zombie makeup, God damn it, it's what it said on the kit." Will moves to smack Tunny in the head but Tunny dodges easily.
Tunny turns on his stool to check the door again but then he glances over at Will and (to Will's surprise) seems to think better of it. Instead, he takes a healthy swig out of his beer, sets it down, and sighs. "She could at least tell me what her costume is instead of leaving us hanging with all this surprise bullshit. The suspense is killing me."
"You're just mad because your puppy dog eyes thing didn't work on her."
Tunny responds eloquently by flipping him off.
Tunny's amazing knack for getting his way just by getting this sad, pitiful look in his eyes used to drive Will crazy -- it was like kryptonite to pretty much every girl they had ever known growing up (even Heather, much to Will's annoyance back then). To everyone's amazement, Grace turned out to be immune; in fact, she had managed to give Tunny a taste of his own medicine on more than one occasion..
Grace's ability to see through Tunny's bullshit (and love him anyway) is one of the things Will likes best about her. Even though he bitches and moans about it, Will suspects Tunny secretly likes that about her too -- mostly because very few people have ever shown a consistent ability to keep Tunny on his toes.
A flicker of white over by the door of the club catches Will's eye; he almost drops his beer in shock when he looks closer and sees what it is.
Grace. To be more specific, Grace walking toward them in a nurse costume that literally makes Will's jaw drop. The neckline of it is low enough to tease (but high enough to leave some things to the imagination), and the skirt is short enough to show a very distracting expanse of her legs between it and the tops of her white thigh high stockings. The headpiece, stethoscope, and red heels top off the outfit and make it look like something straight out of the Playboy channel.
Not that Will would know anything about that. It's all the cable guy's fault that that channel just happened to find its way into Will's subscription.
Tunny's brows knit in a slight frown. "What's up with you?" Unfortunately, he takes a sip of beer as he turns to see what stunned Will so thoroughly -- he doesn't quite do a spit take when he spots Grace, but it's a close thing. Tunny winds up inhaling the mouthful of beer instead, and spends the next ten seconds or so coughing and swearing under his breath (what little he has of it, anyway). Will feels a touch of sympathy for him; beer probably hurts like a bitch when it goes up your nose like that.
"Jesus fucking Christ," Will murmurs faintly. Tunny nods, but doesn't say anything. Huh, something finally managed to shut Tunny up, Will thinks, still slightly dazed himself. Now I've seen everything.
Grace greets them both with a cheerful wave and casual, "Hi, boys" when she reaches their table. She stops and looks Tunny up and down, her expression one of distinct amusement. "I like your costume, it's very Johnny Depp."
Tunny looks entirely too pleased with himself at that (Will just barely manages not to roll his eyes).
"Thanks," Tunny grins back at her, "It took forever to come up with. I thought the peg leg was a nice touch, myself."
Will smirks and arches one eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Then why did you spend the entire ride here bitching about it and how sadistic I am for making you wear it?" At Grace's curious look, Will elaborates, "We were playing Call of Duty and we had this bet that whoever won the next match got to pick the loser's costume. I kicked every square inch of his ass, so he got to get in touch with his inner Long John Silver." He grins smugly at Tunny, who's giving him a look that promises painful, humiliating revenge at some point in the future. "Hey man, it was better than your idea."
"Which was?" Grace quirks an eyebrow at Tunny (just as his expression switches back to an utterly unconvincing innocent look).
"He was going to wear his uniform and use it to guilt free drinks out of people as thanks 'for serving his country'," Will answers for Tunny, complete with air quotes.
"Says the man who would so be dressed like Justin Bieber right now if he hadn't cheated like a bitch," Tunny retorts.
"I gave you the rematch you asked for and I still kicked your ass. You lost fair and square, so sack up and take your punishment like a man."
Grace raises one hand slightly, as if asking a question in a class. "Do I even want to know why you guys bet over Halloween costumes instead of something normal like...money?"
"We got bored," Will answers with a shrug.
"Don't knock it," Tunny continues, "Johnny doesn't play anymore because he lost to me last time and I made him wear a dress. He got all whiny just because someone got video of him singing 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President' while he was drunk and posted it on Youtube."
Grace's eyes widen. "Wait, 'Marilyn Monroe goes wild' was him?"
Both Will and Tunny stare at her in astonishment, then at each other, and then they both burst out laughing. "Oh my God," Tunny says once he recovers, wiping tears of mirth out of his eyes, "I'm so telling him you saw that."
Grace swats him lightly on the arm (even though she was laughing too). "You will not! You're both horrible people. And you," she rounds on Tunny, "You still owe me an apology for calling me a straight-laced goody-two-shoes."
Only the fact that his face is covered in zombie makeup keeps Will from smacking the heel of his hand against his forehead. As it is, he heaves a sigh and asks, "Tunny, what did you do?" I find myself asking that question way too often.
Tunny looks slightly uncomfortable. "We were talking about high school and I may have teased her a little--"
"He made fun of me," Grace interrupts, "Because I didn't go out and get wasted every weekend like you guys did in high school. According to him, I never learned how to get wild and crazy or otherwise do anything out of the ordinary because of that. Because I am," she raises an eyebrow at Tunny, "a straight-laced goody-two-shoes." She turns back to Will, "I took it a little personally and decided to prove him wrong." She gestures to her costume. "What do you think?
Will looks at her, decides not to answer that (on the grounds that his honest opinion would probably make Tunny punch him in the face), then glances at Tunny. "Tunny, I can't decide if you're a complete dumbass or an evil genius."
"I know which one he is," Grace mutters, still looking somewhat put out.
Tunny heaves an exaggerated long-suffering sigh, grabs Grace's hands, and pulls her into a hug. She's short enough that he can (and does) rest his chin on the top of her head. "I'm sorry," Tunny tells her with actual sincerity. He cups Grace's face with both his hands and looks directly into her eyes, "I'm a dick, Will can back me up on this," (Will snorts and raises his drink to that), "Can you ever," he kisses her forehead, "ever," then the tip of her nose, "ever forgive me?" He kisses her briefly on the lips then smiles at her again. "Please?"
Will sees Grace's expression waver, then start to soften. He can't honestly blame her; Tunny can make it really tough to stay mad at him when he sets his mind to it. It's a handy skill considering how good Tunny is at pissing people off in the first place.
Finally, fighting to hold back a smile, Grace relents, "Okay. Dance with me for as long as I want and we'll call it even."
Tunny just smiles wider and kisses her again. The way they're looking at each other -- like no one else is there -- makes something in Will's chest ache. Part of it hurts because no one's ever looked at Will that way (not even Heather). The other part, pathetic as it sounds, hurts because Will sort of wishes Tunny would. It's depressing and sappy and Johnny would probably make fun of Will for the rest of their lives if he knew, but there it is.
As Grace makes her way out onto the dance floor, Tunny starts to get up to follow her, but stops and looks over at Will in a way that actually seems kind of...concerned. He leans closer and asks in an undertone, "Hey, you gonna be okay here? I know it's a dick move to leave you here by yourself and--"
"Go," Will cuts him off with a wave, "Don't deprive me of the hilariousness I'll get out of watching her face when she sees what you call dancing."
Tunny makes a face and mutters, "Eat me," as he gets up to follow Grace.
"See, it's remarks like that and the way you won't go dance with your ridiculously hot girlfriend -- your ridiculously hot girlfriend that you don't deserve, I might add -- that really make me wonder about you." Will snorts in amusement when Tunny responds by flipping him off behind his back.
A song with a slow, heavy, compelling bass beat starts up just as Tunny reaches Grace on the dance floor. Will smirks, settles back in his chair, and waits; as Johnny once put it, even epileptics would look at Tunny's dancing and wonder what the fuck was wrong with him (which, coming from someone who still thinks the robot is cool, is saying a lot). Plus, potential amusement aside, watching Tunny make an ass of himself takes some of the edge off of Will's feelings for him.
Except, much to Will's surprise, Tunny starts to dance with Grace and actually doesn't suck. He's not exactly going to be turning up on Soul Train anytime soon, but he's still doing significantly better than what Will is used to out of him.
Of course, a lot of that is probably Grace's doing. Grace, it turns out, is a fucking amazing dancer, and something about that mixes with the natural chemistry Will sees between her and Tunny and makes the two of them look surprisingly good together. Distractingly so, even. Her hips roll and sway easily under Tunny's hands and the two of them aren't exactly pressed up against each other, but something about the look passing between them makes Will feel like he's watching something deeply personal. I can't watch them like this,, Will thinks. I shouldn't be watching something like this.
Except he can't take his eyes off them.
Will watches Tunny nudge his right leg between Grace's while he snakes one hand up her back to draw her snugly against him. He watches when Grace hooks one of her legs around Tunny's and bends back impossibly far over his arm while he holds her there and trails his other hand over her face, down her neck, between her breasts and down her stomach until it finds its way back to her hip again. Will watches as Tunny pulls Grace back up against him again and the look between them turns smoldering. Will's mouth goes dry at that look, and he can't help but notice that the hand holding the beer he sips from to fix that shakes a little when he sets it down.
It's that look and the way Tunny is grinning at her with his lower lip caught between his teeth that Will remembers something Johnny said once; that the way a person dances can tell you a lot about how they probably are in bed. At the time, Will had told Johnny he was full of shit, but now Will kind of sees Johnny's point. Will closes his eyes for a moment just to clear his head, but his imagination kicks in instead. For a split second, he's holding one of Grace's stocking-clad legs up over his hip so he can push all the way into her while Tunny pulls Will back against his chest so that he can suck a hickey into that one spot on Will's neck that--
Oh fuck. Will yanks himself out of that little daydream before it gets too far and winds up embarrassing him somehow. It's all too much -- to want your best friend is one thing, but to want your best friend's girlfriend at the same time seems fucked up on a pretty epically Freudian scale to Will. Besides, there's even less of a chance of that happening than anything Will could hope to have with just Tunny. A thought crosses Will's mind that makes him hang his head and smile bitterly to himself; This is what I get for listening to Johnny.
Will comes out of his brief mental fog just in time to catch some of the lyrics of a faster song that must have started while he was daydreaming.
"Sticks and stones may break my bones / but chains and whips excite me..."
Will takes that as a sign from God (or whoever the fuck is playing this cosmic joke on him) that this calls for another drink. Or twelve.
---
Grace intercepts Will on his way back to their table. Actually, he's paying so little attention to what's going on around him that he walks straight into her. Will briefly reflects that it's probably a bad sign of what his life has become that he manages not to spill a drop of his rather stiff belt of whiskey in the collision.
Grace's mouth quirks slightly in a crooked smile that she had to have picked up from Tunny (Will can't help but note that it looks just as good when she does it). "Nice save," she nods at the whiskey in his hand.
"What can I say? I'm a man of many talents." Will almost winces when his brain catches up with his mouth a couple of seconds later. Tossing innuendos at Grace is the last fucking thing I should be doing right now.
Grace's smile grows into a grin. "I bet. Let's see if dancing is one of them."
Except that.
Will downs the glass of whiskey in one swig that burns its way down his throat, ditches the glass on a nearby empty table, and lets Grace lead him out onto the dance floor. His brain replays all the reasons this is a terrible idea the whole time, but then it gives up when Grace guides his hands to her waist and moves in closer to him. It brings his earlier fantasy rushing back in dizzying detail. I am so fucked, Will thinks resignedly as Grace drapes her arms loosely around his neck.
"Are you okay?" Grace gives him a look of sincere concern. "You look like you have something on your mind."
That's one way of putting it. "I don't know," he answers slowly, "It's just been a really... weird night."
"How do you mean?"
An idea strikes Will that makes him smile a little in spite of his nerves. "Well, first of all, I'm trying to figure out where the fuck Tunny managed to get actual rhythm."
If Grace notices the obvious attempt to steer the conversation away from himself, she doesn't call him on it. "Come on, he wasn't that bad before." Will's answering look makes her burst out laughing. "Okay, fine," she concedes, "His dancing needed a little work."
"No, dancing is what his old moves wanted to be when they grew up." (Grace snorts out another laugh at this) "I'm guessing you had something to do with his surprise improvement?"
Grace nods. "I did dance in junior high and high school and there was this one day when Tunny really didn't want to do his normal physical therapy. I decided to get creative and, well," she shrugs, "The rest is history."
"Speaking of Tunny," Will changes the subject again, "Where is he? I thought he was supposed to be dancing with you to make up for being...well... himself."
"He was, but then he said he was going to go look for Johnny." She glances behind her with a slight frown. "I think he might have just wanted a break though, he was limping pretty badly. Why he couldn't just tell me that is anybody's guess," she says with a slightly exasperated sigh. She raises an eyebrow in response to Will's wry smile. "What?"
"Tunny hates dancing, mostly because he sucks at it -- or," Will amends, "He used to, and now he also probably doesn't like it because it hurts after a while. He'll do it anyway and never complain once about it though, because he knows it makes you happy. Well," he adds as an afterthought, "That and because he probably doesn't want to look like a pussy in front of you."
There's a thoughtful pause while Grace considers all this. Eventually, she regards Will with a curious look. "How do you know all this?"
"Well, first of all, I'm a guy. Then there's the fact that I've known the guy since second grade," Will smiles a little, suddenly feeling nostalgic. "I could probably read his mind by now if I wanted to." His smile widens into a slight grin. "After all, Johnny always did say that Tunny and I share a brain."
"You really care about him, don't you?" The question suddenly makes Grace's curious look feel uncomfortably like Will is being X-rayed.
"Fuck yeah I do, he's my best friend," he answers a little too quickly.
Grace notices. "That's not what I mean." Will's heart starts beating uncomfortably fast while the rest of him starts to feel distinctly trapped. Grace doesn't push it, though. "He talked about you a lot."
Will blinks, suddenly confused. "What?"
"In the hospital. When we'd talk he would always talk about you and Johnny and all this crazy stuff you guys did together. He talked about you the most, though, he said he felt like you understood him the best."
Will honestly has no fucking clue what to say to that. The part of him that handles wishful thinking is distracting him too much to come up with a good response anyway.
After another thoughtful pause, Grace gives him a rueful grin. "Y'know what's funny? I used to be kind of jealous of you."
There's a brief, dizzying, giddy second where Will almost tells her "Likewise", but he just barely stops himself. Instead, he simply asks, "Why?"
"Because Tunny has this thing with you that no one else can really touch," she answers easily. "I used to worry that I could never get as close to him as you already were."
If it were anyone else but Grace, Will would be certain by this point that this was all Johnny and Tunny fucking with him, but something in Grace's expression makes him believe her. Barely.
"He does love you, you know," Will begins hesitantly. "He's changed a lot for you, which is saying a lot coming from a stubborn fucker like Tunny. He's been with--" Will clears his throat and tries again, "There have been other girls," (A lot of other girls, he adds mentally), "But he acts totally different with you."
There's a lump in Will's throat by the time he finishes talking, mostly because that was the first time he ever admitted out loud exactly why he has no chance with Tunny, but the way Grace smiles and blushes a little takes some of the edge off the pain. The universe fucking owes me for this, he thinks with a touch of bitterness.
"I'm sorry," Grace snaps him out of his moping. "This is a party, I didn't mean to make it all serious and stuff." Before Will gets a chance to respond, she keeps going, "I forgot to say this before, but I really like your costume." She pauses to look him up and down the same way she looked at Tunny earlier, "It's a good look for you. I had no idea you could make zombie makeup look so good."
It might be entirely possible that this is just a sign that all the booze has finally started to fuck up Will's brain for good, but he's pretty sure Grace just hit on him. He waits a couple of seconds for the punch line or some other sign she was just fucking with him, but it doesn't come. Embarrassingly, Will feels a slight blush heat up his face, but at least the zombie makeup and the low lighting keep her from seeing that.
He can't do anything to hide his small, pleased smile, though. Grace answers it with one of her own and says, "You're cute when you smile like that, you should do it more often."
Will's starting to get tired of how off balance he keeps feeling in this conversation, but what the hell is he supposed to say to that? Try as he might, he honestly can't think of a response that wouldn't end with him looking like a dumbass, Tunny kicking his head in, or both. Will decides to go with the lesser (and less painful) of the two evils; "Um...thanks." Jesus fucking Christ, is she blushing too?
This time Grace is the one to change the subject. "So," she starts, raising an eyebrow at him, "I can't help but notice that you didn't answer my question earlier when I asked what you thought of my costume."
"Yeah, I didn't because there's no way I could have responded that wouldn't have ended in me getting my ass kicked."
"Come on," Grace gives Will the same pleading look he's seen her use to put Tunny in his place, "Please tell me? I'm really curious what you think."
The look hits its mark dead fucking center because, against what's left of his better judgment, Will admits, "Well, the words 'smoking hot' may have crossed my mind." Whatever, he thinks, I'm fucked as it is, it's not like it can get any worse.
Grace laughs, definitely blushing now, then considers Will carefully for a moment. She catches her lower lip between her teeth while she does it, which makes something in Will's chest ache again because it's another look she got from Tunny. Unlike their shared crooked smile, however, this expression looks even better when Grace does it.
"If I tell you something, will you promise not to make fun of me?" she finally asks.
"Uh...sure."
"There's a tiny chance," Grace says in a soft, almost flirtatious voice, "That I may or may not possibly have a little crush on you." She trails her hands over Will's shoulders and down his arms as she talks, her eyes never leaving his, until she grasps his hands and gently pulls them farther around her waist -- which just happens to pull her much closer into Will's personal space.
Will suddenly feels so light-headed that he almost stumbles -- he can't tell if it's because of Grace's perfume (something citrus-y, possibly oranges) fucking with his head or pure, honest-to-God shock. A giddy, slightly hysterical thought crosses his mind; Maybe the perfume is fucking with my head so bad that I'm hallucinating. That has to be it.
When Will finally manages to talk, his voice comes out surprisingly hoarse. "What about Tunny?"
"I love him, so much so that it feels weird to imagine life without him. But," Grace adds calmly, "I just also happen to like you."
"Good to know--" Will clears his throat, "But that's not what I meant." He swallows hard. "Please tell me he doesn't know."
Will gets the impression this wasn't an answer Grace was expecting. "Why?"
In a best case scenario, Will thinks he would probably lose Tunny's friendship for good (which is bad enough without the painful extra feelings attached). In a worst case scenario, well, "Because he would take off his fake leg and beat me to death with it if he knew." And Tunny would still hate him.
Grace gets that crooked smile on her face again. "Oh, I have a feeling you're misreading him. I don't think he would do that at all."
How she sounds so fucking calm about this, Will has no idea. Then again, something about it does manage to calm him down a little too, which is a plus. Confusion, at this point, turns out to be a lot easier to handle than freaking out. "What do you mean by that?" He asks slowly, "How do you know?"
Grace just winks at him. "Trust me."
---
The three of them wind up back at Tunny and Grace's house after Tunny comes back and tells them that he found Johnny leaving with some chick dressed like Courtney Love. Since going to this costume party was Johnny's idea in the first place, Tunny reasons, the three of them might as well go somewhere where the drinks are cheaper, the music is better ("none of this top 40 bullshit"), and they don't have to wait thirty minutes to use the bathroom just because couples seem to think that's a brilliant place to fuck.
That's how Will finds himself stretched out next to Tunny on the living room couch, staring into his beer like it holds the secrets of the universe while Tunny smokes out of a bong made of swirling black and white glass. MTV's late night block of music videos is playing on the T.V., but neither of them is really paying attention.
Will takes a hit off the bong every now and again, but not nearly as much as Tunny because Will figures that the alcohol is fucking with his head enough as it is. Getting any more wasted at this point would probably take Will into the realm of crazy Vegas weddings and possible trips to jail. What little weed he does smoke does help to take some of the edge off his nerves, but it's also sort of backfiring on him too. Mostly because watching Tunny periodically put his mouth on the tip of the bong keeps doing very distracting things to Will's imagination (and his breathing). At least Tunny doesn't seem to notice Will's apparent restlessness -- he's too busy talking Will's goddamn ear off (because, as they discovered long ago, getting high seems to make Tunny extra A.D.D.)
Suddenly, Will notices that Tunny has stopped talking just as Tunny snaps his fingers a few times about two inches away from Will's face. "Hello? Earth to Will, I've been trying get your attention for the last five minutes, dude."
"Um, yeah, sorry," Will mumbles as he sits up and nervously rakes one hand through his hair. He turns to give Tunny his obvious, undivided attention. "What's up?"
"I was saying that you look like you're a million miles away and you've been like this all night -- even Grace knows you enough that she noticed. What's up with you?"
Will just looks at Tunny in miserable silence. Where to start? A whole host of answers floods through Will's mind; some of them things he can't put words to, and others things he doesn't want to put words to. I have feelings for you, Will thinks, The love of your life has a crush on me and I sort of like her too, I miss how easy things used to be between us, I hate that I sometimes feel like I barely know you anymore, I wish I didn't want to kiss you until we both couldn't breathe, I hate that I can't tell you this even though you're the one I always go to when I have a problem... The list seems to go on forever.
"I just have a lot on my mind," Will finally says. Hey, it's not even technically a lie.
Tunny snorts. "Bullshit, you're bottling up some thing or another and beating yourself up over it because you think no one else can handle your shit." When Will doesn't respond right away, Tunny lifts an eyebrow. "Go on, tell me I'm wrong."
One side of Will's mouth twitches in a smile he can't totally control while something in his chest suddenly feels too tight. The mix of resulting feelings hurts, but also feels kind of awesome at the same time. "Whatever, man," Will eventually retorts, "My life is peachy fucking keen, thank you very much."
"Liar." Tunny smirks at him in challenge.
Will doesn't take the bait. "Blow me," he mutters, closing his eyes as he leans back and rests his head against the back of the couch.
They lapse into companionable silence until, after a moment, Tunny breaks it by saying, "Huh, that's new." Just as he's about to ask what the hell Tunny is talking about, Will feels Tunny's fingers slip under the heavy chain of his necklace and slide down to the padlock hanging from it, which also involves Tunny's knuckles grazing lightly over Will's chest. Will's breath catches in his chest but Tunny's hand stays where it is, even though Will's certain Tunny heard him.
"Um," Will swallows hard and tries again when he loses his train of thought for a second. How the hell is Tunny's skin so warm? "I've had it since tenth grade, I just pretty much never wear it. Heather gave it to me, something about being the Nancy to my Sid." Will cracks a grin, "I should have taken the comparison as a warning, it would have saved me a fuck ton of grief later."
"Do you miss her?" Tunny asks quietly. It's such a weird, unexpected question that Will opens his eyes to look over at Tunny. Tunny's watching him with this look on his face that Will's never seen before, doesn't know how to interpret. It makes the air in the room feel weirdly charged, and Will still can't concentrate because Tunny's hand still hasn't moved off of Will's chest. Will also notices that Tunny is just close enough that it would be so easy to just lean over and--
A quiet cough emanates from somewhere just out of Will's peripheral vision, which causes Tunny to yank his hand away from Will's chest as though it had run a current through him. The action leaves Will with a vague sense of loss that he fights hard to ignore; rather than think about it too much, he turns and finds Grace leaning against the entryway to the living room. Her hair, still slightly damp from the shower, is pulled back into a messy bun that goes oddly well with the black denim cutoffs and olive-drab T-shirt she's wearing now. After a second, Will realizes that it's one of Tunny's shirts -- it has "Clarke" stenciled on it in faded black. He doesn't dwell on it too much though; it inspires a confusing mix of feelings, and the way her legs look in those cutoffs is much more interesting anyway.
"I will never get tired of seeing you wearing my shirts," Tunny says to her with a warmth to his voice that wrings Will's heart. The feeling that he's watching something he shouldn't, something deeply personal, comes back again.
Grace smiles a little at that, catching her lower lip between her teeth for a second, then crosses the room and settles herself in Tunny's lap. She relaxes against him and rests her head on his shoulder while Tunny just puts one arm around her, a simple but powerful gesture. It makes Will think back to what Grace said earlier about being jealous of him and this so-called "thing" he has with Tunny. What the fuck was she worried about? They look so good together, there's no way in hell I could top that.
"So," Grace says, "I wanted to ask you something."
"If it involves a striptease, you have my undivided attention," Tunny replies with a smirk.
Grace doesn't dignify that with a comment. "Before I ask, I want you to promise you won't make fun of me again because if you do, I'm going to bed and you can sleep on the couch."
Will snorts at this, which gets him a reproachful look from Tunny.
"Traitor."
"Bite me, I'm not even a little bit sorry," Will answers back with a grin.
"As I was saying," Grace interrupts them, "I want you to promise me that you won't make fun of me."
Tunny heaves a dramatic, put upon sigh. "Okay, okay, I promise. Scout's honor." Will has to fight to control the urge to point out that Tunny never made it past Cub Scouts. Tunny glances over at Will, and one side of his mouth twitches in amusement, as though he knew what Will was trying not to say.
"Our little talk the other day got me to thinking," Grace starts carefully, "I've never smoked pot before -- actually," she corrects herself, "I've never smoked anything -- and, well, I was sort of hoping you guys could...um...help me out with that." She bites her lip and looks between the two of them, gauging their reactions.
Will raises an eyebrow and looks over at Tunny. "Dude, is she asking us to corrupt her?"
"I think so," Tunny says, sounding surprised.
"I'm game if you are," Will remarks with a shrug.
"I'm sitting right here," Grace mutters.
Tunny pretends to ignore her. "Totally, we'll be giving her the rebellious teenager phase she missed out on. It's so sad, like a kid who never got to go to Disneyland or something."
Grace glares at him. "I wasn't kidding about you sleeping on the couch, you know."
"Okay," Tunny raises both hands in a gesture of surrender. "Will's the one who got me into it, so he can do the honors."
Teaching Grace how to smoke out of a bong makes Will think back to the time Tunny was talking about. It was some lazy Saturday in the middle of the summer after eighth grade, and the pot had been absolute shit, at least half stems and seeds because they were fourteen and didn't know any better yet, but they'd still both had a blast getting high in Will's basement and laughing their heads off at South Park all afternoon. It seems like forever ago, but Will still remembers it perfectly -- it's one of his happiest memories, a time before everything started going to shit. Watching as Tunny laughingly tries to teach Grace how to blow smoke rings, Will wonders if Tunny remembers that day too.
Evidently he does, because after that they start reminiscing about all the crazy shit they did in high school (Tunny insists it's part of Grace's "rebellious teenager lessons", to which Grace responds by informing him that he will be sleeping on the couch if he makes fun of her about that one more time). All three of them start to relax more and more as the night wears on; Grace shakes her hair loose from its bun and drapes her legs over Will's lap (while still sitting in Tunny's), Tunny relaxes out of his usual unconsciously rigid military posture, and Will finds himself smiling and laughing a little more easily. It almost feels like old times.
After Tunny finishes telling her a story about a bottle rocket fight between him, Will, and Johnny that almost got them arrested, Grace just looks at both of them, smiling and shaking her head. At their questioning looks, she explains; "I was just thinking that you guys must have played some pretty amazing games of Truth or Dare back then."
"Oh God," Will cringes at the memories her remark prompts. "Don't ever play Truth or Dare with Johnny. Something always winds up on fire -- that is, when it doesn't involve someone being naked in public."
Tunny grins. "Like the time he dared you to skinny dip in the public pool down the block and then we took your clothes and bailed?"
Will groans and hides his face in his hands. "Fuck, don't remind me." Then, another memory occurs to him. He looks up and grins back at Tunny, "How about the time he dared you to streak at Homecoming? I still maintain that the only reason the principal didn't expel your skinny ass is because she thought you were cute. Tell me--" Will schools his face into one of mocking concern, "Did she give you a spanking?"
Tunny shoots him a distinctly withering look and says, "Don't think you're safe from getting the shit beaten out of you just because Grace gave my crutches back to the hospital. I only need one foot to kick your ass."
"You'd have to catch me first, gimp boy," Will retorts with a beatific smile.
"Children," Grace raises her voice to speak over them, "Don't make me put the both of you in time out."
"Would this involve a sexy school marm outfit?" Tunny asks. "Because I could totally get into that." He waggles his eyebrows at Grace, who laughs and lightly smacks him upside the head.
"You see how she treats me?" Tunny complains to Will, making an exaggerated show of rubbing his head where Grace hit him. "I'm in an abusive relationship."
Will snorts. "Psh, you totally deserved it." His next remark is to Grace, "If you think he's bad now, he was even worse in high school."
Grace looks at Tunny, one eyebrow raised, and then back at Will. "I can only imagine." She pauses, her expression turning thoughtful for a moment or two, then says, "How about we play some Truth or Dare right now? I'm feeling nostalgic, and don't worry," she smiles mischievously at Will, "I promise there won't be any public nudity."
---
Will has always been of the opinion that Truth or Dare is a completely bogus and stupid game. In every single game he'd ever been forced to play before tonight, the questions inevitably turned to stuff about sex, and the dares, well, Will's still a little bitter about that public pool stunt Tunny brought up earlier.
But this time, it's different. This time, it's actually kind of fun.
It starts with a surprisingly long streak of truths that lets them learn a lot about each other. Among other things, they learn that Grace is fucking terrified of spiders, that Tunny hit on Johnny's mom the first time he got wasted, that Will took piano lessons for a year way back when because he had a major crush on his teacher. The only problem with any of it is that every truth Will remembers about Tunny (and every smile it gets out of Tunny when he says as much) keeps leaving him feeling giddy and sort of light-headed.
Grace winds up being the first of them to choose a dare. Judging by the smirk that Tunny gets on his face (it's up to him to pick the dare), Will just knows it isn't going to end well. He just hopes Tunny won't be a total dick to Grace about it, and finds himself wondering whether he'd be more concerned for Grace's safety or Tunny's if Tunny's dare wound up going too far.
"I dare you to shotgun with Will," Tunny says.
Will feels some of the color drain out of his face, only to come rushing back with a vengeance. Oh fuck.
He must have made some sort of strangled noise without realizing, because Grace darts a glance over to him, frowns a little at his expression, then looks back to Tunny. "Shotgun? What's that?"
"One person takes a hit out of the bong, pipe, joint, whatever, and then blows it directly into someone else's mouth," Will answers numbly. It's also a conveniently sneaky way to get someone to make out with you, but Will doesn't tell her that part. He swallows, clears his throat, then asks, "Tunny, man, shouldn't she be doing this with you? It'd be sort of weird for me to..." he gestures lamely. The situation really has startled Will into a loss for words, but he's also trying to figure out what the fuck Tunny is trying to pull.
Tunny shrugs, his smirk still in place. "A dare's a dare. Unless someone's scared," he raises an eyebrow at Grace and holds out the bong to her. When Grace still doesn't move, Tunny nudges her playfully. "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure he's had all his shots."
It's a sign of how rattled Will feels right now that he doesn't even reflexively tell Tunny to go fuck himself (or something similar) for that.
He's about to tell Grace that she doesn't have to do this if she doesn't want to, but stops short when she grabs the bong, takes an impressively big hit off of it, passes it back to Tunny, and then shifts positions so that she can swing one leg over both of Will's, effectively straddling him. Then, just as Will's brain manages to catch up with that, Grace grabs onto his upper arms and presses her mouth to his.
For a second, Will's thoughts get entirely bowled over by his senses. The sharp, acrid taste of the smoke flooding into his mouth; the smooth slide of Grace's lips against his; the citrus-y smell of her hair as it frames the both of their faces in a soft, heavy curtain. It has to be the pot that's making him all light-headed like this, certainly not the hot girl making out with him in his lap -- the hot girl with an admitted crush on him, no less. Then Grace shifts her weight, creating just enough friction that it makes Will's loose grip on her hips tighten convulsively and leaves him choking back an embarrassingly desperate groan in the back of his throat.
Okay, so maybe it's not just the pot making him light-headed.
God damn it, Will thinks, Go almost a year without getting laid and suddenly you're all desperate and shit again like a fucking sixteen year old. The guys would die laughing if they knew. The guys including Tunny. That thought manages to bring Will back to reality enough that he doesn't react when Grace pulls away (even when she lightly nips at his lower lip as she does it).
"Wow," she whispers.
Will lets his breath (and a fucking ton of smoke) out in a slow exhale, the huffs out a laugh. "No shit." He glances over as Grace moves back into Tunny's lap and finds Tunny watching him with an oddly intense look. However, to Will's mild surprise, Tunny doesn't look angry -- even though Tunny's the one who set the dare, Will was expecting his inner jealous psycho streak to come out at some point anyway. As Will watches, Tunny clears his throat and looks away, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand and... blushing? Once again, Will reflects that this has been a really fucking weird night.
"So, Will," Grace's voice cuts through Will's musing, "Truth or Dare?"
Will picks dare, remembering her earlier promise that her dares wouldn't be potentially humiliating like Tunny's or Johnny's.
Mischievous humor flickers briefly through Grace's expression. "I dare you to shotgun with Tunny."
Okay, when Grace promised her dares wouldn't be humiliating, Will realizes in hindsight that he should've made her extend that to dares that could cause heart failure too. Hindsight's twenty-twenty, he thinks dazedly.
Tunny clears his throat and says hesitantly, "That's probably not a good idea." He steadfastly avoids looking at Will as he says it.
Ouch. Whoever said that thing about sticks and stones and how words can't ever hurt you was full of shit, judging from the sharp pang in Will's chest. He does his best to keep it from showing in his face though, just because now would probably be the worst possible time in the history of ever for Tunny to find out about Will's feelings.
"A dare's a dare," Grace throws Tunny's own line back at him. When Tunny's uncertain expression doesn't change, Grace raises both eyebrows at him. "What, so you're too good to get up close and personal with your best friend but I'm not?"
"That's not it at all, it's just..." he trails off and swallows hard, still not looking at Will. "That's not it."
Jesus fucking Christ, Will thinks gloomily, This just keeps getting better and better.
Grace shifts around until she's straddling Tunny's lap just like she did with Will. When she leans down and mouths at a spot just above Tunny's collarbone, Tunny lets his eyes slowly close and leans his head against the back of the couch.
"You know what?" She murmurs into Tunny's neck just loud enough for Will to hear, "I think you're just scared." She punctuates each word with a soft, barely there kiss that makes a trail up Tunny's neck until she breathes the last word in his ear just barely above a whisper.
Oh, she's good. Will's respect for Grace (and her understanding of how Tunny's mind works) rises several notches, especially when Tunny sighs heavily and says, "Okay." The way she understands Tunny is, much as Will hates to admit it, just more proof of how right they are for each other. That and their mesmerizing natural chemistry -- part of Will honestly sort of wishes Tunny had put up more of a fight, just to see what else Grace would have come up with.
As it is, Grace passes Will the bong and the lighter with a discreet wink, then settles back to watch. Will takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly, then takes his hit with another deep, steady inhale. He almost loses control of it when he sees Tunny bite his lip, his expression otherwise unreadable.
Okay, Will thinks nervously as he passes the bong and lighter back to Grace, Here goes nothing. With that, he leans over, just barely rests his fingers on Tunny's jaw (whether it's to keep Tunny's head steady or to keep his own hands from shaking, Will's not entirely sure), and closes the distance between the two of them.
It's absolute fucking torture to keep it as platonic as Will does, but he grits his teeth (figuratively speaking) and does it anyway to keep from freaking Tunny out even more. He doesn't move, doesn't tease Tunny at all like Grace did to him, none of it. In spite of the powerful urge to thread his fingers in Tunny's hair, change the angle a little, and do this damn thing right, Will even keeps the touch on Tunny's face as minimal as possible so Tunny can pull away whenever he wants.
Then it crosses Will's mind that he probably won't get an opportunity like this again, not even close. He can't exactly jam his tongue down Tunny's throat (much as he really, really wants to) because that would fuck things up beyond all recognition. He could try something subtle, though, something Tunny could easily misread that wouldn't freak him out but would still give Will something for all this pain.
After taking a second to pick something (hopefully) subtle enough, Will tentatively runs his thumb in a slow line down Tunny's jaw. He notes down every single detail he can while he does it -- from the warmth of Tunny's skin to the slight rasp of stubble Will can feel under his thumb. It feels pathetic as hell to relish something this small, but Will's going to make the best of this if it fucking kills him (which, given the way the night's been going, it just might).
Just then, Tunny's breath catches and forces him to pull back sharply, coughing out bluish smoke and rubbing his eyes to get them to stop watering. At first Will's worried that he still managed to freak Tunny out somehow, but the thing is, Tunny doesn't look freaked out. Surprised, maybe, but not freaked out. Interesting.
Once Tunny manages to (mostly) catch his breath, he nods at Will. "Your turn, dude," he says, his voice still slightly hoarse from the smoke.
Will picks Grace initially in hopes of responding to the dare she gave him, except he finds he can't really think of one that doesn't seem totally stupid. It's something of a relief when she picks truth. The only question he can think of is kind of stupid too, but it's something Will's been curious about for quite some time, and it's not exactly like he's going to remember any of this in the morning. Fuck it, he thinks, and asks her anyway.
"So why Tunny?" When Grace frowns, obviously confused, Will clarifies, "I mean, you guys seem so different, but it works. What made you pick him?"
"This ought to be good." Tunny looks expectantly at Grace with both eyebrows raised.
"Well, let's see," Grace's brows knit slightly in a thoughtful expression. She starts ticking off on her fingers, "He always knows how to make me laugh, he's interesting and easy to talk to, plus I like the fact that there's a really kind, good person hiding under all the tattoos and hostility," (this gets a snort of laughter out of Will, which earns him an unamused look from Tunny), "It's definite proof that you can't judge a book by its cover." Just as Tunny's taking another hit from the bong (and looking entirely too goddamn smug), she adds in a surprisingly casual tone, "Oh, and he looks great naked."
Will has to exert a superhuman amount of self control to keep from asking her for proof. Crush on him aside, she might possibly take that the wrong way.
Tunny laughs (and loses all the smoke from his hit in the process). "What can I say? She speaks the truth." The slight blush kind of ruins the smug effect he was apparently going for, though. After a second, he grins. "Holy shit, I just realized something." At the questioning looks he gets from both Will and Grace, Tunny explains, "A foxy older woman is using me for my body. I'm living my high school dream!" He shoves his shoulder hard into Will's. "And you and Johnny said it would never happen, you fuckers."
"You didn't even have to do something unbelievably gay like being her cabana boy to make it happen either," Will replies with a smirk, "Nice."
Grace arches a brow at Tunny. "I'd watch it with those 'older woman' comments if I were you." It lacks any real threat though, considering the way her mouth quirks in the beginnings of a smile as she says it.
When Grace asks him, Tunny picks truth, which doesn't really surprise Will. The thoughtful, mischievous look she gets on her face actually kind of worries him (judging by the way Tunny starts to look a little nervous, Will's not the only one). The thing that does surprise Will is Grace's question itself.
"What's your deepest, biggest fantasy?"
Link to Part 2
A/N: For the record, here are the costumes that I envisioned Tunny, Will, and Grace wearing:
Tunny's costume (plus peg leg)
Will's costume (plus zombie makeup) (for those who don't know, that's Sid Vicious from the Sex Pistols)
Aaaand Grace's costume (poor boys, they never stood a chance)
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"Courage is found in unlikely places..." -- J. R. R. Tolkien
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Cheers.
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Date: 2011-08-06 11:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-06 02:48 pm (UTC)30K!!! &Youuu;
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