Erin Ptah (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ptahrrific) wrote2013-07-15 06:08 pm
ptahrrific) wrote2013-07-15 06:08 pm
Entry tags:
Fake News | ensemble | R | Shout*For, chapter 14
Title: Shout*For, chapter 14: Gave It A Name
Characters/Pairings: Jon/"Stephen", Jimmy, Olivia+Kristen, cameos, OCs.
Rating: R
Contents: Teen sexuality (masturbation, petting); more adult abuse.
Disclaimer: See series Table of Contents.
Stephen and Jon take another step forward in awkward teenage romance. Olivia's increasingly mired in awkward teenage romantic confusion. Kristen might be leaving the show, Matthew McConaughey helps out, there's a new puppy to be named, and we get a glimpse of what the comedy/late-night world is like in an AU where all those people are teen singer/actors.
Refers to Olivia's pro-bear organization. For Olivia's single, I borrowed our-world Miley Cyrus' He Could Be The One.
The Col-berts' housekeeper let Jon in. He found his way to Stephen's room, but heard a voice inside paused at the half-open door, trying to make out enough of the words to figure out whether this was a good time to come in.
He heard: "'Dawn take you all, and be stone to you!' said a voice that sounded like William's but it wasn't. For just at that moment the light came over the hill, and there was a mighty twitter in the branches. That means the kind of twittering that birds do. They don't have the Internet in Middle-earth."
Jon knocked. Once invited, he let himself in and asked, "Are you reading The Hobbit to your dog?"
Stephen was curled up on his bed (which did not have Lord of the Rings sheets, but did have a throw blanket with a design that he had testily identified for Jon as the White Tree of Gondor), sitting against the headboard with the paperback in his lap. "It's very important that she have a solid understanding of why it's important to bark at orcs, but visiting dwarves are okay," he declared, skritching the head of the puppy lounging happily at his side.
The little dog was an English Toy Spaniel, white with reddish ears and patches, whose curious, bright-eyed looks had been rocketing around the Internet since Stephen had tweeted the first photo not forty-eight hours ago. She looked a little nervous as Jon approached, but with Stephen petting her and murmuring reassuring things, she sniffed the hand he offered and seemed satisfied.
While Stephen marked the book and set it on the nearest end table, Jon shrugged off his jacket, tossed it over a chair, and took a seat on the bed facing them. "You look better," he said to Stephen, one hand automatically moving to stroke the puppy.
"I feel better!" agreed Stephen. "Like I told Jimmy, I took a couple of Vaxasopor that afternoon and crashed for about twelve hours, and everything's been pretty much normal since." He paused, pensive. "Although I haven't really been allowed to go anywhere. Or have more than one visitor at a time. So that might be contributing."
Jon was still stuck on the first thing he'd said. "A couple of Vaxasopor? Stephen, you're not supposed to let yourself build up a dependence! It isn't healthy."
Stephen crossed his arms. "My doctor told me to start taking two a night."
"...Oh." The Internet had told Jon it wasn't safe, but he was just a teenage hypochondriac, not someone with a medical degree who would know when the exceptions were. "I guess that's different. Hey, does this one have a name yet?"
His attention redirected to the puppy, Stephen relaxed. "Almost! With the kennel name and everything, it's going to be Stephen's Something-or-other of Hill Valley. The Something part has to start with B, because these breeders do theme naming and her litter is all B names, but I can't narrow it down. I was thinking of naming her after Berúthiel, but that would be awkward because Berúthiel was famous for her cats. Also, evil."
"There's always —" began Jon.
"Don't say 'Bruce'," Stephen told him.
"What? I wasn't!" stammered Jon, with an unconvincing laugh. "It's not like I have only one interest in life, geez."
"Then what were you going to say?"
"Um...." Jon scanned the posters around Stephen's room, hoping for some quick inspiration. His eyes landed on the brightly-colored and flower-stenciled That's So Rachel poster, which he had seen plenty of times...but apparently never really looked at. "Hey, that's you, isn't it?"
"What? Where?"
Jon pointed. "The sassy eleven-year-old in the very stylish jean jacket."
"Well...yeah," said Stephen, like he wasn't sure if Jon had vision problems or just slow.
"Sorry, it's just that I only heard you were in the show recently...and now it turns out I could have figured it out months ago if I'd been paying attention," said Jon sheepishly.
Now looking outright concerned, Stephen gestured over Jon's shoulder. "You do know it's me in that one, right?"
Jon followed his gaze to find, hanging over the fish tank, a big framed poster from the previous summer of Shout*For lounging on a set of bleachers. Stephen and Jimmy were leaning against each other, grinning; next to them sat Tucker, and then Jon, who looked like he'd been extra broody that day. "I do recognize the ones I was there for, yeah."
"Just making sure." Stephen scooped up the puppy and kissed her on the forehead. "You are going to be in posters one of these days. Yes you are!"
Jon put on a half-serious rakish grin. "How about a kiss for the guy who's already in posters?"
"I don't know," said Stephen, with perfect solemnity. "Do you have a pedigree?"
"Can't I get along without one?" protested Jon. "It worked out all right for Lady and the Tramp."
Stephen's cheeks turned pink. "Point taken," he said, and patted the spot next to him, inviting Jon over.
It was a little weird kissing with an audience, but as long as the puppy in Stephen's lap didn't mind, Jon didn't either.
~*~
Before they knew it, filming was over for the season, and all the TV stars had a week off before plunging into their next round of recording sessions.
"Except me!" said Kristen, who was once again providing company for one of Stephen and Olivia's fake dates, with the group rounded out by Jimmy. (Jon had begged off due to finals. Lonny and the boys' bodyguard were in the park too, but keeping discreetly out of the way.) "I've got recording sessions for the next couple days. And another audition! They're working on casting for a couple of fall animated pilots."
Stephen tugged on his new puppy's leash as she ran barking after a sparrow. "That's so cool," he said. "But isn't it going to be exhausting, doing Star Girl and a full animated season at the same time?"
Olivia was startled to realize she hadn't thought about this.
Kristen just shrugged, sundress bouncing with the motion of her shoulders. "I guess if I get the new part they'll probably write my character out of Star Girl. Have her move away or something."
"And you're going for it anyway?" blurted Olivia.
"Here, I can hold this," said Jimmy, taking the leash out of the struggling Stephen's hands. (The puppy couldn't have been more than like two pounds. Stephen was just that easy to yank around, apparently.) To Kristen and Olivia he added, "You guys are gonna be fine! Me and Stephen found plenty of time to hang out when we were working on different shows."
"And I don't even know if I'll get anything yet, come on," added Kristen, though she was avoiding Olivia's eyes.
"Don't even worry about it," said Olivia, backtracking quickly. "Star Girl wasn't gonna last forever anyway, right?" At the rate her career was going — she was filming another movie in late summer, a heartwarming tale about two stepsisters from very different worlds who learn to appreciate each other — the show probably only had one more season before her big-screen commitments swallowed it whole. "You're going to be amazing and I am very pre-emptively happy for you."
"Thanks," said Kristen, then turned to Stephen. "So, uh, does the dog have a name yet?"
For a while they debated the merits of various options. Celebrities: Björk was agreed to be too esoteric to saddle on a simple puppy, while Barbra Streisand and Bette Davis were too "might as well tattoo a rainbow flag on your face and put a neon sign over Olivia's head saying BEARD". Sci-fi homages: Beru had about five minutes of screen time before being killed by stormtroopers; Bashir was too obviously making out with Garak; the Bene Gesserit scared Stephen. American presidents: Bush had fallen out of favor with Stephen's father, and Barack had never been in it, so neither was an option.
"You could name her after someone from Mad Tea Party," suggested Jimmy. "Beck or Bill...well, make it Billie with an -ie, and it would work."
"You've done the obvious and gone through Disney characters already, right?" added Olivia. "I mean, your fish are all named after dogs, so you could name your dog after some other animal. Call her Bambi, or Baloo or Bagheera or whatever."
Stephen recoiled in horror, and crouched to scoop up the puppy from where she'd settled into trotting by Jimmy's feet. "Don't you listen to her, baby girl!" he instructed, at the pup's confused squeak. "Nobody is going to name you after a bear."
"Well, excuse me," snapped Olivia. "I didn't know you harbored such base prejudices against one of nature's beautiful and majestic creatures."
"One of nature's godless killing machines, you mean!" shot back Stephen. "As soon as I get my trust fund, I'm starting a foundation to warn people about the dangers of treating bears as anything other than a menace to be exterminated."
"Hey, I may be younger than you, but I have enough money on hand now to start a foundation to make sure bears across the country are well-fed and protected." Olivia could see by now that Kristen and Jimmy were rolling their eyes at each other. She wasn't about to let it stop her, though. "At least, I think I will. Kristen, how many bears are there?"
Kristen's phone was out almost instantly. "Give me a minute."
The still-nameless puppy started wriggling in Stephen's arms. He put her down and got a tight grip on the leash, but she only darted as far as the edge of the path to squat in the grass. Stephen poked Jimmy. "You've got the plastic bags, right?"
"Yeah, they're in here somewhere." Jimmy started sifting through the pockets of his cargo shorts.
"Sidekick life, huh," remarked Kristen, still typing.
"You said it."
"Oh, come on," said Olivia. "You guys aren't our 'sidekicks'."
"Jimmy's totally my sidekick," put in Stephen.
"You're not helping."
"Wikipedia says, adding the species together, about one point one million," reported Kristen. "Not counting pandas. Are pandas real bears, or is that one of the things where they're just called bears without being in the same family?"
"Same family, different family, it doesn't matter. If they identify as bears, I'm going to judge them as such," declared Stephen. "That includes koala bears, honey bears, teddy bears, and leather bears."
"Okay, maybe I can't afford to fund all of them," admitted Olivia. "But I could definitely buy each of them a sandwich. And I will!"
"Look on the bright side," Jimmy advised the irate Stephen, handing him a plastic bag. "When it comes time to stage your fake breakup, you'll have a perfectly plausible reason."
~*~
Toward the end of their vacation, Papa was still discouraging him from traveling for anything not work-related, so Stephen was about to go relax in the back yard (and throw a tiny stick for the puppy) when he got the text from Jon.
Jon S.
History tutor just left. Last exam finished! Help me celebrate?
Stephen*Colbert
of course!
Stephen*Colbert
was just about to catch some rays
Stephen*Colbert
you can help me put on sunscreen :)
His thumb wavered over the Send button for that last one, then he gathered up his courage and went for it.
A few arrangements and what felt like an endless wait later, Stephen and Stephen's [Blank] of Hill Valley were there to greet Jon as his car rumbled up the driveway. His aunt was driving, which made Stephen wish he'd put on a shirt for this as they exchanged a brief hello.
Jon himself was in a T-shirt and swimsuit, and had a drawstring bag slung over his shoulder, presumably with something from the "actual pants" family in it. As they headed out back, he was alternately looking at anything other than Stephen, and practically licking Stephen's torso with his eyeballs.
The sunscreen was waiting where Stephen had left it, with his phone and the lemonade he'd gotten out, on a table between a couple of the pool chairs. ([Blank] was sprawled across the patio underneath one of said chairs, the sunlight that filtered through the semitranslucent fabric tinting her blue.) He stepped into the shade of the canvas umbrella and picked it up, making a halfhearted motion to hand it to Jon. "Do you, um, do you want to go first, or should I?"
Jon put down the bag and shrugged. His curls were getting long; a few locks fell out of the lackluster spray job he'd done on them and flopped across his forehead. "Listen, I am A-OK with touching going on in any direction, here."
Heart beating faster, Stephen weighed the options. "I burn very easily!" he announced at last, shoving the bottle in Jon's direction. "It's what comes of having a family tree that's mostly Pasty Irish. So you should probably do me first!"
"That's what she said," put in Jon reflexively.
Stephen paused in the middle of settling onto the chair he'd laid out flat earlier. "Jon, are you trying to make me have second thoughts about stretching out all vulnerable and face-down in front of you?"
Jon held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry! I'll be good!"
So Stephen lay flat, and Jon sat on the beach chair next to him and squeezed out a zigzag of lotion that ran down his spine.
Jon's fingers were hesitant at first, then settled into a normal kind of rhythm, then — "Wow, are you usually this tense?" — started working the muscles while he was at it. Stephen let out a soft groan as the heels of Jon's hands dug into his shoulders, and Jon paused — "Was that good, or...?"
"Good," confirmed Stephen. The sun was beating down on them, but a shiver ran through him anyway. "Keep going."
Jon took his time. Stephen's legs were probably toasting while Jon dithered on his back, but right now he was okay with that.
He was all mellow and pleasantly tingly when Jon's slick fingers reached the base of his spine, only to tense up again when they slipped under the waistband of his suit. It's nothing, he told himself frantically. You're the one who invited him to put his hands on you in the first place — it's only natural he'd want to touch you there too. Besides, it's not like he's going to hurt you. Hasn't he shown that all he wants to do is make you feel good...?
And then, for all his worries, it turned out to be actually nothing. Jon's touch didn't slide more than an inch into Stephen's suit. Just enough to get the sunscreen and the fabric to overlap.
Stephen felt like an idiot.
"Legs now?" asked Jon. "Or can you do those on your own?"
He sounded sort of breathless. Now Stephen was just confused. "This is turning you on, right?"
"Um," said Jon, withdrawing his hands. "I sort of thought that was a given. And, listen, if that bothers you, you probably shouldn't let me get at your legs."
"No, it's okay," said Stephen quickly. He was bothered by what Jon might do about it, but as long as that didn't come to pass outside of Stephen's paranoid imagination..."It's only natural for my...boyfriend to feel like that, right?"
For a second there, Jon didn't react to the word. Stephen held his breath.
Then — and obviously they couldn't start making out by the pool, you never knew who might be watching through a telescopic camera, or through the house's windows — but Jon kissed his fingertips and pressed them against the back of Stephen's neck, and it was about the most spine-meltingly hot thing anyone had ever done to him. Beat out being called principessa by a mile.
"Yeah," said Jon. "That's a normal boyfriend thing."
~*~
The video clip from Olivia's last tour came to an end, and the overhead monitors switched back to a view of the Tonight Show with Nick Carter set. In the guest's chair Olivia waited, grinning in appreciation, as the crowd finished clapping.
"Stunning performance, as usual," said the host. "Now, Lisa, there've been some controversial rumors that you were using a body double for parts of that tour. Do you want to address that?"
Olivia laughed it off like it was no big deal, which was easy to do because she'd gotten the list of questions in advance, and anything that might have been a big deal was quietly screened off before she started prepping. "Seriously, Nick, that whole thing got way overblown. I still do all my own songs and everything, right? But I have a bunch of costume changes in that show, and there's one that just can't be done in under five minutes, no matter how awesome my wardrobe people are. What are we supposed to do, leave everyone hanging for five minutes? That's longer than most of my songs!"
Sympathetic laughter from the audience, and the host agreed that yes, that was a ridiculous idea. The conversation moved on through other inconsequential topics, eventually bringing Nick to "That's a lovely ring you're wearing, by the way. Present from someone special, maybe?"
"What, this?" Olivia held up her hand, fanning out her fingers, and was glad the camera cut to a close-up on the ring because it meant nobody would get screencaps of her gritting her teeth. At least the actual design was pretty: sterling silver with a carved flower and a little sapphire set in the center. "No, this is more like a present from me to myself. You've heard of purity rings, right?"
She managed to roll out the stock description with perfect sincerity, and Nick, as per her appearance contract, held back on the just-barely-suggestive jokes he clearly wanted to make. And then they were going to commercial, and when they came back she could be done with the scripted banter and just sing, already.
Well, almost.
"Tonight she'll be presenting her new single, He Could Be The One, now available on iTunes. Lisa Munn, everyone!"
"Actually, you know what?" said Olivia. "Let me change into something flashier. Give me a just a second."
She darted backstage, passing a woman who was clearly taller, older, and blonder, but wearing a terrible long black wig and a duplicate of the outfit Olivia was about to switch into. She didn't have time to catch the crowd's reaction to the gag; she had new clothes to throw on. A minute later the "double" was exclaiming that she'd forgotten something, and then Olivia was going past her the other way, heading for the mic.
~*~
Stephen stayed at the Dolce & Gabbana collection launch party as long as he possibly could. For one thing, his hair was artfully gelled into some gorgeous delicate waves, and he wanted to give the press as much opportunity to photograph that as possible. For another, the people! Matthew McConaughey spent five whole minutes talking to him. Stephen was starstruck.
Matt (Stephen called him Matt now. They were buddies) also maneuvered him into a quiet corridor and slipped him a small, opaque plastic bag. "Heard you've been under some stress lately," he said, with a conspiratorial wink. "Take this and relax with your friends some time, on me."
But in the end he couldn't avoid leaving it all behind and sliding into the limo with Ned.
Almost immediately there was a hand on his knee. "Hey, buddy, why the long face? Did I let you stay out too late?"
Stephen could feel himself shutting down. "I'm fine," he said, staring at the floor.
"You look pretty wiped out. Come here."
And Stephen found himself pulled into Ned's lap, sitting across Ned's legs with arms looped around his waist.
"See, this isn't so bad, is it?" soothed his manager. "No hard feelings, eh?"
Agreeing with everything seemed to be the fastest way to get this over with, so Stephen said, "No sir." Even though there were some unmistakable hard feelings pressing against his leg that very second.
"That's right. Say, how's your puppy doing? You come up with a name yet, or is she going to end up being called Blank for the rest of her life?"
Even in a position like this, Stephen couldn't help but be drawn out a little by the mention of his dog. "We decided to go back to basics and look at Disney princesses," he explained. "She's Briar Rose now. Officially registered and everything."
Ned's hand cupped the base of his skull, fingers threading through his hair. "Sounds exciting," he said, breathing softly against Stephen's neck.
~*~
Olivia's hair was still dripping from the shower as she pulled on her matching Tinkerbell pajama shorts and tank top. She was planning on taking a little personal time this evening, but saw her phone blinking and couldn't resist checking it first.
@LisaMunnOfficial
Confidential to #Munnsters: catch me performing on #TheTonightShow with #NickCarter 2nite 11:35 on #NBC!
One of these days Olivia was going to unfollow her own Twitter. It was good for keeping up with her media narrative, but she wasn't sure how much longer she could take the surreality of having things she hadn't written sent to her under her own name.
She put the stupid thing aside and curled up in bed, a towel thrown down on top of her pillow, to slip a hand between her legs.
The fantasy she pulled up was a well-worn and easy one. She was older, but instead of her actual life plan she was still doing music, belting out amazingly sexy songs and wearing super-tiny miniskirts while doing it. The crowd sometimes roared so loud she could barely hear her own band. They respected her, they admired her talent, and they thought her legs and her waist and her small-but-perky bust were totally hot.
Real Olivia's fingers went in soft circles over the fabric, teasing herself, working things up slow.
Fantasy Olivia was heading backstage, riding high on adrenaline, and so stunning that of course she got pounced on the way to her dressing room. A roadie, one of her executive assistants, whoever, the important thing was that they were already furiously making out as they fell through the door. Olivia kicked it closed behind her with one high-heeled foot before getting pushed up against the wall.
The whole lower half of real Olivia started filling up with heat. Yeah, that was nice.
Fantasy Olivia's paramour got a thigh between her legs and was grinding firmly against her (you were amazing out there, blew me away, here, let me show you how much) (and this wasn't a groupie, either, it was someone who knew her, and really meant this), hands tugging her skirt up over the curves of her thighs. Black lacy lingerie waited underneath it, silky and taut against her skin. She threw her arms around strong shoulders for support and rolled her hips in answer.
Real Olivia's hand wandered beneath the cotton, slipping easily into warm, wet folds, sending a shudder through her, and another.
The lover in the fantasy hooked talented fingers around the high-cut waistband before sinking into a crouch, leaving firm kisses down her collarbone and bare midriff along the way. Black silk stretched and slid and pulled her calves briefly together before her feet (still in the heels) (bright red, of course) stepped out of them. And then there were hands on her hips, bracing her against the wall, and hot breath flowing over her...
...her phone chimed, the noise she'd set it to make when Kristen texted...
...Kristen's perfect coppery curls bobbed around her face as she flashed Olivia a wicked grin, tongue dipping in to trace the crease where Olivia's thigh met her body, making Olivia's hips snap forward in delicious frustration...
...and then it wasn't frustration any more, she was head-thrown-back whole-body-shaking coming, leaving her sweaty and panting and oh god she was never going to be able to look Kristen in the eye again.
She sat up slowly, burying her slippery hand in the damp towel to clean it off.
With the other hand...she picked up her phone (texting didn't require eye contact, shut up) (say, Kristen keeps not looking me in the eye either) (yeah, that's it, get your hopes up so you can get yourself crushed harder).
Kristen ಠ෴ಠ
FYI, stay away from your tag for a while! There's a bunch of #TeamJoJo fans out for blood.
"Oh, come on," said Olivia out loud. She appreciated Kristen letting her know when the Internet was unsafe, she really did (it was a system they'd started a year and a half ago, after a particularly horrifying manip of Olivia's head on some naked adult's body made the rounds), but if Kristen had just waited five minutes, it could have saved Olivia a hell of a lot of Confusing Lesbian Feelings.
For someone who was in a pretend relationship with a boy, and a gay one at that, you'd think she would be handling this better.
She debated not answering the text, but ended up typing on autopilot:
<3 Olivia <3
Omg that was so last year! Joe has a new TV show now & everything.
<3 Olivia <3
TY 4 the heads-up tho.
Kristen ಠ෴ಠ
Sidekick duty accomplished :)
<3 Olivia <3
Is that rly how u think of it?
<3 Olivia <3
b/c I just want 2 be BFFs, not have u be the sidekick :(
Kristen ಠ෴ಠ
It's just a joke because you play a superhero, honest!
Kristen ಠ෴ಠ
But if it bothers you I can stop saying it :)
Kristen ಠ෴ಠ
I just want to be BFFs too.
The unintentional double meaning of that one hit Olivia like a rock.
So that was that. She was having Confusing Lesbian Feelings, and she was going to have to deal with them alone, or maybe just take the Maddow route and repress them hard for a couple more years. Eventually her contract would be up, and she could come out on the cover of People, flirt with all the ladies she wanted, and start appearing on red carpets in short hair and men's sport coats. (Well, maybe not that last part.)
Olivia realized she was pulling at her eyelashes. Been a while since that little nervous tic had shown up. She sat on the offending hand and used the other to type ok, was just worried, but np if ur only joking <3, chewing furiously on her lip all the while.
Stephen didn't know how good he had it.
Characters/Pairings: Jon/"Stephen", Jimmy, Olivia+Kristen, cameos, OCs.
Rating: R
Contents: Teen sexuality (masturbation, petting); more adult abuse.
Disclaimer: See series Table of Contents.
Stephen and Jon take another step forward in awkward teenage romance. Olivia's increasingly mired in awkward teenage romantic confusion. Kristen might be leaving the show, Matthew McConaughey helps out, there's a new puppy to be named, and we get a glimpse of what the comedy/late-night world is like in an AU where all those people are teen singer/actors.
Refers to Olivia's pro-bear organization. For Olivia's single, I borrowed our-world Miley Cyrus' He Could Be The One.
The Col-berts' housekeeper let Jon in. He found his way to Stephen's room, but heard a voice inside paused at the half-open door, trying to make out enough of the words to figure out whether this was a good time to come in.
He heard: "'Dawn take you all, and be stone to you!' said a voice that sounded like William's but it wasn't. For just at that moment the light came over the hill, and there was a mighty twitter in the branches. That means the kind of twittering that birds do. They don't have the Internet in Middle-earth."
Jon knocked. Once invited, he let himself in and asked, "Are you reading The Hobbit to your dog?"
Stephen was curled up on his bed (which did not have Lord of the Rings sheets, but did have a throw blanket with a design that he had testily identified for Jon as the White Tree of Gondor), sitting against the headboard with the paperback in his lap. "It's very important that she have a solid understanding of why it's important to bark at orcs, but visiting dwarves are okay," he declared, skritching the head of the puppy lounging happily at his side.
The little dog was an English Toy Spaniel, white with reddish ears and patches, whose curious, bright-eyed looks had been rocketing around the Internet since Stephen had tweeted the first photo not forty-eight hours ago. She looked a little nervous as Jon approached, but with Stephen petting her and murmuring reassuring things, she sniffed the hand he offered and seemed satisfied.
While Stephen marked the book and set it on the nearest end table, Jon shrugged off his jacket, tossed it over a chair, and took a seat on the bed facing them. "You look better," he said to Stephen, one hand automatically moving to stroke the puppy.
"I feel better!" agreed Stephen. "Like I told Jimmy, I took a couple of Vaxasopor that afternoon and crashed for about twelve hours, and everything's been pretty much normal since." He paused, pensive. "Although I haven't really been allowed to go anywhere. Or have more than one visitor at a time. So that might be contributing."
Jon was still stuck on the first thing he'd said. "A couple of Vaxasopor? Stephen, you're not supposed to let yourself build up a dependence! It isn't healthy."
Stephen crossed his arms. "My doctor told me to start taking two a night."
"...Oh." The Internet had told Jon it wasn't safe, but he was just a teenage hypochondriac, not someone with a medical degree who would know when the exceptions were. "I guess that's different. Hey, does this one have a name yet?"
His attention redirected to the puppy, Stephen relaxed. "Almost! With the kennel name and everything, it's going to be Stephen's Something-or-other of Hill Valley. The Something part has to start with B, because these breeders do theme naming and her litter is all B names, but I can't narrow it down. I was thinking of naming her after Berúthiel, but that would be awkward because Berúthiel was famous for her cats. Also, evil."
"There's always —" began Jon.
"Don't say 'Bruce'," Stephen told him.
"What? I wasn't!" stammered Jon, with an unconvincing laugh. "It's not like I have only one interest in life, geez."
"Then what were you going to say?"
"Um...." Jon scanned the posters around Stephen's room, hoping for some quick inspiration. His eyes landed on the brightly-colored and flower-stenciled That's So Rachel poster, which he had seen plenty of times...but apparently never really looked at. "Hey, that's you, isn't it?"
"What? Where?"
Jon pointed. "The sassy eleven-year-old in the very stylish jean jacket."
"Well...yeah," said Stephen, like he wasn't sure if Jon had vision problems or just slow.
"Sorry, it's just that I only heard you were in the show recently...and now it turns out I could have figured it out months ago if I'd been paying attention," said Jon sheepishly.
Now looking outright concerned, Stephen gestured over Jon's shoulder. "You do know it's me in that one, right?"
Jon followed his gaze to find, hanging over the fish tank, a big framed poster from the previous summer of Shout*For lounging on a set of bleachers. Stephen and Jimmy were leaning against each other, grinning; next to them sat Tucker, and then Jon, who looked like he'd been extra broody that day. "I do recognize the ones I was there for, yeah."
"Just making sure." Stephen scooped up the puppy and kissed her on the forehead. "You are going to be in posters one of these days. Yes you are!"
Jon put on a half-serious rakish grin. "How about a kiss for the guy who's already in posters?"
"I don't know," said Stephen, with perfect solemnity. "Do you have a pedigree?"
"Can't I get along without one?" protested Jon. "It worked out all right for Lady and the Tramp."
Stephen's cheeks turned pink. "Point taken," he said, and patted the spot next to him, inviting Jon over.
It was a little weird kissing with an audience, but as long as the puppy in Stephen's lap didn't mind, Jon didn't either.
~*~
Before they knew it, filming was over for the season, and all the TV stars had a week off before plunging into their next round of recording sessions.
"Except me!" said Kristen, who was once again providing company for one of Stephen and Olivia's fake dates, with the group rounded out by Jimmy. (Jon had begged off due to finals. Lonny and the boys' bodyguard were in the park too, but keeping discreetly out of the way.) "I've got recording sessions for the next couple days. And another audition! They're working on casting for a couple of fall animated pilots."
Stephen tugged on his new puppy's leash as she ran barking after a sparrow. "That's so cool," he said. "But isn't it going to be exhausting, doing Star Girl and a full animated season at the same time?"
Olivia was startled to realize she hadn't thought about this.
Kristen just shrugged, sundress bouncing with the motion of her shoulders. "I guess if I get the new part they'll probably write my character out of Star Girl. Have her move away or something."
"And you're going for it anyway?" blurted Olivia.
"Here, I can hold this," said Jimmy, taking the leash out of the struggling Stephen's hands. (The puppy couldn't have been more than like two pounds. Stephen was just that easy to yank around, apparently.) To Kristen and Olivia he added, "You guys are gonna be fine! Me and Stephen found plenty of time to hang out when we were working on different shows."
"And I don't even know if I'll get anything yet, come on," added Kristen, though she was avoiding Olivia's eyes.
"Don't even worry about it," said Olivia, backtracking quickly. "Star Girl wasn't gonna last forever anyway, right?" At the rate her career was going — she was filming another movie in late summer, a heartwarming tale about two stepsisters from very different worlds who learn to appreciate each other — the show probably only had one more season before her big-screen commitments swallowed it whole. "You're going to be amazing and I am very pre-emptively happy for you."
"Thanks," said Kristen, then turned to Stephen. "So, uh, does the dog have a name yet?"
For a while they debated the merits of various options. Celebrities: Björk was agreed to be too esoteric to saddle on a simple puppy, while Barbra Streisand and Bette Davis were too "might as well tattoo a rainbow flag on your face and put a neon sign over Olivia's head saying BEARD". Sci-fi homages: Beru had about five minutes of screen time before being killed by stormtroopers; Bashir was too obviously making out with Garak; the Bene Gesserit scared Stephen. American presidents: Bush had fallen out of favor with Stephen's father, and Barack had never been in it, so neither was an option.
"You could name her after someone from Mad Tea Party," suggested Jimmy. "Beck or Bill...well, make it Billie with an -ie, and it would work."
"You've done the obvious and gone through Disney characters already, right?" added Olivia. "I mean, your fish are all named after dogs, so you could name your dog after some other animal. Call her Bambi, or Baloo or Bagheera or whatever."
Stephen recoiled in horror, and crouched to scoop up the puppy from where she'd settled into trotting by Jimmy's feet. "Don't you listen to her, baby girl!" he instructed, at the pup's confused squeak. "Nobody is going to name you after a bear."
"Well, excuse me," snapped Olivia. "I didn't know you harbored such base prejudices against one of nature's beautiful and majestic creatures."
"One of nature's godless killing machines, you mean!" shot back Stephen. "As soon as I get my trust fund, I'm starting a foundation to warn people about the dangers of treating bears as anything other than a menace to be exterminated."
"Hey, I may be younger than you, but I have enough money on hand now to start a foundation to make sure bears across the country are well-fed and protected." Olivia could see by now that Kristen and Jimmy were rolling their eyes at each other. She wasn't about to let it stop her, though. "At least, I think I will. Kristen, how many bears are there?"
Kristen's phone was out almost instantly. "Give me a minute."
The still-nameless puppy started wriggling in Stephen's arms. He put her down and got a tight grip on the leash, but she only darted as far as the edge of the path to squat in the grass. Stephen poked Jimmy. "You've got the plastic bags, right?"
"Yeah, they're in here somewhere." Jimmy started sifting through the pockets of his cargo shorts.
"Sidekick life, huh," remarked Kristen, still typing.
"You said it."
"Oh, come on," said Olivia. "You guys aren't our 'sidekicks'."
"Jimmy's totally my sidekick," put in Stephen.
"You're not helping."
"Wikipedia says, adding the species together, about one point one million," reported Kristen. "Not counting pandas. Are pandas real bears, or is that one of the things where they're just called bears without being in the same family?"
"Same family, different family, it doesn't matter. If they identify as bears, I'm going to judge them as such," declared Stephen. "That includes koala bears, honey bears, teddy bears, and leather bears."
"Okay, maybe I can't afford to fund all of them," admitted Olivia. "But I could definitely buy each of them a sandwich. And I will!"
"Look on the bright side," Jimmy advised the irate Stephen, handing him a plastic bag. "When it comes time to stage your fake breakup, you'll have a perfectly plausible reason."
~*~
Toward the end of their vacation, Papa was still discouraging him from traveling for anything not work-related, so Stephen was about to go relax in the back yard (and throw a tiny stick for the puppy) when he got the text from Jon.
Jon S.
History tutor just left. Last exam finished! Help me celebrate?
Stephen*Colbert
of course!
Stephen*Colbert
was just about to catch some rays
Stephen*Colbert
you can help me put on sunscreen :)
His thumb wavered over the Send button for that last one, then he gathered up his courage and went for it.
A few arrangements and what felt like an endless wait later, Stephen and Stephen's [Blank] of Hill Valley were there to greet Jon as his car rumbled up the driveway. His aunt was driving, which made Stephen wish he'd put on a shirt for this as they exchanged a brief hello.
Jon himself was in a T-shirt and swimsuit, and had a drawstring bag slung over his shoulder, presumably with something from the "actual pants" family in it. As they headed out back, he was alternately looking at anything other than Stephen, and practically licking Stephen's torso with his eyeballs.
The sunscreen was waiting where Stephen had left it, with his phone and the lemonade he'd gotten out, on a table between a couple of the pool chairs. ([Blank] was sprawled across the patio underneath one of said chairs, the sunlight that filtered through the semitranslucent fabric tinting her blue.) He stepped into the shade of the canvas umbrella and picked it up, making a halfhearted motion to hand it to Jon. "Do you, um, do you want to go first, or should I?"
Jon put down the bag and shrugged. His curls were getting long; a few locks fell out of the lackluster spray job he'd done on them and flopped across his forehead. "Listen, I am A-OK with touching going on in any direction, here."
Heart beating faster, Stephen weighed the options. "I burn very easily!" he announced at last, shoving the bottle in Jon's direction. "It's what comes of having a family tree that's mostly Pasty Irish. So you should probably do me first!"
"That's what she said," put in Jon reflexively.
Stephen paused in the middle of settling onto the chair he'd laid out flat earlier. "Jon, are you trying to make me have second thoughts about stretching out all vulnerable and face-down in front of you?"
Jon held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry! I'll be good!"
So Stephen lay flat, and Jon sat on the beach chair next to him and squeezed out a zigzag of lotion that ran down his spine.
Jon's fingers were hesitant at first, then settled into a normal kind of rhythm, then — "Wow, are you usually this tense?" — started working the muscles while he was at it. Stephen let out a soft groan as the heels of Jon's hands dug into his shoulders, and Jon paused — "Was that good, or...?"
"Good," confirmed Stephen. The sun was beating down on them, but a shiver ran through him anyway. "Keep going."
Jon took his time. Stephen's legs were probably toasting while Jon dithered on his back, but right now he was okay with that.
He was all mellow and pleasantly tingly when Jon's slick fingers reached the base of his spine, only to tense up again when they slipped under the waistband of his suit. It's nothing, he told himself frantically. You're the one who invited him to put his hands on you in the first place — it's only natural he'd want to touch you there too. Besides, it's not like he's going to hurt you. Hasn't he shown that all he wants to do is make you feel good...?
And then, for all his worries, it turned out to be actually nothing. Jon's touch didn't slide more than an inch into Stephen's suit. Just enough to get the sunscreen and the fabric to overlap.
Stephen felt like an idiot.
"Legs now?" asked Jon. "Or can you do those on your own?"
He sounded sort of breathless. Now Stephen was just confused. "This is turning you on, right?"
"Um," said Jon, withdrawing his hands. "I sort of thought that was a given. And, listen, if that bothers you, you probably shouldn't let me get at your legs."
"No, it's okay," said Stephen quickly. He was bothered by what Jon might do about it, but as long as that didn't come to pass outside of Stephen's paranoid imagination..."It's only natural for my...boyfriend to feel like that, right?"
For a second there, Jon didn't react to the word. Stephen held his breath.
Then — and obviously they couldn't start making out by the pool, you never knew who might be watching through a telescopic camera, or through the house's windows — but Jon kissed his fingertips and pressed them against the back of Stephen's neck, and it was about the most spine-meltingly hot thing anyone had ever done to him. Beat out being called principessa by a mile.
"Yeah," said Jon. "That's a normal boyfriend thing."
~*~
The video clip from Olivia's last tour came to an end, and the overhead monitors switched back to a view of the Tonight Show with Nick Carter set. In the guest's chair Olivia waited, grinning in appreciation, as the crowd finished clapping.
"Stunning performance, as usual," said the host. "Now, Lisa, there've been some controversial rumors that you were using a body double for parts of that tour. Do you want to address that?"
Olivia laughed it off like it was no big deal, which was easy to do because she'd gotten the list of questions in advance, and anything that might have been a big deal was quietly screened off before she started prepping. "Seriously, Nick, that whole thing got way overblown. I still do all my own songs and everything, right? But I have a bunch of costume changes in that show, and there's one that just can't be done in under five minutes, no matter how awesome my wardrobe people are. What are we supposed to do, leave everyone hanging for five minutes? That's longer than most of my songs!"
Sympathetic laughter from the audience, and the host agreed that yes, that was a ridiculous idea. The conversation moved on through other inconsequential topics, eventually bringing Nick to "That's a lovely ring you're wearing, by the way. Present from someone special, maybe?"
"What, this?" Olivia held up her hand, fanning out her fingers, and was glad the camera cut to a close-up on the ring because it meant nobody would get screencaps of her gritting her teeth. At least the actual design was pretty: sterling silver with a carved flower and a little sapphire set in the center. "No, this is more like a present from me to myself. You've heard of purity rings, right?"
She managed to roll out the stock description with perfect sincerity, and Nick, as per her appearance contract, held back on the just-barely-suggestive jokes he clearly wanted to make. And then they were going to commercial, and when they came back she could be done with the scripted banter and just sing, already.
Well, almost.
"Tonight she'll be presenting her new single, He Could Be The One, now available on iTunes. Lisa Munn, everyone!"
"Actually, you know what?" said Olivia. "Let me change into something flashier. Give me a just a second."
She darted backstage, passing a woman who was clearly taller, older, and blonder, but wearing a terrible long black wig and a duplicate of the outfit Olivia was about to switch into. She didn't have time to catch the crowd's reaction to the gag; she had new clothes to throw on. A minute later the "double" was exclaiming that she'd forgotten something, and then Olivia was going past her the other way, heading for the mic.
~*~
Stephen stayed at the Dolce & Gabbana collection launch party as long as he possibly could. For one thing, his hair was artfully gelled into some gorgeous delicate waves, and he wanted to give the press as much opportunity to photograph that as possible. For another, the people! Matthew McConaughey spent five whole minutes talking to him. Stephen was starstruck.
Matt (Stephen called him Matt now. They were buddies) also maneuvered him into a quiet corridor and slipped him a small, opaque plastic bag. "Heard you've been under some stress lately," he said, with a conspiratorial wink. "Take this and relax with your friends some time, on me."
But in the end he couldn't avoid leaving it all behind and sliding into the limo with Ned.
Almost immediately there was a hand on his knee. "Hey, buddy, why the long face? Did I let you stay out too late?"
Stephen could feel himself shutting down. "I'm fine," he said, staring at the floor.
"You look pretty wiped out. Come here."
And Stephen found himself pulled into Ned's lap, sitting across Ned's legs with arms looped around his waist.
"See, this isn't so bad, is it?" soothed his manager. "No hard feelings, eh?"
Agreeing with everything seemed to be the fastest way to get this over with, so Stephen said, "No sir." Even though there were some unmistakable hard feelings pressing against his leg that very second.
"That's right. Say, how's your puppy doing? You come up with a name yet, or is she going to end up being called Blank for the rest of her life?"
Even in a position like this, Stephen couldn't help but be drawn out a little by the mention of his dog. "We decided to go back to basics and look at Disney princesses," he explained. "She's Briar Rose now. Officially registered and everything."
Ned's hand cupped the base of his skull, fingers threading through his hair. "Sounds exciting," he said, breathing softly against Stephen's neck.
~*~
Olivia's hair was still dripping from the shower as she pulled on her matching Tinkerbell pajama shorts and tank top. She was planning on taking a little personal time this evening, but saw her phone blinking and couldn't resist checking it first.
@LisaMunnOfficial
Confidential to #Munnsters: catch me performing on #TheTonightShow with #NickCarter 2nite 11:35 on #NBC!
One of these days Olivia was going to unfollow her own Twitter. It was good for keeping up with her media narrative, but she wasn't sure how much longer she could take the surreality of having things she hadn't written sent to her under her own name.
She put the stupid thing aside and curled up in bed, a towel thrown down on top of her pillow, to slip a hand between her legs.
The fantasy she pulled up was a well-worn and easy one. She was older, but instead of her actual life plan she was still doing music, belting out amazingly sexy songs and wearing super-tiny miniskirts while doing it. The crowd sometimes roared so loud she could barely hear her own band. They respected her, they admired her talent, and they thought her legs and her waist and her small-but-perky bust were totally hot.
Real Olivia's fingers went in soft circles over the fabric, teasing herself, working things up slow.
Fantasy Olivia was heading backstage, riding high on adrenaline, and so stunning that of course she got pounced on the way to her dressing room. A roadie, one of her executive assistants, whoever, the important thing was that they were already furiously making out as they fell through the door. Olivia kicked it closed behind her with one high-heeled foot before getting pushed up against the wall.
The whole lower half of real Olivia started filling up with heat. Yeah, that was nice.
Fantasy Olivia's paramour got a thigh between her legs and was grinding firmly against her (you were amazing out there, blew me away, here, let me show you how much) (and this wasn't a groupie, either, it was someone who knew her, and really meant this), hands tugging her skirt up over the curves of her thighs. Black lacy lingerie waited underneath it, silky and taut against her skin. She threw her arms around strong shoulders for support and rolled her hips in answer.
Real Olivia's hand wandered beneath the cotton, slipping easily into warm, wet folds, sending a shudder through her, and another.
The lover in the fantasy hooked talented fingers around the high-cut waistband before sinking into a crouch, leaving firm kisses down her collarbone and bare midriff along the way. Black silk stretched and slid and pulled her calves briefly together before her feet (still in the heels) (bright red, of course) stepped out of them. And then there were hands on her hips, bracing her against the wall, and hot breath flowing over her...
...her phone chimed, the noise she'd set it to make when Kristen texted...
...Kristen's perfect coppery curls bobbed around her face as she flashed Olivia a wicked grin, tongue dipping in to trace the crease where Olivia's thigh met her body, making Olivia's hips snap forward in delicious frustration...
...and then it wasn't frustration any more, she was head-thrown-back whole-body-shaking coming, leaving her sweaty and panting and oh god she was never going to be able to look Kristen in the eye again.
She sat up slowly, burying her slippery hand in the damp towel to clean it off.
With the other hand...she picked up her phone (texting didn't require eye contact, shut up) (say, Kristen keeps not looking me in the eye either) (yeah, that's it, get your hopes up so you can get yourself crushed harder).
Kristen ಠ෴ಠ
FYI, stay away from your tag for a while! There's a bunch of #TeamJoJo fans out for blood.
"Oh, come on," said Olivia out loud. She appreciated Kristen letting her know when the Internet was unsafe, she really did (it was a system they'd started a year and a half ago, after a particularly horrifying manip of Olivia's head on some naked adult's body made the rounds), but if Kristen had just waited five minutes, it could have saved Olivia a hell of a lot of Confusing Lesbian Feelings.
For someone who was in a pretend relationship with a boy, and a gay one at that, you'd think she would be handling this better.
She debated not answering the text, but ended up typing on autopilot:
<3 Olivia <3
Omg that was so last year! Joe has a new TV show now & everything.
<3 Olivia <3
TY 4 the heads-up tho.
Kristen ಠ෴ಠ
Sidekick duty accomplished :)
<3 Olivia <3
Is that rly how u think of it?
<3 Olivia <3
b/c I just want 2 be BFFs, not have u be the sidekick :(
Kristen ಠ෴ಠ
It's just a joke because you play a superhero, honest!
Kristen ಠ෴ಠ
But if it bothers you I can stop saying it :)
Kristen ಠ෴ಠ
I just want to be BFFs too.
The unintentional double meaning of that one hit Olivia like a rock.
So that was that. She was having Confusing Lesbian Feelings, and she was going to have to deal with them alone, or maybe just take the Maddow route and repress them hard for a couple more years. Eventually her contract would be up, and she could come out on the cover of People, flirt with all the ladies she wanted, and start appearing on red carpets in short hair and men's sport coats. (Well, maybe not that last part.)
Olivia realized she was pulling at her eyelashes. Been a while since that little nervous tic had shown up. She sat on the offending hand and used the other to type ok, was just worried, but np if ur only joking <3, chewing furiously on her lip all the while.
Stephen didn't know how good he had it.