[RP] All Of The Pages I Have Turned

[idontreallyspar]

Tom was really starting to wish that government agents had a higher salary, because if they did he wouldn't be here...with It

He didn't talk about It, or even mention It to anyone because as far as he was concerned, It didn't exist. At least until he had to pull It out of storage because the rental fee was cutting into his budget.

So his one day off had been spent bringing everything from storage home and stowing it in his apartment, or his alloted space in the garage downstairs. Now all that was left was It...and in some inherent, fucked-up way, Tom knew he had to look through It. It just...seemed the thing to do. Especially since It hadn't been opened since the day It came into existence.

Standing in the middle of his living room, he stared at It, arms crossed and features inscrutable. It was rather benign...a simple four-by-three foot locker with three decals splashed across the side...a KISS sticker, a Willingsboro Police Department logo, and a bumper sticker of the Jersey Polytechnic High mascot, the Polytech Parrot.

He was trying to decide how he felt about It before he actually did what he had to...then trying to decide if that even meant anything. The meaning...the things It held were so far removed from his life that they'd ceased to matter at one point, and finally ceased to exist in his world.

So why did he still have It?

Time passed. Tom didn't know how much.

It continued to sit there. To exist.

Finally taking a deep breath, Tom uncrossed his arms and walked towards It, sinking down to sit on the floor alongside It. He hesitated, then reached out for the combination lock that sealed all the secrets It kept so carefully hidden away.

The combo was still 1004...a date that no longer mattered to him.

His fingers spun it into place with a practiced ease that startled him...frightened him, just a little.

But before he could open the lock, a knock came at his door...a swift, efficient rat-atata-tata-tat he knew all too well.

Cringing inwardly, he simply winced, then released the lock, hauling himself to his feet. "It's open, Rachel!!"

Comments

[my_strappyshoes]

She wanted to say yes, but it was swimming all around in her head making it probably a bit more confusing than it needed to be. Rachel was always the overthinker, the million ways to the same conclusion type. The harder way to the truth was the one she always preferred especially if the truth wasn't exactly easy to swallow. The thought that Thomas Grace was Thomas Grace even though he used to be Anthony Venomecci wasn't a simple thought process either, no matter how hard she wanted it to be.

She chewed on her lower lip a bit, a nervous habit that she wished she could break. She didn't want to come across as less than astute, but she also wanted to make sure that she did understand, that she just wasn't nodding along silently with a thousand questions in the back of her mind. She laughed a bit shaking her head, "Sorry, I just... I don't want to say that I don't understand because it should be really simple to understand. I just can't seem to get my head to wrap around it as nice and neat as it should. Which I know can probably seem like I'm overthinking it all, which I probably am... but this is a lot to think about and honestly? Well of course... and see this is when you're supposed to stop me from rambling myself over a cliff and just do this." She smiled and leaned into kiss him, trying to stop the words that no doubt would spill from her for hours on end if she let them.

[idontspar.livejournal.com]

Tom just sat there as she talked, feeling a small kernel of hope at the fact she was babbling again...babbling meant she was thinking (and yes, probably overthinking), but thinking meant trying to understand, and that was a good start. It meant she wasn't walking out the door.

Then she finally stopped herself and kissed him with that wisecrack *he* should have made instead, but rather than ruminate on that fact, he just kissed her back, reaching out to haul her into his lap so she wasn't sitting cockeyed on the couch. Letting one hand rise to run through her hair, he finally broke the kiss with a small smirk.

"Why make me stop you?" he deadpanned, nose brushing hers as his breath ghosted across her face, fingers toying with the softness of her hair. "You seem to be doin' just fine on your own."

[my_strappyshoes]

Between the kiss and being hauled atop his lap her eyes widened a bit during the movement and when he finally broke free and teased her she hit him playfully on the shoulder. Her eyes narrowed at him, daring him to keep it up. They weren't a perfect match by any means at all, in fact that was probably the main reason that they worked so well together. "I'm serious here. This is a huge deal, and even if all of it is connected now, and even if I know about it all? It's still a huge deal."

She kissed him again quickly before leaning back in his lap to reach for her beer. If he hadn't been holding he she might have fallen right off his lap, and cracked her head on the table. Instead she just stretched backwards over the floor until her fingers found the bottle. Getting up was a bit of a problem though.

"Uh... Yeah so a little help would be great now... Anthony," her eyes narrowing again but this time with a hint of 'I know I shouldn't be doing this but I'm stretched backward over the couch and really I have nothing to lose' hidden in her smirk.

[idontspar.livejournal.com]

Oh, she was *so* asking for it...not simply because it almost felt kind of good to hear his real name after so many years, or because it sounded kind of nice when she said it out loud.

Even when he WAS using that name, nobody called him Anthony. Ever.

"I oughta warn you...one, that's not my name anymore...and two, using that name could be hazardous to your balance." he quipped, raising a challenging eyebrow.

[my_strappyshoes]

"Hazardous to my balance, Anthony? I happen to be extremely graceful." She quipped as she tried once again to right herself up, but now that she was starting to laugh it really wasn't working. In fact it was getting worse. Trying to push herself up using the beer bottle wasn't working at all. and her free hand was busy trying to cling to the edge of the couch in an effort to pull herself up, but the laughing again wasn't helping.

It should have been just like a sit up, but for some reason the extension of her back into that position wasn't allowing for the actual 'up' part of it. Her shirt was starting to inch down toward her as well, and she wanted to grab it and tug it back down to her waist, but that would require letting go of either her beer or the couch, and she wasn't sure what sort of result that would have.

However it didn't matter because the last remark she made had loosened his grip on her a bit daring her to try and support herself more. Which ended up with her just slipping off of his lap finally and onto the floor where her backside hit a bit harder than she expected. "Oh, that was so your fault." She said between fits of laughter, "You did that on purpose!" She rolled onto her stomach taking an awkward sip of her beer before sliding up onto her knees, into a rather interesting position for a moment until she sat atop her legs kneeling with her back to him. "You are so in trouble, Anthony."

It would have been more convincing if she could actually say that to his face without laughing, but she knew if she looked at him she was going to break down again. It wasn't even the fact that she was using his real name, it was more the tone she was using that was more amusing to herself.

[idontspar.livejournal.com]

Tom couldn't stop himself from laughing as she hit the floor, even though he *did* try to catch her before it happened...and couldn't stop himself from admiring the view for a moment, either, before she rose to a sitting position on the floor near his feet, facing away from him. Cute and quirky she might be, but the body on that girl was absolutely devastating...

"You keep that up, Gibson, and I'm gonna have to resort to torture." he warned, lashing out with one bare foot to poke his big toe ticklishly into the small of her back.

[my_strappyshoes]

Somewhat at a calmer state of being, her laughter dying down to just a harder breathing from her chest hurting a bit she glanced over her shoulder at him, "Oh is that so, Anthony, you know a man of mystery such as yourself shouldn't be making such threats." she retorted as she swatted his foot away from her back.

Bringing her knee up in front of her she stood up, tilting herself to the side a bit letting her hair fall over her shoulders completely. "I really don't think you are in any position to make such a threat anyway. I don't cave under torture. You should take that into consideration."

She took a defiant sip of her beer in a mini-celebration of her own ability to maintain her composure this time.

[idontspar.livejournal.com]

Tom rose slowly, trying not to smile, though his eyes did enough of it for him as he started stalking towards her with mock menace. "Well it all depends on what method of torture I decide to implement." he pointed out, one hand darting out to steal her beer before she could react. Stealing a sip with a grin, he set it down on the nearby coffee table...

...then lunged forward and grabbed her around the waist, turning her so her back was pinned to his chest and one arm was free to hold her fast against him while the other started tickling her mercilessly. He knew he should probably be addressing the whole 'former identity' thing some more, but he didn't really want to at the moment...not when she was needling him about his real name. It was another shred of normalcy, one he clung to hard. It was what Rachel gave him that was so special...normalcy without the boredom. She was in this life as thick as he was, but she was still just a beautiful, nice girl that had taken a shine to him, though God knew why.

He just knew he was grateful as hell for it.