Amanda and John | Friday Evening

[x-pyromania.livejournal.com]

'The trouble with being punctual is that nobody's there to appreciate it.' -Franklin P. Jones-

It had been a while since John had last spoken to Amanda. Ever since they had been thrown into the new universe, he had been trying to deal with not having to deal with how the world they were from had turned to shit. In true John Allerdyce fashion, he had steadfastly refused to talk about all that had happened or allow himself the time to grief over the friends and the family he'd lost.

Still, enough months had passed for there to be some improvement on his part. He didn't scoff or walk away anymore whenever someone mentioned something or someone from the past, but he also hadn't gotten round to interacting with most of the new faces yet either. He just wasn't ready to let go.

John had always been good at masking his pain though. He was the king of nonchalance. What he couldn't hide very well was anger.

"Why the fuck weren't you picking up my calls?" He was practically seething as he barged right into Amanda's office, slamming the door shut behind him. "And what the fuck are you even doing?" They were supposed to be having drinks at some random bar a few blocks away over an hour ago. A plan they'd both agreed to last week. Granted he should have texted her a reminder, but he figured she would have remembered.

"We were supposed to meet an hour ago, Mandy. The least you could have done was pick up your goddamn calls!" The reason why he was practically yelling at the moment was because he had thought that something bad had happened to her. He had been stupidly worried that Amanda had gotten herself into another crappy situation. While that seemed to be the norm before, and he'd been better able to deal with his friends and their crazy ass life, he didn't want to deal with losing her in the new world. Things were different now.

Phone to her ear, Amanda blinked at John for a moment. "Um, I'll call you back," she told the person on the other end before hanging up. She wasn't sure how to deal with ballistic John, but at least she wouldn't have to deal with Christophe in Germany laughing his arse off in her ear as he teased her about her 'domestic troubles'.

"John, calm down. Seriously." She waved at the chair opposite her desk. "Drinks are tomorrow, aren't they?" Doubt crept into her expression and she checked the post-it note on the edge of her computer. "Wait, what day is it?"

"What day is it? Is that… Wait, is that a gray hair?" He leaned over her desk to pull at a perfectly healthy strand of hair. They'd set the date for drinks via email despite the fact they were now all living under the same roof. Amanda had been burying herself in her work while John had been spending a ridiculous amount of time outside of the mansion whenever possible.

She batted at his hand. "Fuck you," she said agreeably, before checking her calendar. "Oh bollocks, I'm so sorry, John. I forgot what day it was, bouncing all over India and such. Stupid time zones."

"Yeah, yeah." He pulled his lighter out and stuck a cigarette in his mouth before taking a seat. "It's fine, witchy. Guess I should have reminded you." He was honestly just glad that she was in one piece. John had been a workaholic once back when he'd first started at Elpis years ago, so he knew what it was like. "Rain check then." He didn't feel like walking the four blocks it would take them to get to the bar anyways.

"... Besides I'm all dressed up and you look like hell," he added, leaning back in his seat slightly to get away from smack happy hands in case she was actually paying attention.

She was; while he was out of smacking reach, she was able to throw a small crocheted black cat - one of Jubilee's ninja crochet projects - at him instead. "Hardee-har-har," she deadpanned. "You just wish you could look this good." She turned away from her computer monitor and rolled her chair over slightly so she could actually see him properly. "Actually, you do. Nice outfit - you trying to impress me or something?"

He'd deftly caught the crocheted piece and wondered for a moment if she had just jinxed him before he slowly put the cat back on the desk.

"Yep. Life's goal. Scratch that off the bucket list." John smirked. He was going to go ahead and blame his subconscious for getting dressed up for a round of drinks at the bar with her because what the hell. "So what's been up with you?" he asked. "Planning on working yourself into an early grave or something? I always knew you were passionate about your work with the trenchcooties, but seriously, woman. When's the last time you took a day off?"

She scrunched up her nose. "Does chasing Topaz to India count as time off? 'Cause that was probably the last time I wasn't working since... M-Day and all." She left the deeper meaning hanging.

"Right. No time off then." He shook his head in disapproval of her life choices. "So you're burying yourself in work, Angelo's doing fuck knows what--" Only because he really hadn't spoken to his best friend in months now. "And I'm... well, I don't know what the hell I’ve been doing." Guess he was just chilling, passing time. His days were a blur.

"I'm guessing the work's a good distraction?"

"It's what we Trenchcoats do. I learned from the best." The best being Wanda and Remy, and the thought made her wince a little. "You should try it."

"You should try bumming." He stood up and motioned for her to get up. "It would be a shame for your cute butt to be permanently stuck to that chair. So come on. Let's get you something to eat." He was sure Amanda hadn't eaten a thing for hours now and he could use a meal too. "My treat."

"A compliment and you're paying? Are you sick or something?" Amanda teased, but she locked her computer screen any way and reached for the book bag she tended to use for a purse.

John quelled the urge to roll his eyes at the teasing. He moved to open the door for her. "Hold up. Not sure if your giant ego can fit through this..."

"That's more like it. I thought I was going to have to exorcise you or something." Amanda grinned at him as she passed through the door ahead of him. "You feel like Chinese? That place we used to go actually survived M-Day, and they still remember me..." she continued as he followed her.

"Well, no one orders as many wontons and dumplings as you do, blondie..." It was nice to know that at least some things haven't changed.