The door opened, revealing a guy over 6 feet tall with broad shoulders, obvious muscles, mud brown hair, and large, dusty brown eyes that were bright with joy and infinite amusement. "Hey, Tessie," he greeted in his rumbly voice, letting go of the door and opening his arms to her. She grinned and set her laptop on the porch, stepping into his embrace and wrapping her arms around him. He chuckled and hugged her back, resting his chin on her head. "Long time no see, shortcake."
She pulled back to smack his chest. "That's because of you and your stupid medical degree in Hawaii!"
He stuck his tongue out at her. "At least I'm doing something useful with my life."
"Oh, fuck off, you." She scowled at him, crossing her arms and jutting out her hip. "I'll have you know that I have an apartment and a new, legit, job–at a studio, mind you."
He arched a brow and leaned against the doorframe, arms loosely crossed with a slight quirk to his full lips. "Oh, do you now? I'm curious to see what you consider to be 'legit.' " He held up his hands to put the word in air quotes. That earned him another smack on the chest.
"you don't seem eager to leave." simon observed after a few minutes of silence. nik had moved to a chair beside him, scrolling some social media while he edited.
"tessa is meeting with a friend, and i don't have anything else to do today."
"you sound bummed."
"only slightly, you know you're my favorite."
"don't lie to me, you homosexual."
nik snorted. "keep editing, dear. i might give you the full story one day."
The two bickered some more, and then she let herself into the house by shoving the guy out of the way. He snorted and trailed after her.
"So, Ronan," she started, dropping her laptop onto the coffee table and plopping her ass on the couch like she owned the place. "How long you plan on staying?"
He shrugged and sat next to her, massaging her feet when she set them in his lap. "I've been given a week, two weeks tops if I keep up on my homework."
She nodded and grinned. "You mind if I crash here? At least until I get some decent furniture in my place? I wanna bug you as much as humanly possible."
He sighed. "Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine."
(time for meet-the-competition i guess lmao)
after about an hour and a half, simon sat back with a sigh. "done. time check?"
"4:07."
"fun. wanna go grab food with me?"
"yeah."
Ronan and Tessa, sweaty and panting, broke away from each other. They had cloth wrapped around their knuckles and hands and were bouncing on the balls of their feet. The two loved to spar when they got together. They fought almost all the time, getting into little tussles every once and a while.
Tessa started unwrapping her hands. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving."
"You're always starving," he said with a chuckle. "But good for you, I am too. You have any recommendations?"
Tessa nodded. "Yeup. Let's get changed then get going."
(should they meet at the restaurant)
they placed their drink orders, making idle talk as they waited. eventually, the subject of nik's move came up.
"oh?i come from the uhh… i'm not sure of it's legitimate name, but we called it the neon district. that's where i met tessa, the friend i was with."
(yeah)
Tessa and Ronan entered the restaurant, immediately greeted by a waitress and directed to a table near Nik's. Tessa had changed into something casual, and Ronan had on a simple black tee and jeans. (I'm too lazy to describe her outfit, so it's the one on the right)
nik looked up as someone entered, eyes widening slightly.
"simon. there's tessa." he murmured, angling his head towards her table
"she's… hot. why haven't you tried it yet, you man whore?"
"halt deine fresse, dumbfuck." he hissed. that only made simon smile knowingly, and wave neatly at tessa and her friend.
Ronan caught the wave first, kicking Tessa under then table in the shin to get her attention. She scowled at him, he pointed over at Nik and the waving guy. She rolled her eyes and turned, only to flick her brows up in surprise. "Well then," she said.
Ronan rolled his eyes. "That's like your catchphrase–you say it for every situation."
She stuck her tongue out at him, then turned her attention back onto Nik and his friend. "Hi. Fancy seeing you here."
(sorry if my responses get short, im making simon and another character named arielle their own pages)
nik flushed, kicking simon under the table and turning his attention to tessa.
"hey there. i could say the same thing, miss hunt."
(It's okay)
Ronan arched a brow at Tessa, leaning back with amusement. "Oh, so you know at least one of them? You happen to screw him, too?"
Tessa turned around long enough to smack him in the chest. "Ronan!" she hissed. He just snickered in response. She huffed and said to Nik, "Sorry about him. He's a dick."
"Am not!"
"Are too, now shut up."
simon snorted at their bickering, and nik held back a 'she did, actually.' in favor of jerking a shoulder towards the other and joking, "yeah, mine's a dick as well. you get used to it."
"At least I only see this prick about once a month," she said, hooking a thumb towards her companion. He rolled his eyes and muttered something in Hawaiian. She chose to ignore him as she said, "This nutcase is Ronan."
"luckyyy. i work with him. this is simon, the editor i got chewed out by." he patted simon's hand, who in turn made a face and snatched it away with a "paws off, hun. and hey, i didn't yell at you today! dirty liar."
"Ooooh, so you're the one that puts up with his editing nightmare," Tessa said, leaning on an elbow and resting her head in her hand. "Nice to meet you."
"i am. nice to meet you, supposed old friend." he gave nik a Look, and nik glared fiercely back.
She arched a brow. "Supposed old friend?" she repeated with a hint of amusement. "What, exactly, has Nik told you?" A waiter came over to Ronan and Tessa to get their drink orders. Ronan ordered for both of them, and the waiter scurried off.
(i swear they're not dating lmao they just act like an old married couple)
"oh fuck off, simon. i said you're an old friend, now my neighbor. he's 99% sure i'm cheating on him with you, though," nik interrupted before he could get anything past his mouth.
"such accusations."
(lmao, Ronan and Tess bicker all the time as well—though, their disputes usually end up more physical)
Ronan had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing, his brown eyes bright with amusement and delight. Tessa's smile slowly grew as she listened to the two. "You two make the perfect couple," she cooed, leaning her arms on the back of her chair.
Ronan rolled his eyes. "You say that with every gay couple."
"What? I gotta support my peeps."
He sighed and shook his head. "You're so weird."
She stuck her tongue out at him. "Weird I may be, but at least I don't get up at 3 o'clock in the morning to send you a 'you miss me yet?' text."
"press x for doubt," simon joked. "perfect? we go head to head all the time. i think that's how an editor and writer are supposed to be, though."
nik leaned forward on his elbows. "3am, for a 'you miss me?' text? tess is right, that's awfully strange."
Ronan shrugged. "It's a 6-hour difference. 3am for me is 9am for her. I'm up anyways studying and whatnot with my roommates, so it's not like I'm going out of my way to bug her in the morning."
"that's fair. tell me more about this 6-hour difference? where are you normally?" simon nodded, seconding the question.
"Hawaii, the bastard," Tessa hissed, scowling over her shoulder at Ronan.
He gave her a smug smirk. "Yeah, I'm in Hawaii when I'm not here. Medical student, so I don't get much sleep anyways," he said with a shrug.
"ooooh. how fancy." simon chirped, tailed by nik's less enthusiastic "how did your fancy hawaii ass fare in the slums that are the neon district?"
simon discreetly kicked nik under the table.
Ronan raised a brow, a gesture eerily similar to that of Tessa, and propped his chin on a hand. "It's not that bad. Tessie and I usually went to the gym when I was here to visit. And it's not like I'm not familiar with the less fortunate sides of the world. I'm originally from New York City—and not the nice part. I moved in with my dad to pursue the same career as him."
