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capybaraonabicycle · 8 months

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For one single cup of coffee (Jase/Natalie)

Written for @none-ofthisnonsense for the prompt 12: a kiss to distract the other from the first kiss prompts by @sasslett.

(I have decided to tag you, @none-ofthisnonsense, I hope that is alright. This scene is happening about 2 years prior to the plot of the musical, in case you are interested in reading it. So it should be spoiler-free except for maybe the first 10 minutes of the musical and later minor points. You can find the musical here for context if you like.)

Rating: Teen

Genre: Angst with a little fluff

Warnings: Dubiously consensual kissing in the way that Judith is using a false identity and they are both drunk, plus some swearing

Summary: At the end of their first date, Jase walks Judith Natalie to the door. Neither really want the evening to end but it's 4 am and they are trying to be reasonable. And then Jase finds a concerning message on Natalie's phone…

Words: ~2000

ao3

[ID: An unlocked phone lying on top a wooden table. end ID]

Jase was a gentleman. Of course he was, Judith knew him well enough after just one evening not to be surprised. No, not Judith, Natalie. She had almost messed up twice already - the first time not responding to him using 'her' name, the second stumbling over it when recounting a slightly tweaked story from childhood - she was better off reminding herself and using the name she had introduced herself with. Especially since he was just too sweet. He offered her his couch and when she refused - too many difficult thoughts and emotions in her head she had to work through before managing to smile at him across a breakfast table - he called her a cab and walked her to the door.

It was nice, not having to put her foot down to go home after the first date, not having to deal with expectations of any kind. But honestly, that was the tiniest tip of the iceberg of things that were nice and beautiful and scaringly perfect about everything that had happened this evening. Never in her life had she felt this close to a person she had just met - maybe she had never felt this close to anyone. Damn, those scientists really knew what they were doing, didn't they? But then there was obviously the question of what lay beneath the water surface, what was hiding behind this amazing evening, the net of lies she had spun more and more tightly around herself the longer the evening went on. The reason she had to go home now, much as she wanted to stay in this glimmering illusion, stay sitting on his carpet, stay in his life, stay Natalie Cook forever.

She stumbled a little when reaching for her shoes and his hand steadied her on the elbow, tender and kind and rather inefficiently as he was swaying as well. The two bottles of wine had not gone unnoticed.

"Whoops" she said and they giggled like preschoolers. He looked so beautiful when he laughed. Happy and soft and innocent. He didn't know the world like she did - she had learnt that tonight.

"You sure you'll make it home okay?" He asked, slightly slurring. "Should I come with?"

'No!' her mind screamed instinctively but she managed to laugh it off.

"I think that would rather defeat the purpose of sending me home, Jase" she said.

His eyes widened in shock immediately. "Oh, god, no! I didn't mean it like that! I would take the cab back after, of course."

"Don't be ridiculous" she chided him gently while trying to force her feet into the overly fancy date shoes. "That would only cost an unnecessary fortune."

"Not unnecessary" he murmured. When she stopped and looked at him questioningly, he elaborared: "We always laugh it off as long as nothing happens but once in danger we would easily spend a fortune to save another human's life, wouldn't we?"

He picked at his sleeves awkwardly while she stared at him.

'He's too good' she thought. 'How did I end up on a date with someone like him?'

Well, she didn't, Natalie did. Natalie was the kind of girl who dated boys like Jase.

She cleared her throat. "Yeah, but if you come with me, you might be the one in danger on the way back. So, don't worry, I will be fine. The cab's gonna bring me right to my doorstep, nothing's gonna happen."

"I'll tell the driver to wait in front of the house until you're safe inside" Jase nodded resolutely, before instantly backtracking, "unless you think that's overstepping a line? Am I patronising you?"

She closed the strap on her shoe and put a hand on his arm reassuringly.

"Relax" she told him. "I think it's sweet."

"Good" he breathed out audibly.

A heavy silence settled over them and not for the first time this night she felt the urge to kiss him. Judging by the way his gaze flitted over her face, she wasn't the only one. Yes, this was a first date following a chance meeting. And yes, they were quite drunk. And yes, climbing into his bed was out of question, very probably for both of them. But a kiss? She would really, really like to kiss him.

She reached down and fixed her other shoe. Jase cleared his throat, taking a tiny step backwards.

"You got all your things?"

"What, are you asking whether I 'accidentally' planted a jacket I will have to retrieve to see you again?" she joked and he laughed.

"Now you make me regret asking."

"I could still lie and deny any jacket." It was meant as another joke but it closed up her throat when she was reminded of all the lies she had been telling tonight.

He still laughed. "Sorry to disappoint you, Natalie, but you are wearing your jacket. Unless you brought an extra one just for leaving here and quite honestly, that would be a little creepy."

"No creepy jackets, I promise." She raised her hands defensively, then patted her pockets to locate her keys and wallets. "Shit, my phone!"

"I'll go get it!" Jase retreated back into the flat before she could stop him.

"I think I left it on the carpet!" she called after him. "Might have disappeared under the couch, too!"

She heard him rummage around a little, then he shouted back. "Got it!"

A small pause, then: "God, it is late."

Then he fell quiet alltogether, even the rumbling of his moving around subsided. Her heart dropped. He had seen something. Gosh, she was so stupid! Why did she let him get her phone? Phones were the most treaterous objects you could posses. Worse than ID's, for sure. What to do? Well, there was only one thing: Play it cool and hope for the best.

When Jase returned with her phone he was looking sheepish, confirming her suspicion. She tried to keep it together, calm her breathing while he stepped closer. He didn't hand her the phone immediately, tapping it's rim in thought.

She reached out her hand. "Jase?"

"Oh, sorry" quickly, he handed her the phone, then he shook his head. "Sorry, I know, I shouldn't have snooped, just..."

"Yeah?" Her heart was hammering so loudly she was sure he had to hear it. He would know. He would find it all out now. That the woman who had bewitched him tonight did not exist. That she was nothing but a lie.

"You got a message" he said. "And it mentioned someone having met your mum."

"What?" it was simple to feign surprise because she didn't have to feign it. Who the hell had spoken to her mum and felt like telling her about it? "My mum? Are you sure?"

She switched on the screen, scanning the message. Oh, so some idiot she had been friends in school with. Whatever the hell did they think contacting her? She tried to funnel her anger into more confusion. "This can't be meant for me. Oh, yeah, Dana! I went to school with her. Probably mistook me for someone else or I don't know."

Jase seemed torn between looking at the screen himself or giving her privacy. Still, he couldn't help but point out: "I think she must have. Look, she's calling you 'J'. That's not your nickname, is it? At least you didn't tell me about it."

"Nah, they called me 'Nat' in school" she lied effortlessly, pocketing the phone so he'd stop staring at it. "Sometimes 'Cook'. Didn't like that one."

Lying had always come easy to her but now her heart was going like crazy. Because the doubts were coming in. Hadn't this been the moment? The hint from the universe to stop the charade, come clean, see how he reacted? This was obviously so much more than 'just one single cup of coffee' to escape reality for. But she couldn't, she couldn't see the disappointment in his face now, she couldn't let him go just yet. This was too good, she wanted, she needed more of it.

"I'm sorry, Natalie" Jase said and her heart skipped a beat. But then he continued: "I know your classmate didn't mean to hurt you but she really should have checked before. She... she does know about your mother, right?"

"I think so..." she trailed off like she was trying to remember. "It happened senior year. I kinda drew away from most classmates for a while."

His hand landed on her shoulder, light as a feather.

"I am so sorry" he repeated. "I can't imagine how horrible she must feel when she finds out the message reached you on accident. Not to excuse her, of course. Are you okay? You can still stay over, you know, I mean, in case you don't want to be alone tonight? I mean, I have a perfectly good couch."

And again she was reminded how kind he was, how caring. But she'd rather he didn't fixate on her presumably dead mum that much. Not at all if possible. Lest he started asking himself questions that would make him doubt the whole story. Unfortunately, he wasn't done obsessing over it yet.

"She really should have payed more attention" he continued his rant. "How the hell do you mess up this badly? Isn't there someone she could have asked if she lost her contact details from school? She must be at least a little close to this 'J' person if she is calling them by a nickname, how did she mistake you for them? Do you have any idea who that is, by the way? Someone from your class?"

It was probably not exclusively rightful anger that drove him to focus on the message. There was definitely a part of him that was simply stalling, like they had both been doing tonight, not wanting to let her go just yet. She did not know what reason for his rambling excited her more, just that her excitement was mixed with the desperate wish to make him stop, make him forget all about the text, distract him. And really, in the end, it was to equal parts the excitement about him caring, the fear of him finding out and the fact that she had been thinking about this all night that made her reach for his shirt, pull him in and press their lips together.

He was startled at first and it took him a second to catch on, but then he was kissing her back, his hands grabbing her upper arms like he needed something to ground him. His lips were as soft as they had looked, a little clumsy but very eager and it took her breath away.

She forgot all about distracting him, forgot about Natalie completely, too. All that mattered was that Jase was here, kissing her and holding her like he never wanted to let go.

When they drew back, they were both breathing heavily, his hands finally wandering down her arms to grasp her fingers.

"Was that okay?" she whispered and he laughed.

"I think I made that quite clear" he argued, then he kissed her again, short and sweet. "Very okay. I've been thinking about doing this all night if I'm being honest."

"Me too."

They kissed again and this time his hands tangled in her hair, pulling gently. She moaned into his mouth, pressing closer against his body.

"You know" he drew back, panting, "it's not too late to send the cab away if that's what you want. I wanted to take things slow but honestly right now I can't remember why."

She laughed, patting his chest and stepping back. Much as she agreed with his reasoning, one of them had to be the responsible one. Plus, there was still the question of guilt to work through on her side.

"We're both drunk, Jase" she said. "I can come back to stay over tomorrow."

She realised belatedly what she had said. "Oh, gosh, tomorrow's way too quick, isn't it?"

He grabbed her hand again, shaking his head.

"It's alright" he promised. "I am free after 2, if you like?"

"Starting at 2pm?" she teased. "That's quite a night you have planned."

It was adorable how his face wrinkled in embarrassment.

"Maybe we can finally go have a coffee?" he offered. "Hang out in the park? Keep the option available to come back here eventually?"

She pressed his hand. "Sounds like the perfect day to me."

His smile deepened in understanding, when there was a faint sound of a car horn to be heard from the street.

"I think my cab's getting impatient" she remarked.

"You should better leave before they wake up the entire building" he agreed, but they didn't let go off each other's hand.

"One more kiss for the road?" she offered.

"You got it." He leaned in, his breath ghosting over her mouth. "See you tomorrow, Natalie."

Thanks for reading!

#36 questions #jase connelly #natalie cook #judith ford #36 questions musical #fanfic #forgive me if the phone thing doesn't make sense #I have no recollection of phones in 2010-ish #Look at me I finished two scenes :D #I hope you can enjoy this one too owl but please don't feel pressured to read it #I already had a blast writing this for myself :)#But do check the musical out if you like musicals!#It is really good #It's also on Spotify in case that's easier for you #Perfect for long trainrides/busrides #Very immersive and I found it easy to comprehend what was going on #(I say as someone who struggles severely with big finish - like really it's only 2 people talking/singing)#(and a clear plotline)

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