What I Want

[Gabriel Pearce Fitzpatrick]

It had been a long morning and with the sun outside the last place Gabe wanted was to be buried in the library archives, but he had journals, books and articles to read before he could continue with the rest of his thesis and none of it would read itself and the head librarian seemed to have issues with Gabe taking too many materials out at a time. He already had some heavy anthologies in his room at his apartment and he daren’t ask her to allow him more. So, it would be a morning of heavy reading whilst he admired the sun from the glass windows. At least this end of the library was usually silent; the tomes were usually too advanced for most undergraduates and even some of the texts on Gabe’s desk now were enough to baffle the young anthropologist.

It was easy for him to feel a little out of place in the campus of NYU since his grad school and first degree had come from UCLA. He had never thought that two schools could be so different but they really were. Plus, he knew no one here at this college aside from the one person who seemed to have made the same move he had done, though for very different reasons. Fallon taught at the university whilst Gabriel still roamed the corridors as a student, his mind set still that of the fraternity boy he had been back in sunny California, though that might have to do with the fact he lived with one of his frat brothers in New York and he seemed to think they were still the same eighteen year olds who had partied more than they worked. Most nights Gabe was picking him up from bars or helping him to bed before pouring himself cups of coffee and sitting down to work on his paper. It was strange being twenty five and living the same life of a student, but it was worth it and as a scholar, Gabe knew he wouldn’t stop until he had learnt and written about enough to satisfy his thirst for knowledge.

Eventually, his stomach let out a loud growl and that was his sign to stop for some lunch. He gathered his things up and divided them, putting his own belongings in his satchel and carefully moving the library property to a shelf where no one would disturb his collection, at least until his return. It wasn’t like there was a popular fascination with any of the things he was reading, but still, hiding them made him feel a little better about taking a longer lunch break and today it was what he needed. He also hoped that Fallon would be free for a bit now too; he could do with the company before his own thoughts drove him insane.

He knew where her office was by now after calling in so many times, usually to use her computer when he didn’t have his laptop charger and he needed to check something or send an e-mail. He was sure he had left a file in there actually with a few of his scribbles in it from last week, but he had kept forgetting to check with the media-wise blonde. Having known her for a good number of years, Gabe listened at her door for the sound of voices but only got silence and to him that was an invitation to knock loudly once and then stroll right on in. “Please tell me you are free for lunch or I may just have to kidnap you and send your class a ransom demand for some intelligent company.”

[/color] He said, flopping casually down into the chair as though her office was his apartment.
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• • •

TAGGED! Fallon
WORDS! 664!
OUTFIT! Mismatched Mess
LYRICS! Sixteen, Maybe Less - - - Iron and Wine
NOTES! <3

[Fallon Alexandra Flynn]

It was nearly the end of her only class that day. She’d given her student’s their assignments; another script, this time a romance. It was mostly set for her male students, who all claimed to be allergic to the genre. The topic this time however was nonnegotiable so they were out of luck. Fallon was tired of finding horrors, actions and comedies in her email. And since there was plenty of time left, she figured she could tell them a story from high school, when her uncle’s company was working overtime on this huge production and she had helped out with it.

Most of what she’d told them was the truth, she did help out and often with the production company, there was a big movie in the works, and she did meet some really famous people. But that was pretty much where the truth ended, more or less. She made the rest up. That particular movie went surprisingly smooth considering two of the actresses were privately feuding and one of the actors was in out-patient rehab, also under the radar. So there had been plenty of reasons to be a disastrous set. But the story she wove had an underlining meaning: women loved romances, and the guys behind them. She’d seen that with her own pale blue eyes.

Fallon checked the clock on the wall and figured the kids she had in her class would benefit from the sun shining already and dismissed them with ten minutes left in the class time. She was gathering her own things when a student stepped up to her desk to ask about another class she taught. Fallon was mostly planted on the Film side of Film and Media, but because she basically grew up in a studio, she knew every aspect. She answered his questions and told him if there were any more, he could send her a quick email, or just stop by her office if he was on campus. Then, she finished tossing her things in her bags and left the room, hitting the lights as she went.

She didn’t stop to grab coffee like she usually did. She felt too hot already and didn’t need the extra heat with her black coffee. After working at Starbucks, she could never find a taste for those fancy sugary confections they called drinks. She made it all the way to her office without having to stop and chat. Inside, she shut the door, not bothering to lock it; the only person who even dared walk through the shut door was Gabe, and since they’d been friends from the time they bumped into each other their freshman year of College, she couldn’t say no to him.

Fallon dropped her bag on her desk, kicked off her shoes and folded herself into her chair. She had scripts to read and approve before filming could begin, and that would take a lot for her to get through. It was a freshman class, so they weren’t entirely sure of their footing yet and that meant a lot of mistakes. Sighing, she brought her laptop’s screen up, sped through the password and brought up her school email. She brought up the first script, and started in on it. She figured she’d get through a couple of them at least and get some lunch but her plans threw right out the window four lines in. Gabe burst through the door ad take a seat across from her. She grinned, shaking her head, the script on the screen completely forgotten. “Sadly there will be no ransom demands for little ol’ me. Where are you stealing me away to today?” she asked, closing the screen.

Tag|| Gabe
Words|| 615
Clothes|| Those were the days
Music|| Growing Up by The Maine
Notes|| <3 <3 <3

[Gabriel Pearce Fitzpatrick]

Gabe felt as though he had known Fallon forever, though obviously it had only been seven or so years. Basically, the whole time he had been an adult Fallon had been around in some capacity and he valued her as one of his closest friends, even before his move to New York a year ago. He couldn’t quite remember the exact details of how they had met, but he did recall bumping into her enough times that eventually they had gone for a friendly drink together to celebrate the end of the freshman exams. Gabe didn’t know why, but he did seem to befriend women a lot easier than he did guys, with the exception of the guys in his fraternity. They had been more than quick to welcome him into their clutches and a world of pranks and mischief that Gabe’s magic tricks were perfect for. It was, after all, the reason behind his nickname, though not many folk in New York called him that unless he met them through his roommate.

He figured many people saw him as the harmless sort. He was a little bit geeky and could talk someone’s ear off, but he was calm and a patient listener. He was a good shoulder to cry on and many of his frat brother’s girlfriends had taken wonderful advantage of that after many a drunken night had led to infidelity on someone’s behalf. In fact, Gabe probably spent more late nights offering advice and consoling people more than he spent them studying or partying himself. Why did people deem him such a trustworthy guy? It had been a rare situation for a guy to take Gabe’s friendship with a girl the wrong way, but still, it confused him greatly on both ends and there wasn’t a book in the world that could offer an explanation.

Still, he had never been very lucky in love, but it wasn’t something he worried too much about at this moment in his life; not when his roommate was still acting as though he was eighteen! Besides, he was chasing other dreams over at NYU and annoying Fallon when she was busy was just another part of those particular dreams. Gabe couldn’t help it; the second he found an amazing research article or new journal that shed more light on the previous world he simply had to tell someone and Fallon was really the only person he knew well enough that she would accept his hyperactive geek-out without looking at him as though he was totally insane.

At least today she didn’t have to worry about that. Gabe honestly just needed a break, some vitamin D from that glorious sun and some food in his stomach before he turned carnivorous. He glanced around her office, leaning forward to reposition a paper weight and then shrugged his shoulders. “Somewhere outside? Away from dark corners of the library where I commonly live?”

[/color] He smiled and then leaned back in the chair, folding his arms behind his head and focusing his attention on his friend. “How about lady’s choice and my treat?”[/color] His job wasn’t badly paid considering he didn’t work full time at the museum, but he was more than a little comfortable with what he earned so far. Plus, he had the benefit of grants and bursaries coming in from certain places to further his education, which always made life that little bit easier for him.
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• • •

TAGGED! Fallon
WORDS! 610!
OUTFIT! Mismatched Mess
LYRICS! Sixteen, Maybe Less - - - Iron and Wine
NOTES! <3

[Fallon Alexandra Flynn]

The week wasn’t complete without at least four random visits from Gabe just waltzing into her office and dropping down on a chair to chat. Still it was these random pop ins that Fallon enjoyed most about her day. Gabe always had something completely off the way to share from a book he’d read in the library. And sometimes when he did visit on the rare day she was beyond busy, she put him to work, proofing the scripts that fell onto her desk. She wouldn’t let her students begin filming for her class without a proper, accepted script. She wanted to make sure they knew what they were doing, especially her freshmen and sophomore classes. The juniors and seniors she gave more responsibility to.

Gabe had been there for Fallon since their freshman year, and she had plenty of memories to reminisce about with him to last about three lifetimes from these past seven years alone. Fallon sat back, a smirk on her face. She also wouldn’t turn him away if he came to her for any reason. “The librarian finally succumbed to your flirtatiousness and gave up that cob webby back room? I must say, it must be heaven on the pocket book,” Fallon said wrinkling her nose, and biting her lip to hold back her laughter. She was teasing him, of course. With the amount of time he spent in the dark corners of that particular building, they should have named the place after him, or at the very least relinquished a room for his research.

“Those are some of my favourite words,” she said with a chuckle, leaning back in her own chair. She thought about that, it was so nice out, and she was starving since she’d skipped out on breakfast for an extra twenty minutes of sleep. She’d been up late, watching some of the short films of her senior classes. “How about the bistro down the street? The little Italian place? Great food and they have the patio open already,” she finished in a singsong voice. The idea of sitting on the patio with a plate of the best fettuccine Alfredo Fallon had ever tasted was just too tempting to ignore. Happily, Fallon untangled herself from the chair and slipped into her shoes, adding to her short height. She sure as hell wasn’t going to be America’s Next Top Model that was for sure; even at five foot five!

Tag|| Gabe
Words|| 406
Clothes|| Those were the days
Music|| Growing Up by The Maine
Notes|| <3 <3 <3

[Gabriel Pearce Fitzpatrick]

It felt weird at times for Gabe knowing that he was the same age as Fallon, but she was the one with a career firmly in place whilst he still frolicked in the stacks, pulling out old books that were starting to smell stale as the yellow pages smudged under a heavy touch. He loved his research though and was in no rush to call an end to things just yet. Besides, he did pretty well as a tour guide, forever finding new facts and statistics to include with his regular speeches. He may not be a historian as such, but his knowledge of anthropology and the classics meant that he knew more of the myths, legends and theories than some of the people who worked with him and more often than not the veteran visitors to the museum were pleasantly surprised to hear something new and debatable from the young scholar.

It was nice having a friend as close as Fallon in New York. He was still in touch with most of his college friends and one or two of his high school pals, but it wasn’t quite the same when he was so far from home and those who knew him well. His partner in crime was always good for fun, but he never took much of an interest in Gabe’s research and it was good to know someone who was still in the world of academia, even if she was teaching now. He threw her a look, his dark eyes shining with amusement. “It would be my luck that she’d be the only woman to act on my advances.”

[/color] He said, faking a terrified shudder. “I’m sure she thinks I’m plotting conspiracies or something back there. Each day I ask for something out of the archives the glare grows darker.”[/color] Personally, he felt as though the librarian wasn’t prepared for the work half of the time. She was always sitting behind the desk reading some old war time novella and scowling whenever someone came in talking.

He laughed and pushed his floppy hair back from his eyes. “At least I know the way to a girl’s heart.”[/color] He joked, rolling his eyes playfully. He listened to her suggestion and nodded in agreement. He hadn’t been there in a while, usually opting for something cheap from the university dining hall and then regretting it once he’d finished eating it. At least this would make a change and hopefully give him the sustenance he needed to power through the rest of the afternoon back in his little corner in the library. There would be myths about him one day; the library hermit with Converse and “old man” glasses, as his roommate called them. “Sounds good to me! C’mon, m’lady, let’s get us some lunch.”[/color] He crossed to the door and held it open for Fallon, a small smirk on his lips as he waited for her to grab her things and join him.
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• • •

TAGGED! Fallon
WORDS! 531!
OUTFIT! Mismatched Mess
LYRICS! Sixteen, Maybe Less - - - Iron and Wine
NOTES! <3

[Fallon Alexandra Flynn]

It amused Fallon to no end some days that she was sitting behind the big, intimidating desk at the front of the class while one of her closest friends still sat in the other, smaller desks. She was proud of him though, so determined to continue his studies. Fallon might have done the same, if it weren’t for the fact that by the time she’d finished her specific studies, she’d needed to get as far away from LA as possible. With her mother being the way she was and then the thing with Brad turning out the way it had… well, she just couldn’t have any fun in the sun anymore. There were too many demons in the sunshine state for her liking; even if she had kept some of her bad times from even the closest friend like Gabe. What happened between her and Brad was still something she hadn’t told her best friend, though heaven knew she had wanted to say something.

Fallon shook her head. “You know it’s because you’re so intimidating with all those big, old books filling space around you. None of the pretty young co-eds want to disturb you,” she said, with every intention of stopping there, but she couldn’t help herself from teasing her friend just a little more. “Besides, you kind of get this little crazy look when you’ve been at those books for so long. You run your fingers through your hair so much, it stick up on its ends.” She tilted her head to the side as if thinking about something then she snapped her fingers and pointed a polished nail at Gabe. “Kind of like Einstein!” She exclaimed, laughing like she was back in College again; that happy, bubbly giggle she’d tried so hard to get rid of for as long as she could remember. No one was taken seriously with a natural laugh like that; at least, not many in the business she grew up in at any rate.

“But seriously, Gabe, I’ve told you time and again. If you need a room to keep your things, I can arrange for it. It’s a perk to you know, working here,” she said, trying to get him to see a better way than hiding his books like he’d told her he did. “And failing that, you can work in here most days. I only take office hours once a week for the entire day. At least then you wouldn’t have to deal with those darkening glares.” Mostly she was in classes, or working with music on when she wasn’t in a lecture hall. And her office had plenty of space. But Fallon dropped it anyway. There really wasn’t a point in arguing with Gabe and darkening a sunny day with a rare bought of actual arguing.

Fallon laughed along with him. “One of them anyway,” she joked. “Food and shoes, the best ways into our hearts,” she added, shaking her head. At least, those were a couple paths to her heart. She stretched, lifting her foot to fix her heel. It was a bit ridiculous to wear such high heels on a daily basis in a fast paced city, but given her background and where she grew up, she’d be the odd one out without them. Now it was almost second nature. She let her foot fall back down to the ground and grabbed her black satchel, glancing in it quickly to make sure she at least had her phone handy. Satisfied, Fallon rounded the desk and shaking her head at Gabe’s chivalrous action walked out the door, stopping only long enough to lock it after Gabe closed it behind him. "Let's go, Sir Gabe, Knight of the dark, damp library."

Tag|| Gabe
Words|| 622
Clothes|| Those were the days
Music|| Growing Up by The Maine
Notes|| <3 <3 <3

[Gabriel Pearce Fitzpatrick]

How Gabe had come to end up in New York was rather a complicated puzzled. He had stayed at UCLA for his degree and then his Masters before going back home and spending two months just helping around the house, occasionally attending his mother’s lectures and giving guest presentations on areas he was more focused on than she was. Then, almost out of the blue, he had been packing for New York and planning his next degree level. Why had he not just stayed in California and carried on there? Even Gabe didn’t quite know why. All he knew was that he wanted a change and originally had planned to take a year out or something until he found where his little car would take him next. New York was just calling to him the second that his buddy had mentioned the spare room and the expansive NYU library. He may have mentioned it as a joke, but Gabe was already in love with the concept and it didn’t take him long to make the 1,460 mile trip. In a sense he had travelled right across the country and his dad liked to joke that his son was “the little traveller”, though Gabe knew that it was just the quiet house that got to him now that none of his children lived at home.

He pulled a face at Fallon and rolled his eyes playfully. “Is that what I’ve been doing wrong all this time?”

[/color] He asked sarcastically, as though it all made perfect sense now. He laughed warmly at the mention of his hair. That fact was true and he did spend a lot of time pushing his hair back from his face whenever he was on a roll and finding links and great references in record time. “You try having this hair and not touching it.”[/color] He had a habit of getting it cut only a few times a year and then letting it grow out again. Most of the time it hung in light waves around his jawline and was forever falling into his eyes even when it was short. It wasn’t one of his top priorities. “Einstein was quite the romantic, actually. He even managed to liken his theory of relativity to love; ‘When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity’. I think if I was a girl and a guy said something like that to me, or even quoted Einstein to me, I’d be willing to give them the rest of my life.”[/color] And he was gone. Gabe’s chatterbox side really only came out when it boiled down to academia, but once it was out, consuming his personality, it took a lot to shut the young man up. Luckily, this time, his speech was pretty much done, though his thoughts were still tracing that path.

His dark eyes flicked around the office and he wrinkled his nose up. The office was nice, but if Gabe was to try and work in here there would be more problems that he needed. “There’s too much light from outside. It would damage some of the older manuscripts that I look at.”[/color] Plus, he enjoyed his library time. There was something inspiring about being in a large and expansive library like the one he often worked in. “A room wouldn’t be too bad though. Especially when I have to start making sense of my notes.”[/color] So far, he had four leather bound notebooks filled with his scribbles and shorthand, all relating to the project he was working on for his PhD. Whenever he had to put things together, he had a habit of trashing the place; books open everywhere, papers from the internet strewn across the floor and his sitting positions often involved clambering up on things or tying himself in some sort of shoeless knot to write. He didn’t quite know why either.

“Yeah, your love for shoes will one day probably put you in hospital.”[/color] He glanced down at the killer heels on her feet and shook his head. “If we ever have a fire in this building, remind me to carry you out. You’d be trampled if you ran in those things.”[/color] He said with a crooked smirk, his own feet clad in one of his many pairs of Converse. Another laugh broke free at his new ‘title’ and he brushed the hair from his eyes again. “Sir Gabe, Knight of the Dark, sounds better. I think you can drop the ‘damp library’ part.”[/color] He pushed his hands into the deep pockets of his jeans as they walked along, his thumbs poking over the top of the denim. “I think I’d be more likely to be a wizard though.”[/color] He said, slightly randomly, as he thought about the old tales of Camelot his mother would read to him when he was a child.
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• • •

TAGGED! Fallon
WORDS! 871!
OUTFIT! Mismatched Mess
LYRICS! Sixteen, Maybe Less - - - Iron and Wine
NOTES! <3

[Fallon Alexandra Flynn]

Being away from Los Angeles gave Fallon the space she needed to get over everything. Now, she couldn’t picture herself living back there full time. She loved the feeling of the warm sand under her feet in August, sitting out on the pool deck of her uncle’s house, soaking in that vitamin D. But those were her vacations. A couple weeks before school started again to just relax and not worry about how she was going to mark nine classes worth of work in a single weekend because they needed it back to continue with their films. It was funny but Fallon couldn’t see LA as home anymore. New York was home now. She nodded, biting her lip. “Yes. That is exactly it!” she exclaimed with an eye roll of her own.

If she could have reached across her desk, she would have rumpled up that already messy hair of his. But with the pretzel her body currently was and the fact that even if she could get across the desk, the chairs were still further than that, it was a moot point. She’d get her chance to mess up that hair of his though, soon enough. And Fallon was nothing if not patient. The young professor rolled her eyes. Gabe was on one of his rants again. Rambling about something he felt passionate about. “It’s a great panty dropper alright,” she said as drolly as possible. Though if someone had said that to her, she might have taken a second glance. The last year or so had turned the young blonde into quite the realist and she didn’t fall so easily anymore.

She knew the speech he was handing out well. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard it. The books were too fragile, the sun to bright and distracting. Honestly, Fallon thought he just liked being in the dark library, just him, the books and the occasional student’s cough from the stuffy air. Fallon didn’t like being in the library and unless she needed reference books for some class or another, or she was searching out Gabe, she tended to avoid the place at all costs. “Just say the word, Gabe and the room is yours,” she said. She’d been there the last time he’d done anything like this. She was pretty sure the librarian would hunt his ass down, cut off his head and leave it as a warning on a stake if anyone else dared do the same thing. Gabe in a room with his work was safer.

Fallon laughed, brushing her hand over her hair. “Oh, please! If I can’t out run you in these things, then you have my permission to carry me out of the building! And have you forgotten that stunt sophomore year? I don’t need heels to find myself in a hospital bed with broken bones.” In truth, she wasn’t even sure if the heels on her feet were the highest she owned. She’d worn heels for so long, it actually felt weird being in her flats or trainers. And admittedly, that broken bone hadn’t been as serious as all the guys in Gabe’s frat had made it out to be. By the time she was released and back on campus, the story of how she’d fallen and broken her wrist had been blown so out of proportion, it was bordering on mad. Fallon shrugged, not wanting to give an inch on the title. Fal raised a brow but smirked. “Alright, Merlin, we’ll change your job description.”

Tag|| Gabe
Words|| 586
Clothes|| Those were the days
Music|| Growing Up by The Maine
Notes|| <3 <3 <3

[Gabriel Pearce Fitzpatrick]

Sometimes, he did miss his days in California. It was nice to just hit the beach when there was no work to be done and challenge Myles to some sort of surfing competition. Most of the guys did it and it was a brilliant way to pass the time and release some of the stress that came with life at college. Gabe had suffered a few injuries and two bouts of concussion, but it was still worth it. He couldn’t wait to go back in the summer. There were a few of them who had been in the fraternity together who had made plans to meet up there for a week and live like it was old times again. Luckily, they were all still pretty young so they could probably get away with it. Another five years or so and they’d probably come across as desperate if they relived their college days again, even in California! Gabe didn’t know where he would finally end up just yet, but New York was his home for now, though nothing was set in stone about whether he would stay there for the rest of his days.

He was quite a romantic guy, but he had issues with falling far too easily for some of the girls he met in his life. More often than not though, they saw him as a friend rather than a potential future boyfriend. One or two had even spent quite a lot of time thinking that they could dub him their ‘gay best friend’, despite Gabe not swinging that way at all! Boy, his brothers had had a field day when that came to light at one of their big parties one weekend. He didn’t know what it was that he did to make people see him as nothing more than a shoulder to cry on or someone to rant with. He was a sweetheart through and through and his mother had raised him and her other sons to be polite, well-mannered and with an air of chivalrous nature. He had heard time and time again that he was a sweetheart, but his romantic failings listed more than his successes. Relationships had never lasted more than two months and the women he often fell hard for never reciprocated his feelings, but would never tell him why. He only ever got the “I don’t see you like that” excuse. He shot Fallon a glare at her obvious sarcasm. “Sorry, Miss Cynic.”

[/color] He responded, sticking his tongue out at her in a childish fashion. “Is it not up to LA standards for a guy to use his intelligence to get a girl’s number?”[/color] He already knew the answer to that after he spent five years of his young life there, but still, he loved to tease Fallon as much as she did him.

Gabe zoned out for a few moments, his mind wandering back to his research. A potential new angle had just popped into his mind as they so often did and he was mentally linking everything he already had together using a strange little technique that he likened to the murder boards that you always saw on TV shows. It was only when he heard Fallon’s voice did he quickly remember that he wasn’t in the library and that he wasn’t alone. “What word? Oh, yeah, right, sure! Um, lemme think about it?”[/color] He blinked the glazed look from his eyes and coughed, clearing his dry throat. He slipped off like that much too often lately.

“Hey, I can’t help it if I was the only non-athletic boy in that frat house!”[/color] He said defensively. It was true that he wasn’t the fastest runner out there or the most co-ordinated guy when it came to sports. He also didn’t quite remember why he had ended up in a fraternity, but he didn’t regret it. A smirk crossed his lips at the memory of Fallon’s accident and how everyone had fussed and worried over her. “I’m still surprised there wasn’t a war or something between the houses. You were our responsibility for one night and you went and broke your wrist.”[/color] Gabe shook his head, still smirking as he held the next set of doors open for her. “Let me just remind you that I did try to talk you out of it.”[/color] Gabe had been pretty sensible that night and wasn’t acting up as much as some of the others were. He pushed his hair back again, not noticing when a bit stuck out like Fallon had earlier told him about. He grinned once more, this time reaching behind her ear and pulling out a quarter, showing it to her before closing his hand and making it vanish. It was the oldest trick in the book, but Gabe could do it anytime and anywhere. “I think it might be wise.”[/color] He said with a cheeky little wink.
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• • •

TAGGED! Fallon
WORDS! 861!
OUTFIT! Mismatched Mess
LYRICS! Sixteen, Maybe Less - - - Iron and Wine
NOTES! <3

[Fallon Alexandra Flynn]

Fallon shrugged. She used to be such a hopeless romantic. Having grown up basically on movie sets and walking red carpets for premières, it was difficult not to believe in the work you were helping to create. She had always wanted her fairy tale life, family, good friends, job she wanted to wake up for. And she’d thought she had that with Brad. She’d never felt so wrong about something her entire life. She’d thought they would last forever, and then she walked in on that. “That’s Miss Realist to you, thank you!” she said sticking her own tongue out. “And if you were looking for girls to just hand out their numbers from your intelligence, you should have gone to MIT,” she said loftily, though she had known plenty of girls who fancied the intellectual type. She never did understand why they didn’t go after Gabe; he was such a sweetheart and would have been good for them but no.

Fallon knew the look in Gabe’s eyes well. He was of working out some new theory or problem. Usually it was best to just let him finish and come to all on his own but this time, she saw the look too late and already spoke. She felt bad but it was too late to worry about it now. She smiled knowingly, and tilted her head, as he figured out what they were talking about. “Just let me know and the room is yours,” she said. She didn’t spend much time in the library, but she did sign out rooms for her students and the major research assignments; just so they could leave their books in a safe place, too.

Having that cast had been the worst part about the whole incident. Her arm was itching all the time and she couldn’t hit the beach with it. Her surfing, the only sport she ever enjoyed took a major toll and she had to take time off work. It gave her six weeks of everyone signing her arm though, and six weeks of working for her uncle on the set of yet another hit film. “My name is not Helen and UCLA was not Troy, though a challenge like the one in American Pie: Beta House would have been hilarious,” She said, laughing at the thought. It was a disturbing movie as only the American Pie series could but it was honestly one of her favourite movies of all time. Fallon’s grin was wicked. She enjoyed a little trouble, and back in College, hanging out with Gabe and his frat brothers gave her that, while still being watched over; being smaller had its advantages, nearly everyone wanted to protect her even when she didn’t want to be. “You tried and I ignored you. I learned my lesson, didn’t I?” she asked, not bothering to point out that as soon as that cast was off, she was off doing something else equally stupid.

Fallon laughed, always amused with Gabe’s magic tricks. For the life of her she couldn’t quite figure out how he pulled off some of them, but the little ones she knew the secret behind. “I'll get right on the paperwork for the change,” she said, reaching up and brushing her hand over his hair, fixing it. “See, Einstein,” she said, letting her hand fall back down to her side. “What would you do without me? Run around the City looking like a mad man!” she said, her bright eyes rolling; though she felt as though she’d be far worse off if she didn’t have Gabe around than if the roles were reversed.

Tag|| Gabe
Words|| 604
Clothes|| Those were the days
Music|| Growing Up by The Maine
Notes|| <3 <3 <3

[Gabriel Pearce Fitzpatrick]

Gabe didn’t know why Fallon and Brad had ended things. All he knew was that it had changed her slightly. She wasn’t living a totally different lifestyle or cursing every man who looked twice at her, but he knew that something had happened to change the way she saw certain things in life. He had never pried or asked her what had happened; he knew that if she ever wanted to talk then she would come to him. At the time, Gabe had given her a big hug, told her he was there and asked only once if she was okay. Fallon was capable of taking care of herself most of the time, but Gabe would always be there whenever she needed him. “That’s just a technicality.”

[/color] He teased, waving his hand in the air as though to dissipate the idea. Laughing, he nudged Fallon and gave her a cheesy wink and an exaggerated smoulder. “But UCLA had the finest beach babes, such as yourself.”[/color] For some reason, he also dropped his voice a couple of octaves and wiggled his eyebrows too, in the cartoon like fashion that was usually seen on Family Guy.

He smiled his thanks at her and adjusted the strap of his bag before it rubbed his collarbone any more than it already had done. He was perpetually weighed down with books, his laptop, his notebooks…it was probably easier if he started bringing a suitcase to college each day! At least his shoulders wouldn’t ache so much by the time he got home each night, which was usually far past dinner time. “I think if the librarian caught me with my own room, she might lock me in it and wait for me to die.”[/color] He didn’t know what he had done to make the woman so hostile towards him, but there was certainly something lurking in those aged eyes of hers that had him quickly retreating to his dark corner once their encounter was over.

His time in Pi Kappa Phi had been undeniably the greatest years of his life and there were so many things he knew he’d never forget, along with a few more that he wished he could forget. There had been several drunken incidents that Gabe wished to never think about again, though Myles often saw fit to bring it up on the nights when Gabe did accompany him to the bar or club. “No, but you remember how it could get between the houses if anyone pissed someone off.”[/color] Several night had been cut short for a few guys when some insult had touched too close to home and two fraternities quickly found themselves squaring up to each other, warning the other to back off. Gabe had separated enough of them to know! “Ha! Pi Kappa Phi would have kicked ass in something like that. We were awesome.”[/color] He said, grinning as he brushed his hair behind his ears, trying to tame it in vain.
Smirking, he bumped his shoulder against hers, looking down at her with a playful expression. “If you had learned your lesson you wouldn’t still be ignoring me now when I try to reel you back in.”[/color] It wasn’t often that Gabe felt as though he had to intervene with whatever Fallon was doing, but there had certainly been one or two moments since his move to New York when he got to play the sensible one.

Gabe’s hand came up to his hair to feel what Fallon had done. Obviously, not knowing that it was sticking up had confused him a little, but it only took a few seconds for him to piece it together. “Well, I used to do that back in LA and no one seemed to fuss so much then.”[/color] He joked, running his hand through his hair again, though this time it behaved. As they stepped out of the building, he had to reach up with his hand to block the sunlight from his eyes. All that time in the library was turning the already skinny and pale guy into even more of a vampire stereotype.
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• • •

TAGGED! Fallon
WORDS! 727!
OUTFIT! Mismatched Mess
LYRICS! Sixteen, Maybe Less - - - Iron and Wine
NOTES! <3

[Fallon Alexandra Flynn]

She adored him dearly, and felt she could tell him anything. There was nothing bad to be said about Gabe, and if someone had said something, Fallon was one of the first people to stand up and defend him. He was her best friend in a world full of fake smiles and faker tans. College life, even in California wasn’t all movie stars and beach days. It was amazing how much backstabbing and bitching happened. Thankfully, the truth behind her and Brad’s break-up had been kept between the only four people who knew; Trevor, Brad, his new man and Fallon herself. Though Gabe had been the first person she’d run to when she’d found them, it was still too raw to let the details slip past her lips. And now it just seemed like it was too far in the past to bring up again. She still remembered going to Brad’s apartment with those couple boxes. It was funny now, how she thought she was nearly moved in to his apartment and her things could fit into two boxes that couldn’t be considered large to anything other than a mouse. “Flattery will get you everywhere, Gabriel,” she said, smirking before dropping the smile as quickly as it had appeared, “except my pants.”

Fallon couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Gabe had to overreacting, a little, she hoped. Though the woman she had to talk to about getting one of the rarely used rooms had looked about ready to toss a dagger at Fallon if she’d been able to lift anything heavier than the romance in her hand. “I’d come check on you every couple days,” she said, wrinkling her nose with laughter. The time she’d spent in Gabe’s Frat house had definitely outshined the time spent in Brad’s. Gabe had certainly lucked out during pledge week. And his house had always reminded her of Animal house. Full of hijinks and fun, the parties were the place to be; she would know, she never missed a single one. She had to agree with him though. The rivalries could get out of hand. And the fights that broke out over the smallest things bordered ridiculous at times.

“True enough,” she said, bursting out laughing remembering a single night in particular. Playfully, Fallon hit Gabe’s chest with the back of her hand. “Remember that night Myles got in that huge brawl with your rivals? It was the Hawaiian luau celebration for the beginning of spring break,” she shook her head, trying to catch her breath. It had been another of those fights that was over nothing more significant than spilled beer but to a bunch of drunk guys, that was more than enough a reason. There had been nearly twenty frat boys from both houses within ten minutes and Myles was emerging with a fresh bite mark he didn’t remember getting. While Myles had already started telling a tall tale about the soon to be scar, the rest of the Pi Kappa Phi’s were emerging bruised and battered but laughing and cheering; victorious over a stupid drink that could have been easily refilled. Fallon would never understand them. “Pi Kappa Phi was the best house on campus,” she said, agreeing easily; it had always been her opinion anyway.

Fallon shrugged, trying not to laugh. “Well, maybe you should try a little harder,” she said, bumping his shoulder back. She’d grown up a bit since College, but not by much and she could be found pulling stupid stunts every once in a while; when life just got to be a bit too much and she needed to let off some steam like only a wild California girl could. It didn’t happen nearly as often as it used to. Fallon smiled, pretending to pity him is obliviousness. “Did you think those girls were running their fingers through your hair because they liked how soft and silky it was?" She asked, teasing him. They got each other so riled up; it was shocking to outsiders that they were so close; they could tell each other anything.

Tag|| Gabe
Words|| 680
Clothes|| Those were the days
Music|| Growing Up by The Maine
Notes|| <3 <3 <3

[Gabriel Pearce Fitzpatrick]

This sort of thing was what Gabe would only do with the likes of Fallon or Myles. He wasn’t the kind of guy to prowl the bars and seek out the drunk girl looking for a no strings kind of deal. He’d not even done that when he was in college, though he wasn’t a total gentleman either. He had seen his fair share of fun, but it was something he didn’t make a habit of. Myles was the one who played that game and Gabe always rolled his eyes at it. No, Gabe was a romantic and whilst he would joke and tease about beach babes and hot women, he wanted more than just that. He just hadn’t been so lucky in that department so far. Still, when it was just light hearted like this, no one got hurt. He laughed at her droll comment and shook his head, grinning at her. “With the amount of times I’ve flattered you over the years that could only lead us to trouble!

[/color] He respected Fallon far too much to let anyone treat her like just another girl. Not even he could look at her like that and whilst he wasn’t a fighter, he would defend Fallon if some guys tried it on with her in a club when he was around.

He threw her an odd look and rolled his eyes in false exasperation. “For the last time, Fal, I don’t actually live in the library, contrary to popular belief!”[/color] He spent an awful lot of time there, but he did go back to his apartment at some point at the end of each day. He had to eat and sleep and shower at some point! Myles still gave him an abundance of mocking tones and gestures at his scholarly nature, but it was all in good jest. They still went out on the weekends, though Gabe was usually the first to call quits, grabbing a cab home around midnight and leaving his friend to work the clubs as though he was still a college kid. Gabe actually had a sneaky suspicion that he used that line to get half of the girls he did, but he wasn’t about to question Myles. They were best friends and Gabe knew that he’d settle down one day when he realised he was twenty one again.

Gabe jumped slightly at her sudden laugh, but his own quickly joined hers when she reminded him of the story. “I ended up with a black eye from that fight and I didn’t even do anything!”[/color] He said around the laughter, pointing to his obviously now healed right eye. It had definitely been one of the wilder drunken nights in their frat history, but the stories were still coming out of the woodwork as more of the guys remembered the finer details a few years later. “Y’know, Myles still uses that scar and the story to pick up girls. Only he likes to omit the part where the rest of his brothers had his back. He took on that whole house alone and emerged as the hero!”[/color] Gabe told her, raising his eyebrows and shaking his head. All of them exaggerated their frat days from time to time but Myles made it sound as though he had been to war more often than not when he recounted the tales.

“If I try any harder I’ll cause myself an aneurysm!”[/color] He said. He had told Fallon and Myles countless times about their stunts and neither listened all that often. Gabe was clumsy himself, but his was more to do with tripping over his feet or not looking where he was going; not the kind of drunken shenanigans most college guys had gotten up to. At that moment, as though to reiterate his point, his feet stopped working in harmony and he staggered forward a few places, arms windmilling until he got his balance again, his once injured knee now was twinging slightly under the pressure of his body weight. “What the hell…”[/color] He mumbled, straightening himself out and readjusting his bag. At least he hadn’t smacked down onto the concrete this time.
He turned his attention back to Fallon as though it had never happened and shot her a ‘nice try’ look. “The only girl who ever ‘played’ with my hair was you. And my mom when she was telling me to get it cut.”[/color] Back in college it had been his eyes that got noticed more than whatever his hair was doing at the time.
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• • •

TAGGED! Fallon
WORDS! 798!
OUTFIT! Mismatched Mess
LYRICS! Sixteen, Maybe Less - - - Iron and Wine
NOTES! <3

[Fallon Alexandra Flynn]

Fallon couldn’t really be Fallon around anyone but Gabe or Myles. They weren’t shocked with her blunt comments or sarcastic demeanor. They understood, and usually went along with it. If she were to be the blunt, sarcastic soul that she was around the people at work, she’d probably be brought up to the board and recommended for termination. Her students were a different story. They liked how she taught their classes. She was herself there, giving them the information they needed to know and juicy little tidbits from her own memories of being on set. At the beginning of each term, when they were to go over all the information, she told them flat out that the class wasn’t the city; they didn’t have the same rules. And if there was a single student who didn’t like her way of teaching, they would be missed but more than welcome to leave and find a teacher who taught them things that wasn’t common knowledge. She honestly didn’t know what to say to Gabe now though; she’d even stunned herself with that last one and couldn’t recover. Instead, she curved her glossed lips in a smirk, and raised a brow, brushing hair of her shoulder as she did so.

Fallon looked up at Gabe perplexed. “Are you sure? I swear I saw a cot in there the last time I ventured in for reference books,” she shook her head, as if dismissing his comment as though he were the one stretching the truth and not her teasing him. Fallon couldn’t say much when she felt like she’d spent a few nights in her office, especially during finals. She spent so much time, working out tests and final projects that it was well into the night when she was finding her way to her car, let alone her apartment door! The weekends were a different story. When she knew she didn’t have to be up early Saturday and Sunday morning, she went out with Gabe and Myles, though she didn’t try reliving the good ol’ days like Myles. She enjoyed the dancing, the drinking, the obvious and terrible flirting, and the catching a cab and going home alone at the end of the night. There were those odd nights when the alcohol hit her a little too hard and she couldn’t walk out without some help, she woke up to Gabe cooking pancakes in the kitchen, coffee brewing in the pot.

She stuck her lower lip out in a pout, “Awe, poor little frat boy,” she said, “Getting a black eye in a Frat Fight? Now, who would have guessed that would happen? Even if you weren’t directly in the fray,” she said, laughing at the memories of that night. She’d been standing next to Gabe one minute and the next the fight broke out and she was pushed back. They’d been close enough to see it all go down right in front of them, but far enough away to not get dragged into. And yet, somehow Gabe had disappeared for a few minutes and when Fallon finally found him, his eye was already starting to swell shut. She shook her head; only Myles. “Of course he would. I may have to use that against him if he pisses me off the next time we’re all out together. Not that he needs my help to scare the women off,” she added. He could be his own worst enemy sometimes, and it make Fallon laugh.

“A headache, maybe but I doubt you’d have an aneurysm,” she said, waving her hand in the air, dismissing his comment as though it were lunacy. Fallon shrugged, keeping her eyes on the street ahead of them so they wouldn’t miss the little boutique bistro, tucked amongst a couple cute, trendy boutiques. “Keep telling yourself that if it’ll help you sleep at night, sunshine,” she said as bored as she could. To be fair, she hadn’t noticed his hair at first, either. Like most people, she figured, it was his eyes that drew her in when they’d first met; his messy slightly too long hair that was forever falling into those eyes was a close second though. She wasn’t even sure how they’d first met anymore, she just remembered seeing him and being compelled to talk to him, to become his friend. Whether it was because she needed it or he did, she didn’t know either. The restaurant was only about a block away from campus, so the walk was usually quick.

Tag|| Gabe
Words|| 753
Clothes|| Those were the days
Music|| Growing Up by The Maine
Notes|| <3 <3 <3

[Gabriel Pearce Fitzpatrick]

Most people who met Gabe only saw him as some geeky guy who loved to read, learn new things and then bestow that knowledge on those around him at work. They would be quite right in thinking that, but they didn’t seem to think that there was more to the guy than old books and museums. The second they heard that he had been in a fraternity, he usually had to pull out his letters to help them believe him and the thought that he had also been a decent surfer was also something that had folk rolling about laughing. He was from Nebraska, he shouldn’t surf! It had been annoying at first, but Gabe was used to living with it now. It mainly happened on those nights out when they were reliving memories in a bar with some strange girls who would often pick up that out of the trio, Gabe was the only non-native Californian.

He swatted at Fallon’s arm and narrowed his eyes at her. They spent so much time teasing each other and joking around that it was a wonder anyone ever took them seriously anymore. “As if you can talk! I’ve seen your office light still on when I’ve been leaving some nights!”

[/color] He said, arching his eyebrow. If it was ridiculously late he always went back to drag her out of it and send her home. She may have had grading to do and assignments to look over but if there was one thing students understood more than anything it was probably the need to sleep. Most of the time, if there were still a few folk looming about the campus completing their own work, he would just head home and send her a text later or meet up with her the next morning, coffee in hand for her. Myles was often envious of them and still thought that Gabe and Fallon were having a college life without him, despite seeing just how much work his friends often had to get through.

Pretending to sulk over the memory and her words, Gabe pushed his hands into his pockets and faked an exasperated sigh. “I’m sure we had come unwritten rule where we had to all come out with battle scars. Everyone on the campus knew about that fight by the following afternoon.”[/color] It was kind of hard not to when there were two separate fraternities wandering about hungover and sporting a wonderful collection of black eyes, busted lips and strange scratch marks which led to a month of jokes about which guy fought like a girl. Gabe was just relieved that Fallon hadn’t been caught up in it all or else another fight might have broken out and it wouldn’t have been as funny that time. He had looked out for her since they had met and the longer they were friends for the more protective he became, though he tried his best not to interfere with her life too much. Most of the time, it was just when they were out and Fallon was falling on the bad side of drunk and the leering guys were beginning to mark her as prey. That was when Gabe stepped in to make sure that she was alright and that she got home and to bed without some creep following her.
He laughed, nodding along, knowing exactly how Myles could mess up his own chances. He was definitely a smooth talker and could probably charm a smile out of the coldest person in a room, but he did put his own foot in it sometimes and Gabe only laughed harder when it happened. “You should have seen him last week. He was chatting to this brunette and it was going great until he made it sound as though us living together was more than what is was and that I was a cat lady.”[/color] Gabe had laughed for several minutes straight until the tears were rolling then.

“I don’t know; between you and Myles I stand a good chance of being hospitalised!"[/color] They made him panic so much at times that it seemed unreal, and Gabe wasn’t always the sensible head! The fresh air was waking him up a bit now and revitalising his senses; once he had some food in him he’d be ready for a long afternoon with his books and notebooks! He watched as Fallon walked a step ahead as they weaved by a few pedestrians and then he stopped, reaching out to touch her arm. “You were going to walk past it. You always almost walk past it.”[/color] He said, pointing to the bistro they were already stood outside of. Smirking at her, her bit back the grin that he wanted to flash for catching her out, again!
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• • •

TAGGED! Fallon
WORDS! 836!
OUTFIT! Mismatched Mess
LYRICS! Sixteen, Maybe Less - - - Iron and Wine
NOTES! <3