Chapter Text
Chapter Two:
Ian was happy. Happier than she'd been in a long time, and people were noticing. To begin with, it was the rest of the cast - looking at her funny or smiling when they saw her. At first, her heart had been in her stomach as her mind went crazy, trying to think what she could've said to make them all act *weird*.
And then Damien - good old straight-to-the-point Damien - had told her that she looked happy.
"Hey Ian, my guy," he'd lumbered round the corner, adorned in some random assortment of metallic accessories that Ian honestly couldn't discern whether were props from the TNTL stage, or were from his own wardrobe. Ian had tried not to let the slight spike of *ick* cross her face when he'd used that exact phrase, yet it was easy to forget it as Damien continued talking, seemingly unphased by Ian's nose wrinkling, "you've been looking good lately - something nice happen?"
Ian paused. She'd been looking good? "Good?!" Her mouth echoed her brain, albeit in a slightly delayed manner.
"Like happy!" Damien clarified, nervously grinning his large toothy grin at Ian, "I hope it's okay to say-"
"Oh yeah, it's fine," Ian brushed his worries aside, before cocking her head to the left, "you think I look happier?" She couldn't quite understand why, but she supposed that it was a good thing. At least that meant that people hadn't somehow worked out her secret or anything.
"Yeah dude, you're like practically glowing!" Damien had patted her on the shoulder before ambling off, leaving Ian to wonder just how many of the fleeting smiles she'd been receiving around the office were due to this apparent 'glow'. It's not like she was *even* happier than usual, right?! Maybe it was the weather making her skin look nice or something?
And then Anthony had sidled out of his office and brushed past her, whispering some stupid half-heartred dad joke in her ear, and Ian had felt a familiar warmth fill her chest. Oh, right.
So yes, maybe Ian *was* happier now.
She could finally be herself around someone. She finally didn't have to hide all the time... just most of the time, and even then, she didn't feel that same skin-clawing, heart-wrenching disgust inside. She felt like a woman - like a real woman - for the first time, and it felt *amazing*!
"Hey, Anthony." Ian had called after her friend, running behind him as he continued to walk, seemingly not having heard her shouting, "Anthony, wait up!"
He turned around, and Ian could see the way his calm chocolate-coloured eyes rested delicately on her face, surveying her cheeks and mouth, before making their way back up to her eyes. "You okay?" He sounded confused, quizzical even, as he spoke, his voice low and sleep-heavy.
She bit her lip momentarily, "d'you wanna grab a coffee?" She smiled meekly, "Is okay if not, is just, I wanted to chat, since we haven't really since the whole.. you know - and-"
"Give me like twenty minutes, kay?"
"Kay." Ian echoed, voice high pitched as she let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Huh, since when did she get nervous about going for coffee with Anthony?
The twenty minutes initially stated had stretched into twenty-four by the time Anthony came knocking at Ian's office door. She had been around thirty seconds away from sending a search party out, her hands fiddling with one another nervously whilst she had waited. Sure, twenty minutes wasn't very long at all, but *that* twenty minutes definitely had had some sort of physics-defying ability, because Ian was almost certain that she had been waiting for *hours* (hyperbole included).
"Hey you ready to head off?" He'd asked so casually as he stuck his head around the door frame, "We've got about fifty minutes if we go now."
Ian grinned, unable to stop the positive emotions from taking over her face, "Sure!" She'd turned around, grabbing her wallet and keys, "We going to Mary's?"
Anthony nodded, "You bet."
The two of them headed, in tandem, out of the office doors and down the street. Mary's was a local cafe that had just opened, and had been *very* understanding of the cast's sometimes wild costuming. Ian supposed that she could go anywhere for her iced matcha latte with oat milk, but Mary's just held a comforting feeling that big-brand corporations didn't, and for that, it was now her go to.
"What d'you wanna talk about?" Anthony sat opposite her, his legs parted slightly, tattooed knees visible through the rips in his black jeans.
Ian coughed slightly, totally to clear her throat, "Um, just like..." she trailed off - she hadn't actually though that far ahead, she'd just been enthralled at the prospect of spending time with Anthony, "Uh, sketch ideas?"
Anthony smiled warmly, "You," he punctuated the word, staring pointedly into Ian's nervous eyes for a couple of seconds before continuing, "asked me out to talk about sketch ideas?!"
"I didn't *ask you out*!" Ian almost screeched, her eyes popping from her head, "I just wanted a chat!"
Anthony jutted his bottom lip out, "Aw so this isn't a hot date with a chick from work?" A sparkling of laughter glinted in his eyes, and the two of them soon found themselves bursting into laughter.
"I've missed this." Ian spoke quietly once the two of them had finally managed to stop giggling.
Anthony hummed in agreement.
The two of them sat mostly in silence for a while after that, just enjoying their coffees and eachother's company, before either of them spoke again.
"Do you think we'll ever be the same as before?" She asked the question that neither of them had ever uttered, despite the thoughts coursing through their minds on the daily, ever since they'd got back into contact. She forced her eyes onto her hands as they played with eachother in her lap, her thumbs entwining with one another.
"I don't know," Anthony muttered slowly, his gaze resting on the floor, on the minute gap between the toe of his foot and of Ian's, "but is that so bad?"
"What d'you mean?" Ian's voice hovered just above silent, her words mashing and mingling together, undoing her years of speech therapy and enunciation classes.
"We could have something better instead."
Ian looked up. "Like what?"
Anthony's eyes rose to meet, once again, with her lighter ones, there was something in them that she couldn't quite read. She focussed hard, ready to hear whatever he was about to say as clearly as possible, "Maybe we-"
His phone alarm blared out.
"Oh it's time to get back." He stood up, picking up both his and Ian's used cups to take back to the counter. Ian wanted so badly to cry out - to tell him to carry on; she just *needed* to know whatever he'd been about to say. Why though? Why was she *so* obsessed with Anthony lately? "You coming?" He slung his bag over his shoulder.
Ian nodded, "Yeah, yeah." She stood up herself, following Anthony out of Mary's and into the busy street. They were shooting a new games video when they got back, Ian tried to focus on what it could entail, instead of on Anthony's curly hair getting tangled by the wind in front of her, but her cluttered mind just couldn't think straight.
It was going to be a long day