Work Text:
Chantal is weird. And gay. Sometimes very weird. Mosttimes very gay.
It's not that this is news to Nova, especially considering how they'd gotten together - there Chantal had been being weird and very gay and even cuter, and Nova had been dazzled - but it is highly entertaining and endearing, and Nova finds herself watching her all the time. If she stares too hard or too long, Chantal stops what she's doing to stare back, so she's mastered the art of looking while looking like she's not looking and updating her lists of shit Chantal does (or has) in her notepad while pretending to be working through her story notes.
Nova certifies the following information to be actual and true accounts:
Gay Shit Chantal Does (Or Has), Abridged:
1. Shiny rainbow American Eagle boxers. Nova's never actually seen her wear them, but she must have, considering that Nova first spotted them stuffed inside of a pair of jeans on her bedroom floor when she'd popped in one day for some afternoon delight.
2. Play in what is essentially a social justice softball league. BLM Nola has their own team, complete with jersey t-shirts. Williams, of course, is Number One.
3. Zina.
4. Watch Facts of Life to make running commentary about shipping Blair and Jo.
5. Watch Golden Girls to do the same for Dorothy and Blanche, and, occasionally, alternatively, Blanche and Rose.
6. Took her to a Tiffany Gouché show on their first date. Not that there's anything at all wrong with that. They'd clearly had a great time. It's just that, demographically speaking, the only way there could've been more queer black women in the room was if it had been a Floetry reunion.
7. Noah's Arc marathons. Nova refuses to spend another weekend "remembering love." (And she's certain she'll never get that song out of her head.) (Feeling on Chantal's booty in yoga pants while they'd layed up together watching it had been a good time, though.)
8. Confessed that Rosie Perez was her first major celebrity crush.
9. Has insisted that they adopt a cat promptly upon moving in together and declared that said grey tabby's name will be Casanova. Nova, Sr. remains excited about the pet, but mildly unenthused about the name.
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Weird Shit That Chantal Does (Or Has), Also Abridged:
1. Runs at full speed down the hallway at her house to take flying leaps over the back of the couch, instead of just sitting down on it like a normal person. Related: Chantal had been on the track team in grade school.
2. Laughs at herself when she botches the aforementioned sofa vault.
3. Insists on trying to teach Nova how to Milly Rock. Nova, for her part, has been trying to sign Micah up for this particular dance lesson to take her place.
4. Have complete conversations with a stuffed squirrel named Peanut. Said stuffed squirrel's favorite pastime is antagonizing Nova, and, on an entirely unrelated note, Nova's hoping that Casanova likes destroying stuffed animals.
5. Zina
6. Watch horror movies on repeat only to end up burrowing into Nova for protection for the rest of the night. Nova doesn't mind this as much as she pretends to.
7. Candy corn.
8. A working VCR and Nintendo NES that she still uses. Nova will confess to looking forward to their Saturday morning cereal and Duck Hunt ritual after those Friday nights where they find themselves at Chantal's place.
9. A welcome mat on her back door that reads "Fuck Off," which she keeps because it was a gift from her mom.
10. Love Nova Bordelon. Nova will admit that there are days when she doesn't always understand Chantal's decision to put up her, but she's glad she does. (Though, perhaps, the potty-mouthed squirrel is her own special form of revenge.)