Work Text:
On a quiet Wednesday afternoon, Issa was scrolling through her phone at the dining room table when Billie, hair messy from an afternoon nap, thumped down into the chair next to her.
“Watcha doin’?”
“Finally sorting some of my recent photos,” Issa said, tilting her phone so Billie could see. “I’m tired of never being able to find pics of my best fits so I can recreate them for my dates with Margaux.”
“That’s so smart,” Billie said, pointing at one of the pictures. “Wait, I love that one!”
“White print shirt over black cami, light-wash front-seam jeans, yep, one of my best looks last season. Totally got overlooked because everyone was too distracted by Zack Carlos. Thank God I took a selfie after the gas leak to send to everyone I know to prove to them I was still alive.”
“So cute. Oh, hey, look at Paul Baker behind you. That’s a hell of a thousand yard stare he’s got going.”
“Like right after he drank the bad milk,” Issa added. It was true; Paul Baker looked sick to his stomach. “I guess the whole gas thing freaked him out more than we thought.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Billie took the phone and started to scroll. “Love that top. Would it be cool if I borrowed it?”
“Of course. Although, I might want to wear it next time I go over to Margaux’s. My tits look amazing in it.”
“Don’t show this picture to Samir, though.”
“Why, he doesn’t care what my tits look like.”
“No, I mean ‘cause it’s from the day Carly was shooting the music video in our apartment," Billie explained. "Look, you can seem him holding the boom mic in the corner.”
“Oh, you’re right. Poor Sammy. Shame, though, I look great. And look, Paul Baker’s snuggled up next to Anton on the couch, that’s sweet.”
Billie raised her eyebrows. “That doesn’t bother you?”
She shrugged. “Nah, we were already broken up. Plus, I like to think of myself as the vessel through which Fate brought those two together.”
“That’s actually a really nice way of looking at it.”
“Thank you. Besides, we’re a touchy group, there’s probably pictures of him cuddling you and Samir in here, too.”
“Also true.”
Billie started searching again until Issa pointed. “Stop, wait! Look, I’m wearing my burgundy crop top with the dark wash jeans instead of my cargo pants. Which do you like better?”
“I think the jeans.”
“Really?” Issa said, zooming in. “Do you think it’d look good with a jacket, because it’s still too cold for … holy shit.”
“What, what’s wrong?”
“Look at Paul Baker.”
Billie bent over the phone. "What? He's just looking at ... oh. Oh, wow.”
“Right? Like, I’m not imagining that. That’s like …”
“No, I see it, too.”
It was a picture of the five of them at Vladi’s. It was on Issa's phone but Billie had been the one to actually take it, Samir sitting in the booth next to her and Issa leaning over him and smiling for the picture. Behind them, Anton was sitting at the counter, making a peace sign, and Paul Baker …
Paul Baker was on the other side of the counter, leaning on his elbows. He didn’t seem to notice that a picture was being taken at all, too busy staring at Anton with soft, longing eyes and an shy, sweet smile. The look on his face seemed to say that Anton was the best thing he’d ever seen, the most important person in the world to him, the center of his universe.
“Uh … so, when did we take this again?” Billie asked hesitantly.
“I think about a week, week and a half after me and Paul Baker broke up.”
"Huh."
Wordlessly, Issa scrolled up until she reached a night about a month before the breakup. She scanned her photos until she found one of them in the kitchen. She and Anton were chopping vegetables for a salad, both laughing at some joke she vaguely remembered Anton making - something about onions having no effect on him because he had cried all his tears out the day he found out Stanley Tucci was actually straight - and at the stove behind them, Paul Baker was supposed to be searing a pair of steaks to put on top of their salad. But instead, he was looking over his shoulder, watching Anton with that same look of adoration and awe.
It was love. Obvious and undeniable, Paul Baker was wearing his love for Anton for anyone to see.
“Oh, Iss,” Billie said, rubbing her arm, “are you okay?”
“What? Yeah, no, I’m fine.”
“You sure?”
“Definitely,” Issa said, and was somewhat surprised herself to find that it was true. “I mean, it stings a little, of course, and I’m glad I didn’t know back then. Would’ve felt a lot worse. But I know Paul Baker wasn't leading me on or anything, at least not on purpose, and I know that our relationship was important to him. Now I’m happy with Margaux, and my friends are happy, so it’s all good.”
Billie squeezed her shoulder. “Have I ever told you how mature and evolved you are?”
“I keep telling you, no one appreciates me in my time.”
“Well, I do.” Billie tapped her fingernails against Issa's phone case. “So … would it be awful if I want to see how far back it goes? Like, how long has Paul Baker been looking at Anton like that?”
“No, agreed, we have to do that right now.”
Billie pulled out her own phone and they started searching through their albums, and it was everywhere now that they were looking for it. From the Vote Paul 4 Baker campaign to the impromptu visa wedding to them playing gauze ball in the hospital, it was everywhere. Less frequent and less intense the further they went back, but still there.
Until Issa got to the first day they met, the day Paul Baker had fallen into their lives for the first time. There was picture of her and Paul Baker, pressed together cheek-to-cheek. A selfie of the five of them, Paul Baker smiling awkwardly, like he wasn't quite sure of himself yet.
And then a picture of Anton and Paul Baker, holding up their shared medal between them. Anton was raising his eyebrow at the camera and pursing his lips, all snark and drama, but Paul Baker was staring at Anton. If Issa hadn’t been looking for it, she probably wouldn’t have seen it; it was more subtle than the other ones had been. But it was still there, that smitten Paul Baker look, from the very first day.
The front door opened and closed, and Anton walked in, wearing his work clothes and his glasses, an annoyed look on his face as he dropped his laptop bag on the table. “The amount of e-mails I have to answer is ridiculous and I’m supposed to have dinner with Paul Baker in an hour. Nobody understands how I suffer."
“Uh, yeah, because you’re the only one in the house with a real job,” Billie reminded him, a touch of bitterness in her tone.
Issa waved her phone at him. “Anton, you have to look at this!”
“She’s right, we have so much to show you.”
“No, guys, I have work.” He put his bag on the table and pulled out his laptop. When he went opened up one of the side pockets to fish out his AirPods, Issa grabbed the computer and stuffed it under her chair.
Anton glared at her. “What the fuck?”
“Seriously, this cannot wait.”
“Issa -“
“You’ll thank us later,” Billie promised. “Please, Anton?”
“Yeah, pretty please Anton?”
“Fine.” He sighed and moved over a seat so he was next to Issa. “What is it?”
Billie showed him the marathon picture. “Look at Paul Baker.”
“Yes, I know my boyfriend’s hot, can I have my laptop back now?”
“No, Anton, look at his face.”
He sighed but obliged, staring at the phone, and he started to smile, like he couldn’t help himself. “Okay, yes, he looks at me a certain kind of way now and it’s very sweet, but we’re dating. It’s not that surprising.”
Issa shook her head. “Look again, Anton, because that picture is a year and a half old.”
“What?” He did a double take and now his mouth dropped open. “No way. I mean, I noticed it since we got together, maybe a couple looks after you guys broke up, and okay, there was that time in the car with the mustache and then at the wedding -“
“Wait, what time in the car?” Issa asked.
“There’s no way he was looking at me like that over a year ago. No. I would’ve noticed.”
Billie and Issa shared a look.
“Do we have some things to show you,” Billie said, putting her phone next to Issa’s.
They were just showing him the last of the easily hundred plus pictures they had of the Paul Baker look when the man himself came home, walking into the dining room. “Hey, guys!"
All three of the looked up at him at the same time; Issa could only imagine the kinds of expressions they had on their faces right now. Paul Baker took a cautious step back. "What's going on?”
Without a word, Anton got up from the table, marched over to his boyfriend, and pulled him into the dreamiest, most romantic kiss that Issa had ever seen in her real life.
When he pulled back, Paul Baker had stars in his eyes. “What was that for?”
“I love you,” Anton said softly, running his thumb over Paul Baker’s cheekbone.
His boyfriend smiled, bright and wide and beautiful. “I love you, too.”
“Aw,” Billie whispered, resting her head against Issa’s.
The two men stood there, staring at each other adoringly, until Anton snapped out of it. “Okay, we’re going upstairs. Bills, Iss, send me me those pics, please?”
“Absolutely,” Issa said.
“What pics?” Paul Baker asked as Anton took his hand and led him away.
“Hey, Iss?” Billie said as the couple disappeared upstairs.
“Yeah?”
“Look at this. It’s from the first time Margaux hung out with us. Look.”
Issa took Billie’s phone and her heart gave a little jump. Because while everyone else was looking at the camera, Margaux was looking at Issa. Looking at her like she was the most important thing in the world.
“That’s the Paul Baker look,” Billie said, throwing her arm around Issa and squeezing. “That’s the real deal.”
Issa nodded, feeling warm and gooey inside. “Yeah. Yeah, I think it is.”
It felt heady, that look, and Issa traded Billie’s phone for her own, thumbing back through it a few weeks for her own pictures of that night. She had another one of Margaux looking at her, a selfie that she had taken where Issa was staring at Margaux with soft eyes, and another that Anton had taken of them where she was kissing Margaux’s cheek and Margaux had the biggest smile on her face.
Then she frowned. “Uh, Billie?”
“Hmm?”
Issa pointed at her phone. “I found another Paul Baker look.
It was a group picture of the five of them on the couch. Issa was smiling at the camera, Anton was laughing while Paul Baker had his face buried in his boyfriend's neck, Samir was making a face at them … and Billie was looking at Samir like he was her favorite person.
“No, that’s not …” Billie snatched the phone out of Issa’s hands. “That’s just a friend look.”
“Uh, Bills -“
“Oops, it’s gone,” Billie said after very deliberately deleting the picture. “Okay, I have to get back to work, bye!”
“You don’t have a job!” Issa yelled after her. “You’re wearing slippers!”
Her only answer was the front door slamming shut.
She shook her head and went back to looking through her photos. And the thing was, now that she was looking, she could see the Paul Baker look everywhere. Samir looking at Billie. Billie looking at Samir. Anton looking at Paul Baker. Margaux looking at Issa.
And in her last picture, a selfie of her and Margaux of them on their date two nights ago, Issa was giving the Paul Baker look to Margaux.
She sighed happily. Oh, yeah. It was definitely fate.