iselldrugstothecommunity | I Wish I'd Never Met You [Musebox]

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I Wish I'd Never Met You [Musebox]

Howard hopes Ian and Barbara are having an awesome time, because his last two weeks have been a nonstop paranoia attack. He's hardly slept at all, he's behind in his studies, and he's been seriously considering using the phone number Barbara left him. He keeps telling himself he doesn't need to. He lived fine on his own before coming here. He doesn't want to be any more of a burden than he already is, and he doesn't like the idea that he's become dependent, and as such he's determined to get through this week without being needy.

Audrey and Robert have been more than nice and accommodating enough, which irritates Howard all the more, because he really just wants to yell at someone. The closest he got was when Audrey and Robert woke up to find Howard peeking into their room - he was just making sure they were still alive! - and chased him out of the bedroom at about four in the morning, but otherwise they've all been doing a good job of existing in their own spheres. They've let him have his space and he's mostly stayed out of their hair.

He does leave the morning Ian and Barbara are supposed to get back and bike, with all his things, to Ian's flat. He has full intent to clean it for when - and he keeps telling himself it's when - Ian and Barbara come home. They should come home to a welcoming environment, without the dishes still soaking in the sink from the groomsmen's breakfast or two weeks of dust.

He stops when he hears a noise behind the flat. He finds his knife in his pocket, just in case, and creeps around, expecting to see some dumb neighbor kid retrieving a missing toy or something of that manner.

Instead, he sees Diana. And for a moment it's like time slows down so he can actually try and figure out what's going on, and so he can continue to come up short.

"What are you doing here?"

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Diana was very confused.

She had no idea where she was. Her first panic was that she had been put back onto a planet with the ghost town just like her mission, but that’d quickly been disproven by the amount of people she’d seen. People in very, quite frankly, strange clothing.

Plus, everything seemed pretty normal. Too normal really. All the houses were small, sweet and well kept. Even the grass she stood on was trimmed.

Still, she dare not move from this spot, for now she seemed relatively safe in this fenced off back garden. Hardly anyone had spotted her yet, just a few children playing some kind of game on the street. Road safety clearly not something to be worried about, not that Diana had seen that many cars go past. And the ones she had looked so… old. They were as clean and shiny as typical cars but the way they looked but made Diana think of those guys who collected ‘classics’ because they had nothing else to do with their ridiculous amount of money.

Well, where ever she was, she felt fine. As fine as she had on STACY really. There was no reverting back to the bleeding gums, dead dry hair or drained of colour skin. So that was something good to keep ahold of.

Just as she’d decided to knock on the door and ask whoever lived in this house where the hell she actually was, she heard a voice. Dark eyes quickly fixing themselves upon the culprit, her eyebrows vanished up into her hair in surprise.

Howard? Why was Howard here? Why of all the people—Diana made an expired noise, pulling a face.

“Why is it always you?”

"Why's it always you?" he shoots back, clearly having left his wit behind him temporarily. "I live here!"

And he doesn't particularly like that the FAYZ is following him in some physical way too. On one hand, he guesses he's glad that Diana's still alive, in that far-off way where you're glad a relative's alive just because you don't want to deal with any nasty feelings surrounding them being dead. On the other hand...

He doesn't need this. He's alright here. He's not happy, but he suspects he's as close as he'll be getting for a long time; he's loved and productive and moving forward and he's going to be okay. He doesn't need the ghosts of the past crashing in to remind him of the world he got away from.

And unfortunately how displeased he is is written all over his face, a fair mirror of Diana's annoyed expression.

He uses his key and opens the door. "Let's get you in before someone thinks we're dating and I get lynched."

"You do?" Of course, the point is proven when he pulls out a key. She exaggerates her features and expression to mock his own face. "Well, gee, I better just pop away, huh? It's not like I don't have any idea how I got here."

She follows him, rolling her eyes. "Oh yes, because the most horrible thing right now is people think we're together." As Diana stepped over the threshold, she pulled a puzzled expression. "Lynched? What are you talking about?"

Then she's temporarily distracted by looking around the room. There's something off about it. Like she's walked into the house of grandparent. Not in that 'smells funny' kind of way, more in the sense of style, like it was from another time. Howard lived here? It didn't see to scream 'Howard'. It didn't even seem to whisper it.

Still confused and irritated about it, she puts her hands on her hips. "Where the hell is this?"

"What do you mean, you don't know how you got here?" Well, that's interesting. Ian, Barbara and Howard took the TARDIS to get back here. Does this mean Stacy's circled back around and dumped Diana on them?

Oh, god, does this mean they're stuck with Diana? So uncool.

"Actually, that could be a pretty horrible thing for me, moron." Howard rolls his eyes at her and closes and locks the door behind her. "Because you don't seem to have put it together that it's 1966. I thought the Mad Men-style cars would have tipped you off, but I guess you're not as smart as I thought you were."

The couch, not in the front room but in the living room, is the only thing that really says 'Howard lives here'. His telltale backpack and the two cats are resting on it, and he's left his iPod out on the coffeetable. The couch gives a little clink noise as he sits down on a part of it where there's cans of tuna hoarded.

"I mean exactly what I said." She replies, still looking around the room.

Diana glances at the cats. "Sorry I can't look at cars and say exactly what time they're from. Guess I need to work on that skill." She gives one a scratch behind the ear before moving over to sit on one of the other chairs.

"Great, so I'm 45 years out of place, isn't that just fantastic?" She rubs her temples, feeling a slight headache coming on and distracts herself by looking out the window. "So, apart from it being the sixties, where is this? Who's house is this?" Diana nods to one of the pictures on the mantle, a photo of a man that is decidedly not Howard.

"Uh, try context cues. Does anything here look like it's from 2010?" Even Howard's wearing slacks and a turtleneck instead of just beat-up jeans.

"Cry me a river. Try being 45 years out of place and being me." Howard sprawls out on the couch and pets the cats. Audrey's allergic, so he couldn't take them with him when he spent the last two weeks with her and Robert. Instead he came back every day to clean their box and feed them, and as such they don't even seem to care that he's been gone. "We're at Ian's place. I guess it's Ian's and Barbara's now. They're letting me crash here until I can get a real job. Did you know them back on Stacy?"

She looks him over and smirks. "You're right. And can I just say how amazing you look?"

"I don't ever want to imagine being you." She responded, then added the insult before he could get to it. "I thought the feeling might be mutual."

Diana shook her head. "I don't even remember ever hearing their names."

"Bite me. You have no idea how much I miss cargo pants and hoodies. There aren't nearly enough pockets on any of this." He fondles the front of his sweatshirt like there should be a place to put his hands, but finds it lacking. "And yeah, totally mutual."

It sucks being a woman in the 60's, too!

"They're schoolteachers. Try not to turn their hair white."

"Please don't tell me you dressed yourself in that sweater. Because my lungs couldn't take that much laughing."

Diana pulled a skeptical look. "Teachers? Of all people you chose teachers to live with?" She shrugs. "If they're letting you live with them I'm sure I won't be too much of a shock to their system."

Have the one-fingered salute, Diana. "I'll be the last one laughing after you see what girls in this decade have to wear. Especially if you go to school. How do you feel about plaid?"

He gives her an incredulous look. "Oh, yeah, because you're just peaches and cream to deal with on a daily basis. I'll have you know I've been pretty damn well-behaved."

Except for that one incident where he got into a shouting match with Barbara and ended up running off and having to have Ian talk him into coming home and apologizing. But that's minor.

"They actually like me."

"I feel like I won't be seen dead wearing it."

To mock him, she copied his expression perfectly and aimed it back at him. "I have no idea what you're talking about, I'm perfectly sweet." Diana waggled her finger her at him and made a scolding, clicking noise with her tongue. "Tut, tut, tut. Now there's a lie if ever I heard one."

"Of course they do, Howie, I never said they didn't." Her smirk comes back. "Afterall, you're just too cute not to like."

"What? I haven't gotten in trouble with the law or anything. I just do chores around the house and keep my head down and try not to give them reasons to kick me out. It's working pretty well for me so far."

He sticks his tongue out at her, because he's totally mature. "You think just 'cuz I can ingratiate myself, you can too?"

"So, you're turning into a good little boy? I guess it was just your hormones messing with you before then."

She retaliates by blowing an air kiss at him. "I'm sure I'll find a way to make this work. You know me."

"Yeah, I'm a perfect angel. I'm even doing well in school, who'da thunk?" Granted, correspondence school because sitting in a classroom is akin to torture for him, but still.

"You better not. There's a brothel outside city limits if you need a place to stay. I don't want you here."

"I am impressed, Howie. You'll be a shining example of a decent citizen in no time. At least, on the outside."

Diana smirks slyly and crosses her legs in a smooth movement. "Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't you just explain to me that it wasn't your house?"

"Outside's all that counts, right?"

"I still get a say here." He narrows his eyes. "They care about what I think."

"Of course."

"I'm sure they do." Diana's eyes stay playful, she's enjoying this and she's not hiding it. "But that doesn't mean you're in charge."

"They're also not going to do anything I totally hate, either." Although he knows that isn't true - they're still planning on having their own kid, aren't they? Even if they negotiated it to further down the line.

"I don't think you really get to speak for them, Howie." Diana certainly didn't seem like she was going to move, both in terms of the conversation and literally.

He doesn't really have an answer for that, so he gets up and heads towards the kitchen. "I'm making coffee." He's not going to offer her any.

He peeks out the window to see if Barbara and Ian are home. His bike's locked around the lamppost down the street, so they'll know he's already back.

An entire two weeks entirely wrapped up in themselves meant that Barbara and Ian did not spot the bike locked to the lamppost. Nor did they spot the figures through the lace curtains as they stepped out of the car, and kissed and giggled right up to the front door.

Unexpectedly (or expectedly, depending on how well one knew Ian Chesterton), he swept Barbara up in his arms once their front door was unlocked and carried her over the threshold. It was in the middle of the light, gentle kisses which followed, that Ian felt another presence in the room. He stopped and peered over Barbara's head, but it was the sudden shade of crimson that spread over his cheeks and neck which alerted Barbara.

He put her back on her feet while Barbara joined in on his blushing.

"We thought you were still with Mum and Dad," Ian stated after clearing his throat a little. "Didn't we plan on having lunch together?"

Barbara folded her hands before her. Her look of embarrassment being replaced with one of curiosity. "Who is your friend, Howard?"

Howard pauses, trying to figure out which awkwardness to deal with first: that Ian and Barbara just walked in very much not expecting him to be there, or, well, the Diananess of the situation (it can only ever be described as that, Diana-ness).

"Welcome back? I'm making coffee." He forces a grin.

"She's not my friend," he says quickly, glancing back at her and hoping she doesn't pounce on the situation and spin it in her favor before he figures out how to do it.

Before they notice her, Diana raises a skeptical eyebrow at their display, then when their attention is on her she puts on a very pretty smile and waves at them with her fingers in a sociable way.

"Diana." She says in way of casual introduction.

At Howards comment, she turns to look at him, lips pouting, looking the very definition of 'put out'. Diana was such a natural actor. "Howie, you're so mean sometimes." She put alot of affection into saying his name. "Do you always have to say that?"

So Howard had a girlfriend.

Well, that certainly put Barbara over the moon. And Ian, but he was less likely to admit that he was that affectionate toward Howard. It came through more in his 'do anything' attitude.

"Diana, it's lovely to meet you," Barbara smiled widely before turning to Howard and adding quietly: "Howard, we don't mind you having...guests, but please let us know first? We'd rather not intrude."

Howard's face turns red with a blush that spreads all the way down his neck. "Stacy just dropped her off, I didn't plan it..."

Great. So she's figured out how to spin it in her favor already. He wasn't fast enough on his feet - but he shoots a glance at Ian, and it occurs to him that this could become mutually beneficial. It might get rid of Ian's weird ideas that Howard's 'just scared of women'.

"But yeah, okay. We know each other from the FAYZ." Surely they're not going to want to deal with more than one needy, traumatized trainwreck of a teenager? Surely knowing her pedigree will scare them off?

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