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finally!

"no, i don't want valentino, vuitton, or even gucci. i'm telling you, i spoke with the designers awhile ago and we decided on paolo sebastian. not prada." she said firmly. "talk to the guys from paolo sebastian for me, please? alright, bye." haley got off the phone with robert as she kicked her flat's front door shut. she held a dark pink colored drink in hand, two tote bags on her arms that weren't there when she left, and a brown paper bag that had the starbucks insignia flashing across the front.

"hello." she greeted timothée, upon seeing him using his phone in the kitchen. "i got us dinner. want some?" she asked, taking out some of the takeout. "came from a fitting at alainn's local place to plan the oscars outfit, and robert wants it to be something super glamorous even though i don't really wanna work with those big brands. who're you going with?"

"i called haider ackermann and he's willing to come up with something with tom ford which is amazing since they're like two of my favorite brands." he replied. "and probably some cartier in there too, i'm not exactly sure yet but i texted brian to make some calls."

haley nodded, untying the pink scarf from around her neck and setting it down on the table as she sat and unzipped her puffy purple jacket.

"did you really go out in those?" timmy asked her, pointing at the pajama pants she had on that were covered with cartoon mice.

"it's called fashion. anyways, i went thrifting and you'd be glad to know i redeemed myself with what i bought. also, i was there for like a whole hour before paparazzi showed up." haley said proudly. she went on to display the two mugs she got, a pair of old sunglasses, a cute cropped t-shirt, a floral dress, a printed blouse, a crocheted hat, a mirror, and the two tote bags they came back in.

"you really went on a full-on shopping haul." he remarked, observing her new purchases. "how much did you spend on these?"

"i actually don't remember."

"must've been expensive, then."

"it probably was." she answered honestly, taking a sip from her drink.

"what even is that?" he asked. "i hope it's not zendaya's matcha—"

"does this look like matcha to you?" she asked, shoving the drink in his face, laughing. "it's hibiscus tea, try it."

hesitantly, timothée took a sip, his eyes widening. "is that...?"

"pomegranate pearls." haley confirmed. "they're great, aren't they? really just pop in your mouth, it's great."

"i don't go to starbucks, but i think you introduced me to my go-to drink."

"where's elias?" she asked suddenly.

"he didn't tell you? he's out on a date or something."

"ohhh."

she went upstairs to change into more comfy clothes and returned to find timothée speaking in rapid french to someone on a call. she began to back out slowly, not wanting to intrude, when he turned around and spotted her. his eyes lit up when he saw her, and she heard him apologize to the person on the other line before ending the call.

"don't leave, it was just pauline," timothée said, referring to his sister. "you hungry? you could heat this stuff." haley eyed the food on the counter, before grabbing a plate, transferring the food, and shoving it into the microwave.

"got any new roles?" he asked conversationally, as she sat down beside him.

"i got quite a few." haley said, a smile breaking out on her face. she was excited for all of them, since she was a producer for most of them and had a hand in making decisions.

"that's nice," he said, nodding encouragingly.

"yeah, so once an absolutely remarkable thing premieres, i'm gonna be training to be an olympic skater, somehow?" she shrugged. "it needs a lot of ballet knowledge, so i'm just grateful that i learned how to do that on the set of birds of paradise. i think filming is in 2025, so i have about two years to get the moves right."

"that's gonna be so sick, oh my god!" timothée could clearly imagine haley in a skating movie, she had the grace, elegance and agility to be an olympic skater.

"i'm gonna be training with nathan chen, he won a gold for the U.S. in the olympics last year." she explained. "but i'm gonna be back and forth between new york and los angeles this year since i have a show to film in manhattan, it's called the winner and it's based off a book by david baldacci."

"wow, you're busy."

"no, that's not even all of it," laughed haley. "i got like, a romcom, i think. it's easy though since compared to everything else i'm pretty sure that'll be relatively easy. oh, and also, after filming the show, i have a virginia woolf biopic, so... there."

"my god, you're the definition of booked and busy." timothée remarked. "you're gonna be amazing."

"i'm not exactly sure about that."

"nah, you're good." he said, reclining on the sofa.

"what about you, any new roles?"

"none yet, though there are some pending ones. i've got nothing this year, because wonka and dune promo. might take up a couple more lessons for going electric, i think it'll be filmed late next year."

"i have a guitar..." she said slowly, before jumping up and running into a back room to emerge with said instrument. "can you play me something?" she asked.

"i'm not good!" he insisted, waving his arms around. but she persisted, and an idea popped into his head. "alright, alright." timothée began strumming a tune that he learned for the movie, but at the last minute, changed it to the chords of a song that haley knew pretty well.

his voice was soft, but he knew how to hold a tune. "oh and to tell you is too scary, so i'll just say something else... and i wish that you could hear me when i," he paused to up to grin at her, "talk to myself. but this plane might not land safely, so what the hell, do i have to lose if i just tell you?"

haley stood in front of him, shocked that he even bothered to learn the lyrics to one of her little songs. "that's great." she said, trying to snap out of her stupor.

"not yet done," he smiled. "i wanna eat pancakes for dinner, i wanna get stuck in your head. i wanna watch a tv show together and when we're under the weather we can watch it in bed..." he hummed. "we kinda already did that, didn't we? i wanna go out on the weekends, i wanna dress up just to get undressed—" at this his cheeks turned a light tinge of pink. "— i thought that i should probably tell you just in case there is an accident and i never see you again. so please, save all your questions for the end and maybe i'll be brave enough by then." he took a little bow when haley began hooting and clapping, before holding out the guitar to her. "your turn?"

"w-what?"

"i've always wanted to hear you sing one of your songs live."

still standing, haley took the guitar reluctantly. she didn't know what to do; did he choose that specific song because he wanted to tell her he liked her? what would she sing? she decided some sort of apology.

she tapped her foot on the floor to start off the song, before beginning to play the first chords of stay. she managed to smile a little at the start, but her eyes darted everywhere but at him when she got to the part of "and maybe i should've, but i never told you i'm sorry... know that i tried but my words always got in the way—" at this, her voice broke off. "could you hold me without any talking? we could try to go back where we started, i don't even have to stay, i don't even have to stay, but... if i woke up with you in the morning, i'd forget all the ways that we're broken i, don't care if you've changed i, don't even have to stay, huh."

of course he noticed how hard it was for her to sing that song. timothée had a suspicion that it was about him. he got up slowly, wanting to hug her, comfort, her, tell her in some way that it's okay. but she refused to make eye contact and her face was twisted in some expression like she was about to cry. "i don't remember the last time i heard from your sister..." as she began the pre-chorus, he realized that instead of saying 'maybe i should've but i never told you i miss you', haley had replaced the words with 'i love you'.

"i almost said it, and right now i wish i just did." she changed the words for that line, too.

"could you hold me without any talking? we could try to go back where we started i," instead of saying 'don't even have to stay', this time she changed it to 'really need you to stay'. "if i woke up with you in the morning, i'd forget all the ways that we're broken i, don't care if you've changed i, really need you to stay—" her voice caught again and he noticed how the guitar immediately slipped from her hands. carefully, he got it before it could fall and placed it on a nearby chair before tentatively reaching for her hand.

"hey." he whispered. it was dark out, and the room was only lit by the dim lamps hanging on either side of the tv. "is this okay?" timothée asked softly, as he ran his thumb lightly over her face and tucked a loose strand of hair.

"can you hold me, please?" her voice came out really small and it broke his heart to hear her so sad, so he pulled her in for a tight hug. he missed the feeling of her head resting on his shoulder, and he put his arms around her back to draw her in closer. timothée felt her move, and noticed how close they were to one another. their foreheads were touching, and he looked down at haley, whose big, innocent eyes stared up at him wistfully behind a pair of eyeglasses.

"can i just..." before he knew it, haley had leaned up and their lips had connected. it took him a second to comprehend what was happening, before seizing her by the face and kissing her back. it was like something exploded inside him; as if a million butterflies were released from a cage and flitted around in his chest.

haley pulled away, looking at him. she didn't know what just happened either. "don't run," he said softly, his hand tightening around hers. "please." timmy looked so scared and vulnerable, that this time, haley put her arms around his.

"i missed you," she whispered, looking up at him. he gave a small, happy smile.

"i did, too." he pulled her down with him onto the couch where they sat beside each other in silence. haley had a smile playing at her lips. she felt like a load had been removed from her chest. she felt something on her neck, and when she realized that he had leaned over to press a small kiss on her collarbone, let out a giggle.

"can you tell me what's happening?" she asked quietly, her hand intertwining with his.

timmy let out a sigh. "you tell me."

"i really like you. i missed you." haley said, lifting their hands in the air to examine them.

"do you know that i've been waiting two whole years to do that?" timothée asked her.

"what?"

he leaned in and kissed her again on the lips. "that." she smiled. "listen, we could take things slow if you want, tell me what to do, what not to do, and i'll do it, i swear. i just don't wanna lose you again." he said, squeezing her hand.

"i like that." they sat in comfortable silence for a while, until:

"what's the matter?" he asked, when she shook her head from beside him.

"nothing," she yawned. "just very sleepy." it was true that she was running on the same four hours of sleep from the previous night along with an extra hour from after the nominations, but otherwise, that was all.

timothée stiffened when he felt her lean on his shoulder. "is this okay?" she asked, frowning.

"yeah, yeah, no problem," he responded immediately, letting her sink back onto him. she was asleep in seconds, and he admired her features before taking off the glasses that perched on her head and carefully setting them down on the coffee table beside him. he stayed up for another hour before hearing the door open. he knew it was elias even before anyone entered, so timothée was prepared to pretend he was asleep in case his friend brought someone else home. luckily, it wasn't necessary.

elias entered whistling, and he concluded that the date must've went well. timothée craned his head slightly so he could see eli, still trying not to wake haley. "how was it?" he whispered.

elias nodded, indicating that it went as well as he thought, before he noticed haley on timmy's shoulder. you guys? he mouthed, pointing between them. timmy nodded.

OH MY GOD. eli mouthed, clapping a hand to his mouth before gesturing upstairs. i'm gonna crash now . tell me everything tomorrow? timmy nodded, finding that he was getting pretty sleepy himself.

the next thing he knew was that haley was getting up from beside him. it was still dark, and the living room was illuminated by the dim lamps by the television. he let out a soft sound, instinctively reaching out for her arm, her hand, her.

"shh, shh." she whispered, trying not to wake him up.

"can you stay?" he pleaded, his voice sounding small and sleepy.

"my neck's got a kink in it, wanna go upstairs?" she asked softly. she helped him up and switched off the lights, then gently helped him up to the second floor. he didn't question it when she led him inside her own room. the two of them didn't want to do anything other than stay in each other's presence.

the next morning, haley woke up to find timmy still sleeping beside her. she smiled, observing the way his curls were strewn across the pillow. she reached out to touch his nose, but pulled her finger back before she could.

at that moment, there was a loud knocking on the door. elias.

"haley, you decent?"

"what do you want, eli?"

the door flew open. "morning hales, have you seen ti—" he froze in place when he saw who was next to her in bed. "HOLY MOTHER, HALEY, WHAT THE HELL?!"

"relax!" she whispered. "nothing happened!"

"oh yeah?" he hissed. "then why the fuck is he there?"

"i was sleepy, eli." timmy mumbled from his spot on the bed. "leave her alone."

"because it was soooo hard to enter the room right next?"

"since whence you been such a prude?" snorted haley.

"since when have you not been?" elias shot back.

"elias, i swear. check the fuckin' trash cans if you want, you won't find any condoms." at this, eli warily eyed the window.

"please don't say it." said timmy.

"you could've!" he said defensively.

"oh, for fuck's sake. haley can you look out the window?"

"why?" she asked.

"please?" timmy begged, giving her a small smile.

sighing, she got up and walked to the window like he asked. "your point?"

"she's walking just fine, eli, you got nothing to worry about."

"you did not just say that." haley looked at him then at elias, as if saying 'did you hear this bullshittery-ery?'

"goodbye." elias said slowly, walking backwards. haley ran and jumped onto the bed, tickling timothée everywhere she could.

"STOP! I'M SORRY!" he yelled, trying to fight her off. "HALEY, I SWEAR— FUCK— STOP IT!"

"CAN YOU GUYS PLEASE KEEP IT PG?" shouted elias from the other room.

"OH SHUT UP, YOU WANKER!" yelled haley. she realized how near she was to timmy, now that their tickle fight had ended; his arms were shielding his body and her chin was resting on his chest.

"i think your british is slipping out." he whispered, breaking the silence, before trying to give her a kiss.

"when we're brushed our teeth." she mumbled.

timothée had to settle for a forehead peck in the meantime.

y'all happy? I MEAN I AM BC

FCKIN FINALLY AM I RIGHT??

just wanna rec some other timmy

books i love, i recommend the oscars

by , supercut by ,

ophelia/columbia by , and

notting hill in manhattan by

I MISS YOU, I'M SORRY