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the tonight show

the author recommends revisiting the prologue for a refresher of what's to come

"so, you're going on fallon later." timothée said, over a video call. the two of them were in new york to do press for an absolutely remarkable thing, since its release was on april first.

"yeah," haley said, bustling around her apartment. "sorry, should i wear this or this?" she asked, holding up the phone to two different outfits. one was a pink suit from prada, while the other was a purple look from valentino.

"pink for sure," he said. it was a reference to a bubblegum product that their characters had come up with in the book, and both of them agreed that they wanted to include as much references towards the story as possible.

"then we'll be wearing purple for the grape jelly during that long press day when we do the wired autocomplete interview, right?"

"yes."

"alright, got it." personally, haley thought that it was radiating kristen stewart bi energy, so she chose to embrace it. "are you sure you can't come?" she asked timmy. as much as she loved jimmy fallon, she wished that he'd be going with her since she knew it would be more fun.

"uh, nah," he said, looking aside as he walked around his apartment.

"will you pack any backup clothes?" finn asked five minutes later, popping his head into the room. timothée and haley had put down, and finn watched as his sister buttoned up a white blouse.

"hey!" she exclaimed. "what happened to knocking?"

"i've been seeing your boobs since they started to grow at fifteen, and also i'm gay?"

"i've known that since you were twelve, and you still could have knocked."

"are you gonna pack any backup clothes!" he asked impatiently.

"no, why?"

"you have to."

"why?"

"anything could happen," he said, grabbing a large bag and pulling clothes out of her closet.

"finn, what the fuck."

"just please pack them."

"you're acting weird right now, you know that? like, weirder than normal."

"i just wanna make sure you're fine, i'm not gonna be here later!"

"right, you've got a playdate with noah."

"please don't say it that way, we're not thirteen anymore. we're going to a game tonight," he explained.

"okay, and...?"

"just wanna make sure you're safe," he smirked.

"i don't even wanna know what you mean by that."

"you don't," he agreed. finn had something planned for the night, and though he knew his sister would likely hate him for it, it could also go the opposite direction and she'd thank him for it. or, she could knee him in the balls then hug him.

"fine, i'm done. i don't know why you even—"

"ready!" he shouted, throwing the bag towards the door. it was 3pm and haley would be driven to the studio soon where she'd have to wait an hour before the show would actually tape. "you ready?" finn asked, looking her up and down. "you are very much giving happiest season kristen stewart, but in pink."

haley didn't bother styling her hair, she curled the ends into loose waves herself before tossing it to the other side of her head in a half part. the white blouse she had on was buttoned barely even halfway up, with a loose pink tie that matched the suit hanging from around the collar. the pants had been minorly tailored to be a bit more high-waisted than it primarily was, and she wore tall white heels that made her an inch taller than her 5'10 height.

"bi energy, then?" she asked, looking down at what she was wearing. when her brother confirmed it, haley grinned. "just what i was aiming for," she joked.

"you look like you graduated from kristen stewart's fruity academy."

"that's a compliment, i think." at that moment, haley's phone began to ring. "fuck, it's robert, he says the car's making it's third circle around the area, i haven't been hearing his calls, fuck. finn, can you put my keys in my bag? thanks," she said hurriedly, answering her manager.

"got it!" he said loudly, side-eying her as he took her apartment keys. but he didn't put them in her bag.

"okay, robert's there," haley said, rushing around the apartment like a whirlwind. "got my bag, my clutch, phone... keys! finn, where are they?!"

"shit, sorry! couldn't find them earlier," he said, as his sister watched him slip them in the clutch. "do you have to use the toilet?"

"fuck, right!" she went off, and when she came back all ready, finn handed her the clutch.

"everything's there already," he lied.

"okay, okay, let's go. have fun with noah," she said, struggling to hold the bag with extra clothes. finn helped her throw them into the car, and before haley knew it, she was off to the rockefeller center, ready to go on the tonight show. she and the host were to play 'can you feel it', a game where people would stick their hands into a box and guess it's contents, and then promote an absolutely remarkable thing afterwards. she was also their musical guest and was about to sing stay at the end of the show.

"you ready?" jimmy asked her, an hour and a half later. the first box was wheeled in.

"i've seen so many people do this, like kim kardashian, jlo, but i was telling myself as i got into this that i'd be like selena gomez because her hand was literally getting mauled by a toy dog and she didn't flinch once!" haley said.

"oh yeah, they're all braver than me." jimmy nodded. "since i'm the host, i'll go first..." haley cringed once she saw what was in the box. toenail clippings. for the next round, she had to guess something that lay in water, which was a barbie floating on a chair. for the third round, jimmy had to touch a gecko, which he was significantly freaked out by.

things got interesting during haley's second round. she looked at the audience once the front cover was removed, and she saw a bunch of people clap their hands to their mouths. one girl at the back of the audience let out a little scream. "did you hear that?" haley asked jimmy slowly. "what the hell? are you okay?" she added. the girl gave a small nod and buried her face in her hands.

"okay, i think this is intense, so..." haley shrugged out of her pink suit jacket, eliciting cheers and hoots from the audience. jimmy held it while she put her hand in the box. she felt a lot of space in the middle being taken up. "okay, i'm gonna go in with my left," she said, as a suspicion popped into her head. as she moved her left hand closer to the center, haley used her right hand to lash out at whatever was inside.

whatever it was let out a sound, like it was just slapped. "fuck, was that a person?!" haley asked incredulously. "did i just slap a human?"

"shhh, you can't say that on live tv!" jimmy cried, tugging at his hair. "but yes, it's a person. who, though? that is the question."

"sorry, uh, person, let me just—" haley reached her hands in again and tentatively touched what seemed to be their hair. "do i know them?" the host of the show just shrugged. haley touched the hair again, recognizing its softness but not wanting to jump to conclusions. just yet. "excuse me," she said, letting her hands go the base of the box, touching the person's neck. "they have an adam's apple," she observed, then went to touch the person's face even though she knew who it was already. "he's got a very nice jaw," she remarked, grinning as she touched their cheeks.

"you're literally caressing his face!" jimmy exclaimed.

"oh, so it's a he!" just then, the timer rang. "okay, okay, i give up! who is it?" she said, feigning confusion. luckily for haley, her acting was pretty convincing for everybody who was watching. except jimmy, who like all talk show hosts probably suspected something. they took the box off, and just like haley expected, she saw timothée's head suspended there.

"hi!" timmy exclaimed, opening his arms for a hug before remembering that there was a platform that restricted his arms below his neck.

"let me just—" jimmy walked over and assisted him out of the sliding box that he was trapped in. "there we go."

timothée got up and took a little bow before reaching over to haley and opening his arms for a big hug. "hello," he said, smiling at her.

"i didn't know you would be here!" haley complained, accepting his hug.

"amazing, amazing! timothée chalamet everyone!" announced jimmy, as the audience began to clap and cheer. "okay, so this last one is for the three of us to touch, timothée, you can be over here..." the box had a third hand slot at the back for an extra person.

to the boy's utmost horror, they had stuck their hand into a box with a tarantula. haley managed to guess it correctly as the spider crawled onto her hand.

"HOW CAN YOU TOUCH THAT?" jimmy shouted, jumping back, repulse clearly written all over his face. "eurgh, anyways, yuck, uh, haley leneghan and timothée chalamet everyone! we'll be right back!"

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"hello, everyone!" jimmy said from his desk. "welcome to the show, we got a great show tonight. our first guests star in the new movie an absolutely remarkable thing and have had quite a busy weekend... please welcome, haley leneghan and timothée chalamet!!!" the crowd cheered as the two stars entered the stage, and hugged jimmy.

"oh my goodness, it's so nice to see you guys," their host began. "thank you so much for playing with me awhile ago, you've had a busy weekend, didn't you?" the audience went wild again. "for those who didn't know, the oscars were held just last weekend, and both of them attended, since they were nominated for lots of awards, basically. congratulations." he told them. "what was it like?"

"um, this was my first time to attend the oscars, because unlike this guy here," haley began, gesturing at timmy, "i was never nominated before, so this was all really new to me."

"how was it?" jimmy asked, leaning forward in his seat and listening intently.

"i'll use his word, i'll say it was surreal, because it absolutely was." she replied.

"and you won... two oscars, is that right? you were nominated for three."

"it's crazy!"

the rest of the segment was the three of them chatting about the oscars, until jimmy asked them to explain their movie.

"i think you should do it, you put things into words so well." haley told timmy.

"but you're the main character!" he protested, though eventually he relented. "the movie's based off a book with the same title, first of all, written by the brilliant hank green. and it's about this twenty-three year old girl, her name's april may— yes, i know— and basically she and her friend andy discover this huge alien robot sitting in the middle of 23rd street in manhattan and decide to make a video about it and upload it to youtube. after that, their lives blow up and they get thrown into this whole new world, and the rest of the movie is just haley— sorry, april, i meant!— trying to navigate the attention that comes with fame, and sort of acting as an ambassador of the world to the... the carls."

"carl is the name they gave the robots, by the way," added jimmy, taking out a copy of the book. "i read this, it was an amazing read, so captivating. and then i watched the movie right after and i just—" he mimed and explosion. "mindblown. the movie was great, it put everything i imagined on the screen, it was very real, you just... you all gotta watch it, that's all i can say." after that, a clip from the movie was shown and they ended for a commercial break.

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"hello everyone, we are back again with timothée chalamet and haley leneghan!" jimmy announced once the commercial break ended. "timothée, i have a question for you." he said.

"man, i'm not liking the sound of this," he said, squirming awkwardly in his seat.

"no no, it's nothing scary i was just wondering if you ever made a bucket list?"

"i don't... uh, probably? when i was like nine?" timmy asked, unsure of where this was going.

"haley, have you written a bucket list before?" the host asked.

"oh yeah, for sure. i made so many when i was young, i can't even count them, and some of the stuff were impossible, like, i dunno, going to mars."

"dreamin' big, nothing wrong with that!" jimmy shrugged. "timothée, you've never written one?"

"i mean i'm sure i did at some point in my life!" he exclaimed, clearly confused.

"because your sister sent us this and i wanted to ask you about it..." the host said, taking out a photo from his desk. "she sent me this." the photo was showed to the crowd, and it was a shot of a yellow piece of paper, a sticky-note, with timothée's recognizable scrawl that read 'meet the girl from the audience' and a little check box beside it.

"oh my god." his eyes grew wide when he noticed the writing, the picture, and what it was in general. "my sister sent this? pauline, i'm gonna..."

"she told me that you'd know what it was, so i was wondering if you would like to share...?"

"i would not. i'm kidding, i'm kidding, i will in a minute, hang on!" timothée laughed. "but how do you get these things? do you just message relatives like, 'oh hey, do you have anything we can expose your brother with?'"

"kinda."

"damn, alright. oh my god, how the hell do i say this?" timmy was clearly squirming in his seat. "uh, so i dunno if you remembered the time when i fell off my chair at a q&a before..." he began. the crowd obviously did, based off their claps, and so did jimmy.

"yeah, i remember! you came on here, and we played it, and— it's all about the recovery." the two guys shared a knowing nod.

"did i mention that i was very, uh, nervous, because there was a..."

"girl in the audience. you said you were very psyched she was there." supplied jimmy.

"yeah, about that, i was actually very nervous, i was glad she was there, because i recognized her, um... and i may have, uh, written that when i, you know, went home. later that night." jimmy's eyes dawned with excitement.

"this is a romance story right here!" he said, pointing at timothée. "wait, oh my god! you can't just tell us and leave us hanging, come on, how'd you know her?"

"i didn't! i just knew her from like, previous projects, her parents, you know."

"is it safe to say that she swept you off your feet?"

"quite literally, yes!" laughed timothée. "i was kinda scared to say it then but uh, she might've been the reason why i fell off that chair. like i was, oh my god, i was trying to keep it cool, y'know? but uh, that failed. so."

"haley, any guess as to who this might be?" asked jimmy.

"not at all." she said, looking quite interested in finding out who it was. she knew that she and rora were there, but then again the girl could've been anyone.

"does she know? that she knocked you off the chair?" the host asked.

"she didn't do anything, but no, she doesn't." timothée replied.

"can you, is this— do you wanna tell her now? do you have her number?"

"actually, we're like, good friends now, actually. i talked to her before coming on here."

"you talk to her?"

"she doesn't— yeah, yeah we talk. uh, but she doesn't know that... you know."

"oh my god, it gets even better!" jimmy shouted, practically leaping out of his seat. "wait, you talk to her! do you wanna, i dunno, tell her now?"

"i knew i shouldn't have come on here!"

"you don't have to do it," haley said.

"do you want me to?" timothée asked all of a sudden, his voice kinda serious.

"it's gonna be interesting to watch, so yeah, kinda. but you don't have to!" she added. "if you don't want to."

"fine, i'll do it." he said finally, pulling out his phone from his pocket. "uh, did pauline mention that..."

"oh right!" jimmy said. "she said you wrote the name of the person at the back. i'll show it later, it's right here." he said, pointing beside his desk. "i haven't seen it, so i don't know who it is."

"yeah, i did it so i wouldn't forget, but it's not like i would anyways. uh, this is crazy, oh god. i'm not sure if she has her phone on her right now." timothée had just realized that the girl he was talking about was seated right next to him, and wasn't sure if she left her phone in her pocket or kept it in a clutch somewhere. he put his phone back in his pocket and clasped his hands together nervously.

"actually, you know what, can you just show it now?"

"alright, alright, i'll just..." jimmy reached over for it and read what it said, letting out an audible gasp. "OH MY GOD!" he yelled, showing it in front of everybody. haley read what it said, before whirling around to face timothée whose head was in his hands.

"don't kill me please," he murmured.

"you've never told me this!" she exclaimed, not angry but more of bewildered.

"because it would be weird! 'hey, did you know that you made me fall of my chair back in 2018? because yeah, you did!'"

"you should've told me!" both haley and timmy were red in the face and laughing hard, evidently flustered at what to say. "i'm sorry for making you fall off your chair," she said quietly, forgetting that there was a whole audience out there that would analyze their every move.

"it's all about the recovery!" he cheered, the audience clapping along.

"haley leneghan and timothée chalamet, everyone! make sure to check out an absolutely remarkable thing, out in imax on april first!"

this was the whole point of

why i wrote this fic so for it

to finally come full circle and

tie up w the prologue makes

me vv happy also what do you think finn's

up to bc i think he's acting real

sus ...

I MISS YOU, I'M SORRY