#Look words!!!!!

[banannabethchase]

I'm Sure I Can Pretend to Be a Gentleman - also on AO3

~

Matt decides he wants to try the roleplay thing, and Adam's willing to give it a shot.

~

Title from Inside of You by Hoobastank. Note: The roleplay concept in this fic is that they are two wrestlers trying to get the same new position in the company. Everything is consensual and there are no power dynamics at play.

~

“I think it’s time for the role play idea,” Matt says, putting the dishes away. They’re in the wrong place, but Adam will let that slide because he’s got a decent view of Matt’s butt like this.

“What role play?” Adam asks. He hangs up the mop. “Also, I like how putting away dishes is what reminds you of that. Are you ever not thinking of sex?”

“Occasionally,” Matt says. He slides the mixing bowl into the shelf on his tiptoes, and, truly, it’s an even better view. “But we have that Dynamite coming up in a new venue, and I think we’ll have to find an empty, unused conference room.” He turns around an blows hair out of his eyes. “What?”

“You’re out of your mind,” Adam sighs. “Get over here. I love you so much.”

Matt grins into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Adam’s waist. “But,” he pulls back, like they haven’t stopped talking, “the idea is, basically, we’re two wrestlers who both want the job and we’re waiting in the conference room to get the interview.” He wiggles his eyebrows. “We’re competition. We’re not supposed to like each other, but we do.”

“Isn’t that just how, like, half of how wrestling relationships start?”

Matt shrugs. “Maybe. Hey, can you help me with that box of plates?” He nods over to the living room, which is still doubling as storage for an obscene amount of kitchenware shipped from Matt’s. The new couch looks nice in the living room, but Matt’s been antsy about the extra clutter. “Maybe bend over a little and wiggle your butt while you do it?”

“You,” Adam says, sure to yank his shirt up a little before leaning over and making a show of it, “are fucking shameless.”

“Sorry,” Matt calls, “can’t hear you over the sound of your butt looking great in those jeans.”

~

“Thank you again for going early to the venue.” Adam can hear Tony on the phone from where he’s pulling on his street clothes. It’s still sunrise orange outside as they get ready, hours before they usually dress to go to the venue, but the anticipation is better than caffeine. “All you have to do is scope it out, guide the staff to set up the locker rooms. Maybe mingle with some of the venue-specific crew to see if there’s anything we can do to make things go more smoothly, since it’s a new place.”

“Of course, Tony,” Matt says, his annoying professional voice turned up to eleven, “you can always count on us to make good use of our extra time at the venue.” He winks at Adam, and Adam thinks there has never been anyone less subtle.

“You’re lucky that was a call and not a FaceTime,” Adam says once Matt’s hung up. He slings his gym bag over his shoulder, heavier than usual. “You were so obvious.”

“Was not!” Matt says. “I was professional. A dedicated EVP, you could say.”

“Dedicated to getting railed, maybe.”

Matt rolls his eyes and leans in to kiss Adam, his hair still damp. “Let’s get coffee and then head over. They’ll let us in when we get there, if we ask for Maritza, and then we have the whole place to ourselves.”

“And we have to make sure we do what Tony asked us to do,” Adam says. He adjusts his bag on his shoulder. Hopefully the suit doesn’t get to wrinkled in there.

Matt rolls his eyes. “Yeah, well, we have plenty of time to do everything we want to do.” He looks Adam up and down. “It’s so annoying you look that good with a mustache.”

“I could say the same about your dumb goatee,” Adam says. “And yet here I am, still planning to fuck you stupid.” Sighing, he wraps an arm around Matt’s waist and hauls him in to kiss him, blazing and fierce.

The venue is unique, smaller than others but a maze of rooms to navigate. Maritza is a delightful woman with the personality of a lightning bolt, speaking at speeds Adam can hardly keep up with. Matt’s firing back with equal pace though as they sip their identical coffees, and Adam wonders if they’ll stop talking long enough for Adam and Matt to pull off the reason they’re actually here.

He’s mid yawn, halfway through his coffee, when Maritza sighs. “Well, I’ll have to be at the box office the rest of the morning.” She claps her hands together and sends her electric smile to both of them. “You two call me if you need anything.”

“We will,” Matt says, and he’s so sugar-sweet it’s ridiculous. “Thank you so much for the opportunity to come in early, Maritza. We really appreciate it.”

She beams. “We appreciate the help.” She waves as she walks away, and Matt’s excitement is hard to place.

“Are you all pink because you’re excited to do corporate stuff, or because of our plan?”

Matt shrugs and glances up and down the hallway, then pulls Adam in for the kind of kiss that makes him understand poetry a little better. When Matt leans back, Adam’s brain has flown south for the winter along with all the blood in his body.

“I’m good to start,” Adam says. “If, uh, you still want to.”

Matt scoffs. “If. Sure. Like there’s ever anything but a yes in that.” He raises an eyebrow. “But, also, because, like, that whole thing where you get to –”

“Focus on one new thing at a time, baby,” Adam murmurs. He pulls Matt in and kisses his forehead. “Looks like the rest of the place is empty. We start now, we got, like, hours before anybody else gets here.”

Matt nods, burying his face in Adam’s chest. “Okay,” he mumbles. “I start in the room.”

Adam nods. “But first we have to get all dressed up.”

He’d gotten a brand new suit for this whole thing, dark grey and bespoke, and he can feel Matt’s eyes on him the whole time.

“You like it?” Adam asks, spinning. “Got it new and tailored for this.”

Matt nods, looking delectable in his own navy suit. “I – okay. Go wait outside and count to four.”

“To four?”

“Ten. Five. Whatever. My brain isn’t working right now.” Matt shakes his head and Adam wants to do nothing more but pull him in and screw the roleplay, but he knows Matt really wants it.

He steps out the door and counts to four, then to ten, then to five, and knocks. “This where we go to wait for the interviews?” he asks. He nods to Matt. “I think I know you. You’re Matt Jackson, right?”

Matt nods. “And you are?”

Adam grins. “Adam Page.” He sticks out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Matt shakes his hand. “Likewise.” His eyes flicker down to Adam’s mouth, and what happens next cannot be considered Adam’s fault. He pulls Matt in by the hand and kisses him, slow and soft, hands on his hips. Matt sighs into it, hands on Adam’s lapel, before he pushes back rather suddenly.

Adam smiles at him, feeling kind of dopey. “Hi.”

“No, no,” Matt says, shaking his head furiously. “No being cute. Get out. We’re starting over. You can’t kiss me at the beginning of the whole thing. You’re supposed to wait until I say I’m unfamiliar with your talent, and then you say you’ll show me your talent.”

“That’s still the cheesiest line,” Adam says, letting Matt shove him out the door. “You know that, right?”

“It doesn’t have to be poetry, Adam,” Matt says, and Adam’s honestly impressed with how snippy he looks. “It’s a means to an end.”

“It’s a means to get into your end,” Adam quips.

“Watch it or I won’t let you eff me,” Matt says, deadpan. And he slams the door in Adam’s face.

With a glance up and down the hallway, still kind of expecting somebody to walk into this wing and make this incredibly awkward, Adam adjusts.

“Okay,” he mutters. “I can do this. Acting. I’m trying to get the job and Matt’s the competition for the position.” He bounces a little, like right before he gets in the ring.

And he knocks.

The door pulls open, and Matt’s back in character. “Hi. Are you here for the job opening too?”

"Mr. Jackson,” Adam says, trying to get back into the character. He can start over. He can do this. “Fancy meeting you here.”

Matt adjusts his jacket and, fuck, that mustache really is unforgivable. “Mr. Page, is it?”

Adam fights his grin as Matt steps aside to let him into the room. “Yeah man,” he confirms. “Seen your work before. Heard you’re going for the opening in the company.”

He can see the second Matt snaps out of the persona. “Opening?” Matt giggles. “You’re making a sex joke during this?”

“You are completely ruining the moment,” Adam says. “I’m trying to be the hot young upstart trying to throw you off your game for your interview, and you're talking about openings!”

“You’re the one who made the sex joke!” Matt says. His pout looks even more ridiculous with the mustache. “You’re terrible at roleplay.”

“I am not!” Adam says. “You can’t hold it together when you make a sex joke in your head. That’s not my fault.”

Matt grins at him. “It sort of is,” he says. “You’re the one who made the sex joke.”

“I did not make a sex joke!”

“Get in here,” Matt says, wrapping one hand around Adam’s tie and the other around his collar.

“Okay, Mr. Jackson,” Adam murmurs. “How do you know you’d be better for the position than I would be?”

“Oh, now you get it,” Matt grumbles, but he still lets Adam shove the jacket off his shoulders.

“Maybe from now on leave the experiments to me,” Adam suggests. He bites at Matt’s neck, earning a sweet little mewl.

“You – oh – you seem to have liked my other experiments.” Matt bares his throat a little more, letting Adam work a bruise or two into his skin. When Adam pulls away, Matt hops up on the conference table. It’s the exact right height. Adam’s brain short circuits for a second before snapping back into it. “You didn’t complain when you and Mox were fucking me at the same time.”

“Fuck, baby,” Adam murmurs. He gets his hands on Matt’s belt, one of the fancy ones Nick had gotten him for Christmas a few years back, and yanks it out. He grins as he tosses it across the room, Matt’s eyes wide. “I didn’t complain. And I sure as hell won’t complain now.” He cups Matt’s hard dick through the dress pants. “You gonna complain?”

Matt shakes his head rapidly. “No,” he says, breathy. “No, I – please?”

“Please what?” Adam asks. Matt’s eyes follow every movement of his fingers, and Adam decides to tease a little. He doesn’t go for his own belt, instead slides his hands into his pockets. “I’m sure you got everything you could want.”

Matt’s eyes go dark. “Not everything,” he breathes.

“You gotta tell me.” He gets it now. This part of the roleplay is kind of fun. “I’m new to this, you know. I need help getting the lay of the land.” He winks at lay. 

Matt’s breathing is shaky. “You need – you’re acting like you did when we first met.” He presses his lips together and looks at Adam with blown-black eyes. “Back when you were all shy and scruffy and were scared around me.”

“Yeah,” Adam chuckles, “because I thought all y’all were hot and I got nervous about it.”

Matt nods, licking his lips. “Remember when we first got together.”

“I do,” Adam says. He steps closer, in between Matt’s legs. His hands go to the waistband of Matt’s pants, slowly tapping toward the zipper. “Couldn’t help but embarrass myself, could I? Curse of being in my mid-twenties.��

“Curse?” Matt laughs. “You had the biggest dick on the roster and none of us knew because you’d always change by yourself!”

“Yeah, because I was, like, constantly horny around you.” Adam slides his hands up Matt’s shirt, starts unbuttoning slowly. “That one night, after the pay per view – I can’t remember which one.”

Matt’s cheeks are pink as his shirt flutters open. “Neither can I,” he murmurs. He links his legs around the small of Adam’s back and yanks him in closer. “All I remember is walking into the showers and seeing – seeing you with…” Matt trails off as he watches Adam shove his pants down his hips. Adam wraps his hand around his dick. “Well, seeing you like that.”

“You remember what I said?” Adam asks. He couldn’t forget. It was the beginning of the best part of his life: being with Matt.

Matt nods, eyes locked. “You said,” he says, breathy, “You asked, ‘You trying to get in on this, baby?’ with this voice…” He trails off. “Okay, you need to get inside me. I’m done. Screw the roleplay, it’s hotter to remember how long we’ve been together.”

“Yeah?” Adam pauses before he grabs the lube. “You thinking about us when we were younger?” He grabs Matt’s legs and hauls him close, grinning at his yelp. “Remembering how we used to pull off quickies in the shitty bathrooms.” He leans down, kissing the life out of Matt for just long enough to get him whimpering. “How you used to beg me to fuck you when both of us knew we didn’t have the time or the privacy?”

“Now you’re doing it on purpose.” Matt flops back on the conference table. “The whole point of this is for you to rail me in a suit. This is purely for my own benefit and you’re making me think.”

“You made me come up with a whole character!” Adam yanks down Matt’s dress pants and throws them somewhere in the room. Adam pulls Matt’s legs around his waist so he’s at the right angle to dribble lube down from the tip of his dick, down his balls, down into his crease. Matt shivers so hard the table wobbles.

“Okay,” Matt says. “I – don’t care. Just like when we were younger. I’m begging now.”

“Except,” Adam says, and he leans down to kiss Matt slowly, languidly, unrelentingly. Matt squirms against his face. “Except this time, we have plenty of time for me to wreck you.”

Matt whines. “I really – Adam, I hate that mustache.”

“Sucks for you,” Adam murmurs. "Also, I think you're lying."

Adam opens Matt up as quickly as he can, with how whimpery and insistent he is.

“I love you,” Matt says. “I – I don’t think I like role plays. I like you. I want you. But I like it when you call me Mr. Jackson, if that makes any sense.”

“I don’t think anything we do makes sense, but if it gets you going I'm about it,” Adam says, and with the way Matt is gripping at the edge of the conference table, it tells Adam he’s ready. “You good?”

Matt nods, eyes screwed shut. “I just really want to get laid on a conference room table.”

“You are so weird,” Adam sighs, and he gets himself situated. “I ever tell you I’m madly in love with you?”

Matt props himself up on his elbows so he can watch Adam, eyes dark. “You do,” he whispers. He pulls his eyes up to meet Adam’s. “Have I ever told you?”

“Always,” Adam says. “God, I – are you ready? Is it –”

“Yes,” Matt hisses. “Please. I want – please.”

Adam guides his dick into Matt, carefully as he can. The wood on Matt’s lower back can’t be comfortable, so he adjusts so Matt is laying down, hair fanned out. “Jesus,” he whispers.

It’s slower than usual. Adam is gentle, and careful, and soft. Part of him worries that the wooden table won't hold, that it'll be too stiff for Matt's bad back, that he'll get overenthusiastic and slam his hips into the edge of the table. Matt’s eyes are locked in on him, a little smile on his face, as he rolls to meet Adam’s thrusts. It feels perfect. It feels like Adam doesn’t deserve to have this forever. He takes a shaky breath.

“Hey,” Matt says. “Come back. I don’t know where you went, but come back here.”

Adam shakes his head and snaps back into the moment. “Sorry, baby,” he murmurs. “Got a little stuck in my head.”

“I know,” Matt says, and he digs his heels into the small of Adam’s back to draw him in. His soft smile and warm eyes anchor him to the present and Adam feels so goddamned lucky to be here he almost falls over. He leans in and kisses Matt, trying to say with his lips what he can’t with words. Matt kisses him back and slides a hand between the two of them to touch himself. It's the best thing Adam's ever seen. Adam adjusts his grip on Matt’s thighs and his angle so Matt is making high pitched, desperate little noises.

“I know,” Adam murmurs, “I know, baby, you’re close. Come whenever you want, okay?” He pulls back to kiss Matt’s forehead. “We fucked up this role play thing so hard, didn’t we.”

Matt laughs, music. “We did, but I’m okay with it. I – please don’t stop.”

“I won’t,” Adam promises. “I won’t. Never.”

The world dissolves until it’s just the two of them, pretense and worry and reality gone, until Adam’s whispering Matt’s name and they come just about at the same time. Adam feels changed with it, shifted, and he wonders how many times he can fuck Matt before it stops rearranging his atoms.

“Matty,” Adam murmurs, peppering kisses across his face. “I don’t think I like roleplay. I think – I think I only like it when it’s you.”

Matt sighs and smiles up at Adam. “I think I know that now.” He tucks a curl behind Adam’s ear. “I always knew you were a big softie."

Adam laughs. “Yeah, fair.” He pulls out of Matt gently and grabs a towel from the bag they’d dropped in the corner. “You okay?”

“It’s weird you ask me that every time you get all gooey and romantic about me,” Matt says. He takes the towel and cleans himself. “What, like you expect me to be stressed or freaked out because you’re in love with me and get all sappy?” He shoots Adam a grin. “I’m always feeling great after.”

Adam shrugs. “I like to check.”

“We didn’t even do anything that merits checking,” Matt says. He wrinkles his nose as he wraps the towel up tightly and shoves it in a plastic bag.

Adam resists the urge to tell Matt, once again, anything could merit checking which is why he does it. “Still gonna do it.” Adam leans in and kisses Matt’s forehead. “Let’s go find the EVP locker room and showers. My boxers are all sticky.”

“Oh, your boxers,” Matt says, rolling his eyes with a smile. “What a shame for you.”

Adam licks his lips. “What,” he says, “you want me to mention you’re gonna feel my come leaking out of you all night?”

Matt flames red. “Effing – oh my god, Adam.” He pulls the jacket on. “You can’t just say things like that without warning.”

“Sure I can,” Adam says. He grabs the pack of Clorox wipes they’d picked up at Target and wipes down the conference table as best he can. “I can say it all night, if you want me to.”

“Now you’re understanding the whole any-time-you-want-me thing,” Matt says. “I like it.” He leans in and kisses Adam on the cheek. “Let’s go get the place ready for everybody else so maybe we get extra time and I can blow you behind the commentary table.”

“Yeah, if nobody gets thrown on it tonight.” Adam tosses Matt his bag. “Would hate for, like, Joe to chuck Trent or somebody on top of the desk and have you squished underneath it.”

“Okay, fair. That would suck.”

They check each other’s hair and clothes to make sure nothing is out of place and make their way out of the conference room. They run into a kind looking woman frowning at signs.

“Oh, hello!” she says, smile bright. “You must be Mr. Jackson and Mr. Page.”

It takes everything in Adam’s body to keep from laughing.

~

Mini Playlist: Ms. Jackson - Panic! at the Disco Inside of You - Hoobastank Whatever You Like - Anya Marina Numbers - The Cab

[lotrmusical]

never let anyone tell you that trawling through mediocre victorian poetry isn't worth it. we just happened upon an absolute BANGER of a worm poem. go read it or else 🪱🪱🪱

[sycamorality]

when someone asks me what i like

[bamsara]

Finor, the first follower.

[lesbian-disaster-academic]

i used to be so good at writing strong, thoroughly-researched, thoroughly-edited essays.

as a kid in hs, my teacher literally came up to me, holding my 40 page essay on the intersection of the European witch hunts and capitalism/exploitation/gender roles (it was supposed to be 7 pages...whoops) and went like "this is literally a master's-degree level thesis. what are you doing?? you could literally use this as your final dissertation in a master's program, what the fuck."

NOW??? NOW?? you'd think I'd be oh so skilled. but alas. i can barely piece together two ideas. adhd skill-regression is so so real. im SOBBING

[littlemsterious]

i was thinking about that post comparing Jessica Rabbit as an asexual to Barbie and an asexual and then i thought of the Neil Gaiman post (was it a post?) about Crowley and Aziraphale being asexual sexless and then this happened.

anyways. thoughts?

sorry it took so long I meant to do this a week ago but my brain is full of rocks.

[Image ID a three sided venn diagram. the big circles show Margot Robbie's Barbie sitting in front of a mirror, Jessica and Roger Rabbit from the poster of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Aziraphale and Crowley from Good Omens standing back to back. Between Barbie and Jessica Rabbit it says "sexualised by society". Between Jessica Rabbit and Aziraphale and Crowley it says "Knows what sex is". Between Aziraphale and Crowley and Barbie it says "no reproductive system(?)". the center is the asexual flag. End ID]

Also i haven't seen the Barbie movie as of this edit so at least please tag your spoilers.

[variksel]

i hate you ai art i hate you "unalive" i hate you youtube premium i hate you twitter 8$ checkmark i hate you nfts i hate you therapy app advertisements i hate you non-chronological timelines i hate you instagram reels i hate you subtle tiktok filters that cant be turned off i hate you family bloggers i hate you ads on true crime episodes i hate you facebook i hate you vr glasses on chickens i hate you dystopian social media

[astrallar]

This man holds my heart just like he holds these ducks

[krysmcscience]

I have some questions about karaoke night, Alex Hirsch. Very Important Questions. Which I will happily scream at a poor hapless baby triangle who can have no answers for me, and possibly also does not have object permanence yet.

Follow-up that is I guess suggestive, but let's be real here, Bill's a fucking triangle:

Dude slipped right into his birthday suit, lmao

this is so stupid :D

Anyway, I don't care what anyone says, this brilliant individual knows what's up - Bill is absolutely way more of a monsterfucker than Ford could or ever will be, full stop.

[casgirl]

people cosplaying on public transit are the backbone of our society and i am SO serious. there is no greater omen of good fortune than seeing hatsune miku on the bus.

[secondbeatsongs]

source

[sycamorality]

i will never be normal about The Character. hope this helps 💖

[maxgicalgirl]

Being a “Fun Fact !” kind of autistic is all fun and games until you get halfway through sharing an interesting tidbit and realize that it probably wasn’t appropriate to share in polite company and now you have to deal with the consequences :(

[ando666detonao]

don't you ever read a piece of fanfiction so good you just

[mydairpercabeth]

season 4 is gonna hurt me i fear