ATTEMPT 39. [ DAYS SINCE LAST REBOOT — 214. ]

—

"Oh my forking god." And the penny drops. Eleanor's eyes widen, expression met by two equally baffled expressions. "This is the bad place!"

"How do you know that?"

"For forks sake, Chidi— you've been anxious from decision making for the past two months, how is that your idea of paradise?"

Tahani doesn't look convinced… and it takes the good part of the next hour of her explaining, theorising (maybe it's all just a sick game, a prank, for lack of a better word), and pointing out how much they've driven each other up the wall, how much Jason's infuriated her. How almost every single party she's planned has, without fail, somehow ended in disaster.

"What do we do? Should we tell someone?" Tahani asks - and tempting as the idea is, she can't shake her worry that maybe they've been here before, that they just can't remember. Or that telling Michael might land them somewhere worse.

"No, I think… we should figure out what's going on first before we make that decision."

So they talk, about every little thing they can possibly think of that might help, and they reach several conclusions:

FIRST: Jason is definitely on their side.

SECOND: Jason is also, absolutely too stupid and impulsive to keep this secret, and they are definitely never, ever telling him.

THIRD: They can't trust anyone else. Especially Michael. Maybe Janet.

FOURTH: Maybe telling will land them in a bad place, or a good place - but here, right now… maybe this can be an okay place.

—

ATTEMPT 39. [ DAYS SINCE LAST REBOOT — 226. ]

—

Eleanor's at Tahani's, curled up on a sofa and happily downing yet another glass of wine. Suck it, Michael. Despite their differences, they really have become close friends - and it's become increasingly common that they'll spend their evenings together; watching movies, doing each other's hair, venting about the men in their lives…

She's startled from the movie suddenly by a particularly drunken kiss on her cheek and Tahani's melodious giggle.

"Love you, Eleanor—" Tahani slurs, and she gapes, dumbfounded. Does she mean that? How forking drunk is she? Or maybe she simply means it in an 'I love you, you're my best friend' sort of way, which really should be illegal for a tall, smoking hot girl like her to say, especially in that stupidly cute accent of hers, and— oh. Oh shirt.

Maybe she's in love with Tahani.

—

ATTEMPT 39. [ DAYS SINCE LAST REBOOT — 227. ]

—

Eleanor wakes to find herself on the floor; Tahani's sprawled out over the sofa, her long, lithe limbs dangling off the side, still fast asleep. Forking hell, she's even graceful when she sleeps. She, on the other hand, is a mess of tangled hair and smudged makeup, and she's certainly glad that this place masquerades as being the good place - the lack of a hangover is a welcome thing. She doesn't want to think about how much she drank last night - maybe she freaked out just a little over feelings and stuff - and she definitely drank too much, considering she doesn't remember falling asleep.

She broaches the subject with Tahani - over tea and biscuits, as per Tahani's insistence, trying to squash down the way her heart wants to unnervingly flutter, lips twisting up into a wry smile.

"So, you love me—" And Tahani promptly chokes on her tea. "And you know, I've been thinking it over and I've decided that I've found it within my heart to love you in return."

Tahani laughs - followed by the most graceful eye-roll she's ever seen. "I wouldn't want you to trouble yourself, Eleanor."

"Oh, shut up," she laughs, leaning up to kiss her; and she thinks that maybe they've found themselves a good place, just the two of them tucked away from the world, finally happy.

A/N: First attempt at writing these two, what fun! A friend got me into this show recently and I'm obsessed (binge watched the whole show in a day, whoops).

On a side note, I'm currently attempting NaNoWriMo (aka attempting to write 50k words in a month) - so feel free to fire prompt requests my way! :)