Fields of Lycra
Summary: Britta and Duncan go for a bike ride; part of the Poor Judgment series
A/N: I know it's been awhile since I've written for this series! Apologies, but my other writing works overtook me and I was having a bit of a block in writing for this pairing. If you're a reader of EIB, then you already know some of the developments in their relationship, but I wanted to flesh some of it out here as well as provide more continuity for those who just read this series.
Last we left off: Britta's still hesitant, Duncan's pretty smitten.
Spring, 2012
xxxxxx
She added in an almost whisper, "And you were there for me."
He slowly opened his eyes and stared at her blurrily. "I always will be."
They continued to face each other for a few beats of silence.
"I'm not ready. But I want to be."
Within minutes, she was gone.
X
X
With resolve, Duncan set about wooing the amazingly stubborn Britta Perry. After the Pillow and Blanket War, he knew what he had to do.
He needed to stop drinking again immediately, and this time it had to stick.
And he needed to take that lovely creature on a proper bike ride. She didn't know a thing about proper cycling. Last time she wore those combat boots, and while they were ridiculously sexy, they didn't belong in the straps of a bicycle. She had ended up falling over and had been too obstinate to try again. So he had purchased her proper white tennis shoes, which she had until now kept in the box.
With newfound determination, he grabbed it from on top of her bedroom dresser and dusted off the lid. He placed it in front of her and nudged it toward her, wiggling his eyebrows with what he hoped was a coy persuasive manner she would be helpless to resist.
She scowled at him from her cross-legged position on the bed, but he sensed she only half-meant it. Getting Britta to do something was at times a delicate operation. Other times, one merely needed to be blunt.
He bowed his head and decided to go for it.
"Please, please, please try them on and come with me to Chester Fields. It's a lovely ride and I so desperately want to share it with you." He looked up at her with the largest puppy dog eyes he could muster, letting them water just a bit. It wasn't that hard to do, as he was genuine in his earnestness. She needed to experience the lovely fields and soon it would be too hot for her to go as a novice cyclist.
Her snort reassured him all would be fine.
"Oh my god, yeah if it that means that much to you, then sure."
"You'll wear the shoes?"
With a roll of her eyes, she nodded, her cheeks pinkening. "I just hope no one sees me."
X
She didn't know what she was getting into exactly, only that it meant a lot to him. The previous ride, she had kinda lost her balance on the stupid bike and ended up on the tree line halfway down the block. She scowled down at her knee at the memory.
This time, she knew better than to wear the long plaid shirt, as it had kinda gotten caught in the chain-thingy. So she had opted for a short-sleeved black t-shirt and capri cargo pants. Plus she was wearing the ridiculous shoes. Glancing down at them, she considered that perhaps Duncan had a point. They did seem much more likely to fit into the pedal-thingies.
She supposed this was a couply-thing to do, wearing matching shoes and going on a lame bike ride, but heck, they lived in Colorado and one was supposed to do outdoor things. So really, it was fine. And she was trying to work out her feelings on the exclusivity thing. After the Subway fiasco, she knew she needed to get her shit together. That whole situation was way too messed up.
And it had hurt Duncan, which broke her more than a little.
She knocked on his door, patting her pocket with the reassurance that she had brought a little weed along in case things got too uncomfortable. Duncan had also reassured her that he was going to stop drinking for good this time, and she knew he needed to still relax. She was hoping after the ride they could hang out in one of the mysterious fields or something.
The door creaked open, and Chang's eye stared at her with a suspicious glare. After a few tense moments, his expression morphed into one of delight, and he threw the door open, reaching forward to pull her into a surprisingly slimy hug.
"Mommy!"
"God, stop!" She firmly pushed him back and smiled tentatively at him, which merely elicited a head tilt and whimper.
He ushered her in, and she looked around for signs of Duncan. Spying his bedroom door ajar, she headed over, carefully making her way past Chang's sleeping area, where there were rolled up sheets, a pillow torn in half, and about twelve crumpled bags of Lets potato chips.
She decided to knock, not wanting to be presumptuous. The last time she was over a couple days ago of course she had been naked, but that was different. She didn't want to intrude on his space.
There was a sharp intake of air and then the door opened wide, Duncan standing there clad in a shiny and alarmingly tight white top with a giddy grin on his face. It took her a moment to register something else in his eyes, and having determined he was feeling more hyper than usual, she slowly glanced down.
He was wearing skin-tight white cycling shorts.
"Booyah, Britta! Why yes, I am wearing Lycra! It is the only way to ride!"
"Oh my god."
Nodding vigorously, he made a swooping motion between their matching shoes and squealed into his balled up fist.
She instantly crossed her arms over her chest as he pulled her into a hug, and as it continued, she slowly let her arms fall down to their sides and as it continued even longer, let her arms reach around to his back to complete the embrace.
At his hum of contentment, she allowed herself a slight smile. This did feel nice. She tried to forget what he was wearing and set a firm intention to try to enjoy the day.
X
X
"I'm so pleased you wore sensible footwear."
She shrugged at his comment, for they had now biked a couple miles and so far she was doing pretty okay. Following his blindingly white body through the streets hadn't been too awful, and once they got to a good bike bath, he had ridden at her side, explaining that he'd pop out of the way should they encounter anyone else.
They had stopped so she could take a swig of water from her water bottle, an item he had thoughtfully gotten for her. She had brought a flask but for some reason it didn't fit in the bike beverage-holder thingy. She honestly didn't understand why they didn't make it wider.
Part of her felt a little guilty about the flask, given that apparently Duncan was deadly serious about staying sober. Once he reminded her of that fact, surprisingly not defensively at all, she left it at home and hid it on top of the fridge so Chang wouldn't get to it.
At her realization that she had thought of Duncan's place as home, even if only to herself, she quickly took control and stammered, "So, how long is this ride anyway?"
"We have five more miles."
"Oh, um that sounds far."
"It's not actually, but I didn't want to overwhelm you with your first ride."
"Thanks."
They proceeded, her trying to ignore the fact that she was also wearing a huge helmet, again an item he had gotten for her, as he explained that her brain was very special and he didn't want to see it splattered over the trail. He may have also mentioned that they would be stopping for a special treat on the way back. She hoped to god that he was talking about weed, but she had a hunch it was probably something much dorkier, as he was giggling profusely in anticipation.
He was kinda cute when he was fixated on something. It was an edge he lost when he was drunk, so yeah.
She really wanted him to stay sober. Well not sober-sober, as she kinda liked high Duncan. But the alcohol thing. That had to stop for good. She didn't want to see him spiral down.
She briefly considered her own alcohol leanings as well as her part time work at a bar and thought perhaps she should cut that out too. After all, she did want to become a psychologist, and that would take a lot of studying and work. She had a hard time doing stuff when she was hungover, and she supposed her patients wouldn't like it so much if she were to fall out of her therapist chair. She wondered how far Duncan would have gone if he hadn't overindulged in the booze. She supposed he might not have ended up at Greendale.
But Greendale was a pretty special place. She supposed it had all worked out in the end, as otherwise they wouldn't have met.
"I said you can stop. Here we are."
She startled back to the present moment, and slowly yet awkwardly came to a stop, almost falling forward at the end, before Duncan reached over and grabbed her handlebar to soften her landing. She grimaced but then suddenly felt a sense of accomplishment, for she had made it.
"Here, my lovely Britta, this is the glorious Chester Fields."
He was still on his bike but one leg was on the ground and he spread his arms wide to indicate the view. She slowly glanced around, as her bike was pretty wobbly, and she gasped.
It was certainly beautiful. Far more beautiful than anything she had seen in Greendale. Before them was lush 'field' she supposed full of various wild flowers. The sky was blue and the clouds white and puffy, and as she took in a deep breath, she marveled at the crispness of the air. It smelled clean and intoxicating in its naturalness.
She felt like a real Earth Goddess.
"This place is amazing."
She could tell that made his day. As they dismounted their bikes and parked them at the side, he continuously grinned at her and was practically vibrating with excitement.
Suddenly she didn't feel the need for the weed anymore, at least today. She had a feeling they'd have a fine time.
X
X
After spending an indeterminate amount of time wandering the fields, they ended up at an elevated small cliff-thingy, and Duncan was pretty adorable taking various photos of the views, muttering about how he was going to shake up his social media game.
She frowned at this, for she knew he prided himself on keeping a lean twitter presence, not wanting to overwhelm his forty-seven followers.
"Hey, you only post pictures of your meals and atheistic rants, right?"
He nodded solemnly, taking a break from framing the next shot and stared down at his phone. He muttered, "How would you even know? You don't follow me."
She sighed and inched closer to him, and as she leaned her head against his shoulder, she said, "You know that's because I don't like to be on twitter that much. It's like the corporate machine."
"Then how do you know what I tweet?"
"Don't tell anyone, but sometimes I peek."
She could sense his smile, and she then groaned, "But you know, I suppose I should get more active on social media. That's where they organize all the political stuff nowadays. I want to be informed and join more protests."
His response was likely an affected nonchalance.
"I suppose that makes sense. And if you did, um become more active, perhaps you would be interested in viewing some pictures of these lovely fields?"
She mock-punched him in the side and stood up fully as she groaned, "Of course I'll follow you, dummy. And yes, I think you should post some of these."
X
X
On the way back, they took a detour, Duncan leading her to a small mustard-colored building near a side road. She was suspicious until they rounded to the front and she saw the sign for "Chalupas 'R Us."
"Ian!"
He giggled and they parked their bikes, taking a few moments to lock them up outside. As he assisted her with her chain, he explained, "You know how much I love chalupas, and these are really some of the best ones in the Greendale area."
"As long as I can get a veggie one."
"That's traditionally how they're made."
She chuckled at this, and they went inside.
X
As they slurped on their smoothies, as apparently Chalupas 'R Us had an expanded dessert menu, she considered it had been a pretty great day. She had ventured out of her comfort zone, communed with nature, and she was having a nice and normal time with Duncan. They hadn't talked about the Subway thing again or Duncan's declaration that he had wanted her to consider them being exclusive.
It was really the perfect day.
After taking another slurp and gazing out the window, Duncan remarked, "I suppose there's something I should run past you."
Intrigued, she waited, offering him an encouraging smile to continue.
He placed his smoothie on the table and seemed to consider something for a moment, and then said, "What would you think if I were to move to a larger flat?"
Her heart suddenly began pounding fiercely, and she had no idea why. Well, she had some idea, and that was the fact that he was asking her about his living arrangements could only mean one thing.
He wanted to be exclusive and now he was going to get a larger apartment? She couldn't believe how he could be so crazy as to push her on this. She certainly wasn't ready to move in with him, much less say they were exclusive. Of course they were pretty much exclusive before the Subway thing anyway, and she wanted to go back to that, but she wasn't ready to say it.
But yeah, she wasn't going to be sexing anyone else up anytime soon.
But live together? That was nuts. She was Britta Perry, wild adventurer, protester and now, as of today, Earth Goddess.
"Oh my god, you stop!"
"Hmm?"
"Shut up!"
His eyes were wide, likely mimicking her own, and he gently pushed his smoothie to the side and waited for several moments, probably for her to clarify her comments.
She finally took a few deep breaths and said, "I mean we haven't even finished talking about the thing."
"Thing?"
She gestured between them, and he instantly reddened and began shaking his head vigorously.
"No! No! No!"
"What?"
"No!"
"No?"
"Noooooo!"
"So what the hell do you mean about getting a bigger apartment?"
He seemed to choke a little and then after staring at the table for perhaps like ten minutes or something, slowly lifted his head and made eye contact. For the first time, she became aware that there was a deep indentation mark from his helmet across his forehead. It was distracting.
"I wasn't trying to ask you to move in with me."
"Oh, yeah, whatever. I knew that."
"Righty."
"So what were you asking?"
He slapped the table a couple times and then replied, "It's this Chang situation. He's overstaying his welcome on my sofa, and well, he and I were discussing getting a two bedroom flat. That way he could have his own space, and there would no longer be crumpled bits of junk food and wrappers all over the living room."
Relaxing now, she let out a sigh and said, "Yeah, and don't forget the chunks of ham. As a vegetarian, I…"
-"Britta, yes, I know. That's why I wanted to run it past you. I'm gathering by your reaction that you think it would be a good idea?"
"Well, yeah."
"So you don't mind me continuing to have him as a roommate?"
"Why? It's your life."
He nodded politely at this, his mouth in a tight line, and she instantly felt like a jackass.
With a sputter, she half-shouted, "Oh god, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that! Of course it would be great if you had your own place and he wasn't always in the way with us, but I get it. Now that he has Changnesia and is Kevin rather than Ben, he's not sooo bad."
"I guess I feel sorry for him."
She nodded in sympathy, and she found herself to her own incredulity, reaching over and taking his hand. Ignoring the obvious giddiness in his expression, she said, "Yeah, me too. And you can't just ask him to move out cause he has no money and there are the hermit crabs afterall." Something else then occurred to her and she asked, "And wait, how are you going to pay for a larger place?"
"He has to get a part time job. The new Spanish professor's been so impressed with his performance, she's offered him a position as a grader. He'll have to read all the introduction to Spanish essays. The pay's not great, but it'll be something. And really, a two bedroom is the only way I can see this sensibly moving forward."
"Right."
"And we'd have err, more privacy."
She had to give him that the whole idea sounded really nice. She had a brief flashing thought that her cats would likely feel more at home if Chang weren't sprawled out in the main area before she inwardly chastised herself.
Stay in the present, Perry. No need to make a complete fool of yourself.
Independent woman. Political activist. Earth Goddess.
He leaned in, and whispered in her ear, "I'm still hungry."
She knew where this was going. Self-consciously crossing her legs while also somewhat getting off on the idea of having so much pull over him, she felt her cheeks redden.
"You'll have to wait until we get home."
"I'd like to chow down as soon as possible."
"Behave."
"Yes, Miss Perry."
It was the perfect day, Lycra and all.