Morgan, Shakes, and romantic comedies
Summary: Shakes has Morgan over to watch Love Actually and listen to music. Morgan's crush on Shakes is hopeless.
Who: E. M. Forster, William Shakespeare

Shakespeare brings a bowl of popcorn into the living room, and he sits cross-legged on a couch beside Morgan. They are watching Love Actually and it never fails to turn Shakes into a giant, gooey, marshmallow sort of mess by the end. He shifts his shoulders, a habitual sort of settling in motion for Shakes, and he slips a kernel of popcorn into his mouth. "Dig in," he tells Morgan.

For about the fifth time since he's sat down, Morgan attempts to pull back his shoulders and sit up straight before the couch, as it has five times before, pulls him back down into the slouchy embrace of its cushions. He looks around uncomfortably. He's only been here ten minutes, and already he's wishing he could run back to his dorm and hide under his blankets and dream about....doing exactly what he's doing right now. Which is being near Shakes. Which is making him afraid. Puzzled, he reaches out for the bowl of popcorn. "You um. Have a rather lovely couch!" Morgan says, a bit too enthusiastically.

"Grr, it's great for sinking into." The 'Gr' is soft, is just some kind of filler-assent sound that Shakes is apt to make. Shakes doesn't catch Morgan's nervousness. As far as he knows, Morgan has always been like this. He and Marlowe make out on this couch sometimes. He probably shouldn't mention that. "You seen this movie before?"

"Erm, no I have not! I do assume that it is a wonderful movie though, if you're watching it. Not. If you are watching it like you would make it a good movie and not that like, you being there would make it a good movie, but more to imply that you have good taste in movies, which I am rather sure you do." Morgan sinks back into the couch for the sixth time.

Shakes laughs. He finds Morgan so quirky sometimes, in a way he doesn't really understand. But it always makes him laugh. "It is. It's neat... I've always liked it." Shakes is watching the movie, but keeping an ear perked for the sound of the kettle going off too, so that they can have their tea. Morgan had struck him as a tea sort right off the bat. "What kind of tea do you want? We've got a few around... black tea, or there's Chai, or some kind of Apple-Mango. Or green. We've got a few..."

"Tea would be lovely!" Morgan looks at Shakes, beaming. He's so considerate! He's making me tea! Wait, am I his friend?? He puzzles a while on this question. "Um, Chai, I suppose! I do have such a fondness for India."

"Good choice," Shakes remarks. "I love Chai." He gives Morgan a friendly wink. Finally the kettle goes off, and he gets up to get it, grabbing two mugs and tea bags, adding some milk, then calling out, "Do you prefer sugar or honey?" He's seen either done.

"I'd like some honey, honey!" Morgan smiles at his joke for all of two seconds before worry about what he's said hits him. A look of terror crosses his face as he turns bright red, trying to think of something to say, fear forcing all ability to speak from his throat.

Quirky. William shakes his head, smiling to himself, adding some honey to the tea. He does the same with his, biting his lip a little so that he doesn't laugh. He does love puns, even if they are bad. "There we are," he says, carefully handing the cup over to Morgan. "Careful with it. Hot."

Oh god. He didn't say anything. He hates me now. He hates me. Morgan stares at his cup, not meeting Shake's eyes.

"I hope it isn't too sweet," Shakes says, curling up again on his couch. "What with two spoonfuls of honey, honey." He smiles at Morgan. It is clear that there doesn't seem to be a single cruel bone in Shakes' body. Everything he says and does is so damned good-humoured.

Morgan smiles back. "So....." He struggles to think of something to say. "Personally, I think Snape had to kill Dumbledore- I mean, after all, how can the hero emerge as a hero unless the mentor is killed? You see the same thing in Star Wars!"

"Well clearly," Shakes agrees. "But... I guess I'd been holding out for maybe Dumbledore would just... retire? Hit a timewarp and go missing for a few years? Like... Harry could still finish Voldemort off on his own, without Dumbledore dying." He shakes his head again, taking a sip of his tea. "I hate when she kills off characters. Poor, poor Remus." Remus hasn't died, but Shakes mostly feels sorry for him because Sirius has.

"Poor Remus." Morgan sighs. "Poor Tonks! I mean, when she finds out that Remus....er......"

Shakes laughs again. "Well, much as I like Tonks, I don't think it'll break her up too much. Remus already said he was too poor, too old, and too dangerous for her -- he left off the 'too gay' part clearly -- and it was all so sudden, you know? I don't think it would be too big of a deal, because all it is is like a crush, right?" He's thought about this too much. "There's gotta be a way to bring Sirius back from beyond the veil."

"Well of course there has to be a way! After all, we don't see the body, and Sirius has been through so much worse, he has to come back, he just has to!" Morgan all but leaps up from excitement. It is clear that he too has spent many hours absorbed in this line of thinking.

"Either that, or they can be reunited in death, and leave us hopeless fans to write years of fanfiction." Shakes takes another sip of his tea. He's very pensive. "You know, I do wonder if Remus is going to die. What with Wormtongue's hand being made of silver, and Remus being a werewolf..." He looks at Morgan, a bit of a small smile on his face. "Remus was my favourite character, right from the start." He tilts his head a little again and says, "You know, sometimes you remind me of him. I don't know why."

Morgan's face had just begun to settle from the previous incident, but at Shake's words, turns bright red all over again. "T...thank you!" He stammers, pleased. "I...I...I..." I HAD A DREAM LAST NIGHT WHERE YOU TOLD ME I REMINDED YOU OF REMUS AND THEN WE BOUGHT A HOUSE TOGETHER IN THE ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE AND WE HAD A TERRIER THAT WE NAMED CLIVE "I am very fond of him!"

Shakes tilts his head the other way, smiling still, continuing to drink his tea. "Ooh, man, this," he says, and puts a hand on Morgan's arm, drawing his attention to the TV. His hand is warm from being wrapped around the mug of tea. "Colin Firth and this Portuguese girl... they never understand a word the other is saying. It's so sweet."

Rapidly pulling his arm away, Morgan stares intently at the screen, stammering his assent. He folds his hands in his lap, glancing briefly over at Shakes before his eyes drift back to the movie.

Shakes' shoulders bunch up for a moment, then release again. When a part comes along that he doesn't want to pay as much attention to, he looks at Morgan again, asking, "Tea any good?"

"Oh yes! Very good! Very good indeed." Morgan runs his figure along the lid of his mug. "So, um." How are you and Marlowe? "How are you and Marlowe?" Wait! Dammit!

Shakes smiles. He loves talking about Marlowe. He loves talking about the fact that he and Marlowe are together. "Great!" he says. "I went up to Stratford over the break, you know, where the two of us are from, and got to fill everyone back home in on what went on. Some of them were very surprised, but some said it was really about time."

"Oh! England! I'm from there, you know, very far removed but still from there!" Morgan focuses on the one non-Marlowe part of the sentence and stays there. "I'd love to go to London again some day!"

"Er, well, it's Stratford, Ontario, actually, but my family is just the same as yours, sounds like. From England. Far removed. Except apparently they got the wrong directions when they sailed to the New World and took a turn to Canada instead. Who goes to Canada?" He rolls his eyes, then smiles. "Stratford is a nice place. You should see it sometime!"

:"Perhaps one day I will!" Morgan throws back his shoulders and smiles, visions of friendly trips with Shakes dancing though his head. "I do enjoy your company!" He says this firmly, nodding for emphasis.

"I'm glad," says Shakes. "As I enjoy yours quite a lot as well! You will have to meet Marlowe sometime, I think." He always supposes that Marlowe will like all the people Shakes likes. However, given that Shakes likes just about everybody, this isn't always the case.

Aaaaannd there it is. Morgan's shoulders slump down again as the familiar pain of love denied washes over him. Curse you, Marlowe! he thinks to himself, adding, but not really! on the off-chance that someone out there chose today to take his heart's wishes literally.

"Ooooh, wait!" Again, Shakes' hand flies out to Morgan. "I love this part." He watches the screen intently, biting his lower lip a little. It is romantic and he loves romantic things.

Morgan fights the urge to fight the urge to pull his hand away again. He lets Shake's hand rest atop his, trying to think of anything but that fact while committing every facet of the sensation to memory, a complicated task indeed. "Awww!" Watching the action on the screen, Morgan's other hand flies to his face to cover a huge smile. "They do love each other!" He beams.

Shakes laughs a little, half-timidly, half-enthused. "I actually wrote something like that once! Before I saw the movie, I swear. The situation was so similar..." He shrugs, still smiling. "Hello, my name is William Shakespeare, and I like sappy romantic films."

"Oh, so do I!" Morgan lets his hand lie under Shakes, noting that the boy has once yet made an attempt to remove it while recoiling in horror.

Shakes laughs, and he takes his hand from Morgan's to pick up his Chai tea. "What a pair we are, hey?" Shakes passes a hand through his hair.

"That we are! Quite! A pair!" Morgan stares at his feet. "You have a nice carpet! Rather plush and… Persian, I think?"

Shakes laughs again, and he makes a face. "I guess... I don't really know. Man, you're so..." he laughs again. "I don't even know. I don't know how to describe you. And that you can take as a compliment."

"I will!" Reaching his hand out as casually as he can, Morgan places his hand on Shakes’ shoulder. "We're friends!" It is less of a statement and more of a question.

"Would you mind finishing watching the movie later, tomorrow morning or something? I'm thinking that maybe we could put on some records for the rest of the night..." Shakes loves listening to records with Morgan, as their taste seems to frequently overlap.

"Oh, of course, yes, not at all a problem! I wasn't really paying attention to the movie anyhow, not that it wasn't good but, erm...." Getting up, Morgan walks over to his bag and pulls out a large black case, handing it to Shakes. "I'm ashamed to admit that I don't have any records per se in the vinyl sense of the world, but I am an archaic technophile in one sense, as I lack that MP3 nonsense everyone is on about- I can't work the computer for the life of me- but instead prefer the humble compact disk, though," he ads, his tone slightly disappointed, "No one else seems to."

Shakes grins. "Oh, I still love CDs, I swear. I can't help it... the feeling of going out and buying a disc? Just feels right. Having it in your hands and taking it up to the till and everything." Looking curiously he asks, "So what do you have in there?"

"Belle and Sebastian, Apples in Stereo, Cibo Matto, Dressy Bessy, New Pornographers- Really, anything indie and upbeat and twee I'm all for." Please dear god don't find those two 'Nsync disks which I am currently kicking myself for forgetting to remove, stupid, stupid.

"Oh awesome," says Shakes. "The New Pornographers... they're Canadian, yeah?" He's flipping through the case and doesn't recognise the N'Sync CDs, luckily for Morgan. "I've heard of them before. Someone told me I'd like them."

Morgan beams, very pleased to share something he likes with Shakes. "You will! Not that I'll hold it against you if you don't. Anyhow, they are Canadian, and rather fun, and are the best sort of mindless pop, and I do think you'll like them!" He nods.

"Great!" says Shakes, and he takes the disc and pops it into the stereo. He returns to the couch, sitting back, languid and nonchalant. A relaxed pose is required for the first listen, he thinks. "Oooh, very fun," he comments.

Morgan beams, pleased. "This is exactly the sort of music that lends itself to dancing and swirling and falling in love, or, er, so I would imagine? Not that...I've...ever...really." He trails off, letting the sounds of Twin Cinemas fill the air.

Shakes' eyes light up a little. "Oh, that's so right!" Shakes smiles and lazes back further into the couch, smiling to himself. "That's sweet..."