Chapter Text
S01E01 PILOT
“I told you, mush works.”
“I told you, mush works.”
Angie tried to ignore the tiny seed of amusement and maybe a twisted kind of interest in the strange new addition to their “village” (crap, now he had her saying mush like that in her head!). The moment of elation over Graham not getting dunked on for once had clearly gotten away from her--had she actually hugged Will just now? She looked him over, head to toe, trying to decide what exactly she felt and settling on begrudging acceptance. Sure, he had zippered shorts/pants and kept hot popcorn in a sequined mermaid bag (seriously, dude?), and sure, now he was pairing a weirdly-patterned button-up with a sweatshirt that he had probably had since college, but he had helped Graham get his first girlfriend, and that was no small thing to a member of the D’Amato family.
Plus, y’know, knowing she could definitely take him in a fight and knowing he probably knew that, too? That helped.
He certainly was unlike most men she knew, anyway. Derek was a jerk, the kind of guy that was hot and flaky and thoughtless and cruel and hot (but probably not anymore, right? Eight years on the road and then working fast food had to have been unkind to that hunky bod of his…). Miggy was young and sweet, but also clueless and clearly had issues of his own. Scratch that, he had a whole subscription, and she was happy leaving that mess-of-a-project to Poppy. And Douglas was...well...Douglas. Owen was a fun distraction, like so many that had come before--a nice guy who met most of her needs quite well (thank you very much), and (most importantly) didn’t push too hard, so it was easy to fit him around the craziness of her life whenever and however it suited her. But Will? First impressions told her he wouldn’t be so...pliant.
At first, when he had pitched Taco Tuesday in that ridiculously incessant way, she had felt annoyed. Then, talking with him in his bedroom and learning more about him, she had felt a kind of pity (if that was something she allowed herself to feel, which it wasn’t). Hearing Graham say that Will had given him advice about Bunny Ears and then acted completely without her say had naturally caused some fear and anger, but the sirens on the other side of the phone as she was yelling at Will reminded her that the poor sap obviously had bigger fish to fry. When he had somehow worked his dork-dad magic and gotten Douglas to sing and dance, in front of the police, no less, well...suddenly she was annoyed again, but intrigued, too, although more in a “did I just step into an alternate reality?!” kind of way. Down was up and left was right and what did she know, anyway? Might as well go along for the ride, because there was obviously no turning back from this train wreck now.
The hug hadn’t been too bad; brief as it was, she understood in a moment what he had been talking about earlier. Having someone to share and celebrate the good stuff with? Huh. That was new. And not totally objectionable. And, anyway, anyone who wasn’t a psychopath that was willing to take on all the kids for free babysitting at the drop of a hat was welcome in her book.
Jury was still out, but...including and mentoring him in his return to adulthood would prove entertaining for a while, at least. He kind of reminded her of a lost little puppy that you just couldn’t help but adopt. She followed her friends out to the blacktop, and as they cheered him on while he threw that mermaid bag away (over and over and over again, man was she a good person for taking him on!), she watched him (figuratively and a little bit literally) wag his tail in joy.
She had always wanted a puppy.