Despite her better judgment, she beamed a little at the compliments.
Still, she called bullshit on at least one part of his message.
So this has nothing to do with wanting to spite those dicks in our mentions, Marcus? P.S. I’m April.
His response came almost immediately. I have to admit, I would also be happy to disoblige some of my more obnoxious fanboys.
She frowned.
Disoblige? What kind of vapid, pretty-boy actor used a word like disoblige?
Three blinking dots appeared on the DM screen. He was writing more.
That came out wrong. Sorry. I meant to say, I think this would be good PR for me too. You know, socializing with the fans.
That was more what she’d expected of a man like him. A well-intentioned, good-natured, but ultimately surface-oriented publicity stunt.
That makes sense, she wrote.
More dots, this time blinking for several minutes.
Fair warning, April. If we do go out, it’ll probably end up in the tabloids, or at least a few online blogs. So if you’re protective of your privacy, you might want to turn me down. If so, my feelings won’t be hurt.
She bit her lip. I’ll need a few minutes to decide. Is that okay?
Of course, he answered. Take all the time you need. It’s still morning in Spain, and I’m not flying out until late this afternoon. I’ll be around for a while yet.
Okay, now she was dying to ask him questions about the sixth season and the show’s finale. Obviously he’d been sworn to secrecy, but surely a man that slow on the uptake might let at least one or two details slip?
A new message appeared on the Lavineas server. BAWN, reassuring as always. No worries. I’m dealing with a few unexpected issues myself. Besides, I’ll be around for a while yet.
She huffed out a breath, amused by the way BAWN had randomly, inadvertently echoed Marcus, the man whose character BAWN had written about in dozens of fics.
Should she tell him what had just happened?
No. Not yet.
She hadn’t even decided for certain whether she’d accept Marcus’s invitation, and she wasn’t ready for her Lavineas friends to see her in the flesh. Soon, but not now. Not when she had so many other decisions to make and considerations to weigh.
Thanks. I’ll be back soon, she wrote BAWN.
Climbing out of bed, she checked in the side pocket of her suitcase for a fresh notebook. She did her best thinking on paper. Always had.
Along the way, she grabbed a pen and refilled her bedside glass of water. Propped once more against the wooden headboard, she tapped the ballpoint against the first blank page and acknowledged the obvious.
If she wanted to stop hiding, she couldn’t have found a more efficient means of exposure.
Assuming tonight’s thread hadn’t done the trick already, a date with Marcus Caster-Rupp, a world-famous television star, would make her face and body and shipping interests publicly known. At least in some circles. And she knew enough about the Gods of the Gates fandom that she could already see the blog post headlines. The kind ones, anyway.
Gates Fan Accepts Date with Actor of
Her Dreams; Nerdgirls Rejoice!
A Fangirl Scores a Star: And on This Day,
a Million Modern AUs Were Born
@Lavineas5Ever, Stan Icon for the Ages
Which reminded her: The Lavineas server was going to freak out, if the hysteria hadn’t already begun. It probably had, since most of her friends followed Marcus on Twitter. Thank God she hadn’t checked the server’s main chat threads yet.
If they knew @Lavineas5Ever was also Unapologetic Lavinia Stan, and that she was tempted to turn down a goddamn date with half of their OTP, they would fucking annihilate her.
Well, since she’d already made her public debut as a fangirl, she might as well do it right. Might as well spell out everything she needed to do, all the parts of herself she intended to expose to sunlight.
In bold, block letters, she titled her page: ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGIST, REMEDIATE THYSELF.
Some of the parts of her plan she’d determined on the drive home today and over the past few months, but others she’d list now. Including the most painful bits.
Say yes to Marcus. Publicly.
Without being obnoxious about it, merge the personal and professional at work. Stop fearing exposure. (Remind self of terrible folk trio as necessary.)
Share Twitter handle and identity with Lavineas friends. Wear earplugs when doing so, as squealing may be heard from space.
Attend Con of the Gates. Meet Lavineas friends and let them see what I look like in person. Even B
At Con of the Gates, enter cosplay contest.
Chewing on the inside of her cheek for a moment, she paused.
No, she was going to add everything. She’d said she would, and she was no coward.
Address fat-shaming in the Lavineas community, even though it might alienate BAWN my friends.
Decide what to do about Mom and Dad. Once I’m sure, tell Mom in person.
Immediately dump any man who wants to change me and/or doesn’t seem proud to be with me in public.
There. That was it. If she wanted to dig out the poison in her personal landscape, that was how to go about it.
Leaving her notebook and remediation list within sight, she woke her laptop from hibernation mode and maximized her Twitter window. Chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment. Nodded to herself.
In the end, it took only seconds. She located Marcus’s invitation amid her ballooning notifications and clicked Retweet with comment.
I would be delighted to have dinner with you, @MarcusCasterRupp. Thank you for your kind invitation. Feel free to slide into my DMs to work out details.
Lavineas Server
Thread: WTAF Is Up with Dido
Unapologetic Lavinia Stan: I mean, first the show totally ignored the books by having her actually die on that funeral pyre, but I guess you could say they were going old-school there (as in, *Virgil*-old). But having Juno bring her back from the dead? Then making Dido some sort of crazed, power-hungry, sex-starved, scorned woman basically boiling bunnies in her Aeneas obsession? As the thread title indicates: WTAF?
Mrs. Pius Aeneas: She’s completely unrecognizable from the Dido in Wade’s books.
Book!AeneasWouldNever: Even Virgil’s Dido, before Aeneas’s arrival and the intervention of Venus, was a supremely competent ruler. I hate to say it, but
Unapologetic Lavinia Stan: But what?
Book!AeneasWouldNever: The show’s Dido has never been anything more than a misogynistic caricature. Carah Brown’s talents are wasted in the role, although she’s the only reason the character has any gravitas. Once they get past Wade’s books, it’ll only get worse.
Unapologetic Lavinia Stan: But why make that narrative choice? It’s so much less interesting than what Wade or even Virgil did.
Book!AeneasWouldNever: I suspect it has a lot to do with how the showrunners view women.
4
HER CELL BUZZED FROM ATOP THE HOTEL ROOM DESK, and April rested her forehead against the faux-wood surface. She lifted her head, only to drop it again with a muted thud.
Without even looking, she knew who was calling and why. At some point, her mom was going to hear about the date with Marcus happening that night. It was only a matter of time, but April had appreciated every minute of it.
And now, her time was up.
One glance at the display confirmed her fears, and she heaved a sigh before tapping the screen. “Hi, Mom.”