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[not_so_smooth]

Sam had yet to realize the disaster that the island had forced on most people here. He'd spend most of Saturday by himself and was up early today for a run and then to study outside of the clinic. Dr. Magnus had given him a list of books to read and some work to do for prepping to become a doctor. Sam knew that he had a long, long road ahead of

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[lucked]

Claire Bennet was doing her best to keep her mouth shut for the entirety of the day.

After the horrors which had taken place the previous day, secrets upon secrets spilling from her lips and those of others, she had resolved to get through the ordeal without letting a single additional grain of rice tip the scale. She was feeling pretty bad about the way things progressed, and found it difficult to keep her chin up, but life had to progress as usual, and she had plenty of classes and even a desk job with the IPD to keep her busy. That morning, she was just stepping out to enjoy a mug of coffee away from the potentially dangerous and triggering crowd at the Compound, when she spotted Sam Witwicky and decided, of all people, he was probably safe to hang around.

When he asked for a pen, without looking up to see who it was, she bit back a laugh, but held out one of the many pens she always kept on her, just in case, and tapped the end of his nose with the tip.

[not_so_smooth]

Sam was definitely safe. He was the water-wings of friends.

"You are an angel," Sam said, smiling up at Claire as the pen tapped him on the nose.

"And not just because you're gorgeous. Which, you are. You're still one of the best looking people on the island, I don't care what you told me when we first met. And a change of topic would be pretty nice right now," Sam said. Saying stuff he really hadn't meant to was fairly normal for Sam.

[lucked]

Claire cringed as soon as the words started pouring out, leaving both of them awash in what went beyond honesty, and began toying the lines of 'too much information.' But it wasn't too long after that she started laughing at it all, trying to bite back her giggles with little success- because it really did figure that of all the people she knew, Sam's honesty would end up being that endless barrage of compliments. It was a very Sam Witwicky thing to do.

Deciding that he was probably worth breaking silence for, Claire cleared her throat.

"So, it looks like you've also been totally bombed by the truth bug going around. I've been, too, which is why I was totally trying to hold my tongue today, but you deserve to be told what's going on. And warned. Just in case, you know, your girlfriend wouldn't be happy to hear what you just said to me," Claire said with a grin, chin raising slightly. "And I guess to keep the ground even, you're totally cute too. Like. Definitely would date if he was single levels of cute."

[not_so_smooth]

Sam hadn't known about the truth thing, but now that she mentioned it he did feel more chatty than usual, and his already nearly-non-existent brain to mouth filter was actually non-existent. This could get a bit horrific.

"Alright, that's more than fair. And I'm insanely flattered. Like, I would swoon if I were a Southern Belle levels of flattered. I think Cassie would be okay though, because then I could tell her that I'm more crazy about her than anyone else and she knows the truth. Maybe I should go find her and do that."

[lucked]

It spoke volumes about Sam that he could say all of that without Claire feeling weird about it at all. She didn't think herself worth gushing over, or particularly pretty at that, but although she didn't want to think too deeply into the matter, it felt nice. Just having someone who thought her attractive, without more being made of it. Claire's lips quirked.

"Well, you'd have to prove it too, just remember that," Claire pointed out. "It's easy for you to give compliments, but if you want her to believe that it's the total truth, you'll probably have to give up a few embarrassing confessions as well."

[not_so_smooth]

"That is pretty much what I do on a regular basis with some people," Sam admitted. It was even more ridiculous because that was the absolute truth, he did do that quite often.

"I mean, she's already seen my movie, which was pretty embarrassing. Did you know I have a movie? I have a movie."

[lucked]

Claire snorted good-naturedly, admitting that Sam was more than prone to embarrassing himself in front of others, whether to gain their trust, or simply to make them laugh. She could still remember (and had kept) everything that he'd brought her in the clinic recovery room, and she definitely wasn't bold enough to think that Sam was offering that special treatment just to her.

But she blinked at his next statement.

"Waaaait," she drawled, arching a brow. "You have a movie? Dude. You have a movie. How cool is that? Unless, going off of 'embarrassing,' it's a really crappy movie. But it can't be that crappy, because you're pretty awesome."

[not_so_smooth]

"It is really not all that cool when you've been hiding the whole 'aliens and saving the world' thing from your girlfriend," Sam admitted. He hadn't meant to say that part, but he wasn't bothered by it, he felt comfortable talking to Claire about things.

"And it was like a summer action flick. I guess it was based of an 80's cartoon? Transformers? Except it was, you know, based off my life."

[lucked]

"Ah!" Claire exclaimed, eyes widening as she pointed a finger toward Sam, all of the pieces falling into place. "Oh my god, so your life overlaps with Transformers, why didn't I ever think of that before? Robots being sentient, that's, that's totally Transformers in a nutshell. I did watch the cartoon and stuff sometimes, when Lyle hogged the TV, so I guess I know a little bit about the characters."

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "But wait, so... there was a movie? Maybe it's like, a biographical film that you did later on? I don't know."

[not_so_smooth]

"No, it's definitely not a biography," Sam said, shaking his head. He wished that could be the case, that would make more sense, but it wasn't possible.

"The person playing me, I mean, that is me, I mean... me, in the movie, I look just like this. It's not an actor playing me, it's me."

[lucked]

Claire bit down on her lip, knowing that this was one of the areas where she just couldn't think of a terribly plausible explanation. So many of the friends that Claire had were people she'd known from books, films, and other works of fiction. Sometimes, the actors and actresses themselves were lifted, seemingly from movie stills, and became real, tangible, on the island itself.

She sighed.

"Well... that definitely happens for a lot of people on the island. I mean, look at all of the people from Harry Potter, for example. Or, or even Aragorn, from Lord of the Rings?" Claire brushed her hair nervously. "Sometimes I think that the only thing all of us have in common might be that somewhere, in some alternate universe, we're all fictional."

[not_so_smooth]

"I was just figuring that maybe, everyone everywhere is fiction?" Sam offered. It wasn't something he put a lot of thought into until lately, and even then he realized he'd just go crazy about it if he thought too long and hard.

"I mean, maybe the ideas for fiction are just a crazy huge collective conscience we all share that we get information bleed from," he said with a shrug.

[lucked]

"Maybe," Claire confirmed with a slight nod, taking a deep breath and shaking the tension out of her shoulders. "Yeah, maybe. I mean, we see so many people everywhere who are pulled from fictional pieces that we know, and we see people who share faces... I'm not great at biology, and I'm definitely not great at math, but the probability of that happening seems really slim to me."

She wove her fingers through her hair, shaking the curls out. "I admit, I don't know what to think if that's the case, though."

[not_so_smooth]

"I know exactly what to think," Sam said with a nod. "I think we should just stop thinking about it for now before we go crazy. Crazier."

Sam would probably think more about it later, but there was no need to burden anyone else with his crazy theories, especially Claire.

[lucked]

Claire managed a thin laugh, although it didn't quite reach her eyes, too filled with a strange sort of dread and apprehension. Because Sam was right. They probably needed to stop thinking about it. The problem was, of course, that the more Claire thought about pushing those thoughts away, the more strongly they surged back in return.

"How about," she suggested, searching her mind for anything else to serve as a distraction. "How about you just tell me about some of the things that you've learned about lately at the clinic. I really suck at biology, but I still think it's one of the most interesting subjects ever."

[not_so_smooth]

"Mostly it's just a bunch of anatomy stuff," Sam said, indicating the book that he was reading through. To be honest, at this point it was a lot of rote memorization, not that he expected to start doing surgery right off the bat or anything.

"Pretty much just an advanced version of that 'leg bone is connected to the hip bone' song."