Title: The Twisted Games We Play
Word Count: Roughly 2400
P.O.V.: Narrative (Justin centric)
Summary: Justin and Alex have never played very safe games with each other.
Pre-emptive Notes: We're breaking canon here, just a little.
It's two thirty in the morning and Justin Russo is seriously contemplating using magic irresponsibly. He's been staring at his laptop for going on seven hours and all he has to show for it is two horribly worded pages out of the ten he needs ready to hand in at ten the next morning. For the first time since he left for school five months ago, he can't focus on anything and the irony isn't lost as him when a bubble on his taskbar begins to flash for his attention.
His eyes flick down to the window for a split second in contemplation before he shakes his head and tries to go back to fighting the uphill battle that is his term paper. He lasts another two minutes - rewriting a single sentence about six times - before an audible groan finds its way past his teeth and he tabs down to the flashing orange window to deal with something he doesn't want to deal with now, if ever.
What? he types, because he's frustrated enough already without this and he knows it's just going to make concentrating that much harder for the rest of the night.
What? Really, you should be more polite to your little sister.
The reply is instant and he can feel her amused smile through her words. It just serves to frustrate him further because she's already won this. She always wins this, and he doesn't know why he even lets himself get sucked in to it anymore.
I'm busy, Alex. He takes a moment after that message to think of something clever he can say to swing the scale back in his favour. He can't, so he settles on something that maybe will irk her just enough to get her to leave him alone. Unlike you, some of us have school work that they actually try to do on time.
Psh please. Like you hadn't finished all your assignments for the year in the first three weeks.
She's right, technically, because he had been a bit overzealous on some of his classes at the beginning of the year and it irks him to no end that she's found out somehow.
No, I didn't, actually. I'm working on something important right now. Whatever you want, it's going to have to wait. It's a stubborn response and he knows it. He also knows it won't work for a second but he tabs back to his paper and manages to rewrite his last sentence for a seventh time before the window flashes and takes all of his attention away again.
Actually, it's kinda important. Like, "I need my big brother Justin" important.
He stares at her message, for longer than he really wants to, as he weighs the choices he could make here in his head. Eventually though, big brother wins out and he's decided that maybe they're not going to play this game tonight and she really does need his help so the paper can wait. However, all the big brother feelings in the world can't stop him from taking another pot-shot while he has the chance. Please, Alex. Which brand of cereal you eat in the morning qualifies as a "big brother Justin" decision to you.
I've got this problem and I need your help to figure it out. It's about a boy.
There's another groan as Justin realizes that, apparently, yes they are playing that game tonight. Maybe, Justin thinks, it's not too late to turn off the computer and call his professor in the morning to fake a stomach flu. His sister's window is blinking at him again though and he knows it's been too late since the moment she decided to message him.
What's the problem, Alex? I need to finish this. He tabs back to his paper and saves it before closing it down because there's not a chance he's going to finish it tonight. The window starts to blink again but he tries his best to ignore it while he e-mails his professor, peppering words like food poisoning and sorry throughout his message. It takes him a full three minutes to get back to his conversation with his sister but when he finally does, he wishes he had just turned off his laptop instead.
So um, Mason and I were kind of fooling around and we may have broken one of your collectable dolls.
A thousand and one emotions are barking through his mind as he reads - and rereads - what his sister has just sent to him. Annoyance and frustration take a backseat to anger as he clicks in to what that sentence actually means. Really Alex? My room? You were fooling around in MY ROOM? I said, and I quote, "Don't go in to my room while I'm gone, Alex" not "Hey Alex, feel free to have sex in my bed with your disgusting British puppy"
Oh, that's what you said! There's that teasing - knowing - smile in her words again and Justin thinks maybe he'd be better off just tossing his laptop out the window instead of turning it off. You know me and my attention span, puh. Also, he's not disgusting, he's sweet.
Yeah, sweet like a disgusting British puppy. It's a childish response and he knows it but really what does she expect when she distracts him from schoolwork at - ugh - almost three in the morning to taunt him with her sex life.
Aww, you almost sound jealous. Things not working out with the college ladies, J-man?
She's right again, technically. It's has been almost five months and he hasn't been on more than three dates. Not that it's a lack of options that are there for him - in fact, for some reason the girls at his school had found his unique brand of nerd remarkably desirable. He just had not wanted to lead any of them on, simply because he didn't want any of them. It didn't matter though, really, it's not like he was going to tell her she was right anyway. Actually, things are going great. I'm hooking up with Michelle tomorrow night to watch some movies over at her place.
There's a minutes pause between messages so he thinks he's got her, maybe just a little and that's enough to make this whole escapade they're mocking up almost worth it
Honestly Justin, you're the worst liar ever. You're "hooking up" with "Michelle" to "watch movies"? I don't know if anyone has ever explained to you what "hooking up" is, Justin, but it usually entails a lack of clothes. Trust me on this one.
He runs his hand across his face as he reads her message twice. It's three am, he's exhausted and he doesn't want to play this stupid game with her tonight. Not when she's apparently decided that they're going to play hardball.
Alex. I'm not doing this tonight. I don't want to deal with your weird sexual fetish that involves bringing home boys so you can tell me all about every disgusting thing you do with them. Especially if they happen to be the werewolf; you know better than to be around him. Now, goodnight. Justin can see her typing a response but the laptop is closed and shoved off his desk, falling sort-of-gracefully to his chair, before he has the chance to second guess his decision.
It doesn't surprise him in the slightest when his phone starts to vibrate and chime from where he's tossed it on his bed somewhere around the fourth hour of his paper. He doesn't want to answer, really he doesn't, because he knows exactly who's waiting for him to answer but apparently it doesn't matter what he wants - like usual - and he's already hit the answer button, putting the phone against his ear before he can stop himself.
"What, Alex. I just said I don't want to talk about you and Mason tonight. I don't want to talk about you and any boy any night, really!" The words from his mouth are half whispered like he's afraid someone is going to hear them, even though his roommate has already passed out at a party by now.
"My sexual fetish?" Her voice is smooth, teasing and Justin can't tell if she's actually trying to sound as seductive as she does or maybe his phone just has weird signal in his room.
"Yes. Your weird sexual fetish where you have to tell your big brother all about the bedroom adventures of Alex Russo." His tone is sharp and quick because he really doesn't want to deal with it. He knows she's going to make him go through all this again anyway.
"Oh please," she scoffs and even that sounds throaty and far more appealing than it should be to him, "That's hardly a fetish. You want to hear about a sexual fetish, I can tell you all about the kinds of things I can do with my tongue."
"Alex, stop!" He cuts her off before she can get farther and spin her twisted little web more. "Listen. Here's what we're going to do. I was serious when I said I'm too busy tonight, so I'm going to hang up now - okay? We're both going to go to bed and when we wake up we'll pretend this never happened. Just like we always do."
"Mmm Justin," she's purring to his ear and his apartment seems at least ten degrees hotter, "are you asking your baby sister to go to bed with you?"
"Yes, Alex. I'm asking you to go to bed with me. How about it?" His voice come out surprisingly bored, impressively. He's not going to let her win this time and she can't see his hands shaking over the phone so he's got that going for him as well.
"Come on Justin," Her voice is even softer and smoother now than it had been before, "Maybe if you ask nicely I could let you flash over there for a few hours. I could show you that thing with my tongue... or maybe that thing I told you about last week. I'm even already dressed - or maybe undressed is a better way to look at it - for the occasion."
Her words work and his mind wanders but he's played out these lines so many times before he doesn't need to think about them anymore. "No, Alex. I'm not going to ask nicely. I'm not Mason and I don't beg for table scraps once the family is done meeting."
The first few times they had done this - whatever this was - that shot at the love of her life had made her angry enough to slam the phone shut and he had managed to go to sleep with his dignity still intact. Lately, though, the effect had lessened and she wouldn't get distracted by her anger quite as much.
"Calling me table scraps Justin? I didn't know people kept suggestive photos of table scraps under their beds," His hands start shaking harder now because, shit, she knows and now he has to worry about how long she's known as well. He knew he should have kept that picture of her somewhere else and she's talking in his ear again, "I'm hurt. Maybe I'm so hurt, I'm going to tell daddy all about what you want to do to his little princess."
"Don't!" Justin hisses in to the phone, considering for the thousandth time using the powers he had won from his siblings to erase her memory. Instead, he hears her laugh and knows this is over and it's too late again because she's won. Another page in her diary about how she's embarrassed him lately, no doubt, but it's still better than the alternative would be.
"Oh Justin, I don't know. They deserve to know don't they? All about how long you've been pining after me?" She half moans the last line through the phone and he swears he's going to kill her the next time he sees her in person.
"What do you want?" Justin's question is straight and pained because he knows the diary page has just gotten a hundred times worse for him.
"I want to hear it, Justin. I want you to tell me just how much you want me there with you in bed. How much you want to know what kind of tricks my clever little tongue can do. How badly you want to hook up with me later to watch movies." Her voice is dropping lower in octaves as she speaks and Justin can't help but groan when she mirrors his earlier words back to him.
"Alex. Don't... do this. Please, not tonight." He's begging, not for what she wants him to but praying that it's close enough and she'll stop before it goes any farther. He knows she won't. She's going in for the kill tonight and he's not even sure he'll be able to look at her next time he sees her.
"Tell me Justin. I want to hear it. You know what you do if you want table scraps."
The wand is under his mattress and it's so close but he gets so caught up on swallowing his pride - however much is left by now, anyway - he only manages to mumble the words from his mouth and Alex has to tell him to repeat himself.
"I want you here with me. I've wanted you with me for years. I want you and I; I want us. Please, Alex." Justin's voice gets caught a few awkward times and maybe his voice croaks around the difficulty of the things he's saying.
"Not a chance," her voice is cruel and he can hear her trying to contain her laughter because she knows she's won and he's finally said it so he'll never live it down, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed because it's like 3:30 dude. I'm due to be up in like eight hours or something for school."
"School starts at nine, Alex. That's five-and-a-half hours, not eight" His mind is on auto-pilot and he can't stop the lingering big brother dotting through his words.
"Whatever, el dork-o. I'm going to bed. You're coming home for break Friday night, right?"
"Yeah, I am" his voice is resigned and he's so happy that's all done with because she's got nothing left of him to rob away so this game is finally over. She doesn't have any more reason to play.
"Wonderful," she's using the seductive voice again and his defenses - among other things - pop back up immediately, "Mason and I are spending all of Thursday night together. I'm sure we'll have loads to talk about Friday when you get home."
The phone clicks softly and there's a dial tone ringing in Justin's ears for a few minutes before he comes back to reality and chucks his phone at the wall, frustrated. He falls back on his bed, groaning, and briefly contemplates what horrible things he's done in his life that have lead him here before he comes to another infuriating realization.
Not only is he going to have to endure hours of Alex in person on Friday, but he's got a take-home essay due by noon on Saturday.
Maybe tossing himself, not the laptop, out the window is a better idea all around.
Notes: I wasn't surprised when Alex won the competition in the final episode - it was obviously going to be her from the first mention of it through the series. Justin always put forth so much more work for it though and with what was riding on the competition I felt as though a large rift would be ripped between Alex and Justin if anyone won but Max.
Here, of course, Justin wins the competition and Alex is forced to leave Mason (the love of her life, as Justin so sardonically takes a shot at) as she's a mortal so being around a werewolf is not safe for her anymore. Alex, as a character, seems willing to do almost anything to give herself an edge and it just made sense to me that if someone happened to be attracted to her, she'd use it to her advantage.
Not to mention she'd probably, if not immediately, ignore the council's warnings about spending time with a werewolf.
Poor Justin, someone should have warned him better about what could happen when you fall in love with a manipulative - occasionally sadistic - younger sibling.
Cheers for now,
Wordsmith.