Fandom: Monster High
Pairing: Possible Deuce/Jackson (Male/Male) [Actually having second thoughts about this. May keep it as 'adjusting family' or evolve it to 'romance'. Depends on story progress].
AU
At the age of 16, a monster will have a normie adopted into their family for two years (the age a monster can leave home). This is to improve monster-normie relations overall – the normie does not become a slave, servant or pet of the monster. A monster may have his/her parents adopt a normie they've known and befriended, or they can adopt a normie from a home that looks after normies especially for adopting by monsters. They cannot adopt any unknown normies spotted in the streets. The befriended normie's family must first be consulted with before the adoption procedure can begin. The monster of age does not have to be the one to choose the normie – their parent/guardian can do it for them, out of young monster laziness or distrust in choice.
Alterations: Jackson and Holt are non-identical twins, leaving Jackson 100% normie; normies and monsters must attend separate schools.
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Deuce was reflecting on the timing of his birthday. Tuesdays meant that the celebrations had to wait until the weekend, bummer, yet it meant that the new normie set to arrive could adjust to their new home. Well, Deuce corrected himself, the normie should be at his home unpacking already, if he were to trust that his mother really as fetching the normie in the middle of the afternoon while Deuce was in class. Not for the first time he began to wonder about the new addition to the family: boy or girl, would they be happy to be missing school today to leave home, did they bring any decent video games or DVDs, maybe they were into Justin Biter… no, no way. Better not, or those CDs would be the first thing he'd throw in the bin that day. Unfortunately, Deuce's mother insisted on choosing his normie for him, so he was due a 'birthday surprise', as the normie was currently being called by his friends.
"Dude, stop spacing!" the wolf at his side snapped his fingers, "better stop dreaming about that normie; Cleo will curse you!"
"Don't need to tell me twice," Deuce laughed in reply, "and any thoughts are definitely not like that, man! My concern is if they'll find my stash of goodies."
"Confectionery, right?"
"Of course, you sly dog!" The two burst into another round of laughter. Once this had ceased, Deuce turned to the third member of their triad, "Kinda quiet there, Bro'. What's on your mind?"
"Nothing," the blue-skinned monster replied, blinking before showing his usual smile, "Why'd you say that?"
"Because you're quiet." Clawd and Deuce's reply was almost in union – the gorgon-born was a little behind by a second. They glanced at each other, and Clawd took over.
"You haven't made a comment yet about the gig tonight, or joked over whether Deuce may have a normie girl waiting on his bed for him."
"Yeah? I'm just thinkin' about something," Holt's moody exterior vanished, and a mischievous grin replaced it, "There was this girl at the bar last night…"
"Did you get rejected?"
"You'll find out if I continue my epic tale," Holt informed him, "Anyway. Girl, right. Dead pretty, mind I do have a thing for anything with fangs. Girls only, sorry Clawd. Werecat girl, so cute!... And then she walked off with anotha' guy before I could say anything."
"Ah, so it was a rejection," Deuce and Clawd nodded at each other, and this time Deuce continued "But, Frankie-"
"Frankie said she wanted a break, remember?"
"Sorry, yo," Deuce genuinely had forgotten that, he realised, running a hand over his snakes, who ducked underneath his palm and nuzzled it as it flew over them. The day it happened made both Deuce and Clawd feel too awkward to hang out with their own ghoulfriends over comforting Holt, but the fire elemental was doing well at picking himself back up, though today he seemed quiet all over again. When Holt's house – the first on the walk back from school – appeared, he was secretly a little glad. Finding words to comfort your male friends without seeming like you were coming onto them was difficult, and it didn't seem to be the right moment to be cracking jokes to help him get by.
"Well, see you guys later." Holt said, running forward a little to the gate, as if happy to be home to put him in isolation himself.
"Tomorrow, pick you up again, yeah?" Deuce asked. Holt looked at Deuce as if he'd warned Holt that a snowman might be under his bed – that look as 'that's weird'.
"Same as always for the past… how many years, right?" The fire elemental raised an eyebrow, his hand remaining on the gate but not yet unlocking it, "Seriously, when we turn sixteen do we forget these things? I don't remember that happenin' to Clawd?"
"You looked really out of it, man. Look, maybe you need to talk about things, and you don't want to, but we're here. We're all bro's, man."
"Cheers," Holt replied, now vanishing into his garden. Clawd and Deuce waved at him before continuing their own way home.
The walk from school took a good twenty-five minutes to walk, which often meant that sometimes the monsters didn't get to discuss everything in one go. By the time they reached Deuce's home, they'd only planned that, yes, a day out paintballing would be quite enjoyable, but then they'd need to find more people to make it really fun and, no worries, Clawdeen would definitely come and most likely fight a whole team on her own. Deuce was still chuckling as he waved goodbye to the werewolf, and tried to find the door handle with his other hand without looking, and failed. He turned around, and let himself into his home. As he waked in, any normie surprise was forgotten, and Holt's unusual mood returned to worry him. He had a spur of the moment feeling of calling Clawd back so they could discuss throwing something into his birthday celebrations that would appeal to the fire elemental and help him feel better, but decided against it right then. Unlike Clawd, who he had met since school started, Deuce and Holt had known each other as kids on the park playground. Holt and his father would be there, and Deuce would join the other child in whatever game was in and whatever imagination they could conjure while their parents sat and talked. Come to think of it, Deuce couldn't ever remember seeing Holt's mother in the past, and that he knew more about banking issues than he did about Holt's family. Clawd, on the other hand – Deuce knew each of his siblings from several litters, even though they hadn't known each other that long.
"Maybe all childhood friendships lack info'," Deuce mused as he kicked off his shoes into the shoe holders by the door. His glasses were halfway off his face when the sight of the additional set of shoes stopped him. A quick analysis as he pushed his glasses back up gave him some idea of the normie; blue shoes, too big for a girl, so it had to be a male normie. Sweet – he had a new brother.
"Mum?" Deuce called, hoping that pretending to call for his mother would draw the normie out of hiding instead, "Where are you?... I'm gonna cook dinner soon so I need to know what you wanna eat!" He walked down the hallway, glancing through the lounge area. The room was empty, and Deuce's eyes hovered on the pile of gifts there for a moment before a sound from upstairs snatched his attention away. He walked to the other side of the hallway and looked up the stairs, his arrival home welcomed by the new existence of a set of normie eyes upon him.
"Do you have to shout?" The normie asked him – well spoken, and soft. A little feminine maybe.
"Yeah. Where is everyone?"
"Your mother is out, still. My house, probably, settling things." Deuce didn't need to ask what things: adoption finalising.
"So, just you and me, Normie," The urge to have called him 'normie surprise' was too strong. School jokes be damned, "What do I call ya? And feed you?"
"Don't say that like you've just been given a new puppy," The normie tutted, "I'm Jackson. And-" he interrupted Deuce as he opened his mouth to reply "-I know your name, Deuce. So nevermind introductions."
"Well, that was easy."
"Wasn't it just? You mentioned dinner? I thought you'd be excited for your birthday presents, so I was really taking the time to catch up on school work."
"Homework, seriously?" Deuce laughed, then paused. Oh, he was. Without another word, the gorgon male turned away from the stairs towards the kitchen. At the open door, he paused and listened. Half of him expected the normie to follow him, maybe out of curiosity or hunger, but the footsteps carried on overhead and ended with a closing door. "Boring normie."
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A/N: A little short starter for this, but I wanted to get my ideas down before I could start the planning and development part. And I wanted to get this out there to see what the interest in it would be like, even though I'll continue this regardless. But yeah – it's a starting point, and to get some of my writing style out there so I can take on feedback before the next chapter. I feel like I could get so much more in here – but I want to save most of it for later chapters. Also, as it says, I don't know if this will take a turn for Deuce/Jackson, or if I'l keep it as a family story. Also, it's lunch time, and I'm hungry. Thank you for reading this chapter. Any questions and advice will be replied to, and feedback will be treasured.