It's finally happened: I've fallen back in love with Skins again. And therefore, I'm popping into the fandom for a bit to post a set of ficlets. I've really only got four ideas, so that might be where it stops, but at least those four are pretty much already fully formed.

So off we go. Hope I haven't got anyone too horribly out of character (I don't remember that much about series three, so I've probably fucked something up). Enjoy. Review. Yeah.


If there was something to be said for Pandora, it was that she had an extremely trusting mum. Even after the incident at her seemingly innocent pajama party, her mother still left Pandora alone for extended hours every now and then, faithful that she wouldn't do anything stupid. Then again, it had probably been Panda's idea to play Hide-and-Go-Seek. But when you're strung out on whatever it was that Cook had in his pocket and bored out of your skull, you're up for anything.

One thing that couldn't be said for Pandora was that her house had a variety of creative places to hide. Effy had melted into the shadows before anyone realized she had even moved, and Naomi had wedged herself underneath the sofa right away, but that had left the rest of them rather stranded. After a moment of awkward hesitation, Cook headed upstairs with Thomas on his heels, Katie darted down a hall to their left, and Freddie had given up completely and run outside.

"Fourteen…" called Pandora, shaking with excitement. "Fifteen… Sixteen…"

Emily glanced around, panicked. Where the fuck had everybody gone? She made a mental list. Naomi was here, Katie was that way, Cook and Thomas were somewhere above them. Freddie was long gone and Effy was God-knows-where. J.J.? She'd lost him completely.

"Twenty-two, twenty-three..."

Frantically opening kitchen cabinets at random, Emily swore under her breath.

There really wasn't anywhere to hide in this house. No nooks or crannies, no secret passageways, no dumbwaiters nor cupboards-under-the-stairs. She looked over at Pandora again.

"Twenty-eighttt… twenty-ninnne… annnnd…"

With a last-second stroke of inspiration, Emily stuffed herself into a hall closet, fell against something alive, and clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming.

"Thirty! Ready-or-not-here-I-come!" Panda's footsteps pattered off down the hall.

"Emily?"

She squinted at the blurred shape whose hiding spot she'd intruded upon. "Is that you, J.J.?" she replied in a hoarse whisper.

"You've stepped on my foot," J.J. said, not in a tone of annoyance, but simply to inform.

Emily groaned. "Yeah, I'd noticed."

There was a brief moment of stuffy silence. Emily sat down on a plastic box and knocked over a tennis racket.

"Does anyone else find this slightly ironic?" asked J.J. to the closet at large.

"What are you getting at?" Emily arched a single eyebrow, but the effect of the gesture was somewhat diminished in the darkness.

She felt him shrug. "Here I am, with Emily Fitch..." he replied simply, "in the closet."

"Fuck, J.J." Emily glared at him, pushing herself backwards into a couple winter coats. "Don't you start on me now. I get enough of that, thanks."

"I'm just saying," he defended. "It's really quite an accurate metaphor, if one thinks about it."

"Can't we both just shut up?" With an affronted sniff, Emily leaned over and pressed her ear against the closet door. "We'll get found."

J.J. lowered his voice to a whisper, but otherwise ignored the warning. "And I'm sure you've noticed the lack of available female companionship in here. I'm the best you're going to get." Something rustled above her, and Emily found a floaty silk something in her face. "If I put on this lovely ladies' scarf and your eyes didn't adjust to the dark for some reason, it might not be too bad, but if we got far enough, I'm sure you'd be fairly disappointed."

She had to force herself not to giggle. "Seriously," she said, shaking her head stubbornly, "can we not get into this right now?"

"Of course," replied J.J. "It's never the right time to confront oneself, is it?"

Pandora ran by again, this time clearly with more companions.

"Oh, for fuck's sake." Emily crossed her arms. "Can't you just lay off? If anything, you owe me."

"Too right I do, Ems." He nodded, somewhat hesitantly. "How wrong I was to take advantage of one who so obviously wants another..."

"Oh, for Christ's-"

Emily's thought was cut short as someone barreled into the closet, slamming the door as quietly as possible. All three of them jumped in surprise.

"Fucking hell, who else is in here?" muttered the newest arrival in a somewhat disgruntled manner.

"Naomi?" Emily tried her best to make out the girl's face, moving her leg awkwardly out of the way to make room for a third person.

"Too much dust under the sofa," explained Naomi. "Couldn't breathe. Not that I think it's going to be much better in here."

J.J. sighed, staring at the two girls silhouetted in the darkness. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear."

Naomi's head snapped around. "Pardon?"

"Nothing," he replied hurriedly. "Don't mind me."


Next one'll be up sometime soon. Probably.

-TCATB