Yeah, yeah, it's up late, stop narking already, dammit…
I was sick, okay? Reduced to a quivering little ball of misery and bedsheets.
Drank twenty-three cups of Chamomile, English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Lemon Lift, and Chai, adding so much sugar I sometimes had to re-dilute it.
This shot's in Wing's point of view, because it's the most challenging (but fuuun!~)—for me, at least.
Enjoy.
Tea
She was already there, sitting on a chrome countertop and blowing a steaming mug, when he slipped in, closing the door quietly. The aroma of peppermint, her favorite tea, filled the entire kitchen.
"Hey, Wing." She grinned, taking a tiny sip.
"Hi, Shelby. You're up late." He glanced at the clock, which read a little before twelve. Almost two hours since curfew.
"So are you," Shelby remarked. "Ya here for tea, or here for me?"
Wing turned away to hide his blush. "Both," he replied simply, busying himself with searching through the cupboard for chamomile, disappointed at the apparent dearth. "There's no chamomile left."
"Really? 'm pretty sure I saw a box of it..." She set down her mug and hopped off the counter, joining Wing at the cupboard. "Hm…"
"That's fine. I'll settle for chai."
"You should try peppermint. It's really good with lots of honey."
"I think of that as more of a daytime tea."
"I don't."
"I'll settle for chai," Wing repeated.
Shelby shrugged. "Whatevz."
Wing found a mug, filled it with water, and stuck it in the microwave for three minutes before joining Shelby on the countertop. There used to be a time when he looked down upon sitting on non-chair furniture. That was at the beginning of these midnight escapades (which HIVEmind seemed to enjoy observing and therefore pleasantly condoned. Of course, hanging around Shelby had proved detrimental to his respectability in private settings.
Their legs brushed against each other slightly as he pushed himself onto the counter. He shifted around to get comfortable, then quickly realized that "comfortable' meant sitting a little too closely to Shelby than his autocratic heart rate permitted.
"You wanna try some?" Shelby offered.
"Hm? Oh." He saw the mug in her hand, held out to him. "No, thank you."
"It's really, really good."
"So you've told me the last twenty times."
"No, I didn't. I had jasmine last night."
"I meant the last three times you had mint."
"Peppermint," she corrected.
"Whatev." He imitated her mannerism, earning himself a small laugh that made him really happy. Heart speeding clichéd-ly and all.
The microwave beeped, and Wing slid off the counter to fetch his chai. He added some cream, stirring with a small spoon.
Shelby watched amusedly. "Oh, Wing. Won't even waste a wooden stir stick."
"I try to not dispose unnecessarily, but I don't blame you, being raised in such a wasteful country."
The smile slid right off of Shelby's face. "Excuse me. I'll have you know I donated twenty percent of my year's profit to Greenpeace when I was twelve. That's a heck of a lot of money we're talking about. I do care about this planet."
Wing was mildly surprised. "You donated that much to Greenpeace?"
"Yeah," she confirmed, still scowling.
"Wow." Gently setting his mug on the counter, he seated himself before turning to give her a slightly awed expression. Suddenly, she looked quite pleased.
"You still determined to beat me at the rock climbing finals tomorrow?" he asked.
"Duh." She smiled patronizingly. "I'm sorry, Wing, but I don't think you're agile enough on vertical terrain."
"We shall see."
There was a silence.
Then, Wing voiced something that had been nagging at his mind. "I wonder what Otto and Laura have been doing in the library lately. They've pretty much been there every free minute."
Shelby smirked. "Oh, I don't wonder."
"Laura has told you?"
"Course not."
"Then how do you know?"
"My intuition tells me," she replied breezily.
He raised his eyebrows. "Oh?"
"Bet you anything they've been snogging up a storm." She grinned at the effect this had on Wing, whose face had gone red at the notion. "Aw…don't be such a prude."
"But… they're not even together…"
"I shoulda said mentally. See, whenever they're together and they think no one's watching… dude, the looks they have on their faces… so they pretty much just sit there and hope…and wish… those poor, oblivious, hopeless souls."
"You seem to know everything about everyone's love life."
"I'm just observant."
"And assuming."
"Am not."
"You are."
"Am not!"
"I refuse to argue like a toddler."
Shelby rolled her eyes. "Though you have the experience of one. In some areas, at least…"
Wing scowled. "That's not being very fair."
"And why not?"
"The inexperience you're referring to is too frivolous for me. I prefer not to waste my time."
"Ah, so romance is a waste of time?"
"In most cases, yes." He took a sip.
Shelby went to rinse her finished mug, then, on second thought, refilled it and stuck it in the microwave.
"What will you have this time?" Wing asked curiously.
"Lemon Lift," she answered, hopping back onto the countertop and bumping into Wing's elbow, nearly causing him to spill. "Oops. Sorry."
"Be a bit less jumpy. I think you put in too much sugar."
"Honey, actually," she corrected, then reverted back to their previous topic. "So, a few minutes ago you said 'most cases.' What are the exceptions?"
"When they're meaningful. When the feeling is actually there."
"The feeling being…?"
"Love," Wing said simply, garnering a funny look from Shelby.
"Since when were you a mushy romantic?"
"I'm not the romantic here."
"Touché," she admitted.
There was a comfortable silence. Shelby watched the mug in the microwave go around and around. Wing finished his tea, then went to refill the mug, just as the microwave finished heating. He switched the mugs before going back to the cupboard.
"Gonna try some peppermint?"
"Hm… Passion fruit, I think."
"What do you have against peppermint?"
"I have nothing against peppermint. I'm just in the mood for passion fruit tea."
"'Kay, then..."
As with every other night that they snuck out of bed to go to the kitchen, Wing and Shelby talked a little, but mainly sat silently, sipping and enjoying each other's company. It was very pleasant. They'd often considered inviting Otto and Laura, but unspokenly agreed not to.
Wing did like it this way.
Although he'd never admit it to himself, much less anyone else, he really liked spending time with Shelby, whether they were sipping tea, grappler racing, or arguing over some insignificant insignificance… In the year they'd known each other, they'd become really close, capable of instantly anticipating each other's next moves and actions— and not just in combat. The only times he felt confused with her were when she was going on about some pop culture thing or clothes. Oh, and there was that one time when Shelby had almost throttled that pretty girl who smiled at him. Fortunately, Laura and Otto had managed to restrain the furious blonde.
"What's going on?" Wing asked Otto as Shelby stormed off for the millionth time that day.
Otto rolled his eyes. "You smiled back."
Things like that were very, very confusing.
"What's up, big guy?" Shelby cocked her head, bringing him back to the countertop world.
"Hm?"
"You're looking at me funny."
"Oh. Uh, nothing's… up."
"Kay. Hey, have you ever had a crush?"
The question was so sudden that Wing nearly spewed his passion fruit tea. "What?"
Shelby laughed. "A crush, Wing. Surely even you know what that is."
"Oh. Well, er…Yes, I have…" Wing fidgeted uncomfortably.
Shelby looked surprised, probably having not anticipated him to answer with the affirmative, seeing as most people instantly denied that kind of thing. Wing cursed himself for not having had the wits to do that, too.
"Really?"
"I just said so, didn't I?"
"I'm just surprised. So…" She grinned. "Who's the lucky someone?"
"If I had to tell someone, it most certainly wouldn't be you."
"Why?" Shelby's mind's gears almost visibly turned. No doubt she was jumping to a conclusion…
Wing couldn't let that happen. "If I told you, the whole school would know by morning."
Shelby snorted. "Not necessarily."
"But most likely."
Shelby looked thoughtful for a moment. Then, out of nowhere, her left hand set down the tea and slid off the counter to face him. Reaching up, she pressed two fingers against his neck, directly over his carotid artery.
"Wha-" Wing could feel practically blood rushing to color his face.
"Damn, Wing. Your pulse's going fast." Her face was scrunched in concentration, which made her even cuter in his opinion… He could feel the temperature in the room go up a few more degrees and struggled to suppress that thought.
"I believe that to be my normal pulse rate, thank you," he replied as calmly as he could, getting off the countertop.
"Whoa, your heart is racing!" Shelby exclaimed as she leaned in closer.
Then let go of my neck! Wing thought furiously. He reached up a hand to remove her fingers.
"I wonder…" Shelby muttered with an evil, evil smile. "What would happen if I were to…"
Daringly, she grabbed the back of his neck with her other hand.
His already pounding heart immediately double-timed at the close proximity, so traitorously loudly he could practically hear it. Her face was less than a few centimeters away.
Shelby smirked. "Just as I thought."
And then she closed the gap.
Three things flitted through Wing's mind:
?
!
!
A moment later, all he could perceive was a lemon-peppermint-y taste. Then, he gradually became aware of two things on the back of his neck pulling him downward. Finally, he was surprised (but not dismayed) to find his hands gripping her waist, then hesitantly sliding upwards to encircle her back, scared beyond belief that he'd do something wrong, exhilarated beyond thought that this was reallyreallyreally happening, dismayed that coherent grammar was simply being chucked out of his mind, but so happy…
And Shelby seemed very happy too, if the happy little noises and the happy way her hands were happily squeezing his uniform were anything to go by…
And Wing didn't mind at all that his ponytail was getting a little messy, because happy-sappy was flappy-ing around them.
Oh, dear. When had he started mentally regressing to the relative level of thought of a kindergarten girl? Ah, but he couldn't really bring himself to care right now…
-Creak-
The sound came from the doorway, somehow making its way through the hazy fog the surrounded the two.
The oral contact broke, as Shelby, gasping, pulled back.
Two heads turned to the doorway, where Franz was meekly peering in.
"Oh, please don't be minding me," he muttered. "Just here for a midnight snack…"
"No prob." Shelby smiled, taking hold of Wing's hand. "We'll continue elsewhere."
"Wouldn't it be awkward if she came back and found me sitting here?" Laura wondered aloud. She was perched on Otto's bed, critically analyzing his latest generation of self-programming software.
The white-haired Alpha snickered. "They won't be back for a looong time. They love their little teatime. Although how anyone could like tea is anyone's guess…"
Laura looked surprised. "You don't like it?"
"I prefer coffee. With a lot of sugar."
"And it doesn't matter one bit that you're underage…?"
"Nope."
"Just what the world needs. Otto Malpense on a caffeine high."
"And a sugar high."
"What do you think they're doing right now?"
Otto pretended to think about it.
"Bet you anything they're snogging up a storm."
I had to sneak around in the early morning to get this done. My computer time is very limited during the day.
You guys' reviews inspire me to do crazy things…
Story Alert for the next installation: Boo-boo, a Halloween crack- involving pagan rituals, staple-style sewing, and apples.
*cackle*