Basic Instinct

by CidGregor


Chapter Two: Almost Normal


"So here's the way I see it."

"Oh, this'll be good…"

"Ellen, in a devious plot to destroy all that is good and sexy about lesbians--"

"No, stop right there…"

"--combined the alluring and seductive powers of her Venus form with archaic and forbidden dark magic--"

"Tedd…"

"--to command control over Nanase's mind to make her think she's a lesbian--"

"Tedd!"

"--and then intentionally make out with my ugly cousin in front of me until the very idea of lesbians brings me nothing but disgust!"

"TEDD!"

"…what?"

"That's ridiculous and stupid."

"Explain!"

"Conspiracy theories aside, Ellen's too lazy to get out of BED half the time, much less concoct an evil scheme to ruin lesbians for you."

"I knew it--she got to you too!" Tedd Verres exclaimed, eyes flashing behind large glasses. "Her own brother!"

Elliot Dunkel rolled his eyes and then closed them, lounging on the beat-up couch in Tedd's basement. "Sure, Tedd. She got to me. You cracked the case. We're ALL out to get you in a fiendish cover-up to make lesbians totally un-sexy."

"Y'know, you could at least try to indulge me for a minute," Tedd grumbled from the computer desk across the room.

"Y'know, you could at least try to be supportive of their relationship," Elliot countered smoothly.

"…Bah."

"I'm serious. They have enough to worry about hiding it from Nanase's family. The least you could do is support her on this end of things."

"I know, I know, as long as they're happy, yadda yadda yadda…"

"Good."

"…I still like my conspiracy idea better."

"Oh, you're just riled up because Spring Break is over."

"That could not be farther from the truth," Tedd insisted.

"Sure it's not. You only griped about it all through class today."

"That was just blowing off steam! Being back probably has its upsides. …Probably. Besides…"

"Besides what?"

"…Ah, nothing."

"No, I'm curious now."

"…It's stupid, forget it."

"Tedd, c'mon, I won't laugh."

"…Yeah, yeah…" he gave in. "…Well not that you'd probably care that much anyway, but now that the break's over Grace will probably be a lot happier."

"…She will?"

Tedd smiled vaguely to himself. "I think she's addicted to school. She loves it. So much so that she got really down when they told her she had to stay at home for a week and do nothing."

Elliot didn't seem terribly surprised. "Ah, that does sound like Grace," he admitted. "So she was mopey and stuff for a whole week?"

"Mopey, depressed, unmotivated, less…"

"…less…?" Elliot probed.

"Less…" Tedd's mouth moved, but nothing was coming out, like he couldn't find the right word, and his face was turning slightly pink. Which gave Elliot a pretty good idea what he was talking about.

"Less affectionate?" Elliot offered.

"YES, thank you," Tedd sighed in relief. "Much better word."

"Better than what, exact--…actually never mind, I don't want to know…"

Tedd smirked. "Now who has a dirty mind? I was gonna say 'lovey-dovey.'"

"…Shut up."

"What were YOU thinking about?" Tedd teased. "Did a certain girlfriend leave bad thoughts in your brain?"

"N-no, of course not!" Elliot insisted. "We haven't done anything!"

"Mm. Bet that makes you miss those hot makeout sessions in broom closets with her double, then." His smirk grew. "Or is real Sarah doing that for you now too?"

Elliot turned crimson for a moment, and Tedd almost thought he might have hit a gold mine. But whether or not that was the case, Tedd never found out, for they were both distracted by the sound of the door at the top of the stairs opening and a familiar voice calling down. "Tedd? I'm home!"

"Grace!" Elliot said quickly, glad for the distraction. "Grace is here!"

"Oh, hi Elliot," they heard her say as she came bounding down the stairs, already shifting from her human self to her half-squirrel form.

Tedd grinned at Elliot for a moment longer, but let it go as he stood to greet his girlfriend with a warm hug. "Hey there. Good first day back?"

Grace stepped into it, hugging him back. "Yeah, mostly."

"Mostly?"

"Oh, Ellen was being a tease this morning, and then I crashed right into Justin, and then the weirdest thing happened…"

Elliot cleared his throat. "Well, I, ah, better get going. See you two later."

"Seeya," Tedd waved.

"Bye Elli--…" Grace suddenly trailed off as her eyes fell on him.

"…Grace? You okay?" Tedd asked her, but she didn't respond.

"…What, do I have something on my face?" Elliot chuckled.

"N-no! Nothing! I'm fine!" she suddenly blurted out.

"…Okay then," Elliot said with a raised eyebrow and an amused smile. "Later guys."

Tedd hadn't thought much of his girlfriend's odd reaction to Elliot initially, but as Elliot climbed up the stairs and Grace's eyes followed him the whole way, he started to wonder.

"Uhh…Grace?"

The girl jolted in his arms and whirled back to face him. "Yes! Hi!"

"Hi…" Tedd responded slowly. "…Why were you staring at Elliot?"

"O-oh, that…um, I just…smelled perfume on him!"

"…Perfume."

"Y-yeah, I know, weird, right?" Grace went on. "It's just barely there, I only smelled it once I got my squirrel senses back, but it's totally on him, it smells just like that one that Sarah always wears!"

"I think I would've noticed if he was wearing Sarah's perfume…"

"I-It's just barely there," Grace assured him. "Like maybe a little rubbed off on him--"

Instantly Tedd's eyes lit up and he grinned. "Oh, really…? Hah, I knew he left in a hurry for a reason! He was trying to avoid answering me!"

"H-heh, yeah, that's probably it," Grace agreed.

"Oooh, I've got him now," he said with a scheming smile, completely forgetting about the last few moments. "This is perfect tease material…with the right spin on it, it might even reach the level of blackmail! Eee-hehehe…"

"Oh, stop," Grace admonished with a smile, seemingly back to normal. "We both know you aren't gonna blackmail Elliot."

"…Oh, all right, I'll just tease him over it," Tedd admitted.

Grace giggled. "There's my big, soft, cuddly Teddy bear…"

Tedd smiled back at her, leaning closer. "You like that nickname way too much."

"Well it suits you," Grace said with another giggle, and leaned in closer as well. "Underneath all that dirty humor, you're really just a big huggable teddy bear…"

"Huggable is good…" Tedd agreed, and wrapped his arms around her lower back. "But it'd be even better if I was kissable too…"

"Aww, don't worry…" she echoed his tone, her own arms encircling his neck. "You're very kissable, too…"

Whatever distance remained between them was closed in the next moment as their embrace tightened and their lips met, each of them smiling against the other. They rocked slowly on the spot, holding tight to each other as they held the kiss, and it was a full minute before they parted, grinning like fools.

"I love the welcome home kiss," Tedd said.

"Me too," Grace sighed dreamily. "Much happier than the morning goodbye kiss…"

"Not as good as the cuddling-you-goodnight kiss, though," Tedd teased. "That's a good one…"

"Yeah…but the just-woke-up good-morning kiss is my favorite…"

"Ooh, yeah, me too…"

They shared a quiet giggle over their silly kiss names and simply smiled at each other for a bit, and Tedd took the opportunity to admire the girl in his arms and thank whatever divine power had led her to his doorstep that fateful night. It was a wonder to him that he'd ever managed to go through life without her before then. That night changed his life in so many ways. He'd become more confident in himself, he took better care of himself, he was even less bothered by the teasing of bullies at school. His life as a whole was brighter ever since she'd become a part of it. Like she'd been custom-made by God, or evolution, or whatever, just for him. She was a goddess. A goddess in squirrel-girl form.

Grace finally seemed to notice his gaze, and blushed a little. "Whaaat?"

"Just looking at the most beautiful girl in the world, is all."

"Aww, I'm not all that great…"

"Oh, but you are. I really don't say it enough, honestly…"

"Tedd, you say it every day…"

"Which is not nearly enough. Better make it at least twice a day."

"Aww, now you're just fishing for another kiss," Grace giggling through her blush.

"Maybe I am. You gonna bite?"

She flashed her teeth in response and tackled him to the couch, kissing him again.

"I'll take that as a yes," Tedd murmured back. He relaxed into it, the rest of the world temporarily forgotten, and as usual he was more than content to lie there and kiss her for a while, and maybe cuddle with her for a quick nap as they often did.

Something about this kiss, though, seemed extra sweet. There was something more to it this time…he wasn't exactly sure what it was, but he definitely liked it. Maybe it was how long she was holding it, or how her lips felt more soft and full than usual, or how she was putting a little extra passion into an otherwise common kiss…or maybe it was all of the above. Whatever it was, he was grinning ear to ear when they finally parted and she smiled warmly at him.

"What all was that for?" Tedd asked teasingly.

Grace nuzzled her cheek against his. "I'm just…really glad to see you after what happened today…"

"Oh yeah, you said something weird happened…?"

Grace opened her mouth to say something, but seemed to decide against it and shook her head. "It's nothing, really," she assured him. "The point is, it made me…really glad to see you…"

"You sure everything's okay?" Tedd pressed anyway, if only out of concern.

"Everything's fine," she assured him. "Promise."

Tedd was still a little curious, but he let it go as she curled up against his chest and closed her eyes, and there was really nothing else he could do but wrap his arms tighter around her and cuddle her back, smiling as they both settled in for a nap.

"Love you," Tedd whispered.

"Love you too," she cooed back, and drifted away…


She was kissing him all over his face, her hands running freely under his shirt as he held her pressed against the wall, stroking across his chest and around to his back. His own kisses wandered from her lips to her cheeks and down her neck while his fingers danced over her shoulders, caressing them. It was sheer bliss. She could barely stand it. She had to have more.

She spun him around and stumbled backward, falling right onto the bed. She rolled over with him, kissing him fiercely, until she was laying on top of him and her hands were feverishly working to open the buttons down his shirt until she lost her patience and ripped the last few open in a fit of passion. Time seemed to shift; now little more than underwear remained between their bodies, and she couldn't stop kissing him, couldn't stop touching him, caressing his body, sighing her joyous approval as he did the same to her…she couldn't wait another minute, she had to have him, she had to—

"Ohh, Tedd!"

Her eyes bolted open with a gasp, her whole body jerking and throwing itself clean off the couch to land unglamorously on the cold basement floor, extra chilling against her flushed body. She breathed heavily, rapidly, trying to calm her heart as it pounded in her chest at insane speeds, and almost gave herself a heart attack when she glanced at her former seat and saw Tedd lying there, but calmed again as she realized he was fast asleep, and thankfully, fully clothed.

A dream…it was just a dream…

"Grace, Tedd, dinner!" she suddenly heard Tedd's father call down the stairs.

"C-coming!" she called back shakily, and as she watched Tedd start to stretch and yawn, she scrambled away from him, up the stairs and into the bathroom to splash cold water on her face and try to slow her racing pulse. But it did nothing to make her forget the dream unlike any she had ever dreamed before.

What…what's wrong with me…?


Comments and critiques welcomed and appreciated, as always.