Boo-Boo
Alarm bells started ringing in Wing's head when he woke up at about three a.m. on Halloween morning to the sound of fabric dying a slow and painful death.
Groggily, he sat up, simultaneously rubbing his eyes and reaching for an elastic to tie back his hair. Otto grinned up at him from his cross-legged position on the floor, determinedly snipping at an amorphous lump of grey fabric.
"Good morning, Wing."
"I can't say I agree, but greetings to yourself, as well."
"Want to know what I'm doing?"
"I am not sure if that information would be beneficial to my sanity." Wing pushed back his blanket, stretching his legs in front of him and reaching for the area in front of his pointed feet to stretch his hamstrings. It was the first in a sequence of stretches Shelby had taught him, herself having learned it from gymnastics.
"I'll tell you!" another voice exclaimed gleefully from the doorway. The aforementioned blonde looked positively ecstatic, gripping a large, ambiguous sack of who-knows-what. Laura slipped through the doorway, grinning madly as well, though Shelby bore a slightly closer semblance to the average lunatic.
Cackling eagerly, the girls plopped down next to Otto, who waved joyfully. Wing merely looked on bewilderedly. "Is there a reason you—"
"Costumes!" Shelby semi-yelled, as not to wake their neighbors. "Costumes costumes COSTUMES!"
Wing was utterly nonplussed. "I—"
"It's Halloween, Wing," Laura said calmly. "And Shelby hasn't been able to get her hands on fabric material until last night, so now we really gotta hurry if we want these ready by Fright Fest tonight!"
Their "fabric material" turned out to be a massive pile of uniforms, in every color of the visible light spectrum.
Oh.
…
"Er, how exactly did you acquire those?"
Shelby smirked. "You don't want to know."
Without warning, Otto sprang up, dashing off to the bathroom. Shelby watched curiously as he returned, toilet paper stemming a gushing nosebleed. "Pray codtidue," he gasped, sitting back down.
Laura rolled her eyes disgustedly. "Wow, Otto, get that computer-brain of yours out of the gutter."
"Id'z judt a nodebleed!" Otto protested. "I'b been habing too mbuch—"
"Otto," Laura deadpanned. "Either your mind's dirty, or you've been picking your nose excessively. Decide."
Shelby snickered as Otto's mouth snapped shut. Laura looked unbearably smug.
"Anyways, even I can't do that many people in one night," said Shelby, riffling through the heap of doomed uniforms.
Otto darted off to get grab more toilet paper, smashing it up his nostrils. Laura grinned evilly. "Keep it up, Shel. It's funny to see him do that."
Wing watched in concern and increasing bafflement, though he had a nagging suspicion that he really didn't want to understand. Especially when Shelby responded.
"Naw, we've tainted Wing enough for one night. Morning. No, it's night, right?" She pondered it. "Whatevz."
Otto returned once more, resolutely attacking the gray, amorphous lump with a pair of pinking shears.
Laura turned to him. "You really shouldn't react so extremely at such a simple statement. Usually it takes a lot more to give someone a nosebleed induced by—"
Shelby cleared her throat. "Mixed company, Brand."
"Aye, that's true."
"Look it! Bunny!"
Three heads whipped towards the recently regressed albino, who was proudly holding up several pieces of gray and pink fabric that looked as if they'd been cut by a machine.
"Impressive geometrics, clean lines, and speed," Laura remarked. "But I see no bunny."
Otto rolled his eyes. "I've gotta sew it first. Then it'll be a bunny suit.
"If you say so, genius." Shelby shrugged, picking up an orange uniform and brandishing her blades.
"Wait a minute," Wing muttered. "Why are we doing this? I realize it's Halloween, but it's not as if we are going to be walking door to door, trick-or-treating, or whatever you call it…"
"Like, duh," Shelby answered, beginning to snip at the fabric. "Nero's too lame to allow something like trick-or-treating. However, luckily for us poor, bored Alphas, Franz and Nigel dearest are throwing a Halloween party down in Accommodation Block Seven's common area tonight, bless them. And everyone's coming in costume, but since Nero's hasn't exactly given this his stamp of approval, we can't just go and ask HIVEmind for scrap fabric, which is why we had to… er… acquire uniforms from other less-awesome accommodation blocks who aren't having a lovely party and therefore do not need their spare uniforms."
Wing really should not have been surprised after all this time with these semi-lunatics he called his friends, but he was.
Shell-shocked, really.
Although he retained his composure, of course. "Well, then. I… I have a few questions."
"Fire away!" Otto chirped, wrestling with a length of thread that refused to go into the needle eye.
"Come down to our level, though," said Shelby. "You're kinda freaking me out, looking like some stoic lord on that elevated bed. Or something."
Wing consented, sitting between Otto and Shelby and kindly showing the former how to thread a needle, at which the albino immediately asked him how he knew this kind of stuff. Ignoring both the question and the peals of giggles that ensued, he quickly asked, "So… Franz and Nigel are throwing this party?"
"It's really just Franz, actually," replied Laura. "Nigel's just… y'know. Being Nigel about it. A little nervous, but going along…"
Wing nodded. He understood. Then he voiced the question that'd been nagging him since the girls had displayed their incredible assortment of fabrics. "How did you get all those colors of fabrics?" After all, HIVE only had four streams and four colors.
"That would be thanks to Laura and me," Otto replied smugly. "We, the geniuses, synthesized red, yellow, and black dye, then used those primary bases to produce the rest of the spectrum."
"Indeed," said Wing. "And where did you accomplish this marvel of chemistry?"
"The lab. Where else? The kitchen? The toilet?" Otto looked faintly disgusted.
"You'd be surprised at how condoning Professor Pike is about all this," Shelby said. "You'd think if it weren't for Nero's hawk-eyes, Pike would be organizing the party himself."
"Hm."
There was a contemplative silence.
"So," Shelby suddenly exclaimed, startling everyone, including Otto, who'd almost managed to thread his needle.
"NOOOOOO! Damn it, Shelby, you made me lose it!"
To keep the [relative] peace, Wing took the needle from Otto's hopeless hands and calmly threaded it, receiving a relieved, "Thanks, Wing."
Then, ignoring their cries of protest, he left the room.
As he left, Shelby yelled, "Don't worry, Wing! I'll make sure to make you a costume, too!"
Xxx
Wing's next omen came a few hours later. He'd been sitting on an armchair in the accommodation block, browsing next week's Tactical lecture content. If he hadn't been the ultimate ninja, he would have jumped when Shelby materialized out of nowhere and tapped his shoulder.
But he was.
So he didn't.
"Wi-ing!~" Shelby sang, a suspicious-looking sac in hand. Wing felt a rush of dé ja vu at the sight.
"Yes?"
"Your presence is required upstairs, in your room!"
"What exactly will I be doing?"
"Something wonderful and very, very fun!"
Ah. Wing was pretty sure that description did not bode well when dealing with Shelby, but he relented.
After all, he was smart. And knew when to just give up right up front.
Thus, they found themselves in the entryway to the boys' room. Immediately, Shelby danced in, startling Otto and Laura (who had been squabbling over a spool of ribbon like an old married couple, not that Wing would ever say that aloud. The thought charmed him, though…). The two sprang away from each other, Otto thrusting the ribbon into Laura's arms, muttering, "Here, just take it."
Shelby lifted an eyebrow, but apparently she had better things to do than tease two geek-lover-in-denial-people (which surprised Wing, and made him rather nervous).
Dumping the contents of the bag onto the bed (insert more dé ja vu), procured a…
…a…
…a costume.
Shaped like a rather familiar cartoon character.
"Isn't…isn't that…"
"Yup!" Shelby squealed. "Pikachu!"
Apparently, he was to wear that for the duration of the day.
Even after he'd been assured through and through by all three of the others that everyone would be dressing up, many in waaay more ridiculous costumes, and that he'd look weird in a normal uniform, AND that Pikachu was the height of cool (the lattermost of which Wing had to agree with), he wasn't any less awkward about it until the others dressed up as well, and then only marginally so.
It wasn't until he very reluctantly left the relative privacy of the dorm room that night that he felt a little better...
…because, indeed, everyone else had dressed up.
Some rather ridiculously.
For example, giant space robots seemed to be "the thing".
Next was Megamind. Only a dozen or so of those were milling around far below the balcony he leaned over, possibly because the movie was over a year old. It was one of the few recent movies they were allowed to watch as a part of their studies, though.
Steeling himself, Wing headed towards the escalator, along with one sailor, one bunny, and one rather attractive pumpkin-fairy.
Xxx
Apples.
Bobbing in a large bucket of water that Wing was fairly sure contained a rather dangerous compound last week.
"Professor Pike said we could use it!" Franz (dressed as a purple M&M, which Wing was pretty sure didn't exist, even with his limited knowledge of such things) said happily, rapping his knuckles against the vessel. "Nigel and I disinfected it and everything."
Five eyes turned to the bespectacled boy, who nodded. "We cleaned it very thoroughly, so there's no need to worry."
"Then drink some of that water," Shelby said bluntly.
Nigel paled to the shade of his ghost costume, which he was currently carrying tucked under his arm. "Um, I'm not so sure…"
Otto prodded the water. "Looks safe. What do we do with it?"
Wing was similarly confused.
Laura gasped. "You don't about the epic bobbing-for-apples Halloween tradition?"
"Is it a HIVE thing?" Wing asked.
Shelby sighed. "Otto, Otto, Otto. You poor, hopeless fool. I didn't expect Wing to know, being Wing, but I had no idea you'd been living at the bottom of a garden pond too!"
Ignoring the boys' indignant protests, Laura explained the concept of snatching an apple out of a bucket of water with nothing other than one's mouth.
Wing frowned. "So you can not use your hands?"
Franz grinned. "Now, that would be too easy, ja?"
"Sounds easy enough as it is." Otto smirked, preparing to execute an apple-snatch.
"No, wait," said Nigel hurriedly. "We have to wait for the rest of the party to get here!"
The bucket of apples seemed to be the only game in sight. However, the middle of the room was cleared to look suspiciously like a dance floor, and the waterfall had started glowing various colors. Wing assumed there was some waterproof light-emitting object behind it. Also, the table of food in the middle would probably be sufficient entertainment.
And if anyone didn't want to dance, eat, or….bob for apples, they could stare at the dry-ice filled cauldron centerpiece.
"You have quite a set up," he remarked.
Nigel and Franz grinned.
"We have our ways of getting what we need," Franz said proudly.
Out of the blue, music started playing. Nigel glanced at his blackbox. "Oh, good, it's right on time. That's the signal for the party to start," he explained.
"Oooh, the "Monster Mash!" Shelby gushed. "Brings back so many memories of elementary school…"
Laura shook her head. "Lame."
Wing watched as Otto concentrated. Oh, no, he knew that look…
And the music abruptly changed to… to…
"Ah, much better," said Laura. "Thanks, Otto."
"I guessed randomly." He looked pleased nonetheless.
Shelby lifted an eyebrow. "You like 'Disturbia'?"
Laura shrugged.
"And, Otto, since when were you sucking up to Laura?"
Wing was rather amused at the identical tones of red gracing their faces.
Franz wrinkled his nose. "Ew, Shelby, that sounds so wrong…"
Ten minutes later, the party was in full swing.
Yippee, thought Wing.
Truth be told, he was enjoying himself quite a bit. It was a little disconcerting at first, when people started arriving, quickly inundating the place until there was nothing visible but costume parts and glitter-from-who-knows-where and dancing bodies piling onto the dance floor area…
But then, Shelby asked him to dance.
And with that, he was able to tune out everything: the pigs at the food table, Otto floundering around in the big water bucket, having been pushed in by an irate Laura (who knew a bunny's snide comments about not being able to "bob for fruit" would have such an effect), the screaming revelers and an exhausted, resigned looking Nero…
None of it really mattered, because Shelby was dragging him into the thick of the action.
"Dude, you need to learn how to party, 'kay? So don't even think about resisting."
He swallowed. "Actually, I'm not."
"Good."
"So… how do I do this?"
"Relax. Let go of yourself. Loose yourself in the music, in the beat, in the wonder of Lady Gaga…"
"Did the song just say 'monster in my bed'? I thought the custom was under?"
"You poor, hopeless fool. She means they're—"
"Please do not finish that sentence."
"So you DO get it?" She looked incredulous, but a sly smirk crossed face."
"Y…es."
"Good for you, Wing. Now, are you gonna just stand there, bobbing up and down to the beat?"
"Perhaps."
"WRONG. You're gonna…"
And then they danced.
It was nice.
Very nice.
Maybe it hadn't been such a boo-boo to be here, after all.
Happy Halloween!~
I'm not very happy with this fic, so don't hesitate to tell me if it was total, unworthy, fail-crap.
I hope you enjoyed it a little, at least…
As for the next shot, prepare for evil balloons.
;)pidge
