"Hm-Mm..." The red-haired nineteen year old rolled over onto her back and stretched, her arms reaching up over her head and settling over the arm of the couch she currently occupied. "Augh-" She opened her mouth wide and yawned, her eyes watering a little as she squeezed them shut, then reopened and wiped them with her hands. "Jeez, I sleep until two and I'm still tired... Maybe I'm getting too much sleep..."
Vicky turned back over onto her side and reached over to grab her phone, which sat on the coffee table in front of the couch. Scooping it up into her hand, she clicked it on, the device indicating the time as two minutes to three. "Hm. Twerp'll be here any minute now..."
As if on cue, the lock on the front door let out a loud click, and the door swung open, the very same 'Twerp' Vicky had been referring to stepping through the doorway and shutting said door behind him.
The pink-eyed teenager turned over again, this time onto her front; and peeked over the arm of the couch at her charge, who seemingly hadn't yet noticed her. It occurred to her that, with his attention focused on the slender, pink stick he was currently munching on, she had the perfect opportunity to surprise the brunet; something that she'd come to realize was still quite fun, even if he no longer feared her quite as much as he used to.
Vicky watched the boy as he turned towards her, and thought for a second that she'd been discovered, only to notice that he had yet to look up, and was instead focusing his attention on a pink, rectangular box gripped in his right hand, which she could only assume contained more of the pink sticks like the one the he was munching on. "Yeah, you really need more sweets, Twerp." She mused to herself sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
As her target moved ever closer, still evidently oblivious to her presence, Vicky pressed her body flat against the couch cushions while tightly gripping the arm of the sofa, readying herself to spring forward at her charge and surprise him. She mentally likened herself to a cat sizing up its prey, her excitement growing with each passing second as Timmy drew closer and closer, until he was finally within pouncing distance. "Just a little more and..." "Aha!" The red-head sprang up and at the thirteen year old, her fingers curling around and gripping his shoulders to steady herself as she threw most of the upper half of her body over the arm of the couch.
"Pocky?" The younger of the two teens questioned as he held up one of the strawberry-frosted sticks, the tip of which settled on Vicky's lower lip as she gaped at him, her face frozen in an exclamatory expression.
The girl's pink eyes slowly drifted down in confusion to the sweet-smelling stick on her lips, before settling back on Timmy, this time with visible annoyance as she scowled at the grinning boy and bit down on the tip of the slender, pink treat. "Twerp." She mumbled out, chewing on the bit of pleasant-tasting... Whatever it was. "Do you have to play along like that and get my hopes up?" She released his shoulders, dropping back into her original spot on the couch.
"No." The teen replied with a shrug, waving the Pocky stick his babysitter had bitten back and forth in his hand. "But then, do you have to get your fun out of scaring me half to death when I come home?"
"...Touche." Vicky relented hesitantly, before snatching the offered treat out of her charge's hand. "So what is this, anyway?" She took another, larger bite, cutting the length of the stick down by half.
"Pocky! They're cookie sticks covered in frosting; these ones are strawberry!" Timmy happily showed off the box of Pocky in his hand, pointing out the name of the treats, printed on the front of it in big blue letters.
"Mm-hm?" The older teen's left hand darted out, quickly snatching the box out of her charge's to look it over as she held the Pocky stick she was eating with her right. "And just how many of these have you had?" She looked into the box, noticing it was already half empty.
"Just... A few..." Timmy replied evasively, breaking eye contact with his babysitter.
"Pfft. Yeah, a few dozen." Vicky shook her head, handing the box of sweets back to her charge. "Whatever, I'm only watching you 'til six anyway, your parents can deal with you bouncing off the walls from your sugar high."
"I haven't had that many..." Timmy took the box back, this time looking into it himself. "Besides, you'd have to have a few boxes to get a sugar high from these... Probably." Upon finishing, he vaulted over the arm of the couch, plopping down next to his babysitter with a muffled thump. "Ever since Tootie and I shared a box over at your house last Friday, I can't help but get some from the school store every day." He took another one out, holding it between his thumb and index finger as he nibbled on the end.
"Tootie. Of course." Vicky rolled her eyes. "She only just got rid of her braces, and now she's gonna give herself cavities with this crap..." The red-head finished the rest of her pocky, willing to admit(to herself, anyway) that they would make a pretty pleasant snack. "Since you insist on hanging out with me..." She reclined against the cushions, throwing her left arm over the back of couch, behind Timmy; then crossed her right leg over her left. "Y'mind sharing those?"
"Aha! I knew you'd like them!" The thirteen year old smiled triumphantly, handing his babysitter another of the strawberry-frosted sticks.
"Wow, thanks." The older teen remarked sarcastically as she took the offered pocky stick and bit off the first inch and a half.
"What?" Timmy looked up at the girl, one eyebrow raised in confusion.
"You've already eaten half the box, that's what! Is it too much to ask that you give me more than one? I thought I was your favorite babysitter?" Vicky shot the teen a sly, knowing grin as she finished.
"Ugh..." Timmy groaned loudly and dramatically, hanging his head in a combination of exasperation and embarrassment. "I say you're my favorite babysitter one time, and you never let me live it down... Don't forget that me saying that convinced my parents to let you stay on as my babysitter, Vicky..." He reached into the box to grab another pocky stick for the girl, only to take pause midway through the act, an interesting and familiar idea popping into his head. "Hey... Since you've never heard of pocky, you probably haven't heard of the Pocky Game, right?" A wide grin formed on the teen's face as he glanced up and to his right at the older girl.
"No..." Vicky replied slowly, wondering why her charge was suddenly grinning at her.
"Wanna play?" The teen oriented his body more toward the red-head's and shook the box in his hand, making its contents rattle.
Vicky's eyes slowly drifted over to the TV, currently showing an advertisement for some kind of dust mop; then back over to Timmy's bright blue orbs, an action she repeated a few times before at last settling her gaze on her charge. She opened her mouth, seemingly to speak, only to take another bite of her pocky. "Not like I've got anything else going on right now. Show just ended, and if the Twerp leaves, I'll probably just end up dozing off..." She mused to herself as she finished off the last of her pocky stick. "Sure... Suppose I can spare a few minutes..."
"Really?! G-Great!" Timmy nearly shook with excitement, having been under the impression that Vicky wouldn't be interested in the game, and would simply send him up to his room. "O-Okay, so-Um... First things first, you gotta sit like this- Like me." The teen oriented his body completely towards Vicky, then bent his legs at the knee and inward to sit cross-legged.
"'Kay..." The nineteen year old quirked an eyebrow up at the boy in confusion, but nevertheless kicked off her sneakers and swung her legs up onto the couch to mimic Timmy's posture. "So... What's next?"
"Next, I take one..." The brunet plucked one of the pocky sticks out of the box and held it between his thumb and index finger. "And you take one." He offered her the box, bidding that she take one of the strawberry-frosted sticks like he had.
"..." Vicky wordlessly took out another of the sugary sticks and looked at it, then turned her attention to Timmy, the corners of her mouth drooping slightly into a confused frown. In truth, she felt a little embarrassed by the whole situation, as to her, it just seemed... Bizarre for the Twerp to be teaching her anything. He was younger than her, and in most regards significantly less experienced than her, yet here he was, patiently explaining this 'Pocky Game' to her like it was the most normal and natural thing in the world.
"And then, you put one end in your mouth-doesn't really matter which-and at the count of three, we both try to eat our pocky without using our hands. Whoever gets to the end of theirs first is the winner." The thirteen year old nodded to himself, feeling like he'd parroted Tootie's explanation of the game fairly well, even if said explanation hadn't quite been one-hundred percent true, something she'd only admitted after the two of them had kissed a few more times.
"...Are you just making this up?" The red-head queried with a slight, pouting frown as she held her pocky stick horizontally between her left and right index fingers. "This kinda sounds like bull-"
"I-I'm not making it up!" Timmy exclaimed defensively, leaning a bit closer to his babysitter as he felt a bit of warmth beginning to bloom across his cheeks. "This... This is just how the game was taught to me!" Okay, so technically he wasn't lying, this was how the game was taught to him the first time, but he knew full well that he was merely repeating the version that Tootie had explained to him before telling him the real version of the game. "Where was I...? Oh, so you can't use your hands, only your lips and tongue to pull the pocky into your mouth, and, uh... You gotta... Close your eyes too-"
The red-head raised both eyebrows at this as she shot her charge a flat look, her eyes half-lidded as if to ask: 'Really?'
"H-Hey, don't look at me..." The teen shrugged and glanced away somewhat nervously, breaking eye contact with the older teen. "Everything I'm telling you comes straight from the mouth of an 'expert'."
"This expert sounds like they've got too much time on their hands..." Vicky muttered out, her eyes fixated on the pink stick held between her fingers. "Any other ridiculous rules I should know, or does that cover everything?"
"Ahm... Pretty sure that's everything..." Timmy brought his own pocky stick up to his mouth and pinched it between his lips. "Ready?" He asked, barely able to keep his grip on the treat as he cracked the left side of his mouth open to speak.
"Mm." The pink-eyed girl hummed out a confirmatory noise as she slowly rolled her own pocky stick back and forth between her lips, her arms crossed as she stared at Timmy, waiting for him to give her the signal to begin.
"Gotta close your eyes, Vicky." The teen across from her remarked sternly, though he still managed to shoot her a knowing smirk.
"Mngh..." Vicky let out a low growl; her eyes drifting over to look at the TV again. "If you even think about messing with me because my eyes are closed, I'm knocking those giant front teeth right outta your mouth, got it Twerp?" She refocused on him, her eyes narrowed threateningly.
"Ehehe... Wh-Who's messing around? I just wanna play a game to... To pass the time, that's all." The brunet-haired teen tapped his fingers together nervously, his babysitter's threat draining a good bit of his confidence from him. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea... But then again..." He looked Vicky up and down, now that her eyes were closed. She was still frowning, still scowling a bit, really; but it was hard to deny that the red-haired nineteen year old was actually quite attractive. Kissing her had certainly never crossed his mind when he'd first met her, nor when he was ten, but as his body started to go through puberty, he started to notice that yes, Vicky was pretty easy on the eyes.
Now though, now he'd experienced a real kiss with her younger sister, one that, while unexpected, hadn't been forced... And that one kiss was quickly followed by several more, each leaving a wonderful, pleasant tingling sensation on his lips, simple and chaste as they were. Yet that sensation only made him wonder: Did he get that feeling because he was kissing Tootie, or did the act of kissing in general leave that tingling on his lips? The question by and large would have eventually been forgotten, were it not for the presence of the red-head now not-so-patiently sitting in front of him. The brunet realized, upon walking through the door as he munched on his pocky stick, that an opportunity had afforded itself to him, and with Vicky having no idea what the Pocky Game was, he had the perfect chance to test his theory, so long as he was willing to risk his front teeth in the process.
"How else am I supposed to find out, anyway? Tootie made it pretty clear that she definitely doesn't want me playing this with Trixie... Although, she didn't mention anyone else..." Timmy mentally reasoned to himself, remembering what his bespectacled friend had told him shortly before he left her house the week before. "It's not like she said anything about playing this with Vicky, so... What's the harm? ...Besides maybe getting my teeth knocked out."
"You gonna give me some kind of signal or what? Silent treatment's getting a little old, Twerp." Vicky spoke up, her tone clearly advertising her growing annoyance as she began to drum the fingers of her right hand on her left arm.
"Sorry, sorry. Got lost in thought for a moment, that's all..." The teen put his hands up defensively, only to let them fall back down into his lap shortly afterward as he noticed that his babysitter's eyes were still shut. "Okay, so... Um, you ready?"
"Today, Timmy." The girl snapped impatiently, feeling a vein in her forehead twitch ever so slightly.
"Alright, jeez... Just making sure..." The brunet mumbled to himself, allowing his own eyelids to droop closed, for the moment. "Okay, three... Two... One... Go!" He exclaimed, quickly bringing his hand up to grab his pocky stick so it didn't fall out of his mouth, and upon hearing the muffled crunching of his babysitter's pocky, he slowly peeked one eye open, following it with the other a second later.
"Mngh..." The red-head growled, the sound once again coming out muffled and more like a hum thanks to her mouth being clamped down on the sugary treat. "Mhis is dumb." She mumbled out in protest, nearly losing her grip on her pocky.
"You can say that again..." Timmy thought to himself as he watched the pink stick pinched between the girl's lips slowly disappear into her mouth. Her slow, inexperienced pace emboldened the thirteen year old somewhat, and as she continued to struggle, he couldn't help but stifle a giggle at her now concentrated expression, the grip of her fingers on her arms tightening as she forced her hands to stay where they were. "For someone who thinks I'm making this all up, she sure seems to be taking it pretty seriously..." Moving quickly, yet cautiously, he set his own pocky down on the coffee table, along with the box containing the rest of them, then quietly uncrossed his legs and shifted onto his hands and knees. "Urgh... This is... Probably the worst idea I've ever had, but..." He felt an odd tingle run up his spine as his face flushed with heat and his arms bristled with goosebumps. No matter how much of a bad idea his brain told him this was, he couldn't help but feel excited by it, the thought of danger somehow making him want to go through with it that much more.
For a moment, the teen stopped, his nerves getting the better of him as he hung his head and exhaled a silent, but still shaky, breath; then looked back up at the older girl, his eyes falling on her pocky stick, now at about half of its original length. He crept ever closer, nearly hovering over the girl as he planted each of his hands, palms down, on either side of the red-head, pressing them against the couch cushion she occupied, leaving his face dangerously close to Vicky's, with little more than a few centimeters of space between them.
Vicky, meanwhile; remained totally oblivious to her Twerp's plan, her attention focused entirely on eating her pocky faster than he'd be able to eat his. "This isn't so hard once you get the hang of it, even if it does seem stupid..." She thought to herself, pulling the last inch or so of the strawberry-frosted stick into her mouth with her tongue and eating it. "Ha! Done, Twerp! I wi-Mm?" The nineteen year old found her declaration of victory prematurely cut off as something soft and warm pressed against her lips.
For a few seconds, she was completely dumbstruck by the tingling sensation on her lips, and the gentle, slightly hot breath ghosting over her upper lip, but before she could even begin to process what was going on, the moment came to an end, and the pair of lips that captured hers pulled away, leaving behind a quickly fading warmth in their place.
"Er... Vicky?" Timmy spoke up in a low tone of voice, causing his babysitter's eyes to shoot open, her pink orbs locking on him.
"You-!" The older teen blurted out, then leaned back and nearly fell over, only to catch herself and plant both hands behind her, against the couch cushion. "Did you just-?!" Again, she caught herself, this time casting her gaze down at her lap as her eyes darted around in her head, her brain trying to process what had just happened. "Y-You k-kissed me!" Vicky's cheeks adopted a bright red hue, her mouth forming an odd, confused little zigzag as she stared at her charge, who was now blushing nearly as hard as she felt like she was. It occurred to her that the brief sentences she was spouting did little more than state the obvious, but what else could she say? She was at an absolute, complete loss for words! Her little threat to knock the brunet's teeth out should he try anything weird hadn't been serious in the least, as she never expected him to actually do anything, nevermind kiss her! "Wha- I... You! And... That..." She brought her right hand up and gingerly touched her fingers to her lips. "E-Explain!" She glared daggers at the boy, suddenly feeling a lot more willing to follow through with her earlier threat.
"Well~..." The teen began, rolling his eyes evasively as the corners of his mouth slowly curled up into a grin. "I kissed you-"
"I know what you did!" The red-head practically screeched, her fury only intensifying as the thirteen year old across from her simply smiled wider and giggled at her outburst. "Wh-Why did you k-kiss me?!"
"Because I-..." Timmy started to respond in a confident tone, but soon trailed off and fell silent. He'd intended to say 'Because I wanted to see if kissing you felt different from kissing Tootie', but somehow, he got the feeling deep down that that wasn't the best idea. "...Er... Ehehe... B-Because you're... Pretty?" He offered rather sheepishly, still shooting the girl a dumb grin as he brought his hand up to rub the back of his head in a self-conscious manner.
"...You... You think I'm... Pretty?" The red-head allowed her gaze to drop down and to her right, her eyes again searching the floor, coffee table, and even her lap for answers that simply weren't there; her pink orbs darting about as if following the movements of some unseen housefly. "And..." The nineteen year old titled her head down toward her lap a bit more, her fiery red locks falling down and forming a curtain that obscured the brunet's view of her eyes. "And you think... That's a good enough reason?!" Vicky whipped her head back up to face Timmy, her pink eyes blazing with anger.
"It... Seemed like it at the time...?" The teen answered in a nervous, almost bemused-sounding tone, just in time to catch one of the couch's throw pillows to the side of the head. "Mmph!" Timmy let out a muffled cry of surprise as the pillow connected at a speed that he was positive would've knocked his head right off his shoulders, were it not just a soft, fluffy pillow.
"Rrgh!" The red-haired teen growled out angrily and rose to her feet, then spun around on her heel and made for the kitchen. "You perverted... Cheeky... Little... Twerp!" Vicky yelled as she stomped out of the living room, leaving Timmy alone on the couch as he slowly sat back up and shook his head wearily.
"Agh..." The teen rubbed his cheek, then checked his front teeth, breathing out a sigh of relief as he realized they were still right where they were supposed to be. "I thought girls were supposed to like it when you called them pretty..."
A/N: Oh Timmy, you've much to learn when it comes to women...
