Chapter Four

After a couple of days of breaking into fire, Jackson had little to no unsinged underwear. And there was no way he was taking his "Great Balls of Fire" (thanks Holt!) commando to school. Jackson sighed. Puberty was hard enough when he was just a normie. On the upside, spontaneous combustion dealt nicely with skin oil build-up.

No more acne, ever.

Weird how the transition was between human and monster. He'd suddenly had to stop thinking of as himself as "normal" and accept that everything was different now. He could almost forgive Holt for wanting out. It was so clawsome to be able to nap, and know that it was just a nap and not someone running amok in your body.

And to finally be able to enjoy loud music. The first couple of times he's heard the stereo start up, he'd run from the room with his hands clapped to his ears, but Holt had helped him get over his nervousness of loud noises. Jackson had the sneaking suspicion that it was partly to help make up for the experimentation, and partly to chase him yelling lyrics while Jackson huddled under tables freaking out. Still. Listening to a full orchestral concert in surround sound was worth it.

Not to mention finally being able to take up music recommendations from his friends. Who knew that Venus's alternative pop/punk stuff sounded so fangtastic?

School certainly got better for him as well. Jackson wasn't discriminated against for being human any more, cept by Manny. Manny seemed to think he was "faking fire powers". No amount of burnt eyebrows and defensive damage to his fur could convince him. Stubborn as a bull, that minotaur.

But the other students made up for it.

Now that he wasn't out of place, he found it easier to talk to people, and even made some more friends, which not everyone was thrilled about.

Jackson frowned. What was up with Deuce? Ever since the locker incident, he'd been giving him odd, lingering looks. Jackson himself wore glasses, and knew how easy it was to fake attention when wearing them. He'd deliberately forced eye contact a couple of times, trying to see what the go was, but Deuce had just looked away hurriedly, his cheeks flushing. Maybe he was sick?

"Hey Deuce," Jackson jogged to catch up with him between classes, "You okay? You've been kind of… off lately?"

Deuce willed himself not to blush again as he turned to talk to Jackson. It had been kind of hard to not stare at him this last week. Even when he was stuffing his face at the Creepateria, or tripping and dropping everything, Jackson was gore-geous.

He didn't know how he'd missed it.

Those eyes, the way the yellow flashed in them when Jackson was interested in class; or the way his long, tapering fingers delicately pushed his glasses back up to his eyes. It was all so understatedly cute and precious, Deuce thought.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just things, y'know?" he replied. Things indeed. Cleo was steadily grating away at his last nerve.

"Bad things?" asked Jackson, concerned. He looked adorable with his eyebrows wrinkled like that. Deuce wanted to stroke his face, soothing his features, maybe lean in for a kiss-

A snake tickled Deuce's ear – pay attention!

"Nah, just Cleo-things. Think I need a break or something." He said quickly. Made sense, didn't it? It was almost always Cleo-things wrong. Totally not thinking his friend was cute. Even with the relieved smile and warm eyes Jackson had on right now, he was not thinking that his friend was handsome. No.

Jackson brightened up considerably. A break? He could help!

"Well-ll. When are you free next?" He offered, "I need to go shopping, and I seriously need some help."

Deuce tried to ignore his quickening heart rate. This sounded like a date to him.

"Help with what?"

"Uh… Clothes. I keep um. Burning everything? And I don't want to ask Holt or Heath, they're kind of… not someone I'd ever want to see my underwear." Jackson laughed, thinking about Holt trying to talk him into buying a mankini.

Deuce was seriously not okay. Did that mean he had a chance? But Jackson probably didn't mean it that way at all. Still, the butterflies started up in his stomach, and his snakes were writhing happily.

"So you want to find flame-retardant jocks? Good idea. That way, you'll never completely be naked after a flame-on." He chuckled to show he was joking, trying to play it cool. "But you may also want to find other clothes as well. You could catch a cold, running around nearly nude."

Jackson flamed red, but only in the cheeks. His glasses cracked from the sudden heat.

"Ahh, damn. Still getting used to it. The flames are hard to keep in. At least something seems to like it," Jackson gestured at Deuce's hair, which was trying to bask in the afterglow. Deuce didn't even try to stop them any more, it happened so often. He had noticed however, that the snakes didn't bask in just anyone's fire, and they preferred Jackson's blushes to most other heat. He tried not to dissect that in his mind too much.

"Still, you have a point. Is there some kind of fire-warden Hot Topic that sells stuff I might like?" asked Jackson.

"Ha. Hot Topic. I see what you did there. But no, there's an actual clothes shop, and they make to order. They try to keep the prices low too, as most of their customers are teenagers. You may still want to ask your mum for your pocket money early though, as you can't run around free-ballin' till the new clothes come in." said Deuce.

"Eh. No one noticed when I "ran around free-ballin'" before, I doubt fire power would make them realize it now." replied Jackson flippantly, completely blank-faced. Deuce dropped his pencil case. What?!

"Bahaha! Got you! You should see your fa-" Jackson turned to Deuce grinning, then stopped. Deuce was blushing so furiously, Jackson could feel the heat from where he was. He hadn't realized he'd dropped his pencil case either. With his mouth hanging open, he looked more like a gargoyle than a gorgon.

"You sure you're okay Deuce? You don't have to come if you're not well" He reached up to take his temperature. What was the resting temp of gorgons again? Gosh, Deuce had such a nice face. Good bones. The medicinal touch turned into more of a lingering caress as Jackson ran his hand from his forehead to his cheek. Deuce jumped at his hand, as if he'd burned him.

"Ah, sorry! Did I sting you? Didn't think I was flaming." apologized Jackson awkwardly. If he wasn't before, he certainly was now. Weird. Why had he done that? Jackson looked at his hand, confused.

"Uh… No, no, that's okay. I was just… surprised to hear you say that?" Deuce spoke as if he was unsure of what he was saying. Jackson made a face at him. Least he wasn't the only one being weird.

"You'd think I had no sense of humor, the way you reacted then. Cut deep, man." said Jackson playfully.

"Ha, nah. I know that's not the case," Deuce looked into Jackson's face. Jackson could see the outline of his iris through his glasses. What colour were his eyes without the protective lenses?

"I need to check with Cleo, but should be free to go after school on Wednesday?" Deuce said.

"Hey? Go to what?" asked Jackson, suddenly puzzled. Wednesday?

Deuce laughed, "To go jock-shopping, genius! Where else?"

"Oh yeah. Okay, sure. I'm pretty much free everyday anyways. Thanks, Deuce" smiled Jackson.

Deuce smiled back.

The tardy bell suddenly broke them both into frowns, reminding them that school wasn't over, and that it was only Monday.