Foxfang: I can already imagine the fun they're going to have.
Kiba: Who?
Foxfang: Jeff and Lockup.
Kiba: Yeah, but its like cats and dogs with them.
Foxfang: Exactly.
Kiba: I'll get the popcorn!
Saws are too blunt. Knives aren't strong enough. There isn't a lock. Not yet desperate enough to decapitate hand, but I'll come back to that later. He felt another tug on his left hand. "What!" he snapped. "Calm down, Jeff. I was just getting a stupid blanket. The floor is freezing." Lockup said. She was standing up, reaching for a blanket hanging from the back of a chair. She grabbed it, and sat back down with it wrapped around her shoulders.
They had actually been doing this for the second hour of imprisonment. Sitting there, not so much as acknowledging the other's existence as they tried to think of ideas. Key word: tried. "Do we have a blowtorch?" Jeff asked suddenly. "Don't even think about it. Anything that includes fire around you is by far one of the worst ideas I've ever heard." she replied.
So they remained sitting. They reached the third hour, and Jeff's stomach started growling. Repeatedly. "Can't you make it be quiet?" she said. "Oh yeah, sure. Hey stomach, mind toning it down a bit? You're starting to bother the princess." he said sarcastically. 'That's the last straw.' Lockup thought.
She narrowed her eyes dangerously. Jeff's own eyes flittered with panic for a brief moment, but quickly went back to their usually arrogance. "Oh, I think I hit a sore spot there. What's the matter? Nobody ever call you princess before?" he said harshly. And with that, Lockup shed the blanket and launched herself at Jeff.
They started tussling, wrestling, etc. The handcuffs hindered them a bit, but nothing could deteriorate the pent up hatred they had for each other. They rolled around on the floor, scratching, biting, pulling hair. Lockup felt her teeth sink into flesh that was not her own. She heard Jeff yell, and bit down harder. Jeff kicked her in the stomach and she was forced to release her hold.
Lockup threw a wild swing with her left hand balled into a fist, and felt it connect with what she hoped was Jeff's stupid face. Jeff retaliated by shoving her head into the floor. It resounded with a sickening thud. Now they were thrashing from side to side, practically clawing each other's flesh straight from the bone.
They had a sort of honor code about this fight. Lockup wouldn't use her powers, and Jeff wouldn't use a knife. It made the fight less deadly, but it did make it more bruising. Lockup stopped her thrashing when she was sitting on Jeff's stomach.
She then proceeded to start banging his head against the floor, time and time again. Jeff knocked her off, and they stood up. Now they were using uppercuts and roundhouse kicks. Lockup felt Jeff weakening, but so was she. If only she could get a clear shot at his neck. She knew of the perfect pressure point she could jab to win.
They were in close combat, unable to separate because of the metal that bound them. Not yet, not yet, not yet, NOW! And, a miss. Instead, her hand merely whooshed past his head as he quickly turned around with enough force to send poor Lockup sprawling to the floor. She kicked his legs out from under him. He too, was now flat on his back.
They didn't get up. Their energy was gone. The fire that fueled the fight was long gone at this point in time. They just sprawled out where they fell, neither making any fighting advances towards the other. A stomach growled. This time it was Lockup's. Jeff smirked. "Shut up." she said. "I didn't say anything!" Jeff protested. "You don't have to." she said.
And once again the deafening silence returned. Jeff's wounds started stinging a few minutes later. He argued with Lockup a bit, then they went to go get the first aid kit. "We use this thing way too much. I'm surprised Slender can keep up with us." Lockup said. She dabbed some more antiseptic on her cuts.
She winced a bit, then passed the gauze to Jeff. He just grumbled as he wrapped it around some deep gashes on his arm. "Do you sharpen your teeth on rocks or something?" he asked her. "Do you ever stop complaining?" she retorted. "I grumble when I'm hungry, okay." he snapped back.
They finished up and stuck the first aid kit back in its place. Jeff dragged Lockup into the kitchen. The clock now read 4:52 a.m.. The two of them began fixing something simple. Pancakes. That shouldn't be too hard for two terrible cooks to make right? Wrong. Slenderman walked into the kitchen at six o'clock and he found a war zone awaiting him.
Flour was everywhere. Eggs lay broken on the ground. Smoke was coming from the stove. He forced his way over there. He picked up the pan with something burning in it and shoved it under a stream of water in the sink. He then turned off the stove. He took a second look around. At the table were Jeff and Lockup eating burnt toast.
During the hour before Slenderman walked in, this is what happened: "You do know how to make pancakes, right?" Lockup said. "Of course I do. I'm not an idiot. You mix a bit of flour and water here, toss in a few eggs, and Tada! Pancakes!" Jeff said as he secured a white apron and chef's hat around his waist.
They started gathering the ingredients. Lockup got the eggs and measuring cups, and Jeff got the milk and flour. Loaded down with pancake stuff, they went over to the counter. Jeff practically slammed the flour down, and a fluffy white cloud expanded and filled the room. They started coughing. "See. Cough. Cough. Nothing to it." Jeff said. Lockup just rolled her eyes as she dumped several cups of flour into the bowl.
Jeff tossed in a few eggs. Literally tossed. With the eggs still inside the shells. And dropped two of them. "You've never cooked pancakes before in your life, have you?" Lockup said as she started picking out the eggshell bits. "Nope." he said. She sighed. This might take a while. It did take a while, and a lot of spilt batter, but they somehow managed to make a lumpy batter, and Jeff reached into the cabinet above them to get a pan.
Lockup poured a formidable size pancake glob into the pan and turned on the stove. It started to bubble, and she retrieved a spatula from the drawer beside her. She went to flip it over, and nothing. The pancake might have well have been glued to the pan. She tried harder, and the pancake started shifting. Suddenly, it was flying up into the air.
It didn't come back down. It stayed stuck to the ceiling. This time around, Jeff tried. Several times. And several pancakes wound up on the ceiling. There was now only enough batter for one more pancake. Lockup tried once more. This time the pancake didn't fly up and hit the ceiling. It didn't come out of the pan either. It just sat there like a rock.
And it probably tasted like one too. Lockup sighed in defeat. She looked over at Jeff. "Where's the toaster? Please tell me even you can make toast." "Of course I can." he said. He took her over to the other side of the kitchen, where it was less white from flour, and drug out a toaster from the bottom cabinet. He placed it on the left side, and Lockup got the bread from the bread box. They put a slice of toast in on each side, and pushed the little handle down.
They waited. And waited. And waited. She mentally smack Jeff in the back of the head, then did it in real life. "OW! What was that for?" he said. "You didn't plug it in." she said. She pushed the plug in into the wall, and the coils of wire in the toaster could be seen turning red. Then the waiting game began again. They watched the toast turning from a fluffy white to a light brown, waiting for it to pop up.
The light brown turned darker, and so did their faces. The toast just wasn't popping up. It was starting to turn black at the edges, and the toast only stood there. "I think the toaster's broken again." Jeff mumbled under his breath. Lockup just admitted the fact that if she didn't intervene soon, the toast would be charcoal. She stared at the toaster, and the toast finally jumped up with a satisfying pop.
"Aha! Told you I could make toast!" Jeff said victoriously. Lockup decided that she wouldn't tell him what she had done, but instead let him enjoy the small accomplishment. They went to the table and started munching on their blackened trophies. Then Slenderman arrived. And this was how the hour was spent.
Slenderman stood there, staring at the two culprits that created the tornado known as the kitchen. "Do either of you have an explanation as to why the kitchen looks as if a stampede of rhinos ran through it?" he asked. "Jeff tried to cook." was all Lockup said. She continued eating her toast as if she had only told him what time of day it was.
Slenderman accepted this answer. He clearly remembered the last time Jeff had cooked. "You did much better than last time Jeffery." he said. A smoke detector sounded from the living room. "Yeah, yeah. I know I stink at cooking. You don't have to remind me." Jeff growled. Footsteps could be heard coming down the steps.
"Is the house on fire? Or was Jeff just cooking again?" Masky said with a yawn. He looked at the kitchen. "Yup. Jeff was just cooking." he confirmed. The others waded through the disaster zone to get to the table. They snickered as they saw Jeff and Lockup. The kitchen wasn't the only messy thing. Pancake batter was all in Lockup's hair, and Jeff was coated in white flour. Lockup looked towards Slenderman. He seemed to be internally debating on a subject.
"Masky, Jeff, and Lockup, go outside. Masky, you will get the hose. Spray them down good to make sure you get the flour off. Jeff, you and Lockup must remain outside until you dry off. As for the rest of you, shoo. I have a kitchen to clean." Slenderman finally said.
Jeff and Lockup grudgingly went outside, and Masky followed on a lighter note. Masky turned the hose on full blast and aimed it at Lockup and Jeff. Lockup almost gasped in shock. The water had to be 5 degrees at most! Masky didn't stop until they were both de-floured enough to be considered 'clean' by Slenderman.
At this point in the year, it was between cold and freezing so much that ice moved to the desert, but Slenderman was at least kind enough to give them hot chocolate and two big, fluffy towels. So now the two of them sat on a porch swing out in front of the house, dripping water and drinking hot cocoa.
Kiba: It's only a half-cliff hanger this time.
Foxfang: Voting is now over. Just about every review, vote, or pm was all for Jeff and Lockup. I'll do my best, but absolutely no guarantees that it will be any good.