It was a lovely sunny day, it was warm, but not too warm. The breeze made the temperature just right. Casper was currently on summer break, and was quite happy. He loved being around his friends, but he disliked that school so much…
He hated the school, but due to his patience would never use that word. He would try and tell himself "the school isn't that bad." But it's the biggest lie he every told.
Summer break meant he had some freedom, and he was loving every minute of it. Today he decided he'd go get some food and then eat in the park. He was currently walking towards the fast food place when he passed somebody. He didn't think anything of it until he heard the person call out to him.
"Casper?" The ghost heard behind him.
He turned around and saw a fairly average looking kid his age. Brown hair, red t-shirt, jeans, ect. The ghost didn't realize this boy.
"…Hey...man, how's it going?" Casper responded nervously, not wanting to be rude.
"You don't recognize me? Do you?" The boy chuckled.
"…I'm sorry, no…" Casper replied sheepishly.
"And I won't play with no sissy." The boy chuckled sheepishly.
The ghost looked confused for a moment before his eyes went wide.
"Billy?!"
"Yeah!" the boy laughed. "It's been too long, how are you?"
"Oh…I'm good" Casper smiled awkwardly.
"I'm back in town for a few weeks, visiting my grandparents." Billy added.
"Oh, I didn't know you moved."
"Yeah, we left town a few years back. My dad got paranoid after that town gas leak that made everyone hallucinate." Billy shrugged.
Casper internally grimaced. The "gas leak" was the lie that the town had been given about the whole "monster attack" That alder and dash had lead…wait, why were they even allowed to still be headmasters?
"Yeah, wasn't that something?" The ghost laughed nervously.
"Yeah, what a weird day." Billy chuckled.
There was a moment of awkward silence.
Billy kicked awkwardly at the ground.
"Casper?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry." The boy looked off to the side
The ghost tilted his head.
"For making fun of your dress that one time…" Billy continued.
Casper was taken aback.
"…I'm surprised you remember that."
"Yeah…and I regret it, I'm sorry. I was little…" the boy rubbed his arm awkwardly, a guilty frown on his face.
"Now that I'm older…I know that was a stupid thing to say."
Casper didn't know what to say at first, but after a moment he smiled warmly.
"…thank you." He paused for a moment, looking at the ground with a slight flush. "That means a lot to me." He looked back up with a touched smile.
Billy grinned.
"I'm on my way to the bus stop, wanna walk with me?" the boy asked happily.
"Sure!" the ghost was grinning now too.
They walked for a few minutes, happily chatting. Past friends reunited again.
But suddenly Billy was body slammed, accidently pushing Casper as well. They were pushed into an alleyway, landing on the ground, Billy on top of Casper.
"So Billy, I see you got a boyfriend." A mean voice cackled.
Casper looked over to see three kids his age, but taller and bigger. *insert stereotypical bully description here.* The middle bully had his arms crossed, a mean smirk on his face.
"Oh, beat it josh!" Billy snapped, getting off the ground.
"You gonna make me?" The bully laughed.
Billy charged at him, but got immediately throw back in the ally.
"Leave him alone!" Casper snapped, standing in between the bullies and his friend.
The ghost was pushed as well, stumbling back into the ally.
Billy tried to fight them again, but got punched back into the alleyway.
"Again, I'm asking you to back off." The ghost asked, more sternly this time.
He was thrown back into the alley. Again Billy tried to fight them off, but was punched in the stomach and then the nose, he fell to the ally ground once again.
"I'm asking one last time. Leave." Casper stated coldly.
The bullies laughed and pushed him back again, he fell to the ground next to his friend. Billy was going to try again, but Casper put a firm hold on his shoulder.
The ghost got up from the ground slowly, not looking up. The air was suddenly colder. He walked slowly over to the mean children. The head bully laughed and went to push Casper back, but his hand went through him instead.
The boy looked confused at first, staring at his arm, which was through Casper's chest. His expression became horrified and he looked back up at "Billy's friend."
Casper looked up, his eyes were scary shades of blue, a sinister smile on his face. He placed both his hands on the sides of his own face in an 'Oh my?!' fashion. Then, with a creepily sweet tone he said;
"Oh dear, you look like you've seen a ghost…"
The bullies booked it.
The ghost watched on as the mean kids raced out of sight. He then went over and helped Billy off the ground.
"Wow, that was so cool!" The boy exclaimed.
Casper blushed and waved it off.
"Though, I think I better make sure you get to the bus." The ghost chuckled.
"I think so too, you make a great bodyguard!" Billy laughed.
Casper laughed.
They made it to the bus stop, and chatted while they waited. Once the bus pulled into the station, they said their goodbyes and agreed to chat over email. Casper grinned and waved at Billy as the bus left.
Casper then turned around, and stopped to avoid bumping into the guy standing directly behind him. He stepped back and looked up at the guy. It was Thatch, smirking mockingly.
"You scared someone."
*A little while ago.*
Thatch had been flying when he heard a commotion below him, he flew down and landed on a building, peering over the edge into an alleyway. (Still in bat form)
Casper and some other boy were being cornered in an alleyway. It didn't take a lot of brain cells to figure out what was going on. He saw Casper approach the bullies, and then get thrown back into the alleyway. Thatch bared his teeth angrily and his ears twitched, he felt defensive for some reason. He was about to step in when Casper got up rather slowly, in an unnerving kind of way. The ghost walked over to the boys and let an arm go through him. Thatch noticed how weird Casper's eyes looked. Then the humans went running for their lives.
Huh, Surprising. Casper can be scary after all.
He kept watching Casper and his friend talk. He couldn't help but feel a little…jealous. Casper kept giggling and smiling at the human boy. He scowled from the building tops.
"He isn't that funny…" The vampire pouted. "I got better jokes than that."
He felt rather relieved when the human boy got on a bus and left. He quickly flew down.
Casper stared at the other wide eyed.
"Y-you saw that…?"
"Yep. To think, sweet innocent Casper, scaring people! How hypocritical…" Thatch cooed cynically.
"I only did it for self-defense!" The ghost snapped.
"Either way, you scared some fleshes." The vampire smirked, crossing his arms.
"They are not "fleshes." They are humans." Casper frowned.
"Who cares?" the vampire rolled his eyes.
"I do! And It's a really stupid term too! Vampires have flesh, werewolf's have flesh, zombies have flesh, most monsters have flesh! It's stupid!" The ghost complained.
"Ok, ok, no need to get all huffy about it." Thatch held up his hands.
Casper took in a deep breath. Thatch showing up suddenly frazzled him a bit.
"Well, if you'll excuse me. I've got things to do." Casper sighed and walked past the vampire.
The ghost walked a few yards, but couldn't shake the feeling that Thatch was following him. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the vampire was indeed following. He wasn't even hiding it ether, he was following behind in direct view, a few yards away, with a smirk on his face.
It seemed Thatch was determined to be an annoyance today.
Casper started walking faster. Thatch walked faster. Casper looked over his shoulder and saw this, so he started walking even faster. Thatch started walking faster too. This went on for a few more times, the ghost was starting to find it funny, he kept trying to hide a grin but it was very difficult. Then, Casper started booking it down the side walk, Thatch giving chase. The ghost watched for traffic before running across the street and into a park, the vampire gaining on him. Casper ran towards a chain-link fence, grabbing the metal wire and stopping himself with it.
Thatch did the same thing a few feet away, they were both out of breath and smiling.
"Ok, uncle, uncle!" the ghost coughed out with a laugh.
"You're forgetting one."
The ghost had to think for a moment before he got the joke and laughed.
Thatch did a mental victory dance. "see, I can be just as funny as that fleshy!"
"You're pretty fast Thatch." Casper smiled, trying to catch his breath.
"You're not exactly slow ether." The vampire gave a charming smirk.
There was a comfortable silence as they rested.
"You know, there's a slushy shop not too far from here. You want one?" Casper offered with a smile.
Thatch thought about it for a moment before nodding.
"Well, since you offered and all. It would be oh so rude to say no to the gift of free food."
"Ha! Since when have you ever cared about manners?" the ghost mocked.
"Never have, never will." Thatch smirked proudly.
"Of that I'm sure." Casper shook his head with a smile.
The two stood in front of the slushy place Casper had mentioned.
"Alright, what flavor do you want?" The ghost asked.
"Anything but lemon or orange." Thatch shrugged.
"Who dislikes oranges?" Casper raised a brow jokingly.
"Me. I don't like orange juice, orange slices, orange anything." The vampire scowled. (not at casper, at the idea of oranges.)
"Not even those orange cream sicle thingies?"
Thatch blinked.
"…Ok, I've never had one of those." He raised a brow.
"I'll have to give you one sometime." Casper laughed.
The vampire decided to ignore that an "Orange Cream Sicle" sounded more like an innuendo.
Casper walked inside while Thatch sat at a bench outside. The ghost walked up to the counter and ordered, and waited. The little fast food place was styled all retro with light blue detailing and a checkerboard floor. There was a song playing in the background. Casper stared outside and watched Thatch as he waited.
"I want a devil in skin tight leather~"
Who's wild as the wind~"
...Thatch normally wore a leather jacket...
Wait, this was a Grease song wasn't it?
"Ok," The dinner lady came back and plopped two drinks and a bag of fry's down on the counter. "One lime and cherry, one watermelon, and two fries."
Casper paid for the things and thanked the lady.
"You and your cool rider outside have a good day." The lady called out with a smirk as he turned to leave.
He stopped a moment and blushed wildly before leaving the little shop, the chorus of cool rider blasting in the back as the doors shut behind him.
Was his crush that obvious? He hoped not. Wait, no, no. It's not a crush. No!
Casper walked over to Thatch and handed him the watermelon drink, and sat down next to him.
"I got some fries too." The ghost smiled and dug into the bag for one of the fry-bags.
"Oh, cool." Thatch smiled slightly, digging into the bag after Casper was done.
They sat in silence for a few minutes. It was staring to get awkward.
"…So…how's your summer going so far?" the ghost smiled, trying to start a conversation.
"Pretty good, going to a blood barbeque tomorrow."
Casper blinked.
"…A what?" The ghost asked with a very confused expression.
"Like a normal barbeque, but with vampire stuff. My cousins throwing it." Thatch explained.
"Oh."
The vampire almost felt compelled to invite Casper to the barbeque. Almost. The ghost would have likely been miserable anyways.
"…What about you?" Thatch asked a little awkwardly.
"Oh, pretty good so far. I've been enjoying all the flowers." Casper smiled.
"I figured you had a garden." The vampire chuckled.
The ghost frowned.
"…actually I don't…" he responded sadly, looking down at the cement.
"You don't? But you like flowers." Thatch raised a brow.
"I do…but Kibosh doesn't…" The ghost muttered with an almost bitter tone.
"Huh?" the vampire raised a brow.
"He once threw away some flowers I picked. After that I tried to grow a garden, but he sent a twister right through it. So I figure there's no point in trying…" Casper quietly explained.
"…oh." Was all Thatch could say.
The explanation combined with the sad look on Casper's face, gave the vampire a very…weird kind of feeling. He felt bad. And that was unusual. Kibosh wouldn't even let him have a garden? That seemed a little…dumb, honestly, and he's never thought that about Kibosh before. He always assumed the King of Underworld knew what he was doing, but this made him wonder otherwise…
The vampire shook his head, why was he feeling compassionate anyways? That wasn't what he did, he was mean, tough, scary, not kind or understanding. Why did this marshmallow always threaten to bring out the best in him!?
"…But at least there is the forest behind my house; I can go walking and look at wild flowers." Casper gave a bittersweet smile. "What about you? Are there any plants that you like?"
The vampire thought a moment.
"I like those one trees with the long swinging branches that hang down."
"Oh, you mean willow trees!" the ghost chirped.
"Yeah!"
"They are quite peaceful." Casper smiled at the thought. He always found those trees very relaxing (and very romantic.)
"I was gonna say that you can use the branches for whips." Thatch added bluntly.
"…Of course you would like them for that reason." The ghost rolled his eyes with an amused smile.
"I am nothing if not violent." Thatch smirked.
Eventually the two parted ways and went on with their day.
Casper went to the grocery store and then headed home, by time he stepped into the door, the sun was setting. His uncles were watching game shows.
"Guys, I got the items on your list! They're on the table!" He yelled into the house.
"Ok!" Stretch yelled back.
The little ghost then went up to his room. the sunset was very visible from his window. He got out his laptop and sat down at his desk. That's when he noticed something outside, on his windowsill. He raised a brow and walked over, opening up the window.
He picked the item up; it was a little statue of a flowerbox, complete with colorful little flowers. He smiled. The item had no note for who left it, but he had a pretty good guess. Though maybe he was giving Thatch too much credit… But who else would have known to give him this? Maybe he would ask the vampire sometime…