I wanted to make the title "grey with envy." but envy and jealousy are not quite the same thing, so it didn't work out XD good pun though.
The trouble started one Monday afternoon. Thatch was outside with Casper, flirting and talking about a book essay they had to do. One moment the ghost was there smiling and giggling, the next, he was gone. The vampire heard a rather loud and happy "HOTSTUFF?!" and turned to see Casper hugging some red demon, who had a black Mohawk, pricings, and a leather vest with spikes.
They had such a tight embrace on each other that the demon was somewhat lifting the ghost.
"Hotstuff, it's been so long!? How are you?! What are you even doing here?!" Casper grinned excitedly.
"Exchange student program." Hotstuff replied with a smile, then whispered something to the ghost, it was a bit too quiet for even Thatch to make out.
The demon put Casper down, who looked around and immediately spotted his boyfriend. He grabbed the demons hand and led him over.
The vampire was trying very hard not to look as fried as he felt. Who the hell was this demon? Why did he have to pick up Casper in the hug? Why did Casper call him "hotstuff"?
"Thatch, this is my old friend Hotstuff. Hotstuff, this is my boyfriend." The ghost smiled, gesturing back and forth between the vampire and the demon.
Thatch gave his boyfriend a confused look.
The ghost went wide eyed for a second before shaking his head quickly.
"No, really, Hotstuff is his name…or at least, he won't tell me his actual name." He chuckled with a blush and an embarrassed smile.
"It's my name." the demon laughed with a smirk.
"Uh huh, sure…" Casper rolled his eyes.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Thatch." Hotstuff smiled casually.
"Uh, so…you from around here?" The vampire asked kind of monotone.
"No, I live several towns over. Here for an student exchange."
"Ah."
The ghost spoke up again.
"Thatch, I'm gonna go introduce Hotstuff to Ra and Mantha. I'll talk to you more about that assignment afterword's, ok?" he smiled.
"Yeah, sure. Go have fun." Thatch replied, a bit too quietly and a bit too monotone.
The ghost tilted his head.
"Are you ok, you sound a bit tired?" he frowned with worry.
"Yeah, I'm fine." The vampire shrugged it off.
"Alright. I'll talk to you in a bit!" Casper smiled gently, giving his boyfriend a quick peck on the cheek before walking off, Hotstuff following.
Thatch watched them leave. He didn't feel very good.
It was sometime later; Thatch was in the library. He was trying to write down notes from the assigned book. But he was mostly just perturbed. It's been almost an hour and a half. How long did it take to introduce one person?
He knew he shouldn't be bitter; this wasn't anything weird. He just…there was something about Hotstuff he didn't like, and he wasn't too sure what it was…
Something poked his shoulder. He looked up. It was Casper.
"Hi." The ghost stated with a somewhat guilty smile.
"Hey." The other replied quietly, turning back to his book.
"Sorry, about how long that took. We got talking, and I lost track of time, and…I haven't seen him in a while, we had a lot to talk about." Casper chuckled with a sheepish smile.
"It's ok, you haven't seen him in a while. I get it." Thatch responded monotone.
The ghost blinked. That was an odd tone. His boyfriend had never been so…blank, before…
"Why are you mad?" he asked with a frown.
"I'm not mad." The vampire shrugged.
"Are you sure? You sound mad." Casper tilted his head curiously.
"I'm fine!" Thatch suddenly snapped.
The ghost was startled and jolted back, staring at the other. The vampire flushed and shrunk a little.
"I'm fine. Just annoyed with the book, not you." He mumbled with a sigh.
Casper softened with a slight smile.
"Well…I'm here now, if you still want a study date." The ghost pulled up a chair next to him and sat down, leaning on the others shoulder.
"Of course. Though, I think one of the attic rooms would be better for a study date than the library." Thatch chuckled.
"Alright, well let's go then."
The two got up and headed out of the library.
"Sooo. What did your demon friend whisper to you earlier?" The vampire asked, trying to seem casual about it.
"I'll tell you when we get to the attic." The ghost replied a bit mischievously. "You know, I bet you and Hotstuff will get along really well." He smiled.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, he's a lot like you."
Thatch found no comfort in that thought.
Turned out that Hotstuff was actually there for anti-ghoul stuff, and that's why he had to whisper it to Casper. That gave Thatch some comfort at least…He wasn't whispering something dodgy to the ghost…
Thatch still didn't like the demon though.
Wolfie and a few other students had set up a bonfire party in the woods.
Thatch sat in a camping chair, just enjoying the music and the atmosphere. His boyfriend walked over with a bag of marshmallows in hand.
"Want a marshmallow?" Casper smiled, holding out the bag.
The vampire noticed Hotstuff, a few feet away, walking towards them, definitely wanting to talk.
Thatch overshot the marshmallows and grabbed Casper's wrist, pulling him onto his lap with his other arm. He started biting the ghost in the space between his cheek and his neck.
Casper stiffed and flushed.
"Uh, Thatch, as nice as that is. Aren't there a few too many people around for that…?" he asked, immensely embarrassed.
The vampire reared back.
"Well, you asked if I wanted a marshmallow." Thatch smirked, taking a quick glance past Casper at Hotstuff. The demon was chatting with the twins now. Good.
"Very funny." The ghost chuckled, but settled into his boyfriend's lap none the less, leaning on his shoulder happily.
Hotstuff breathed some fire onto some marshmallows, toasting them perfectly. A few students ooed and awed, impressed. Casper watched with a delighted smile. Thatch rolled his eyes.
The ghost had gotten up and walked away to get some drinks, while he was near the cooler, Hotstuff walked over to him and started talking. The demon said something, and Casper giggled.
Once he got back, he sat down on Thatch's lap again. He was a bit surprised when the vampire held him tighter than he had before, and buried his head into the ghost's shoulder.
He seemed almost… needy…
"Are you ok?" Casper asked with a worried frown.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" Thatch raised a brow.
"Ok, I just…You seemed a bit depressed." The ghost tilted his head.
The vampire smirked.
"No, why would I be depressed? I've got s'mores, and a very cute boy on my lap." He grinned, giving his boyfriend a quick kiss on the cheek.
Casper snorted and rolled his eyes. But after a moment, he looking worried again.
"Ok, but you know, you can tell me stuff. If somethings bothering you, I'm here to listen." He wrapped his arms around the others neck and looked at him sweetly.
"I know. I just…didn't sleep well last night. I'm tired I guess." Thatch mumbled hesitantly.
"Maybe you should go to bed." Casper replied with a caring smile.
"Only if you'll join me~" the vampire smirked.
The ghost laughed.
"Would you sleep better if I did?" he asked with an endearing tone.
"Probably." Thatch chuckled, settling back into his chair.
"So shall we head back then?"
"In a bit. You've spent most of this party with me, why don't you go spend time with Ra and Mantha? They look like they want your attention." The vampire laughed, gesturing in the direction of the two, who were getting some punch.
"Alright, if you insist. I'll see you in a bit then." Casper kissed him on the head and walked off to join his friends.
It was the next day. Casper sat with his friends at their lunch table…which included Hotstuff.
Thatch kept glaring up from his food.
"Dude, you ok? You're not eating your plasma bar, you love those things." Slither asked.
"I'm not hungry." The vampire responded grumpily, trying not to glare at the demon sitting next to Casper.
Dummy was much more perceptive that Slither. She looked at Thatch, then at Hotstuff, then at Thatch again. She made an amused expression to herself.
"If I didn't know you better, I'd think you were a bit jealous of the new kid." She smirked, side eyeing Thatch.
"Well it's a good thing you know better." He replied bitterly.
"So it really doesn't bug you how cozy Hotstuff and Casper are?" She asked smugly, tilting her head.
"They're not cozy! And I'm happy Casper gets to see an old friend..." He snapped.
"Well, alright then." She went back to her food, not at all buying his act.
It was Wednesday now.
Casper wouldn't consider himself very perceptive, but he wasn't dumb ether. Something was up with Thatch. He was grumpy, irritable, even depressed. But he was also acting more affectionate and flirty than usual. And sometimes he seemed almost needy…
He wanted to ask his boyfriend about it, but Thatch was stubborn and very difficult to get answers out of.
So, he decided he'd ask someone else's opinion.
The ghost walked down the dock. Near the end of the doc was Dummygirl. She was laying on a pool chair, wearing sunglasses and relaxing with a drink of some kind.
"Uh, Dummygirl? Can I ask for your opinion on something?" He asked, knelling down next to her chair.
"Oh, Casper?" She raised her sunglasses up for a moment to confirm it was him. "Yeah, sure. By chance, does the question involve Thatch?" she asked, going back to laying on her lounge chair.
"Uh, yes, it does. Have you noticed him acting a bit odd lately?"
"He's jealous of Hotstuff." She responded point blank.
"Huh?"
"He's jealous of Hotstuff."
The ghost blinked.
"Like, romantic jealous?" he tilted his head.
"Yep. Was wondering when you'd finally pick up on it." She scoffed with a smirk.
"Why?!" he frowned.
"I don't know, I'm perceptive, not psychic. Maybe he thinks you and fireboy have chemistry, and it scares him." She shrugged,
"Well, thank you for the input." He sighed, starting to turn around away from her.
"My advice to you is to piss him off a little bit, maybe scare him into worrying that he's actually gonna lose you to Hotstuff."
The ghost spun around to look at her.
"What?! No! That's terrible advice! I'll just talk to him." He snapped, looking horrified at the idea.
"HA! Goodluck with that! Thatch doesn't talk, he ignores an issue until either reality or fear slaps him in the face."
Casper just sighed.
Casper had intended to go straight to Thatch to talk, but was stopped in the hallway by all three of his friends. They had had the idea to go out to the mall on Friday, before Hotstuff had to go back to his own town and school. And they wanted to talk to Casper about it.
"Yeah, yeah, sounds good. Uh, I have to go talk to Thatch about something, can we chat about this a little later?" he smiled sheepishly.
"Yeah, you and him have a fight or something?" Mantha asked, tilting her head.
"No, no! Nothing like that. Just a silly little thing."
"Really?" she narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously.
"Mantha, quit den mothering him, he's fine." Ra chuckled. "Come on, we got some homework to do anyways." He ushered the zombie along, Hotstuff following.
Casper headed down the hall, and rounded the corner. Something snagged onto his sweater. He stopped and looked at what it was, or rather, who it was.
Thatch had been sitting on the bench that stood right on the edge of the corner. As the ghost had walked past, he had hooked his fingers through the loops of yarn that made up his sweater.
"Oh! There you ar- please don't rip my sweater." Casper chuckled as he was pulled down onto the others lap.
"I won't, unless of course, you want me to~" The vampire purred with a smirk.
The ghost rolled his eyes with a smile, then pretended to consider it.
"Humm, tempting, but I like my sweaters." He smiled coyly. "Anyways, I was actually looking for you." The ghost continued.
"Oh?" The vampire asked, resting his chin on his boyfriend's shoulder.
"Yeah, uh…well…" Casper awkwardly tugged at his sleeves. "Are you jealous of Hotstuff?" he asked, tilting his head.
Thatch stiffed immediately and sat up straight.
"No." he replied monotone, and far too quickly.
"Well then what's wrong?" The ghost asked, worry in his voice.
"Ah, not this again. I told you, I'm fine!" the vampire groaned in annoyance.
Casper stood up, a his face full of concern.
"No, you're not. I'm not stupid you know. You've been grumpy, and when you're not grumpy, you're so affectionate it's like you're on a time limit." He explained.
"What, I can't be affectionate with you?!" Thatch snapped, standing up as well.
"No-I mean yes, ugg! I like the affection, but all the sudden you're flirting like it's a contest. You don't have to be jealous! I-" The ghost pleaded
"What makes you think you think I'm jealous?! Maybe, I just don't like him in general!" the vampire snorted indignantly, crossing his arms.
"Well Dummy sure thinks your jealous of him, and I happen to think it makes a lot of sense!" Casper snapped, getting a bit defensive.
"Well, you two can go off and have your theories, call me when you stop being ridiculous…" Thatch replied, irritated, and walked off practically steaming.
The ghost frowned in annoyance as he watched his boyfriend walk away. Why does he always want to do things the hard way?! Casper saw a nearby trashcan and kicked it over in frustration.
He stood there a moment silently, and then of course he sighed in defeat and picked up the mess he made.
He decided kicking trashcans over anger was not worth the mess.
Thatch was laying in his coffin, texting on his phone grumpily. He was debating if…no, how to apologize to Casper.
And then the ghost just appeared, already laying on him, his head on the vampire's shoulder. If he wasn't used to it, Thatch might've been startled. He adjusted his arms so Casper didn't need to be half phased through his arms.
"I don't like fighting with you, you know." The ghost grumbled tiredly.
"I know." Thatch mumbled.
"I'm sorry if I've been bothering you."
"and I…I shouldn't have snapped at you." The vampire replied quietly. "I'm sorry." He frowned. "I'm not jealous though."
"Ok." Casper replied.
Sometime passed.
"Wanna go do something tomorrow, like get takeout or something…?" Thatch chuckled awkwardly.
He felt bad and wanted to make it up to his boyfriend.
The ghost was about to say yes, but then he remembered what dummygirl said.
"Thatch doesn't talk; he ignores an issue until either reality or fear slaps him in the face."
And he stopped. He then found himself saying something before he could stop himself.
"I'd love to, but I can't… Hotstuff… asked If I wanted to go to the movies with him tomorrow." He tried not to make a distressed noise, alarmed at his own lie.
The vampire noticeable stiffened.
"Oh…ok. Mantha and Ra going too?" Thatch asked, raising a brow.
"No…they had homework." Casper replied
"Ah…" The vampire replied emotionlessly.
The ghost didn't say anything else, nor did Thatch. It was pretty obvious though that the vampire wasn't thrilled at the concept.
Thatch frowned to himself.
His boyfriend…alone with Hotstuff…at the movies.
Just great.
It was the next day, afterschool. Capser was supposed to be hanging out with Hotstuff.
Key word; Supposed.
Thatch was grumpily getting some chips out of the schools vending machine when they got caught on one of the shelves. He growled and knelt down, sticking his arm up the slot in order to get them out.
He couldn't reach the chips, and nearly got himself stuck.
He huffed and stood back up, grabbing the machine he tried to shake it back and forth to knock down the chips. They didn't budge.
He growled and punched the side of the machine.
"And they say I'm Hotheaded." A newly known voice chirped behind him.
Thatch turned to see Hotstuff, leaning on the wall with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.
At first, the vampire was pissed off. The demon was the last person he wanted to see right now. But then he quickly changed to confused, when he remembered Hotstuff was supposed to be at the movies with Casper.
"Hold on, I get stuff outta these machines all the time." The demon walked past Thatch and knelt down next to the machine. His tail snaked up through the slot, and started grabbing at the chip bag.
"Arnt you…supposed to be at the movies with Casper?" The vampire asked, tilting his head.
"Hum? No, not that I'm aware of. Hey, you want a soda too?" Hotstuff grinned, focusing on the machine.
"Uh, no." Thatch replied quietly, the gears turning in his head.
And he didn't like what those gears were showing.
"Well, I'm gonna steal myself one anyways." The demon laughed.
Hotstuff grabbed the drink and the chips from the slot and stood back up, turning as he did.
He blinked and looked around the small room. Thatch was gone.
"Well…I guess I'll have these chips then." He shrugged.
Casper was sitting on his bed, reading a nature magazine. (Waiting for when his boyfriend was gonna show up.) Ra was working on something at his desk. The door more or less was slammed open, grabbing both of their attentions. Thatch stormed in (ah, there he is), looked around the room, grabbed Ra's wrist and dragged him out of the dorm. He pushed the mummy into the hallway and locked the door.
Ra stood in the hallways, staring at his door, dumbfounded.
He just got kicked outta his own room.
"You're not actually going with Hotstuff to the movies, are you?" Thatch asked slowly, and carefully, as if he was only a word away from an explosion. (Which he is)
"no." Casper replied quietly and calmly.
The vampire exploded.
"WHY THE HELL- YOU LIED JUST TO MESS WITH ME!" He yelled, furious.
"YES, YES I DID! BECAUSE YOU HATE TALKING ABOUT THINGS! YOU JUST WANNA WAIT UNTIL THEY SLAP YOU IN THE FACE!" The ghost yelled back, standing up as he did so.
An thus, a screaming match started.
"I DO NOT!"
"YES YOU DO! WHAT DO YOU CALL THIS!?"
"I WAS STRESSED OUT ALL DAY THINKING YOU WERE ALONE AT THE MOVIES WITH HIM!"
"YOU ARE JELIOUS! YOU WOULDN'T BE SO MAD IF YOU WERENT!"
"I'M NOT-" the vampire paused as he stared at Casper's face. The ghost's eyes looked watery, like he was ready to cry from stress.
And now Thatch felt bad.
The vampire immediately softened and looked down at the floor guilty. He went and sat down on the bed. He grabbed Casper's arm and pulled the ghost onto his lap, burying his face into the shoulder of his sweater.
"You're smart…You have enough sense to see he's better than me." Thatch mumbled into his boyfriends shoulder.
The ghost blinked, softening in a sad way.
"…What?" he asked quietly, very confused.
"Everything you like about me, he has. Everything about me you hate, he has the opposite of. He wears a leather jacket like me, and he's friendly like you." The vampire stated, his face still buried into Casper's shoulder.
"He's an upgraded version of me…And I didn't want you to figure that out…" Thatch mumbled dejected.
"Thatch…" the ghost mumbled sadly and leaned down, giving the other a kiss on the top of his head.
Casper then lifted up his boyfriends face to look at him, giving the vampire a kind smile.
"There is nothing about you that I hate. And everything that frustrates me about you, also usually makes me laugh. He's not a better you. I promise. You're the only you that I want." He explained sweetly before giving him a gentle kiss.
"In such a shitty world, how'd you turn out so good?" The vampire smiled sheepishly.
"I have to make up for the rest of my family." Casper gave a warm smirk.
Thatch chuckled lightly.
"And besides, I could never date Hotstuff. I've never been attracted to Mohawks, and he refuses to wear suits. With you though, I get a man who wears suits and leather." The ghost stated coyly
This time Thatch gave a full on laugh and reared back to look at his boyfriend. He had a delighted look in his eyes.
"The universe did good when it made you." He smirked.
"You come up with the sweetest compliments." The ghost smiled warmly.
"That's where all the niceness went."
Casper laughed, and laughed even more as Thatch laid back on the bed, pulling him along as well. The ghost laid on top of him as they looked at each other softly. Their faces only a few inches apart. Casper sighed sweetly.
"Why would I ever leave someone with eyes as lovely as yours?" the ghost mumbled affectionately.
The vampire sighed smittenly in response before Casper leaned the rest of the way and kissed him.
Ra sighed, staring at his dorm room door. He had heard yelling inside, but then it stopped suddenly, and he hadn't heard anything since. He wasn't sure if he should go away and come back in an hour, or call the police…
The former was likely the best call.
He sighed in defeat and walked off down the hall, he'd just have to do his homework later.
Thatch felt a bit better after their talk. He'd try to stop being grumpy, but he still was somewhat worried. Casper knew this of course, people can't help being jealous, and a simple talk wouldn't get rid of it completely. So, as an unsaid form of encouragement, for the rest of the week the ghost made sure to often surprise him with a sudden kiss or two. It seemed to do the trick.
Thatch didn't have time to be grumpy or depressed when he was constantly feeling smitten.
"You'd think after like 6 kisses by noon, you'd be used to it." Dummygirl snickered.
"Shut up." The vampire snapped, eating his lunch, but still smiling like an idiot.
"I'm not the one who constantly looks like he's got hearts swirling around his head." The doll snickered again.
"Not my fault your love life sucks." Thatch shrugged, smirking.
Dummygirl made an offended sound that was between a groan and a yelp.
"Why you gotta drag me into this, man?" Slither sighed in annoyance.
Hotstuff left Monday morning, and all was back to normal.