Review(s):

HypnoArt - You are so very welcome! I'd really like to know what you think will happen, but I'll leave you with your secret thought xD we shouldn't quite spoil it for anyone else I agree. Please enjoy this chapter, :)

Here we go again!


The key in the lock turned and the front door opened only seconds later. "Smells like I'll have to fire the maid in here, the Gardner too - I'm not impressed how the tulips came in last year." She held her phone up to her freshly glossed lips, "Fire all help for poor performance."

He rolled his eyes and poured a small amount of orange juice into his glass.

She brought her luggage bag into the home and heaved a sigh. What Medusa Gorgon wouldn't give to leave this place again. "Deuce, you're not in school? That's fine - you can help mommy unpack. That would be great. Oh, breakfast. Did the help make this?" She grabbed a piece of bacon, eating it quickly. "If so, they're terrible. I prefer my bacon light and airy, not crispy." Her snake-hair had gotten long, they were almost down to her waist.

'Clawd likes it crispy, this breakfast is for him... not you.' Deuce thought bitterly to himself. "How was yo-" Not evening be able finish his sentence, he swore his mother loved the sound of her own voice.

"New Hexico was beautiful! They treated me like royalty." She began, ready to gush all about her vacation. "I trust you've been fine? You look it. You have color in your cheeks. Oh speaking of royalty, where's Cleo? I brought her back this lovely gold bangle."

"Most likely at school, how am I supposed to know?" Deuce hissed, crossing his arms over his chest. "So, how long you home for?" Deuce inquired, pushing his food around with the fork. Quickly losing his appetite.

She narrowed her eyes. "You just skip right to the important questions, don't you? Waiting to have a wild party or something?" She shook her head. "I don't know yet. I'm going to breakfast with my friends. Perhaps I'll see you when I get home, I don't know if I'm coming home or not yet. Ciao."

She poked Deuce's nose and headed to her bedroom, which wasn't too far from where Clawd was hiding. He let out the breath he wasn't aware he had been holding in. His mother wasn't gone yet, but she would be soon.

"Bye." Deuce said a little hurt, she never once thought he was asking because he wanted her to stay. Grabbing a small plate of sausages, the gorgon headed towards his bedroom. Figuring the wolf might be hungry. Heck if Clawd wanted Deuce would take him out for lunch, maybe charge it to his mother's credit card too? Sounded like a good plan to him, how dare she come home and ruin his good mood.

Clawd smiled when he saw Deuce, he grabbed the plate of sausages and set them on his nightstand. He pushed the smaller up against the bedroom door and kissed him feverishly.

"Mhm- Cla.. awd.." the gorgon mumbled through kisses. "Mo.. om's still... he.. re..."

The wolf pulled back slightly with a smirk. "I know she is."

"I'm sorry about breakfast." Deuce said wrapping his arms around the wolf's neck. Making sure the other wouldn't get away on him. Although the gorgon had a feeling Clawd wasn't going anywhere.

He shrugged his broad shoulders, "I heard your mother had impeccable timing," he chuckled softly. "now I know for sure."

"Deuce!" Medusa called out, giving a quick knock on the door.

Clawd flew off the gorgon boy and headed straight for his closet, shutting the door.

She opened the door and saw her son standing there as if he had been caught red-handed. "What is your problem, boy?" She asked, her exfoliating mask prominent on her face.

Deuce found it rather strange how his mother would 'primp and get ready' putting make up on and everything - just for a lunch 'with the guys'. "N-nothing." He stammered.

"Your face has gone from pale when I first walked in, to red now that I'm standing in your bedroom. Something's rather fishy in here." She laughed. "What, are you stashing a whore in your closet?"

"Mom, honestly?" The gorgon rolled his eyes. "Why don't you tell me more about your trip as you finish getting ready?" Deuce inquired, trying anything to get his mother out of his room.

She smirked, though Deuce wasn't sure exactly what it meant. "Sure - wait here."

Deuce looked at the closet longingly as he approached his bedroom door. Man he hoped this wouldn't take long.

His mother pushed past him with two outfits and her make up bag. "Your room has the best lighting." Deuce knew that was bullshit. "And you can help me pick out what I'll wear to a real breakfast."

On one hanger was her 'little black dress' and on another was a halter top, dark denim jeans and the matching denim jacket. Her shoes of choice were her favorite 'prostitute' boots.

"Umm.. you want me to help? But you don't like my taste in - anything." He inquired, noticing his mother laying the clothing out on his bed.

"Oh stop, that's not true. You're the one who doesn't care. Now, which one?" She held up the black dress in one hand, the denim outfit in the other.

Deuce then looked at the clothing. "You sure you wanna do that in here? I mean, you got those full length mirrors in your room. The ones that you love so much." The gorgon said, trying anything to get his mother out of his space.

"I do look good in those full-length mirrors, but why can't I just want to spend a little time with my son before I take off again?" She asked him.

"The dress would look best with your tan." He added, quickly glancing at the closet door. He honestly owed the wolf lunch after this. 'I'm so sorry Clawd.' Deuce thought before turning his attention back to this mother, not really wanting to draw attention to the closet.

"But I feel a black dress with my tan wouldn't work out so well, too much dark. Ooh! I have a red dress, that would be good. Where did I put that?" She asked herself.

Thud.

Her eyes narrowed towards the closet. She had the home re-done last summer, there shouldn't be any structural faults. "Did you hear that?"

"What about that baby blue dress, that auntie Euryale sent you? It really makes your eyes pop." Deuce said trying to distract his mother. "You haven't shown that one off to your friends yet. I'm sure they'll love it." The young gorgon pointed out, hoping she would take the bait.

"Deuce, I asked you a question-" her cellular phone rang from the bedroom. "you need to work on your deception young man." She left his bedroom in a hurry and Deuce shut his door, locking it before he ran to the closet. He opened it and hugged the wolf.

"Oof," Clawd really wasn't expecting the impact. "hey... it's fine. I'll get outta here before I land you in trouble." He leaned down to kiss the gorgon. "Text me if you want." He lifted Deuce's chin. "Always look ahead." He winked playfully.

Deuce sighed as he unlocked his bedroom door, saw his mother preoccupied on her phone still and he snuck Clawd to the kitchen and to the front door. The gorgon pulled Clawd back for another kiss before actually letting him leave.

Wow, that was close!

(¯`·._(¯`·._(¯`·._( MONSTER HIGH )_.·´¯)_.·´¯)_.·´¯)

Don't go to school Clawd, I already covered for you, w/ Ma and school. :) - Dad

Clawd smiled when he looked at his phone after leaving Deuce's place. He knew how lucky he was to have a father like his.

You're the best, thanks dad! You wouldn't mind picking me up, would you? I'll fill you in when I see you.

There were a few things that he wanted to share with his father. He still wasn't sure about the whole venom thing... it freaked him out but it made him feel... great. He felt fully rested, he wasn't sore at all... it was weird. He also wasn't dead so it couldn't have been poisonous.

Clawd jumped when he was honked at by his father. "Nervous are you?" Barkley grinned as he rolled down the window.

"Ha-ha, apparently." Clawd hopped into the passenger side of his car and fastened his seatbelt. He reached for the stereo, there was a USB automatically programmed with his entire music collection on it. He flipped through the songs before settling on the latest track by Ghost Malone. "You cool with this, dad?"

Barkley bobbed his head to the catchy beat. "Yeah it's alright." He wasn't keen on the fact that the lyrics were talking about taking drugs and sleeping with attractive women... but he supposed there was a difference between doing those activities and listening to music about doing such activities. "So... fill me in. How was dinner?"

Clawd avoided eye contact, but when Barkley looked over briefly, he noticed the blush on his son's cheeks. "It was good, real good."

"Did you even eat or was it all... chamber room activity?"

Clawd narrowed his eyes. "Dad..." He smirked to himself. "We ate first."

Barkley raised an eyebrow. "Alright. Then..?"

The younger wolf sighed. "We hit up the bedroom, but we didn't... go all the way. To be honest, I don't know how to with a guy." He buried his face in his hands.

Barkley chuckled. "Well shit son, I can't help you there. I've only been with your mother lately." His version of lately was the last decade or two.

Clawd shrugged it off. "It's alright, we made out, talked until really late... we slept through first period and... Then his mother came home unexpectedly."

Barkley growled lightly. "She's back? Of course she'd be back long enough to ruin anything good for that kid."

Clawd wasn't sure where this was coming from, but he figured it would be explained to him if he was meant to know. "So I uh, left under her radar." He decided to cut the story there. He wasn't exactly proud of hiding in the gorgon's closet and almost getting caught.

"It's a good idea to do anything under her radar if you can." Barkley warned Clawd. "I went to school with her, I know Medusa pretty well... and I'm not exactly a fan."

Clawd's eyes widened. His father was such an easy going guy... for him to say he disliked someone was shocking.

Barkley paused for a moment. "I think may have been envious that your mom and I stayed together no matter what. The strength of our relationship was a wonder to her."

Barkley was an excellent judge of character so if he felt that way towards her... he more than likely had good reason to. "Wow, I didn't know that."

"Now son," he began as they pulled up into the driveway and directly into the garage. "I would expect that you'll develop your own thoughts and opinions and not base yours off of my bias one. Perhaps she's changed since I saw her last, who knows?"

Clawd figured that his dad pretty much had her pegged, though he would form his own opinion. He wasn't sure how he felt. Deuce was extremely uneasy around her, however that could've been Clawd's own fault too. "Thanks dad, I can always count on you to be there for me."

"That's what I'm here for, it's part of the job." He held his fist out for props.

Clawd smirked and gave Barkley the props he deserved.

"Your old man's so hip, he's gonna need a new one soon."

Clawd sighed. "Really, dad?"

(¯`·._(¯`·._(¯`·._( MONSTER HIGH )_.·´¯)_.·´¯)_.·´¯)

Clawnor walked around the house impatiently. There had been a couple times he heard a car and thought it was dropping off his older brother - only to be disappointed.

The youngest wolf wasn't used to his eldest brother not being home. This was the first night in a very long time that Clawd didn't tuck him into bed. After dinner they'd usually play a game together. Clawnor found his way to Clawd's room and chewed every phone cord he could find. He blamed the phone for taking his brother away. This would teach him for not coming home.

He heard the familiar beep of Clawd's car and stood right by the front door. Clawd came in wearing the same thing he left yesterday in. Weird. "Hi!"

Clawd raised an eyebrow. "Hi buddy," he ruffled the wolf's fur and stretched. "what's up?"

"I was waiting for you to come home." Clawnor whined lightly.

Clawd gasped. "Oh shit, I'm so sorry." He had gotten so carried away with Deuce that he forgot he promised his little brother that he'd be home after dinner to play his choice of video game with him. "Can I make it up to you?"

Clawnor had to admit he was slightly thrown off. He wasn't expecting Clawd to care... so now he felt bad about chewing all his phone cords. "Where did you even go anyway?"

Barkley showed himself to the kitchen so they could speak alone.

"I was at Deuce's house... look Clawnor, it's a bit complicated and I have to figure out exactly how I feel about him." He tried to explain, though he was making it painfully awkward.

Clawnor was beginning to understand. "Oh, you like-like Deuce?"

Clawd wasn't sure kids used that term anymore. When did he get so out of touch? "Yeah, I mean – I think so. I don't know yet."

Clawnor's ears flattened down. "If you like-like him, that means you guys won't want me around anymore."

Clawd knelt down. "No buddy, it's not like that. Deuce likes hanging out with us. There may be times that we'd like to be alone, sure... but I'm sure there will be times that we'll take you and the other pups along with us to do things. I'd have to actually speak to Deuce and see what he thinks – but I'm sure he'd be cool with it."

Clawnor perked up a little bit. "Okay. I chewed all your phone cords because I was mad. Sorry."

Clawd sighed. "I'll borrow Clawdeen's charger for the night. I get it. Now go get ready to get your butt kicked."

"Yeah, right!" Clawnor raced off to set up his game of choice in the basement.

Did you get home safe? - Deuce

Clawd sighed as he realized his phone was down to 17%.

Yes, babe. I'm home. How's it going there?

He hoped for the gorgon's sake that he wouldn't be put through too much torture.

Mom's still here, dunno why... i'm so sorry about breakfast. Lunch or dinner soon? - Deuce

That sounded fantastic, though he'd have to keep Clawnor in mind.

Yeah, soon :) my phone might die because Clawnor chewed all my chargers... if i don't answer that's why. ttys xo

His cheeks blushed as he sent the message. It felt exhilarating to send a text like that... to him.