"Mngh..." A low growl resonated in Vicky's throat as her eyes drifted over to the front door for the fourteenth time since she'd sat down on the couch in the Turners' living room and turned the TV on. She hadn't noticed it before, when she first sat down, but her right leg was jittery, her stockinged right foot positioned on its toes as she lightly, yet rapidly, bounced it up and down in a jittery, restless fashion. "Where is he?" The girl thought to herself, a rare combination of impatience and worry eating at the fringes of her consciousness. "Does he usually take this long to get back from school? ...Figures I never paid attention before now..."
Unsurprisingly, the red-head had needed to let herself in when she arrived at Timmy's house, his parents having already left to celebrate Valentine's day at some fancy restaurant, or perhaps to relax at some spa on the wealthier side of town, away from the upper middle class suburbs in which they lived.
"At least if his parents were here, I could've asked them..." She trailed off quietly, remembering just who it was she was talking about. "Right, like they'd remember how long Timmy takes to get back, those two are barely ever here to begin with... Doubt there's half a brain between the two of them anyway..." Vicky reclined against the back of the couch, and laid her head back, her gaze listlessly trained on the ceiling. "Agh... If he'd just get here I could stop worrying so much and watch TV!" She kicked her feet up onto the coffee table in front of the couch, the heel of her right foot slamming down on it with a loud, forceful thudding sound.
Ker-Chunk!
Vicky tilted her head forward and looked up, her ears perking up at the sound of the front door being unlocked, the knob jiggling for a moment before slowly turning, followed by the door it was attached to being pushed open, revealing the(still somewhat short for his age) fourteen year old occupant of the house, wearing his usual outfit consisting of a pink baseball cap, similarly colored t-shirt, blue jeans, and a pair of blue sneakers that were several shades darker than his jeans. He'd started to grow into his slightly oversized buck teeth, though they still protruded to a relatively prominent degree from beneath his upper lip, and as a dead giveaway to where he'd spent most of the morning and some of the afternoon, he wore a backpack, both straps slung over his right shoulder in preparation for being easily discarded by the teen upon the first chance-and the first surface in his house-that availed itself.
"Mom? Dad? I'm-" The brunet cut himself short as the familiar form of his babysitter of six years came into view, his blue eyes locking on her pink ones as she relaxed on the couch, appearing as if she'd been waiting for him to get back. "Ah... Hey, did... My parents... Already leave?" Timmy questioned timidly, staving off the urge to shut the door and book it down the street to the McBadbat's trailer, or really anywhere that Vicky wasn't.
"Yep, afraid it's just you and me now..." The red-head remarked nonchalantly and visibly relaxed by swinging legs up onto the couch to stretch out on it, her slender but somewhat curvy figure taking up two and a half of the three cushions. "Took you long enough to get here..." Vicky turned her attention back to the TV, finally feeling like she could focus on it now that her charge's whereabouts weren't eating at her. "I was starting to think... I'unno, that something happened to you." She began flipping through the channels, her ears picking up the sound of the front door closing, followed by quiet, hesitant footsteps making their way toward the stairs. "Trying to get away already?" She smirked, glancing at the fourteen year old out of the corner of her eye, who froze still as a statue upon hearing her words.
"Wha-... N-No, just... I should probably feed Cosmo and Wanda, and I... I have a lot of homework, so..." Timmy gulped audibly, only just now realizing he was pressing his back against the wall, trying in vain to flatten himself against it and disappear from his babysitter's view. "Do you... Need me to do any chores, or...?"
"Mm..." The red-head hummed in thought, more for effect than anything else. "Just one, actually." She shot the teen a friendly grin, which only succeeded in unnerving him, if his slightly wincing expression was anything to go by. "Don't give me that look, it's nothing hard, I just want you to c'mere real quick." The girl invited him over, even going so far as to pull her legs a bit closer to herself so Timmy had ample room to sit down on the couch.
And yet, the brunet remained glued to the spot, his eyes briefly darting in the direction of the stairs, and up at the second floor hallway, before locking once more on his babysitter, who he knew was probably growing impatient at this point.
"C'mon, kick your sneakers off, leave your backpack at the foot of the stairs and come over here; I've never bitten you once in the six years we've known each other, and I'm not about to start now." The twenty year old attempted to reassure her charge, and couldn't help the amused smile forming on her face as Timmy stepped away from the wall, almost appearing to move in slow motion as he hesitantly slipped his sneakers off and slid them over next to the door with his left foot, while at the same time never taking his eyes off her.
With the knowledge that going against his babysitter's wishes generally carried far harsher consequences than just doing what she asked, Timmy slipped his backpack's shoulder straps off his right shoulder and set the bag down on the first step of the stairway leading to the second floor of his house, then cautiously shuffled over to the couch, before stopping just in front of the arm opposite the one occupied by Vicky's head.
"...You can sit down, y'know." Vicky stated in a low, matter-of-fact tone, nodding her head at the now freed up cushion just to Timmy's right.
"I-Uh... A-Alright..." Against his better judgment, the teen accepted his babysitter's offer and cautiously sat down, right up against the arm of the couch, keeping as much distance between himself and Vicky as he possibly could. "So... What was it you needed me to do, again?" He stared at the older girl, who in turn stared at the TV, though her gaze shifted back over to him as he finished speaking.
"That was it, just wanted you to have a seat, take a load off... Y'know?" Vicky shrugged, her tone even, friendly, and not bearing even a hint of the usual disdain it held when she talked to him.
"Er... Okay..." The fourteen year old responded bemusedly, his own gaze drifting away from his babysitter's to catch a quick glimpse of what she was watching, and quickly determining it to be some sort of slasher movie that took place on Valentine's day. "Well... I'm... Gonna head upstairs now, I guess." Timmy explained as he began to rise to his feet.
"Hey-" The red-head spoke up, her left foot darting out in front of her charge's lower abdomen, preventing him from standing up completely.
The shock of the girl's sudden, unexpected movement made Timmy flinch, and he subsequently fell back into a sitting position on the couch with a muffled thump. "Wh-What?" He questioned, his heart racing at the assumption that Vicky's leg had shot out with far more force than it actually had.
"Why don't you... Stay down here for a little while? Maybe... Keep your favorite babysitter company?" Again, the red-head shot her charge a smile that only seemed to further unnerve and perplex him, if the look of confusion and mild discomfort on his face was anything to go by. In an attempt to set him at ease and show that she was merely suggesting that he stay, and not commanding him to, she withdrew her leg from in front of him, bending it at the knee and laying it on top of the other one, returning it to its previous spot.
"Ehe... Th-That sounds... Nice-" The teen cringed, replacing 'nice' with 'horrible' in his head. "-But I have... A lot of homework..." He lied to the girl, this being one of the few days where none of his teachers had given him so much as a paragraph to read from one of his schoolbooks. "A-And Cosmo and Wanda are gonna need food, so... Um..." He nervously rubbed the back of his head, wondering why his evil babysitter, of all people; wanted him to keep her company.
"C'mon..." Vicky cut in, her voice bearing the absolute slightest hint of pleading in its tone. "I'll let you hold the remote~..." And in less than a second, the slight disappointment in her tone was gone, replaced by a more inviting, almost flirty inflection.
"That's... Okay. I don't mind what's on, I just..." The brunet trailed off, now feeling very much on edge thanks to his babysitter's downright bizarre behavior. Compared to the evil red-head he'd practically grown up with for the past six years or so, she was actually pretty pleasant to be around... Or she would be, were it not for the fact that he found her sudden change in attitude quite unsettling.
"Hanging out with me for a little while isn't going to kill you, Timmy. Just... Humor me. Relax, tell me about your day." The girl extended her leg toward her charge once more, giving the side of his thigh a gentle little nudge.
Whether it was due to his strange bond with the older girl, the childish naivete he still possessed, the fact that deep down some small part of him still hoped the two of them could salvage something akin to a friendship out of their mostly antagonistic relationship, or some combination of the three, Timmy began to relax a bit, the rapid pounding in his chest slowing down to a calm beat once again. "Knowing my luck, she's probably just messing with me, or trying to catch me off guard... What was it AJ called it? When you lure someone into a false sense of security?" The teen thought to himself as he slid back to recline against the couch. "I... I suppose I can stay... For a little while..." He finally replied sheepishly, watching as the older girl returned her attention to the TV, though she'd made it clear just a few short minutes ago that that didn't mean she wasn't listening. "Today was... Fine, I guess. A lot of people were... Y'know, giving each other chocolates and those little heart candies. A few... I mean, it's high school now, so a few people were trying to see how handsy they could get with their... 'Valentines'." The buck-toothed teen made air-quotes with his hands, knowing full well that his fellow students at Dimmsdale High were merely using the holiday as an excuse to be as open and obvious with their relationships as they could.
"Someone sounds a little envious..." Vicky grinned, giving Timmy another playful nudge with her foot, this one earning his attention as he looked down at said foot, then up at its owner. "Should I assume that little princess turned you down again?"
Timmy instantly picked up on the venomous edge in his babysitter's tone; she sounded almost exactly like Tootie did when she was referring to Trixie Tang, his longtime(and still very much unrequited) crush. In fact, her tone by itself was enough for Timmy to deduce that Trixie was exactly who Vicky was talking about. "Are you... Is everything alright, Vicky?" He questioned, now genuinely concerned by the way the red-head was acting. He'd made wishes to Cosmo and Wanda to make her nicer before, but not today, and certainly not anytime recently. The fact that she referred to Trixie, a girl that he was almost certain Vicky didn't even know, as 'that little princess' only further confirmed that something was amiss with the red-head.
"Far as I know, yeah. Why do you ask?" The twenty year old's attention shifted from the TV to her charge yet again, one eyebrow raised in a quizzical fashion.
"Well... You're, um... Acting kind of... Just a little... Weird, that's all." The teen gestured down at the girl's foot, still gently planted against the side of his thigh. "And... You aren't usually, uh... Nice to me, not unless... Do you want something from me? I can... Probably make you something to eat, or... Or do you maybe want me to ask my parents if they can give you a raise?" Timmy offered, his babysitter's friendliness steadily putting him more on edge once again. He began to wonder if he should see her demeanor as less her playing him, and more like something akin to the calm before a storm. He could definitely sense a certain electricity in the air, though his near constant exposure to his godparents' magic had made him realize a few years prior that the feeling of electricity before a storm or argument felt very similar to latent magical energy that fairy magic left behind, kind of like a sort of lingering static.
"Hehehe! No~... I think I can handle making my own food, Timmy." Vicky giggled, feeling somewhat flattered by her charge's offer. "And a raise? Your parents already pay me very well, kid. Not to mention, if I want a raise, I can ask them myself, no need for my favorite Twerp to act as a middle man, y'know?"
"Wha...? F-Favorite?" Timmy blushed a light shade of pink, unsure as to whether or not Vicky referring to him as her 'favorite' was a compliment or not. It most definitely sounded like one, but it was coming out of the entirely wrong person's mouth. "What is going on with her today? She's barely called me Twerp, she keeps brushing her foot up against my leg, she offered to let me pick what to watch on TV, and just now... She didn't even sound sarcastic when she said I'm her... Favorite?" The teen thought to himself, quickly surmising that he was entirely, one-hundred and ten percent out of his element, and he desperately needed to consult his godparents on... Whatever was wrong with his babysitter. He was genuinely worried now, as while every fiber of his being recognized that this was indeed Vicky, her attitude was just... Off, somehow. He considered wishing for the girl to go back to her old self right then and there, but age had taught him some restraint when it came to making wishes, making him consequently less impulsive than when he was ten. "I need to figure out what's actually wrong before I try to just wish it away... Might even be better to let her stay like this..." He mused to himself, finding that his babysitter's new found pleasantness was growing on him, bizarre as it was. "I... I'm gonna go feed Cosmo and Wanda real quick; if you want, I can... Maybe come back down afterward...?"
The red-head released a huff through her nose, but obliged nonetheless, pulling her leg back against her rear-end to curl up on the couch. "Fine, go feed your fish, but you'd better come back once you're done, I kinda like you keeping me company." She shot the teen a grin as she finished, causing him to look away as he felt an uncomfortable warmth bloom across his cheeks.
"Er... R-Right, I'll... I'll try to be quick." Timmy scooted forward off the couch and this time, successfully rose to his feet before returning to the stairs and grabbing his backpack as he ascended them to the second floor, his babysitter watching him all the while until he disappeared out of sight.
Now alone in the living room, Vicky's eyes widened a little, her brain, no longer distracted by the teen she referred to as 'the Twerp'; at last catching up with how she'd just acted around him. "Why did I tell him that? Since when do I like him keeping me company?" She asked herself, at the same time absently wondering why it had suddenly become so hard to just think straight around the teen. "Ngh..." She brought her hand up to her stomach again, gently rubbing it as the unfamiliar feeling from before resurfaced. Much like when she was outside, her stomach seemed to flutter a little, and her heartbeat sped up ever so slightly.
Now though, there was a third feeling, a twinge of sadness in her heart, a certain longing for the companionship Timmy's presence had brought, one she'd apparently only become aware of now that he'd gone upstairs and left her alone. It wasn't quite loneliness, as he was a trivially short distance away from her, but a part of her, however small; was starting to miss the teen.
"Something about him is different today... Didn't Tootie mention he'd be depressed since it's Valentine's day and Trixie was probably going to turn him down?" Vicky turned over to lay on her back and crossed her arms, her head titled down toward her chest as she closed her eyes to think. Unfortunately, the second her eyes were closed, the mental image of Timmy appeared in the girl's head, shooting her that same small, cute smile that made it impossible for her to concentrate. "No... C'mon, focus! He's cute, so what?" Her eyes shot back open as she evasively glanced at the TV, her cheeks sporting a slight dusting of pink at her own admission. "No, that's not what's different, he's always been cute, I just-" She paused, her vibrant pink eyes widening a little more. "Have I never noticed it before now? Or... Did I never care before now? So why do I care now, then?!"
Again, Vicky found herself growing frustrated amid thoughts of Timmy and closed her eyes, only to remember that she wasn't even safe in her own mind, as the mental image of him smiling at her with big, innocent blue eyes popped up at the forefront of her thoughts.
"Argh... Is he cuter or something?!" The red-head exclaimed, then took a deep breath, quickly calming herself down as she slowly opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling of the Turners' living room. "Why can't I get him out of my head? And... Why do I want to be nice to him? Why do I want to be around him...?" For now, the twenty year old found she could think at least somewhat clearly, something she was wholly unable to do when the fourteen year old plaguing her thoughts was within view. "Hah..." She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and closing her eyes once more. "Just what kind of bug bit me this morning?"
Meanwhile, upstairs...
"Phew." Timmy breathed a sigh of relief as he leaned against his bedroom door, his weight causing it to close while the knob made a comforting 'click'. The familiar surroundings of his bedroom allowed him to relax, his heartbeat returning to a more normal rhythm as he tossed his back pack to his right, next to his dresser.
"Long day at school, Timmy?" A distinctly feminine voice questioned from right next to Timmy's left ear, causing him to turn in said direction and find his fairy godmother, Wanda, in the form of a fist-sized pink spider; hanging from a silky thread.
"School? No, school was fine..." The teen brought both hands up, palms flat beneath his fairy godmother, allowing her to gently drop into them. With Wanda in hand, Timmy made his way over to his bed and sat down on it, his gaze focused on the crown-wearing pink arachnid in his hands.
"Really? You sound a bit down, Sport." Wanda questioned in her usual concerned, motherly tone. "Did Trixie turn you down again?"
"I... Actually, I completely forgot to even talk to Trixie today. There was this huge line of guys waiting to talk to her at lunch today, and I figured I'd wait until most of them were gone before going over... I guess I must've gotten distracted." The teen shrugged indifferently, his crush on the popular girl having waned over time, mostly due to his constantly being turned down by her. He still thought she was quite attractive, and doubted he'd be able to say no if she ever asked him out, but the dark-haired girl was no longer the first person on his mind when he started the day. "Anyway, I'm not down, so much as... Really confused... Wait, where's Cosmo?"
This question earned the brunet a flat, unimpressed look from his godmother, who pointed her let front leg up behind her godchild and to his right.
Timmy slowly turned toward the direction she was pointing, until his eyes fell on his green-haired fairy godfather in the corner of the ceiling of his room. Unlike Wanda, he was in his fairy form, and seemingly tangled up in a spiderweb, to the point that he was almost completely cocooned in silk, save for everything from his nose-up.
"Mm, M'mmy!" The fairy hummed through his bindings in greeting, his tone enough to indicate that he was happy to see his godchild, despite the predicament he found himself in.
"Sorry, Sweetie, would you mind...?" The pink spider in Timmy's hands trailed off, producing her wand after a moment to make her intentions clear.
"Oh, right... Um... I wish Cosmo was untangled?" Upon speaking the wish, Wanda's wand released a small spark, followed by a low poofing sound as the web Cosmo was caught in disappeared in a puff of purple smoke, in turn causing the green-haired fairy to drop straight down from the corner and land on Timmy's bed with a muffled thump. With that, the teen returned his attention to his godmother, raising an eyebrow at her expectantly. "Do I want to know?"
"It-It's not anything like... Like what you may be thinking!" Wanda raised her front legs defensively, shaking them back and forth at her godchild. "I just got bored and was trying to see what I could make with spider silk, that's all!"
"Yeah, and then I flew over and tried to touch the web she made-" Cosmo cut in excitedly, hovering just to Timmy's right.
"And it was sticky, you panicked, and tangled yourself up..." The brunet nodded in understanding, a slight smirk beginning to form on his face. "What would you two do without someone like me to wish you out of situations like that?"
"Probably spend a lot more time figuring out how to get out of these types of situations, for starters." Waving her wand a second time, Wanda poofed herself back into her fairy form, now floating above Timmy's hands, which he allowed to settle back down at his sides. "Now, back to what you were saying... What's got you confused, Timmy?"
"Oh! Er... Right, that..." The teen glanced away evasively, feeling a blush beginning to creep across his cheeks again. "Is there... Any reason a girl, not-Uh... Not naming any names here, but... Is there any reason a girl might... Act differently around me? Specifically... A certain girl I've known for... Roughly six... Or so years?" Timmy's voice steadily rose in pitch as he spoke, before finally trailing off in a high-pitched, nervous squeak.
"Maybe she likes you, Timmy. Six years is a long time to know someone, so maybe she's just now developing a crush on you-" Cosmo began, sidling up close to his godchild and putting his arm around the brunet's shoulders, only to be quite suddenly silenced by his wife, whose left hand shot out to pinch his lips closed with her thumb and index finger.
"So which of the two is it, Timmy?" Wanda questioned in a somewhat forceful manner, her eyes narrowed at her godchild's attempt at being coy and evasive.
"L-Likes me?! Why would Vicky- She couldn't possibly like... Me?!" Timmy thought to himself in horror as he considered what Cosmo had said, though some part of him had already been toying with the idea after how the red-head had acted around him in the living room. "Th-The two?" He stuttered out, instinctively leaning away slightly at his godmother's lowered tone of voice, which reminded him a little too much of Vicky whenever she was trying to probe him for information, or was just annoyed with him in general. "I d-don't- I mean, I know more than two girls, Wanda..."
"But there are only three you've known for six years, Timmy." The pinkette fairy lifted her free hand up, her ring, middle, and index fingers extended. "There's me, but I think I can rule myself out, since you're asking me about a certain girl treating you different-" Wanda lowered her ring finger, leaving only her middle and index fingers extended. "-Which only leaves Tootie..."
"Oh no, don't say it..." The brunet thought to himself, wincing a little in dread as he awaited the next name to leave the female fairy's mouth.
"Except Tootie's dating your friend Chester, I remember how happy you were when you told us, not only did your best friend get a girlfriend, but Tootie was finally going after someone else; you were ecstatic!" Wanda smiled, remembering how amusing it had been to watch her godchild practically bounce off the walls with happiness. "And that just leaves..." Her eyes widened a little as she lowered her middle finger, leaving just her index raised. The fairy quirked an eyebrow up at her husband, whose lips she was still pinching closed; and wondered if he'd merely assumed that Vicky was acting as though she liked Timmy, or if Cosmo had somehow picked up on some tell of Timmy's that she hadn't. "Timmy? Is... Vicky... Acting like... She likes you?" Wanda released her husband's lips, her arm limply dropping to her side in shock.
"I... I don't... M-Maybe...?" The brunet stared up at his godmother, his expression unsure and a bit desperate as he seemingly searched her face for answers. "She... She has been acting kind of strange since I got home today... I figured she was just trying to mess with me at first, but... I dunno, she's acting weirdly friendly, and even nice! Like, 'offering to let me pick what we should watch on TV' nice!"
"Hm..." Wanda hummed in thought and crossed her arms, adopting a contemplative pose. "Well, odd shifts in personality aren't unheard of in people, but... Something about her acting like you say she is on Valentine's day, of all days; seems... A bit too convenient. Give me a minute or two..." The pinkette vanished in a puff of purple-colored smoke, leaving Timmy alone with Cosmo.
"Er... Wanda? Where'd she go?" The teen turned to face his fairy godfather, shooting him a look of confusion.
"I think she's looking for something in our bedroom closet." Cosmo gestured at the small decorative castle in the fishbowl he and Wanda called home when they were in their goldfish forms. "Wanda sometimes hangs on to some of the things you wish for, just in case you might need them again." He looked over his wand as he finished, then shook it back and forth as he noticed a few remaining strands of spider silk hanging off it.
"That's... Actually not a bad idea, not like anyone's gonna go looking in there for... Well, anything really, nevermind stuff I've wished for." The teen shifted his right hand onto his knee and began drumming his fingers on it as he chanced a quick look at his alarm clock. Nervous as he was to be around this nicer, friendlier Vicky; keeping her waiting was making him even more nervous. "Hope Wanda doesn't take too long..." "Hey, uh... Cosmo?"
The green-haired fairy hovered a bit closer to the brunet, evidently sensing the slight distress in his voice. "Need something, Timmy?"
"Eh... I'm not sure if you're the best person to ask this, but... Part of me was thinking that maybe... Maybe it'd be better to just let Vicky... Kind of stay like this?" Timmy rubbed the back of his head in uncertainty. "I mean, if there's something wrong with her, that's another story, and I'll have to wish her better, obviously, but..."
"I don't see how it'd hurt anything, Timmy." Cosmo shrugged in a carefree manner. "Godparents aren't normally taken away from their godchildren just because the children aren't miserable anymore, and even if they were, I think the higher-ups would probably be willing to cut you some slack... The better question might be: do you like her like this?"
For a moment, the brunet was speechless. Cosmo every now and then had a rare moment of brilliance, but they were uncommon and random enough that even after six years, Timmy wasn't quite used to them, nor was he used to his godfather asking him tough questions like he just had. "I... I don't know." The teen admitted, his tone sounding a bit weary. "She is still Vicky, after all. It's not like... We're not exactly friends, y'know? What if I get used to her being nice, and one day she just decides to go back to how she used to be? What if this is all a trick, and I only think she's changed in some way...?"
"Can't say I really blame you for being a little wary..." Cosmo nodded in agreement with his teenaged godson. "It might be best to wait until Wanda finds what she's looking for then, I think-if it is what I think it is-it'll help you figure things out, then you can make a decision."
A mere couple of seconds after Cosmo finished speaking, Wanda reappeared, now holding a pair of somewhat plain-looking, black-rimmed eyeglasses with square frames. "Alright, I had a feeling we'd need these again..." The fairy remarked in a low tone of voice, mostly to herself, before displaying the recovered glasses in her outstretched hand to Timmy. "Remember these, Sport?"
"...Did you steal Elmer's glasses?" The brunet shot his fairy godmother a quizzical look, his right eyebrow raised ever so slightly.
"No, Timmy. I didn't steal anyone's anything. These are the glasses you wished for about a year ago that let you see in different spectra." Wanda reminded the teen, pointing out a small blue button on the rim of the glasses, just after the left lens.
"Spectra is the plural of spectrum, Timmy!" Cosmo leaned in to whisper to the teen, though despite using his hand to try and appear stealthy, his voice was still more than audible to anyone in earshot, Wanda included.
"Oh... Yeah, I remember these!" The brunet took the glasses out of his godmother's outstretched hand and looked them over, before unfolding them and slipping them on over his eyes. "They still work... Right?" He pressed the button on the side, causing the glasses to emit a low beep that slowly rose in volume until cutting out, followed by the words 'Normal Spectrum' appearing across the bottom of the left lens. "Aw! I forgot how awesome these are!" He briefly removed the spectacles and turned them around to face the glasses head-on. "Right, I wanted them to look like any normal pair of glasses, so you can only see the display when you're wearing them!" Timmy grinned and slipped the glasses back on, impressed by his thirteen year old self's idea. "Let's see..." He pressed the button on the side again, shifting the view to one that depicted his room in fluorescent shades of blues and greens, while he and his godparents were brighter shades of yellows, oranges, and reds; the word 'Thermal' now displayed across the bottom of the left lens.
"I think the one you're looking for is 'Magical', that setting should be... Number five, I think?" Wanda interjected, watching as Timmy held his hand up in front of his face with interest, and correctly assumed her godchild had switched the glasses to the 'X-Ray' setting. "The world should look normal, like the first setting, but anything magical that you wouldn't normally be able to see should give off a colorful sort of glow or aura, as well as... Timmy?" The pinkette queried, noticing that her godchild had fallen silent as he stared at her, wide-eyed, his cheeks blushing a deep shade of pink while his mouth gaped open ever so slightly.
"Ah! N-Nothing, nothing!" Timmy stammered out a flustered response as he blinked his eyes closed in embarrassment and pressed the button on the side of the glasses once again, the display across the left lens changing from 'Clothes-Ray' to 'Magical'. "I really forgot about that setting... I think I might... Hang onto these for a while..." The teen thought with a nervous hint of excitement, before opening his eyes and focusing on Wanda again, who now appeared clothed once more. "Aha..." He leaned in a little as he looked the pinkette up and down, her small form radiating a soft, pink light similar in color to her hair and eyes. A quick glance to his right revealed Cosmo to be radiating a similar aura, though his was green. "So... If you're giving me these to use..." Timmy lowered the glasses, siding them down onto the tip of his nose. "You think Vicky's acting like this... Because of magic?"
"It's definitely a possibility, Timmy. Think about it, today's Valentine's day, up until today Vicky was acting normal, but now she's suddenly being nice to you, and you seem to think that she likes you, so...?"
"Hm..." The teen cupped his chin in thought, mentally reviewing how his babysitter had acted around him when he was in the living room. It was true that she was being awfully friendly, and never before had she offered to let him use the remote when she was around. Not to mention the little playful nudges she'd been giving him with her foot when he was sitting with her on the couch. The most jarring thing had to be the smirks and grins she kept shooting him though, there was something about them that made him blush and look away, each one making the same, unwanted thought cross his mind: Vicky was kinda cute when she smiled like that.
The teen pushed his glasses back up in front of his eyes in a somewhat professional manner, relieved that the positioning of his hand hid the tinge of pink that appeared on his cheeks upon thinking of his babysitter as 'cute'. "Well... Wish me luck, you two." Timmy quietly stood up from his bed and tiptoed over to his door, trying to make as little noise as possible so Vicky's attention wouldn't be directed at the stairs; his intent being to carefully sneak down and scan her with his magic-detecting spectacles through the bannisters.
"Isn't that your job, Sweetie?" Wanda questioned with a grin.
"Ha-Ha." Timmy deadpanned in a flat tone of voice, shooting a disdainful glance over his shoulder at his godmother. With a final shake of his head, the teen carefully turned his bedroom doorknob and pulled the door open, then slipped back out into the hallway, shutting the door behind him and slowly turning the knob again to prevent it from making the audible click from before. "Why would someone use magic to make Vicky like me? Don't they have anything better to do?!" The brunet whispered out harshly to himself as he quietly made his way down the hall, then crouched down as he reached the edge of the stairs, taking note of the loud music coming from the TV that he assumed could only be from a chase scene in the slasher movie Vicky had been watching.
Slipping his feet over the edge of the first step, Timmy lowered himself down onto his rear-end and sat at the top of the stairs, then slowly made his way down them, one at a time; sliding his feet off the edge of each step to plant them on the next one down, then following with his bottom as he used his hands to gently lower himself down quietly. Once he reached the bannister, he knelt down onto the first step that allowed him to peek between the thin wooden columns and gazed intently at his babysitter, giving her body a once-over as he looked for any traces of magical energy, like what he'd seen being emitted by Cosmo and Wanda. "Huh... What is...?" He attempted to crane his neck forward as he noticed a slight aura emanating from his babysitter's upper right thigh, but flinched and pulled his head back as he unwittingly bumped his glasses against the bannister, producing a low clicking sound. "Argh... Darn it, I'm gonna have to go back down there to get a better look..." Sighing, Timmy pushed himself to his feet and descended the rest of the way down the stairs, the red-head occupying the couch turning to face the teen as his feet touched down on the living room floor.
"Took you long enough, I was getting a bit lonely, y'know..." Vicky remarked in a friendly, joking tone, the corners of her mouth tugging upward into a grin.
"Er... Yeah-Hehe..." Timmy brought his right hand up to his left bicep and rubbed it nervously. Part of his nervousness was due to the fact that he knew this was still Vicky, and she tended to make him nervous... Well, in general, but her new, friendly demeanor compounded the feeling many times over, leaving him torn between wanting to keep his guard up, in case the twenty year old's behavior was just a ruse; and wanting to enjoy the pleasant attitude she was exhibiting while it lasted.
Unfortunately, even with his new position at the bottom of the stairs, Timmy still couldn't quite make out the exact dimensions or shape of whatever magical signature was on the girl's body. All he could tell was that it was pink, a lighter pink than the aura around Wanda, but pink nonetheless, and that whatever the thing was, it appeared to be in her right back pocket. "Still want some... Company?" He shot the girl a small smile, not realizing the effect such smiles had on his babysitter.
"Heehee! Of course I do!" The older girl pulled her legs back against her rear-end, once again freeing up some space for the brunet on the couch. "I kept your spot warm for you." By now, the red-head was well aware of how downright bizarre her actions were, and was thus suitably confused by them herself, but something about the brunet's presence made her just... Not care. She felt a tickling warmth in her chest now that Timmy had rejoined her in the living room, and the light flutter in her stomach had grown stronger; nothing about these alien sensations felt like the person she knew she was in any way, and yet they felt so unquestionably right, to the point where she could no longer discern whether or not they had, in fact, been there all along. "Me, like Timmy? How could I- It's not like I buried any feelings for him... Right? He's just the Twerp, I don't... I mean, he is alright to be around, and he can be sweet sometimes... I guess. And he's cute too, that doesn't... He must have done something, somehow. I need- I need to ask him, figure out why I can't get him out of my head." Vicky thought to herself, trying her best to maintain her mental focus before her thoughts devolved back into ones she saw as those of some lovestruck little schoolgirl.
Unfortunately, her newly acquired affection for the brunet gave birth to curiosity about him, the question she meant to pose to him becoming jumbled and scattered, only to reform into something entirely unrelated to her query of why she couldn't focus around him. "What's with the specs?" She pointed at her own eyes with her right hand while nodding at the fourteen year old.
"Hm? Oh, these?" Timmy lightly touched the frame of the glasses he wore. "They're... Um... I'm trying out a new look?" He offered in a tone heavy with uncertainty, realizing as soon as the words left his mouth that he didn't sound convincing in the least.
"So they're not actually for anything, then? Just a pair of lenses in a frame?" The girl's grin faded a little, her expression becoming one of bemusement.
"Er... Yeah, pretty much." The teen adjusted the glasses again. "How-Uh... How do I look?"
"Honestly? ...Like a geek. Heehee!" The red-head giggled, shooting her charge a wide, beaming grin. "But I'unno, you look kinda cute too, in a way."
"Ehehe... Um... Thanks." Timmy blushed, noticing the heat radiating off his cheeks was slightly fogging up the lenses of his glasses. "Jeez, I wonder if she even realizes she's acting like this... Vicky's been really friendly when she wants something, but... Whatever this magic is, it has to be affecting her judgment, no way would she ever call me cute otherwise..." The brunet mused to himself as he took a few steps closer to his babysitter and settled himself back down on the cushion farthest from her. "So... Whatcha watching, anyway?" He turned his attention to the TV, hoping Vicky would do the same so he could get a better look at whatever his magic-detecting glasses had picked up on her.
"Just some dumb B-movie about a guy who was rejected on Valentine's day going on a killing spree the following year, he kills all these dumb teens in all sorts of elaborate ways and then cuts out their hearts to keep as trophies or something... The usual low-budget slasher film schtick." As she spoke, Vicky propped her head up with her hand, which itself was now balled up into a fist and pressing against her chin while she leaned on her elbow.
Timmy, meanwhile; found his gaze dropping down to his right thigh, the older girl's left leg extended as she gently pressed her foot against the side of his thigh and slid the sole of her stockinged foot up and down along his leg. He considered asking her why she was doing it, and even opened his mouth to speak, only to promptly close it as he realized this was exactly the opportunity he was waiting for.
He quickly glanced up at the red-head to confirm that she was still intently watching the TV, then allowed his gaze to wander down her body, before stopping at her somewhat shapely, well-formed rear-end. "Never noticed how nice her butt was before now-" The teen blinked his eyes closed, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand, rather than the strangely alluring sight of his babysitter's butt. Upon reopening his eyes, Timmy directed his attention at the twenty year old's right buttock, his blue orbs widening somewhat as he was finally able to make out the shape of the magical signature, which in turn allowed him to realize why Vicky was acting so friendly, and at times, even flirty.
In the middle of her right buttock, and thus, not in her back pocket like he'd assumed, was a light pink, slightly stylized heart, giving off a faint, similarly colored magical aura.
"A heart?" Timmy thought to himself as he slipped his glasses up and tucked them into his hair so they'd stay put, causing the heart-shaped mark he'd seen to disappear from view, though his gaze remained glued to the girl's rear-end. "So Wanda was right! It seemed too convenient because it is! Vicky must be under some kind of spell, and considering it's Valentine's day, and that there's only one person with magic capable of making people act... Like Vicky is-"
"Hey."
The teen was snapped out of his reverie by a familiar voice, causing him to look around for a moment, before glancing up in the direction said voice had come from, his blue eyes locking on Vicky's pink ones, now filled with some emotion he couldn't quite identify, though the message her gaze carried was crystal clear: he'd been caught.
"Should I take the way you're looking at my butt to mean that you're enjoying the view, Timmy?" The red-head smiled in an evil, almost hungry way, flashing her pearly white teeth at her charge.
"Um..." Timmy squeaked out, his voice cracking at the realization that he'd been caught and making him sound very much like his ten year old self again. "N-No, I wasn't... Uh... You-You don't understand, I was just trying to... Ah..." He stammered out, trying and failing to think up anything close to a plausible excuse. "I can't tell her the truth! 'Oh, I was looking at your butt to try and see if there was any magic on it'?! If she believes me, it'll basically be admitting that magic and fairy godparents exist, and even if she doesn't believe me, I might as well just lie and say I was just looking at her butt!" Timmy mentally screamed as his eyes darted around the living room, trying in vain to find a way out of this very awkward situation; all the while said situation growing more and more awkward with each passing second. "Argh... I'd better just- Crud, there's no way this'll end well..." "I was... Y'know... Looking at your butt... I just- I mean, it's... You've got a nice butt, alright?" He glanced away evasively, his cheeks turning cherry red and feeling like they were on fire. "Yay, maybe if I'm lucky, she'll only work me half to death with chores now..." Timmy thought to himself dejectedly, knowing his babysitter was mere seconds from verbally(or maybe even physically) laying into him.
Yet to the brunet's surprise, the first thing out of his babysitter's mouth was not an angry scream, a disgusted yell, or even the beginning of a stern-sounding lecture.
Instead, the girl did something that came completely out of left field for the teen. "Heehee! Hearing you say that- ...You have no idea how much of a relief it is!" The red-head slid her legs off the couch and shifted into a sitting position on the middle cushion, then tilted her head back and covered her face with both hands, leaving only her mouth uncovered. "This whole day I've thought something was wrong with me and me alone. I mean, the second I parked my car in the driveway here, I haven't been able to get you out of my head! I was just sitting here, waiting for you to get back... I couldn't focus on anything... And I just feel so weird and... And like fuzzy when you're around! I figured you must've somehow done something to me, but now..." Vicky slipped her hands off her face and titled her head forward, then turned to face her charge and scooted several inches closer before looping her left arm around his shoulders and pulling him flush against her into an(only mildly awkward) side-hug. "Now I don't feel so weird about it, because you're checking me out too!"
"Ah... Hehe... That's-Er... W-Well, I'm glad I... brought you a little peace of mind, then...?" Timmy squirmed a little in his babysitter's grip, though his struggling was half-hearted at best; his desire to leave the warm, affectionate embrace waning with each oddly comforting beat of the girl's heart in his right ear. At that very moment, all the horrible, unpleasant things Vicky had put him through seemed so far away, hazy, and unimportant, likely because for someone who'd been the bane of his childhood and treated him only marginally better than dirt at times... Vicky gave some pretty nice hugs.
"Hm-Hm!" The red-head hummed out a chuckle, feeling a bit giddy as the teen in her grasp ceased his struggles and relaxed. "Ya know... There is something else you can do for me, now that I think about it..." She stared down at Timmy, who in turn stared up at her with a quizzical expression, his cheeks still a bright shade of pink.
"Um... S-Sure, what do you need-Ack!" Before he could finish, Timmy cut himself off with a cry of surprise as Vicky unwound her arm from around his shoulders and roughly pushed him over onto his back, then lifted his legs up and swung them up onto the couch. With that done, the twenty year old quickly crawled over to him on her hands and knees, coming to a stop and holding herself up mere inches above him, her left hand planted on the couch just to the right of his face, while her right snaked it's way under him and around the small of his back, almost cradling the teen, in a way. "Y-You could've just asked me to lie dow- Wh-What are you d-doing anyway?!" The reality of the situation hit him like a slap to the face, his eyes widening as he realized how perfectly clear the older girl's actions were.
"Me? I'm celebrating Valentine's day, obviously." Vicky replied in a matter-of-fact tone, grinning down evilly at her captive. "And since I don't have any chocolates or heart candies to give you..." She licked her lips, the girl's cheeks now sporting a pink blush that rivaled the one on Timmy's face. "Well, I guess I'll have to make do with what I do have...!"