A/N
The piercings intrigue me.
Ashley's face lit up as she spotted a car pull up in front of the Sanctuary gates, a familiar face all but falling out of the passenger door and stumbling inside. He called something to the driver and waved him off, heading for the front door. Ashley leapt away from the window and dashed downstairs, hearing Henry fumbling for his key on the other side. She opened the door.
"Henry!" she cried, "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
Henry's grin was sheepish. "Nah, Ash, no idea. Why?"
"2am." She told him matter-of-factly. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
Henry seemed to think about this for a second. Then he began to giggle. "That I am feeling awesome, Ash-leeey. Hey, what do we have to eat?" He pushed past her into the house, his arms flailing wildly as he stumbled.
Ashley's face broke into a grin. Oh God. This was too perfect.
"You're drunk." She said. Henry shook his head vehemently.
"Nah, just..." his voice took on a faint English accent, "a little bit tipsy." He erupted into another fit of giggles. "Have you ever noticed how funny stuff is?"
"Stuff?"Ashley enquired as she let him to the kitchen. She had no idea what she was supposed to do, but she figured water would be a good place to start.
"Yeah! Like... everything. Hey, hey Ashley. Your shoe is untied."
"Henry, I'm not wearing any shoes."
"I know!" Then he was laughing again and Ashley knew it would be impossible to get any sort of half-way decent response out of him. She sat him down at the kitchen table and poured him a glass of water. Henry eyed is suspiciously.
"What's this?"
"Water, stupid. You drink it."
"Oh. That's right. Do I have to?"
"Yes, Henry."
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
"Ugh, you're just like your mom."
Ashley felt a quick swell of pride, but her expression remained stern. "Drink it. Now."
Henry rolled his eyes but brought the glass to his lips. He gulped down a mouthful and grinned at her. "I'm drinking it Ash, see?" he said, his mouth still full of water. Two streaks of the clear liquid dribbled down his chin and dropped onto the counter. Ashley giggled.
"Yes Henry, I see. Keep drinking."
"I don't want to." He murmured, propping his chin up on his palm. His eyelids drooped and Ashley shook him awake.
"Drink." She ordered. Henry whined unhappily, but chugged down the rest of the water without complaint.
"I'm tired." He announced, getting shakily to his feet and feeling his way out of the kitchen. Ashley grabbed his wrist and gently pulled him along after her.
"Let's get you to bed then." She said softly, "How much did you drink, anyway?"
Henry frowned. "Uh... like... lots." He giggled again, closing his eyes and relying on Ashley to pull him along. "Rachel and Gerald had less than me, but they're not like me are they Ashy?"
Ashley was quiet for a moment. "No, Henry, I guess they're not."
"Gerald loves Rachel you know." Henry sighed, "But she doesn't know what to do about it. She said to me tonight, 'Oh Henry, you know I don't love him the same way'. That makes me sad, Ash. I wanna' help Gerald make Rachel love him."
"Sometimes you can't help who you do and don't love, Henry."
"Yeah... You're never allowed to love any boy but me okay? Boys are icky and stupid, remember that." Ashley grinned.
"Sure thing, Henry."
"Are we at my room yet?"
"Are you in bed yet?"
"No; duh. I thought you were supposed to be smart."
"Well then we're not at your room yet."
"Aw..."
When they finally arrived, Ashley opened the door and guided Henry to his bed. He collapsed onto it, patting the space beside him. She climbed on after him and snuggled up close to his side.
"I'm so drunk." Henry laughed loudly, his chest rising and falling rhythmically and his eyelids falling shut.
"Really? I had no idea."
"I thought it was pretty obvious, Ash."
"Sarcasm, dude."
"Oh! Haha – I get it now." Henry was laughing loudly than before, so Ashley chucked a pillow at his head to shut him up.
"Do you want to wake my mom up?"
Henry gasped. "No! No, no, shh. Ash, shh!" he whispered, looking adorably terrified.
"Okay, we'll be quiet. Don't worry, Henry. I'll take care of you." She said confidently. Henry hugged her tightly.
"You're the best." He yawned. "I had fun tonight, but it was kind of scary too."
"How?"
"I didn't like it at first, because all my senses were fu – I mean, screwing up. Everything was all fuzzy and I was panicking, but Rach was all nice and helped me calm down."
"So why'd you keep drinking then?"
"'Cos this is my body. I'm allowed to trash it if I want."
"Of course it's your body. Who else's body would it be?"
"It's." Henry mumbled sleepily, "I don't feel so good. Stay with me?"
Ashley smiled and patted his head. "Of course." Henry was out like a light within the next five minutes. Ashley snickered quietly. Tomorrow was going to be... interesting.
"Oh my God."
"I know."
Ashley looked a little horrified for a second. "Mom is going to murder you."
Henry gulped, quickly pulling his shirt back down over his torso. "Really?" He squeaked. "They're just a couple of piercings. I mean, it's really no big deal. I can pull them out if I want to and –"
"Dude." Ashley said with a laugh, "She won't give a damn about the piercings. She's going to freak out over the fact you have no idea where they came from."
"My killer headache's got to be some evidence as to where they came from." Henry moaned and gripped his head with both hands, "What time did I get home last night?"
"You stumbled in at around 2, looking seriously shattered." Ashley grinned, "I got a kick out of seeing you stumble around, trying to find your room before Mom found you."
"Very funny." Henry muttered, "I bet these things were Gerald's idea. That bastard."
"Your fault for getting drunk. Illegally, I might add." She pointed out with a smirk, "Honestly Henry, you should know better." Now that he was completely sober, Ashley had no problem with ragging him about it.
"First of all, you're just a kid. You shouldn't even know what drunk is." Henry glowered at her, "And secondly, shut up." He lifted his shirt to double check that he really did have two shiny silver piercings – one on his nipple, the other in his navel – and that it wasn't all some horrible nightmare. No, they were still there.
Oh God, he was going to be in so much shit when Doctor Magnus found out.
"I'm twelve," Ashley rolled her eyes, "Of course I know what drunk is."
"Well then I offer you this advice – don't ever bother trying it. The aftermath isn't much fun, kiddo."
"And I might end up with mysterious piercings in mysterious places upon my return to sobriety?" She snickered.
"That was a pretty fancy sentence for a twelve year old, Ash." Henry sighed, collapsing back on his bed and squeezing his eyes shut against the bright light of the early morning. Ashley stroked his hair.
"I'll go find you some painkillers and maybe slip Mom a lie or two. Tell her you're not feeling well or something."
"Thanks." Henry rolled onto his side, curling into a ball, "Oh God, this is so not awesome."
"At least you're learning from your mistakes." Ashley quipped brightly. Henry's hand searched for something to throw at her on his bedside table, finding a videogame case and hurling it in Ashley's general direction.
"Hurry up and make me better." Henry moaned. Ashley just snickered again and ducked out the door.
Seconds later, Henry heard a knock at his door. He rolled over onto his side, eyes half-lidded and a curse on his lips. "Ashley, if you're back to call out my stupidity some more –" His eyes widened and he hastily cut himself off. "D- Doctor Magnus!"
Helen Magnus looked the stereotypical disappointed mother. Her arms were folded tightly over her chest, and her eyebrows were raised slightly, her dark eyes demanding an explanation. "Hello, Henry." She said flatly, "Anything you'd like to say to me?"
"Uh... Um... I... I don't suppose there's any point in lying to you, is there?"
"None at all."
"Right. Well then, I guess you could say that last night Rachel, Gerald and I went out to have a little fun, and..." He gulped. "But I guess you know all that, don't you?"
"The security footage from last night was alarmingly insightful." She replied.
"I'm really sorry, Doctor Magnus. It was a stupid idea and I feel like absolute shit so no worries there." He mumbled, shrinking under the infamous intense gaze of Doctor Magnus.
Doctor Magnus sighed. "Let me see the piercings, Henry."
"You know about those?" Henry squeaked, "Oh, you don't need to see them, really. They're nothing, I promise."
"I just want to see them so I can decide if there's a risk of infection." Doctor Magnus explained, "Just show me."
Reluctantly, Henry lifted his shirt and winced when Doctor Magnus poked at the raw flesh with her finger. "Ow, Doc." He hissed.
"If you intend to keep those, you'll need to let me clean them properly to make sure they don't get infected. I'm assuming you have no idea how you came by them at all?" Doctor Magnus said absently, straightening up and staring at him. Henry's eyebrows furrowed.
"So all that shit about Werewolves and silver is crap, right Henry?"
Henry winced at Gerald's casual use of the W word but managed to laugh it off. He grinned. "Yeah. It's the same with all the vampire stories about garlic and wooden stakes."
"Feel like testing that theory?"
"What do you mean?"
"Get a piercing. Silver ring in the nipple or something – close to the heart." Gerald grinned and downed another gulp of vodka. Henry frowned. Rachel put her hand over his.
"You don't have to Henry; we all know those stories aren't true."
Henry shrugged. This was his body after all. Why shouldn't he get a piercing? He grinned at Gerald. "Ten bucks says I get a nipple ring. Deal?"
Gerald shook his hand once, laughing loudly. "Deal."
Henry shook his head. "Some stupid bet with Gerald." He felt in his pocket and drew out a ten dollar note. "I guess I won."
"I hope the ten dollars was worth it." Magnus said. "Come on, I have something that will stop infection."
Henry hesitated. "Doc... you're not... you're not mad at me are you?"
Magnus smiled and shook her head. "Not mad, Henry. Worried for your safety? Yes. I'm just sorry that I wasn't the one to get you safely to bed last night."
Henry shook his head. "Ashley had it covered... I'm kind of glad it was her and not you. That would've been uncomfortable in the morning."
Helen nodded. "You know Henry, what you do is your own responsibility and I trust you will face the consequences of your actions, but do remember that you've got nothing to prove."
Henry yawned and smiled. "Yeah, I know Doc. Thanks. Can we skip the infection meds for now? I really just wanna go back to sleep." The look on Magnus' face gave him his answer, and he sighed. "Yeah, yeah, okay. Sorry. Sleep later, I get it."
"Hey Henry, I got the aspirin and some coffee, and – Oh! Hey Mom..." Ashley stammered, her eyes flicking back and forth between Magnus and Henry. Henry shrugged.
"She knows."
"Well crap. Good luck Henry." Ashley flashed him a grin, set down the coffee and the painkillers and took off.
"Coward." Henry muttered.
"I'm not all that intimidating, am I?" Magnus asked in surprise. Henry bit his lip to keep from laughing.
"Nah, Doc. Not intimidating at all."
"Cheeky monkey."
