Vicky awoke with a start, she expected to still feel Heather's arm around her waist, but didn't, instead she woke up to Timmy's blue eyes.
"You okay?"
"Yeah... fine. Where's Heather?"
"Um... in the kitchen, she offered to make breakfast for us."
"Was she in here when you woke up? Wait why were you awake when I woke up?"
"I woke up before you, there's nothing wrong with me watching you sleep, is there?"
"Oh... no it's fine..." "Kinda sweet actually..."
"She wasn't in here when I woke up, but she was in here, I know that."
"How?"
"Neither of us have blonde hair?" he reached behind Vicky and pulled some strands of blonde hair off the pillow.
"She came in during the night, after we fell asleep, she muttered something about the bed being more comfortable than the couch and laid down, then wrapped her arm around my waist, y'know, like you do?"
"How do I always miss out on this awesome stuff that happens?!"
"Must be bad luck."
"Whatever it is, it seems that Heather has taken quite a liking to you."
"Perfect..."
"Could be worse, imagine if someone like Francis had a crush on me."
"Ugh... don't even... I might actually throw up from the mental image."
"See? Look on the bright side."
"Yo! Breakfast is ready! I'm not serving you in bed!"
"Y'know, she isn't trying to molest you or anything like that, she's just... forward with her affections... kinda like Tootie, except Tootie isn't so good at hiding how she feels, to be fair, I haven't seen anything to suggest that Heather feels the way you say she feels."
Vicky deadpanned at Timmy.
"I didn't say you weren't telling the truth, I merely said that I hadn't seen anything that might show Heather's feelings. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence... I forget who said that..."
"What?"
"What I'm saying is: I don't doubt what you say, but she isn't really hurting anyone, and to be fair, you don't even seem to mind all that much."
"Guys? I can eat all this by myself..."
"We're coming!"
"Too much information!"
"Wha? Oh! Not like that!"
"Couldn't resist! Now get out here! Food's getting cold!"
"Shall we?"
"You first, I'm gonna fix my hair." her hair didn't look too bad, and she never cared how she looked before... "Don't give me that look. I don't care how I look in front of you." she poked him in the chest for emphasis. "But in front of everyone else? I prefer to look put together."
"Alright, I'll see you out there." he gave her a quick peck on the lips and left the room, shutting the door behind him. He was greeted by a table full of eggs, bacon, waffles, and several other foods. "Heather... you didn't have to..."
"Oh, don't worry about it. You two sleep okay?"
"Yeah, took me a little while to get to sleep, I've always had a hard time getting to sleep in a new place, but I got to sleep eventually, once I did, I slept like a rock. How about you?"
"Oh, I slept great! But I was pretty tired yesterday, so I'm not surprised I was out so quickly."
"You didn't happen to sleep so good because you slipped into our room during the night, did ya?"
Heather smirked at Timmy. "Maybe..."
"Vicky told me; not to put you on the spot, but what's your angle?"
"Angle?"
"You've flirted with both of us, though slightly more with Vicky, so I'm just wondering, what's your deal?"
"I don't know what you mean, I'm just glad to have you both as friends."
"It's too early for me to get into it right now but, just don't push her too much, she's in a delicate place right now... also she's my girlfriend so..."
"Are you possessive of her?"
"Probably not as much as I should be, considering whatever it is you're trying to do, I just don't want her getting hurt. Your... advances might not be the best thing right now..."
"Hm... I'll keep that in mind."
"Thanks."
Vicky emerged from the bedroom fully clothed with her hair in a ponytail. "Whoa, what's with all the food?"
"I went to my place and brought up some things, I figured I kinda owed you guys for letting me sleep here after I passed out." Heather rubbed the back of her head and looked down, hoping to hide the blush on her cheeks.
"You're welcome to stay anytime you want, we're friends, and you've helped us out far more than necessary. But if you're gonna sleep in our room, knock first, I wouldn't want you walking in on Timmy and I..."
"Message received. Well... whenever you guys are ready, let me know, sounds like it'll be a busy day... and I get to meet your sister!" Heather nearly squealed with delight, then walked over and began playing one of Timmy's games.
Timmy looked at Vicky. "You don't think she'll...?"
"God, I hope not, not the best first impression, y'know? 'Hey Tootie, this is our landlady, she wants to fuck you.' Might come off as a bit strange."
Timmy coughed to try and cover up what Vicky had said, but it seemed Heather was too absorbed in her gaming to notice the conversation. "Keep it down! Anyway, I talked to her, she should calm down a bit with her advances toward you."
"I thought you didn't care about what she was doing?"
"Only if you don't, but right now I think you need some space. That conversation with your parents was pretty heated, so if you need some space from me too, just say so."
Vicky stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Timmy. "I would never push you away. But thanks... I don't suppose you were able to figure her out at all?"
"Not really, she tends to be pretty evasive when I ask her about it, but I don't think she wants to break us up, I think she just wants something like what we have, but without hurting us."
"Well, you being okay with her flirting with me is only encouraging her... and I don't know anyone who might want to date her..."
"Even if you did, she seems to be interested in you specifically, she hasn't even flirted with me since the last time."
"You haven't really been around her, it's been mostly me."
"So what? You want me to act as bait to prove a point?"
"No! Of course not! …Unless?"
"I'll think about it. For now, let's eat."
About an hour later...
Timmy, Vicky, and Heather arrived at the airport and looked around for Tootie. "Did she say she would be arriving in the morning?"
"Well... yeah, of course she did!" Vicky realized that they may have come far too early, Tootie was leaving today, but she didn't tell Vicky when.
"Anything we can use to identify her? I don't know what she looks like."
"Um... black hair in pigtails, glasses, kind of... nerdy looking..."
"Tootie has violet eyes."
"How do you know?"
"I could say because I have a way of noticing things, but as you know, she likes to try to kiss me a lot, I'm intimately familiar with her eye color." he noticed Heather grinning at him. "What?"
"Sounds like you're a real charmer with the ladies..."
"I didn't say that her advances were wanted, much of her attempts to woo me have been non-consensual actually."
"Hopefully she remembers what I told her then."
"What part?"
"The part where I said that you're mine."
"Vicky!" Vicky was hit with what seemed like a truck, in reality, it was her still sun-burnt sister. "I'm back! Finally, this sunburn was getting worse by the minute down there..."
Vicky laid on the floor for several seconds before pinching the bridge of her nose. "So this must be how it feels, eh Timmy?"
"Yeah, I'm just used to it, but the first few times she did it, I fell over too."
"Timmy?! You're here too?!" Tootie launched herself off Vicky and at Timmy, but stopped short. "Um..."
Timmy stuck his arms out at his sides, actually inviting her to hug him.
Tootie looked at Vicky questioningly. "What? He's still your friend, I'm not gonna get mad at you for hugging him."
Tootie's response was instantaneous as she flew at Timmy and wrapped her arms around him. "Timmy! I'm so happy you came here to welcome me home!"
He tipped slightly, but regained his balance. "It's nice to see you too Tootie." he returned the hug.
"Ah!" Tootie squirmed slightly in his grasp.
"Oh right, sunburn, sorry!" he released her and stepped back.
"Tootie, this is Heather, our landlady."
"You could just call me your friend."
"Our friend, she owns the building we live in."
Heather looked back and forth between Tootie and Vicky for several seconds. "Anyone ever tell you that you look nothing alike?"
"Sometimes."
"Nice to meet you Heather."
"Likewise, Vicky never told me her little sister was so cute!"
Timmy and Vicky both froze and looked back and forth between Heather and Tootie.
"Oh stop! You're gonna make me blush! But I appreciate the compliment!"
Vicky watched the mildly awkward conversation happening before her. "I don't think she realizes how Heather meant that..."
Timmy grabbed Tootie's suitcase and put it in the car. "We ought to get going, we still have to get the rest of Vicky's things from her house, and of course, Tootie's things as well."
An uncomfortable silence prevailed for most of the drive back to Vicky's house, which Tootie saw fit to break. "So how is the new place?"
"Pretty big, though it is a loft, so that's to be expected. There's still plenty of room for your things over there, so don't worry about what you can and can't take."
"Oh, okay. How are things between you guys?" she gestured between Timmy and Vicky.
"Umm... good..." Vicky still felt awkward talking about this with Tootie, why would she even bring it up? Though she couldn't just pretend it didn't exist either...
"Well that's good to hear, I was afraid that Vicky moving might complicate things between you two..."
"No, we're fine." Vicky dreaded the conversation she knew she'd have to have with Tootie later. "Heather has been helping me move my things to the new place."
"Oh! Thanks for helping me and my sister! I know she can be a pain sometimes..."
"Oh, I wouldn't say that, your sister is fine." she winked at Vicky.
"If only I had telepathy so I could tell her to shut up!"
"My truck should be enough for most of your things, but we'll have to leave the furniture for a moving van. Maybe you could call those guys you asked last time? They were pretty quiet, and even set everything up for you."
"Yeah, I'll give them a call later..."
With some effort, they were able to fit all of Vicky and Tootie's things in the truck, though, as predicted, they had to leave most of the furniture. As they drove into the city, Timmy decided to break the returning silence.
"So how are Chester and AJ doing? I haven't heard from them since... well, since I told them about Vicky and I..."
"Chester is doing fine, he doesn't seem to be bothered by the thought of you two going out anymore, although everytime I've talked to him, he seemed more out of it than usual, I think he may be smoking weed even more frequently than before... AJ... well, he's still pretty mad at you for what you did, not that I can really blame him. Did you really have to break his nose?"
"Did he really have to insult your sister?"
"Why what did he say?" Both Tootie and Vicky spoke at the same time.
"I'll admit, maybe I overreacted a little, but he didn't have the right to call her evil or say the things that he said, that she was irredeemable, there was no forgiveness for what she did..."
"Jeez, what a drama queen, does he even know of the things I used to do to you? If he did, he'd be begging me for what I did to him."
"Who knows? He seems to think that he got it the worst from you."
"I had no idea he said those things about Vicky, guess he conveniently skipped over those details..."
"He'll get over it eventually. So... what he said about wanting to date Trixie... was that true?"
"I don't know anything about that, he wants to date Trixie?"
"That's what he told me, but I dunno, maybe it was just a plot to knock me off balance, not that it worked, I've been over her for a while now."
"Hey, if you two ladies are finished discussing philosophy, we got things to do!"
Tootie looked at the blonde girl barking half-hearted orders, then back at Timmy.
"She's... kind of strange, but in an endearing sorta way."
They brought all the boxes and miscellaneous items from the house and left them in separate piles near the windows, one pile was Vicky's, the other, Tootie's.
"Wow! This place is cool!" Tootie ran around the loft looking at the furniture and occasionally stopping to look out at the city.
"Glad you like it, Toots."
Tootie continued surveying the loft but stopped in front of the aquarium. "Hm? Timmy? Aren't these your goldfish?" Wanda did her best impression of a goldfish while Cosmo continued sitting on the couch in front of his miniature flat screen.
"Well... I guess now would be a good time to tell you..." Timmy looked over at Vicky.
"Timmy's moving in here too, well technically he already has moved in." better to put it bluntly than to dance around the issue all day.
"R-Really?"
"Yep, I decided I've had enough of my parents."
"So we're... roommates?"
"Well... yeah, but there is one thing... I mean-"
"Tootie, I'm glad you live here, and you can stay here whenever you want, but sometimes I'd like to have... private time with Timmy. So I talked to Heather, and she said it's fine if you hang out with her whenever..."
"But... I don't really know Heather..."
Heather raised her hand as if in greeting. "Hey guys, I'm still here..."
"Tootie, I know that this is sudden, I don't have a problem with you being here to get adjusted, but I trust Heather-" she looked over at Heather, who smiled in gratitude. "And I'm asking you to trust both me and her..." "This couldn't possibly come back to bite me later..."
"Al-Alright, I guess it can't be too bad..."
"So you're okay with it? You'll be my roommate?" the excitement in Heather's voice was building.
"Yeah, I will- Eep!" Tootie was interrupted by a bear hug from Heather.
"It'll be great! We can stay up late, watch movies, play games..."
"Sun... burn..." Tootie squeaked out, her eyes were beginning to water from the pain.
"Oh shit! Sorry... I have some aloe at my place if you wanna come down..."
Tootie squeaked out an "mm-hm" and walked toward the door. Heather began to follow her but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder that twisted her around to face Vicky. "Something up?"
"I know it might be some harmless fun to you, and I would actually find it funny for Tootie to get a taste of her own medicine for what she used to do to Timmy, but please, don't be... you around her too much?"
"Vicky come on now, I know we haven't known each other long, but I wouldn't do something like that to your sister... unless she's cool with it!" Heather quickly ran out the door after Tootie.
"Wait! I-"
"She's gone Vicky..."
"Ugh... they'll be fine, right?"
Timmy looked unsure and rubbed the back of his head.
"Right?!"
"Yeah! They're fine! You're worrying too much..."
"That sounded convincing..."
"Ugh... you wanna know so bad, help me find the x-ray glasses. Then we'll know for sure."
"Where are they?"
"How should I know? Last I saw them, you were threatening to use them on me in the bathroom."
"Oh yeah! When we-" Vicky blushed at the thought.
"Yeah." Timmy blushed now as well.
Vicky went into the bedroom and returned after a few minutes with the glasses.
"They still work?"
Vicky put them on and hit the switch on the side. A smile grew across her face.
"I'll take that as a yes. So what are they doing? Vicky?"
Vicky continued to stare at Timmy.
"Hey! What are they doing?!"
"Oh! Right! I got distracted by... nevermind..." she began to walk around the apartment while looking at, or more precisely, through the floor. "Ugh... where are they?!"
"Not to sound like a pervert or anything..."
"It's too late for that, I already think you're a perv."
"Bedroom?"
"Wha? Oh God..."
"Calm down... it's probably not like that..."
Meanwhile...
Heather opened the door to her apartment and was followed in by Tootie. "I keep the aloe in the fridge."
"The fridge?"
"Cold feels nice on a sunburn."
Tootie looked around the loft, then at Heather.
"What?"
"You have almost nothing here!"
Heather looked around at her own living space, there was a carpet, a coffee table sat on the carpet, and a couch sat in front of the table. There was no TV, no computer, the rest of the house was fairly empty, in the kitchen there was a stove, fridge, and dishwasher, standard kitchen furniture, but the apartment was surprisingly spartan. "Meh, I don't need much. When you bring your stuff here, you can put it wherever, or you can keep it upstairs, if you prefer."
"I'll worry about that later, aloe?"
"Right." Heather walked over to the fridge and grabbed the bottle of aloe. "Here." she handed Tootie the bottle then collapsed onto the couch. "I am so tired..."
"It's only three in the afternoon!"
"I helped your sister and her boyfriend move in, then I helped you move in, I need to rest..." she noticed Tootie had begun to put the aloe on her sun burns and turned over to face the back of the couch. "Alright, just don't think about it, just think about... something else..."
"Hey Heather, you mind getting my back?"
"Shit! I'm actively trying to avoid these situations, and now I'm getting pulled into one!" "I don't know about this... I have uh... really knobby hands! Yeah..."
"Who cares? I'm not asking for a massage, just to put some of this on my back." Tootie stood before Heather in just her bra and skirt.
"Where did her shirt go?! Gods... or whoever is listening out there, grant me strength..." "Uh... sure..." she put a glob of the blue goop in her hands.
"Thanks! ...Is your face red?"
"No... you're imagining it."
"Hm... must be from when you were laying down..." Tootie sat down in front of Heather.
"Okay... now, hold still, it'll be cold..." Heather began rubbing the aloe onto Tootie's back, she felt Tootie tense up for several seconds before relaxing. "Told you it would be cold."
"Your hands aren't knobby... but they are shaking..."
"Huh... my bloodsugar must be low from all that heavy lifting..." "That's convincing, right?"
"You gonna be okay?"
"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just need to grab something to drink. There, all done." Heather stood and went into the kitchen to wash her hands.
"Thanks."
"No problem. I'm gonna take a nap, so if you wanna go back upstairs, go ahead. I'll be up in a few hours..." Heather opened her bedroom door and fell into her bed.
Tootie followed and looked around upon entering the room, it too was fairly empty like the rest of the loft, just a bed, dresser and wardrobe. "Not a fan of material possessions?"
"When I moved out here, I left most of my things behind to start fresh, and I only buy what I need."
"Oh... Is there anything I can get you before I leave?"
"Yeah, mind pulling my comforter over me? I'd do it myself but... I'm lazy."
"Sure." Tootie did as she asked then stood in front of her, she could only see Heather from her nose up, the rest of her was covered up.
Heather blinked, then spoke. "You should probably get dressed..."
Tootie looked down and realized she hadn't put her shirt back on yet. "Eep!" Tootie immediately turned a shade of scarlet and sprinted out of the bedroom. Heather watched her leave and snickered at how flustered she became.
Back in Vicky's apartment...
"Where did her shirt go?!"
"Huh?!"
"She's down there in Heather's room without a shirt on!"
"Wow... Heather works fast..."
"This isn't funny!"
"It's kinda funny. Maybe it isn't like you think..."
"What other reason could my sister have for being shirtless in Heather's bedroom?!"
"Maybe... uh... Yeah, I got nothing."
"Damn it all! I thought I could stop killing people for a while after Ricky, yet here I am..." she grabbed a broadsword off the wall. "Having to kill someone!"
"Vicky, I think you need to calm down, there wasn't nearly enough time for them to do anything you may be thinking of anyway... maybe... maybe Tootie just asked her to put aloe on her back?"
Vicky stood for several seconds in thought. Maybe he was right, it was easier to ask someone else than to try and put it on her own back... She took off the x-ray glasses and hung her sword back up, before sighing loudly. "You're probably right, I guess I'm just playing the role of the overprotective older sister..."
"Remember, we can't ask her about it either, I wished for those, they're magic glasses..."
"So?"
"So?! I told you, nobody can know about Cosmo and Wanda, if anyone finds out, we'll lose them forever!"
"Oh yeah... Why did you agree to Tootie moving in with us then?!"
"Because she's your sister and my friend, I wouldn't want you to turn her away... And second, I've kept them a secret for years now, Hell, you didn't even know for sure until a few weeks ago. I think I can keep them a secret from Tootie."
"So why are you telling me this?"
"I'm not saying you'd do anything to make Cosmo and Wanda disappear on purpose, but if you ever let anything slip... or you weren't careful one day..."
"Don't you trust me?"
"Don't do that, you know I do, it isn't about trust, it's about being careful."
"I'm careful..."
"You almost went downstairs to murder Heather because of a misunderstanding."
"I'm usually careful."
"Just watch yourself around Tootie... And no murdering people! Especially not our friends!"
"Ugh... you take all the fun out of life..."
The apartment door suddenly burst open and Tootie ran in, quickly shutting it behind her.
"Hey Tootie, you okay? Your face is... a little red."
"Oh! I just ran up here! I'm a little out of breath..."
"So Heather's pretty nice, huh? How does her place look by the way? Neither of us have seen it." Vicky had seen it through the glasses, but she was keeping up appearances. She hoped neither Timmy not Tootie noticed the edge she put into the word 'nice'.
"It's... well, kinda empty, she doesn't even have a TV! There's barely any furniture at all, she claims she isn't a big fan of all those material possessions..."
"Okay... well it's up to you where you wanna keep your stuff, there's still plenty of room here, or you can keep it at her place... Where is Heather anyway?"
"She was pretty tired after helping us move, she said she'd take a nap and come visit later today."
"I should've guessed..."
"So you guys just decided to move in together?"
"Well... Vicky apparently had planned on moving out for a while, but she only told me recently, and then she asked me to move in with her."
"And you did? Just like that? It seems a little... spur of the moment, don't ya think?"
"I told you and the guys, I lo-... Are you sure you wanna talk about this?"
"I brought it up, didn't I?"
"Yeah, but... I don't want to make you uncomfortable, or upset you..."
"Timmy. Seriously, I'm over it. If you love my sister, then that's fine with me. I was already beginning to get over you, really. I just... kinda freaked out when I heard the news, I thought... I don't know what I thought."
"Well that's why I moved out, because I love Vicky, and well... you know how my parents are..."
"Yeah, you've told me. Have you told them about this yet?"
"Er... no. I've been putting it off..."
"Don't you think you should tell them?"
"I will... when I'm ready."
"Have they called this summer? Like at all?"
"...No, they haven't, even your parents talked to Vicky, but mine..."
"Oh... I'm sorry..."
"It's not your fault." the subject had quickly made Timmy feel depressed, he went over to the couch and began playing one of his video games.
Vicky walked over and stood next to Tootie, who was watching Timmy. "Don't worry too much about him, I know you probably aren't used to seeing him like this, but he'll be fine, he gets like this lately when his parents are brought up..."
"I've never seen him this depressed... what happened over the summer?"
"A few things... he tried to hide it, but he was pretty shook up when I almost..."
"Vicky?"
Vicky wasn't sure if bringing up what had happened with Ricky was a good idea, Tootie worried enough already. "You remember Ricky?"
"Your ex? Yeah, why?"
"He came by a few weeks ago, he tried to kill us."
"What?! Are you okay?!"
"Keep it down!" She looked at Timmy, who was looking at her and Tootie.
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah, no worries, everything's fine! I just don't want her waking up Heather."
"Oh... right." he returned his attention to his game.
"Yeah, we're fine now, but I got pretty badly hurt, Timmy took care of me though. He was worried, the look on his face... I've never seen him so scared... He tries to hide his feelings on things, but sometimes they come out. Bringing up his parents? That was a trigger."
"Oh... What about Ricky?"
"Timmy's worried that when his parents return, they won't be mad at him. As for Ricky... we don't have to worry about him, not ever again."
"What did you do to Ricky? ...And Timmy's worried they won't be mad?"
"I took care of Ricky, permanently. No more questions on that. Timmy's worried they won't be anything... they won't care, that they'll feel nothing..."
"They wouldn't..."
"I told him already, but if they do... we have to be there for him, you know what depression can do to people."
"Yeah..." when Timmy had rejected her the last time, she had fallen into a deep depression for a while, the only reason she had gotten through it was because of Vicky, and when Timmy told her he wanted to be friends. That had snapped her out of it.
"Just be careful around that subject, alright?"
"Gotcha."
"Timmy! Got room for two more?"
A smile quickly re-appeared on Timmy's face. "Sure!"
A few hours later in Heather's apartment...
Heather tossed and turned a bit in her sleep, then rolled over, and off the bed. "Ow..." she sat up and untangled herself from the comforter. "I thought by buying a queen size bed I'd stop rolling out of it... Then again, I thought these nightmares would stop over two years ago..." the nightmares were the real reason she slept so much, she had a very difficult time getting a full nights sleep.
"What time is it anyway?" she looked at her phone. "Nine... they're probably still awake." for the first time in a long time, she realized not only how empty her apartment seemed, but how lonely it felt. "Hah... brings back memories of..." she trailed off and smelled the air. "Ick... smells like... copper." she felt her nose, expecting to find that it was bleeding, it wasn't. She began to feel increasingly uneasy in her own living space.
"Well, time to see what those three are up to! No reason to stay here!" she quickly changed into a pair of dark green shorts and an orange t-shirt, then hastily left her apartment and headed up one floor and knocked on the door.
"I'll get it!" it sounded like Timmy. The door opened to reveal she had guessed correctly. "Oh, hey Heather, you sleep alright?"
"About as well as can be expected..."
"You still look pretty tired. No offense." he walked away from the door, then looked back. "This vampire shit has to go, if I walk away from the door and don't close it in your face, it's pretty safe to assume I'm inviting you in."
"Hm? Oh... sorry, I'm just spacing out over here..." she followed him in and shut the door behind her.
"Vicky, I found a blonde girl by herself on the doorstep, can we keep her? Please?" he pointed his thumb over his shoulder at Heather.
"First goldfish, then my sister, now pretty blonde strangers? What am I gonna do with you?"
"Oh, so you think I'm pretty?" Heather fluttered her eyelashes.
"Well I don't think you're ugly, so..."
"The two of you really like to pour on the charm, huh?"
"No, these two are just acting like this cause they're in love, the niceness is just a side effect." Tootie interrupted.
"Please excuse my sister, she's in a sour mood because Timmy and I have been destroying her at this game."
"It's two against one! I'd hardly call that fair!"
"You have a computer controlled ally, set to level nine I might add, are you saying Timmy and I are above level nine?"
"Only when you work together..."
"Got room for a fourth? Maybe I can even the odds..."
Tootie looked at Heather skeptically. "You sure? I didn't see any games at your place..."
"I'm a fast learner." she jumped onto the couch next to Tootie and grabbed a controller.
The game did not go as Heather had planned, she thought she had the upper hand, but the teamwork between her opponents was too good, even with Tootie's help. Whenever she defeated Timmy, Vicky would heal him, and vice versa. And whenever she stopped to heal Tootie, or the other way around, they would strike. Eventually, she and Tootie lost, and Heather hung her head in defeat. "You guys are too good... haven't you ever heard of going easy on us new players...?"
"To go easy on you would be to insult your abilities. I play to win, the only time I might go easy on you is if I want to prolong the fight as long as possible."
"To toy with us? Like a cat would a mouse?"
"Exactly. Right Timmy?"
"Uh... I mostly play for fun, actually."
"Wait, so you weren't fighting us seriously?"
"Not really, I was doing what Vicky said she does, if I played seriously, you wouldn't last five minutes, no offense. And before you suggest this is idle boasting, it isn't."
"I want a rematch!"
"You sure? It won't end well..."
"We'll see about that."
Five minutes. That was how long it took for Timmy to burn through all forty of Heather and Tootie's combined lives. Vicky had gotten them a few times too, but neither her nor Timmy had lost any, whenever they went after Vicky, Timmy was right there to back her up, in short, they never stood a chance. "Alright then, it seems you weren't bluffing. You know what they say about fast and dextrous hands, right Vicky?" she narrowed her eyes and smiled at Vicky.
Tootie looked at Heather and then turned her head to Vicky, not noticing the pillow that flew over her head and connected with Heather's face. "What do they say?"
"That... people with fast and dextrous hands are... really good at cooking! Yeah..."
"Oh really? I've never heard that before..."
Heather pulled the pillow off her face. "Well I can attest that Timmy is a very good cook."
"That's good for you Vicky, you can't cook to save your life- Oof!" Tootie was interrupted by a pillow slamming into her, knocking her into Heather, who caught her.
"Show some respect or feel my pillow enhanced wrath!"
There was silence for several seconds.
"Vicky that doesn't sound very- Mph!" Timmy was interrupted by a pillow this time. "I'm not having-" he was interrupted by another pillow. "A pillow fight with-" again, he was hit by a pillow. "You!" he was hit with yet another pillow. "How many pillows do you even have?!"
Vicky froze midway through pulling a pillow from between the couch cushions. "A few..."
Timmy lunged forward and in a surprising burst of strength, lifted Vicky and the cushion she was sitting on up, causing her to tumble into Tootie and Heather. Timmy looked at where the cushion once sat to see that the springs of the couch had been replaced by a mound of pillows, so packed in were they that you couldn't tell the springs weren't there when you sat down. "Did you plan some sort of pillow war at some point?!"
"You never know when you'll need pillows, this couch I got has a storage compartment, I filled it with pillows, some I stole when I went on vacation, some I stole from the store..."
"Why?!"
"Well duh, in case I ever had a pillow fight. Why else would I-" she was interrupted by a pillow flying at her head, which she dodged effortlessly, causing it to hit Tootie instead.
Tootie moved the pillow and felt her glasses to see if they broke. "Hey! What did I do?!"
"You were a casualty of war." Timmy remarked nonchalantly.
"Oh, it's war alright..." Tootie grabbed the pillow Timmy threw at her and fluffed it, causing it to make a sound not unlike a shotgun being cocked. She looked up at Heather from her sitting position in her lap. "Heather?"
"Oh hell yes! It would be an honor to stand by your side against these lovebirds!" Heather picked up her own pillow.
Vicky scoffed at the two girls before her and Timmy. "What? Two losses not enough for you? Gonna go for the hat trick of losses?"
"You might be surprised, I know how to wield a melee weapon..."
"As do I..."
The next few hours were filled with sounds of thumping and thudding as pillows were tossed furiously from one side of the loft to the other and then back again. The seniors on the lower floors experienced flashbacks of when they were in wars and hid under their beds, waiting for the end to come, when the downy feathers of war finally settled, all four of the lofts occupants were panting in exhaustion. Vicky held out her hand to Tootie. "Truce?"
"For... now..." Tootie shook Vicky's hand.
Vicky looked at the clock. "Well, seeing as how it's one in the morning, I suggest we all get some sleep, Heather looks ready to collapse."
"Hey! I didn't get much sleep is all!"
"Well then, now is a good time ain't it?"
Heather waved at Vicky dismissively.
"Tootie, you mind taking the couch?"
"Kind of..."
"Well you could always take the top bunk in our room..."
"Umm..." they all looked at Heather.
"Heather?"
"She could sleep at my place, I have a queen size bed, more than big enough for two people... Er... if you don't mind sharing a bed, Tootie."
Vicky spoke first. "I don't think..."
"I suppose that'd be alright... Nothing wrong with two girls sharing a bed, right?"
"Well, no but..."
Heather interrupted Vicky. "Then it's settled. You wanna grab some sleeping clothes?"
"Yeah." she opened her suitcase and pulled out a pair of black shorts and a purple tank-top.
"Bathroom's over there." Vicky pointed to a door near the kitchen.
Tootie walked to the bathroom and shut the door behind her.
Timmy looked at Vicky.
"What?"
"You and her have very similar taste in sleepwear."
"Don't look at me, I don't give her advice about what she wears, that's why she dresses so similarly to the way she did when you first met her, to be honest, she tries to get me to wear different clothes."
Tootie emerged from the bathroom in the tank-top and black shorts, they were slightly more conservative than Vicky's, but not much.
Timmy looked her over. "How's that sunburn?"
"It's not as bad... but I think I should put some aloe on my legs, they still hurt a little." Tootie rubbed her thighs lightly, such a thing might have caught Timmy's attention at one time, but not now.
Heather on the other hand, put her hand up to her nose, trying to cover up a nose bleed.
"Heather? You alright?" He saw the red trickle a second before she put her hand over it, and was reminded of the incident in the bathroom with Vicky.
"Oh yeah, just a little nosebleed, I get them on really rare occasions. But I'm fine, really. You ready to head out Tootie?"
"Yeah, goodnight Vicky, goodnight Timmy."
"Night Tootie, Heather." Vicky watched them leave and waited until she heard them descending the stairs before she turned to Timmy. "Did... did I just make a mistake?"
"Possibly, you did just let our overly affectionate friend take your overly affectionate, towards me anyway, sister down to her apartment so they could sleep in the same bed. Then again, they did just weasel out of helping us clean up..." he gestured around the room, there were pillows scattered everywhere, some were seemingly embedded in walls, one was stuck to the ceiling.
"How... how is that even possible? Wait, why do I even care? Just wish it cleaned up."
"Wanda? I wish-"
There was a poofing sound as all the pillows disappeared and reappeared in the couch. "I overheard your conversation." Wanda hadn't even bothered to poof out of her fish form, yet continued to read some magazine.
"Thanks Wanda!" Timmy and Vicky spoke at the same time.
"No problem."
"I suppose we should get to bed..." Timmy turned back to Vicky to find she had put the x-ray glasses back on. "Hey!" he snatched them away and put them on the table. "Leave it alone! Heather said she wouldn't do anything without Tootie consenting!"
"But... but... she's only fourteen! What if she doesn't know any better?"
"I'm only fourteen! You know I don't regret my decision to be in a relationship with you, and Tootie's smart, she'll know better, quit worrying, you're only stressing yourself out."
Vicky groaned in defeat. "Fine... I'll leave it alone."
Back in Heather's apartment...
"Oh! Before I forget... not to put you off, but I have a bit of a bad habit when I sleep... well, bad depending on who you ask."
"What's that?"
"I tend to be a bit of a... cuddler in my sleep."
"Okay?"
"Just warning you, it normally isn't a problem, but if I sleep in the same bed... well, just don't be surprised if you wake up closer to me than when you went to sleep."
"Um... it's fine..." thoughts of her waking up in the middle of the night with Heather wrapped around her swam through her head, causing her to blush lightly.
"Okay then." Heather walked to the bedroom and entered it, followed closely by Tootie. Heather climbed into bed and wrapped the comforter around herself. Tootie climbed into bed and laid down a few feet away, then shivered, the air conditioner was still on, but she didn't want to shut it off, it was Heather's house after all.
Heather watched Tootie for several minutes as she shivered. "Oh just come here!"
Tootie felt an arm wrap around her waist and pull her under the comforter, Heather felt her tense up at their closeness.
"I'm not turning off the air conditioner, and I'm not letting you freeze to death stubbornly, so you might as well get comfortable..." she felt Tootie relax in her grip. "Also, you shouldn't sleep with your glasses on." she took off Tootie's glasses and put them on the bedside table, eliciting a squeak of surprise from her. "Maybe I'll be able to sleep through the night tonight as well..." she pulled Tootie closer to her.
Tootie was blushing more than she ever had, she didn't expect to get any sleep tonight, and she certainly didn't expect Heather to be... like this. "Well now I understand those strange looks Vicky gave her..."
A/N: Damn, this one took forever, it was actually finished last night, but I didn't have time to upload it. Sorry! Next update on Monday.