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"Ugh, c'mon."
Christine Kendall glances at the clock of her Pip-Boy. With an annoyed huff, she places her arm back underneath the stack of books she's carrying. Just before she grows impatient and leaves, she spots the boys coming down the hall, laughing and elbowing each other.
"Finally." She says as she stands a little taller.
Once her gaze meets Butch's, he waves to the gang, then jogs down the hall to meet her. Christine smiles in greeting.
"What took you so long?" She asks in her best pouty voice as she reaches a hand out to play with the zipper of his leather jacket.
"One of the Overseer's goons didn't like us hangin' out in the halls, so he took us in and gave us a talkin' to, told us he's 'got his eyes on us'."
"Uh-oh, not his eyes." Christine teases. Her fingers leave his zipper to trail along the line of his jaw. She takes his chin between her forefinger and thumb, then gives him a quick, soft kiss.
"Those guys don't scare me," Butch says with his usual overconfident smirk on his face, "they can watch an' talk all they want, but the Overseer don't care what we do, as long as we don't get into serious trouble."
"Bunch of big tough men they are, picking on a few kids."
Butch chuckles at her comment, leans in for another kiss, then he's putting his arm around her shoulders as they walk to the table where the Tunnel Snakes are lounging in the vault cafeteria. Books and papers lay strewn out and forgotten while Freddie, who's turned his notes into a little folded triangle, has his hands together to form a goal post while Wally attempts to flick the paper in for points. Susie and Paul watch with disinterest as they complain, like they do everyday, about Mr. Brotch's class.
"Hey lovebirds, took ya long enough." Wally greets the pair. He grins as the little paper football arches too high to make it through Freddie's fingers, but hits him right in the forehead.
"Ow." Freddie says simply, then stoops to retrieve the paper from the floor.
Butch pushes Wally's foot off the nearest chair for Christine, then steals a chair from a nearby table for himself.
"Whaddya losers doin' playin' paper football? What are you, ten?"
His only response is Wally blowing a bubble with his gum until it pops.
Butch sneers.
"Don't tell me you got your knives takin' up again."
Wally's brow furrow.
"Since that business a few weeks back, Pops makes me do a pat down to make sure I ain't got nothin' on me."
Freddie, who has taken great time and diligence into lining the paper triangle up, flicks the paper into what would be the perfect trajectory, if Wally hadn't moved his hands at the last moment.
Wally laughs at Freddie's small pout.
"I getchya every time, kiddo."
Butch reaches over to snatch the folded paper from Wally.
"Lemme show you how a pro does it."
"If we wanted to be wowed by your finger strength Butch, we'd just ask Chrissy." Wally says, which earns him a smack in the arm from his sister Susie.
Butch flicks the paper to Freddie who flinches, only to find it doesn't hit him in the face, but makes it through his fingers. He in turn is able to flick the paper through Butch's fingers, and earns himself his first point of the game. They do this a few more times before Christine notices the Doc's kid coming down the hall that enters into the cafeteria. Butch is suddenly on his feet, paper football forgotten.
"Whatchyu think you're doin' here girlie?"
Startled, she looks up from her book, and everyone else at the table stops what they're doing to watch.
When she offers no response, Butch takes a menacing step closer, and Christine tries to ignore that there's just inches of space between them.
"This is Snake territory, Nosebleed, and last I checked you weren't a Snake."
The girl sighs in the way a parent does with a petulant child and closes her book.
"Butch, just let me through, will you?"
"Can't do that."
"Look, I'm not going to 'be in your territory' or whatever, my table's on the other side of the cafeteria, I just need to walk through."
"Well march your happy little ass over to that entrance, then."
"That's ludicrous! It'll take me a whole ten minutes to backtrack and go that way!"
"Five if you run."
She stares at him, brows furrowed, mouth agape, until she shuts it and her jaw sets with resolve. Just as she starts to turn around and head back in the direction she came, he snatches the book from her.
"Butch!" She yells, voice nearly shrill as she begins to loose her temper. She jumps for it, but his reach is a few inches taller than hers.
"Butch give it back!" She half begs, half commands. His smirk has grown into a full on sneer as he dangles her book just out of reach, only to pull it away at the last moment. Realizing she's not going to get it back that way, she stops jumping and looks at him indignantly. Before she can try anything else, he haphazardly tosses the book into the table, where she doesn't dare approach. She knows she could easily guilt Paul or Freddie into giving her the book back, and some days she feels brave enough standing up to Butch, but never has she ever, and will never, take on Wally. So it's then she stomps away in tears, half in anger, half in frustration of the situation and in not understanding why they always pick on her.
Butch waits until he can no longer see her before returning to his seat.
Wally snickers and Freddie hastily joins in, never wanting to be the odd man left out. Paul simply stares at the tabletop in quiet shame; he learned long ago not to voice his objections or concerns.
"Better hope the lil' rat doesn't squeal." Wally says, nudging Butch's knee with the toe of his boot.
Butch snorts.
"An' what? Daddy Doc's gonna throw Stimpacks at me?"
This time Susie laughs and Freddie joins in. Wally loosens up, chuckles a bit, then grabs the book Butch had tossed over.
As for Christine, she can't seem to swallow down the bitter taste in her mouth.
She doesn't mind the bullying, she herself takes a few jabs at the great and holy Amata when she can; she understands wanting to knock the goody-two shoes off their judgemental high horses.
What bothers her is how keen he is in confronting her, and his uncanny ability to always know when she's approaching.
Like when they first started going steady, and she found him hanging out by the library. She asked him what he was doing, and he said waiting for Nosebleed, said she always came to the library after class on Wednesdays. She asked how he knew this and he simply shrugged. Of course, the moment the Doc's kid exited the library, Butch tripped her and her books went scattering down the hall, but it's always bothered Christine, that Butch knows a detail like that about her life.
Even now, as he snatches the book from Wally's hand in a way she feels is almost possessive, he keeps glancing at the entrance by the table where Amata is sat by herself.
He just seems too interested, she thinks, even for someone who's made it his life mission to make her existence miserable. After all, he doesn't pay this much attention to the other class mates they bully, or even to the guards.
She knows when she walks in, notices Butch's glance over the top of the book lingers and Christine finds herself looking in their direction, sees her talking very animatedly to Amata who keeps nodding between throwing glances their way.
She's decided she's had enough.
Christine stands from her chair, plucks the book from Butch's hands and she thinks ,'unbelievable, he's actually interested in it', she hasn't gotten him to return the last love note she sent him, but he'll skim through the Queen Geek's nerdy book.
She catches Amata's glance and her eyes grow bigger as Christine draws closer. She slams the book down with more force then necessary.
"Look here dorkwad, I'm gonna say this, and I'm gonna say this once, so listen up, and listen good. I don't know what kind of weird ass thing you've got going on with Butch, but I want you to stay the hell away from my boyfriend."
Her brows furrow and her nose crinkles and she looks at Christine with complete and utter confusion.
"It's not like I ever go looking for Butch, I always just seem to run into him."
"Well learn to walk around him, got it?"
She nods simply and Christine begins to feel paranoid, wonders if she's looking for things that aren't there. She slides the book over, straightens back out, then returns to the table.
"What was all that 'bout?" Butch asks curiously.
"Just teaching her a lesson." Christine replies, forgoing her chair to sit in Butch's lap.
"Oh yeah?" And it's not really a question. He slides one arm around her waist, has his hand splayed across her hip bone, while the other rests on her leg, just above her knee.
"Mmhmm." And it's not really an answer. She places her hands on either side of his face, brings her lips to his and kisses him long and slow. The gang cheers and whistles.
"Alright, alright." Butch says after breaking the kiss, but Christine isn't done with him. She trails her lips along his jaw, places a kiss on his neck right at his pulsepoint. His grip on her gets a little tighter. She brings her mouth to his ear.
"Wanna go somewhere a little more private?" She whispers. He has them on their feet in seconds.
"Where are you two goin'?" Wally asks, once again flicking the folded paper triangle into Freddie's face.
"To study." Susie says with a sly grin at Christine.
Wally sneers.
"Oh they're gonna study alright- each other's anatomy."
~*~
Christine giggles as she presses her back to the wall. Reaching out, she grabs Butch and draws him closer. He eagerly follows, brings his mouth to hers as he playfully runs his hands up and down her sides. She wraps her arms around his neck and stands on her tiptoes to deepen the kiss. She wishes he'd put his arms around her and hoist her up, pin her against the wall, then they could have some real fun. But before things can get too heated, a familiar set of footfalls echo down the hallway. Butch is pulling away before she can drag him in closer. He stands in the middle of the hall with his arms crossed over his chest as Nosebleed turns the corner.
"Well, well, well. Look who we got here."
She jumps and looks over her book with wide eyes, though it's mostly directed at Christine.
"Funny how we keep runnin' into each other. If I didn't know better, I'd think you liked gettin' your ass kicked."
His words sting Christine more than they do her.
"What are you doing here? I thought we had a talk?" Christine spits, unable to keep the venom born of jealousy from her voice.
"I thought- I thought I should go away, so I left the cafeteria! I thought I'd be safe going home using the back tunnels, because no one hardly uses them!"
Christine is rolling her eyes in an attempt to keep the tears at bay. With an angry swipe of her hand to move her air back into place, she storms down the hall.
Realizing something else entirely has just unfolded, Butch stares dumbfounded between the two girls.
"Wait, what? Chris where you goin'?"
"Somewhere I'm appreciated!" She shouts, uncaring how loud her voice is or who hears.
Butch's brow furrow together in confusion. He sighs and chases after Christine, though making sure to shove Nosebleed as he passes.
"Chris, wait! Chrissy!"
The gang is surprised to see Christine returning so soon. Noting her look of displeasure, Wally sneers.
"That bad, eh? Butch's never been good at biology."
She levels a hard stare at him, and he quickly drops his gaze, though he still chuckles to himself.
"Chris!" Butch says a little breathless from running as he comes up to the table. "The hell was all that 'bout?"
"You know damn good and well!"
"Whaddya all pissed for?"
She gives him a long, hard look, but all she sees is confusion.
She sighs, feels embarrassed and defeated. But she's made too much of a scene to just back down now.
"Her, Butch, I'm pissed about her."
"What?" He asks as he sits next to her. He attempts to put his arm around her, though she quickly swats it away.
"Y-You don't... You don't just know she goes to the damn library on Wednesdays Butch, you damn well wait for her too."
"Well I can't go in there. The ol' lady'll yell at me."
"You know when her birthday is!"
"Yeah, her ol' man makes her wear that stupid lil' pin that says 'it's my birthday'."
"When's my birthday Butch?"
"Er, uhhh..."
"And you wait for her after class, to scatter her books and shit down the hall. And you know when she goes to hang out with Amata, know to follow her from the clinic to Amata's apartment to give her a hard time. And you sit behind her in class just to stick gum in her hair! You've never sat behind me in class, even when we first started going steady!"
"Well, I mean, you never asked?"
"I shouldn't have to ask Butch, I'm your girlfriend! But you, you just know all these things about her. You spend all your time on her. It's like in some sick, twisted way you like her or something!"
"What? Christine, you're bein' ... crazy! That's crazy!" Butch says indignantly, his voice getting a little loud.
"Right?" He asks as he looks around the table.
Christine expects the them all to erupt with laughter, for them to tell her what a silly little girl she's being for acting so paranoid. Instead, she's met with thoughtful glances.
"Dunno Butchie-Boy, your girl's gotta point." Wally says.
"How?" Butch asks, his brows drawn together angrily and his mouth turned into a near snarl.
"You do seem to spend a lot of time chasing the Doc's kid around." Paul chimes in.
"That don't mean I like her! She just gets on my nerves!"
"If she gets on your nerves so much, then why don't you spend more time avoiding her?" Christine asks quietly.
Butch turns his attention back to her, opens his mouth defiantly, but no words come from his lips. She watches as he slowly closes his mouth and his expression turns to something more soft.
"I dunno," he says at last with a shrug, " it's just what I do, I guess."
Butch and Christine share a long, hard look.
"Okay, fine. If it'll make you happy for me to stop pickin' on her so much, than I will, okay?"
Christine drops her gaze, stares at her hands in her lap as she mulls it over, before returning her gaze.
"Yeah, okay."
He smiles, and this time she lets him put his arm around her shoulders.