Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Flufftober day 1
Anniversary

There’s a problem…well not exactly. It's David and I’s 1st anniversary tonight and one might think ‘Wow I can’t believe we actually made it to a year, let's celebrate!’ but all I can think about is ‘woah what the hell do I do’. Here's the problem: the two of us have known each other for 11 years and when you know someone for that long you tend to run out of things to do. There’s nowhere special you can take that person anymore without it seeming basic or already having memories there. Which begs the question ‘isn’t that the point of an anniversary? To reminisce on your memories from the past year?’ but where exactly could they go for that? I don’t want it to be like any old date that we have at the lake and it's not like we can go out to eat. Dammnit, maybe I should talk to dad about this.

So without another thought I set down my paper and pencil on my desk and make my way to the kitchen.

“Hey dad, I have a question.” I say sitting down in one of the bar stools. My voice makes him jump though he calms just as fast as he startled. “What's up kid?” he questions, his voice laced in curiosity. “Where do you take someone you’ve known forever on a date and still manage to make it special?” I blurt out before I can stop myself, forgetting there was someone else in the house. “I mean, not a date, a hangout! Yeah, hangout!” I nervously laugh while looking around the corner from where I’m sitting.

“Don’t worry she’s in the bathroom.” dad states placing his cup on the counter. “Now this is about David right?” he asks. I stay silent for a moment, listening to everything around me, before answering, “Yeah, it is. I still have no idea where to take him and I have to go get him at five!” I shout frantically, obviously panicking. Dad gives me a look like ‘Calm down before your magic acts up’ so I take a deep breath before asking him another question.

“Where did you take…Mom?” I whisper the last part though I’m sure it's audible for him to hear. His face softens as soon as he hears me and gives me a small smile. “Well if I recall correctly I took her to a music festival, the place where we met. Though we got rained out and-” before he can finish I jump out of my seat and bolt upstairs to finally plan this date.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈ 00/00/000, 4:58pm Christine Millers house

So this may be the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever had or the best. I take a deep breath before grabbing the bouquet of red orchids and making my way toward the front door. Two short knocks on Christine's door and the door flew open revealing David, also holding a bouquet of flowers, on the other side.

“Hi”

“Hi”
I feel like I can hardly speak as I take in David's outfit. Obviously I’ve seen him in nice attire but something about right now makes him look absolutely stunning. I look up to meet his eyes just to find him staring back at me. Well this was getting awkward…

““I got these for you”” we both say at the same time, passing the flowers to the other. A smile breaks out across my face, “I guess we never really talked about who was getting who flowers.” I say, scratching the back of my neck and letting out a nervous laugh. I take the flowers from his hand with one hand and David mirrors the action.

“So…” I trail off and wait for David to say something. “Oh right! Thank you, these are beautiful, let's go!” He finally says, closing the door behind him.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈ 00/00/000, 5:23pm Astroblast Arcade

“Keep your eyes closed!”

“I am!”

I help David out of the car while he keeps his eyes closed. “Exer I trust you but I really think I’m gonna trip!” David shouts a huge smile still plastered across his face. “Oh please you’ll be fine-” just as I’m about to finish my sentence his foot lands on uneven gravel causing him to fall right into me.

““AHHHHHHH!”” We both scream as we fall causing people to turn their heads. I catch myself with my magic just before we hit the ground then place us down carefully. “I’ll be fine huh?” David says looking me straight in the eyes with a smug expression. “Well…” “Oh.My.God.” David says cutting me off and placing his finger over my lips to shut me up. “Ex you're kidding me!” Oh no did he really hate it that much? Before I can even say another word David pulls me up from my spot on the floor and off the ground into an air hug.

I let out a sound of surprise from the sudden action but thankfully he puts me down a second later. “Ah sorry I know we're in public but I’m just so happy.” he mumbles, turning away in an attempt to hide his blush. “It's okay Day, seriously. I’m just a little surprised you know you're not usually as touchy in public.” I whisper back. All I get is a small smile back but I understand everything he’s trying to say. “Lets head in, yeah?” “Chee-huh!”

From there our night consists of playing any and every game inside the arcade. Battling to see who can get the most tickets, David won like always. Though there was always one thing that I was the best at if I do say so myself and that's the claw machines.

“Which one do you want?” I ask, pointing at the machine. David thinks for a moment placing a hand on his hip like he always does when he’s thinking. “How about…the polar bear!” David answers, pointing at the machine like a hyper little kid. I look down at the soda in his hand ‘that has to be his fourth one by now. Now that makes a lot of sense.’

Within minutes the bear is in David's arms and we’re leaving the arcade. Both of us say nothing but give small glances at each other knowing we can't express ourselves as much in public. When I stop at a red light I ask “My house?” and he nods and that's all that's said the rest of the way home.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈ 00/00/000, 8:03pm Campbell residence

Once the two of us make it inside with our things: the flowers, gadgets from the arcade, and the bear, I turn on some music on my record player. “Oh, aren't you romantic.” David teases from across the room causing us both to laugh a little. I extend a hand out to him, a gesture, asking him to dance with me. He accepts perusal and we start swaying in a comfortable silence.

“You know I had a lot of fun today.” David whispers, pressing our foreheadings together. I smile, acknowledging him, before coming up with a response, “I’m glad, if I’m honest it was all last minute.” I finally spit out. I feel his hands move up into my hair and I close my eyes as I relax, still dancing to the rhythm. “I enjoyed it a lot too.” I whisper back, opening my eyes and placing my hand on his cheek. “You’re such a sap!” David says, giggling to himself while also keeping eye contact with me. Silence fills the room again as we continue to slow dance with my one hand on his cheek.

“I love you so much Day.” It comes out almost as more of a whisper then an actual statement.

A smile breaks out across David's face, the same one I've admired for years and he whispers back “I love you too Ex.”
It almost feels like a dam breaks inside of me because though we’ve said it before something about this moment is special. “Even if you are a big sap.” he adds and that wide grin turns into a teasing one. “Oh please have you met yourself Mr. Chasinova?” The nickname makes David snort before connecting our lips for a soft kiss. Our lips disconnected after a minute and were both smiling like idiots before we connected again…

Today is special because even though we’ve had to deal with magic, paranormal alter egos, and just highschool drama in general we’re still together and that's what counts.

Chapter Text

Jackson did not want to do this. In fact he hated the idea of pet sitting Lucy for Exer but Pamela was excited about the idea and he couldn’t say no to her. So that's how he ends up in Exer Campbell's living room having a staring contest with a cat. A cat. Seriously he doesn’t know what's up with her or why she hates him so much but it's starting to piss him off.

“Lucy, come get your food!” Pamela shouts from the kitchen before walking back into the living room. Lucy slowly turns toward the kitchen, keeping her gaze on Jackson for as long as possible before finally prancing out of the room. “Were you two finally getting along?” Pamela questions taking a seat on the couch next to me. “Hm something like that.” Jackson mumbles before reaching down for the movie basket.

“Okay so Exer said the ones on the top probably play the best so do you wanna pick something for us to watch?” Jackson asks, passing the movies over to Pamela. “Ah, sure. Did you want anything in particular?” Pamela shoots back. “Nah you choose I’m good with whatever you pick.” Jackson states before throwing his arm around his girlfriend.

A few minutes later Jackson's putting in the movie that Pamela chose and Lucy comes back into the living room. Jackson takes his respective seat next to Pam and Lucy makes sure to laying right in her lap. A few minutes into the movie Jackson tried to make a move to kiss Pamela and Lucy goes haywire. A loud meow escapes Lucy and she begins to hiss at the boy. “Lucy what’s wrong? You need to get along or I’ll have to put you in the kitchen.” Pamela speaks firmly to the cat almost like she can actually understand her, cute.

It's almost to the end of the movie when Jackson feels extra weight land on his shoulder. He looks over and finds that Pamela has fallen asleep, Lucy still laying in her lap protectively. Jackson can't move her to lay down because Lucy may attack him and wake her up so he just decides to lean his head on top of her and close his eyes as well. Maybe tonight was worth it because hanging out with Pamela, even if he’s being death stared by a cat the whole time, was quite calming after the week he’s had.

All of a sudden a loud meow can be heard and Jackson can feel claws and a weight on his face. “Augh Lucy!” Jackson screams and jumps up to throw Lucy off of him causing Pamela to jump awake. “What..whats going on?” she mumbles, rubbing her eyes, trying to take in the scene in front of her. “Oh my gosh Lucy!” Pamela shouts, ripping the cat off of Jackson. “Bad girl, what is up with you lately!”

Pamela takes Lucy to the kitchen and tells her to stay while she takes care of Jackson's cuts. “Okay sit on the toilet and I’ll find the bandaids and gauze.” Pamela says before starting to look through the cabinets. “Ah ha found it! I knew I remembered where it was from when Exer was sick.” She states before taking several bandaids out of the box. “When was Exer sick?” Jackson questions while thinking ‘Did I do that?’
“Hm, probably sometime a few weeks ago. No big deal though, he felt better after being home and taking medicine.” The girl answers before pouring some alcohol onto a cloth to clean Jackson's cuts. “This might sting a little.” She states then pats the cloth on his injuries. Jackson lets a pained sigh escape his lips as she cleans him up. By the time Pamela's done Jackson's eyes are closed trying to stop from screaming. THe black haired girl then continues to put the gauze on the bandages and places the bandages on Jackson's cat scratches. “There we go all done!” Pamela exclaims, putting everything down on the counter as she does so.

“Do I get a gold star for my good behavior?” Jackson asks sweetly, wrapping his hands around his girlfriend's waist. “How about a kiss instead, would that suffice?" Pamela rests her hands on the side of Jackson's face, “I think that’ll have to do.” Jackson leans in closer to her now able to feel her breath on his own lips. The two are about to connect when the bathroom door flies open revealing Lucy on the other side.

‘“LUCY!””

Chapter Text

The kids, David and Brenda, were out at their respective friends house for tonight. After a night or two of settling Linda in to stay with us for a little we felt that the kids should get some time out of the house, away from the worry.

“Red or White?” I ask Linda who is currently picking out a movie near the couch. “Hm, oh lets go with red.” Linda replies and I pop open the bottle. I pour a glass for the both of us and bring the bottle with me as I make my way to the couch. I set down the glasses on the side counter then plop myself on the couch to the left of Linda. I notice the movie she's looking at and decide to butt in “That’s Brenda's favorite in there, she’s watched it like a hundred times.” Linda looks up from her place on the floor and smiles at me while picking up the movie, “Well then I guess we should put this one on!” she exclaims. “I don’t think we’ll be paying much attention but sure.” I say and note how Linda's head shoots up at my statement and her cheeks have a small trace of pink. “What..” she pauses, “What do you mean by that?”

I tilt my head in confusion ‘What was she thinking about?’

“I meant we’d probably be talking the whole time. Let's catch up and bond over our hatred for a certain man.” This makes Linda look back at me and smile again. “In that case,” she takes a seat next to me after starting the movie, “,hand me the bottle.”

“Wohoo, that's more like it!” I pass her the bottle and pour the wine in her glass into mine. “Let’s get this party started!” From there the night was filled with conversation of how William treated the both of them and how both experiences with the man were the same but also different in small ways.

After about an hour and a half Linda almost finished the whole bottle herself. “‘Hiccup’ Then he ‘hiccup’ said we should ‘hiccup’ get married and I said ‘hiccup’ hell no!” Both of them can’t breathe, laughing like two teenagers. “And thank God, now I get you all to myself!” I exclaim, still lost in hysteria but Linda seems to have gone quiet so I calm myself. “What’s wrong, was it something I said?” I ask but she just stays quiet almost as if she was studying me. I could see her eyes tracing the lines on my face till they stopped at my lips. “Linda, are you okay?” I repeat, placing a hand on her leg that's crossed in front of me. Suddenly my heart picks up pace almost like touching her scared me. I look down at my hands, I can feel my palms begin to sweat. When I look back up I must have gotten closer subconsciously because we're both close enough for our noses to touch. “Linda?” I whisper one last time, beginning to pull away but before I can she grabs the sides of my face. Okay now I can definitely feel my cheeks heating up ‘God Christine get ahold of yourself’.

“You know I started dating William because he was doing business with my father?” Linda finally speaks. I don't say anything back. I can’t say anything back. I feel like my voice is stuck in my throat. This has to be a new level of embarrassment. “I went with it because I had never had a boyfriend before.” she continues and I listen intently with our gazes locked on each other. “I thought maybe being with him would fix the fact that I’m…” she trails off and moves her gaze to something lower on my face, beneath my eyes. “That I’m..” Linda repeats, unable to finish her sentence.

I can smell the flower perfume I got her yesterday and even after drinking from the bottle some of her lipstick is on her lips. Wait why am I looking at her lips. Linda interrupts my thoughts by repeating herself again. “That I’m..” I can’t take it anymore and the lump in my throat disappears long enough for me to get out “Your what?”. The anticipation is killing me and weirdly enough I think ‘If you don't kiss me right now I might die’ which is weird because I don’t like I’ve ever had that feeling in my life. I’m not sure if I accidentally thought out loud or if God decided to grant my wish but when I feel her lips on mine I don’t care anymore. It's addicting, I can taste the wine on her lips and it feels like something just clicks. Our lips move together like puzzle pieces fitting together. It feels so right, not like any boyfriend I’ve ever had. But as soon as I feel her begin to lay back I remember one very important fact. She’s drunk.

‘Shit this is definitely just the alcohol talking’ I pull back and a whine escapes her lips. “Linda you're wasted, we can't do this.” I say softly as I bite my lip and sit up. She gives me this look like she couldn’t care less and wants to protest but she decides to stay silent and turn over. “I’ll bring you some water then we can go to bed.” I pull myself off of the couch.

After filling a cup with some water I make my way back over to Linda in the living room. “Here, drink this.” I pass the cup to her while helping her sit up. ‘What the hell just happened’ I think as I stare at Linda drinking the glass of water. My eyes instantly land on her lips again almost like a magnet. I feel as though I just ran a marathon but in a way I feel happy about it, like I wanna do it again. The glass being placed down on the side table snaps me out of my thoughts. I smile slighting before getting up and offering a hand to get up, which she automatically takes. “Okay, let's get you to bed.”

The journey to my bedroom isn't far from the living room, considering its all in the same house, but when you're carrying the weight of someone else clinging onto you it feels much longer. I can see Linda's eyes begin to flutter so I lay her down myself. ‘I’ll just sleep in Brenda’s room tonight.’ is my first thought ‘but what if she gets up to throw up in the middle of the night’ is my second and the negative outweighs the positive so I quickly change then throw myself into bed too. The minute I get into bed and turn off the nights I feel arms wrap around my torso from the bed but this time instead of feeling like I’m going to explode I feel a sense of security, like home. Something about this just seems so natural like it's something that we’ve done forever. So I give into the feeling, just wanting to get some sleep after the chaotic night. I close my eyes trying to ignore how my heart is pounding and drift off to sleep.