Work Text:
The Monster Prom was the most important night of the year. The event always seemed to eclipse anything else that happened at Spooky High; comparatively, even exams felt relaxing, giving students a break from the intense romantic shenanigans that would take place as monsters tried to woo their potential prom dates. That looming pressure always made those three weeks before Prom feel like an eternity… and yet, it was over, leaving everyone aimless for the foreseeable future, lacking the landmark-event of the year that drove them forward.
Many monsters were soon to feel the consequences of focusing on finding a date instead of attending class. Not among them was Vera Oberlin, who made a point to leave her “extracurriculars” (capitalism and crime) for after securing her place at the top of the class leaderboards. So instead, Vera found herself waking up groggily after prom night with a splitting headache.
Well, in actuality it was more like a scalp-ache, as moments after waking she felt her snakes tugging and pulling in all directions; they were tangled, knotted, and all desperately trying (and failing) to free themselves from the predicament they had woken up in.
“Fuck! Stop pulling! I go to sleep without my routine one time and-”
She was suddenly reminded- why the hell did she fall asleep without following her nighttime routine? She had figured out the perfect recipe of scale-care and specific sleeping positions to keep her snakes calm, relatively still and separate she whilst she slept a long time ago, to avoid this exact situation. She was Vera Oberlin! She could never forget a routine! What possibly could've happened to make her neglect to-
Suddenly, Vera started remembering the events of last night; picking up Vicky to take her to prom; dancing and drinking; watching Damien and Amira punch the shit out of each other; watching them kiss the shit out of each other moments later; later into the night following suit, making out with Vicky; and playfully biting her lip- knowingly poisoning her as flirty way of inviting Vicky back to her place to “get the antidote”- which most monsters would probably take as a red flag- but after weeks of Vicky’s shenanigans Vera knew what she'd be into. And besides, poisoning her with something only Vera had the cure for was a pretty uncommon way of Vera asking Vicky to hang out (which was rather sweet, by Vera's standards).
And Vicky clearly was into that arrangement. if the following memories of Prom Night were anything to go by…
As if on queue, the stitched-together girl (who was asleep far too close to Vera for her not to notice until now) stirred awake as Vera resumed cursing and battling her snakes.
“Hmmm… W’aswrong” Vicky mumbled, clearly still half-asleep.
“STUPID SNAKES!” Vera yelled, shocking Vicky awake properly this time, “I swear to God- if they weren't literally fused to my head I would have them all SKINNED, and TURNED INTO HANDBAGS!”
Vicky quickly sat up, rubbing sleep from her eyes, now clearly seeing and hearing the tangle of scales that was relentlessly hissing and writhing around Vera’s head.
“Hey, deep breaths, calm down ok?” Vicky drew closer, looking into Vera’s eyes and placing a hand on her cheek, “We aren't going to be able to untangle them if you're all freaking out.”
Vera was about to snap something like “my own hair is trying to rip my fucking scalp off!” but held her tongue, disarmed by Vicky’s concern and caring expression.
Vera quickly looked away, blushing- pain suddenly and briefly replaced with a flash of embarrassment. If anyone saw that just eye contact had been enough to hold her usually merciless tongue…
(If Liam saw, he'd probably roll his eyes and grumble “so cliché”- which wouldn't be audible anyway over Zoe squealing over the shipping potential; the “fanfic bard” would be besides herself seeing the ruthless Vera Oberlin, cut-throat businesswoman and a more literally cut-throat crime lord, completely flustered.)
What would make it worse were Vera’s previous comments to her classmates about Vicky before they got to know each other, when they were merely just rivals battling for the best grades in class. She had previously described Vicky's infectiously positive attitude by saying she was so “utterly saccharine and naive that it makes me sick”.
Not sick enough to outright reject Vicky when she asked her to Prom, but just enough to say no then immediately ask Vicky to Prom herself.
But also not near sick enough to avoid doing what they did last night.
Vicky immediately caught on to Vera’s bashfulness.
“Really? We're blushing at eye contact now? Even after we-”
“YES I know, shut up, I don't have time for your teasing when MY OWN HAIR IS TRYING TO RIP MY FUCKING SCALP OFF!”
Ah, there it was.
Vera Oberlin could be convinced into holding her tongue under certain circumstances, but Vicky Schmidt could always find what buttons to press to get that rise out of her anyway. It would be impressive, honestly, if she didn't play so sweet and innocent while doing it.
“Right, sorry,” Vicky grinned awkwardly, “probably not the best time for that. Let me see what I can do,”
Before Vera could insist that she had it handled, Vicky shuffled behind her to examine her snakes, and start working on how to best untangle them. After finding the few with the least amount of knots that were tying the least snakes down, she began to soothe them before attempting to pull them through the loops, taking great care in ensuring the knots she was working with could be loosened to avoid snakes getting stuck.
And so the process began- a process that contained a lot of Vicky stroking and shushing Vera's snakes, before running her hands along and between them gently to check they had enough space to move through each knot- all the while communicating with Vera about what she was doing and why, trying to reassure her and keep her calm.
Part of Vera was annoyed with how Vicky seemed to believe she couldn't keep a level head in this situation. But that part of her was drowned out by the part that was freaking out over Vicky playing with her snakes. It was so… intimate, and vulnerable, and not in a way that Vera had ever been comfortable being with anyone outside of her immediate family; she doubted she would ever have chosen to let anyone in like this if this situation hadn't been essentially forced onto her.
But… she was enjoying this. Now that most of the pressure had been relieved, the sensation of her prom date playing with her hair- it was nice.
But the thing was with Vicky, she was so intelligent, she could find a solution to any problem she found herself in if she had the time to methodically figure it out, to understand each part of the puzzle. That intelligence (which often proved itself within the exam scores at Spooky High) had been the subject of both Vera's envy and admiration, often at the same time- though you would never get Vera to admit that. This meant that the collection of knots was quick work for Vicky; soon enough all of Vera's snakes were free.
Vicky laid back, admiring the result of her handiwork, finally letting herself separate from the now exhausted snakes. And Vera, now free from her tangled, scaly torment, found herself missing the feeling. It was all over far too quickly.
Both girls paused as calm returned to the bedroom.
“...Thanks,” Vera began, before pausing again, still not having fully shaken off her flustered state. She realised how hard she must have been blushing when she looked back at Vicky and saw how wide she was grinning- which only caused Vera to blush harder as she looked away, embarrassed.
“No problem!” Vicky replied gleefully.
Vera took a second to process through her embarrassment, composing herself and regaining her trademark confidence before continuing.
“You know,” she began again, more assured this time, “you weren't half bad at that. Maybe I'll let you take care of my snakes again in the future.”
Vera would never say what she really was thinking out loud to anyone: she wanted Vicky to play with her hair again badly.
“No thanks, you can take care of them yourself- you’d do a much better job than me anyways,” Vicky shrugged sarcastically, “barring another emergency of course.”
What? Vera took another second to ensure she heard correctly. She thought Vicky was entirely predictable- she would always leap at an opportunity to spend time with and impress her date. Business meetings, heists, gang wars- she’d attended all of them just for the potential to get closer to Vera. What the hell had gotten into her?
As if reading her mind, Vicky continued: “I don't know, they're just so… Cold. And scaly. And some of them were pretty slimy.”
“SLIMY?!” Vera snapped, “My scale-care routine is intricate and sophisticated and involves numerous steps and products that you couldn't dream of affording! And I have deduced the perfect routine using those products– I take far better care of my snakes than you do your hair anyway! You just don't know shit- about scale OR hair care! You dare to imply that I-”
By this point, Vera had unintentionally cornered Vicky into the headboard, and despite her vulnerable situation and the pissed-off gorgon that could turn her to stone with her pissed-off expression, she was grinning the widest yet.
Ah. Vicky was teasing her- and by snapping so dramatically, Vera had given her just the rise she wanted.
“If I ‘don’t know shit’ about scale care…” She started,
“Shut up.” Vera interrupted.
“Then how come you want me to do your snakes so badly?” Vicky continued anyway, still grinning smugly, “surely you wouldn't mind me leaving this to you?”
“You’re right, I don't care.” Vera lied through her teeth, “I was just offended that you called my snakes slimy.”
“Oh, okay, glad that's settled then. I won't touch your snakes in future- I’ll leave it to the experts.”
“NO! Just- I mean-” She was blushing again.
“Oh! Is something wrong?”
“Shut. Up.” Vera was now looking away and covering her face out of embarrassment and frustration.
“I just thought you wouldn't want someone unqualified to handle your snakes, Vera~”
“Be quiet. You clearly know what I want! You’re just teasing me now-”
“I want to hear you sayyy iiiit~”
“No.”
“Come on- all you gotta do is ask!” Vera couldn't bring herself to look back- just picturing the smug look on Vicky's face was enough to make her cheeks burn even hotter (she wasn't enjoying this, was she?)
“No. I'm not going to let you tease and provoke me for your own entertainment. If you wanted to help with my snakes, you had your chance.”
“Okay, fine by me. I won't touch your snakes again without you asking first- you have my word.”
Urgh. This brat was actually expecting her to ask her nicely for them to take care of her snakes every once in a while? Even though she definitely already knew what Vera wanted- Vicky wasn't stupid, she could read what was going on easily (though Vera wasn't exactly being subtle about it, just obtuse.)
Well she wasn’t going to get what she wanted. Vera refused to cave to teasing, lowering herself to the most miniscule and petty form of manipulation. She was better than this.
She'd just have to go without feeling Vicky's soft hands running through her hair, without the slight presence of her breath on Vera’s neck, and without that tingling feeling that radiated from her core when Vicky whispered into her snakes.
…
“Vicky…” Vera mumbled.
“Hm?”
“I would like it if… you took care of my snakes. Everyone once in a while.”
“Sorry I couldn't quite hear that~”
“Okay now you're just being ridiculous!” Vera yelled, “You got what you wanted so stop teasing me!”
Vicky rolled her head back, giggling uncontrollably, “Sorry! It's just, you're so cute when you're all bashful. It's not a look I get to see often, so I thought I'd try to savor it.”
Vera rolled her eyes.
“It's just…” Vicky started, her mischievous look replaced with a soft smile, “ you gotta learn how to be a little more vulnerable. Its fine to give other people a little control every now and again”
“Oh, don't act all sweet and virtuous- you do what you do because you enjoy teasing me.” Vera scowled.
“I mean that too, but my point still stands! It's healthy to be honest with your feelings and wants!” said Vicky, “but since you asked so politely, sure Vera. I'll help with your snakes if you want.”
“Was that so hard?”
“I dunno, you tell me. Since you were the one being difficult about aski-”
Vera had heard enough. With her patience utterly decimated, she shut Vicky up with the only way she knew how- suddenly and firmly kissing Vicky square on her mouth. Vicky jolted, surprised, but swiftly melted into the action, eagerly but tenderly trying to kiss Vera back. As soon as she did, however, Vera pulled away.
Vera admired her flushed face and wide eyes- she needed to remind this girl who was in charge.
“I’m tired of your incessant teasing,” she glowered, “ You want to know what I want? You want me to be honest?”
Vicky's response died in her throat.
“I want you to be quiet,” Vera whispered, pulling in closer, “I want you to stop being such a brat, and I want you to remember how you were screaming my name last night.”
Vera felt Vicky’s heartbeat quicken, as she opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She clearly wanted the kiss to continue, to get to feel Vera again, to go further- but she was completely startled and flustered.
“Hm? Do you want something?” Vera grinned wickedly, “come on- all you gotta do is ask!”
Vicky struggled to put her words together, grasping at her flustered and horny thoughts to gather the sentence “Kiss me again”, which she murmured under her breath.
“Did you say something?”
“Kiss me again, please.”
With that Vera’s lips collided with hers once again. The two lovebirds made out for a while, separating finally when Vera’s snakes started to stir again. The few that woke up snuggled up to Vicky’s face as they cuddled.
After a while, Vicky broke the silence.
“Vera? I'm sorry if I upset you.”
Vera sighed, replying, “Just count yourself lucky that you're so pathetic most of the time,” she smirked, “ I can let it slide, don't worry about it. But if you ever call my snakes slimy again don't expect to wake up next time you stay over.”
“Hahaha, noted.”