Member
HereComesTheSnow
Finetales
Kaithe Dame
Neziul
Boreas
Stryder BC
Days at Beacon were always pretty crazy, but tossing extended families and sleep deprivation into the mix only made things insane. Things had been (comparably) saner once everyone was introduced. No one came to blows, no huge surprises, just a pretty good time.
Once everyone left, though, Ben didn’t try hiding how tired he was. An all-nighter before Family Day probably wasn’t the greatest idea, given how many people were coming. The Cap’d gotten through the day, but once the last airship left he hiked back to the dorm and dropped his stuff on his desk.
Except Joyous Guard. He still wanted to have a desk.
A hot shower was just the ticket, so he made a beeline for the bathroom. He wasn’t gonna fight with his teammates for it. Not tonight. Going on thirty hours of being awake, school tomorrow… He could lay claim.
It was exactly as pleasant as he’d figured, too. Helped clear his head. He might’ve dozed off, for a minute, but the quiet was nice.
Still, it was getting late. Bastille’s leader shut off the shower, toweled off, tossed most of his clothes into the hamper on his way through the quiet room, and flopped onto his bed without a word. In a minute, with minimal movement, he had pulled the covers up almost over his head.
Tomorrow’d be a normal day. No stress.
The Bastille door was way too creaky for effective stealth.
Lauren Negasi had spent the handful of hours since her parents had left out in the gym, lifting, striking, and enjoying a super-duper brisk spin on the treadmill to burn off whatever energy she had left in her system after the events of the day. Trying to slink back like a thief in the night with her gym bag wasn't proving as easy as it had been to slip off and away from her team when they were all out at the docks, though.
At least it looked like everyone was asleep.
...
It...looked like it.
It was pretty steamy in here. Had someone just showered?
Lauren yawned and plopped her bag of clothes - including the Reviled Sports Bra of Sunless Hel - down onto the ground beside her bed. Amy's bed was beside hers, and she didn't look like she'd just stepped out of the shower. She could see Sangue even in the unlit room, and it was possible she'd showered. But it was Cap that caught her eye.
Look at him. Trying to bunker down under those covers like she couldn't see him.
Heh.
Lauren grinned and yawned again, stretching upwards and arcing her back until she heard four loud pops! underneath the sheer fabric of Ben's maroon henley. She reached down to the sides of the garment and pulled it off.
There was nothing underneath.
She couldn't find what the hell the showerhog, whoever he or she may have been, had done with the laundry basket, so Lauren tossed the shirt onto her gym bag and decided Cap could deal with it in the morning if he wanted to. She unbuttoned the black skinny jeans she'd stolen from her poor, long-suffering best friend and sighed imperceptibly as--
"urk"
...
!
She knew that sound of distress!
She knew whoooo was awaaaaaake~!
"Caaaaaap?"
There was no response. Nothing stirring under the blankets.
Why wasn't anything stirring!? She was totally stir-worthy!
Pouting, Lauren extracted herself from the stolen jeans and chucked them on top of her gym bag as well, balancing on the balls of her feet like she was about to bounce onto her bed--
--before bouncing backwards instead, plopping down face-up onto Cap's bed and wriggling up so that their heads could bop together at the forehead. She reached up and pulled the covers down to just above his waist, to properly get a good look at the pain she was causing him.
Her dark face was positively beaming.
"Are you hiding from your best friend ever?"
Shouldn’t have jinxed it.
“No, babe,” Ben yawned out and opened one eye, fixing Lauren with a sleepy stare. He could see the clock just past her head had hit midnight, meaning that his stress for the day was already beginning. “Was just tryin’ to go to sleep.”
It was pretty clear that wouldn’t be happening, though. Even keeping his eyes eye-level.
“How was the gym? Split my jeans yet?”
"Nah ah. I was thinkin' of keepin' em."
Lauren grinned and wrapped her arms tightly around Ben's muscular frame, pressing her own chest squarely into the side of his. Her chin drooped onto one of his broad shoulders, head tilting onto his pillow to stare up at him. For such a mischievous woman, her jade eyes were huge and guileless.
"Gym was fun, though. It always is. And I think it leaves me looking pretty top tier." The minuscule amount of space between the two shrank even further, and Lauren flexed one of the biceps draped over his chest playfully. "You should've seen me working out this morning. I snapped two whole stereotypes clean in fuckin' half. Can you guess which ones?"
”At this point you can keep ‘em, they’re never gonna fit me again.” His other blue eye opened slowly, almost groggily, to meet her stare. Tired as he was, he still couldn’t really suppress a faint grin. ”Stretched ‘em too much for that.”
“Can’t say I can guess, though. Let’s see...” He stretched out the first word a little, ruffling her hair and letting his grin widen. He let his other arm wrap around her and squeeze tightly, as though answering an issued challenge. ”Did you prove you could swim?”
"You cocksucker!"
Lauren smacked him in the chest and then reached down, squeezing hard once the evil succubus of Bastille had found her target. Her stare had become reproachful, and her mouth had creased in a soft pout.
"I had parents today, and you didn't," she explained. "What, no Alan and Nancy Lloyd around today? Were they too caught up at the country club to come see you?"
She returned both of her arms to a safe hugging position. One of her long, toned legs had draped over Ben's waist; it was clear she was slowly adopting a comfortable position.
"Matter of fact, I think you were the only person alone today," she continued, voice somewhat softer. "Must be one fuck of a nice country club."
Ben laughed, low and quiet, through insult, smack, and even squeeze though the latter made the sound catch in his throat a second. His grin was still irreverent even when she started to pout a little, though he stroked her hair and gave her a little wink to show he was joking.
It died a little when she explained, though, a lot more contemplative than irreverent. It took a few moments of quiet for her to get any sort of response.
”I didn’t expect Dad to come. I hoped Gramps might, but he’s pretty old. Trip’d be rough for him.” A small shrug. ”It was nice meeting your folks.”
"You shut the fuck up. You don't give a crap about my folks, pardner, and right now I don't either."
Lauren rolled over onto her chest slightly, now laying partially atop Ben as her head tilted to look at him. Her face was serious, with only a hint of her normal vibrant curiosity left in her eyes.
"Why didn't anyone come for you today, Cap?"
”Dad doesn’t want me to be here.” The Redwood native answered quietly, ruffling her hair again. ”Really doesn’t want me to. And he and my grandparents are the only ones that’d visit.”
"Oh. Well, I mean, fuck him, I guess."
Lauren shrugged casually, as if the whole matter had been settled just as quickly as that. Her mouth quirked impatiently, as if she wasn't able to believe she had been jerked around that long just for Ben to tell her that he and his dad were having a rough patch.
"I don't think my dad wants me to be a lesbo," she offered cheerfully. "He still loves the fuck outta me. I'm sure old Papa Lloyd will come around sooner or later. Just think - out of all the bajillions of little Caps that have ever been in his balls, you're the winning Cap. That's a fucking power move, man. Guys respect the shit out of power moves."
The boxer beamed and ruffled Ben's hair back.
"Don't be such a moody emo bitch about it, then," she commanded. "Family Day's over. In the morning, we'll be normal students again. End of the week, we'll have a mission, and we'll knock that fucker clean outta the park too. Because not only am I the best that the great kingdom o--"
Lauren's alarm began to honk on her Scroll, discarded across the room. It must have been a minute or two behind Ben's clock.
"--ver churned out," she continued unimpeded, as if she hadn't even noticed, "but I've also got an even better friend. And he deserves to be here."
She had gone full circle again, back to her normal playful self. Lauren sat up straight on top of Ben's midriff, forcing him to stare up at her with a wicked grin, before plopping down again on top of him and wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Now sleep, and don't keep me up all night by poking my ass with that thing, you horny little shit." She smacked the back of his neck this time, as his chest was firmly occupied by hers. "I'm singling you out in combat class tomorrow, and I need my rest."
Her head plonked down on the pillow, face down beside Ben's, chin neatly fitting within the recess of the Cap's collar. Within a minute and a half, Ben Lloyd's foreign fembro had fallen into catatonia.
It was ridiculous how quick Lauren could fall asleep sometimes. Genuinely insane. She could go from a pep talk, to harassment, to sleep in half a minute. It boggled the goddamn mind. Bastille’s leader stroked her hair a little while he let what she said sink in, a little bit of his smile returning. She was a good best friend. The best, honestly. Kinda in the name. Even if she was batshit crazy.
She had a point, though. He and Dad’d get through it. Just might take a while.
So he hugged her a little tighter and closed his eyes, pulled the covers back up, and let himself drift off to sleep.
Once everyone left, though, Ben didn’t try hiding how tired he was. An all-nighter before Family Day probably wasn’t the greatest idea, given how many people were coming. The Cap’d gotten through the day, but once the last airship left he hiked back to the dorm and dropped his stuff on his desk.
Except Joyous Guard. He still wanted to have a desk.
A hot shower was just the ticket, so he made a beeline for the bathroom. He wasn’t gonna fight with his teammates for it. Not tonight. Going on thirty hours of being awake, school tomorrow… He could lay claim.
It was exactly as pleasant as he’d figured, too. Helped clear his head. He might’ve dozed off, for a minute, but the quiet was nice.
Still, it was getting late. Bastille’s leader shut off the shower, toweled off, tossed most of his clothes into the hamper on his way through the quiet room, and flopped onto his bed without a word. In a minute, with minimal movement, he had pulled the covers up almost over his head.
Tomorrow’d be a normal day. No stress.
The Bastille door was way too creaky for effective stealth.
Lauren Negasi had spent the handful of hours since her parents had left out in the gym, lifting, striking, and enjoying a super-duper brisk spin on the treadmill to burn off whatever energy she had left in her system after the events of the day. Trying to slink back like a thief in the night with her gym bag wasn't proving as easy as it had been to slip off and away from her team when they were all out at the docks, though.
At least it looked like everyone was asleep.
...
It...looked like it.
It was pretty steamy in here. Had someone just showered?
Lauren yawned and plopped her bag of clothes - including the Reviled Sports Bra of Sunless Hel - down onto the ground beside her bed. Amy's bed was beside hers, and she didn't look like she'd just stepped out of the shower. She could see Sangue even in the unlit room, and it was possible she'd showered. But it was Cap that caught her eye.
Look at him. Trying to bunker down under those covers like she couldn't see him.
Heh.
Lauren grinned and yawned again, stretching upwards and arcing her back until she heard four loud pops! underneath the sheer fabric of Ben's maroon henley. She reached down to the sides of the garment and pulled it off.
There was nothing underneath.
She couldn't find what the hell the showerhog, whoever he or she may have been, had done with the laundry basket, so Lauren tossed the shirt onto her gym bag and decided Cap could deal with it in the morning if he wanted to. She unbuttoned the black skinny jeans she'd stolen from her poor, long-suffering best friend and sighed imperceptibly as--
"urk"
...
!
She knew that sound of distress!
She knew whoooo was awaaaaaake~!
"Caaaaaap?"
There was no response. Nothing stirring under the blankets.
Why wasn't anything stirring!? She was totally stir-worthy!
Pouting, Lauren extracted herself from the stolen jeans and chucked them on top of her gym bag as well, balancing on the balls of her feet like she was about to bounce onto her bed--
--before bouncing backwards instead, plopping down face-up onto Cap's bed and wriggling up so that their heads could bop together at the forehead. She reached up and pulled the covers down to just above his waist, to properly get a good look at the pain she was causing him.
Her dark face was positively beaming.
"Are you hiding from your best friend ever?"
Shouldn’t have jinxed it.
“No, babe,” Ben yawned out and opened one eye, fixing Lauren with a sleepy stare. He could see the clock just past her head had hit midnight, meaning that his stress for the day was already beginning. “Was just tryin’ to go to sleep.”
It was pretty clear that wouldn’t be happening, though. Even keeping his eyes eye-level.
“How was the gym? Split my jeans yet?”
"Nah ah. I was thinkin' of keepin' em."
Lauren grinned and wrapped her arms tightly around Ben's muscular frame, pressing her own chest squarely into the side of his. Her chin drooped onto one of his broad shoulders, head tilting onto his pillow to stare up at him. For such a mischievous woman, her jade eyes were huge and guileless.
"Gym was fun, though. It always is. And I think it leaves me looking pretty top tier." The minuscule amount of space between the two shrank even further, and Lauren flexed one of the biceps draped over his chest playfully. "You should've seen me working out this morning. I snapped two whole stereotypes clean in fuckin' half. Can you guess which ones?"
”At this point you can keep ‘em, they’re never gonna fit me again.” His other blue eye opened slowly, almost groggily, to meet her stare. Tired as he was, he still couldn’t really suppress a faint grin. ”Stretched ‘em too much for that.”
“Can’t say I can guess, though. Let’s see...” He stretched out the first word a little, ruffling her hair and letting his grin widen. He let his other arm wrap around her and squeeze tightly, as though answering an issued challenge. ”Did you prove you could swim?”
"You cocksucker!"
Lauren smacked him in the chest and then reached down, squeezing hard once the evil succubus of Bastille had found her target. Her stare had become reproachful, and her mouth had creased in a soft pout.
"I had parents today, and you didn't," she explained. "What, no Alan and Nancy Lloyd around today? Were they too caught up at the country club to come see you?"
She returned both of her arms to a safe hugging position. One of her long, toned legs had draped over Ben's waist; it was clear she was slowly adopting a comfortable position.
"Matter of fact, I think you were the only person alone today," she continued, voice somewhat softer. "Must be one fuck of a nice country club."
Ben laughed, low and quiet, through insult, smack, and even squeeze though the latter made the sound catch in his throat a second. His grin was still irreverent even when she started to pout a little, though he stroked her hair and gave her a little wink to show he was joking.
It died a little when she explained, though, a lot more contemplative than irreverent. It took a few moments of quiet for her to get any sort of response.
”I didn’t expect Dad to come. I hoped Gramps might, but he’s pretty old. Trip’d be rough for him.” A small shrug. ”It was nice meeting your folks.”
"You shut the fuck up. You don't give a crap about my folks, pardner, and right now I don't either."
Lauren rolled over onto her chest slightly, now laying partially atop Ben as her head tilted to look at him. Her face was serious, with only a hint of her normal vibrant curiosity left in her eyes.
"Why didn't anyone come for you today, Cap?"
”Dad doesn’t want me to be here.” The Redwood native answered quietly, ruffling her hair again. ”Really doesn’t want me to. And he and my grandparents are the only ones that’d visit.”
"Oh. Well, I mean, fuck him, I guess."
Lauren shrugged casually, as if the whole matter had been settled just as quickly as that. Her mouth quirked impatiently, as if she wasn't able to believe she had been jerked around that long just for Ben to tell her that he and his dad were having a rough patch.
"I don't think my dad wants me to be a lesbo," she offered cheerfully. "He still loves the fuck outta me. I'm sure old Papa Lloyd will come around sooner or later. Just think - out of all the bajillions of little Caps that have ever been in his balls, you're the winning Cap. That's a fucking power move, man. Guys respect the shit out of power moves."
The boxer beamed and ruffled Ben's hair back.
"Don't be such a moody emo bitch about it, then," she commanded. "Family Day's over. In the morning, we'll be normal students again. End of the week, we'll have a mission, and we'll knock that fucker clean outta the park too. Because not only am I the best that the great kingdom o--"
Lauren's alarm began to honk on her Scroll, discarded across the room. It must have been a minute or two behind Ben's clock.
"--ver churned out," she continued unimpeded, as if she hadn't even noticed, "but I've also got an even better friend. And he deserves to be here."
She had gone full circle again, back to her normal playful self. Lauren sat up straight on top of Ben's midriff, forcing him to stare up at her with a wicked grin, before plopping down again on top of him and wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Now sleep, and don't keep me up all night by poking my ass with that thing, you horny little shit." She smacked the back of his neck this time, as his chest was firmly occupied by hers. "I'm singling you out in combat class tomorrow, and I need my rest."
Her head plonked down on the pillow, face down beside Ben's, chin neatly fitting within the recess of the Cap's collar. Within a minute and a half, Ben Lloyd's foreign fembro had fallen into catatonia.
It was ridiculous how quick Lauren could fall asleep sometimes. Genuinely insane. She could go from a pep talk, to harassment, to sleep in half a minute. It boggled the goddamn mind. Bastille’s leader stroked her hair a little while he let what she said sink in, a little bit of his smile returning. She was a good best friend. The best, honestly. Kinda in the name. Even if she was batshit crazy.
She had a point, though. He and Dad’d get through it. Just might take a while.
So he hugged her a little tighter and closed his eyes, pulled the covers back up, and let himself drift off to sleep.
Tuesday, 4th Period
Lauren sat down slouched at her bench in Armory, half-lidded eyes masked behind her BaSTEELs and stifling her yawns. She felt like she could have easily roped about three or four more hours of sleep, but Cap seemed intent on everyone going back to the fucking grind today. She wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do with the class period today - she'd finished her starter project for Chatsworth last week with the BaSTEELs, but there was one more pair she wanted to forge...
And she needed to tinker with Artorius and Lawnslot...
And she needed to--
Shit, where was Luke?
Luuuuuuuuke!
Where the fuck was her little Dis-Oriented protege? She wanted to show him her sketches!
She supposed she could always just close her eyes and wait for him to show up...
For juuuuust a sec...
