Roxanne Vavra || Pheme (gossipgal) wrote in nevermore_logs, @ 2012-11-28 22:43:00 |
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Current mood: | bouncy |
WHO: Cerberus & Pheme
WHEN: Wednesday, after school
WHERE: The movie theater
WHAT: A date, but not a date-date.
It was a little crazy how things worked out, Pheme thought to herself as they stood in line at the movie theater waiting to purchase their tickets. When she’d first mentioned the stupid Sadie Hawkins dance she hadn’t been all that excited about the prospect of going, but then she’d started talking to Cerberus and all that changed. Now, she was practically giddy at the thought of being able to spend time with the other teen, which was why she’d asked him if he wanted to catch a movie with her sometime before the dance. Any excuse to see him, though she’d never admit it out loud.
Pheme hadn’t thought to ask him if this would be a date-date, but she’d already decided that since she’d invited him out she would pay. She was a modern girl, with an allowance she could spend however she pleased, and she couldn’t think he’d object to her treating him. She had enough for them to get tickets and snacks, though she wasn’t going to complain if he offered to buy her popcorn. She did have some manners.
Glancing up at the list of movies that would be playing soon, she lightly nudged him with her elbow. “So, did you want to see Wreck-it Ralph, Rise of the Guardians, or Red Dawn? I’m good with any of those, but I’ll let you choose.” she said, smiling at him. Had she been here alone, it would have been ‘Rise of the Guardians’ all the way, but she was trying to be considerate. That way, if things went well here and then continued to go well at the dance, maybe she could convince him to be her boyfriend. Or something.
----
Xander was quietly watching the crowds of people walking around them as they waited in the ticket line. The entire way to the theatre he had been doing much the same thing. His mind always in three different places. On the subway a suspicious man sat near them, his dark eyes quickly looking around. In Xander’s mind’s eye he could see the man stealing purses and attacking people walking down the streets at night. A low growl that could shake the heartiest of hearts escaped his lips. The man as well as several others around them moved away to give the young couple room.
Pheme talked a lot. He liked that she talked. The people of his household didn’t talk very much, none of them were very outward people, but that came along with the territory of all being creatures from the Underworld. So he happily listened to her go on in a slightly accelerated tone, adding in a few words here and there in response so she knew that he was listening. He hadn’t had time to get her flowers, like Hades had suggested, one of his minds had said to save that for the dance because they would mean more. A corsage he called it.
When Pheme nudged him, his attention snapped back to her with a smile. He liked that she so easily smiled at him. His self-image wasn’t completely accurate, so the expressions given toward him were usually made of confusion, annoyance, or fear. Or sympathy, he got that a lot from the adults at school who thought he had some mental disease.
“Um... Red Dawn is about fighting, right? Rise of the Guardians is fairytales fighting? And I’m not sure I’d get Wreck-It Ralph... I’ve never played video games before. So... one of the two?” He had been paying more attention to the food channel lately which didn’t exactly have a lot of movie commercials on it, but he had caught the gist of them while flipping through the channels.
----
Roxanne was observant enough to see the way Xander watched everyone around them, but chose not to comment on it. Everyone had their way of dealing with being out in public, and for them being overly aware of their surroundings was just a way of life. He was trained to guard the gates of Tartarus; she was the goddess of fame, renown, report, and rumour -- obviously both had a history of knowing everything around them. While he was more like Jason Bourne and aware of the exits and sketchy people in the vicinity, Roxy’s keenness was more focused on peoples’ internal relationships. Together, if they combined their skills, they could be a potent detective team.
Cerberus didn’t say much. That didn’t really phase her, she could come up with enough to say for everyone in the theater if she had to. She talked quickly, even more so when she would get excited about something, and didn’t seem at all concerned as to whether or not he was listening, taking it on faith that he would hear the important things that she threw in there. There had been one moment on the train that could’ve turned awkward, when he literally growled at some creeper who sat next to them, but she thought it was just awesome how he made the guy piss himself, and said as much.
Letting Cerberus ask his questions gave her time to formulate answers that could influence him into picking the movie she most wanted to see, and she probably would have done that had she been there with anyone else, but this was Xander. He was one of a select handful of people she decided she would never manipulate, even if the situation called for it.
“Right, Red Dawn is a remake of some movie from the eighties about a town that gets attacked and the townspeople fight back. Rise of the Guardians is about Santa, the Easter Bunny, and some others trying to recruit Jack Frost to help save kids imaginations or something like that. And yeah, Wreck-It Ralph is about a video game villain trying to reform.” She paused, letting that sink in. “So, Red Dawn it is, then?”
----
Xander looked at her, his blue eyes wide with innocent confusion. He read souls, the three minds usually working as one when he was Cerberus, but since he took this form on a more permanent scale they had stopped telling him things about everyone. They reacted on their own and kept their thoughts quiet so the ‘present’ personality could be as he was suppose to be- like a child seeing the world for the first time. He wanted to know which one she would enjoy more, but the ‘future’ would not tell her or interfere.
“If it’s a remake then we could watch the original instead... Maybe the Guardians? Unless you don’t want to see that... I’m fine with any of them. I don’t really go to the movies ever.” He sighed, pushing his lips to the side. Xander wanted to say sorry, but she had not seemed to like that he did that. Not that her not liking it could kill the habit, but he was going to try. Stuffing his hands in his pocket, he shifted on his feet. The line was pretty slow with one overly talkative ticket salesman leading the line.
----
Roxy stared back at him, green eyes blinking as studied his face. She didn’t understand what his issue was, or why he seemed so confused about the concept of picking what movie appealed to him the most. If it was anyone else, she would have grabbed them by the shoulders and shook them while loudly proclaiming they should just shut up and pick a stupid movie, but she had the impression that wouldn’t work too well if she did that to him. Somewhere in that head of his was a biter, and she didn’t want to deal with that.
“No, see, I’m letting you pick. If I was just going to drag you to whatever movie I wanted to see then that wouldn’t be fun for you, and I want you to have fun. That way you’ll think I’m fun and want to hang out again,” she explained cheerily, like it wasn’t a big deal. Roxy was just amazed he’d said all that and didn’t cap it off with a ‘sorry’, since she’d be true to her word and find some way to shut him up, one that he might even like. “How about, one is a cartoon and the other isn’t. Does that help you pick?”
----
“Oh...” The problem with picking was that as quiet as one of the personalities was that let him go his own way, the violent one was not so quiet. He poked at Xander complaining that cartoons didn’t have blood and guts like an action movie would. He was right of course. Somehow no one really died in cartoons and he didn’t understand the point of the fight if someone wasn’t going to die in the end.
“Red Dawn?” A slow smirk graced his lips as the violent side had won the argument quite easily. All three of them really did like gore, just one was more apt and singled minded about it. “And I do think you’re fun... there’s no way around hanging out with you again since we have a dance to attend together.” The line finally moved quicker, pushing them to the front. The ticket salesman looked at them suspiciously, as he would to any teenagers at the movies. They did have a habit of getting into trouble.
----
“See? Was that so hard?” She didn’t know what was going on in his head, and that it probably was a tougher decision to make than she assumed. As far as Roxy was concerned it came down to what type of movie he’d rather watch. Maybe if they were older, like some of the taller teenagers, it would be more about what type of movie he’d rather ignore in favor of making out to in the back of the theater, but she didn’t think like that and doubted he did either.
“I heard the guy who played Thor is in it, and the guy who played Peeta from the Hunger Games is in it too,” she mentioned casually, not wanting to show that she openly approved of his decision by sheer virtue of the eye-candy quotient. “Well, we don’t have to attend it together, you could always change your mind.” She wasn’t ruling that out. Looking up at the ticket salesmen, she slapped her money on the counter. “Two for the next showing of Red Dawn, please!” Being polite always confused adults.
----
Ok. He knew who Thor was as a God, but not as a character and definitely did not know who Peeta was other than a flatbread sandwich thing or an animal rights group. Xander merely smiled and nodded as she made mention of it. Even if she openly approved of the ‘eye-candy’ in the movie, he would have been lost on so many levels. He really needs to learn more slang words.
Xander looked hurt at her casual way she would write off their dance date. Persephone was teaching him to dance for it. But that was a surprise for Pheme at the dance. He wasn’t all too good at it yet and probably wouldn’t be too much better in a week, but Xander tried his best. Looking down at the ground, Xander chewed on the inside of his cheek. The ticket salesmen looked between them for a moment before giving them a bored look. “That will be 21 dollars.”
----
Keeping her attentions fixed firmly on the man in front of them, Roxy had no idea that her comment about his possibly changing his mind on going to the dance with her had affected him as greatly as it had. She still thought he had only accepted her offer to go with him for no other reason than that she had asked him. He was cute, and despite being a little weird she didn’t understand why more girls weren’t interested in him.
Roxy let her eyes pointedly flick from the cashier to the small pile of bills she had placed on the counter previously, waiting for him to pick up the money. When it seemed he wasn’t going to take the hint, she gathered it up and handed it over, chirping helpfully “It’s exact change!” Rolling her eyes, she looked over at Xander so she could not-so-quietly comment on the idiocy of the wage-slave before them, when she noticed he was looking down. “Hey, you alright?” she asked, holding out a ticket to him.
----
More than a few girls at their school didn’t take ‘weird’ well. The mortals couldn’t grasp the idea of multiple personalities and severe mood shifts when not associating it with crazy. To Xander’s best intentions he had not really been interested in the ones that did pay him attention. Normal people wouldn’t be so easily accepted at his household. Hades was a coroner after all. Xander could see their little family as being like the Munsters or Addams Family.
“I thought you really wanted to go to the dance with me.” He commented, taking the ticket. Xander may have looked older than Pheme, mostly by height since one or two years never made much of a visual difference, but he acted younger. The boy had been sheltered when it came to being in his dog form, he didn’t need to know about human customs or how they said things, all he needed to know was were they going to hurt his master or not, did his master want him to hurt them or how delicious they might taste when tearing them apart. A dog’s life was simple, a Hellhound’s life was simpler.
----
Guys at the school weren’t exactly clamoring by her locker trying to catch her attention either, but she had enough sense of self to recognize that those guys had no idea what they were missing out on. Oh, Roxy had an idea of what people said about her -- that she was too chatty, too consumed with knowing everything about everyone -- but how could she not be? It was a perk of being Pheme to know when people were talking about her, whether it be good or bad, but she wasn’t so good that she knew who was saying what. She could only assume, and it made for a hell of a lot of paranoia.
“I do really want to go with you, I wouldn’t have asked you otherwise,” she responded, doing her best to keep the d’uh implied but not said out loud. Roxy might have been shorter than Cerberus, but she understood a few fundamental facts about people. Regardless of whether they were former gods or just normal, they were all concerned about what others thought of them, especially when they claimed not to be. She oftentimes ran out of fucks to give with most, but when it came to him and a select few she went out of her way to not mess with them. “I just thought you might not want to go with me.” she mentioned casually. “Now come on, we have to get snacks.”
----
He furrowed his brows. “What made you think I wouldn’t?” He started to ask, but would let it drop if there were snacks involved. The combination of a dog and a teenaged boy made for little in the way of leftovers in his household and he always felt like he could eat. He didn’t particularly like overly sweet things, but meat or buttery things he loved. Thanksgiving had been an amazing night of food. Hades had been amused by his appetite, but what did the man expect? It wasn’t like he was feeding on people all too much any more.
“Oh... popcorn, I like popcorn... and two hot dogs, we should get those... what are bosco sticks?” Just the smell of the popcorn made him want to rampage the area behind the snack counter. His eyes were aglow with pure happiness that there were snacks to be had.
The violent mind glanced over at some kids around their age that looked around suspiciously, their hands in their pockets, and the faint smell of weed that only someone standing super close to them or a dog could smell. Those could be tasty too. They won’t last long anyhow. It thought. They never said we couldn’t, we just can’t in the view of the public. Xander stared at the kids with a dark expression. When one of the kids noticed there was a moment of what the fuck before something more primal sank in and they moved toward their theater.
----
She shrugged at his question, choosing to answer before addressing the issue of snacks. “You’re kinda hot, and I’m nothing special. Trust me, I know these things.” There were dozens of bubbly blonde ditzes all over their school, the only thing that made her at all different was the fact that she had proof she was better than all of them. She genuinely couldn’t give two shits about being popular, especially since those people never amounted to much of anything once school ended. There was a time she had wanted their acceptance, but now she got her jollies off from screwing with their heads.
“Do you want your own popcorn, or can we split it?” she asked, counting her money while he was distracted. “Uh, bosco sticks?” She scanned the list of stuff, doing some quick math in her head. “Those look like cheesy bread. We can get some if you want, and we’re gonna need drinks too.”
Okay, if she was doing her math right she had more than enough to get them more food than she could ever think of eating on her own, but from the way he was talking she had a feeling she’d be lucky to get more than one or two bites of anything. “Right, so popcorn, drinks, those breadsticks, you want hot dogs, and I want Twizzlers. Anything else?” she ticked the list off on her fingers before turning to confirm it with him, surprised when she realized he wasn’t paying attention to her. Rude. Roxy leaned closer, trying to determine why he was staring at the older kids. “Do you know them or something?”
----
Xander blinked looking back at Roxy at her question, wondering what she was talking about. “Who?” He asked. She was closer to him than she had been, which brought a tint of red to his cheeks. “Um... That’s all for now I think. We can split their biggest popcorn if you’d like... Are you sure you don’t want me to pay for things? I have money.” He dug in his pocket and pulled out the credit card that had been given to him. The Underworld household were never in need of money, Hades made sure of that.
Had he caught on that calling him hot was a large compliment, he would have said something to it. In his mind, he thought it just meant that he was warmer than normal people and the third personality, who knew better, just sat there chuckling in his head. He couldn’t be less helpful when he reacted like that.
----
Roxy smirked, meaning she was enjoying seeing Xander squirm at her catching him checking out those other teenagers. “Those guys over there.” She tilted her head to one side as she caught sight of the girl among the group. “You probably think she’s prettier than me, but only ‘cause she’s got boobs.” she stated matter-of-factly. “I’ve got them too, y’know, I just keep them covered up.” She wasn’t loose like some girls. “Oh, I was gonna pay since I invited you, but if you wanna get the snacks that’s cool with me.”
When he didn’t comment on her calling him hot, she didn’t know how to react. Was his silence an agreement that he was too good for her? It had to be. She’d just ruined her chances with him, hadn’t she? Dumbstruck, Pheme abruptly turned back to face the line, forcefully stopping herself from saying something potentially regrettable.
----
“Guys? Prettier than you?” Xander was fully confused, much to the amusement of the violent mind. He looked back over to where her eyes were directed, finally noticing the gender of any of the teenagers in the group. “I wasn’t looking at anyone...” At first his voice was his normal innocent one, expressing his confusion even beyond the expression on his face. But when he looked back at her, his eyes had taken on a darker blue shade. His voice darkened, a smirk coming to his lips, “I was just thinking of how long they have to live, Roxy... No need to get defensive, poor boy doesn’t have the eyes for that morsel over there.”
He looked her up and down, that same devilish smirk on his lips. His mouth opened, but the words at the end of his tongue wouldn’t come out. Xander shook his head, fighting the other back into his place in the back of his head. His eyes returning to their bright blue and doe like demeanor. “I’m sorry...”
----
Before she could think to react, Roxy saw how his entire demeanor changed, his voice and eyes even going deeper than she remembered them being. Her posture stiffened somewhat, though her eyes showed no sense of fear. Instead, they radiated a clear interest in wanting to know exactly what she had witnessed. Opening her mouth as if to speak, she shut it before she could bring forth any words, bringing one hand up to her chin. After a few moments of thinking, her shoulders relaxed as she nodded her head. “Okay, that makes sense I guess. But what I don’t get is if you’ve got the eyes for that... morsel, was it, how come he doesn’t? You’re in the same damn body.”
Was she concerned he (whatever ‘he’ happened to respond) would get offended by the blunt question? Clearly not. He could shift to full-on puppy form and go nuts, and Roxy would just be annoyed that she didn’t get her popcorn. Reaching out, she patted his shoulder. “Apology accepted. Now get the snacks so we don’t miss the movie.”
----
The violent one had not been allowed to answer her question. He might have been overheard by others and talking about ripping people apart while surrounded by eavesdropping ears was not a good plan. No one would truly understand that one body with multiple minds didn’t mean that they felt or reacted the same to the same person. Pheme should be glad that she wasn’t on his radar as his radar meant something darker in her future. Xander wouldn’t allow the violent one to hurt her, nor would the third mind, so she was safe for the time being.
Xander nodded, walking forward to the cashier, ordering their snacks and drinks and handing him the credit card to run. Pressing his lips together, he glanced over at Pheme. He suspected her to run away like the other people who heard him talk. Taking his card back and handing her half the snacks and the drinks for her to carry, he tried to smile. Maybe the movies wasn’t the best idea. Maybe going out with anyone wasn’t either. “I do like you, Roxy.” He whispered as they walked toward their number.
----
Not actually expecting an answer to her question made not getting one a little easier to handle, especially since she was logical enough to accept that this probably wasn’t the type of conversation they should be having in public. Talking about what one could and couldn’t do when it was apparent that they were surrounded by people who could tell they were different but not how was bad form. Only a few mortals were aware of them, and even Pheme wasn’t stupid enough to ruin that. The consequences weren’t something she’d want to face, for herself or for anyone she cared about.
Roxy waited, having absolutely no intention of leaving even after what had happened. Maybe some other girl would have freaked out, but Roxy Vavra was not that girl. Not only would it be a wasted opportunity to find out more about him, but damnit, she’d paid for these tickets and they were going to see the movie even if she had to drag Cerberus in there by his tail. Or whatever else she could grab that was vaguely tail-like. Balancing the items easily, she blinked at his confession. “Oh really now?” Interesting...
----
“Yes... you’re funny and pretty... and fun to protect.” He said, pushing the door to the theater open. The trailers were already playing and people had filled in, leaving two seats in the back corner or a few seats at the very front available for them to sit in.
“Where should we sit?” Xander smiled. Most boys his age would have immediately led them to the back for the lack of sight by others and general darkness for various other activities that didn’t involve watching the movie in any way. Xander wasn’t most guys. His mind didn’t even go there when it came to sitting. He wouldn’t mind kissing her, like she had described a date-date as, but this was the movies; it meant they should watch the show, right?
----
“I like you too, I dunno if you’ve figured that out yet or not,” she felt the need to point out. “You’re cute and you listen, and... even though you did that voice and eye trick I feel kinda safe around you.” Admitting that was awkward even to her, and she said it.
Checking over the available seats, Roxy made her decision easily. “The back is better, since if there’s lots of stuff going on you don’t get a stiff neck trying to see it like you do when you’re too close.” That, and people didn’t bother you in the back. Roxy doubted that Xander would react well to someone bumping into the back of his chair repeatedly. She usually ended up turning and glaring when that happened to her, but she remembered his earlier growl and didn’t want it interrupting their fun.
----
Xander smiled. He hadn’t really known what to think when it came to her liking him or not. She said odd things like the comment about not going to the dance that threw off his understanding on where he stood with her. But she made comments like ‘adorbs’ and ‘cute’ and maybe ‘hot’ was a good thing. “Sorry... Sometimes he gets loose... He won’t hurt you hopefully. We’ll stop him if he tries.”
His voice was a whisper as they made their way to the back row seats. Depending on who was kicking the chairs and how apologetic they were, Xander would likely have jumped over his seat at them. He really didn’t like rude people. Sitting in the corner so Pheme could have the better seat, he looked over at her. She really was pretty, he didn’t know why she felt she wasn’t as some girl who showed off her chest and hung out with potheads.
----
Roxanne blushed when she saw his smile, hopeful that she’d get to see it more often now that the whole ‘do you like me?’ conversation was out of the way. She didn’t know much about dating beyond what took place in books, movies, and the hallways at school, but she was starting to think that Xander knew even less than she did and that helped her feel less silly about it all. “It’s all good, I trust you.”
And she did, since she figured anyone who was trusted by Hades and Persephone was worthwhile. Besides, Roxy could tell when someone was feeding her a heaping pile of bullshit, and she knew he wasn’t. She got the impression that Cerberus wouldn’t even think to lie in the first place. It was part of his charm. He was looking at her, but she didn’t want to call attention to it. So instead, she dug into the popcorn, eventually leaning over and whispering. “Hey, if the movie sucks do you wanna make out?”
----
Xander had managed to have half a handful of popcorn in his mouth when she made her comment. A quick breath in in shock over the question had him choking on the small pieces. People in front of them looked back at him in anger, which only made the coughing worse since he tried to make it quieter. The movie hadn’t even started but the lights had gone out enough telling that it was about to. Finally grabbing his drink, he took several deep intakes of the liquid, coughing through it.
When the coughing subsided, he was still breathing deeply. Xander looked pitiful. Wiping away the tears that had formed while coughing, he looked at her both pathetically and still in shock.
----
Roxy didn’t expect that reaction to her question, and instantly felt bad when he started choking on his popcorn. Part of her wanted to laugh at his obvious shock, but she managed to stifle the urge as she reached over to pat him on the back. When the people in front of them turned to give them dirty looks, the glare they received in return was the one she reserved for special occasions. She may not be all that fearsome to behold, but she had mastered being able to give off one bitchy-looking glower.
As he got his coughing under control, she kept her hand on his back. Roxy could feel her lips quirking with the giggles she was still struggling to hold back, but managed to speak softly. “Sorry, didn’t think you’d react that badly to the thought of kissing me.”
----
You’re going to kill us, calm down there pup. The third personality whispered in his mind. “No... I mean... I...” He sighed, trying to get his thoughts in order without the others interceding. “It’s just... I’m sorry.” Xander really couldn’t think of another way to say that he wouldn’t mind kissing her, but the question out of the blue had not been expected. Well, the third personality could say it eloquently, but he would let Xander handle it on his own. He knew that Pheme liked the quirkiness of the innocent personality. Really Xander’s other personalities seemed like they liked to watch him squirm as much as Pheme did.
----
The smile that she had been trying to hold back bloomed across her face in full effect when he stuttered out an apology, at least before she covered her mouth with one hand to chuckle. “I’m sorry too, Xander, I don’t mean to laugh. I was just messing with you a little.” She hoped he wouldn’t be mad at her for that. Shifting in her seat to get a little closer to him, she offered him one of her coveted Twizzlers. “The movie’s starting, so let’s just watch it and we can talk about how you just might be scared of a little girl after it’s over. Oh, and where’s those breadsticks, I’m not letting you eat them all on me.” That being said, Roxy took a sip of her drink, waiting on his response.
----
Xander’s mouth twitched, his brow furrowed, but not in anger. She had a nice laugh, that was enough to make him not be hurt. She confused him a great deal that he would have to ask Hades or Charon or one of the girls if this was normal. How was he suppose to respond to anything when he didn’t know if she was just teasing him? It didn’t even cross his mind that she may be just saying things to make everything less awkward, when really it just made everything more awkward.
He took the Twizzler, looking at the long red object and sniffing it before hold it back for her to take. The thing smelled of pure sugar and artificial cherries. They weren’t things he generally liked. He could smell a slightly sweet scent coming from her lips, but nothing like the repulsive artificial nonsense in candy. “Why would I be scared of a little girl?” He whispered as he handed over half of the bosco sticks. The audience in front of them were not happy with the current noisiness of the young couple.
----
Roxy’s laughter subsided, for the most part, but not completely. No, she’d probably be laughing about this for days to come, but only when she was alone and could remember how flustered he got. This was turning out to be more fun than she’d originally assumed it might be, in part because she could enjoy herself at his expense without feeling guilty about it since she did intend to explain herself later. She’d have done it now but they’d already annoyed the people in front of them enough.
She wrinkled her nose when he handed back the Twizzler without saying why, taking a bite of it so it wouldn’t go to waste as she shot him a look that rather pointedly say ‘fine, more for me’ as she happily chomped away. Finishing the candy as he handed over the bosco sticks, she waved one under his nose as she answered him as quietly as possible. “You’re scared of me because you don’t know what I’m gonna do or say next. For all you know I could be planning something right now.” Yeah, she went there.
----
He really didn’t know he was suppose to explain why he didn’t want the candy. It was part of his lack of verbal expression of the people he resided with. They didn’t explain much so why would he? So he didn’t catch the pointed look and what it meant. “I’m not scared of you... And you’re not a little girl...”
Xander blinked at the last portion of her comments. What was she planning now? He wanted the third personality to tell him, but he was still chuckling about everything that was happening. “Are you?” He asked cautiously, not really caring about the movie now. He’d be watching over his shoulder if she was going to be playing that game.
----
She would have appreciated a little clue on what kind of foods he did and didn’t like so she knew what to share if they ever had snacks together again, but whatever. She would just assume he didn’t like cherry, or awesome candies. “Sure you’re not, and I’m shorter than you. That makes me little,” she claimed.
Roxy could tell that she’d gotten under his skin, but she wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not. When she heard the concerned tone in his voice it took everything in her power to not dissolve into giggles on the spot. Instead, she just shook her head, snickering. “No, I’m not planning anything. Just watch the movie, I promise to behave.”
----
She was right. The height difference did make her little, but from what he caught on about the use of that phrase ‘little girl’ usually meant a young child. Xander didn’t see her as a young child. As she had plainly stated earlier, she had boobs too, she just didn’t show them like the other teenaged girl. Maybe if she had I would have answered for you on the making out option, the violent one scoffed. He hated being quieted when he had something to say, but he rarely fought against the other one when he wanted Xander to experience life.
He looked at her suspiciously, but turned his attention toward the movie screen as the title sequence started. During the first 15 minutes he would glance at her to make sure she was enjoying the show and make sure she didn’t look like she was planning something, every time the third personality would just chuckle uncontrollably. He also was telling him he should at least look like he liked Pheme, talking to him like an older brother would. Xander leaned closer to Pheme, setting the popcorn between them. He really didn’t get there was more implied by his other’s statement,
----
Of course she was right. It’s not like she didn’t have experience being her or anything. And yeah, saying ‘little girl’ was typically reserved for an actual child and not a growing young woman, but she’d been this height for longer than she cared to remember and other than the advent of puberty (which she assumed was her body’s way of adapting to her current lifestyle) she still got treated like a frickin’ kid. It was annoying, but at the same time kind of awesome because people overlooked her constantly, which meant Roxy had an advantage at gathering intel.
She knew he was looking, and the first few times he did made sure to greet his suspicious glances with raised eyebrows, but after that she figured he’d get the hint and stopped trying to mentally inform him that she wasn’t going to do anything sketchy. At least she wouldn’t while the movie was going on. She hadn’t expected him to lean closer, or to put the popcorn between them; Cerberus hadn’t exactly given off the impression that he liked her as more than a friend, and last time Roxy checked friends shared popcorn but not personal space, so this was a new development worth investigating.
----
It was unlikely that Cerberus would ever become a creature of many words. He didn’t know how to properly express himself and what he thought would be telling signs of how much he liked her and wanted to get to know her better didn’t necessarily read as loudly as normal human things. Sharing his food was not something he would do for just anyone, in fact the only one who could take any food away from him would be Hades- not that he would.
Reaching into the popcorn bucket, his hand grazed her and his heart jumped. Why did his heart jump? Was this what a heart attack was? A very confused expression crossed his face. His cheeks felt hot, too, though he was unsure if that was one of the symptoms. Patting his back had been a normal response, as Cerberus saw it, but feeling her skin on his had a strange reaction.
----
It wasn’t as though Pheme would think to outright ask how he really felt. She preferred to let people say such things in their own time while she indulged in the only exercise she consistently participated in -- jumping to conclusions -- and then pretending that she knew all along when her suspicions were either confirmed or denied. Besides, asking would give away that knowing the answer was important, and when people knew you felt something was worth learning they had leverage over you.
...not that she assumed he’d do anything when and if he got something he could potentially use against her, but a girl couldn’t be too cautious when in the first steps of a relationship. She trusted him, certainly, but not enough to let down all the walls. Her train of thought would have continued down that path if not for a strange occurrence via the shared popcorn bucket. She had been mindlessly nomming -- reach into bucket, extract popcorn, eat, repeat -- when their fingers brushed and instead of continuing what he was doing his hand stopped. Her’s had been in mid-removal, but when he paused so did Pheme. She slowly glanced down at their hands, then over at him, her mouth dropping open at the expression on his face. Dropping her fingerful of popcorn, she carefully removed her hand and waved the butter-covered digits in his face. “You okay? Something wrong?”
----
“I... I don’t know.” He looked at her, more warmth rushing to his cheeks. Xander didn’t know what to make of these sudden reactions. His mind just hadn’t made the connections before. He knew the word ‘like’, he knew that he ‘liked’ her and his cheeks flushed when he was embarrassed and before he had started talking to her; when he only saw her in the hall a similar colouring would grace his cheeks. But the speed of his heart had been steady until just then.
“What does a heart attack feel like?” The words blurted out of his mouth before the other personality could inform him that it was not a heart attack and that wasn’t a good thing to say. For a personality that could see the future he couldn’t tell when the other two were going to do something.
----
“Whoa, wait, what?” She didn’t like the sound of that, scrambling out of the seat so she could grasp his arm with her non-buttered hand. Roxy quickly located the pulse point in his wrist, closing her eyes as she called to mind everything she could remember about heart attacks. Keeping her voice hushed and her tone calm after that initial soft outburst, she let go of his arm and crouched in front of him, reaching up to press her hand to his forehead for a moment.
“Your pulse feels really fast and your forehead is kinda warm. Do you have pain in your arm, chest, or jaw, or do you think you’re gonna barf?” That was all she could recall about them. “If you are gonna puke, it’s okay, I understand, just try not to get my face or hair. That’d kinda suck.”
----
The world became blurry when her fingers touched his wrist and then his forehead. No longer were his cheeks just warm, but burning and the rest of his body felt very warm also. It was strange to feel the warmth inside of him as he had always, no matter what form been a very warm creature, he threw heat like no other. He wanted her to keep touching his forehead, but he could barely verbalize anything.
“I... I feel dizzy...” He whispered. The people in front of them glanced back with angry looks and shushed them. Cerberus growled back at them his eyes momentarily shining red in the dark light, shutting the people up quickly. Turning back to Pheme the glint of his hellhound side dissipated. “I think I need cool air...” He managed to form a complete thought. Cold made pain subside, which meant that the cool November air would be helpful if he did have a heart attack.
----
“You feel dizzy?” Right, well that was probably another symptom of a heart attack. The only reaction she had to the people shushing them was to reach back with her free hand and give them a one-fingered salute, more concerned with making sure Xander was alright than with how some strangers felt. This was an emergency, and the movie wasn’t even all that good anyways, so as far as she was concerned they could stuff it.
“Let’s get you outside, then. Can you walk?” she asked, fully prepared to help him if he needed it. Pheme couldn’t carry him, but he could lean on her if he had to. Grabbing her coat, she shrugged into it before stepping back so Cerberus could get up without her being in the way. A quick glance was spared at the snacks, but they weren’t worth saving. They needed to get him outside before he passed out or something, since she didn’t know if she’d be able to catch him if he fainted on her. “Come on, let’s go.”
----
“Ok... Yes...” Xander slipped back into his coat and stood up. He just needed to breathe. The people in the movie were not doing anything right anyhow. And he couldn’t focus with Pheme implanting the suspicion that she had plans anyhow, no matter how much she gave him looks that said she wasn’t going to actually do anything. Moving quicker than a slow pace normally reserved for not feeling well, he just wanted to get out of there now. He was feeling antsy on top of very warm and dizzy. She could have moved to help him, but it only made him feel antsier and his feet move quicker.
Not really pausing until he made it outside, he slid down onto a metal bench. The theater had been close to the end of the hall so the exit was close by. Small pools of amber light flooded the area of the alcove with light, so Xander purposefully found a bench just outside the light. The cool air engulfing him helped with the warmth, but his nerves still stood on end and his mind kept going back to her hand on his wrist and head.
----
As soon as he agreed, Roxy was ready to move. His health was more important than some dumb movie that she could always catch on netflix in a few months anyway, and there was no point in staying if Cerberus had to leave. While she gave off the impression that she was tough as nails the idea of taking public transportation home by herself was not one that she planned on entertaining. She’d learned from earlier that people were less likely to sit down and start chatting with her when she traveled with him, and that suited her just fine.
Not used to keeping up with his faster pace, she was two or three steps behind him but never once asked him to slow down so she could catch up. There was a time she could’ve outpaced him, but Roxy saw no reason to try and beat him to the bench when she knew he’d leave her plenty of room. Sitting down, making sure to give him space in case he had to vomit, she eyed him warily. “You feeling any better?”
----
Xander glanced at Pheme and then at the ground. “Sorry,” he apologized. The word far too typical from his mouth, but he was sincere when he said it. The others in his mind were laughing too hard to be of any help, though one pushed him to sit closer to her again. He really wanted to bite them, because they weren’t telling him why only ‘it will help.’ He didn’t exactly believe that, sitting close had caused his heart to malfunction or was one of the reasons it happened.
“I’m not doing well on this date thing, am I?” The question was rhetorical and mostly for the other personalities. His body was slumped forward, his arms resting on his legs, but his breathing slowed. For all he knew this would ruin their dance ‘date-date’ because he couldn’t keep his head straight and the violent one was randomly looking to hunt.
----
Roxy kept smiling even when Cerberus apologized again, shaking her head. "It's all good, don't worry," she returned automatically, understanding why he kept saying sorry but wanting to assure him that she really wasn't holding anything against him. He looked a bit peaky, paler than usual, but the cold air seemed to be helping from the looks of it. Kicking her legs back and forth in an effort to keep herself warm, she wasn't sure how to respond to his comment.
"What? No, you're fine," she murmured, looking a little sheepish. "I wasn't really thinking this was a date, 'cause like, I didn't know if you wanted it to be and I'm trying not to just like, decide things for you," she explained, taking a great interest in the clouds. "I kinda do stuff like that, and people say it makes me annoying, and I don't wanna annoy you, so... yeah." She shrugged, taking a deep breath. "Look, if you're sick we can go, and you don't gotta apologize for it. I get it, sick is sick."
----
Xander bit his lip, his eyes following her movements. “I was told that going out together was considered a date, but I figured it was different from a ‘date-date’. and... well... you don’t annoy me. I prefer when someone else takes the lead on decisions... most of the time I can’t come to an agreement between the three of us.” He paused. Thinking about going home didn’t feel right either. Their night out had barely started and he knew he would just be yelled at by the others if he didn’t make the ‘not-date’ last at least 4 hours. If they would help him out then he wouldn’t have failed so horribly.
“Would you... check my pulse again?” Xander wanted to feel her delicate fingers again.
----
Roxy nodded slowly, recognizing that whoever had told him that was technically correct. "Okay, yeah, that's true. Going out together is considered a date, but a date-date is more fancy than just a date. So yeah, this could be considered a date, but the dance would be a date-date 'cause we'll be dressed up and people might wanna get pictures." Like her mama, she kept saying she wanted them. "I don't mind picking what we do, but it's more fun if it's something you like too, not just stuff I find fun, so if we're gonna be doing this again we should do that get to know each other better thing." People on TV did that all the time.
"You... want me to check your pulse again?" Roxy asked, already resting two fingers on his wrist. "It seems okay..."
----
Deep down, he wasn’t sure if she’d like the things he liked. Or he just didn’t know what it was that he really liked yet. He liked scaring people, and eating people and the food channel- he really liked the food channel- oh and turkeys, loved those too. Xander was getting hungry again and regretted leaving their snacks behind. Running wasn’t something people did often in the winter, so all he had was the school gym to run around. The track coach had approached him about joining the track team, but Cerberus wasn’t really a team player.
When she put her fingers back on his wrist, his heart jumped again. It didn’t hurt as much the second time, nor did it speed away like a rabbit running for its life. Xander didn’t want her to remove her hand again. He looked down at her hand sitting there ready to leave his once more, so he placed his other hand over hers. She was colder than he was. Without much thought he gently moved his finger over the soft skin of the back of her hands.
----
There were lots of things that she liked, though she wouldn't count eating people among them. Freaking people out, learning their secrets through any means necessary, eating, dancing, fangirling -- these were all acceptable pastimes to her. Still, if he opened up to her, Roxy would do her best to learn more about what he enjoyed, and so long as he didn't somehow hurt her feelings she would keep his secrets just as safe as she kept her own. It was the one thing Pheme had promised herself, that she would take her secrets and the ones of those she held most dear to the grave.
The slight flare up in his pulse was surprising, but it settled down quick enough that she saw no reason to mention it. Lots of things could have caused it, so Roxy wasn't concerned. Right as she started to pull her hand back, not wanting to creep him out by leaving it on his arm longer than needed, his hand came down to cover hers causing her to gaze up at him with a vaguely confused and worried expression on her face. She wondered if she did something wrong, but then felt his finger moving over the back of her hand and blushed brightly. Unable to think of anything to say, she just sat there gaping at him.
----
A moment of silence passed before Xander took his eyes off their hands and back to her face. That had been the problem. Her skin grazing his coming out of the popcorn bucket had been odd to the puppy. She had made him feel warm and dizzy and like he was going to have a heart attack, even now he felt strange. The others yelled kiss her in the back of his mind, but Xander was scared that she wouldn’t like it. If she yelled at him then the violent one might react and he would have ruined their time out even more so than he already had. His gaze went from her eyes to her lips and back again.
The other problem was that he had never kissed anyone, ever, even the calculating personality couldn’t tell him the how to or how he would know if he was any good at it. Not many people interacted on that kind of level with him previously and even now in a human form. Leaning closer, he stopped; still fighting over it with the others. His cheeks started to match hers once more. “Sor-” The others forced his mouth shut for once.
-----
There was a reason Roxy was constantly chattering away, and that was because she disliked the silence. When people got all quiet it usually meant they were thinking, and more often than not when they did that in regards to her, she ended up in a bad way. It was taking all her willpower to stop her thoughts from going to all the things that he might be coming to realize were wrong with her and whether or not he was debating never seeing her again, but she kept her cool as best she could. Still focused on his face, Roxy noticed how his eyes flickered from her eyes to her lips and back again, and felt her cheeks getting warmer as her nervousness grew.
When he leaned closer, close enough to be within kissing distance -- not that Pheme had kissed anyone, just books and movies made that specific measurement of distance pretty clear -- a lightbulb went off in the back of her head. Oh ho ho... he was thinking, possibly, of putting the moves on her. Tongue darting out quickly to wet her lips, she started to close her eyes, moving to lessen the gap between them. Then, just as she was preparing herself for the inevitable smooch, she heard the start of that annoyingly stupid word slip out of his mouth. "Oh damnit, don't you dare!" she huffed, freeing her hand from his before reaching up to pull him closer, crashing her lips to his like she'd been thinking about doing since they first met up. It was by no means soft or sweet, but it was her first kiss and she wasn't holding back.
----
His hands came up to stop her hands not knowing what she was doing, but stopped short when their lips met. Her lips were cool from the winter chill, but nothing too overpowering. His own heat radiated through him. Bringing his hand up to her temple, he swept back a small piece of hair that was in the way, pulling back his lips ever so slightly turning the kiss into a far sweeter feeling to match the personality. His hand slipped behind her neck, letting their lips linger longer together, while his other hand wrapped around the small of her waist.
For a first kiss, he found it slightly strange feeling, but the butterflies in his stomach dissipated into a warm fuzzy feeling. He still had no idea what he was doing and the other shrugged while the violent one suggested biting her. The only typical teenaged boy thing about him that he wasn’t sure completely how to take it was the want to pull her onto his lap, but he pushed that thought back, unsure why it had appeared.
----
Her fingers went slack where they held his cheeks, sliding down to rest on his shoulders as she relaxed into the kiss. The heat from his mouth warmed her lips, slowly spreading through the rest of her. For the briefest of instances she peeked out from behind half-closed eyes as if to confirm that she was indeed involved in this situation, that she, Pheme, aka Roxanne Vavra, was full-on kissing an attractive boy and she hadn’t had to tackle him in order to get him to submit to it. She trembled when he brushed the hair off her face, using his hand on her waist as impetus to scoot even closer.
Honestly, she wasn’t sure what she should have been expecting from the kiss -- books and movies were deceptive -- but she could say with a certainty that she definitely enjoyed it and wouldn’t mind doing it more often. In the past she hadn’t understood how people could pay for a movie and then ignore it, and now she could see why. This was awesome! However, she soon had to pull away, gasping for air with stars in her eyes.
----
When she pulled away, a soft whimper escaped his lips. Pressing his lips together, he savoured the honey tinted taste of her lips. Xander had to remember to breathe. “Wow,” he said with a laugh. “You taste like honey.” A smile spread across his lips. He didn’t like sweet things, but he could like kissing her if she continually tasted like that. Xander didn’t watch a lot of movies or tv shows, he had no base for what the kiss should be like, so he was perfectly happy with how it played out.
They still were sitting very close and he didn’t move his hand from her waist. He could keep her warm, or they could maybe kiss again. Again his ability to verbalize his thoughts were not his strong point. The breeze kicked up, but he didn’t even shiver.
----
If he’d been sitting with anyone else and made a noise like that while outside in the wind they might not have heard it, but Roxy’s hearing was still as keen as it had been when the Greek gods held sway. Leaning her forehead against his, she grinned happily. “Wow is right,” she agreed, licking her lips. “That’s my lip balm, so I don’t get chapped lips.” She liked it specifically because she had a habit of gnawing on her lips when thinking and of the ones she tried it tasted the best without being too addictive.
The fact that they were outside sitting on a bench for all the world to see didn’t phase her, as for the first time in ages her attention was solely on him. Godzilla could be wrecking up the place, but she was too busy replaying the kiss in her head to care. “So, what now,” she asked in a whisper. “Should we kiss again?”
----
“I like it... I like the taste of your lips...” He laughed, a smile flickering from a subtle one to a bigger one. If she wanted to kiss again then he had to have done something right. Or it was the blind leading the blind. Before movies and tv people got on quite well so why wouldn’t they? They were both from that time any how. Neither of them had had the opportunities in their previous existence to experience such things, so maybe the Fates hadn’t been cruel in placing a large Guardian of hell into a young teenaged body. They were able to experience so much more, their essences made up the innocence they could experience.
“If you’d like...” He replied sheepishly. The others had been mostly appeased, amused that he didn’t completely foul up his opportunities. “I don’t mind.” His blue eyes searched hers for a moment before leaning again in to kiss her again.
----
The squeal she let out when he complimented how her lips tasted might have been high-pitched enough for any nearby dogs to have heard it, but she didn’t care. She had never had someone say anything nearly that wonderful to her, and if she wasn’t already practically throwing herself at him he might have ended up with an armful of hyperactive teenage goddess. As it stood, she was so dumbstruck by how sweet his comment was that she started bouncing in place on the bench. Maturity; where did it go? “Thank you~ that has to be the greatest thing anyone’s ever told me. I’ll make sure to never use a different type of lip stuff so long as I live.” Well, so long as it existed.
“If I like...?” she questioned, “Do you even need to ask?” She giggled when he said he didn’t mind, sticking out the tip of her tongue. “You better not mind, or I might have to punch you,” she mumbled before their lips connected again.