#shadysitter

DACTYL CAN NOT RECALL THE LAST TIME THEY HAD CELEBRATED HALLOWEEN , AS SO PEOPLE LIKE STEVE WOULD CALL THE HOLIDAY .   Trick or treating , dressing up , watching scary movies, frightening people   —   it all sounds very fun !   And Dactyl loves F-U-N !   Recently , Steve had pulled them into getting many different costumes for them to try out with him , especially for the upcoming “ Halloween prom “ their high school will be having soon .   The idea of being something   /   someone entirely different only one time a year is interesting , though the fact that they will have to pick up one out of a million and more choices , it is also . . .  overwhelming .   So , they end up placing their most cherished soft blanket over their head   —   being the greatest ghost to exist in the whole wide universe !   Much to Steve’s amusement who is now a . . . werewolf ?   They swear he is telling them something along the line ,   “   Are you the moon ?   Because you sure know how to make my heart howl .  “   A funny noise leaves Dactyl as they uncover their face and nuzzles his nose , scarred lips curled into a widen smile  .   “   Noooo !    I - I - I am a ghost , silly wolf !   “  Giggling loudly , they pat his head several times , playing with his ear headband , all in sheer delight .

height comparison. accepting. @shadysitter.

         she doesn’t immediately comprehend what it is he’s said. “ i never said i’d be sad forever, c’mon -- ” a pause. oh, wait. slightly sunburnt cheeks heat up & she turns her head away. edith runs a hand through her hair, eyes rolling. maybe what he said was very sweet. & maybe she’s looking away so she can fight off the smile tugging at one side of her mouth. “ that was cheesy as all hell. ”

       in all honesty, she has no idea who did it. edith had just walked into a little storage closet, looking for something, & the door was left wide open. maybe it’d been a camper, maybe it was another counselor. who fucking cares. but someone had slammed it shut & blocked the door, keeping her from getting out. with the initial feigned calm, she had no response. & then the calm wore down. & then she started panicking. (edith can handle a lot more than she thinks, but tight spaces are not within that group. she’s never been sure why; she thinks it’s stupid.) but here she is, a few minutes later, curled up as small as she can get. trying to make the space bigger. staggered breaths just barely getting any air at all. hot tears stinging her eyes & rolling down her cheeks. god, what if more people were in on it? no. that’s ridiculous.

       when the door opens, she scrambles to sit just outside of it, legs stretched out & eyes still closed. she hasn’t even registered who or how until a moment later, when steve asks her a question. edith wipes quickly at her face, trying to clear her eyes. five things. c’mon, maslow. “ um -- y-yeah, um. the, uh. the -- the door. s’one. ” god, is everything always so big? this is rough even for her. “ um. table. two. ” breathe. “ the ... the shit i knocked over in there. fuck. is that ... s’three. ” she runs a nervous hand through her hair, shaking her head a little. this sucks. “ s’a knot in th’floor. um. there. four. ” she points, a dark circle on the wood next to her. okay, come on. five. one more. green eyes focus on his shoes. the hand she’s pointing at the floor with rises to point at him. “ you. five. ... thanks. ” she offers a small teary-eyed smile. please don’t ask.

          ❛  you  know  ---  it’s  a  crazy  idea,  but  have  you  considered...  telling  the  truth? ❜

        she knows that she’s being unfair. that much is obvious. but a wound so freshly given doesn’t heal overnight, & the sting of what daniel did echoes over to steve’s corny lines & occasional moments of genuine sweetness. it’s easier to avoid thinking about the way that sometimes she can’t help smiling when she sees him. it’s easier to reject his advances than even consider that he might be different. what would she do with that, anyway? easier to pretend to hate him than to accept that she maybe liked him more than she wants to.

         green eyes are focused on his hand, a loose hold on her forearm. the look on her face isn’t the usual one of annoyance or exhaustion -- it’s an almost-confused look. she doesn’t pull away, but she doesn’t let up & move closer. gaze lifts to his face, trying to discern what the angle here is. eyes narrow, assuming there is some angle she can’t see. she pulls her arm free, still aware of the warmth of contact on her skin. “ is it too much t’ask you t’ just leave me alone? trust me, i don’t need any more cool guys in my life. at all. ”

         it’s obvious that edith, ever the hardass, is exhausted. it’s a combination of homesickness, work, & the difference in the noises of nightwing as opposed to down south. sure, she’s practically crashed as soon as she could every night, but she had to call lights out in another hour -- an hour she didn’t have to spare. (she’s trying to stay awake. she doesn’t even realize she’s almost asleep on his shoulder till his voice wakes her back up.) “ shit -- sorry, m’just like. gotta call lights out but -- shut up. ” she runs a hand through her hair, trying to keep the exhaustion at bay. c’mon, maslow. stay awake. “ it was an accident. ”

       she’s trying her best to storm off, avoid blowing up in annoyance in front of a group of people. so of course steve is following her. edith’s hands form fists as she rounds on the taller boy, hot red anger (or maybe it’s more of a blush, she can’t tell all the time any more) flushing her face. “ what is your problem, huh? like, every fucking time i start to think oh, maybe he’s gonna be bearable today, you feel some compulsion t’ make a total ass of yourself -- ”

       edith pauses, teeth grinding together. she keeps going back & forth on whether she can actually stand steve or not -- sometimes, when they manage to have a normal conversation where he isn’t trying to be whatever it is he’s so often trying to be, she thinks she might even like him. but then he’ll turn around & pull some stupid shit that makes her wish she could clean her memory with bleach. & she knows part of it is whether or not other people are around. which is even more stupid than the persona he clearly thinks he needs to have. “ is it, like, some kind of fun thing for you, to be a real goddamn human being only when you think no one can see you? god, you -- what is it, huh? is that your idea of fun? being actually tolerable only to see how much you can grate on my nerves later? ”

        another pause. (all right, maybe it’s her who’s about to make an ass of herself. in fact, it probably is.) hands grab his stupid counselor shirt & pull his stupid face down to her height as she kisses him. it’s something she’s wanted to do for a while, but every time she’d consider it her train of thought would be interrupted. this is such a dumb move. now she’s probably never going to get him to leave her alone. not that she really wanted him to anyway.