trick or treat
Author: Nathalia
Rating: PG
Challenge: Pumpkin Pie #15 - trick or treat
Extras / Toppings: caramel, gummy bunnies (500themes: flashes of euphoria), pocky chain, sprinkles
Word Count: 1,192
Story: Misfits
Summary: Max and Kennedy’s relationship.
Notes: At this point, I consider them the central couple in this story.
The new guy almost falls over Kennedy’s discarded boots by the door, diverting her attention from the gossip magazine she is reading. She manages to stifle a laugh as he falls, waving his hands exaggeratedly in an attempt to regain his balance and finally lands at her feet.
“Hi,” she grins, looking down to him. “You’re the Eisenhardt guy, aren’t you?”
“And you’re the girl with the killer boots.” He reaches over and holds one of the black boots up. “Wow, nobody with flat, dirty boots like that has ever managed to hurt me.”
“Consider it a first.”
***
He can tell that it’s getting too much for West to handle when she breaks down after he briefs her on the plan for the next few weeks. She doesn’t even wait till he’s out of the room like she has last time.
“Hey,” he whispers, awkwardly wrapping an arm around her. “Hey, West …” Her first name is on the clipboard and he steals a glance at it. “Kennedy, listen to me, it’s going to be okay.”
“I’ll never be able to go back home,” she forces out amid sobs.
“I promise you will. I’ll get you home.”
***
She still feels bad for ambushing him like that. She promised herself she wouldn’t do it and now she wants to vanish into thin air when she spots him making his way toward her table in the cafeteria she’s having dinner with with Leo.
Completely ignoring Leo, he leans over the table and smiles at her. “You and me are going out for drinks tonight. I don’t care if you drink or not.”
And as fast as he arrived, he is gone, bumping into tables here and there.
“What was that all about?” Leo asks but she just smiles.
***
Their first kiss is a work-related experience just like most of their fates up to this point though Kennedy wouldn’t call any of them dates. It’s late at night and they are sitting on the floor with a giant map of Europe, trying to figure out where to go, what to do next.
“We should go to Krakow. I’d love to show you Krakow,” Max decides.
“I didn’t know this was a sightseeing trip.”
“Might as well make the best of the situation,” he suggests, leaning over to her.
She understands right away what he’s getting at.
***
Somehow, she misses him. They communicate through very short messages but she doesn’t know much about what he’s doing. She knew she said she wouldn’t get attached and knows Leo is probably happy about her separation from Max but she can’t stop.
He gave her a flower before she left, pressed into a book that he put there shortly after they first met. She keeps it in her diary which was completely empty before she and Max parted ways.
Now she writes in it every day, a replacement for talking to him since that’s not an option right now.
***
He hasn’t heard from her for two months and can’t find any indication of her whereabouts. For all he knows, she might not even be in Europe anymore and that would mean that she’s out of his reach once and for all. He doesn’t want to think about that.
He’s getting worried that Kennedy and Leo might have gotten caught when she waltzes into the cafeteria in Hamburg as if it’s just any other day.
Instead of killing her which he planned to do for not keeping him up to date, he just embraces her, glad to have her back.
***
“They are just mean,” Max pouts. “They hate each other but they love to gang up on me. They can be quite cruel. You have no idea how many strange women I had to hit on as a distraction since they found out about you.”
“Didn’t they make you strip at a gay bar once?” Kennedy asks, not even trying to hide her amusement.
Max’ jaw drops and he goes pale. “How do you know about that?” He finally stammers.
“Some greaser guy told me.”
“And what did you say?”
“I laughed and told them that I thought I was dating that guy.”
***
The right moment has long passed. And they had several of those.
“Does it worry you?” Kennedy asks, curled up against him in bed, her head on his chest. “That we still haven’t?”
Max shakes his head. “We’ve been through so much that I don’t think it matters. When we get to it, we get to it. If it takes us another year, then so be it.” He runs his fingers through her hair. “By now, I think we never should. We’d both probably be disappointed by it.”
“I’d still like to give it a try some day.”
“Me too.”
***
She’s not exactly jealous but sometimes, the closeness between Max and Helena bothers her. Usually, she goes to Max’ frequent partner Ripley for consolation because nobody has so many bad things to day about Helena as him.
She doesn’t really understand why it bothers her. She likes Helena. Sometimes, it just becomes too much and she can’t put up with Helena spending the night at Max’ and knowing him so well.
Max apologizes each and every time, even when it’s not his fault but Kennedy wishes she could just erase that past relationship or find Helena someone else to cling to.
***
“I told you you’d be back here in Boston sooner or later,” Max grins. She’s squeezing his hand, still unable to believe it even though they haven’t been allowed to leave the building yet, still going over paper work, signing release form after release form. By now, Max is really tired of his own name.
“And you’re really staying?”
Max shrugs. “Your sister pretty much bullied me into taking a job here. And there’s you, of course. Plenty of reasons to stay.”
“You’re going to love it here,” she assures him.
He has never seen her happier.
***
“How could you?” Her head is hanging down, her hair falling over her face and Max feels terrible. This defeat and sadness in her voice is so much worse than when her mother was yelling at him and threatening to tear him a new one.
He wants to reach out and pat her back or something but he can’t bring himself to. There’s still earth under his finger nails and he probably reeks of sweat.
So, he just sits next to her without saying a word, feeling the distance grow between them, unable to do anything about it.
***
“Does it bother you at all?”
Kennedy has her feet in his lap and is upbeat as she has been ever since she found out the news.
“What?”
“You know what. Helena. I mean, she was your girlfriend forever and now …” She raises an eyebrow. “I never expected her to get married.”
“If you want to, we could elope right now so she wouldn’t be the first,” Max suggests and Kennedy throws her head back laughing.
“That’s very sweet, but no. Let’s wait to see how Helena’s wedding goes first.”
“You’re hoping it ends in disaster, don’t you?”
“Of course.”
Rating: PG
Challenge: Pumpkin Pie #15 - trick or treat
Extras / Toppings: caramel, gummy bunnies (500themes: flashes of euphoria), pocky chain, sprinkles
Word Count: 1,192
Story: Misfits
Summary: Max and Kennedy’s relationship.
Notes: At this point, I consider them the central couple in this story.
The new guy almost falls over Kennedy’s discarded boots by the door, diverting her attention from the gossip magazine she is reading. She manages to stifle a laugh as he falls, waving his hands exaggeratedly in an attempt to regain his balance and finally lands at her feet.
“Hi,” she grins, looking down to him. “You’re the Eisenhardt guy, aren’t you?”
“And you’re the girl with the killer boots.” He reaches over and holds one of the black boots up. “Wow, nobody with flat, dirty boots like that has ever managed to hurt me.”
“Consider it a first.”
***
He can tell that it’s getting too much for West to handle when she breaks down after he briefs her on the plan for the next few weeks. She doesn’t even wait till he’s out of the room like she has last time.
“Hey,” he whispers, awkwardly wrapping an arm around her. “Hey, West …” Her first name is on the clipboard and he steals a glance at it. “Kennedy, listen to me, it’s going to be okay.”
“I’ll never be able to go back home,” she forces out amid sobs.
“I promise you will. I’ll get you home.”
***
She still feels bad for ambushing him like that. She promised herself she wouldn’t do it and now she wants to vanish into thin air when she spots him making his way toward her table in the cafeteria she’s having dinner with with Leo.
Completely ignoring Leo, he leans over the table and smiles at her. “You and me are going out for drinks tonight. I don’t care if you drink or not.”
And as fast as he arrived, he is gone, bumping into tables here and there.
“What was that all about?” Leo asks but she just smiles.
***
Their first kiss is a work-related experience just like most of their fates up to this point though Kennedy wouldn’t call any of them dates. It’s late at night and they are sitting on the floor with a giant map of Europe, trying to figure out where to go, what to do next.
“We should go to Krakow. I’d love to show you Krakow,” Max decides.
“I didn’t know this was a sightseeing trip.”
“Might as well make the best of the situation,” he suggests, leaning over to her.
She understands right away what he’s getting at.
***
Somehow, she misses him. They communicate through very short messages but she doesn’t know much about what he’s doing. She knew she said she wouldn’t get attached and knows Leo is probably happy about her separation from Max but she can’t stop.
He gave her a flower before she left, pressed into a book that he put there shortly after they first met. She keeps it in her diary which was completely empty before she and Max parted ways.
Now she writes in it every day, a replacement for talking to him since that’s not an option right now.
***
He hasn’t heard from her for two months and can’t find any indication of her whereabouts. For all he knows, she might not even be in Europe anymore and that would mean that she’s out of his reach once and for all. He doesn’t want to think about that.
He’s getting worried that Kennedy and Leo might have gotten caught when she waltzes into the cafeteria in Hamburg as if it’s just any other day.
Instead of killing her which he planned to do for not keeping him up to date, he just embraces her, glad to have her back.
***
“They are just mean,” Max pouts. “They hate each other but they love to gang up on me. They can be quite cruel. You have no idea how many strange women I had to hit on as a distraction since they found out about you.”
“Didn’t they make you strip at a gay bar once?” Kennedy asks, not even trying to hide her amusement.
Max’ jaw drops and he goes pale. “How do you know about that?” He finally stammers.
“Some greaser guy told me.”
“And what did you say?”
“I laughed and told them that I thought I was dating that guy.”
***
The right moment has long passed. And they had several of those.
“Does it worry you?” Kennedy asks, curled up against him in bed, her head on his chest. “That we still haven’t?”
Max shakes his head. “We’ve been through so much that I don’t think it matters. When we get to it, we get to it. If it takes us another year, then so be it.” He runs his fingers through her hair. “By now, I think we never should. We’d both probably be disappointed by it.”
“I’d still like to give it a try some day.”
“Me too.”
***
She’s not exactly jealous but sometimes, the closeness between Max and Helena bothers her. Usually, she goes to Max’ frequent partner Ripley for consolation because nobody has so many bad things to day about Helena as him.
She doesn’t really understand why it bothers her. She likes Helena. Sometimes, it just becomes too much and she can’t put up with Helena spending the night at Max’ and knowing him so well.
Max apologizes each and every time, even when it’s not his fault but Kennedy wishes she could just erase that past relationship or find Helena someone else to cling to.
***
“I told you you’d be back here in Boston sooner or later,” Max grins. She’s squeezing his hand, still unable to believe it even though they haven’t been allowed to leave the building yet, still going over paper work, signing release form after release form. By now, Max is really tired of his own name.
“And you’re really staying?”
Max shrugs. “Your sister pretty much bullied me into taking a job here. And there’s you, of course. Plenty of reasons to stay.”
“You’re going to love it here,” she assures him.
He has never seen her happier.
***
“How could you?” Her head is hanging down, her hair falling over her face and Max feels terrible. This defeat and sadness in her voice is so much worse than when her mother was yelling at him and threatening to tear him a new one.
He wants to reach out and pat her back or something but he can’t bring himself to. There’s still earth under his finger nails and he probably reeks of sweat.
So, he just sits next to her without saying a word, feeling the distance grow between them, unable to do anything about it.
***
“Does it bother you at all?”
Kennedy has her feet in his lap and is upbeat as she has been ever since she found out the news.
“What?”
“You know what. Helena. I mean, she was your girlfriend forever and now …” She raises an eyebrow. “I never expected her to get married.”
“If you want to, we could elope right now so she wouldn’t be the first,” Max suggests and Kennedy throws her head back laughing.
“That’s very sweet, but no. Let’s wait to see how Helena’s wedding goes first.”
“You’re hoping it ends in disaster, don’t you?”
“Of course.”