Our Own House | Closed.

“What’s your back up plan if we can’t use fairy magic,” Brian asked. If Fae refused to help with her magic there had to be a way Artemis knew to sneak them all out or she wouldn’t have suggested it. He glanced from the human to her merman friend, seeing that Jimmy definitely hated that Artemis seemed to be the center of attention for more than just him. The demon smirk, a part of him tempted to tease him because of it.

“There’s a way Jimmy and I sneak out,” Artemis stated. “I’m sure we could all use it or me and two other people could go and grab the food.” The brunette saw the glare Jimmy gave her admitting they had a secret way off of campus. Artemis had a feeling no one would snitch on them though especially since they would get themselves in trouble as well and kicked out of band or the sport they were playing.

“I’ll go with,” Johnny said.

“Me too,” Zack said, glancing up at Matt and then over at Brian. “As long as you two can remain civil, that is.” He would hate to leave, and then come back to find that Brian and Matt had beaten each other to two bloody pulps. Brian may be a demon, but in the state Matt was in right now, Zack had a feeling that Matt could easily kick the demon’s ass.

“I can stay and moderate,” Fae said, looking between Matt and Brian. “I think they’ll be fine though.” She smiled slightly, knowing that Brian had promised to play nice. And if anything did happen, she would just use her pixie dust to knock them both out until Artemis, Johnny and Zack got back. She looked up at Jimmy, frowning when she saw how frustrated he looked that both Zack and Johnny had offered to go. “It’s okay,” she whispered to him.

“Alright,” Artemis stated. “Hand over all the money and once we decided what we’re getting I’ll write your orders down.” She pulled a notebook from her bag and a pen, planning on writing the orders down on it because the last thing she needed was to get someone like Matt and Brian’s order wrong and them murder her because of it.

“I promise to play nice,” Brian stated. He meant it for now as well. He glanced over at Jimmy, noticing how pissed the merman seemed that Artemis was giving anyone but him attention. A part of him wondered if If was because it had just been them for so long and Jimmy was jealous because of that or if he was jealous because he had feelings for the human.

Jimmy sighed softly when Fae told him it was okay, hoping it was. He didn’t want to lose Artemis and now he was being forced to share her. He just hoped she’d see soon enough that all she needed was him and maybe Fae’s as friends and be okay with that.

Once everyone had given their orders and handed their cash over, Zack and Johnny followed Artemis out of the gym. “So what’s this secret escape plan you have?” Zack asked. She didn’t seem like the type of person that would sneak out of school or cut class or not go into school. So he was genuinely surprised when she’d mentioned she knew of a way to get out without getting in trouble.

Fae watched Artemis walk off with Johnny and Zack, glancing over at the three boys that were left. There seemed to be an awkward silence between the four of them, so she cleared her throat and stood up. “Maybe we should all get to know each other better,” she suggested. “Then maybe there won’t be so much tension between all of us.”

“If I tell you I’ll have to kill you,” Artemis joked. She grabbed both Zack’s and Johnny’s hands after she shoved the money and food orders in her bag, leading them to the spot in the fence she and Jimmy would sneak through. “Be careful if the rose bushes,” she mumbled. The brunette smiled at the two boys as she moved around the rose bush, avoiding any injuries and crawled through the hole in the fence. “Who’s next,” she asked once she was safely on the other side.

“I only got pissy with them because I thought they were talking shit about Johnny,” Brian replied. “He already gets enough shut being who is. I wasn’t going to let two jocks add in on it.” The demon was very protective of his friend and he had been since they met. If you ever asked Brian why though he probably wouldn’t be able to give you a real genuine answer because he didn’t know the answer himself. “What do you think of that human,” Brian asked. “She had some balls getting inbetween us like that.”

“That human has a name,” Jimmy snapped. “Her name is Artemis and she doesn’t like confrontation or violence.” The merman knew to Brian and Matt the brunette’s logic would probably seemed flawed but he didn’t give a shit. She was good, practically a naive sweet angel in his eyes.

“I’ll go through next,” Johnny said. It would be easier for him to get through since he was smaller, although Artemis was about the same height as he was. He bent over and crawled through the hole in the fence, hissing quietly when one of the loose ends snagged his sweater, cutting his shoulder. He quickly stood up on the other side and reached up to hold his shoulder, pulling his hand away and frowning when he saw blood. He looked through the fence at Zack, afraid the other boy might freak out from the blood.

Zack stared at Johnny, looking at the blood on his hand and then at the blood that was now seeping through his shirt. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, slowly exhaling, like his older sister had taught him. She was the only other one in his family that didn’t feed from humans or other creatures, and he had asked her to teach him how to control himself like she did. He didn’t want to harm other people. And if he could control his thirst, then he would do it. “I’m okay,” he said after a moment. “But you should really patch that up.”

Fae reached out and took Jimmy’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Brian doesn’t like violence either,” she said, glancing over at him. “He might be a demon but he doesn’t like to harm people.” She looked over at Matt. “And what about you? Do you talk?”

“The cafe isn’t too far from here,” Artemis stated. “Once we get there we can patch you up.” She stood in front of Johnny, inspecting his wound, thankful it seemed to not be deep enough for stitches. The owner of the cafe were nice to her and would let her use the first aid kit if she asked for bandages but she doubted they would have suture glue or a needle and thread for stitches. “It doesn’t look too deep,” she stated.

Brian and Jimmy both looked at each other, not believing what the other had said. Jimmy didn’t believe a demon would thrive and crave violence and Brian thought Jimmy was a fool for thinking Artemis was perfect. They both glanced over at Matt when Fae asked if he talked, both men quietly snickering at her question.

“I talk,” Matt snapped. “I’m just here because Zack apparently wants to fuck Artemis.” The werewolf normally wasn’t so crass or blunt but with how all over the place his feelings and emotions were everything tended to come out whether he actually meant them or not.

Zacky crawled through the gate, standing up and looking at the wound Johnny had. “Sorry, man. I’d heal it if I could,” he said. He walked with the two of them to the cafe, the scent of Johnny’s blood lingering in his nostrils. He looked away, knowing if he stared at the blood, he’d start salivating, and then he’d have to go find an innocent deer or rabbit to kill. And he didn’t want to go back to school covered in blood.

“Sorry, Zack,” Johnny said. He felt guilty for triggering Zack’s thirst, even though he knew it’d been just an accident. “Can we maybe not tell Brian this happened? I don’t want him thinking someone hurt me.”

Fae raised an eyebrow. “Are you on your wolf period?” she hissed. She stood up and walked towards him, absolutely hating it when people talked down to her. She might seem like a bit of a pushover, but she didn’t tolerate bullshit. She looked up at him, reaching out and grabbing him by the balls, squeezing hard. “Talk to me like that again, and I’ll make it ten times worse for you.”

Matt growled at Fae when she asked if he was on his wolf period. He clenched his jaw, trying his harder to keep his cool since he knew he had to behave. He couldn’t snap and lose his shit especially on a girl. That was one thing his parents drilled into his head and it was still something he followed. When Fae grabbed his balls his eyes widened and his hand gripped her wrist tightly. “You are aware if I wanted I could rip your whole arm off,” he snarled. He let go of Fae’s wrist and moved away from her, pacing as he tried to calm himself down.

Brian quickly moved to stand in front of Fae, not wanting her to get hurt if Matt decided to lose his temper and try to kill them all. “I wouldn’t mess with a werewolf before his first shift,” he stated. “That’s one thing I wouldn’t even do to my worse enemy.” He had seen the aftermath first hand and even with as strong a stomach as he had Brian had run off and thrown up from how explicit and bloody the corpse was if you could have even called it that.

“Once I clean it up he won’t even be able to tell,” Artemis promised. She definitely didn’t want Brian pissed off and accusing anyone of hurting Johnny. She would never hurt anyone intentionally and she did her best to be better than what humans were stereotypes as. She refused to looked upon like a monster because she wasn’t one and so far she had yet to meet a real monster.

Johnny nodded. “Thanks,” he said, smiling at her. To be honest, it was kind of nice to get away from Brian for a while and to hang out with someone new. He would never say that out loud to the other boy, though. He wouldn’t want to upset him or give him any reason to be upset with Artemis or Zack. They both seemed like nice people.

“Is that it?” Zack asked when he spotted a little building coming up in front of them.

“He won’t hurt me,” Fae said. “He knows better.” She moved away from Brian, heading back over to sit by Jimmy. She didn’t know much about werewolves or much about Matt himself, but she did know he was smart enough not to hurt her, even if he couldn’t control his anger. And if he did hurt her, it would be the last time he ever used his hands again. She leaned against Jimmy, sighing softly. “Well, this is fun.”

Artemis nodded. She grabbed both boys hands again and walked inside the restaurant, smiling at the owner when he greeted them. The man was a dwarf with a long red beard that his wife, a vampire had insisted he kept braided because of the length. The brunette greeted the dwarf back, talking and joking with him before he gestured to Zack and Johnny. “These are some new friends Johnny and Zack,” she replied. “I actually was hoping we could borrow your first aid kit before we put our order in. Olaf, the dwarf chuckled when he realized what had happened from the small amount of blood of Johnny’s shirt. “I told you to just cut part of the bush down,” he teased. The dwarf grabbed the first aid kit and handed it to Artemis. “Go ahead and take him to the bathroom,” he stated. “Can’t have my wife or any customers craving dwarf.”

Matt growled when Fae said he knew better than to hurt her. He honestly would have just stormed off if he hadn’t also given Zack money to get him food. He had little to no patience because of how he was. He was honestly all angst and rage and he hated it and hating himself and how he was just made him angrier.

Brian glanced over at Matt when he growled. He looked back at Fae, unable to help the smirk that had formed on his lips. “You know you’re playing with fire right now, right,” he questioned. Of course a part of him wanted to encourage her harassing Matt because demons normally got off on that kind of stuff but he knew Johnny would be pissed at him if did that.

Johnny chuckled awkwardly, making a face. He’d never been bitten by a vampire before and he didn’t plan on ever letting it happen. He followed Artemis to the bathroom, pulling his shirt up to reveal his shoulder. “Sorry,” he mumbled after a moment. “I seem to always be causing problems.” He felt like he was always the center of all of Brian’s, or anyone else’s for that matter, problems.

Fae nodded her head. “Yeah,” she mumbled, studying Matt. She was trying to figure out a way to calm him down, but she didn’t know anything about him. Maybe if she distracted him, he would calm down before everyone else got back. “How did you meet Zack? Isn’t it a known fact that vampires and wolves don’t usually get along?”

“We met at a concert,” Matt stated. “We bonded and had fun.” There was obviously a lot more to how Matt and Zack met and became friend but he didn’t feel like sharing. He was on edge and his instincts told him not to trust any of them. “Zack’s better at telling stories,” he stated. Which wasn’t a total lie. Zack definitely was better at retelling stories of things that had happened.

Brian eyed Matt, finding a sense of amusement from the werewolf’s normal confident demeanor faltering. It was kind of humorous to the demon to see it. It showed that Matt wasn’t always cocky and that was all Brian had really seen besides his aggressive outburst that morning.

“If anyon should be apologizing it’s me,” Artemis stated. “I knew I should have cut that rose bush a little where it snagged you.” She quietly grabbed what she needed out of the first aid kit and began cleaning up Johnny’s cut. As she cleaned the wound carefully she found herself staring at his shirtless chest, blushing as she did. Johnny was super muscular like his friend Brian but he was toned, the outline of a six pack that was forming apparent the more that she looked at him.

Johnny scoffed, rolling his eyes playfully at her. “Please,” he mumbled. “There was no way you could have known I would get cut. I’m the same size as you, and you went through perfectly fine. I’m just a klutz.” He bit his lip when he noticed her looking at his stomach. He blushed slightly, looking away from her. “My mom is a klutz too. That’s where I get it from.”

“Oh, so you like music?” Fae asked, smiling slightly at Matt. “What kind of music do you like?” She looked him over after asking the question, trying to get a read of him. He looked like the type that was into classic rock or metal, just by the way he carried himself. “You know Brian and Johnny like music too. I wonder if you guys like the same kind of music.” She looked over at Brian, giving him an encouraging look. Maybe they could all bond over music, and then they wouldn’t be assholes to each other anymore.

“Zack and I met at a Metallica show,” Matt stated. He figured from a shirt he had seen Johnny wear once he would at least get along with them at least when it came to the one band. He wasn’t sure what Brian liked but he could only assume he wouldn’t be friends with someone who didn’t have similar music tastes. When he shifted his gaze to Brian he couldn’t help the small smirk that formed on his lips. The demon seemed pleasantly surprised by Matt’s statement.

Brian looked at Matt, shock and a bit of approval displayed on his face. Metallica was one of his favorite bands. He and Johnny would jam random Metallica songs in band while they waited for class to start on more than one occasion. It was usually the highlight of his day Too. It was the one time he wasn’t told what to do or how to think.

“Who do you look like more,” Artemis asked. “Your mom or your dad.” She wanted to know more about Johnny and she found him attractive. She finished cleaning his cut, making a pile of dirty gauze and grabbed a bandage to put on the wound. She gently and carefully placed the bandaid, her hands lingering in his chest after she did. The brunette bit down on her bottom lip nervously, finding her eyes wandering to Johnny’s lips and her body leaning closer to his. Artemis’ lips were only a few inches away from his when someone knocked loudly on the bathroom door. Artemis quickly moved away, blushing as she threw all the trash away. “I’ll go order the food,” she mumbled.

Johnny bit his lip hard, completely caught off guard by Artemis's actions. He didn't even know what to think about the situation. Was she about to kiss him? Had he been imagining the whole thing? He let out a breath, slowly nodding his head. "Yeah, alright," he mumbled, pushing his arm back into his sleeve and pulling his sweater down. He wet a paper towel and began to dab at the blood that had seeped through his sweater, hoping that it wouldn't cause much of a stain. Maybe he could just throw it away and use the gym shirt that was in his locker.

Zack stood at the bathroom door, a small smile on his face when it finally opened, Artemis standing before him. "Hey," he said. "I was just checking on you guys. You were gone for a few minutes. I was afraid the cut was worse than we thought or something."

Fae looked between Matt and Brian, a grin spreading across her face. "I knew there had to be something you two had in common," she murmured. "So you both like the same kind of music, that's great." She turned to look at Jimmy. "What do you and Artemis like to listen to?" Unfortunately, Fae didn't get the chance to listen to music a lot unless it was from one of the instruments her parents owned. Her parents didn't like contemporary music, only the music of the fairies. She wasn't allowed to bring a radio into the tree stump that had been their home for the last ten years.

“I got Artemis into Metallica,” Jimmy stated. “She already liked Panthers and Primus before I met her. He seemed proud to admit that his best friend had good music taste. It was part of why he enjoyed being around her so much. They would just sit and talk about everything and nothing and most of the time that meant talking about different songs and bands they mutually liked.

Brian and Matt were definitely impressed and shocked they all seemed to have the same music taste. The only one they were unsure of Fae but from what little Matt knew about fairies she probably wasn’t even allowed to listen to music with a singer unless it was something boring and classical like opera.

Artemis shook her head. “It’s not bad,” she promised. “We just got to talking.” She glanced over her shoulder at Johnny, blushing more before she quickly moved past Zack and began ordering everyone’s food to go from Olaf. She had never kissed a boy before and she had almost had her first kiss in a bathroom. She just hoped she hadn’t embarrassed herself with Johnny or ruined a possible friendship with him because of what had almost happened.

Zack nodded, following her. “Glad everything’s fine, then,” he said, wondering briefly why her cheeks were so flushed. But it was none of his business. He picked up two of the bags containing their food, Johnny insisting on carrying the other two bags so that Artemis wouldn’t have to carry any. “Looks like we’ve got fifteen minutes left before lunch ends. We better hurry up and get back so everyone can eat.”

Johnny nodded, walking out of the little cafe. He began leading everyone back towards the school, his mind unable to think of anything other than Artemis only inches away from his face.

Fae grinned. “That’s great!” she chirped, a puff of pixie dust shooting out of the palm of her hand, landing on Jimmy’s shoe and making it disappear. She looked down and blushed deeply, biting her lip. “I’m sorry. Sometimes I get a little too excited and unintentionally use my magic.” She knew he was already in a bad mood, so she hoped he just gave her a free pass. “I’m sure it’s around here somewhere. I’ll just have to look to find it.” She stood up and stepped down from the bleachers, beginning to search around for Jimmy’s shoe.

Brian and Matt both couldn’t help but snicker when Jimmy’s shoe disappeared. Of course they would have found it funny if it happened to anyone but them. They watched as Fae scrambled around a little before they decided to try and help her find Jimmy’s shoe. They knew it wouldn’t be funny or cool if the merman was missing a shoe when he actually had to head to class.

“I know a shortcut,” Artemis stated. She lead the boys down an alley that would get the back to school faster and take them through a different hole in the gate that was closer to where the gym was. Once they got to the hole she snuck through it, watching and helping Zack and Johnny through since they had the bags of food. “Do you think everyone actually got along while we were gone,” she asked.

“I hope so,” Zack said. “I don’t feel like explaining to Matt’s parents that he got in a fistfight with a demon because he was feeling moody.” He walked into the gym doors with her, Johnny in tow. His brows furrowed when he saw Matt, Brian and Fae spread out in the gym looking like they were searching for something. “Are we playing hide-and-seek?” He joked.

“Aha!” Fae shouted, pulling Jimmy’s shoe from behind the trash can. “I got it!” She looked over at Zack, Johnny and Artemis, smiling. “I accidentally made Jimmy’s shoe disappear.” She walked back over to her new, tall friend, handing him his shoe. “Sorry, Jimmy. I promise it won’t happen again.”