Status: slow updates

Clueless

f i f t e e n

*Alan's p.o.v.*

"I hate walking, walking suuuuuucks," I sang while also spinning in circles. "Why can't you just carry me? I'm tired as fuuuuuuuuuck."

"Yeah right, don't press your luck," someone else sang, and I stopped spinning, only to start skipping.

"Are we close?" I continued singing, slinging my arm around Max's shoulder. "I'm dying to knooooooow!"

"Dude get off me, you little creeeeeeeep," Max played along.
Meh. Close enough.
He rolled his eyes and I danced awkwardly away from him.

"Do you ever get tired?" Beau whined.

I stopped, and he ran into my back. I managed to catch myself, but he fell forward and landed face first into the mossy ground.
I started skipping again, calling "Nope, nope, nope, never" over my shoulder.

Everyone was tired, and I was trying to lighten the mood. Actually, scratch that, I was trying- and succeeding- to annoy the absolute shit out of everyone.
Maybe it was my mental new ability to "connect with nature" or some shit, but I was officially enjoying the scenery, and it was enjoying me, too.

I think that maybe, we'd all learned something new about ourselves on this however-long-hike-to-freedom. Besides the whole "WHAT THE FUCK FAIRY TALES ARE REAL AND WE'RE LIVING ONE" epidemic, I mean. I, for example, learned that I love the outdoors, and I fucking need to surround myself with cats because they're adorable and fluffy and they don't turn into humans.

Anyway, I didn't really know where we were. Probably in the middle of purgatory, and a bunch of blood suckers- ah, shit, if Chris and Rick could read my mind, they'd probably kill me for that- were about to hop out and murder us.

Speaking or, well, thinking of Chris and Ricky, what was up with those two? I couldn't figure it out for the life of me. And, like, everyone was in love or something. It was fucking weird. I mean, I knew about Daniel and Ben, but Ronnie and Max? Sam and Cameron? Chris and Ricky? Matt and Andy? JAMES, the straightest of us all, and Devin. I mean, come on. And I was sure there was something going down between Rebekah and Oliver, which weirded me out to be honest.
I guess Beau and I were the only two left, and we didn't like each other that way. N to the O. Hell to the naw. But seriously... No. I was saving myself for Zooey Deschanel, man.

"Are we there yet?" I asked as I strode up to Rebekah. She glanced down at me and rolled her eyes.

"No, we're close," she said, shrugging.

"You said that, like, seven billion hours ago," I mumbled, dropping back to walk with Andy. Andy smirked and me and I frowned. "Didn't she? It was like, a light year ago."

"Sure, Alan," he chuckled, then ruffled my hair.

"Dammit," I complained. "Please stop doing that."

But I knew he wouldn't stop, so I guess it was okay.

I attempted to refrain from talking for awhile, entertaining myself by watching everyone else talk, singing, occasionally dancing.
I just wished I had someone to talk to-

"Hey, did you guys hear that?" Beau asked, furrowing his eyebrows. I scampered over to him and looked around excitedly.

"Hear what?" I asked quietly, scanning the trees surrounding us.

"I hear it, too," Rebekah said, coming to an abrupt stop.

All of us stopped walking, and then I heard it, too. Twigs snapping underfoot, loud laughter, a dog barking.

"Guys, hide," Rebekah hissed, and shifted.

"Hide?" I exclaimed, looking around frantically. But the wolves had already shifted and were running for the nearest trees and bushes, the humans following as fast as their two feet could carry them, and Max went wherever Max went.

I just stood there in the clearing, a sense of oh shiiit washing over me. It took me at least ten minutes to go all pixie-man (man left me with a shred of dignity... I WAS A FUCKING PIXIE), and I was frozen in place.
Seriously, feet? Right then to freeze up? Way to go.

I shut my eyes, like it could possibly help in that situation, and just hoped that whatever was coming wouldn't see me.

The noises faded after a minute, and I sighed with relief.
I slowly opened my eyes.
Man, if I got caught-

"Uh... Hi."

"Shitshitshit," I mumbled, looking around for any of my friends, but no one was in sight except for the guy and the dog sitting next to him.

"Are you alright?"

His voice... I hadn't heard anyone except for the pack for weeks. No other interaction than that.

"Uh, um," I stammered, my eyes flickering between the dog and the boy.

My mind was all: run, bitch, ruuuuun! But me feet were all: Wow. Hey, dude.

"I'm Austin," he said, shuffling closer to me.

"Uh, um," I repeated, my throat going dry.
Wasn't I, like, a fugitive or something? Wasn't it bad that I got caught?
"Please don't tell," I blurted.

The guy raised an eyebrow and smiled.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said. "And you look like hell."

I glanced down at my ripped up shirt and jeans, my lack of shoes, and just visualised how fucked up my hair was. I cringed.
"Uh, yeah," I muttered, scratching my arm absently.

"What are you doing in the woods looking like that, all alone?" Austin asked, venturing a step closer.

"I, ah, don't know," was all I could say.
My heartbeat was as fast as a hummingbird's wings against my ribcage and I could feel the pack's eyes burning into me.
"I ran away."

"Ran away?" he repeated.

I nodded slightly, suddenly trembling. What if he knew about Gilds?

"Need a place to get cleaned up?" Austin asked after a minute, grabbing a hold of his dog's collar.

My eyebrows shot up.
"Wh-what? Seriously?" I asked.
Okay, that could be good. He could take us to civilisation. Okay.

"Yeah, absolutely," Austin said instantly.

I looked around me nervously.
"I... have some friends, too," I said nervously. "They're hiding..."

Austin's brown eyes fixed onto mine and he shugged.
"They can come, too. No big deal."

"They don't have clothes," I said bluntly.
The guy in front of me, at least two hundred feet tall or something, let loose a little giggle. Giggle. He giggled.
W o w.
"Guys, come out," I called, turning away from the strange, generous man-child with the dog that didn't turn into a person.
I waited for awhile. There was some rustling somewhere close, then nothing, then a loud growl, then a whimper.

I turned back to Austin, a little embarrassed for how the pack was acting.
"Uh, excuse me for a moment," I said softly, then stomped toward the noise. "Fuck's sake, you fucking idiots!" I shouted when they came into view, only a little ways away from where I left Austin.

Everyone was back to human form, some nude and glorious, others clothed and still glorious, except for Rebekah who was all growly-grr badass she-wolf.

"Alan, you're not supposed to talk to anyone!" Ben whisper-yelled, his eyes boring into mine so intensely I could almost feel the heat.

"Chillax, dude," I muttered, rolling my eyes. "He seems cool. Plus, he said he could give us clothes and hell-fucking-o, where there are clothes, there is civilisation. I, for one, say it's worth a shot."
I waited patiently for anyone to object, but no one did, so I clasped my hands together excitedly and turned around.
"Shoooooooooower, Alan needs a shoooooooooooower no-o-ow," I sang at the top of my lungs. Everyone followed me, and I saw Austin with an intrigued look on his face as we all appeared.
"A kind man has come to our rescue," I said over dramatically. "However can we thank you, kind sir?"

Austin just looked at me with a raised eyebrow and a little smile.
"Well... there sure are a lot of you..." he said, scratching his dog's head. "But, uh, let's go."

He turned, and suddenly his dog let out a huge growl as Rebekah came last out of the woods, swearing loudly as she brushed dirt off of herself with her hands.
Austin turned around when he heard his dog emit the sound, but went red when he saw the naked girl emerging from the trees and he pivoted quickly.

I chuckled at his reaction and Oliver glared at the back of his head, then handed Rebekah his jacket to cover up with.

Everyone seemed extremely cautious and on edge, whereas I just skipped closely behind Austin.

I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that we were actually gonna get out of these damn woods. We didn't know where we were or how long exactly we'd been walking, but now we didn't have to anymore, and that just felt great for me at least. I was tired of running, and I just wanted a shower, new clothes, a soft bed, a cat, new company.

"It must be odd, huh," Austin said from next to me.
I stopped skipping and ended up walking next to the taller boy. I hummed, urging him to continue his line of thought.
"Let me get something straight- I don't let just anyone I see in the woods come to my house. It's just that, you looked a little lost, and I wanted to help you, so I offered. And your friends, they're alright, too." He shrugged and glanced up at me, his big brown eyes settling on mine briefly before they darted away.

"Well it must be odd for you, too," I chuckled. "I mean, finding a dirty homeless-looking runt in the woods, and offering to help him and his naked friends." I gestured to the rowdy crew behind me, and Austin laughed. It was a pleasant little sound, and his eyes crinkled. His smile was big and his teeth white enough to have been bleached, but for some reason it didn't seem like he'd do that. Even his little nose scrunched up.
Speaking of noses, his was pierced. It was... cool.

O-kay, done looking at him.

"Well, I'm a nice guy, so you're welcome."

We stopped talking after that, and Austin's dog trotted next to me. Somehow, the sound of the doberman's paws softly padding along calmed me.

I kept stealing quick, curious glances at Austin. He seemed nice enough. Cool, too. He had some pretty rad tats, and a ridiculously attractive haircut that I could only ever dream of having. And his nose ring glinted in the sun. That was pretty awesome, too. And he was wearing a Wiz Khalifa shirt. That was kind of lame, but... oh well.
His eyes were wide and ever-curious. And he had nice arms. I liked his smile, too.

Anyway, we ended up on a road where there was this huge truck that resembled a Sierra HD, but I couldn't really tell because I'd never been super into cars.
Austin clambered into it, and I ran to the passenger seat before anyone else could. He instructed everyone else to get into the trunk, and they did.

I felt... At home, I guess.
I remembered my friend Jason and his girlfriend May, we'd drive around in his shitty old 1989 Chevy Solid Axle. I was the third wheel, of course, and I always just laid in the trunk and stared up at the sky while the overplayed CD Jason never took out, I think it was The Smiths' first album, leaked through the windows. May was pretty. Jason was my best friend. Then I messed up. So I'd never see them again.

"The Smiths," I whispered, looking up at Austin, surprised.

He looked over at me as he started the car and took a minute to actually assess what I'd said. He smiled in realisation and nodded enthusiastically.

"Not my favourite, but they're great," he said. "It's weird. I can't really explain. But it stomps out my road rage. You can change it if you'd like." His cheeks flared red and I smiled and reached for the dial, but I didn't turn it off or change it, I turned it up.

Talk about nostalgia.

"We all have secrets and here is mine so let it be known," I sang under my breath, shutting my eyes and leaning against the comfortable seat of the car.

Austin started humming, and soon enough we were singing the words at the top of our lungs. I played air guitar and Austin drummed on the steering wheel.

We finally pulled up to a little brown house in a small neighborhood.
Austin turned the radio down a bit and then turned to me, and his smile made me smile, and for a second, everything was okay.

"You guys are welcome to stay for a few days... I live alone. But whenever you need to leave, go ahead, but don't steal my shit, alright?"

I nodded gratefully, then impulsively reached over and wrapped my arms around his neck. He stiffened, then sighed and patted my back.

"Thanks," I murmured, jumping out of the car before he could see my embarrassed expression.

I walked to the back of the truck and saw that all of my friends were sleeping in a heap. I cocked my head to the side and sighed, then climbed in and, one by one, woke them up gently enough so they wouldn't be tempted to kill me.

They all got up without much complaint, and we ventured up to the door of the house. It was a cute house, but the door was blue which was, y'know, weird.

Austin held the door open for all of us, and I went all "aww" when I saw Ben carrying Danny.

Everyone kind of just stood by the door, looking around at the house like it was heaven. It kind of was. I mean, we hadn't been in an actual house in god-knows-how-long. We just saw white walls and those goddamn corridors.

"Um, so, there are like four rooms upstairs, and a couch in the basement," Austin said, breaking us out of our trance.
"I'll go get some clothes... They're all mine, so they might be kind of big... or small. I dunno. And, um, I might have a tank top and some shorts or something like that for the lady... Alright. Be right back," he rushed, then ran upstairs.

I looked at everyone, and they all looked... happy. Happy. We were all happy. We were free.

"Guys, we did it," Danny said softly.
I looked at him, curled into Ben's side, and smiled.

A chorus of disbelieving "we did it"s followed. And we had. We'd done it. We'd successfully run away from all the madness.

A heap of clothes rained from the stairwell and landed in the middle of the room. We all looked around at each other, then everyone except Rebekah and I attacked the pile.

She looked at me and blinked a few times, then looked away when Austin came downstairs.

"For the lady," he announced, bowing in front of Rebekah. She smiled slightly and snatched the clothes from Austin's hands, then slipped them on shamelessly.
He looked at us all and sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"You all look kind of tired. So, uh, you can sleep. And tomorrow, I'm gonna want some explainations, alright? Because I don't want psychopathic killers in my house."
He managed to look dead serious for a moment before breaking into a smile.
"There are only, like, two beds, and there's a couch downstairs. But there's room in the other two rooms for a few people to lay on the floor, hope you don't mind... And, yeah. So head upstairs and sort that out, there's a bathroom down here and one upstairs at the end of the hall. There should be blankets on the beds and floors."

There was a rumble of 'thank you's as everyone passed the tall, skinny man-child on their way up the stairs. He continued to smile fondly and nodded at each person as they passed.

"You're a real nice guy," I said once everyone was gone. He turned to look at me and, I swear, his smile got even bigger, which should have been impossible.

"Thanks, kid," he replied.

"Could I get some socks?" I asked, cocking my head to the side. My hair fell in my face and I stuck my bottom lip out in a little pout to make sure I'd get what I wanted.

Austin chuckled and nodded, then scurried off down the main hall. He disappeared into a room, and I took the minute he was gone to pick up the remaining shirt from the floor. It was purple and plaid, bleh, and it totally clashed with my hair, but whatever.
I dropped my shirt onto the floor and slipped Austin's huge shirt over my shoulders.

He appeared after another minute and paused when he saw me, then chuckled and gave me the socks.
I sighed happily and sat on the floor since I was terrible at standing and I would have fallen while attempting to put the socks on. I put them on, and they bunched up halfway up my calves, but I didn't mind.
I stood up and brushed my behind off.

"That shirt clashes with your hair," Austin pointed out.

"That's what I thought!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air.

"Looks nice. Goodnight." And then, Austin was back in that room, the door was shut, and I was alone in the hallway.

"Thanks," I said softly to no one, then clambered down the carpeted basement stairs. There was a hideous green couch in the corner with a little brown pillow and a white blanket.
I sighed and made a mental note to yell at Austin about his clothing and furnishing choices alike, then slipped onto the surprisingly comfortable couch.
I pulled the blanket up to my chin and snuggled into the pillow.

***

*Ben's p.o.v.*

"Get in bed," I mumbled. Danny was standing at the edge of the bed with his arms crossed.

"No," he giggled.

"Do I have to force you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He giggled again and nodded.
I rolled my eyes and sat up, cocking my head to the side.

"Y'know you're being annoying, right?" I laughed and he nodded again.
With a sigh, I launched myself at the end of the bed and grabbed my boyfriend by the waist, then pulled him toward me. Danny squealed and wriggled in my arms, but I held fast.
He wrapped his legs around my waist and his arms around my shoulders, then looked down at me with a small smile.
"You're adorable," I groaned, burying my face in his neck. "It should be illegal. You're so perfect."

"No I'm not," he whispered.

"Yeah, you're right," I laughed. "You stink."
Danny scoffed and tried to push off of me, but I held tightly onto his waist.
"I was kidding!" I exclaimed. "Danny, I was only kidding."

He stopped struggling and sighed in the crook of my neck.
"I'm hungry. Can we go find that guy?"

A smile slowly crept onto my face.
"You mean Austin?" I asked, almost ecstatic at the fact that Danny was making the decision on his own to eat...

"Yeah, him," Danny mumbled sleepily.

"Sure," I chuckled, lifting Danny up. He didn't really react, because I carried him around everywhere now.

The only other people in our room were James, Cameron, Devin and Sam. From what I could tell, they were dead asleep, so I avoided stepping on a few heads and silently slipped out of the room.

"Wanna walk?" I asked at the top of the stairs. I glanced down at Danny comfortably nestled in my arms.

"No," he whined, turning his head to look up at me. He scrunched his nose up in irritation and I smiled, then went downstairs as quietly as I could.

It was still pretty bright outside, so I was guessing it was about five or six. There was one light on in a room, so I walked a little closer.

"I am human and I need to be loved, just like everybody else does," someone sang quietly, and I edged closer to the door.

"Uh, Austin?" I asked, only stopping when I'd gotten to the doorway.

He stopped singing mid-lyric and turned around.
"Um, yeah, hi... Did you need something?" He asked, eyeing Danny and I wearily.

"I'm Ben, this is Daniel," I said awkwardly. "Um, we were wondering if we could possibly get something to eat?"

He nodded and crossed his arms. "Yeah, of course. What were you guys thinking of? I don't really have much, but..."

I looked down at Danny in question, and he bit his bottom lip.
"Do you have... cookies?" He asked after a minute.

I laughed and both Danny and Austin looked at me oddly. I just shrugged and put Danny down, then pulled him to my side by his waist.

"Yeah, I think I've got some," Austin said, turning away with a light pink tint to his cheeks when Danny started cuddling up to my side.

It was weird, I'd have to admit, because Danny was all but purring and rubbing his face against my neck, and we were in a strange house with a strange guy who was getting us cookies.

"I've got oreos," Austin announced triumphantly as he grabbed a box from a cabinet.
Danny hopped away from me and made a high-pitched squeak that I think was supposed to show his excitement, though it sounded more like he was in pain. It was cute either way.
I followed closely, and Austin set the package onto the floor.
"Sorry for the lack of table," he laughed, grabbing a few glasses and a gallon of milk out of his refrigerator. "It's just that... Well, my dad and I had a little mishap. And now he's out for a bit."

I didn't need to dig into Austin's personal life, so I left that daddy-issue alone.
He placed the cups onto the floor, and Danny and I sat down next to each other on the floor.

"You can sit with us if you want," Danny said as Austin turned to leave.
The taller guy stopped and just kind of stood there with his back to us for a second.

"You, uh... Are you sure that's okay? I mean, I don't want to intrude or anything..." He stumbled over his words.

"It's fine," I assured him, and Danny grinned up at me and pecked my cheek as if to say 'thanks'. He knew how much of an effort it was for me to allow people-especially new people-to talk to me.

Austin turned around and smiled at us, then sat down cross-legged across from me.

I poured milk for the three of us and we started munching on cookies.

"So, tell me about you," I said, glancing at Austin and folding my hands in my lap.
Danny rolled his eyes, but Austin just smiled.

"Interrogation time? I'm down," he said lightly. "Um, my name's Austin Carlile. Born and raised in Newcastle, Washington. Live with my dad... Uh, let's see... I'm twenty-three. That's about it. Need anything else?"

I stared at him for awhile, just looking at him. He seemed normal enough, not like a creep or anything. Just a normal guy with pretty awesome ink.
"Yeah," Danny piped up. Austin and I both looked at him. "Why'd you take us all in?"

Austin looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged. "Felt like the right thing to do," he said. "Your turn."

"I'm Danny," my boyfriend spoke up, straightening up so he wasn't leaning on me as heavily. "Danny Worsnop. I'm from Mercer Island. I don't have a family, and I'm seventeen." He smiled brightly and turned to me.

"My turn, I guess," I said dryly, feeling a little silly because the whole ordeal felt like a game we played in grade school to introduce ourselves.
"I'm Ben Bruce. Not Benjamin, just Ben. From South Hill. My parents are cunts and the only family I care about anymore is my family here. But, Rebekah is actually my little sister. And I'm nineteen."

We all lapsed into silence again before Austin broke it.

"So, where are you all running from?" He asked.
The question hung heavily in the air and Danny and I just looked at each other for awhile.
"Never mind," Austin mumbled awkwardly. "Uh, so are you two... Uh..." He cocked his head to the side, searching for words, but couldn't seem to find any.

"Together?" Danny queried.
Austin nodded and blushed a bit, and Danny giggled.
"Is it that obvious?" he asked sarcastically, lacing our hands together.

Austin laughed a bit and nodded.

"Alright. I'm tired," Danny yawned, leaning on me. He held his arms out to me and shut his eyes. "Carry me."

"As you wish, princess," I chuckled, getting on my hands and knees. "Mount your noble stead, darling."
Austin watched in amusement as Danny crawled onto my back and I stood.
"Need help?" I asked, gesturing toward the stuff on the floor.

"Nah, I got it. Night," Austin said, shrugging it off.

I mouthed a 'thank you', then walked upstairs with Danny clinging onto my back. I took a detour to the bathroom and set Danny onto the counter, brushed my teeth, then proceeded to pick him up bridal style and into the room.
We got in bed and I kissed Danny quickly before he fell asleep, then he cuddled to my chest and fell asleep.
♠ ♠ ♠
Sorry for the lack of Brusnop, but I have to introduce some of the new characters... Plus, there are a lot of ships in here that I have to keep under control!
PLUS here we are, out of the fillerish forest.