color me S H O C K E D {todd}

[GABE EVANS]

It was Friday, meaning that Valentine’s Day was in three days. All of the girls were meticulously planning their outfits to the Valentine’s Day Ball while the boys were developing the best course of action into their date’s pants. Or someone else’s date’s pants. It was also the period after lunch, meaning the annual Valentine’s Day carnations would be going out about this time. While all of the girls sat eagerly, not paying attention to Mr. Dobrev or functions, eyes darting to the door every few seconds awaiting the flowers, Gabe doodled in her notebook. Stick figure girls with hearts for eyes, going all goo-goo for some jock who gave her a bouquet, before the assholes proceeded to beat the living shit out of the girl who ended up with broken hearts for eyes, the right one shriveled up and had thick purple circles around it. Valentine’s Day was pathetic and the way these morons were acting now, she didn’t know what people made such a big deal about rape and domestic violence. She’d like to knock some of these dodo brains upside the head. Gabe shook her head as Mr. Dobrev prattled on about numbers, as if anyone gave a flying fuck and began drawing another cartoon of a stick girl cowering in a corner and began drawing a knife into the boy stick figure’s hand when the door opened.

The girls began giggling and whispering to one another while Mr. Dobrev and Gabe both sighed heavily. Her dark brown eyes glanced up in boredom at the three boys who walked in carrying boxes with the flowers in them. There were different colors standing for many things…Well only a few colors meaning things such as true love, friendship, crush, secret admirer and things like that. Unlike most of the girls, Gabe wasn’t sure which one was which (aside from yellow friendship that she and Todd and now Liz exchanged some years) nor did she really care. She resumed her drawing while Steve Berger presented his girlfriend with the five red carnations he got for her before calling out names for those who had gotten flowers. The boys in the room went to chatting away about football until Kyle Anders was presented with a red carnation from his girlfriend and he blushed furiously while the other guys began teasing him until he hid the flower away and tried to change the subject to slasher films. Gabe snorted and glanced up at Mr. Dobrev who was reclining in his seat, looking mildly irritated at the display.

Her last name being Evans, and therefore usually one of the first people called for anything, it was only another minute before her name was called. She wasn’t too surprised and flipped her notebook closed as Steve walked over, smiling as he handed her three yellow carnations, but she was surprised by the two pink ones he handed her, too. Steve chuckled and walked off and Gabe just stared at the carnations in her hand, the yellow ones perfectly normal…But the pink ones were perfectly alien. “What do the pink ones mean?” she finally asked the girl beside her, her sort of friend Gwyn Styles. She was completely stunned at being given something other than yellow, and even more so when Gwyn told her they stood for secret admirer. She had a secret admirer…or two. She figured two would be a strange number of flowers to buy someone. She laid them on her desk and leaned back, folding her arms over her chest and just staring at them as the others were handed out, until the bell rang.

Shaking her head, slightly dazed…slightly confused…and slightly pleased, she put her notebook and pens into her bag and slung it over her shoulder, gingerly picking up the flowers and walked out to her locker where she leaned against it and resumed just staring at the flowers, still not having completely processed the whole thing. “It might be a joke,” she thought aloud, half glaring at the pink carnations. “Everyone thinks I’m a bitch, why not?” she asked in confusion, though her heart fell at the thought. She didn’t mind being thought of badly, but she was a fifteen year old girl…Having someone think of her romantically, as silly as it was, was sort of nice. Gabe cleared her throat and shook her head, shaking away any girlie, gushy feelings and they disappeared as soon as they came. She was not like the rest of the lunatics around this place, and nothing at all like Alice Parson.

tagged. Todd
outfit. click.
notes. love
credits. carolyn's sweet blasphemy *

[TODD FORCE]

YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE YOUR EYES

if ten million fireflies lit up
THE WORLD AS I FELL ASLEEP

Todd flicked his index finger up, sending his pencil rolling up the slight slant of his desk, and then gravity sent it rolling back down to meet his finger. Todd repeated the motion, his eyes lazily following the movement of the pencil. His other hand was pressed up against his cheek, scrunching up his face on that side so he could really only see out of one eye. Flick. The pencil rolled up, and came back down. It was the ultimate boredom.

"MR. FORCE!" bellowed Mr. Madison, the history teacher. Todd glanced up expectantly, taking his sweet time meeting the teacher's eyes and not bothering to hide the boredom in his own. Mr. Madison was fuming at the front of the room, glaring at him as though he had just spilled nacho cheese all over Mr. Madison's always-shiny black shoes. A gaudily-colored map of the USA hung over the blackboard behind the teacher. Todd looked longingly at California.

"Did you even hear what I just said?! Who was the royally-appointed head of the Dominion of New England, positioned with the responsibility to enforce the Navigation Acts?" There was a smugness to the teacher's tone that Todd hated. He hadn't been listening, and he and Mr. Madison both knew it. But he had at least heard the man babbling on about such drivel as America in the seventeenth century.

"Edmund Andros," Todd replied easily and dully. Mr. Madison's smirk faded, and there were a few giggles from other classmates. "Right," the man said, clearing his throat. "Pay attention." More giggles.

Todd rolled his eyes. How could anyone expect him to pay attention when they all went out of their way to be so unbearably boring? Todd didn't even know why he was stuck in this class. Sure, it was a sophomore class and he needed it to graduate, but the teacher was Mr. Madison and Gabe and Liz weren't even in this class. Todd had to suffer alone, because he hadn't liked any of the schedule change options. Although right now, he couldn't really imagine any of them being this bad.

Of course, on the other hand was the fact that Todd was in a bad mood. At least, a bad mood for Todd, which mainly consisted of just a general air of irritation about him. He flicked his pencil and returned to his thoughts, the source of his stress. Valentine's flowers would be going out about now... Normally, Todd wouldn't care. He would get two yellow ones, one from Gabe and one from Liz, like he did every year. And at least the delivery of the flowers would break up the monotony of Mr. Madison's American History class.

This year was a bit different, though. Todd had been thinking strange things about Gabe recently... He spent more time just looking at her, thinking about her, wanting to be with her more than he usually did. Every friendship has its highs and lows, even a friendship between two people who had known each other so deeply and for so long as Gabe and Todd had, so at first he had just chalked it up to a high point in their relationship. But he had begun to notice other things, as well... like for instance, the fact that Gabe wasn't really a little girl who was his friend anymore. She was becoming a woman, just as Todd himself was becoming a man. He had even found himself thinking the other day that she looked pretty. Todd had never thought Gabe was ugly or even unattractive, but he had certainly never taken the time to think she was pretty. It was so weird, and the approach of Valentine's Day just made it that much weirder.

Todd wasn't at all sure about what had possessed him to do it, but he had bought her a pink flower this year. Everyone knew what pink flowers meant - they meant you had a secret admirer. Which Todd guessed that was what he was... like it or not, he had been admiring Gabe lately, and she had no idea. That was pretty literally the definition of a "secret admirer," right? But almost immediately afterward, Todd had regretted his decision. It was so stupid. And what if she figured out it was him? That last thought had sent him back to the seller to order Gabe a yellow flower as well, and one for Liz, as he did every year. That meant he was sending Gabe two flowers, but whatever. At least if she got a yellow one from him, she might not think of him as a suspect for sending her the pink one. It would be much more obvious if she got her usual yellow one from Liz, and a pink Secret Admirer, and no yellow one from Todd.

To be honest, he was a bit worried as to how she would react. She might figure out it was him anyway, in which case Todd didn't even know what he would do. Gabe hated Valentine's Day, so she might just toss the flower and forget all about it, which would be much more fine with him than her finding out about the whole thing. What if she thought the flower was from someone else, whatever boy she liked, and was crestfallen when it wasn't? It had been such a stupid idea.

Todd was jerked again out of his daze by the entry of a flower-deliverer into the room. Mr. Madison scowled at the student, but she was unfazed. She knew she had a right to be here and took her time with it, too, throwing it in Mr. Madison's face. She made about five deliveries before she got to Todd, and she winked at him as she handed him three flowers - two yellows and a red. Todd blinked at the red one while his classmates snickered. Red meant love. Who the hell...?

For a brief, horrible moment, he wondered with some concerning degree of excitement if it was from Gabe. But he turned the tag over and groaned. It was from Carly Stevenson, a little brown-haired freshman whom Todd had only talked to twice, but that didn't stop her from adoring him. She was always going out of her way to say hi to him in the hallway, and once he had even found a note from her in his locker, folded into a heart and scented with what smelled like half a bottle of Britney Spears' "Curious." It was disgusting. Todd dropped the red flower like an old candy wrapper, flipping over the tags of the yellow flowers, which were from Gabe and Liz, as expected. Todd wondered if Gabe had gotten her flowers yet. She was probably beside herself with confusion if she had.

Just then, the bell rang, and Mr. Madison was grumbling something about a test on Wednesday that no one paid attention to. Todd was one of the first out the door and into the hallway, blue eyes combing the crowd of students for Gabe. He was a bit short for his age, so he craned his neck to see over everyone, and finally found her leaning against her locker with her back to him. Todd wove his way through the sea of people towards her, stopping for a moment once he got closer. He blinked. She was holding two pink flowers. Who on earth could have sent her the other one?

Someone knocked into him and muttered something about dumbasses standing around in the middle of the hallway, and Todd shook his head and moved forward.

"Hey, you," Todd said as he came up around her, grinning as he glanced at her flowers. "Aww, look who has a secret admirerrrrr... TWO secret admirers!" he teased, reaching forward to pinch her cheek. Things would be totally suspicious if he didn't tease her, and it was sort of amusing that Todd wasn't the only one who found Gabe attractive.

- - - - - - - - - -

status: IN/COMPLETE
tagged: GABE
words: 1328
outfit: SCHOOL UNIFORM, BBY.
notes: LOL
lyrics: FIREFLIES, OWL CITY
credit: TEMPLATE BY SHAZI ?! AT CAUTION 2.0

[GABE EVANS]

They were just stupid flowers and over examining things was far too much of a girl thing for Gabe to do. They were just stupid flowers and it was just a secret admirer. Gabe didn’t even like anyone…Well she didn’t think she did, she mentally corrected herself and half cringed as she did so, shoving the thought of Todd that began to surface to the back of her mind. It didn’t matter who liked her because more than likely she wouldn’t give a damn about them. Sure it was nice to be thought of, nice to be liked, nice to have someone have some feelings for her, but that didn’t mean anything. Gabe wasn’t about to build a fairytale in her head or like someone just because they liked her, like most girls. For a brief period she was curious and could only hope that maybe it was someone she could like, but it was foolish thinking and she knew realistically that the probability of that happening was…Well, it wasn’t very good.

Sighing, Gabe turned and opened her locker, shoving her math book inside, despite the fact that she had math homework that night. She wasn’t going to worry about it…She’d make Gwyn give her the answers during lunch tomorrow, if she wasn’t flinging macaroni and cheese at Todd. The menu claimed they’d be serving macaroni tomorrow, and there was nothing better to fling at your friends than macaroni and mashed potatoes. It wasn’t like Mr. Dobrev paid that much attention to things. Between Gwyn Styles and Adam Sawyer, they did everyone’s homework and more often than not actually wrote it all out instead of letting/making them copy. No one had gotten caught for cheating yet, and any spare time between classes was meant for fun, not work. Besides, Gwyn didn’t seem to mind doing work for Gabe, or anyone else for that matter. The girl was a doormat, and despite Gabe having informed her of this several times, Gwyn never tried to change. Maybe the truth hurt, but it didn’t seem to do much sometimes.

As she closed her locker, Todd walked up and she was half tempted to hide the damn flowers behind her back, but Todd already noticed. She smiled an un-amused smile as he pinched her cheek and she folded her arms back over her chest. “Thaaaaanks,” she said sarcastically. “Don’t’ be so surprised…I’m hurt,” she said with a false pout before waving the flowers around. “You don’t think anyone could like me? I’m amazing! And I have awesome boobs,” she assured him with a wink. Just because girls annoyed her, didn’t mean she didn’t like playing up her feminine body. Ever since getting herself into a C cup she had been wearing revealing enough shirts to show off the twins. Maybe she wasn’t one for dresses or skirts, but she liked to show off her figure a bit. It made her feel more confident, and she did enjoy attention…Even the horny attention of dick-brained teenage males. “I heard Carly proposed to you,” she teased, referring to the many rumors she heard walking out of the history class.

tagged. Todd
outfit. click.
notes. love
credits. carolyn's sweet blasphemy *

[TODD FORCE]

YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE YOUR EYES

if ten million fireflies lit up
THE WORLD AS I FELL ASLEEP

Todd wasn't really sure what to think, now that everything had already happened. He had bought the flower for Gabe, she had received it, and now what? He still didn't know nearly enough. He tried to search her expression during conversation without seeming too obvious. Was she agitated because he was teasing her, or because she had gotten the flower? Did she suspect him? He could drive himself crazy with all the different things there were to worry about. It wasn't like he could just forget about all the thoughts and feelings and everything now. He had done something about it. There was no going back, but that didn't mean that Todd wanted to go forward.

He focused himself on teasing her instead, grinning ear to ear as she replied sarcastically. What was weird was what happened when Gabe started bragging about how amazing she was, and what awesome boobs she had. Todd felt his neck flush up a bit, hoping it was just heat and no noticeable color. He had never had to try not to look down before, not wanting to look at her and realize she was right. Of course, knowing he couldn't look made him want to look that much more. Todd laughed and rolled his eyes instead, leaning casually against the locker next to Gabe's. What was sickening was that he was sort of relieved when the topic switched to Carly, although it also filled him with irritation and dread.

"Ugh, I swear, I'm gonna have to do a better job hiding from her," Todd said, shaking his head and brushing his fingers through his bangs. "At least it's not so bad this time," he continued, glancing down at the crimson flower in his hand. "My locker reeked for a week last time," he recalled, wrinkling his nose.

Todd moved to his own locker, just one away from Gabe's, as E and F were right next to each other on the alphabet. He shoved his books in and wrestled with them as he tried to get them to stay. Finally he got it, and reached up to the top shelf, pulling down a bottle of Dole apple juice that was really filled with liquor. He unscrewed the cap and took a swig, then got his books for the next class, which he shared with Gabe. Maybe things wouldn't feel so weird in there, or else he was going to have to start bringing more beer to school.

- - - - - - - - - -

status: IN/COMPLETE
tagged: GABE
words: 416
outfit: SCHOOL UNIFORM, BBY.
notes: LOL
lyrics: FIREFLIES, OWL CITY
credit: TEMPLATE BY SHAZI ?! AT CAUTION 2.0

[GABE EVANS]

He didn’t even look at her boobs. That was disappointing. She wasn’t sure why it was disappointing. She had known him for years and whatever she was feeling had to be just hormones and the lack of a boyfriend and sexual encounters or something. Still, a bit of attention would have been nice, especially in the outfit she was currently in. Gabe mentally scolded herself for being this way, but she could hardly help herself. She did thrive off of attention…All attention…And right now she wanted a bit more of Todd’s than usual. Of course there wasn’t much she could do aside from mentioning how awesome her full breasts looked in her low cut shirts or how amazing her round rear looked in her tight pants. No matter how horrible she was to people, it didn’t’ stop the guys at school from admiring her body…Unless, of course, they were one of her friends. Maybe that was it…She wanted a different kind of attention from Todd because he was one of few not giving it to her. It was a fine excuse, was it not?

Perhaps the conversation had turned to Todd’s stalker, Carly, but her mind was still lingering on things, slightly frustrated. Gabe laughed and shook her head. “I don’t know what makes you so special, Toady,” she teased, winking at him. Carly had been all over him for a while now, and just now Gabe was starting to be less amused and more annoyed by it. How infuriating that thought was. “You really should be nicer to the future Mrs. Force…She’ll bear you beautifully hideous children one day,” she assured him, petting his chest with a playfully sweet smile. There was nothing more normal and fun than teasing Todd about Carly, and it seemed the best way to take her mind off of things, a tactic that didn’t last very long.

Gabe made a quick decision, acting purely on impulse and desperation as she glanced around and held her locker door closed a bit more and quickly pulled Todd close. “Cover me!” she ordered, quickly removing the red top and then her black one, leaving her in her new lacy blue bra. She was very glad she had chosen this piece instead of the multi colored polka dot ones she had considered. She shoved the tops in her locker, sure to face Todd as she quickly arranged her boobs more properly in the bra before grasping the red top again. Her heart was racing out of control. People were zooming by and teachers were around…An easy way to get in trouble or start more gossip, but the most important thing she was worried about was what Todd thought about all of this. Did he like the show, did he think he was crazy, what? There was no time to think about it…She slowly pulled on the red top without the black one, revealing a large expanse of skin including a large purple heart drawn over her ribs and the light green naval ring dangling there. “Time to make things scandalous,” she said with a wink. “Need to shake things up once in a while,” she explained with a wink, trying to act calm and confident and feeling nowhere close to either.

tagged. Todd
outfit. click.
notes. love
credits. carolyn's sweet blasphemy *

[TODD FORCE]

YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE YOUR EYES

if ten million fireflies lit up
THE WORLD AS I FELL ASLEEP

Todd nearly choked on his beer. "You don't know?!" he teased, stuffing the now-empty juice bottle into his backpack so he would remember to refill it at home. He moved back to Gabe's locker, plopping his books down on the floor beside him and gesturing to himself. "Look at me! I'm a catch," he teased with a wink and a grin.

Gabe petted his chest, assuring him that Carly (or apparently, the "future Mrs. Force") would bear him plenty of hideous children. Todd was painfully aware of her hand on him, and he shoved that aside and tried his best to keep up with the jokes and the teasing. "Please," he scoffed, "how could I make ugly babies?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows like all the macho men used to do in cheesy old movies. Todd dropped the facade and laughed again, but he didn't have any time to follow it up before Gabe pulled him close to her and suddenly instructed him to cover her. And then her shirt was off.

Don't look, don't look, don't look...

But it really was hard. She was right in front of him, changing, and that had never been a big deal before. Gabe must have changed in front of him a million times in the years that they had been friends. Sure, as they all started puberty, Todd had taken a peek just out of his curiosity about female anatomy, but this time was different. He wanted to look at her, and it was so hard not to...

Finally he couldn't take it anymore, and his sea-blue eyes dipped below her collarbone as she rearranged herself in her bra. Todd swallowed hard. He could feel his heart thudding in his chest and pounding in his ears, and his hand was both sweaty and clammy where he gripped her locker door. He stepped closer, telling himself it was to cover her more efficiently, but he didn't know if that was true... It was like he couldn't take his eyes away. She pulled her red top slowly down over her chest, and it was still low-cut and revealed almost all of her midriff. Besides, it wasn't difficult to imagine what he had just seen underneath.

He glanced away just before Gabe made a comment, wondering if he had fooled her into thinking that he hadn't looked the whole time. Things were feeling weird enough without her catching him peeking. He grinned and chuckled at her comment, nodding. "And more skin to decorate!" he added, poking her stomach playfully.

That one action caused plenty more confusion inside of him. He and Gabe messed around with each other physically all the time, which made his confusion even weirder and more... well, confusing. Had he done it just as an excuse to touch her? Todd had a sickening feeling that he had... A quick image flashed in his mind of him slipping the hand that wasn't holding her locker door around her waist, pressing his lips to hers, and Gabe sliding her arms around his neck and pressing herself up into him...

"Well, we should probably get going!" Todd suddenly announced, desperately needing to get away from her and all at once actually caring if they got to class on time. He turned and started off down the hallway, only making it a few steps before turning back and retracing his steps to Gabe's locker. He rolled his eyes and laughed at himself as he bent to pick up his books, then headed down the hall again, walking backwards so she would follow but keeping a safe amount of distance between them.

What the hell was wrong with him?

- - - - - - - - - -

status: IN/COMPLETE
tagged: GABE
words: 612
outfit: SCHOOL UNIFORM, BBY.
notes: LOL
lyrics: FIREFLIES, OWL CITY
credit: TEMPLATE BY SHAZI ?! AT CAUTION 2.0

[GABE EVANS]

Gabe laughed quietly as Todd proclaimed himself to be a catch. Her dark brown eyes looked him over, trying hard not to think too much about him or his looks before meeting his eyes once more, no longer glittering in mischief and amusement, though she tried to keep her expression light and playful. “I don’t know about that, Toad. You’re no Austin Marks…Or Nathan Wilder…Or Christian Davek…Or Jason Abrams…” she said, listing off the top few hottest guys at Xavier. At least in the opinions of everyone else. “But I guess a girl like Carly’s gotta set her sights low,” she joked. Maybe not many girls gave Todd a second glance compared to those boys, and the gay rumors maybe didn’t help, but while Gabe could appreciate their attractiveness, no one quite made her stomach curl up and flutter the way Todd did. Even if it was a new thing. She raised her eyebrow at his question and waved her hand over his face. “All of that. Duh. You really should look in the mirror sometime,” she assured him with a laugh.

And out of no where she decided she needed to change right in front of him. She didn’t actually look at him, but in her peripheral vision she could see him staring at her chest and could feel his gaze boring into her. Maybe it didn’t mean much…What guy wouldn’t look at a girl who was half naked in front of them? Even if it was your best friend? Gabe swallowed hard and tried not to smile in pleasure. This was pathetic. Just for a bit of attention she was doing this…But she had done a lot for attention in her lifetime, so this shouldn’t have been a big deal. But her reasons for doing so were bothering her and as her shirt was pulled down over her chest, she had to mentally berate herself for what she had done. She was a moron…A moron putting on a winning smile and laughing as Todd poked her stomach, even as the muscles clenched where he had touched and she could feel her heart racing again. “Easier access. What can I say, I’m being generous,” she teased.

She frowned slightly as his sudden need to depart for class. “Aww, Toady actually cares about academics,” she teased, trying to hide her displeasure and discomfort. She laughed shakily as he came back for his books and followed him slowly to class, wishing they could skip and do something else. “You act like I have cooties or something,” she teased him lightly, trying to act as normal as possible. She didn’t feel much like going to class, especially not feeling as disappointed as she did, but she had to carry on with things. No need to make things seem any weirder than they probably already did.

tagged. Todd
outfit. click.
notes. love
credits. carolyn's sweet blasphemy *

[TODD FORCE]

YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE YOUR EYES

if ten million fireflies lit up
THE WORLD AS I FELL ASLEEP

What the hell was going on, Todd had no idea. Gabe had just changed in front of him, in the middle of the passing period, just telling him to cover her and whipping her shirt off. A lot of girls would never have done that in front of a guy, unless they were sluts or he was their best friend, which Todd guessed just attested to his closeness to Gabe. Now was a difficult time to have done it, though... Todd was having a hard enough time trying to get himself to think normally about his friend without her undressing in front of him. Things had been so weird around her lately, and Todd didn't like it very much.

And at the same time, it was pleasurable. Why else would he have stood there, gawking at her for the whole time she had changed? It made his stomach flip and his mouth dry, his face hot and his palms sweaty. Normally those would have been pretty unwelcome symptoms, and in a way they still were, but they carried a lightness and a pleasure with them. Todd had had a girlfriend once before, last year during the first few weeks of school. They hadn't done much more than hold hands and kiss once or twice, and Todd didn't even really remember why he had been with Lindsay. She had asked him out and he didn't know how to say no, she was pretty, he wanted to know what having a girlfriend was like... Todd had dated her for all the wrong reasons, so they hadn't lasted very long. This, though, this was different. And it was with Gabe, which made it even stranger.

Todd laughed as Gabe teased him about caring about class and thinking she had cooties, hoping his face wasn't flaming up terribly. "All girls have cooties, where have you been," he teased her, easily taking a corner backwards. He knew this school like the back of his hand. The thing she had said about academics, though, got him thinking. They were headed to chemistry... one of Todd's absolute least favorite subjects. He slowed his walking, sighing and scratching the back of his head with his free hand. He really didn't want to go to chemistry, even if Gabe would be there to share his pain. Besides, after this period, they only had gym left, and then the day would be over and it would be the weekend.

"We should skip," he suggested quietly as she caught up with him; even though he couldn't see any teachers around, one could never be too careful. He was liking the idea more and more, and grinned at his best friend. "Come on, let's cut class. We can sneak out to the playground and just chill," he said, searching her expression to try and figure out what she would think. He wasn't sure if she would agree, or if he would go to class with her if she didn't agree, but he did know that skipping would be no fun without Gabe.

- - - - - - - - - -

status: IN/COMPLETE
tagged: GABE
words: 510
outfit: SCHOOL UNIFORM, BBY.
notes: LOL
lyrics: FIREFLIES, OWL CITY
credit: TEMPLATE BY SHAZI ?! AT CAUTION 2.0

[GABE EVANS]

Gabe allowed herself to feel more at ease as Todd continued his teasing that, of course, girls would have cooties. She was just being silly today, she figured, and pushed it all out of her head for now. There were other things to worry about, and she was sure this was just a phase or something. She allowed a small, friendly smile and followed him to chemistry. “I think someone forgets he’s not in elementary school anymore,” she teased, walking to the side to bump into him playfully. She laughed quietly as he suddenly began looking worried and she smirked, figuring it had something to do about he mention of him becoming academic. Still, knowing he wasn’t that into school and wondering why he wanted to class so badly, when he mentioned skipping her mind couldn’t help but go to the motion…Half hopping and half walking, instead of skipping class, which he apparently meant. “Ooooh. Okay, that’s less weird,” she laughed, nodding when he mentioned the playground. The high school, middle school, and elementary school were all near one another and the playground was in middle ground for all of them, which was odd. Only the elementary school really used it during the day, but now and then you could find middle schoolers or high schoolers there hiding from class or even after school hours. Most of the time it involved getting high or having sex, if it was late at night.

And poor little six and seven year olds played on all of that equipment.

“Sounds like a plan,” she said with a grin. “We should skip to the playground,” she suggested with a laugh, thinking of what she had originally thought he meant. They’d have to wait until they were out of the building before they could do much of anything fun like skipping or running or cart wheeling towards the playground. They were almost towards the back exit and Gabe looked around quickly. All of the teachers were busy talking to students or filing back into their classrooms as the bell suddenly rang loudly. Mrs. Harrelson gave them a stern look before closing her door and Gabe rolled her eyes. Mrs. Harrelson would just figure they were tardy, not running away or anything. Gabe smirked to herself and grabbed Todd’s hand suddenly, trying not to let it show how pleased she felt in doing so. It was perfectly normal for them. Hand holding, kissing cheeks, hugging, changing in front of one another…It was rituals of their friendship. Todd, Gabe, and Liz were all very close, so things like this were perfectly normal. Maybe not an every day occasion, but it happened frequently enough for this not to be weird. She didn’t question herself on it, even trying to convince herself that it was just for fun as she sped up her walking and quietly pushing open the back door and pulling Todd out before keeping her hand on it, guiding it closed so that it wouldn’t slam and make any noises loud enough to disturb the classes.

“Well…C’mon,” she said, grinning as she tugged on his hand and began jogging across the back of the school ground past all of the tables where some people ate outside and to the left until they were behind the middle school. It was a decent bit of land behind the schools for outdoor activities and the playground was far enough away for them to be able to screw around without getting anyone’s attention, and it was surrounded by a large fence that was enough to keep people from seeing them clearly. “I win!” she exclaimed, gasping as she skidded to a stop and reluctantly dropped his hand to unhook the gate and swing it open, stepping in. “Not a bad idea, Toad. This is so much better than chemistry,” she said breathlessly, slowly walking over to a swing and plopping down on it. She felt a bit sore from jogging and dragging Todd along, but nothing too bad. She was a bit sweaty and out of breath, but that was the worst of things.

tagged. Todd
outfit. click.
notes. love
credits. carolyn's sweet blasphemy *

[TODD FORCE]

YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE YOUR EYES

if ten million fireflies lit up
THE WORLD AS I FELL ASLEEP

Todd burst out laughing when Gabe finally realized what he was talking about - skipping as in not going to class, not bouncing around like a retard. He could just imagine him saying "we should skip," and the two of them skipping merrily down the hall to chemistry. It was a priceless mental image, one that Todd couldn't get out of his head. He would have to remember that later, to suggest that they skip before starting to actually skip. That would probably get a good laugh.

He grinned when Gabe agreed with him, suddenly very excited for the upcoming hour. So long as it wasn't chemistry, pretty much any pastime was acceptable, and hanging out on the playground with his best friend was right up there at the top. A nagging worry registered in the back of Todd's mind, but he didn't pay it much attention. There was nothing to worry about, he and Gabe must have done this a million times.

Gabe glanced around for witnesses, and Todd did the same, grinning cheekily in response to Mrs. Harrelson's glare. She merely stepped into her classroom and shut the door, no doubt grateful that Todd and Gabe weren't in her upcoming class. Todd was grateful as well, or they probably would have never gotten away with this. There weren't really any other teachers in the hallways, and luckily Todd couldn't see their chemistry teacher anywhere. Other students wouldn't care - by the time you got to high school, people quit tattling and started covering for one another. Kids began to realize that it was all of them against the authorities.

Suddenly, Gabe grabbed Todd's hand, and his blue eyes widened in surprise as she pulled him quickly towards the door. She held his hand all the time, but this time was surprisingly different. He had never really wanted her to hold his hand before... He had never minded, and he had even taken her own hand a few times, but in the same way he had never particularly thought she was pretty, he had never wished for her to hold his hand. Now, though, he didn't want her to let go. He hoped his palms weren't still sweaty. And then she was taking off, half-skipping and half-running to the playground.

Todd was not one for physical activity by any means. His idea of a workout was goofing off with Gabe and Liz, exploring places they weren't supposed to be, and pulling funny pranks. Running to the playground, even if he was supposed to be racing Gabe, probably wouldn't have lasted very long if she hadn't been holding his hand. She dragged him along with her, and Todd huffed and panted behind until she skidded to a stop, at which point he almost slammed into the chain-link fence.

He made a strangled grunting noise when Gabe announced that she had won, still trying to catch his breath. "Uhh, I don't think so," he panted, knowing she would have won fair and square if she hadn't been pulling him along behind her. But it had been work to keep up with her, and he wanted his title. She dropped his hand to undo the gate, and Todd chuckled and ran it through his hair as he followed her, kicking it closed behind him.

"Thanks," he said in response to her compliment, smiling as he followed her to the swings. She sat down and flopped down on one, and Todd felt that worry tugging again at the back of his mind. Now he knew why. In chemistry class, he would have been distracted from Gabe at least a little bit, but not here. Here they were all alone, just him and her and nothing much to do. Well, of course there were plenty of things to do, things guys and girls their age usually did out here, but Todd shoved those thoughts out of his mind fast. He just hoped he would be able to carry on a normal conversation, with his mind so wrapped up in the fact that he was alone with her and that she was his best friend but she was dressed like that and there was DEFINITELY something fishy going on. He sat himself down in the swing beside her, kicking off of the ground to sway back and forth a bit while he reached down to undo a pocket on his leg. He pulled out a snack-sized bag of Doritos and tore it open, popping a chip into his mouth with a crunch and offering the bag to Gabe.

- - - - - - - - - -

status: IN/COMPLETE
tagged: GABE
words: 763
outfit: SCHOOL UNIFORM, BBY.
notes: LOL
lyrics: FIREFLIES, OWL CITY
credit: TEMPLATE BY SHAZI ?! AT CAUTION 2.0

[GABE EVANS]

She’d been alone with him thousands of times before. It wasn’t always their little trio, and sometimes it was just Gabe and Liz or Todd and Liz, or even Gabe and Todd. But something had changed and Gabe wasn’t liking it very much. She smiled softly as Todd took the swing beside her, laughing as something else occurred to her, making her feel even sillier as her face flushed. “You should have warned me sooner that we were skipping. Otherwise I wouldn’t have had to subject you to my half naked body,” she teased, reaching her leg over to prod him. That had been a damned stupid thing to do on her part. What had she been thinking? Sure, she wanted him to notice her, but what if he thought it was odd? He wouldn’t would he? But what if he did? Gabe scowled and kicked the dirt at her feet. She was not one of those girls who obsessed over everything about a boy and she wasn’t about to start now. Of course, Gabe figured she had good reason to be so nervous…Not all girls developed feelings for their best friends, and she wasn’t sure if that was something to be proud of or ashamed of.

Seeing his arm move over to offer her his bag of Doritos, Gabe smiled and plucked out a chip and shoved it into her mouth, chewing happily as she glanced around the playground. The day was almost over so no one else would be out here unless they were skipping like Gabe and Todd or looking for some form of entertainment that broke not only school rules but the law. Gabe didn’t expect anyone else to come out, though, and she certainly hoped they wouldn’t. Which was even worse. This had been a bad idea. Being alone with Todd was bad because she couldn’t have feelings for him. This was just some phase that would go away quicker if she ignored it. The more she was with Todd alone, the more confused she became, and the more confused she was, the worse it was.

“I heard Jordan and Harrison did it in one of these swings last year. That was how she broke her leg,” Gabe said idly, pressing her feet against the ground to shove herself back and get her a good start. “And apparently some minister’s daughters got drunk a few weeks ago behind the slide and had a threesome with Wes Graham,” she added with a laugh, thinking someone had to be drunk or high to have sex with Wes. He was not only an asshole/pig, but he was also a fat and ugly bastard. “Ahh what fun the playground is. And those poor little kids have to come play here in everyone else’s AIDS and STDs and whatnot,” she snorted, swinging higher and higher, trying to take her mind off of things and not doing a very good job…Not when the playground was a notorious spot for teens to hook up. “Soooo, Toady, do you have any interesting playground stories?” she teased, stomach flipping each time she went up and finally going to high for her liking she let her feet drag through the dirt so she could slow down to a stop.

tagged. Todd
outfit. click.
notes. love
credits. carolyn's sweet blasphemy *

[TODD FORCE]

YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE YOUR EYES

if ten million fireflies lit up
THE WORLD AS I FELL ASLEEP

Todd grinned and shrugged as Gabe blushed, stammering out something resembling an apology for making him deal with her now scantily-clad body. Todd didn't mind, not at all, and he never had. But today it was the way in which he didn't mind that was a cause for concern. He had to keep consciously reminding himself not to look at her, and when he did he had to snap himself out of it so that he wouldn't stare. He wanted to stare, and that was the problem. He caught himself thinking she was pretty again.

"No worries. I've seen you in lots less a gazillion times," he reassured her with a grin, hoping he sounded more casual and confident than he felt. It was a true statement; he had seen her practically naked before. But that was when they were littler, and before he had started thinking about her in weird and frightening ways, before he had been both horrified and glad that she was wearing so little. Images flashed in his mind again of Gabe pulling her shirts over her head and pushing her breasts around in her bra. A light shiver ran through him, and he knew it wasn't because of the cool February wind. Todd blinked and brought himself back to reality, glancing over at Gabe and immediately remembering why he wasn't supposed to do that. He shoved another two chips into his mouth.

Gabe began to talk, listing off the names of all the kids their age who had fooled around out here on the playground. Harrison and Jordan, Wes Graham with some preacher's kids... all kids who had just been hanging around out here and ended up naked, all alone with no one to stop them... Kids just like Todd and Gabe. It was like the playground was a trap or something. Todd swallowed against the feeling of doom that overcame him while he glanced at the swings, and then the somewhat-hidden area behind the slide.

More breeze blew past him, this time created by Gabe as she swung higher and higher, and Todd just sat and watched her with a grin, swaying lazily on his swing while she stretched her body to make herself go higher, her chocolate-colored hair billowing behind her. Finally she dug her heels in and dragged herself to a stop, asking Todd if he had any playground stories. Now it was Todd's turn to laugh as he picked up his own momentum, swinging higher and higher.

"You mean besides that time in seventh grade that Austin Marks bet me he could jump farther off a swing than I could, and I beat him by a mile but I sprained my wrist?" Todd laughed, remembering the bittersweet victory. He turned his head to grin at Gabe, swinging higher than ever. "I bet I could beat you, too!" he called, letting go at the high point of his swing and sailing through the air, flying for a moment before he touched down and rolled before getting up and brushing himself off. He retraced his body's skid marks to the point of his landing, standing there proudly as he assessed how far away from the swingset it was. Gabe could never beat that.

- - - - - - - - - -

status: IN/COMPLETE
tagged: GABE
words: 540
outfit: SCHOOL UNIFORM, BBY.
notes: LOL
lyrics: FIREFLIES, OWL CITY
credit: TEMPLATE BY SHAZI ?! AT CAUTION 2.0

[GABE EVANS]

Gabe laughed and tried hard not to blush as Todd replied. He had seen her down in her bra and panties before, but that was as little as things had gotten. And things were different between then and now, though she was pretty sure she was the only one feeling that way. “You’ve been looking at me?! You PERVERT!” she accused, suddenly throwing her arms over her chest, as if that did much good. Most of her chest was the only part of her upper body covered, and even then a good bit of cleavage showed in that top. Gabe laughed and dropped her arms again, giving him a playful glare. “See? All men are pigs! All I want is my best friend to guard me while I change and he checks me out! I’m surprised you didn’t grope me!” she teased, trying not to feel disappointed by the thought.

The conversation moved to fun playground stories, and Todd’s nonsexual adventure here. She sighed at Todd’s challenged and kicked herself back up again into swinging since she had nearly come to a stop. She pushed herself higher and higher as Todd jumped, managing quite an impressive distance and she glared at him. She highly doubted she could beat him, but it wouldn’t hurt to try. Part of her imagined jumping and falling right into him or stumbling into him or something…Falling over, one landing on top of the other…And with that much closeness…Gabe blinked rapidly, getting rid of the image as quickly as she could. “Alright, here goes nothing!” she exclaimed in a somewhat shaky voice as she swung back up and let go. She was weightless only a moment, but gravity was a bitch. Her toes brushed the ground only a moment, but she couldn’t catch her balance in near enough time and landed safely in the dirt.

“Ugh. Why do people do this?” she laughed, cringing as she sat up. Her knees and elbows hurt, as they had taken the brunt of the fall. Sighing, she rolled over and brushed dirt off of her bare stomach before brushing off of her clothes and looking around for Todd. “I do believe you won, jackass,” she told him. “Now come over here and help me upppppp! Or elsssse!” she demanded, grinning at him and folding her arms over her stomach, waiting for him to come and help her. It was only fair, since he was the reason she had ended up here anyway. “This is the last time I skip class with you, mister,” she warned teasingly.

tagged. Todd
outfit. click.
notes. love
credits. carolyn's sweet blasphemy *

[TODD FORCE]

YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE YOUR EYES

if ten million fireflies lit up
THE WORLD AS I FELL ASLEEP

Todd was thankful he was swinging so high and fast, because his eyes widened when he realized what he had just said. He had admitted to seeing Gabe while she changed a little while ago. To be fair, she had been right in front of him, but it didn't make it any less awkward. She had just wanted him to cover her and to make sure no one looked at her. She should have gone to the bathroom or something, but instead she decided she just wanted to change right there in the middle of the hallway. It was no wonder Todd had seen her!

He laughed, though, brushing the whole thing off. "Well you were sort of there," he defended as he swung higher. "It's not like I was gawking," Huge lie. In fact, Todd was surprised he hadn't groped Gabe, as well. She had been right there, and so tempting... Oh, the thoughts that had flashed through his mind. Thoughts that made him both shudder in pleasure and cringe in embarrassment. Gabe was his very best friend. He had known her since they were ten, before she even had a figure or anything!

Luckily they had their little swinging contest before Todd could drive himself too crazy. After landing he grinned and waved while Gabe glared at him, standing his ground to mark where he had landed. He was confident she would never beat him, no matter how high she swung. Finally she let go and flew through the air, not nearly the distance Todd had managed, but not bad. She rolled once and sat up, grumbling and brushing herself off. Todd laughed and came to her assistance once she acknowledged that he won.

"So now we're even," he chuckled, referring to the way she had "beat" him to the playground, though he still maintained that since she had been dragging him, it was a tie. "Psh, yeah okay," he teased her when Gabe threatened not to skip with him again, grinning and rolling his blue eyes. They had way too much fun skipping together for her to mean it. He grinned and held his hand out to her.

"I doubt you'd like to challenge me again?" he suggested playfully as he pulled her up. As he did, he stepped closer for leverage, practically pulling her into him as he helped her to her feet. Suddenly Gabe was so close, their bodies were nearly touching. Todd cleared his throat and glanced away, willing himself with everything he had not to blush, but still not stepping backward to give himself more room.

Why was that?!

- - - - - - - - - -

status: IN/COMPLETE
tagged: GABE
words: 436
outfit: SCHOOL UNIFORM, BBY.
notes: sorry for shortness, I's sleepy
lyrics: FIREFLIES, OWL CITY
credit: TEMPLATE BY SHAZI ?! AT CAUTION 2.0

[GABE EVANS]

Gabe laughed as Todd went to defend himself and rolled her dark brown eyes. “Of course you weren’t,” she teased, laughing quietly. “You’re a guy! Just because I wasn’t looking at you doesn’t mean I couldn’t tell you were staring at me. Or well, the twins. It’s called peripheral vision, Toad,” she teased, flushing a bit and swinging more when she realized she was right--he had been staring. It at least meant he had to like what he saw…Or so she hoped. It didn’t even matter, she scolded herself, blushing even more the more she thought about it all. Gabe just laughed and kept swinging, keeping her voice light as she spoke, laughing as normally as possible. “But that’s okay…Like I said, you’re only a guy. You are weak.”

Of course, Todd wanted to be dumb and challenge her to a contest of jumping off of the swing and seeing who landed farther. A child’s game, but she wasn’t going to back down from this. Even if she did land practically on her face and get dirt everywhere, barely being on her feet for even a second. Gabe just laughed it off and rolled her eyes as Todd went on. “We’re never even. Youuuuuu cheated,” she accused jokingly then offering a glare as he sarcastically shoved off what she said about never thinking about skipping with him again. “You don’t believe me?” she gasped, putting her hand over her heart. “BUT I’M HONEST GABE!” she exclaimed, unable to stop from falling into laughter right after she said it. They really could be dumb sometimes, but she blamed any stupidity on her own part as Todd’s idiocy rubbing off on her. That was at least what she always told him.

Gabe snorted, ready to retort as he began pulling her up, but as she steadied on her feet she swallowed hard, realizing how close they were. Neither stepped away. Gabe was sure she might fall over again if she tried moving now. For a moment she forgot what they were even doing until Todd cleared his throat and she blinked rapidly to bring herself back to the present. “You’re the one who challenged me, remember?” she teased quietly, voice shaking gently. It was tempting to just move forward and bump her body into his the way they always did…To step away and pretend to fall and drag him down with her. She could hug him or grab his hand again or anything, really. So many different scenes flashed before her eyes, so many things that were so tempting to do. Any reason to touch him or be closer to him. She did nothing, though, nothing but stand there, too terrified of her own body and her own desires to dare move.

tagged. Todd
outfit. click.
notes. love
credits. carolyn's sweet blasphemy *