Moonlight Nocturne

"As long as your mother says it's okay."

 

Your mother looks surprised, but smiles. "..I.... yes. But I'll drive you."

 

"Perfect. See you all tonight." Natasha beams.

 

...it is PROBABLY less fun to see Nick flirt with pretty ladies who come in to look at the antiques, though.

 

Elena will still beam all the way through her homework, working fast. She's good at school. It just... hasn't felt important lately. "I'm done."

So when the shop closes... !

It's mostly hilarious to see Nick flirt with pretty ladies. She doesn't want to think about... you know, adult stuff... but right now, she's just imagining him being chased by a cartoonish mob of angry boyfriends and pretty ladies. Like a zombie movie, but with more lipstick.

 

Nick goggles at Elena. "...that fast?! You're a dynamo. Daaang.... I never got that fast..."

He's sitting outside, on the curb, playing carefully with his keys, watching for Nattie.

 

She sits by him, watching him fidget. "... I have to do more tomorrow, but I'm done with everything for Monday. Just spelling and math..."

She yawns, blinking sleepily. "Is it weird to not have school?"

 

"....it's super weird. You just. Have all this free time, and nothing to do with it. I was never really good at school, so I just. It was good, but... I mostly ended up working out, or following some of the others around at work.. it... it got really boring, and I've only been out for, like... a year. The freedom is nice, but... sometimes, it's too much?"

 

Elena nods. "It's like summer. Forever." Like the middle of July, when you've done all the things you were waiting to do all year, and now there's nothing to do but sit around and be bored.

"... Mom's shop is nice. Running the register is boring because you have to stay behind the counter, but you can read or play games if there's no one around. And helping restore things is cool."

"And we can go fight monsters, after work!"

 

"Yeah. Exactly like summer, forever, except all the holidays come, and things keep happening, but you're just. Doing the same thing." He smiles affectionately, offering a fistbump.

"...yeah. i mean. I'm. Working sounds... not fun? But it's fun so far, and I'm looking forward to this. It's going to be cool."

 

She returns the fistbump, smiling back. "... Yeah. It'll be awesome."

"... why don't you like working?"

"I mean... I've always helped in the shop, since I was little. So..." It sounds strange to her.

 

"...uuh. I never really... though about it? Like...if I could get paid to just... do parkour and get in fights? That'd be great." He sighs. "....I was gonna go get into mixed martial arts, or something like that, but. Uh. Yeah. Can't do it."

 

"... why not? Did you get hurt?" She frowns. Or is it because of... something else.

 

"...I hit really, really hard. I break teeth. It's. I could hurt someone bad on accident. It's safer if the only people I fight are monsters."

 

"... because you're a monster hunter, like seeing ... weird stuff in the park?"

She leans on him. "... I'll fight with you."

 

"...yeah. it is." He smiles, hugging her shoulders. "I know. I'm glad you've got my back."

 

A sleek sportscar pulls to a halt, and Natasha rolls down the window. "You kids ready to roll?"

 

"Yes!" Elena hops to her feet, moving to climb into the back of the car. "... your car is really cool."

It has to be expensive. Like, really expensive. Mom doesn't even have her own car.

 

"Thanks." She chuckles. "Maybe you get to see how fast it runs, later."

She hits the gas the moment they're buckled.

If this isn't fast... what does she think is ?

 

Elena is suddenly very glad that she doesn't get carsick. Very, very glad.

She'll fidget most of the way there, increasingly nervous as the prospect of actually asking the cute girl out gets closer. What if she says no? She flops across the back seat, looking up at the ceiling.

She's doomed.

Doomed.