super seniority [closededed]

He let his gaze sweep over the remained of pillows and blankets. There were enough to have them chilling lime royalty inside by the time they were done. "Alright, alright." Preston waved his hand dismissively, his cocksure smile growing as he passed her by. "It's pretty great." His hand reached out, sparks dancing at his finger tips and aiming to fluff out that mess of her hair, quickly swiping by the top of her head. Before she had the chance to swing back at him, he ducked, shooting her a quick wink and scooping up a comforter into his arms.

"We got any flashlights or shit?" He called as soon as he poked his head into the tent flap. There was room on the inside for the food, thankfully, the blanket just high enough over the coffee table, stuffed away on the side. "Hope you're not afraid of the dark."

Yeah, that sounded a bit more right, so couldn't he... Wait, no. No. No. She bobbed backwards, almost by reflex; she could sense it coming just by the smirk on his face. Asshole! "Don't you— agh!...!" Kayla ducked her head away, but not fast enough, swiping at the top of her head and making strands of hair stand on end, tiny sparks popping to fill the space between them. "Fuck!" she cursed, swinging up her good hand to try and smooth it back down, but that seemed to make it worse, if anything.

"Bitch..." She muttered curses under her breath as he ducked away inside, chewing at her lip. "Flashlights? Uh, check the closet, maybe...?" She was more focused on her fucking hair. Who's fault was that? "You got any Christmas lights stuffed away anywhere? Or a lantern? Those would be better."

Hidden behind the curtain of the sheets, Preston allowed himself to grin away, laughing under his breath and spreading the blanket out to the corners of their pillow fort. Behind the thinner blankets, he could make out the soft glow of her irritated sparks. "I think so," the young man poked his head outside. "Go and grab the food from the kitchen. And save me some for once." He pulled himself outside and straightened out, heading over to the closet and rummaging through their shitty ass stacks of old junk stuffed away into the shelves.

He knew there were lights somewhere, granted some of the bulbs were probably burnt out but... Aha! Pres yanked down a torn cardboard box, the stringed holiday lights wrapped in surprisingly neatly. Soon as he turned the corner and saw her, he rattled it up to catch her attention. "Why the fuck do we even have these?" Had they ever even put up a Christmas tree?

Fuck you. She snorted and turned toward the kitchen, rubbing at the top of her cast. "Yeah, yeah. No promises." After all that work, she'd built up an appetite, and fuck if it didn't smell amazing over there. He had his uses. Kayla swung into the kitchen, whistling at the steaming trays of brownies and baked potatoes, stuffed with cheese and green onion and sour cream, a bag of popcorn beeping in the microwave, a tub of over-frozen ice cream thawing out on the counter. Who makes baked potatoes in the oven? she almost asked, but even she had to admit it looked better than anything she'd ever done. Shit. None of it worked together, but that wouldn't stop her from mowing through it all.

While he rummaged through the closet, she worked to setting it all out on plates, upending the bag of popcorn into a bowl and dumping scoops of ice cream over the brownies. She couldn't balance it all with just one hand, but she did the best she could, making a few trips to take it to the safety of their pillow fort. It only hit her when she stepped out from the sheets how stupid it was. A fucking pillow fort. He was an adult. She was sixteen. Shit, he wasn't even still supposed to be in school. Had they both gone crazy?

His voice snapped her out of her grumbling. "Don't fucking ask me." He was the one who snuck into freezers to make Christmas dinners for one. She hadn't expected him to actually find any. "Go ahead and string them up. We can skip Halloween this year." Cutting to the chase, she guessed.

He glanced around, his eyes pin-ppinting the sweet outlet spots where they could plug their cheaply wired light-show in. And hell, if they could managed, he could break out a few phone or game chargers out there too, to guarantee there was never a need to ever leave the precious fort of theirs. "Cutting to the three month long Christmas instead, huh?" The young man mused, pulling the lights out and tossing the old box to who-knew-where behind them. "You want to get roped into that?"

Preston thumbed away at the end of the line, sparks flying as his skin brushed against the small metal prongs. With a certain gleam in his eye, he passed her by again, throwing his arm over her and wrapping the girl loosely in a single loop, a warm row of lights pressed up against her. He took a step back, foot crushing into a pile of pillows, yet to be thrown inside.

"Ah, shit, fucking whoops." He gave the line a small, tightening tug, fighting away his grin. He thought himself an expert on making dumb jokes and wasting valuable pillow fort time.

They were kinda roped into it anyway, weren't they? Poor Thanksgiving always got skipped over these days, malls and stores and even the fucking radio lunged straight into Christmas season before anyone could even toss their pumpkins the next day. This was just getting down to the point. Saving the effort, y'know? She couldn't even count on him to vacuum once a week, so it wasn't like this fort was going down anytime soon. "Well, why nooooaagghhck...! Hey!"

He swept past, looping the lights in a coil around her body, a light-up lasso that pinned her arms to her side. She puffed out her cheeks, flustered as she tried to keep the sparks from bursting out around her, meeting his gaze with a pout. All it took was one little lash of electricity and it'd fly up the string of bulbs like fire and a trail of kerosene. "You're gonna make the lights pop, you cunt," she murmured, wiggling her upper body to try and shuffle off the makeshift tether to no avail.

A risk he had been ready and willing to take. Preston couldn't help but laugh again under his breath, expecting a sharper tongue of hers, or a steely glare, or hell; for her to just say fuck it and break the lights off anyways. It wasn't as if she should care too much about a few Christmas bulbs. Instead, he was met with her flushed cheeks and wide eyes; and God damn, if he couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her look so... shit, fucking innocent? Still bitchy, but...

The Autumn smirked again. His chest had begun to cramp up, but he thought best to ignore it, poking away gently at the girl's shoulder instead. "Like I'd let you do that shit," Preston dragged a few sparks from her, a trail of thin, blazing blues flying between her and his touch - and away from the delicate, cheap wiring. "Go on and say the magic word." What harm could it do, right? He drew her in a bit closer with another pitiful tug of the lights.

"Are you kidding me?" She flinched under his touch, or more like his poke, baring her teeth. If he didn't want to 'let her do that,' then maybe he shouldn't have tied her up in this thing in the first place. Kayla met his gaze with a challenging glare, her snarl twisting into a matching smirk, which just grew more strained when he gave another tug on the lights, pulling her in closer. Just close enough. "Dumbass!" she said, bringing her leg up in a sharp, light kick. Was that the magic word he was looking for? "Stop fucking around!" They had a fort to finish.

Thank God he knew her well enough by then to know better than let his guard down. Preston pulled back and near fell unto the pillows, throwing his arm in the way and laughing. The pain was sharp but bareable. "Bitch!" Before she pulled away, he grasped onto her leg. His smile turned smuf, wavering on the plush mountain behind them. "I should fucking take you down with me," He mused, turning the words lightly over. Maybe if she hadn't had a busted ass arm...

He didn't hold her for long, letting go and swinging his arm back over, the lights loose in his grasp again. "Consider yourself lucky, Pikachu." No longer bothering to hid his grin, he headed back on inside, dragging a few cushions in with him and fumbled around for the closest outlet.

Not too long after, the stars were alight in the cozy fort of theirs.

"Gah...!" She wavered from side to side when he caught her leg, balancing the best she could on one leg with no arms. Steady, steady... Kayla was about to snap at him to try it when he finally let her go, dropping her leg to the floor and unwrapping the loop of lights around her waist. She recovered with a twirl, rubbing at her elbow with her good hand. "Just do your fucking job," she said as he ducked back inside.

When he was finally done, even she had to admit it was the place was looking like a real dream house. In no small part thanks to her, cough. She flipped off the lights before she headed inside, so they were just left with the tiny bulbs looped across the furniture.

It had taken Preston no time at all to get settled in, falling back on a small mountain of pillows, brownies and ice cream in hand - as of he'd ever let the delishous shit go to waste. By the time the Pikachu had found her way inside herself, he had already stuffed down half his plate.

Admittedly, it looked pretty fucking amazing in there. "Work of the pillow architect," The young man whistled in amusement. "I suppose you can keep that title after all." With another smirk in the dim light, he patted away the spot near beside him, a space cleared just for her. "Shit, we should have done this sooner."

Fucking pig. She nestled down beside him and started her own work on the plate, scarfing down as much as she could, if only to prevent him from fucking eating it all up. He was like a vacuum cleaner. "You're god damn right," she said through mouthfuls of brownie. At least he'd admitted it. Kayla just gave a snort, digging into her food. Sooner... Well, she'd never have done it at all if it wasn't for him. She let her gaze sweep over the lights and draping sheets, the cushions shored up against the sides like stone walls and the blankets that carpeted the floor. It was pretty alright.

No matter how many dirty looks she gave him for snatching the plate of sweets while he could. If anything, she were the bottomless pit between them. If he so much as blinked at a wrong second, the precious fudge might as well would have disappeared into oblivion. Damned straight he was going to inhale what he could, when he could. Soon as he saw the end draw near for the dessert, his stomach caught up with him with a vengeance.

Preston held up the rich treat up on his fork, admiring the last bite in the soft light. "Beats sitting alone in the dark?" He mused, his voice strung out. In truth, he were only half-joking. The Autumn held the brownie out to her, leaning back into the pillows.

She bit the last of the brownie off the end of his fork without any hesitation, meeting his eyes with a challenging look. Kayla pulled away and wiped the crumbs away from her mouth with the back of her hand. It wasn't long before she'd cleaned her plate either, and even with the slight tinge of nausea, it'd been too long since she'd last had a filling meal. She'd almost forgotten how satisfying it was to be full.

Kayla glanced away, sparks cracking above her head. "Maybe," she said, rubbing her hand absentmindedly over her cast. When was the last time they'd just sat and talked like this?

Too long.

"Go put the dishes in the sink. I'm too lazy."

So elegant. Preston smirked as he set aside his fork with the rest of their dishes, stretching out and just starting to make himself comfortable when she called dibs on staying cozy in the fort. His blue-green eyes flickered over to the small pile they had going on. It was amazing how fast that shit disappeared. Maybe he shouldn't have made do damn. "Fuck," he sunk lower into the cushions, shooting his roommate a pitiful, lazy look before pulling himself up with a groan. "Fine, whatever..."

He gathered up the mess, heading out of the fort. The light went on in the kitchen and the sounds of clinking dishes and running water soon followed.