I haven’t written in a bit and i wanted to do something based in October because i’m not doing inktober or fictober and i feel guilty so here’s the TI-3 gang...I ran out of steam fast because I didn’t schedule time to actually work on it!!!
The strange thing about the south is that, in the supposedly cooler months, heat sustains itself much longer than what should be deemed fair. Sunlight drifts through warmly-colored, ratty curtains. Wind follows its lead, but it’s weak. Without much sound from the house, the two teenagers in the room can vaguely hear the ice cream truck that only comes around once a month and houses a driver that has a multitude of gold chains around his neck, a blade at his hip, and an attitude not necessarily conducive to making anyone comfortable ordering a drumstick cone.
“C’mon...pick up, already, Zi...”
With every second, every creak of a cricket leg, Madena leans closer and closer to their cracked computer screen, bleached hair plastered to their sweaty forehead, “It’s October but it’s hot and our AC isn’t working, and the screen is probably seventy degrees on its own, and--”
Hughes grabs their shoulders and pushes them back into their chair gently, handing them a towel, “Maybe don’t push against your computer like that. You failing to wipe your face is causing me bodily, physical harm, and your sweat or whatever is gonna get into the cracks and cause your computer to malfunction, or something.”
“She gave us a time to call and everything,” they grumble, glaring at a random spot to the side, cheeks puffed out. “The least that she could do is actually be there to answer it.”
“End it,” Hughes mutters in Spanish, eyes glued to his phone. “That’s not fair to her, and you know it. Just work on your homework before she calls back.”
A beat. “She’s probably out with her new friends or something.”
“You sound more jealous than I do, LMAO,” they shoot back, wiping their face, “but as long as you help me, I don’t mind getting this stupid shit out of the way. I wasn’t listening to what’s-her-face, anyway.”
“Mrs. Rodriguez really isn’t that bad, Mads,” Hughes switches back to English. “She just has...high standards.”
They snort at him, but their face is starting to flush deeper, and they start to waggle their eyebrows, leaning further and further back into their swivel chair, “Her standards for men, specifically--”
“I’m glad that it’s thot hour,” a breathy, high-pitched voice breaks in. Madena and Hughes’s heads snap to the direction of the computer before all hell breaks loose. Madena squawks, falling backwards off of their chair. In their panicked attempt to stay upright, they yank Hughes by his maroon undershirt, which sends him toppling into them. With his added weight, it’s an effective KO that ends up with Zi’s face pressed against her computer screen, busting a gut.
“Are you two okay?” She guffaws, covering her mouth subconsciously, “You would think that you two were falling off of a mountain!”
“Do we even have those in Texas?” Madena wheezes, crawling out from under Hughes, who has seemingly accepted death and stares blankly at the ceiling. “We’re big enough to fit one or two in here.”
“Slaps Texas. ‘This baby can fit so many mountains in it,’” Hughes chuckles, finally sitting up. His curls are disheveled. So is his shirt. “Yes, I did say the action. There are no real life asterisks. Fuck you.”
Zi giggles again, moving long hair behind her right ear before beginning to gesticulate wildly, excitedly, “Sorry about being late, guys. I hurried here as fast as I could! Narla’s mom--”
She cuts off, face twisting into a grimace before she goes back to smiling--this time, nervously, “She’s a tailor, and I needed help with, ah, what I’m about to show you, you guys, so I, uh, I went there!”
Madena’s eyes jump to their bedroom door, and their fingers jump slightly from their space on their desk, a reaction thinly veiled by with the teasing smirk on their face, “Oh? A fashion show?”
Hughes is leaning in, eyes shining, “What is it?”
“Halloween costume! Hold on!”
The screen goes dark, presumably covered by a cloth. Madena and Hughes look at each other before looking away and grinning.
“All it took was a few years to grow, a new school, and a potential girlfriend, huh?” Hughes stifles a laugh. “We’ve been begging her to be anything other than a witch since 6th grade, I swear.”
“The ladies love witches, Hughes. I’ll bet you at least ten dollars that she’s just showing us her new and improved witch costume.”
“How much do you wanna bet that it’s a wolf costume? Ten dollars?”
“Oh, you are so on.”
Zi’s voice interrupts them, and she’s grunting, breathless as she tries to slip into her mystery costume, “What are you guys gonna do for Halloween?”
“I wanna go as a meme,” Madena starts, just as Hughes mutters, “I have to make sure that Madena doesn’t go as a meme.” The two of them go quiet, Madena with betrayal, Hughes with bemusement. They don’t speak again until Zi uncovers her computer’s camera.
“Well? How does it look?” Her face looks like it’s starting to turn pink, and her mouth won’t stop twitching upwards.
She’s dressed as a witch. Her fingers are claws; they look like they’re made of paper and electrical tape, created masterfully. Her hat is dark, it’s humongous, and it crinkles towards the tip. She wears a cross between a western dress and a cheongsam, black and accented with golden moons. It’s stunning. She’s stunning.
But, Madena notes with quiet amusement, Zi is also wearing wolf ears and a tail. There are also, regrettably, fake fangs in her mouth.
Neither they nor Hughes would be losing ten dollars, today.
“You look...” Hughes starts, but his eyes are wide, and his mouth is looking more and more like an “o” as time goes on. “You look great!”
A second later, he quietly whispers, “Wow...”
Madena smiles, eyes crinkling kindly, “I guess you’re slowly but surely making your way from witch to furry, huh? You look gorgeous, Zi...You outdo yourself every time you dress up. And even when you don’t, you end up slaying everyone you meet, huh?”
Zi is red in the face, but she’s beaming, covering her face and laughing in delight. Madena’s smile becomes slightly more mischievous.
“Has Narla seen it, yet? I know that she’d probably be able to say much more than I could.”
Hughes “coughs” when Zi starts to splutter in embarrassment, but he’s trying to hide his grin behind his hand, “Cut it out.”
“The people need to know, guys! Narla should know that she’s gonna be eviscerated as soon as she sees my best friend! She needs to know that my best friend is too gorgeous for anyone to survive looking at her if they aren’t accustomed!”
Zi covers the camera again, but there’s a quiet “I love you guys” that Madena and Hughes don’t have to see to know is genuine.