@Rainy-is-super-busy, here it is!
"I think I want to get a tattoo," Taegan said.
He was sitting on a park bench with his best friend Quinn. His adoptive parents had started fighting again, and so he had sent her a text, and they had met here, in their usual place. They had been coming here for years now, and it was as familiar to him as his own room, maybe more so. They had been sitting in silence for a while, until he had spoken.
Some people would think that it was weird to have a girl as a best friend. But to Taegan, it didn't matter if she was a girl or a guy. She was his best friend. She was funny, and got his jokes, and she wasn't like other girls their age, gossipy and boy-crazy. She was just Quinn. And that was all that mattered.
"You- what?" Quinn asked in a tone of disbelief, her relaxed smile dropping at his words.
When the two had first met, things had been… difficult. Quinn had been set on making friends with the boy. He was her mission. She had to protect him at all costs, she was his guardian angle, after all. But one thing led to another, and she had managed to lighten up enough to let him get to her. They had been best friends ever since.
Yet, she was still his guardian angle. Whenever he went to do stupid tricks, or stunts, they always set her on edge. And she was getting super stressed out lately. It seemed wherever they went, he had another idea to get himself hurt. Things were getting harder, and harder to keep subtle. He was going to find out sooner or later. Preferably later. She didn't want to get sucked up in that mess.
So his simple comment about a tattoo, was a lot deeper than he would assume. "Come on, you really think that's a good idea, Tae? Won't it hurt?"
"Of course it'll hurt!" Taegan said, turning to her and grinning with that wild grin he always had when he was about to do something really stupid. "And that's why it's a good idea! I mean come on, it's not like anyone will notice, or care."
He leaned his chin on his hand. "It's not like anything bad will happen to me if I do."
"I- but what if something does happen?" Quinn asked weakly, tucking her loose hair out of her face, giving him a worried look. He was really shooting for something big this time, and she wasn't sure if she could convince him other wise. "And you know I would care. So stop being overdramatic."
Quinn started playing with her hair, trying to think of some reason he shouldn't. The best she was coming up with was that she just didn't want him to. And she doubted that would work.
"Relax," Taegan laughed, leaning back against the bench and resting his hands behind his head, the perfect image of ease. "What on earth could happen to me? It's just a tattoo! Besides," he added, "I said I wanted to, not that I was going to. Don't worry, I won't. Yet." He smiled innocently at her.
She herself was the complete opposite of him. She was stiff, and definitely showed signs of rising anxiety. "You're just saying that to try to put me at ease. For all I know, you've already gotten the tattoo, and you're trying to lay it on me slowly. I'm your best friend, Taegan. I know you well enough, to know when you're dumb enough to do something." Quinn said sternly, now actually wondering if he had already gone.
"Pff, I would never do something like that without telling you," Taegan said, although both of them knew that this was in fact a lie. Like the time he got his ears pierced without telling her, and then she didn't talk to him for a week. Or the time when he decided to try to learn a type of dance, and then almost broke his leg. Or the time he fell off the roof of his house because he wanted to see if he could fly.
You get the idea.
Quinn gave him an annoyed look, rolling her eyes with a heavy sigh.
"Taegan…" Muttering softly, she pinched the bridge of her nose trying to prepare herself. "Well, where is it? When did you go get it?" She had a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, not wanting to know. It was just another thing for her to worry about- and quite frankly, it was a surprise she was able to carry this much weight. Even if he hadn't gone yet, she was going to have to be extra careful to keep an eye on him.
"I didn't!" Taegan insisted. "I promise, I didn't!" He looked at her with his wide, innocent silver eyes. "I swear on my parents' graves, I didn't get a tattoo."
And he hadn't. But only because the needles were iron. And, well… to Fae, being stabbed repeatedly with an iron needle so that ink will stay under your skin, and some of that iron… well, that was basically a death sentence. Slow and painful, too unless they commited suicide or cut the ink and iron from their body.
But Quinn didn't need to know about Taegan's… other side.
Quinn gave him one last concerned look, before nodding a little. "Alright… but if you're lying to me, just know I'd be more mad over that, than the fact you got a tattoo."
Sitting back on the bench, she started running her thumb over the silver chained necklace with a small wing pendant. Just thinking about how hurt she would be by him lying to her was enough to get her thinking about… other things. But she knew it was a big no, whenever she remembered her responsibilities. No matter how much she cared about him, she knew they would never be more than friends. All it took was the simple reminder she wasn't actually even human. That pulled her back to a reality she knew was the truth.
"I knoooooow," Taegan said, rolling his eyes. "You've only told me about… 20 times now?" He didn't intend to be mean, but the poor boy was so oblivious it was depressing sometimes.
He yawned. "I have a stupid meeting with some of the people at the store," he said, talking about the monthly meeting the employees of the store he worked at had. "So I won't be able to see you. I'll be gone for a few hours, and by the time I get back, I'll probably be too pissed to talk to anyone. I swear, if that Jenson opens his mouth again, I'll kill him. I don't care about politics."
Quinn rolled her eyes a bit, starting to relax once more. A light smile pulled up- which was rare around anyone, but Taegan- and she leaned over to elbow him a bit.
"Oh relax, you big baby. I'm sure you'll get through the meeting just fine. And if it sucks, we can go get slushies from seven-eleven or something. On me." She offered in a light tone, running a hand through her hair. It was getting too long for her liking, but she wanted to wait a little longer before cutting it. "Would that cheer you up, at all? Because I honestly don't want to be bored for the rest of the day."
"I don't know…" Taegan said, looking at her with wide, sorrowful eyes, rather like how Bambi's looked after his mom died. "Would there be potato chips involved, too? Because otherwise I might be sad for the rest of the day." His look was imploring.
This was what usually happened, when he was going to the meetings. He would return in a bad mood, because one of the people he worked with was being an asshole, and then Quinn would bring him to get a slushie. It was almost a tradition now, which he was perfectly okay with.
"Mm, if that's what'll make you happy. But just this time, you don't need so much junk food." Quinn hummed lightly, twisting her hair up out of her face. "I don't want you getting sick, and throwing up. I don't want to have to clean up after that."
Her smile was still there as she kept leaning back into the bench. She seemed more at ease the longer they sat here, relaxing at the thought of them continuing the day. It gave him less of a chance to do something dangerously stupid. But it also gave her a chance to hang around him. A win-win on her part.
"Pff, you've never had to do that," Taegan said, looking happy, and almost childish in his excitement. "I've never had so much junk food that I've thrown up. Now that one time when I got drunk for the first time… that's different. I wasn't eating anything." He grinned at her.
This was one of his favorite times of the day, when he got to spend time with his best friend. Sure, he was the most obnoxious, thrill-loving, idiotic guy in probably the entire world, but Quinn made sure that he didn't kill himself. And she usually didn't yell at him… unless he did something really dumb. Which he totally never did.
Ever.
Right?
Quinn rolled her eyes once more, resting both her elbows on the back of the bench. "Whatever, I still don't want you getting sick. Especially if you want to come over to my apartment, afterwards."
Whatever he was thinking, she seemed quite oblivious to. She was content in the moment, not even thinking about past experiences. Even if some of them were more exciting than this, she tried to relish in the moment of relaxation. Boring was good; it let her not have to stress about keeping him safe. Don't get me wrong, she really did love and care for him, but he was quite the handful. Sometimes a break was nice.
"Speaking of which, I should seriously move out of my parents' house," Taegan said with a chuckle that was slightly forced. "That way, I don't have to keep getting in a bad mood and calling you. You probably have better things to do than babysit me, right?"
He had told Quinn of his… "family situation," so she knew that his parents never stopped arguing, or yelling at each other. What he hadn't told her, though, was that they had adopted him. All she knew was that they hated him. And he was okay with that. There was no lost love between his adoptive parents and him. He avoided them, and they avoided him, like he was the plague.
"Not really, actually. Besides working a couple of hours a week, I don't have anything better to do." Quinn shrugged a little, trying not to exaggerate the 'job' she had. Considering she never talked about it. Then again, she didn't actually have one. But saying she got a paycheck from God was a little out there. Without spilling her secret, she couldn't tell him that. So she just went along, pretending to live a normal life with a job.
"I like hanging around you; you're about the only person in the world that I actually do like." Which was true. Not only for the fact it was a mostly forced friendship, but after not trying so hard, he wasn't so bad. And then he got better. Eventually they had gotten where they are, and things hadn't changed. Even after all the incredibly stupid things Taegan had done, she had made sure not to get too frustrated with him. "Though moving out is probably still a good idea. I don't like seeing you so frustrated, you're dangerous at the best of times."
"Pff, like I'd believe that," Taegan said, grinning at her. "Come on. You sure you don't have a boyfriend or someone you go visit in your free time? Don't you binge Netflix or something? I don't believe that you don't have anything better to do."
"Why thank you. I'll take that as a rare compliment." He rubbed his shoulder and grinned at her again. "I'm dangerous? Awe, thanks! But wasn't it you, though, who told me that I was no more threatening than a bunny with a hygiene problem?" His shoulder smarted painfully, but he ignored it. It was just a little wound, that he had picked up from a little street fight the other day. Nothing Quinn needed to know about. She was already worried enough about him, he didn't want to worry her even more.
Quinn watched his actions with a close eye, not saying anything about it quite yet. "Me? Have a boyfriend? You think I would have told you something as important as that." She stated simply, giving him a slight eye roll.
"And as a matter of fact, I did. I said threatening- not dangerous. There's a difference." While he continued to rub his arm, she watched him warily. Something was up, and he wasn't telling her. But until it got more obvious, she would keep quiet. She really didn't want to know another thing that would worry her. Even though she should. "You're definitely dangerous to yourself, and my stress levels. If I get grey hair in my thirties because of you, I will personally smite you."
"I don't," Taegan said, grinning at her expression. "You would keep the fact a secret so that you could have something private in your life, and not have me ruining it." He didn't sound offended at all. He wasn't, really. It was true that he was very curious, and was constantly prying into other people's businesses - although usually not Quinn's. She was scary, even if she was his best friend.
"Pff, what's the difference? They mean pretty much the same thing." He smiled innocently at her. He was slightly surprised that she hadn't noticed his shoulder, and happy about it, too. He didn't want her to have another thing to worry about for him. It was just a surface wound, it'd heal in a day or so. "Well, if you get white hair in your thirties, then you can't blame me. White means wisdom, and you want wisdom, don't you?" He leaned back slightly. "I never asked you to worry about me, you know."
"Taegan, I wouldn't keep something like that from you. Some things, yeah, but not that." Quinn told him softly, tipping her head to the side. She gave him a soft smile- to totally rattle her 'scary' appearance. "Trust me, I've kept more secrets from you than I'd like to admit. Having a boyfriend isn't one of them." Insisting a bit, she glanced off in the distance.
"Threatening- is kind of like intimidating. You're not intimidating in the slightest." Quinn snickered lightly, smirking when she made the comment. "And I couldn't get white hair, Taegan. That's not how that works. Normally only blondes have white hair." She tried to insist, gnawing on her lip after falling quiet. She was feeling fidgety all of a sudden, but didn't want to start messing around with her hair too much. She'd probably end up hitting him with it, it was getting that long.
"Hm… you're sure about that?" Taegan asked, looking at her closely and intently, although his eyes sparkled with mischief, which usually meant that he had something planned that Quinn wouldn't like. It happened quite often, so unless she was distracted, she would most certainly see it and be wary.
"I could be, though," he said, sounding mildly offended. He leaned toward her, seeming to study her hair closely. "Are you sure that you don't have white hair? I think you have a strand of it right… there!" He messed her hair up, and then grinned at her. "I have white hair. Does that mean that I have wisdom? Because I think I'm pretty awesome, and so I wouldn't be surprised if I have super amazing wisdom." He smiled cheekily at her, one hand behind his back.
The hand behind his back held a miniature water gun he had pulled from his pocket. He was looking at her innocently, although that look would fool no one.
"Positive. I promise, I'll tell you if that happens." Quinn hummed lightly, still starring off through the park. Her thoughts were immediately on how nice it was outside, and how she wished they could do this more often. Now was the perfect time to pull something on her. She was completely distracted. "You'll be one of the first to know."
She left her smile up, listening to his protests. "I don't think so." Humming a bit, she glanced over to him as he started studying her hair. She had a slight freak out moment, before he ruffled her hair in a teasing manner. "Don't do that. You gave me a slight heart-attack." Quinn laughed softly, resting a hand to her chest. "And I think that white hair meaning wisdom, is bogus. You might be 'pretty awesome'," She started, using air quotes in a mocking manner, "but you're a complete idiot. Don't even try to deny it."
Her pleasant look slowly faded, noting his "innocent" demeanor. Something was up- and now she was worried. "Taegan? What are you doing?"
"Well… I sure hope so." Taegan smiled. "What if you forget? I'm afraid my poor heart would never be able to survive!" He clutched at his chest with his free hand. "I might die of heartbreak! Would you do that to me, your bestestest friend?"
"Oh my goodness!" He gasped, looking astonished. His hand flew to his heart. "She actually called me awesome! It's a compliment! Somebody call the doctor, I think she might be sick!" He looked at her in mock concern. "Are you sure you're okay? Do you have a fever?"
"Nothing…" And then his other hand, the one holding the water gun, snapped out from behind his back and squirted her in the face. Well… he tried. His aim was a little off, so he got her on the cheek and ear instead. "Dang," he said, looking at the gun. "That was a terrible shot."
