mister steal your girl

If Dublin had noticed Preston's little meltdown in the kitchen, he'd have been a good big brother and laid off. However, he didn't, and he truly didn't mean any harm by making friends with his roommate. That's how it always was though. Dublin was notoriously good at making friends with Preston's friends, with or without trying. This was obviously one of those cases.

Listening to Kayla and Preston's banter, Dublin smirked. He couldn't help but chip in as well. "I second that. You were even the butler at home. Plus, it's what any good host does."

An obviously fake laugh sounded from the kitchen as Preston stood up, trying to pull himself together. "Yeah, whatever." He called back towards them, exhaustion already creeping up on his face. It hadn't taken him more than a few moments to send out a few text messages before pulling down a few bowls from the cabinet, taking his sweet time. Fuck it. All he had to do was to stall and wait it out for someone to answer. He filled in the servings of soup, grabbed a few spoons, and appeared behind the couch behind them, learning forward between the two and lowering the bowls into their reach. "Pikachu. Asshole." He called their attention in turn.

Once they had their food, he made his own way around, plopping on the last free spot on the sofa in a rather lousy manner and kicking his legs up. He let himself sink in, feeling a wee bit dejected.

Sitting here alone with this guy on the couch was killing her. She couldn't say why, or what was going on, but it felt like she was getting gnawed away from the inside out. I'm just nauseous... Was she getting sick? Kayla bit at her lip, fiddling with her fingers. If she ate, maybe she'd feel better. What was taking him so long? Couldn't he hurry it up? It'd take the edge off. For some reason, all her words were choking in her throat.

Kayla swallowed and perked up, a little too eagerly, when she heard Pres return from the kitchen. She pursed her lips, sparks popping over her head. "I told you not to call me that," she said, taking the bowl out of his hands. She stared down into her soup, lightly blowing.

Dublin watched Kayla and Preston interact with a thoughtful expression on his face. He had finally noticed Preston's bad attitude and had been trying to figure out the origins. Sure, Dublin had walked in and started ordering him around, but he'd seen this before. This happened any time Dublin talked to one of his friends, particularly with ladies.

To further investigate Preston's reaction, he stepped back into the conversation. Soup in one hand, threw the other arm over the back of the couch, just brushing Kayla's shoulders. Turning up the charm of his power a little bit, he spoke with a smirk. "Why shouldn't he call you Pikachu? Pikachu is cute and so are you, it only fits." While he said this, he kept an eye on his younger brother.

Preston stiffened up, disbelief and irritation coursing straight through his heart. A few rare sparks escaped him, cracking at his newly clenched fist. Although he held a smile at his face, laughing emptily at his brother's little joke, he stared daggers out of the corner of his eye. He looked over Dublin's arm, loosely around the girl, before gazing his gaze. "You sure cute is the right word?" The Autumn joked back with a small chuckle, a slight strain to his voice.

Her shoulders jumped. Huh, really...? What the hell was he saying all that for? Was he trying to mess with her? She felt her stomachs doing somersaults, and she stiffened when she felt his arm slip around her, almost recoiling from the touch, as if it was poison. Kayla, heart fluttering, stared at him, opening her mouth to say something, but the words wouldn't leave her mouth. "A-ah..." she finally fumbled out, dropping her gaze into her lap. There was supposed to be some way to react to this, but it felt like her brain had gone into total meltdown. Skittish clusters of sparks ran down her legs as she fidgeted with her hands, all-too-conscious of his arm across her shoulders. God damn it, her face felt like it was on fire... Shut up, she tried to murmur, but nothing came out. Shutupshutupshutupshutupshutup...

Dublin noticed it all. He knew Preston was doing his best to stay calm and collected, but he could see the way his back stiffened, the clenched fist, the sparks, the fire in his eyes. Having proved his hypothesis, he smirked and turned his attention back to Kayla. She was a puddle and a mess and he honestly felt bad he'd used his power to do this to her. A bit guiltily, he removed his arm, smiling gently at the girl, before turning back to his younger brother, relaxed and casual. "Oh come on, you can't deny that she's cute, bro. Admit it." Maybe he wasn't the best, but he would at least try to play matchmaker a bit. It was only fair, after he came in and made a mess of things.

He never thought he would see the day that Kayla would look so lost, so flustered, like she'd start breaking into giggles like a catholic school at any moment. As nice and hilarious as it was to see, he couldn't help but feel a bit of bile rising up in his throat. He managed to tear his gaze away for a few moments. "Careful, man. You don't have the luxury of being lightning-proof." Preston muttered blandly, feeling his glance pull towards them again.

And his brother couldn't seem to keep his mouth shut. The young man's cheeks turned a slight shade of red. "Whatever," he frowned, waving his hand away, as if dismissing his comment. "If you want to be weird then don't drag me into it."

Him pulling his hand away felt like a ten ton weight had been lifted off her shoulders, but sparks still tingled where his arm had been. Did they have to talk about this? Right in front of her, like she couldn't hear every word? I'm dying. I'm dying. I'm dead. It'd been a long time since she felt so flustered and lost like this over nothing. Normally she would've kept her nerve, but something about all this had just turned all her insides to jelly. Fuck! Trying to will the redness out of her face, she stooped down, taking her first swallow of tomato soup. She could barely even taste it, not with these two bickering back and forth. Kayla was quick to take another spoonful, then another, and another, furiously chipping away at the contents of her bowl one gulp at a time, as fast as it'd take to let her escape.

Dublin raised his eyebrow at his brother's thinly veiled threat, thoroughly unimpressed. He'd spent his whole life around Pikachus and he'd come out (mostly) unscaved. And he made Preston mad a lot. Still, he knew it was best to let it go. Preston would figure it out on his own, he didn't need Dublin to play matchmaker for him. He sighed, finally grabbing his soup and murmuring into it before taking a sip. "I'm rubber, you're glue..."

After a moment of tense silence, only broken by the vigorous chowing down of Kayla, Dublin spoke as if nothing had happened. "So, how's school?" Attempting to break the tension that admittedly, he had started on purpose.