What This Isn't

Who: Dean and Thia
Where: Maddie and Billy's house
When: Evening

Dean felt nervous as all hell as he waited in the kitchen for Thia. This wasn't a date - in no way was this a date, she'd never consider this as being anywhere near approaching a date. They were just friends, he was her best friend. She needed a ride and anyway, they lived together - usually - it made sense that they'd go together. Plus, she was going out in proper public for the first time in Marquette since she died and if anyone thought that he wasn't going to be at her side throughout the entire night, they had another thing coming.

But still - here he was, having to go and collect her from someone else's house, dressed up in a bloody tux, since it'd been his bright idea to go as James-bloody-Bond, which meant that it felt like it should be a date - or he was buying into the whole American prom thing.

Lullaby was getting last minute fussed over by Maddie. And she was insanely nervous. She hadn't thought she would be, but after she'd actually got the dress on, then it was like butterflies just erupted in her stomach. Butterflies on crack. Because after she had that on, then it was a hell of a lot more real, and she really had to ask her self what the hell she had been thinking. NO really, what had possessed her?! She was going to be Snow White--she had to have lost her mind somewhere. And at one point, she even half tried to ask Maddie if maybe there wasn't something else quick she could whip up for a costume, and had gotten a Look for it. Maddie had a good Look on her, so she'd shut the hell up on that.

She wished she could look into a mirror. A mirror would be helpful. But, if she did that then she'd probably find a sheet, cut holes in it, and go that way. And that wouldn't do. So...she had to rely on Maddie's assessment of her instead. She reached up to check the choker she wore again--a gift from Maddie. It was beautiful, far better than anything she'd been thinking of wearing, and she kind of wondered how much it had cost. She didn't know if the red gemstones were real, or costume, and hadn't wanted to ask, especially since after she'd looked at it wide-eyed, Maddie had snapped at her that it was nothing, and she'd best just take it and be quiet about it.

She turned in a circle, looking down at herself again. The colors she'd chosen for the snow white patterned dress weren't the originals. She'd chosen white and blood red. So the skirt was white, the sleeves were white, but the bodice was red and so were the accents in the sleeves. The little cape that came with it was red as well. And the ribbon in her hair, though she'd insisted that the bow go at the back of her neck, not the top of her head. She just couldn't abide a bow on her head.

She had been told Dean had arrived and everything, and she was just...having trouble forcing herself out into the kitchen. Looking back at Maddie once more, and hoping the witch had done a good job on the make-up she'd gotten for the special occasion, she fidgeted. "Are you sure I look okay?" she squeaked.

"Oh for--march." Maddie snapped, pointing towards the door with a 'I'm done humoring you' tone.

Lullaby squeaked, and did so, hurrying out of the room, and towards the kitchen. The butterflies were now on crack and on fire. Crap crap crap. This was such a bad idea. Dressing up as a stupid princess for him.... She got to the door, and kind of hesitated outside it. ".... Dean?" she asked, just to make sure he was there. Even if she knew perfectly well he was.

Dean heard her voice and felt himself panic - he could just run, right? Seriously, he could just go out the door, go home... He could be back here in half an hour in jeans and a hoodie and it'd be fine. Right? Wrong. No, he couldn't, he was here and he wasn't going anywhere and she sounded as uncertain as he felt and he could cling to that as he played with the simple black mask he'd got for himself in his hands for a moment, before he walked forward, not bothering to reply since he'd have to raise his voice and he wasn't a fan of that. So, he simply walked forward, opened the kitchen door and... Stopped, blinking slightly. Staring.

Well, she'd planned on trying not to fidget. Really she had! She'd had big ideas about standing there feeling self conscious as all hell, trying not to look like she was self conscious as hell. That was her big, grand plan. To stand there and try her best not to like, turn around and flee. Wrong fairytale for that, really. However, when he was suddenly standing there, she didn't actually remember to not fidget, or be nervous, because she blinked, and stared right back at him. They hadn't told each other what they were going as. But she probably would have expected anything else but him standing there in a tux. And looking...there were probably words, but she was having a lot of trouble coming up with what they might be. So staring ensued. Surprised, highly appreciative staring.

Dean swallowed, and took a step back - for both their sakes and because, well, damn. Seriously damn. She looked - 'gorgeous' was the first word that came to mind as he realised that he was out-and-out staring and dropped his eyes slightly, his gaze darting around as he wasn't sure where to settle, or what to say, or anything.

Lullaby knew what to say! Or, less she knew what to say, and she just happened to blurt out her feelings on the matter. "My god you look good." she said. Then blushed furiously, considering she hadn't necessarily intended to say that out loud. But she had, and she wasn't going to take it back, because he did. And her speaking kind of broke her little trance thing, and she walked up, immediately reaching up towards his hair. "You cut your hair!"

His eyes darted back to meet hers as she spoke and he smiled a little, still feeling utterly self-conscious, but slightly better about things. "I... You too. And.. yeah, it... I... It didn't look right," he managed, falling over his words.

She giggled a little bit, reaching up to tug his arm around a little bit so she could look at the back, and she drifted her fingers up through it. "It looks great!" she told him. "I love it! And...you think so?" she asked, catching that he'd put the 'you too' in there. She stood back and spun around for him, blush coming back. "I um...It's probably a silly idea and whatever but you know you always tease me about being Snow White, so I thought that it might be fun and I started the costume a little while back with Sophie and Maddie helped me finish it and...I don't look like amazingly silly?" she asked, cutting off her ramble to look back up at him.

He bent down a little as she ran her fingers through his hair, struggling not to just close his eyes and relax into it. All the same, it was so very nice when she did that and it took the edge off his nervousness, relaxing him a little. "No, no you don't look silly at all," he told her. "And... I kinda had the same idea," he allowed, his lips curling up a little at the edges as he met her eyes. "Went all James Bond and stuff," he explained.

She smiled up at him brightly, and reached up to adjust his coat a touch, eyes not leaving his. "Well, you make a very, very good Bond." she told him. And god, did she ever just...want to drag him upstairs right now. Which was a bad idea. And she should let go around now too, and not be noticing that she just barely saw the line of the holster by his shoulder. And how she could take the coat off of him, then that...stoooppppp God, it was going to be difficult for her to keep her thoughts in line tonight, that was for damn sure. "Seriously, you look..." she laughed a little bit and blushed a touch. "You look good. You look very handsome." she assured him. And she wanted to reach up and touch his hair again but managed to curb the impulse this time. She did bounce on the balls of her feet just a touch, however.

The urge to tell her she looked beautiful was there, but he fought against it. He couldn't - he couldn't say it and not.... He looked her up and down again, eyes stopping on the choker. He reached out and touched it, running his fingers over it, straightening one of the stones a little, brushing the skin underneath in what could have been an accidental touch, but which wasn't, he knew. "This is nice," he commented.

She really didn't mind when he did that, and then told herself she was stupid, because she got a little thrill when he brushed his fingertips against her skin. And, it was probably totally an accident on his part. Dumb dumb dumb. But still, she tilted her head to the side just a touch, kind of an inviting sort of gesture, even if she wasn't fully aware that was what she was doing. "Thank you. Maddie gave it to me." she said. "I don't know where she got it or anything, but...I thought it was pretty. It...it covers, right?" she asked, ticking her gaze down for just a moment before it was back up on his eyes. "I haven't looked." So pretty much all of her assessment of how she appeared right now was from reactions of others. Maddie told her she looked beautiful, but really she wanted to look that way in Dean's eyes.

"Yeah, it covers," Dean told her, his voice slightly softer as his fingers lingered for a moment, his eyes entirely on her, until he caught what he was doing and dropped them, taking a half step back. "So, erm... Did you want to go?" he asked her, starting to reach for her hand, then stopping himself with that as well. This wasn't a date - he was going to have a hard enough time reminding himself of that anyway, without anything else. But god, she looked beautiful.

She berated herself for a little stab of disappointment that he stepped back, and that it looked like he was going to reach for her hand then didn't. "Yeah, I suppose we should." she said, nodding a bit. "Um...let me get my mask, and..I'll just...be right back then." she said, kind of half tripping over her words now, when she'd been doing just fine. That was terribly awesome of her, now wasn't it.

He nodded, lifting up his own mask, a little lamely, gesturing that he had his. "Kay," he agreed, wondering if she'd notice if he stared at her all night. He could be subtle about it, right?

She meant to just go off and get her mask and everything, but she wound up looking back over her shoulder at him. She lingered just for a second, then internally rolled her eyes at herself, and made herself go get her mask. And she was going to take the time to give herself a good talking to. It wasn't like they were together. He'd asked her to go, but not like...not like that. And so she really better get it through her head very fast that this wasn't a date, wasn't going to be a date, and that everything was normal, just...god he looked good.

He watched her until she walked out of the door, meeting her eyes as she looked back, then, when she'd disappeared, he waited for about 0.2 seconds and then followed her, at least as far as the kitchen door, where he watched her walk off. And then he made himself turn round and stay in the kitchen. He paced, itching to go find her to - he didn't know to what, just to... He needed to stay here. But here there was definite pacing involved. And lots and lots of glances toward the kitchen door as he waited for her to come back in. He wasn't even surprised that they'd had largely the same idea. He hadn't expected it but... It made sense. That was just the way they worked. There was a reason they were best friends. And he should keep that firmly in his mind tonight. 'Best friends'. Best friend. Friend. Just friend. That was all. And just because she was looking damn hot didn't make a difference to anything. Except how much he was going to hate it if someone hit on her tonight.

Ineffectual berating over with, Lullaby got her mask, then headed back to find Dean. And wasn't she just a little eensy bit overeager? Yes, yes she was. Just a bit. Or a ton, but who was counting. She got back there and walked in. "Are you ready, Mr. Bond?" she asked, holding out her hand towards him, as if she did expect to be led out. If she was going to be all princess-like tonight, she might as well go for it, right? Or, that was her theory. She didn't figure he'd actually complain or anything. She just drew the line at singing. And like...dragging him off into the first room they came to with a door and forgetting all about the party. Because that wouldn't go down very well. Even if she could picture it in perfect clarity.

For a moment, Dean stood there, mask in hand, as she held her hand out for him and he imagined reaching for it, taking it, pulling her in to him and then just... going with that. She'd come to him and he'd catch her round the waist and pull her in a little more, lower his head and... And the whole 'Princess' thing and the 'James Bond' thing was getting to him. Fucking Disney and fucking Hollywood. He needed to stick to reality and not ruin her night. She was obviously excited about going out in public. Actually be able to go out without having to drive for bloody ever to get there. And maybe see some people she'd used to know. And she'd put a whole lot of work into her costume and he wasn't allowed to ruin the night for her. So, he just stepped forward and took her hand and smiled a little at her. "Excited?" he asked as he walked them toward the door.

"Yeees." she said, laughing a little. She bounced on her feet again as she walked, completely and utterly watching him as they did so. She wasn't even managing the 'corner of her eye' thing, nope. She was flat out actually watching him. And thinking he looked just so damn good with his hair cut like that. And his profile was even nicer cuz she could see all of it and she wanted to reach up and touch his hair again...which she actually did after they'd got to the front door. "It's all gone." she said, kinda squeeful. Okay they were leaving. And she was in fact, bouncy-excited. She was getting to go out, he hadn't reacted badly to her choice of costume or anything, and she was on his arm for a little while. Life was looking good tonight. She'd get to see people...she was way too easily pleased, apparently.

He laughed a little at that, reaching up to run his hand through his hair, self-consciously. "It's weird - my head feels all light. I can't get used to it," he admitted, glancing over at her, putting the fact that she was paying attention simply down to the hair. "Is it okay?" he asked her.

"You missed the part where I said I loved it, yeah?" Lullaby laughed, knocking her shoulder into his, then reaching up again to scritch her fingers in the back of it, all short and stuff. "And the part where I gushed about how good you look?" she added. "Seriously, yes. It looks really nice. I really like it." she told him firmly, grinning. "People will be able to see your eyes now and everything!" she teased.

"Yeah, but that could just be the outfit. Everyone looks good in a dj," he said, shrugging slightly, but feeling better. Though he wasn't sure what the benefit of being able to see his eyes were, shitty dull greeen that they were, at least in his opinion. He looked across and reached out to touch the ribbon in her hair, trailing it round from the top of her head to by her ear. "This is cute," he said, figuring that he could get away with that, in the scheme of things. He could trust himself with it.

"Well, it's not just the...I have no idea what exactly you mean by 'dj' but I get the gist from context." she said. Then she smiled at him, a bright, pleased sort of expression. And alright he was just saying the ribbon was cute, not her, but she appreciated anyhow. "Thank you." she said. "Couldn't not have it. I could switch up the colors and everything, because like...a big yellow skirt wasn't very me and everything, but that had to stay. About the only thing I didn't get to do was dye my hair...I was going to dye it black, to go with the whole theme, but it was kinda short notice. So, people are just going to have to guess. Or ask or something." she said. still looking him over. Hell, right now she wasn't even letting the twitchy badness touch her as they headed out of the house. She was far too preoccupied.

He frowned a little and shook his head. "No - black wouldn't... it's better your natural colour. In my opinion anyway," he told her. He liked her hair, like the rest of her. "And the dress is... really nice. And I mean dj - dinner jacket. This whole get up thing," he said, gesturing at himself, realising he was jumping around subjects a little, but he was still kinda nervous - afraid he was going to put a foot wrong and ruin the night for her.

"Ah! Okay that makes sense. But still." she said. She swung their hands a little bit, giddy. "It's not that. You just look nice." she told him firmly. "And you know I think I did promise you once that I wouldn't go all goth on you or anything, so I guess it worked best." she teased. How about your other opinions? Liiike, do I look pretty? But then maybe you just don't have an opinion on that, and that's why you haven't said. Not that she'd expected him to. This was Dean. Though, their conversation from the other day piped up in the back of her head...the one about asking if she didn't know something... She was also wondering if it would be insane and totally out of line for her to ask him to dance with her tonight at some point, since at no moment did she entertain for even a second that he'd ask her.

He headed them off to Sophie's car, which was parked right outside and opened the passenger door for them. Not that he had to in this car, but - she was dressed as a princess, which meant he had the excuse to treat her like one. "M'lady," he said, with a little bow, looking up at her with a twitch of a teasy-smirky-smile as he did so. Which was weird, he realised, since normally if he did that kind of thing, his hair fell down into his eyes, but not any more.

She hoped the darkness covered her little faint blush when he looked at her like that. Because wow. That was a look. That was a good look. In fact, if he wanted to be looking at her like that, he could do so aaaallll he wanted. "Thank you Mr. Bond, you're too kind." she said, giving him a similar look back, as she got into the car, having to gather her skirts and all, since there was a lot of material there. Now she was kind of wondering if she'd be able to handle dancing with him, or if it would just...make her want to throw caution to the wind and kiss him. Cuz that never happened all the time or anything.

He made sure that she was totally in and okay and he wasn't going to accidentally shut her skirt in the door or anything before he shut the door adn walked round the front of the car to get in the other side, setting his mask down on the dashboard. He wasn't going to try driving with it on - it was hard enough already.

She looked at him, still smiling. "You're not going to drive like a maniac to get us away from spies hunting you down tonight, are you?" she asked. She could think of other bond activities that she'd be happy to indulge in, however. Knock it offfffff. Possibly not very princess-like of her. Or, maybe it was. Considering princesses in fairytales fell in love at the drop of a hat, or off of a single kiss from a total stranger... And she didn't plan to be kissing any strangers. And knew she wouldn't be getting kisses at all, from anyone, but a girl could dream.

Dean glanced across at her as he started up the engine. "Me? No - promise. My Bond only goes as far as the suit. And possibly the gun," he added. That was, he had to admit, the bonus of this costume. Possibly the real selling point - he could legitimately go around armed and people should just assume it was a toy. Or replica. Or something - cos, really, what sixteen year old really wandered around a small town like Marquette armed with an M9 Beretta 9mm in a shoulder holster?

"I noticed that." Lullaby said, looking at him and grinning. "Very nice touch. I suppose that means anyone coming for my heart will have to think twice about it." she teased, situating her dress, and she glanced down at her chest. Mostly to make sure the scars on her chest were covered, and they mostly were. There were little places where they could be seen, but it wasn't obvious. Sort of one of those 'if you're looking for them you can see them' but not otherwise. She reached up to adjust her choker too. Then her eyes were back on him, and staying there.

"Something like that, yeah," Dean agreed, before lapsing into silence as he pulled off. Unless she wanted them to, of course. There were several ways you could take someone's heart, after all. And if she wanted, he'd just... Stand back and watch her be happy. Like he'd done with Joshua. He wouldn't get in the way.

"And you wonder why I feel safe with you." she said affectionately. Then she shut up, because he was driving, and they couldn't talk when he was driving. But she reached up to put her mask on, and settled back to watch him, since she always could when he was driving. She was excited. Tonight should be a good night.