Nighthawk: A Superhero Story (closed for Siobhancan99)

The cop who had been shouting at her lowered his gun, then pointed it at the unconscious man. “Secure the front!” he yelled, and the other three cops began circling around, each of them giving Monica a look as if she was the main attraction in a zoo. From the sounds of it, the driver and passenger were going without a fight. Another squad car was coming screaming down the highway toward where the two were parked behind the truck.
 
Monica kept her hands up though she edged away from the cops "there's some kinda high tech body armor shit they stole in the back." she slowly lowered her hands and fumbled with her remote, trying to summon the sliver. The sooner she got the fuck out of there the better. The last thing she needed was someone deciding she'd interfered in serious police business and someone should really see her face. That would cut the vigilante game pretty short. She mostly just tried to be inobtrusive and look around, getting her bearings though... she didn't know the city very well so unless she was somewhere she'd been she didn't trust she could figure out where she was "I'll just you know. leave you all to it. thank you for your service."
 
The cop who had been demanding she raise her hands stayed behind, watching her as the rest of his team swarmed into place. He was a tall, slightly-bug-eyed man in his early thirties with blotchy skin and a patchy brown beard. He had lowered his gun . “Some of us…we really appreciate what you’re doing. Me personally, I like a woman who can handle herself. What do you look like under there, honey?”

He swerved and raised his weapon as the Sliver silently hovered into place near her. At the same time, another police SUV had arrived and two more cops were beginning to exit the vehicle.
 
Monica chuckled softly "I'm hideous. The mask isn't to hide my identity. Its to save you all from the haunting terror of my visage. I'd wink to show I'm kidding but the mask really ruins the effect of a wink, so... you know. Just pretend you saw it." she mimicked blowing a kiss at the guy. "That's my ride. Don't worry about it. It's just here to pick me up." She jumped, catching ahold of the open cockpit and rolled herself into it. "I'm sure we will see each other again" She ignored the protest in her bruised arms, and was glad she could maybe pretend it was from krav maga later. In the sliver she changed into street clothes as it flew back home. She ordered groceries for 8. Eggs, chorizo. serrano peppers. She'd make Gabi a nice fritata in the morning and they could pretend for a minute to be normal. Maybe they could go to the thrift store later.
 
Monica barely felt like her head hit the pillow when her alarm went off. Although her Krav Maga class didn’t start until 11:00, it took a full 30 minutes to get to the somewhat dingy downtown building where it was taught by public transportation. After grumbling a bit, Monica rolled over onto her injured shoulder, and she was soon awake enough to start cooking breakfast for her and Gabi.

Gabi, rubbing the sleep out of her brown eyes, greeted her with a smile. “Good morning,” she said. “Smells incredible as usual. For real, you have to tell me if I start getting fat because I don’t have the willpower to resist your cooking.”

Monica and Gabi both received a text over their group text from Hadley. “Mon, we still going to raid the thrift stores today?? Any time before 3 should be good. I look forward to making you try on all the things I can’t pull off. Any of you beautiful nerds are welcome to come.”

“That sounds like fun,” Gabi said, though a little subdued. “I’ve, um, got a bunch of homework to get started on before the…thing tonight, or else I would totally go. Bring me back something super 90s!”
 
Monica looked at her for a moment "I literally learned how to cook this from your mother." She rolled her eyes and laughed softly. It was true, everything she really knew about how to be a real adult was from Gabi's mom. As kids, Gabi's family had taken in the weird, shy girl with no social skills. They'd been each other's only friend basically until Monica went from awkward to sort of hot one year. More importantly, when she was 10 and her parents marriage had started to fall apart Gabi's house was a refuge. She knew what their fights were about. Her mother wanted them all to go into space, to chase down the disparate colonies and take them over with the remaining Centauri troops that had been part of the advance invasion. Their handler, Beloc (also her mother's lover), had been behind the scheme. The reason they weren't going was her father had said it was no life for Monica. That after all the fighting and killing she'd be put in a Battle Caste school and trained to be a good soldier. She wasn't going, and they couldn't leave her behind. So they weren't going. For two years that drove the wedge between her mother and her, till finally her mother left her father for Beloc and space. After her mother left, her father had needed all the help he could get and Gabi's mom had been more than happy to provide it. Learning to cook was better than thinking about her pain. Plus her parents had never been good cooks. Her mother had been shocked at the notion that food was anything more than fuel for the body and her father said that none of the food on earth tasted right to him anyway so he had no clue what to do with it. All through High School he'd suffered through her learning what to do from Gabi's mom and experimenting at home with him as her test subject. There was a lot of burnt food and late-ordered pizza in the Bergenson house. "The reason you can't resist my food is because its basically the white girl version of your mom's."

When Gabi said she wasn't coming, Monica did something she'd done maybe 3 times with Gabi in the 12 years they'd known each other. She put her foot down. Gabi had been so important to her as a lonely kid that even after she'd gotten popular and even after dating Tom, she'd always been terrified she'd lose her. Normally, she wheedled begged and cajoled till Gabi was on board with whatever she wanted to do. Not this time.

"Unacceptable." She dug into her breakfast and sipped at her coffee. "That's unacceptable. For a few reasons. The first is you always feel left out, and the reason you always feel left out is not that we leave you out. Its that you leave yourself out. I know being the first one in your family to get a degree is important, but you over-prepare for everything. You cannot possibly need to study this much. You haven't told me the time and location of the .... i shudder to call it a concert so lets call it a show. so the show... is either in a church basement or a VFW or something. I know this because its a shitty hardcore show and all shitty hardcore shows are in places like that. It won't be till after business hours. That means 10. maybe the first band actually starts at 1030. That means you don't have to leave here until 9. You won't be getting dressed up, because being freshly showered and having all your teeth is going to make you the belle of the ball already. it is 9 now. That means you have 12 hours. I have Krav Maga till 12 and I'll need a shower, which means I'm meeting Hadley at 1. That's 4 hours from now which is more than sufficient to study. Further, Hadley is done at 3 because she needs to meet her mom. That means you will have 6 hours on the back end before you have to leave. In that time you will have to eat dinner, shower and dry your hair. so 1 hour for that, 2 hours with us leaves 9 hours to study."

She ate more "also is Shaun going with you to this thing? because if not maybe Austin and I should go."
 
Gabi smiled as Monica remarked on her mother’s cooking. “Well, somehow you manage to make better versions of my mom’s food than I do,” she said, being self-deprecating but not inaccurate. She ate happily until her friend responded to her excuse about skipping the thrift shop. The fork began to shake in her hand, which Monica recognized as a sign of her being nervous.

“Mon, I’m not…it’s not what you think, okay? I’m not…I’m not driving myself too hard, or whatever. I just need…a little time alone, okay?” She bit her lip. “I just, uh…I’d love to go with you guys. And I will. I just…I just need to clear my head a little, okay? I didn’t mean to…I’ll be fine. Once you get back from Krav Maga. I’ll be fine.” She forced a bit of a smile.

“Cristina’s going with me. To the thing tonight. She knows the area, and Shaun’s--Shaun’s working. You guys are welcome to go but I wouldn't wish that on you," she said, a slight smirk appearing on her lips.
 
Monica sighed. She had her secrets and Gabi was entitled to hers. Still... "Gabi these aren't my friends. They're your friends that you found and I'm the one spending time with them and wrangling the group. What ..." She stopped "Fine you don't want to come you don't want to come. It's ok." She reached over and squeezed Gabi's hand "And Ian's band is terrible. My dad and mom were in a heavy metal cover band. I know what good hard music should sound like. Ian... Somehow Ian does not." She shook her head and rolled her eyes "I don't know what particular machine white privilege boy is raging against, but whatever it is it raises a lot of fuss."
 
Gabi’s eyes began to well up as Monica spoke. “Mon, it’s…I’ve just got a lot on my mind right now that…that I’m just trying to get through.” She stood up and headed toward the door. “We’ll talk more after your class, okay?” She began putting her hair up in a bun, slipped on her shoes, and left the apartment.

There was a light rain falling as Monica walked to the subway station that would take her to the studio in which her Krav Maga class was taught. At one point in the session, her instructor, a former American special forces operator named Tyler Lawson, approached her. “Ease up there, Bergenson. Show some control.”

When she made it back to her apartment afterward, Gabi was finishing up washing her dishes. “Hey,” she said, briefly glancing in Monica’s direction. “Check the freezer.”

Opening it, Monica found a pint of Ben and Jerry’s. “Figured you might need to refuel a little after class,” Gabi said. “I’d really like to go with you guys to the thrift stores today. And I’m sorry I’ve…missed some stuff with you. It’s just…you know how it is with my mom and…well, any time I’m having fun I’m kind of telling myself I don’t deserve it.”

She pulled out a pair of spoons. “And I know how things are between you and Ian and that his band was cringe, but it makes him happy and he was, like, the only guy who was always nice to me. Even when most boys wouldn’t even look at me.” She smiled a bit. “Anyway, he’s filling in in somebody else’s band tonight so maybe they won’t be that bad. He actually sounded a little embarrassed that they weren’t punk.”

“Maybe I could swing by the party after the show?"
 
Monica considered, not for the first time, that what Gabi was struggling with was maybe their mutual attraction to each other... but... then also considered not for the first time that without ever having kissed a girl she might already be some sort of queer cliche who was falling for her straight best friend a little and desperately looking for signs that that affection was returned. Still, she had to take what Gabi said at face value. AS she dug into her Cherry Garcia she looked over at Gabi "Gabi the reason your mother loves me so much is that her shy skittish wonderful daughter needed a friend to make her happy. Taking in the quiet super reserved strange Nordic girl wasn't exactly her first choice." She smiled and took another bite of her ice cream. "She's hard on you I know, but its because she wants a life for you that's better than the one she had. It's what... " She almost said what every parent wants but had to modify that a bit "It's what a good parent wants right? She does think you deserve to be happy. Ironically that's why she's hard on you. I ... I wish my mother loved me the way yours loves you." Or at all. Monica inhaled and looked up at the ceiling a moment and then made herself look back at Gabi. Changing the subject so she didn't cry... surprising how an old wound could creep up like that even years later... "The boys look at you now though. At least. Though that's..." She paused."I know what its like to go from not to hot. And sometimes the attention isn't flattering right? Like... there's something to be said for the attention of a boy who liked you when you were at your most awkward. It's more flattering. I... I mean. So like even now. Professor Howe was all like.. we should go hiking and stuff... then she saw me with Austin the other day and was like... I dunno visibly disappointed and I... I feel like that potential friendship might suffer from my lack of availability and that kinda sucks you know? I hope not. Like I hope she's just chill about it but... I dunno. So... I get why you want to be friends with ian. That friendship is like... pure."

She paused "lets text over the night. We can maybe come to you or you can come to us depending."
 
Gabi listened to what Monica said about her mother, and nodded. “Yeah, I now. I’m pretty lucky.” She smiled and dug her spoon into the ice cream. “Even when she drives me a little crazy.”

When Monica introduced the topic of Professor Howe, Gabi blinked a few times in quick succession. As Monica discussed texting, her friend still had a slightly dazed look on her face. “Uh…yeah. We’ll figure it—”

There was a knock at the door. “That’s probably Hadley,” Gabi said. She rose from her seat and walked over quickly, then opened it.

“Hey, Gabs. Cool that you’re coming with us,” she said, grinning. “You hitting the party, too?”

“Oh—don’t know yet. I think Monica just has to get cleaned up and then we can head out. Right, Mon?”

Before long, the three young women made their way to Founder’s Square once more. The drizzle had given way to a sunny late September day verging on the high 60s. The area was packed as usual. “Okay, we definitely have to start with Golden Age first," Hadley stated. "I practically lived there last year. Until my dad found out about my credit card bill.”
 
"My father's concerns are largely about the grocery bill."

She heard Gabi giggle "If you didn't eat like a horse..."

"yeah yeah." Monica sighed. She was lucky in a way that the invasion had set aside funds for her parents to do things in preparation for the takeover and when that didn't materialize they'd paid off the house and set up a college fund for Monica, so her dad wasn't super worried about her bills. Still, growing up where she did she had a strong sense that her money should be her own and earned. She was hoping to hear back about that job. She changed the subject though "I'm thinking about doing that film guy's podcast, now that the weather is cooler and I can wear clothes that aren't going to distract him." She laughed and walked in, pulling out a list "Ok so my dad gave me some good shirts to look out for. He said I should go for... L7. Elastica? Garbage. Hole. Liz Phair. Belly or Tonya Donnelly? I don't know why that's like... a single line."

As they made their way through, Monica found some jeans with some good holes in them. "fortunately its cool enough to wear actual jeans and a flannel. I got flipped into a wall today because I wasn't paying attention and I got banged up."
 
Hadley was already rifling through items on various racks. “Ugh, that’s the guy who was checking you out right, right?” Gabi said. “If you go on there, I’m going to tag along and threaten to kick him in the nuts if his eyes go below your chin.”

“Your dad seems pretty cool,” Hadley noted. “No PJ Harvey? Tell him I asked him that. Speaking of the parentals, next Friday and Saturday I have my dad’s house all to myself, so clear your schedules. I may even invite some of my New York friends that I mostly hate because it’ll guarantee at least some amount of crazy shit will go down.”

“That definitely has to happen,” Gabi said. “You in, Mon?”

Hadley managed to pull a Garbage t-shirt from a rack. “Score! I still can’t believe you’re doing Krav Maga,” Hadley said. “That’s so badass.”

“You should have seen her the other night. We almost got attacked by this huge dog and she just threw herself in front of me,” Gabi said, smiling at Monica and placing a hand on her shoulder. “I basically almost peed myself.”

“Wow. Trying to picture which of my friends would do that for me and instead landing on who would trip me on purpose to try to distract the dog.” Hadley inspected a pair of chunky shoes. “I like dogs, though.”

Monica was able to pull together enough items for a proper 90s outfit. Hadley, too, had put together a small pile of clothes, while Gabi was eyeing a shimmering dress displayed on a mannequin.
 
"Krav Maga is great but my instructor thinks I'm hitting it too hard."

Wincing at the touch she didn't voice the momentary discomfort in her shoulder. She set her things down, then grabbed a big flannel with a white sleeve liner from the men's clothes. Rolled up, it would give the appearance of a white cuff in contrast to the blue and black tartan. She grabbed a knit cap too, to complete the look.

"you should get that, Gabi. At least try it on." She put her hand on the small of Gabi's back "it's not much. I'm sure you'll find somewhere to wear it and I bet you look great in it."

Not having eaten lunch except for a few bites of ice cream she led the girls outside to a food truck. She got a hot dog and stuffed her face. "So yeah, next weekend. What night?" She couldn't sacrifice both nights. Fridays and Saturdays were prime crime-fighting time, and she was cognizant of her need to spend a little more time with Gabi. "Gabi and I totally will be there. Not sure about Austin. That's getting into October which means basketball season. He's basically going to be relegated to morning coffee I think.
 
Gabi ended up purchasing the dress at Monica’s urging. As they grabbed some food, Hadley remarked, “Let’s make it Saturday. More time to prep since I think my Dad’s not leaving until like 3:00 on Friday.”

“ ‘Morning coffee?’ Is that a euphemism?” Hadley asked in a winking tone. “You have to post some pics from party tonight. I’m kinda bummed that I’m missing it.”

Hadley asked if they minded checking out one more thrift shop. While there, Gabi found another dress and insisted that Hadley try it on.

“Uhh…it’s a little girly,” Hadley said.

“Come on, you have to show up those old friends of yours,” Gabi insisted. “It’ll look great!”

Hadley eventually gave in and purchased it. Afterwards, Monica and Gabi returned to their apartment while Hadley went off to meet with her mother. The news that day contained a statement from the CEO of First Line, the company who had been robbed the night before, in which he praised the "masked woman" for preventing the theft of a "highly sensitive project" and for saving lives.

As the 9:00 start time for the Tau Kappa Epsilon party approached, Monica received a text from Austin while Gabi sat on the couch reading for class with her earbuds in, lightly bobbing her head. “I bet you'll never guess which one of the Spice Girls I’m going as,” he wrote. “And it’s NOT Sporty. Meet you at your place around 8:45?”

The walk from their apartment to the sorority house wasn’t far.
 
Monica smirked "a more fitting euphemism would be breakfast sausage. Maybe that's a little on the nose." She took a big bite of her hot dog and grinned.

When the news came on, Monica grinned to herself. She texted her dad. "Has to be some way First line is cribbing Centauri tech. That was some kind of high tech body armor shit in that van last night. We should see if we can't figure out some way to confirm."

Looking over at Gabi she asked "So what do you think of the vigilante chick anyway?"

Texting Austin back "Tell me what you, want, what you really really want... Baby Spice." Then sent him a dozen pictures of baby spice "This is you, Indiana. All corn fed and innocent."
 
Monica’s father texted back: “That is concerning but inevitable, I think. I’ll need you to describe it best to me as you can next time we talk. In the meantime, I can see if I can do a little research on them and see if anything online sheds any light on the situation. We’ll catch up this weekend. Stay safe and love you.”

When Gabi was asked about the vigilante, a thoughtful look appeared on her face. “I don’t know,” she said. “I mean, it’s pretty amazing that we have our own, like, real-life superhero. Especially now that we have monster ladies and electricity dudes. I worry, though. It’s like, what is the backup plan if there’s something she can’t handle? What if she gets hurt? What do you think?”

Austin texted back, “Aww, I feel seen. I’ll be there soon.” Not long after, Gabi greeted him at the door. He was decked out in 90s rave gear, complete with a Cat in the Hat-hat, super-baggy pants, smiley face t-shirt and glow sticks.

“Hey, cutie,” he said, leaning down to loop an arm around the small of Monica’s back and kissing her. “You look amazing. Or, I guess, totally radical. Gabi, you aren’t coming?”

“I might come by later,” she said. “Aww, you two look so cute! Lemme take a pic.” She held up her phone and snapped a photo as Austin slipped his arm around Monica.

Austin held his hand out for Monica to take as they made their way across the quad, with the athlete periodically adjusting his hat. “Man, I don’t know how these things didn’t fall off every five minutes when you’re dancing. A couple of my friends wanted me to go as Austin Powers because apparently they wanted me to have flashbacks to eighth grade when everybody started calling me that constantly."

“So, have you seen Turning Red yet? Because if you haven’t, we need to watch it. Soon. Maybe do a double bill with…Drive My Car, was it?”
 
Monica nods "It would suck it the city became too dependent on her, but I think... maybe she's out there making a difference. At least I hope there's some violent crime that isn't happening because she exists you know? I bet that's the goal. Deterrence as much as anything."

She smiled at Austin when he called back to the Murakami movie. "well. Look who is making a play for boyfriend just as he's going to ride off into the sunset. Cementing your place as my morning coffee guy for the rest of the year I see." She laughed and wrapped her arm around his "I took a bad fall earlier at class so... careful with my shoulders tonight alright? Last thing you need is some picture of me wincing with your arm around me. Scuttle those draft chances for sure."

She looks him over "the questionable rave fashion might do it though before they'd have a chance. I'm glad this is a look that died. I wasn't aware of it until this very moment, and I'm sad that I am aware of it now. I can see though that its much better than going as Austin Powers. Fortunately like, the Monica thing was well and truly over by the time I was in school. My parents loved "Friends". To them "Friends" was America. I mean, being named Rachel would have been alright too I guess. I just thank god every day I'm not a Phoebe. I mean... yeah. Phoebe Bergenson. Not a good fit."

When they got to the house, she could hear the overly loud music blaring through the walls and popped in some earplugs to protect her sensitive hearing. The song was fortunately one she knew, not too familiar with 90s dance music, but "Groove is in the Heart" was a total classic. She threaded her fingers through Austin's "Should we go in?"
 
“Sometimes I wish we could have met a different year,” Austin said as a pair of students passed them on the path. “I mean, I wish we were freshmen or sophomores together. Not that I’d not met you in high school or anything creepy,” he added, blushing. “I will take Morning Coffee Guy, though.”

As she commented on his outfit, he said, “In my defense, like, 3 of my friends were going with a grunge thing and one was going as Neo. But I kind of think going as a specific 90s character is…cheating? That’s just Halloween, am I right?” He put the goofy hat in the crook of his arm. “Maybe wearing terrible clothes was all a ploy to get you to tear them off sooner.” He tapped his forehead.

They made it into the Tau Kappa Epsilon house. As they walked in, Austin said hellos to what seemed like an endless line of women and men, some of them people Monica recognized from the beach party. “Hey, you haven’t met Morgan yet.” He introduced Monica to a ruggedly handsome guy with mid-length, wavy tan hair and gorgeous light brown eyes, dressed in grunge gear himself. He was a few inches shorter than Austin, though as solidly built. “Monica, this is Morgan. We were roommates freshman year.”

“I’ve got enough dirt to easily derail his pro career,” Morgan said, putting his hand out. “Hey. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Austin led her to the area where most of the dancing was happening and they started to move in rhythm. As they danced, they spotted a few Spice Girls, a couple of Kramers, an MC Hammer, and an Uma Thurman from Pulp Fiction. By the time “Praise You” by Fatboy Slim started playing, Monica was starting to feel the body heat from the guys and girls around her through her flannel and Austin had removed his day-glo shirt. A flatscreen nearby showed the movie Clueless.

They continued to dance with sporadic breaks during which Austin grabbed another red Solo cup or caught up with some friends to whom he introduced Monica. At one point, Morgan made his way over to the couple. “Can I steal one dance with you?” he asked her as Austin sat catching up with a teammate. “You can tell when they’re about to break into a convo about the pick and roll or zone defense or something.”

“I’m watching you, dude,” Austin told him.
 
Looking up at him she drew Austin down for a soft, almost chaste kiss. "I know what you mean. You're really sweet and smart and if things were different.." she ran her hand along his chest "I promise. Promise. If I hook up with someone else while you're still around it will be a super hot chick." She grinned "No you can't watch." She tugged on his lower lip again, getting on tip toe as she tugged him down. "I really do like you Austin. More than I wanted to for sure. I figured... fun rebound. Get over the whole you know. thing." She kissed him again "but I'm honestly really happy to find that you're a good sweet guy."


Once things got hot, which was fairly early on, Monica tied her flannel around her waist and lost the hat. She put it inside Austin's, and tied her hair back in a pony-tail. she looked down at her upper arms in slight dismay, seeing the edges of some livid purple bruises. She just hoped nobody thought Austin did that to her. When Morgan moved in she looked over at Austin then looked back to Morgan "No but you can stand in line with me for beer." She headed over to a line for the keg, pressing against the wall to let it leech some of the heat out of her. the music was loud, but not terrible over in the room with all the beer. "So you're a senior too huh?" She asked, almost but not quite shouting. "You graduating? or are you doing 5 years?" She knew not everyone made it out in four, especially if they had a good time in college.
 
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Morgan said loudly, “Semi-senior. Somehow got it in my head that I should be a computer scientist so I pretty much wasted a year and a half before I figured out I hated it. Austin said you’re an engineering major. How’s it going so far? There’s still time to switch to the dying and un-lucrative field of journalism.”

Once Monica had secured a drink, Austin made his way back over. “Alright, now you can say you’ve met her.” He slipped his arm around Monica’s unbruised arm. “Pound that and let’s get back to work,” he said with a smile, nodding in direction of the makeshift dance floor.

“I thought you were going to make me jealous,” he told her, glancing back toward his friend. He pulled her close to him for a kiss, Monica’s chest touching his bare torso. As TLC’s “Waterfalls” played, they danced at a more relaxed pace. At one point, as they faced a crowd of dancing sorority girls, he asked, “So, which of these girls would qualify as a super-hot chick in your mind? Just a thought experiment.”

After dancing for a while longer, Austin said, “I gotta get outside to cool off. Come with me?” As they walked out into the crisp night air, Austin checked his phone, prompting Monica to do the same. She’d received a text from Gabi.

“Hey! Shaun made it! Should be over with him and Cristina in maybe a half hour?❤️

Austin had wandered into a relatively secluded spot between some hedges and one of the walls of the sorority house. He extended his hand to Monica. “I don’t know how much more of watching you on that dance floor I can physically handle.”
 
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Mon grinned "you should do an article on that vigilante woman. Get your name out there. That's hot news right?"

When Austin arrived, she curled in against him "I don't need to make you jealous. I don't play those kinds of games. I'm hot and you need me to get you through physics, which you took inexplicably." She laughed and slid her hand under his shirt, dragging her nails along his chest. "Oh well. I don't know that ANY of them are super hot. But..." She looked around and pretended to consider "Maybe that brunette over there. Can't really say. got my eyes on this big beefy dork from cow country. I'm a little distracted." She tugged on his lower lip, then set to dancing.

After she got the text she looked over "My friends are coming in like 30 minutes. Guess they are done with the show. Gabi is bringing Shaun. Should be fun."

She let him lead her around the corner "We have to be there when they get there babe." Her voice was teasing though and she wrapped her hands in his shirt, tugging him closer. She tilted her face up and kissed him, sucking on his lips, then pushing her tongue into his mouth to tease around his. She held him close, arching into him, loving the feel of him. God he was so big. So solid. So much more massive than Tom in a way that made her feel sexy and protected whenever she felt his muscular form against her. Like she could forget for a minute she could pick him up. She purred and kissed to his neck, biting "why dont you come back to my place in a bit after we hang out with them a little?"
 
Morgan nodded at the remark about the vigilante. “Not a bad idea,” he said, smiling. “Maybe I could start hanging out in dark alleyways to try to get an interview or something.”

Outside of the sorority house, Austin gripped her tightly yet affectionately. “Awww. Can’t make em wait just a little while?” In one fluid motion, he scooped Monica up in his arms and kissed her cheek. He spun her around so that her back was lightly touching the wall. “How is it that every place we go you’re the hottest girl there?” He gently lowered her to the ground and took her hand. “I’d love to go back to your place after. Let’s go say hey.”

When they reentered, Austin and Morgan caught up a bit, then he and Monica took a break to refuel with some food before hitting the dance floor again. It was well past midnight when Gabi, Shaun, and Cristina arrived. “I was a little worried there were going to kick us out for not doing the 90s thing,” the tall girl said.

“Mon, lemme borrow this,” Gabi said, tugging lightly on the flannel tied around her waist. Shaun and Austin got acquainted a bit as it was the first real time they’d met and before long, everyone was back out dancing again.

Monica noticed that Gabi was dancing much more suggestively than usual, slithering and writhing against Shaun to the beat of the music. Cristina chatted up a girl off to the side while Austin continued to be mesmerized by Monica’s every movement.
 
Without skipping a beat Monica replies "Genetics." then kisses him, running her hands along his back "mmm i kinda like that you can easily pick me up. It is fucking hot." she wrapped her legs around him, then dropped them to the ground as he lowered her.

Monica watched Gabi dance, smiling, liking that her friend was coming out of her shell. She was not immune to the way the girl was moving either, but she made herself return her attention to Austin. She was there with him and Gabi was there with Shaun. Gabi was dancing that way for him, not for her. She wrapped her arms around Austin, then started tugging him towards the door after a bit "lets pack up the kids and head home." She kissed along his neck "and you can pick me up again. We can try to work that out." She laughed, then ran her hands along his back before going to collect Gabi and Shaun and Christina "Hey why don't we wind down at our place?"
 
Austin’s eyes had a gleam to them as Monica remarked on him lifting her up. “That would take care of the small bed problem.” He kissed her and quickly cupped her ass.

As the five of them made their way back to the apartment, Cristina said, “I should be getting back. Thanks for the invite, though,” she said to Monica with a smile. “It was good meeting you,” she said, talking to Shaun and Austin.

With a few pauses during which Gabi and Shaun stopped to kiss briefly but passionately, the four of them walked across the well-lit campus. “The show wasn’t bad!” Gabi said excitedly. “They were more like—what did you say, Shaun?”

“I think they were going for like a Led Zeppelin thing,” he noted.

“With a female lead singer,” Gabi added. “Also, the band before them didn’t play long so we didn’t have to stay as long as I was thinking. And this lovely man got out of work early for me.” She handed Gabi back her flannel. “Gracias, carino.” The garment now smelled faintly of her coconut-scented body spray.

“I can ask my friend if it’s possible to scrounge up another ticket to the game tomorrow,” Austin told Shaun. “It sounded iffy but I’ll give it a shot.”

“Oh, no worries, man,” Shaun said. “It’d probably be more painful for me to witness my Whirlwinds get blown out in person.”

“Ah, it won’t be so bad,” Austin said. “Dallas is overrated.”

When they reached the apartment, Gabi and Shaun stopped only briefly to say their goodnights, then made a beeline to her bedroom. “So, where were we?” Austin said, pulling Monica closed and placing a firm kiss on her lips, teasing her tongue with his as they stood just outside of her bedroom.
 
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