The Faculty - Written for FFFC and Ficlet Zone

[prisca]

Title: Bad nights
Characters: Casey Connor, Zeke Tyler
Prompts: sleepless (FFFC) and Bad Nights (Ficlet Zone)
Word Count: 317
Finished: 01.09.2020

:::

„You look like shit.“

Casey turned around, his eyes sparkling annoyed at his lab partner. „Hey, leave me the fuck alone, okay.“

Zeke smirked, obviously unimpressed. „Bad night again? Afraid of the chemistry test today?“

„For sure not. I am not the one who skips classes all the time.“

„So, why don't you sleep well for days?“

„That's none of your business, Zeke!“

„Maybe I can help?“

„You? Me? No, you can't. You are living on your own for ages, and your parents don't care much about what you are doing.“ Casey sighed deeply. „I wish it would be so easy for me.“

„Hm.“ Zeke kept quiet, thinking that it was not always as easy and funny as it seemed to be. Sometimes he even did envy Casey, though his parents for sure did overstep the lines, still treating their almost college boy like a toddler.

„My parents don't stop fighting about my future for weeks. My dad thinks the only option for me is to go to UCLA like he himself, and already my grandpa did. My mom opts for the city college in Akron, though I'm not sure if it is because it is much cheaper or if she just doesn't want me to move to LA.“

„And what do you think about all this,“ Zeke asked.

Casey huffed. „As if anyone asks for this.“

„No shit, Casey.“ Suddenly Zeke looked serious. „You are much too smart to waste your life.“

„What do you know? What choice do I have?“

„You are legal for some months already, old enough to take your life into your own hands. You were the golden boy who followed any rule for much too long already. Start to live your own dreams, fight for what you want. And I'm sure you will sleep much better than ever before.“

The Faculty - written for Lands of Magic

[prisca]

Title: Zeke Tyler
Characters: Zeke Tyler
Prompt: famous character
Word Count: 579
Finished: 01.09.2020

:::

Saturday afternoon. Inwardly smiling, Zeke stopped the GTO in front of his garage, grabbing beer, cola, and chocolate he had just bought at the mini-market. Ready for the weekend. With movies and pizza, maybe a trip to the park or the small lake in the woods.

How much his life had changed during the last weeks. Only a few months ago, he would have been on the way to Akron or Columbus. Driving full speed over the roads, the radio playing Queen or Rolling Stones on full blast. The best preparation for another wild club night. The only way to fight the loneliness in his life, the silence in the much too big house.

His parents had left him alone when he was barely sixteen; a monthly check and a phonecall at his birthday and Christmas was all he had to expect from them. He had learned to deal with this quickly; the only other choice would have been a boarding house, his father had threatened to send him to if he would cause too much trouble.

At school, he was well known as a rebel, but he always knew not to overstep the lines too much. The other students envied and admired him for his toughness. And because he was the secret dealer at school, who did sell everything a highschool student could dream about. Tickets for the newest movies, faked ID cards for the famous clubs in town, porn magazines, and videos. Cigarettes, booze, and scat. His homemade drug, his moneymaker number one. These dumbheads were willing to pay a shitload of money for crushed coffeinpills, one could buy at every drugstore.

For the girls, he was a dreamboy, the subject of lots of rumors about hot kisses and secret dates. None of them were true. He did flirt, yes, he knew to smile at the right moment and to whisper seducing words, but he was smart enough to know that everything else would only end with drama.

He was not interested in highschool romance, shallow promises which would never come true, or even vanilla sex with inexperienced teenage girls. What he wanted, he would find in the clubs. Meaningless one-night-stands with girls... and boys... who didn't expect more than some fun. It was not nearness and warmth he was looking for; he had learned it on the hard way that it could only disappoint and hurt you if you let someone too close into your life.

He hadn't been prepared for what had happened about half a year ago. No, it was not the fact that aliens had tried to take over Herrington High, that they infected most of the teachers and the students, and that all of them had to fight for their life. It was neither the police questioning, the quarantine, the media interest which followed afterward.

It was Casey who had changed everything. The school's geek, who turned into a hero overnight, who finally did stand up against the alien queen and saved the world. The moment Zeke did find him lying on the ground under the bleachers, covered in a slimy mess; the spit of a second when he had thought that Casey might be dead; the pain he had felt, which finally let him break down, whimpering uncontrolled. And then Casey's hand on his arm, his voice whispering: “Hey, you shithead, it's over.“

This moment he was fallen in love, and everything that had been before had lost its importance.