GET OVER HER! // PEPPERMIC FIC

BIRDS OF A FEATHER

   Salt and I laughed together in the dining room, downing pancakes with sprinkles on top. I decided that the best apologies are ones done with food, so there we were, chowing and chatting away. Test Tube strolled by, giving a snide remark about Salt's choice of breakfast. The salt shaker looked up lovingly at her and smiled.

   "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Tubi, but Pepper knows now. I figured you were right about everyone knowing from the start. You're like, really smart, anyways."

   Test Tube froze. She giggled nervously at Salt's kind comments and settled herself at the table. 

   "It's about time, anyways," she nonchalantly announced, though a hint of anxiousness was still tangled in her voice. "I was grasping at straws trying to keep you away from Salt."

   "Oh, please. With that awful letter and the appreciation note?" I laughed. "Neither of them were even in her handwriting!"

   "Letter?" Salt asked. "I thought you only did the note."

   "I did! I thought you and Mic already found who wrote the letter," Test Tube said with confusion.

   Shit. Back to square one. I decided to push it to the back of my mind for now. Hopefully Mic's found some new information. I guess I'll have to talk to her after breakfast.

   I climbed upstairs, still receiving sorry glances as I made my way up to Mic's room. I gently knocked on her door, though after waiting a while, and even knocking for a second time, the microphone didn't answer back. I decided I would return to my room. I didn't really want to talk to anybody but Mic right now. She's the only person not caught up on what's happened.

   I turned the knob to my door open, hearing a sudden scrambling. As I looked inside, my eyes met Mic's, who awkwardly stared back at me, a picture of me and Salt in her hand.

   "What are you doing?" I asked slowly, creeping inside of the room and closing the door so that the conversation was trapped between the two of us. Microphone sheepishly grinned and put the picture on my end table.

   "I found this picture in one of Testy's books. I was gonna tell you after, but I wanted to return it to you first. Sorry if I look suspicious, I'm trying not to be."

   "Oh! Well, thank you, Mic. You know, I was actually trying to find you so I could tell you that Test Tube didn't write the letter. You have any new leads?"

   "Ah, I don't, actually. I was chasing after the Test Tube one."

   "Well, I feel we should take the day off," I said, a soft smile to Microphone. She smiled back, albeit a bit nervously. I wondered what's gotten her senses heightened like this. I took her hand and sat on my bed with her, again, taking a real good look at her face. When we just sat and looked into each other's eyes, it felt like forever. Her breath quickened and she gave a nervous laugh, looking away from me.

   "I don't mean to intimidate you," I said, trying to reassure the microphone. She shyly kept her gaze on literally anything in the room but me.

   "Aware."

   "Look, I already know about the Test Tube and Salt thing, so-"

   "Okay."

   A bit confused, I took her face and turned it towards me. She squeaked and grew a crooked grin as I inspected her nervous wreck of a face.

   "Microphone, what's wrong with you?"

   "Nothing! At! All!"

   "No, you can't even look at me. Be truthful," I demanded, bringing her face closer to mine. She continued to nervously laugh, a mix of fear and a strange desire in her eyes. For whatever reason, it caused my heart to skip a beat. Her awkward giggles seemed to be incredibly contagious, because now I was cracking up and refusing to look at her face. We both sat there, too nervous to move at all. Gosh, I can't believe I ended up like this. There wasn't even anything to be scared of when it came to Mic, so why am I seated on this bed, avoiding her eyes, as if I have a crush on her or something?

   I looked back over to Mic, who had turned to look at me at the same time. My stomach immediately twisted itself in a knot, and I looked away again. Lord.

   "Microphone."

   "Yes, Pepper?"

   "I don't have a crush on you, Microphone."

   She seemed to be silent for a moment before answering, "I do not either, Pepper."

   "Cool."

   "Yes. Yeah. Sure."

   "I don't mean to say you're unattractive though," I said with a bit of shame, looking at her. Her eyes had already been on me with a sort of melancholy. "You're very... What's the word? Persistent? Determined? Something like that."

   "Well," the mic murmured bashfully, "I should return the Santa Mint."

   "Sentiment."

   "Yeah. Uhm. You're kind of smart, I guess."

   "You guess?"

   She looked at me softly and cracked a genuine smile. "No, I know. You're also very determined to get what you want."

   "I guess we have that in common."

   "Yes, we do."

   I shifted my hand closer to hers, the tips of our fingers touching. Mic looked at me uneasily. Realistically, I know Mic just as well as Test Tube, or Fan, or Pickle. Maybe doing this isn't worth getting worked up over.

   "What do you want right now, Mic?"

   Microphone took a deep, shaky breath as I slid my fingers over hers. An overload of emotion flashed over her eyes as I looked into them with a sly smile.

   "I don't know," she answered, a quiver in her voice.

   I squeezed my fingers in between hers, to which she so easily complied. It made me remember why I was so excited around Mic the night I found out about Salt's relationship. She's incredibly submissive. Despite her lively attitude and loud nature, she seemed to get extremely quiet once you were close. I found it thrilling.

   "Tell me. I know you want something."

   Her frozen gaze lured me in. I felt my own stomach churn, but I tried my best to keep my cool as she forced the words out of her.

   "I want to know what you were going to say last night."

   "Oh," I said, drawing my hand away and laughing nervously. The microphone blinked curiously. "It wasn't anything important, actually, just the Salt and Test Tube thing."

   "What did you think I wanted?" Mic asked me.

   I chuckled and told her it was nothing. After all, I couldn't have her thinking that I wanted her to want me. That's just ridiculous.

   "Well, to be truthful, there was something else I did want in the moment," Mic said in a teasing voice.

   "Hm?"

   "I guess I was just too nervous to say it, so I blanked out and said whatever came to mind."

   "Bold," I said sarcastically. She took my hand again and smiled.

   "As if! You can always lie, you know? It would've made things a little interesting between us."

   "You're saying you wanted me to kiss you, horndog?" I laughed, though my hands trembled as I said it.

   "Maybe. I don't even know you like that," she said with a roll of her eyes. I swear, it was like she read my mind and mistook it as her own. 

   "What's one little kiss going to do to us?" Mic asked, a flirty tilt of her head.

   Her hands trembled too.