Mr. And Mrs. Detention (Monroe)

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Cleaning off the desks in the classrooms was a complete drag. Two weeks of it was borderline insanity. Did it make her regret the paint fights and unintentional vandalism of the art studio?

Not really.

At the very least, she was in good company. Scrubbing away at the scribbles, doodles and writings in every classroom was a little less tedious in Monroe's company - at least they were allowed to talk. Or rather, they weren't told that they couldn't talk. Maybe that was a better way of describing it.

"Anything interesting?" She asked, wondering what he was in the process of destroying from the desk. She knew he was nearing the vicinity of a carving she'd done with Chester a few months ago; a significantly sized heart with their initials inside it. Of course, LS weren't exactly exclusive initials, but few had the means to carve into the wood of a desk. "Me, I'm staring at another dick under a desk." She grinned, her lips breaking and allowing a snarky laugh to burst through. "Sharpie too, I think. Pretty anatomically incorrect, if you ask me."

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

Detention. Well, it wasn't as if he really had anything better to do at the moment. And at least it wasn't scrubbing at the desks alone, although putting him and Lucy together again to serve detention might just be a bad idea, as they might just get themselves into more trouble.

He shook his head at her question. "Not really," Monroe offered with a shrug and he cracked a smile at what she said next. "Well, I can agree that I've found plenty of those, but they're not very accurately drawn." It was as if drawing a penis everywhere you went was something daring and different to do, absolutely hilarious. So much maturity at Hammel, even teenagers with powers still found time and energy to draw a penis under a desk. It was actually what he was scrubbing away at now, watching it fade the more he pressed his rag and sponge to it.

He finally moved on to the next thing, although he discovered it wasn't drawn, but rather carved. "And declarations of love carved into a table. How original," he mumbled.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"Well, you'd know." Lucy chided, grinning to herself at the potshot that it was. She knew Monroe wasn't gay. If we were, it'd be a damn crying shame for the girls of Hammel. The guy practically had a harem.

Declarations of love. It rang a bell in the Australian's head as she worked. On few occasions she used her ability to aid her cleaning process, but after a while it somehow made the skin where her tattoos lived ache. That was weird. And new.

"Don't tell me you haven't done that before." Lucy popped her head up from underneath a desk to search for him. Where the hell did he go? Did he pass out?

Again?

"Want me to declare my love for you? Immortally bound, forever, on a desk of your choice?" She asked, raising her eyebrows with an amused grin.

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

"Whoa there, Serrano. Your gaydar must be malfunctioning," Monroe commented, but of course he wasn't actually offended. Sexuality was something he'd never really put much thought into anyway and he honestly couldn't say he was anything until he'd experienced it. All he knew was that he did indeed like girls because of the small batch of experiences he'd had involving them, most of it being recently. He'd had this conversation once again, at the retreat around the campfire and he just preferred not to get in a mess of sticky labels, that was all.

"No, I haven't done that before. I mean, one of my friends in middle school carved my phone number into a park bench and wrote 'Call to have a good time.' But I doubt that's the same thing." He laughed, shaking his head and remembering how upset his mother had been at the phone calls their house had received.

He got up from the floor to meet Lucy's gaze. "Something tells me you have this tough exterior, but you're really cheesy when it comes to romance," he told her, but grinned. "Isn't that going to raise questions?"

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"Denial's not a fun place to hang out, Monroe." Lucy pointed out. She liked back and forth banter with him way too much to just let that go so easily. If they ever developed a serious conversation on the matter, it'd probably surprise her how similar they thought.

"Without photo evidence?" Lucy asked, pursing her lips at the thought. It took barely a moment for her to call a verdict; "I still woulda called. On the quality of your hot, hot phone number alone."

Hearing he was shifting around again, Lucy finally found him again. She raised her eyebrows, unable to keep the amused smirk off her face. "You got me. I love a good cliche." Lucy replied with a thoughtful nod. "What kinda questions you raising?"

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

Aside from all the joking about the topic, Monroe had wondered about his sexuality, although not in a soul searching kind of way that was tearing him apart. It was different, more like he just wasn't sure because he'd never really spent time on relationships. He was too tired to do so. His power manifested at age thirteen and then was when one started to take interest, but his life had been thrown off of its normal course and he had no time to even consider it, nor did he want to. He was always sleep deprived and apathetic. "Something tells me you would know," was his response, although he didn't mean it all too seriously.

"And I can't say they were advanced enough to include a photo of me, but that means a lot to my middle school self." He rolled his eyes. "That is one big cliche. However, it seems there's only one person I would consider carving my name into a heart with and something tells me she wouldn't appreciate the gesture either." He found it funny. Lucy. You thought she was one thing and suddenly she was another.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy threw her head back with a laugh at his comment. Fair go, he deserved to turn it back on her. "Oh yeah, you don't know Sawyer?" She asked, grinning all the while, "We've been together for yeeeaars. Can't help a girl's wandering eye, though. I mean damn." After all, it was hardly a secret that they were best friends. And they acted like idiot girlfriends all the time. "Least she keeps it in her pants. I'm so lucky-" Losing her nerve, Lucy resided to laughing again. Really, she loved that girl like crazy.

"Anything to help middle school you, mate." Lucy offered him a bright smile, ignoring his decision to roll his eyes.

What he said next, though, was a bit of a surprise. She'd never heard of him being keen on a girl until this moment. A new development? The flannel-clad Australian immediately left her desk and headed towards him. "I mean Jesus, Roey, It's not like I'm asking you to marry me." She started, her tone clearly teasing. Her grin more so. "You liiiiike a girl!" And it was cute, how he admitted it in a round about way.

"Who's the broad?" She asked anyway. Hell, maybe they were friends. Friends who could talk about... Non-trivial things.

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

There was one thing about Lucy, the one thing he'd been struggling to decipher since the first time Monroe met her. And that was when she was being serious and when she was joking. It was one of the hardest things to figure out and he'd pondered it on more than one occasion. This was one of those times that made him wonder as he listened to her go on about Sawyer. "Yeah, I know her. She called me a hobo and I watched her devour several scones in one sitting. It was impressive." There was also another thing about Lucy, somehow she seemed to charm everyone around her in a way that he would never understand, but he had to admit that it had charmed him as well. He was always left in a state of confusion after being around her.

"My middle school self is feeling very confident now. So thank you."

Then things took an awkward turn and it was as if he was suddenly sucked into a conversation that two girls would have. Except it wasn't two girls. It was him and Lucy and somehow he wasn't sure if this was a conversation he wanted to be having. With her or anybody. "Maybe I'm not ready for the kind of comittment that involves carving two names on a desk." Then the teasing went on and he rolled his eyes again. "What? You surprised it isn't a guy? And I'm not sure you'd know her." Not many people knew her, because she hid herself away.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy resisted the urge to let her laughter intensify when Monroe talked about his encounter with Sawyer. Through her laughter, she had to nod along to the fact. "Yeah, that sounds like my love." She replied in time. "Ain't no mistaking her." And that, she was sure, was an understatement.

Honestly, the Australian had tried her best not to make it sound awkward, save for the initial declaration that he seemed to like a girl. She couldn't help herself - look at the way it was changing his demeanour? Suddenly he was a bit... Different about joking around with her. Serious, even. Or as serious as he could seem to be in Lucy's eyes.

"Maybe I'm not ready for the kind of commitment that involves carving two names on a desk."

"Just surprised you even brought it up, Ro." Lucy replied, pulling herself up to sit on the desk he was near. "Ah, that's alright. I don't know many people anyway. Not as social in my old age." She grinned at the fact, tilting her head as she glanced at him again, "So, what. She not worth talking about? Or don'cha reckon I'd actually listen if you wanted to talk about her?" The eldest Serrano carried no ill feeling in her voice; her questions were just that. She legitimately wondered what the answer would be, and nothing more.

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

"I hate to sound like a dumb boy, but are you actually dating her or do you say you're in a relationship with everybody? Because I'm kind of confused, honestly." Monroe just had to ask. What was even her sexual orientation? Did she have one? Did she consider herself to have one? He was getting way too involved in thinking about this lately.

"Yeah, well I surprise myself sometimes," he said with a shrug. "And that's not it. Of course she's worth talking about. And yeah, I think you'd listen." He suddenly felt slightly defensive over what she was saying. "She's definitely worth talking about..." He was back on that again. "She's one of those people in the shadows, you know? One of those people that tries to hide herself in the nooks and crannies of the social world because she doesn't want to be noticed. And I notice her. I want her to be noticed."

He realized he was staring across the room at a random painting on the wall while he was speaking.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"Oh, I definitely have something with her." Lucy replied, sparking a little honesty into her tone. Her relationship with Sawyer was one of the best. It didn't make sense, not to Sawyer. And not to her. "One'a those things in life people deem..." She mused on a potential phrase. One most fitting; "Undefinable."

Lucy listened with every ounce of intention she could offer. It surprised her to know he actually expected her to be capable of listening - theirs was, like all friendships Lucy carried, undefined at best. Gliding on the surface of something that might potentially dive deeper. Real friendship, as it was, was a relatively foreign concept to the Australian. She had so few she could list. Only one, really. And that wasn't even with Sawyer. And while she knew Rowan would always listen, she knew he couldn't always.

Introverts were a thing at Hammel. Though, the one she so recently connected with wasn't quite so far in the shadows.

Looking, but never really seeing. That's what she always saw in her eyes.

Her expression softened slightly. Involuntarily. Truthfully, she had no idea it even happened. "I do know the type." Lucy replied, opting not to look at him either. Eye contact wasn't awkward, per se, but it made connecting over something so seemingly strange a little more difficult for the ink manipulator.

"I reckon you're good. To even want to notice her, I mean." Lucy added in time, though her tone had boiled away all humour. What remained was a little more genuine than it had been; "Not a lot of people have the energy for shit like that."

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

"No, they don't. And I shouldn't of all people. I never have energy," Monroe told Lucy. It was true. He was so tired that he didn't know how he managed to even function in daily life half of the time. He owed it all to coffee. "People don't take the time to notice people like her. It's too much work to get to know them, too much work to even learn their name. But they're overlooked. She's overlooked. And she's amazing."

This conversation had suddenly become way too serious for any sort of conversation with Lucy, especially when they were in detention for having a paint fight.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy nodded along to the fact. Yeah, she knew he was a tired guy. Always walking around with that sense of lethargic energy. It was impossible not to notice, really. It just wasn't something she meant to be taken so literally. But if nothing else, it was pretty clear he was into whoever this girl was. It didn't matter who she was, whether she knew her or not.

And truly, she felt a little uncomfortable with the way things had turned once she seemingly lost herself, too.

"Well shit," Lucy paused long enough to laugh as she hopped back off the table she was sitting on, "You go, Monroe."

She was prepared to leave it at that. He seemed a little unwilling to talk any further,, and she was used to that. Used to not being the person people spoke to. They looked past her, too.

"You done? I sure as fuck am." She sounded amused by the fact, because really, she was. They hadn't done much, really. For the desks, anyway. But the little they'd done seemed like more than enough for her.

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

"Something tells me that's about as close as you get to being sentimental," Monroe said when she got off of the table. He chuckled. Lucy gave you what you expected: the bold attitude and everything that came with it, but what you didn't get was everything else beneath the surface. And for Lucy, he wasn't sure what that was, but he kind of wanted to know.

She left it at that. "Done?" He raised an eyebrow. "Have we even done anything? All I've done is scrub away at a penis drawing that was actually a carving." How were they supposed to say they were done? "Honestly, I have nothing better to do anyway." He came up from underneath the desk, sponge in hand. "By the way, it's not that simple. Uh, you know Sebastian?"

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"Maybe for today." Lucy replied, her eyebrows raising as the corner of her mouth tugged into a grin. Sentimentality was, really, something of a rarity. It wasn't for everyone. Not for every situation.

Still, part of her appreciated the fact that he'd managed to say anything to her in the first place. It surprised her, both that she'd asked and that he'd actually answered. If nothing else, the exchange was something to consider. She had no idea it was about to continue on anyway.

"Do we ever really do anything?" She asked, looking around the rest of the desks. Damn him and his morality. She laced her fingers together, stretching them out in front of her before pressing her hand to the surface, intent on drawing away as much ink as she could.

When he said it wasn't that simple, Lucy pursed her lips and glanced at him with some kind of curiosity; "When's it ever simple?" She knew her situation was hardly that. It likely never would be, given the people she was hanging around with. "Who?" Lucy asked, trying to search her mind for the name. She wasn't that great with them, honestly. Faces were more her thing. "Kinda girly looking blonde fella?"