We are the monsters in your... forest? [Gray]

[Mickey McKey]

Stupid Graham Kerr. The boy was a whole year older than him, yet couldn't control his temper any better than the blonde boy could. However, Mickey had to admit, this was partly (if not entirely) his own fault. From the moment he caught sight of the boy that night, he'd constantly irritated him until he'd snapped. Graham's outburst couldn't have come at a worse time, seeing as they were both outside when they weren't meant to be, and a professor had heard and responded to them by promptly giving them a detention.

Mickey disliked the Forbidden Forest for several reasons, the main one being that one could never be sure whether something would jump out and drag you off into it's depths. Even leaning on a tree at it's edge, waiting for his older housemate to turn up so they could get this over with, he felt somewhat uneasy being there alone. Though, Graham wouldn't be of much help - If something grabbed the blonde, the other would probably happily watch him get ripped apart.

He didn't mean to annoy the boy so much, he just didn't know what else to do. In honesty, Mickey had a soft spot for Mr Kerr. Well, it was more like a fully fledged crush than a "soft spot". But the older boy was straight, and he had no idea how to deal with this. So, he resorted to childish ways, and picked on the boy. He'd do anything to get the tall boy's attention, but it was the wrong kind of attention, and this annoyed him sometimes. Frustrated, Mickey heaved a sigh and bought his hand up to his mouth, biting the ring on his index finger. This was going to be a painful night.

[Graham Kerr]

Graham kicked at the dirt as he exited the castle, a good ten minutes late. The Professor had told them that it was important that they get along, and wouldn't accompany them, so he had contemplated not showing up alltogether, but he figured that would get him in even more trouble with the Hogwarts Staff. There was no way that McKey wouldn't rat him out, the boy seemed to hate him, even though he had no real reason to. He really didn't look forward to spending two hours in the forest with him, and had tried to mooch off as much time as possible. Plus, if the kid was scared, wonderful.

Lighting a cigarette, he finally made his way over to where the blonde was stood. Gray was dressed in tight blue jeans and a black hoodie, a blue shirt underneath that brought out his eyes, and a white studded belt. He had his dog tags on as always, and toyed with them as he headed over to him, blowing the smoke out casually as he took the final few strides towards him.

"Let's do this" As quickly as possible, please. It was late, nearing curfew already, and they'd be working until midnight. He wanted to be up at six, so he could go for a run before classes and still have time to shower.

[Mickey McKey]

Finally, Mickey thought as his eyes flicked over the man's tall stature. He always looked pretty, and reasonably neat too, the blonde noted as he glanced down at his own ripped jeans and plain white shirt. As much as he tried, he always looked like a bit of a mess, and he didn't like it one bit. Rolling his eyes in fake annoyance, he sighed and pushed himself off the tree. "You took your time, didn't you?" He stated simply, crossing his arms across his chest as he moved slightly in to the forest. The words sounded quite annoyed when they came out, though he didn't feel negatively against Graham at all. "Did some guy drag you into a closet for a quick snog again?"

Having said this, Mickey mentally prepared himself for some sort of violence, like he did every time he spoke to the elder. Graham hadn't lashed out at him often, but from the few times he had, he'd learnt that he probably should brace himself for it. The darker blonde sure knew how to hit, and the younger boy's questioning his heterosexuality seemed to provoke this reaction more than anything else.

Spinning on his heel, he took a few steps in to the trees, and glanced over his shoulder again. "Well, get moving then."

[Graham Kerr]

Gray wondered sometimes if Mickey knew somehow. He'd never been with a boy, had never even really looked at them last year, and yet the other had taunted him about being queer for ages now. It frustrated him, annoyed him, and quite frankly, it terrified him. He couldn't help responding when someone commented on it, and he had a feeling that some people even thought he was somewhat of a homophobe, but he was really just so far in the closet. It was a conscious choice not to out himself, with everything else going on it was just easier. He had enough trouble fitting in with his summer life and his poor family, why add another reason to stand out from the crowd?

"Oh fuck you, McKey." He snapped, taking a last drag from his cigarette before flicking away the end, letting the smoke linger in his lungs as long as he could. He wasn't allowed to smoke in the forest and he knew that he'd be needing the nicotine if he was going to stay calm. Rattling his tongue piercing against his teeth, he just stepped into the Forest, telling himself that he'd simply ignore Mickey as much as he could. Just one hour and fifty minutes and he'd be rid of him again.

[Mickey McKey]

Turning around and walking backwards, he gave Graham a bright grin. Mickey really hated how practically everything the older male did was attractive to him. His smoking, and even the way he walked and talked. The main thing that did it, though, was the damned tongue piercing. For reasons unknown to him, the thought of it alone drove him crazy. And the rattling thing he did with it... The blonde shook the thought out of his head, and continued his smiling. "Oh, please do!" He exclaimed happily, making some flamboyant gestures to accompany his speech. "Because you'd just love to, wouldn't you? That's just what you're in to, and you know I'd treat you right." Mickey gave Graham a wink, and turned back around, giggling boyishly as he did so.

The younger Hufflepuff hated how his nickname was almost exactly the same as his last name, but it worked to his advantage at times like this. Wandering deeper into the forest, he grinned to himself. "Oh, I didn't know we were using nicknames." He said, clasping his hands together behind his back. "Does that mean I can call you Gray now, then?"

[Graham Kerr]

Breathe. Just breathe. One..two...three...four, he was never going to make it to ten if Mickey kept talking trash like that. Why on earth couldn't he find someone else to pick on? Yeah, probably because Gray was an easy target, who blew up whenever the word queer was thrown into the conversation, or something gay was hinted at. He clenched his fingers into fists, nails digging into sensitive skin as he kicked at some dry leaves, heading further into the forest with no idea as to what they were actually supposed to do.

"Call me whatever the fuck you want, just shut up" Gray ran fingers through his hair, already needing another cigarette, and began rattling his tongue piercing against his teeth again. After a minute or so of tense silence, he finally broke it, looking at him for the barest amount of time. "What are we doing in this place anyway?" The Hufflepuff was hoping that Mickey wouldn't be smart right now and indicate that he wasn't allowed to speak, or he'd definitely rip the blonde a new one.

[Mickey McKey]

Running a hand through his hair, Mickey chuckled again. Despite the many spiteful things he'd said to the man, his mood tended to be a whole lot brighter when he was around. He wondered is Graham ever noticed this, then realised that it'd be impossible for him to do so. The taller boy probably just thought that he was getting pleasure out of causing him misery. Well, that'd do, he supposed. It still got him noticed by the boy, and the blonde was more than used to upsetting people that meant something to him, so he could live with that. "Fine then. I'll call you baby and be done with it." He declared, probably a bit too cheerfully for either of their liking. Though, the tall Hufflepuff would probably be annoyed enough by the fact that he even spoke, but when had he ever listened to anything that the older one said?

What were they doing? Mickey paused for a moment, trying to remember their exact task. It'd been something quite horrible, he knew that. And involved a creature... Spiders! "Spider webs!" He announced, again sounding probably far too happy for his own good. In fairness, he was quite glad that spiders didn't affect him at all. If it had been something involving heights (for example, scaling the walls of the building and cleaning the glass of the Astronomy tower), he would be freaking out, but spiders were fine. Even ones this big. "You know, the big ones. They said we have to get their webs for... something, I don't even know." All in all, it sounded like a tedious, useless and unneccessarily dangerous task, which the teacher had only set to wind them both up a little.

[Graham Kerr]

Spider webs. Great. Because, of course, what could be more fun to a Professor than setting two boys the task of heading into the forest only to end up coming out all sticky and covered in web? There was probably some gorgeous analogy that Mickey would use to make this into something it wasn't - you know, sticky white stuff covering Graham, yada yada - but Graham didn't even want to think about it right now. In fact, what he really wanted was to slam his head against a wall until he fell unconscious.

On second thought, if he did that, the blonde would probably happily skip over him and let whatever lived in the forest eat him for breakfast. As much as he loathed the thought of sticking by him, he probably ought to. But that kid better not get himself into trouble, because Gray didn't feel like being a hero or rescuing him from something the younger Hufflepuff got himself into. Just because he had no brain, didn't mean he was allowed to be a nuisance any more than he strictly had to be.

"Ugh, fine" He was only speaking to him because he had to acknowledge hearing what the other had said, but Gray was stomping through the forest loud enough to wake up any deadly creature living within. It was probably preferable to hearing Mickey calling him 'baby'.

[Mickey McKey]

Dropping back a bit, Mickey fell in to step with the older male, glancing up at him for just a moment. Damn Graham, damn him to hell. He wished he could get over his silly little infatuation with this man, or that he could at least go about it in a slightly more adult way instead of annoying him to death. He had no idea how else to act, though, when he wanted someone this badly and couldn't have them. Besides, if he suddenly dropped the mean front and tried to be nice to his housemate, chances were that he'd see it as a different form of insult and that would only make him hate him more. So, looking at it like that, no matter what he did, Mickey was stuck in this situation, being crazy for a boy who just didn't want to know. Boy, that was lame.

Forgetting that he was with anyone, the blonde let out a sigh and scowled at the ground as this thought hit him. He knew he'd get over it sooner of later, but for now, this royally sucked. Slowly, Mickey dragged himself back to reality, then made a quick attempt to recovery from his momentary lapse. Hopefully, Graham would be too annoyed to notice that he'd been glaring at the floor for the past few minutes.

"I don't know what your problem is though, Gray baby." He chirped, his cheeky grin slowly spreading back over his face. "It's great fun. And it's not as if you'd be the only one. Practically everyone in this castle is at least a little bit gay." What a strange thing to say - A little bit gay. How could someone be a little bit gay? The thing about this castle was, literally anything was possible. Perhaps the boys of Hogwarts found life terrificly boring, because almost every single one of them seemed to have had some sort of homosexual experience, hence his belief of all of them being "a little gay". "I'm betting you'd have guys swarming all over you if you came out, wanting a bit of Sexy Graham Kerr. Well, more than you do already, obviously..."

[Graham Kerr]

Oh of course. Graham couldn't help snorting at that, wishing that they were far enough in the forest already to begin their detention properly. Yeah, he'd have boys all over him. Mickey sure knew how to hit where it hurt, didn't he? As if Gray wasn't insecure enough about himself as it was. Of course, he tried not to carry himself in that way, and hid behind his sense of style and big mouth, but when it came down to it, the blonde didn't really think he was anything special. He'd made Quidditch Captain, but that hardly said anything about his personality.

And then there was his summer job, which would instantly repel anyone who might possibly be attracted to him, because who wanted to date a thief and dealer? Yea, okay, maybe those guys who were attracted to danger and bad boys, but those generally weren't the kind Gray was attracted to. Though he liked boys with a big mouth, he fell for people who had a kind heart. Generally, his kind of people wouldn't taunt others about being gay or ugly.

"Thought I asked you to shut up, McKey" Although the blondes voice was sweet and his words could potentially be flattering, Gray knew better than that, and he responded the way he always did, with a frown and harsh words in return. If it hadn't been for detention he would have lashed out a lot more personally already.

[Mickey McKey]

Like a child scolded, Mickey gave his elder a shocked look, complete with wide blue eyes and a slightly open mouth, then hung his head. That hadn't even been an insult. He'd known that it would have annoyed Graham because of the gay references, but he'd meant everything he'd said. The darker blonde was very pretty, enough to make it difficult for the young boy not to stare - in fact, Mickey made a point of NOT looking at him most of the time, for fear of not being able to drag his eyes away. And if the man was gay, he didn't doubt that there'd be tons of people after him. Of course, they wouldn't try anything knowing he was straight. They were probably scared of coming out of it with a black eye and a fat lip.

"Sorry," He mumbled, and paused for a long time. He didn't tend to apologise very often, mainly because the people he lived with regarded apologies as being more or less the coward's way out of something. Why apologise when you could shout, or punch? If you had to say sorry, you had to follow it up with some half-assed insult if you didn't want to be teased for a good month or so. Boys were stupid, especially in groups. Even the ones who were fifteen or sixteen were imbeciles. Maybe that's what happened when you grew up around a whole lot of children, not one of them having a real adult role model to follow. Deciding he'd been quiet for quite long enough, Mickey piped up once again, although his voice was a lot quieter and gentler this time. "I'm just saying, you know. You are gorgeous, I doubt there's many people about that'd say no..."

[Graham Kerr]

"I'm just saying, you know. You are gorgeous, I doubt there's many people about that'd say no..."

Gray sighed, running fingers through his hair. Why did he have to push this? As if he cared what Mickey thought about his looks! [Well, okay, maybe he did, but he wasn't about to let any of THAT show]. "Can we ignore my good looks, or lack thereof, and just get this over with. Please?" It said enough, his choice of words. My good looks, or lack thereof. If the smaller blonde paid any attention to him, he'd know right then and there that his big mouth was usually just that - a way of keeping himself at a distance, of never having to talk about anything personal.

The Hufflepuff looked around, stifling a yawn behind his fist, wondering if they needed to tread much further into the forest. He hadn't seen any webs as of yet, but he hadn't really been paying attention either. Glancing around the scenery, he caught sight of some of the silvery substance and gawked at it for a second, wondering how they were supposed to bring this stuff home without ending up covered in it completely.

Being from Muggle descent, his mind provided the image of cotton candy, and he smiled, looking for a stick that'd be big enough to hold most of the spider web onto it without clinging to whoever had to carry it. "See if you can find a stick somewhere that we can use." Gray hoped that Mickey was a Muggleborn as well, and would understand what he meant. "Have you ever had cotton candy? That's how we're going to do this."

OoC: It'd be so funny if at some point, Mickey was all like "well YOU'RE rich and I'm not" and Gray would be like *snort* WTAF?! and yell at him because of it [give him some insight into Grays mind xD]

[Mickey McKey]

Mickey would have mumbled something about it being impossible to ignore his good looks, as they were so startlingly obvious, had he not caught that little bit afterwards. He'd opened his mouth to say something, but ended up gaping up at the older man. "...Lack of?" He repeated incredulously, wide eyes staring straight at Graham. "You're joking, right? ...Seriously?" Wow. Who would have thought that Graham Kerr would have been self concious? Not this blonde, that was for sure. Mickey still didn't quite believe it. The other Hufflepuff was so obviously gorgeous to him, how could he not see it himself?

Nodding at his suggestion, he wandered off to a side to try and find a long stick. How hard could that be? Finding a stick in a forest had to be as easy as finding candy in Honeydukes. He found himself laughing at Graham's question. "Of course I had cotton candy. What kind of question is that?" He shouted his reply back across the distance, still chuckling as he did so. Sometimes, Mickey forgot that there were people in this school who didn't even know what a radio was. Picking up one thick, long stick, he waved it in the air. "Will this do?"

[Graham Kerr]

"Yeah that'll do fine" Once the kid had stopped with the insults, Gray felt his bad mood evaporating slowly. He was still tense and on edge, but at least now he wasn't so wired up that he'd bite the kids head off with another bad word. Of course, the same couldn't be said for if something else bit his head off. He might run instead of help him out. Though, if Gray was honest with himself, if the boy ended up in trouble, he'd most likely help him out. He was just that kind of guy.

"Well I don't know, not every Muggle has had cotton candy" In fact, Graham only had it a few times when he was younger, and not ever since his dad left. They simply hadn't had any money for it, which was probably why he was such a sweet tooth now. The money he'd earned over the summer had mostly gone to his mother and brother, but his Muggle friends sometimes sent him some that he could spend on cigarettes and candy.

Deciding that, since smoking was out of order, candy was probably the best alternative, he popped a piece of butterscotch candy into his mouth, hesitating for a second before offering the smaller blonde a piece.

[Mickey McKey]

"True, I guess..." Mickey considered this, with a small nod of his head. He'd only had it by chance, when one of the carers at his orphanage had taken a small group of them out to a fair and bought them all some out of their own money. Generally, his mother avoided crowded places. The small blonde had no idea whether this was because of her condition or just because she didn't like a lot of people, but either way, she'd never taken him to a fair. Or out at all, at that. That was his step father's job.

...Graham was being nice to him? That wasn't right. Mickey eyed the sweet cautiously, wondering why he'd suddenly decided to be generous and sociable. Raising his eyebrow, he gave the tall boy a lopsided grin. "Just had to flash the riches, huh?" He asked, chuckling lightly, but made a move to accept it anyway. As he tried to move his foot, he found it meeting some sort of resistance. Seconds later, his foot was pulled out from under him as something dragged him off of the floor. Mickey found time to gasp out a "Ho shiii-" before he was whipped off into the air.