What are you listening to?

What are you listening to?

Amon glanced across the aisle to the green-haired girl that had addressed him out of the blue. Fairly familiar, he still had a hard time placing her. Definitely cute, if on the shorter side. He pulled an earbud out, glanced around, then pointed to himself with a quizzical expression on his face. Used to his nondescript existence, he was surprised when the girl nodded with a smile.

Looking the girl up and down, Amon couldn’t place the uniform she was wearing. ‘Not from my school, then…’ He thought to himself. He couldn’t help feeling it suited her pretty well, though.

The slight feeling of familiarity, and her general easiness on the eyes prompted him to respond to her. There was something about her, beyond her encouraging smile, that convinced him to crawl out of his shell.

“Oh, umm, my friend Vinyl made a mix for me. She’s a DJ. Mostly, you know, her stuff.” Amon gave the girl an only moderately awkward smile. She nodded, her fingers picking at the hem of her skirt distractedly.

‘White…’ Amon noted absently as her skirt rode up with her fidgeting. He filed this away in the depths of his mind, more actively wondering why she seemed so nervous.

‘Pretty girl strikes up a conversation… Isn’t it MY job to be nervous?’ Strangely enough, Amon only felt curious. He still couldn’t place her, but the sense of catching something out of the corner of your eye was exactly what he was getting from her.

“I’m Lemon. You go to Ponyville, huh?”

Snapping back to reality and meeting her eyes again, Amon nodded, leaning across to offer his hand. Lemon gave his hand a look before taking it in a light shake, and Amon noted the slight timidity in the gesture. ‘Seems I make her nervous,’ he thought, fighting down a smirk. ‘She might be fun to tease…’

“I’m Amon, and you don’t, huh? Didn’t think I recognized the uniform. Where do you go?” Lemon seemed to fidget for a few moments again, obviously nervous and doing her best to seem confident.

“Crystal Prep...” She murmured after a few minutes, seeming to wince at the admission before looking up to meet Amon’s eyes again.

Amon nodded slowly, humming in the affirmative as he regarded the girl. The name didn’t ring any bells, but he knew that there were quite a few schools in the area, a city as large as Canterlot hardly being able to be served by just one.

“Never heard of it,” Amon noted, rubbing his chin in thought. “Oh well, pretty new in town, so I guess that’s not a huge surprise.”

Lemon stared at him incredulously, causing Amon to start his own little dance of awkwardness, her eyes trapping him with their intensity. Deciding a change of subject was in order, Amon pointed out the girls headphones, cocking his head slightly.

“Uh, anyway, what are YOU listening to, Lemon?” He gave her a sickly grin, knowing full well that his segue was pretty transparent. ‘Nice save, swaglord…’ Amon thought to himself, grimacing slightly at his social ineptitude. Surprisingly, his comment seemed to do the trick as Lemon blushed, fumbling with her iPod.

After a few swipes, she pulled her headphones off, offering them to Amon with a more confident smile. ‘Suits her…’ Amon thought as he accepted the headphones. Their fingers brushed against each other lightly as she handed them off, and Amon tried not to blush too furiously at the unexpected contact.

‘Weird…’ Amon thought to himself as he settled the headphones over his ears. He might not be some kind of Casanova, but it was unusual for him to respond so strongly to such a casual touch. He was pondering this development as Lemon hit the play button.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ8LkOwWfaw

Amon lurched back slightly as the heavy guitar riffs assaulted his ears. It wasn’t what he’d been expecting, but as he got used to it, his head slowly started to bob to the beat. He glanced up at Lemon, seeing a slightly hopeful yet worried expression on her face and smiled, giving her a thumbs up before hunching forward and closing his eyes to focus on the music. As the song came to an end, he opened his eyes and looked up at a happily smiling Lemon.

"That's pretty good. Who is it? I'm pretty sure I haven't heard them before." He handed the headphones back to Lemon, not surprised this time as his fingers slid over hers. He was pretty sure he was keeping any outward signs hidden, but he couldn’t hide the fact that his heartbeat seemed to have kicked up a notch from himself.

“Oh, that’s Sepultura. They’re pretty heavy, right dude? Pretty ancient, but most of the best stuff came out before we were even born, right?” She seemed to nod along to her own points, her headphones clutched in her lap as her eyes flicked back and forth between them and his face. Not particularly disagreeing with her, Amon nodded back.

“Sure, I guess. I’d say there’s still plenty of good stuff coming out now, though. You just have to wade through the garbage to pick out the gems.” Amon shrugged lightly. There were exceptions to every rule.

“Totally, but there’s just so much garbage…” Lemon noted, waving her hand in front of her face as if she were trying to clear away a foul stench. Looking back at Amon, she gave him a wink and chuckled.

It’s not the kind of laugh Amon expected. It was deep and throaty, and a little wild. ‘Hot…’ Amon can’t keep from thinking to himself as his heartbeat picked up a little more.

"So, I shared. It's your turn, Amon." Lemon gestured impatiently toward Amon's iPod. Which was currently in his lap. His mind started going to strange, inappropriate places as he scrolled through his songs, looking for something she might like. The fact that a cute girl was basically making hurry up gestures at his junk wasn’t lost on him, and he hoped she didn’t notice the slight blush lighting up his cheeks. Finally finding something that might suit her tastes, he glanced up.

"Mind if I borrow your headphones?" Amon asked while unplugging his earbuds. Looking at them critically, Amon found what he suspected might be there. He held them up for Lemon’s inspection. "Earwax..."

“Ha, gross.” Lemon let out another chuckle as she unplugged her headphones and handed it over to Amon. Jacking it in as she slid them over her ears, Amon hit the play button.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmfzWpp0hMc

Lemon nodded along, seeming intrigued by the complicated rhythms and intricate riffs as her head started banging lightly. Amon found his gaze drawn to her lap again as she tapped out the drumbeat on her skirt, her fingers fluttering over the fabric.

“Cute…” Amon murmured as he watched her tongue poke out of the corner of her mouth in concentration.

Lemon’s head snapped up, staring at him incredulously as a heavy blush suffused her cheeks. Amon stared at her blankly, wondering absently how she heard him until he glanced down at his iPod.

‘Of course the song had to end right as I opened my big mouth…’ Amon mused, eyes wide as most of his brain preoccupied itself with possible ways to get out of this suddenly intensely awkward situation.

Slowly unplugging her headphones from his iPod, he took in her flustered expression, cheeks burning as she huffed lightly. Her mouth opened, but she seemed at a loss for words. Amon felt the bus start to slow down, and cast a surreptitious glance out the window. Exploding into motion, he leapt at the side door of the bus as it opened, blurting out the first thing that popped into his head.

“Gotta go Lemon this is my stop nice meeting you bye!”

Doing a passable combat roll onto the pavement, he barely kept a hold on his bag as he popped up into a sprint. ‘Just need to make it three blocks…’ He thought to himself. Glancing back, he saw Lemon hop off the bus in hot pursuit. Blanching slightly, Amon put on another burst of speed as he settled into a run.

He was no Rainbow Dash, but he WAS a member of the track team, and he was fairly certain he could outrun her. Unfortunately, another glance back told him he was probably wrong. Legs and arms pumping in unison, Lemon had already made up most of the gap between them. The furious look on her face told him he might be in trouble.

Kicking into a full sprint, Amon’s gaze darted around the familiar landscape before locking on the open gates of Ponyville High like a life-preserver. He was sure what little lead he had was slowly evaporating, sure it wasn’t his imagination that he could hear Lemon’s measured grunts slowly closing in on him from behind. Amon knew she was close enough that glancing back to check would spell his doom.

‘Shitshitshit..!’ Amon’s thoughts were a swirl chaos, fight or flight battling in his hindbrain, with the latter slowly winning out. As he approached the school, however, a familiar grey hairstyle picked out of the crowd gave him hope.

“Shitshitshit Octavia help!” He yelled as he shot past the surprised girl onto school grounds, but his elation was cut short as he felt himself being tackled from behind. Rolling across the lawn, Lemon somehow managed to maneuver them so that when they come to a stop, she was straddling him, pinning his arms to the ground.

‘Shit… She’s really fit.’ Amon thought inanely as he struggled underneath her, mostly in vain. The furious grin on her face was terrifying. ‘Wait. Grin..?’

Lemon leaned down so that her face was inches away from his, her sadistic grin never wavering.

“You’re pretty cute, yourself…” Leaning all the way down, she pecked him on the lips.

…

…

Amon blinked slowly as she backed off, completely confused.

“Wha-?” He remarked dumbly. That was all he managed to get out before Lemon was hauled bodily off him with an outraged squawk. He watched as Octavia spun the girl around, shoving her gently to keep her off balance and moving until she was all the way off campus.

“What is this all about, Preppy? That happens to be my friend you were just assaulting.” Octavia growled out. As the flustered Lemon tried to collect herself, a veritable wall of Ponyville students seemed to coalesce behind Octavia.

“Hey! I was just-” Octavia cut her off.

“Leaving.” Lemon slowly wilted under Octavia’s stern glare. She glanced past her to see Amon, who was just picking himself up off the ground with a poleaxed expression on his face.

“You’re mine, Amon! Sooner or later, I’m gonna get you, dude!” With that parting shot, Lemon turned around and walked off, trying to smooth down her rumpled uniform. Giving a satisfied nod, Octavia turned back to Amon, dusting him off.

“What on earth was that about?” Octavia asked, concern evident in her voice. Taking in Amon’s disheveled appearance and befuddled expression, her concerns only grew at his next comment,

“I’m not really sure, myself…” Bringing a hand up, Amon absently brushed his fingers over his recently kissed lips. Octavia’s forehead crinkled with concern.

“Well, you should probably stay clear of those Crystal Prep students. Our schools have something of an, unfriendly rivalry, shall we say?” Octavia watched Amon nod absently in the affirmative, mumbling something reassuring. She assumed he was still shook up from the tackle, but worried there might be something deeper going on.

Amon’s thought were paralleling her own, still trying to sort out the jumble of thoughts and emotions he found himself tightly entwined in. Wandering off toward the school building, he left a still worried Octavia to watch him go.

* * *

The rest of the day passed in a blur for Amon. He made it to all of his classes. He was pretty sure of that. As for what went on in them, well, he hoped there wasn’t a test coming up.

Track practice, on the other hand, was a complete wash.

As Amon picked himself up from the third hurdle he’d managed to not quite hurdle, he saw his coach approaching from the sidelines. Bristling slightly, Amon’s coach looked him up and down, then tossed a towel at him.

“Your head’s not in the game, Amon. Hit the showers. I’m keepin’ you late tomorrow to make up for it, though, so straighten up and fly right by then, yeah?” Used to his coach’s brusque manner, Amon grimaced slightly before nodding. He pulled the hurdle upright again, then trotted off toward the locker room, head down and muttering.

“Ugh, great. Extra practice. What a day this is shaping up to be. And, that Lemon…” Still murmuring to himself under his breath, Amon stripped down, tossed his clothes at his locker and headed into the showers.

Turning a shower on, he walked back into the locker room to grab some soap. The intervening time served to let the water heat up, so he stepped into a stream of heavenly heat.

Dunking his head under the stream and letting it fall over him, his mind played back the events of that morning, and he found himself unable to get the look on Lemon’s face out of his head. ‘You’re mine… That’s what she said. She didn’t look angry, she looked… Hungry?’

Amon let the water cascade over him as he mused. Lemon had seemed nice, and was definitely cute, as his own stupid mouth had attested to. They seemed to hit it off up til that. He wouldn’t have taken her for the rocker type, but then again, he hadn’t expected her to outrun him and pin him down either, had he?

She was a pretty interesting girl, that Lemon… Amon found himself thinking he might be interested in finding out a bit more about her.

And then there was that panty shot he was less and less sure she’d accidentally given him. And that kiss… Amon failed to notice as a blush rose up in his cheeks. Among other things.

Amon knew it was just a peck on the lips, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was just the tip of the iceberg. He started to think he might not be so grateful that Octavia was so quick to yank her off of him. Thinking back, a clearer mental picture formed of the situation, and he came to a startling realization.

‘She was… She was practically riding me like a cowgirl! And, she was wearing a skirt…’ The blush crept up slowly over his cheeks as he ran the situation through his mind again, accompanied by some other more noticeable reactions from his anatomy...

Still washing himself slowly, he failed to notice a few more guys from practice entering the locker room. Showering quickly, most of them left, but one in particular held back.

Flash Sentry had noticed Amon when he came in at first, and was surprised to see he was still showering after Flash had finished. Being one of Amon’s better friends, Flash decided to mosey over and see what’s up.

He was NOT expecting Amon to turn to the side as he approached, revealing a raging hard-on. Blanching, Flash took a half step back, slightly shocked, but an evil idea suddenly popped into his head. Sneaking silently up behind Amon, grinning in anticipation, Flash reached past the oblivious guy to the shower nozzle.

“Jeez, Amon, put that thing away before you put someone’s eye out.” Flash noted casually as he flipped the shower from steaming hot to full blast cold. Amon came back to reality just in time to get the full dose.

* * *

“And we will never speak of this again.” Amon noted, rubbing his smarting fist while he looked down on the sprawled out Flash. He knew he probably struck a pretty imposing figure, being fairly tall, well built, and glowering down on the other young man. Being stark naked might take a bit away from the gravitas, though...

“You got it, Amon. No mentioning that you popped a stiffy in the boys showers. And definitely no mentioning that you scream like a little school girl…” Amon’s glower cranked up a few notches as he cracked his knuckles and growled.

“Seriously, Flash, I will hurt you.” Flash cringed slightly, then chuckled nervously and rubbed his sore side. The grin never left his face, though, and he made a calming gesture with his hands.

“Okay, easy there, tiger. My lips are sealed.” Amon sighed in relief, reached a hand down and pulled Flash up when he grasped it. Grunting as he regained his feet again, Flash felt his ribs gingerly before mock-punching Amon in the shoulder.

“Got a mean left hook there, Amon. Wouldn’t have expected it.” He then leaned in, a grin halfway between lecherous and conspiratorial plastered across his face. Amon drew back slightly, half expecting what was coming next and letting out a sigh.

“So, what got you all hot under the collar, eh? Finally got the hots for someone?” Flash waggled his eyebrows, his grin seeming to take over his whole face. Amon groaned, doing a passable facepalm. Flash was one of the first friends Amon had made after transferring in this year, and it seemed like he’d made it his personal mission from day one to hook Amon up with someone. Amon found this slightly amusing sometimes, and incredibly exasperating at others.

“Come on, Amon, a guy can tell. Who’s the lucky girl?” Flash egged him on, leaning in to elbow him in the side a few times. Knowing this could go on for days, Amon decided after a quick deliberation to just get it out of the way.

“Well, actually, I met this girl from Crystal Prep today…” Amon is surprised when Flash holds up a hand, a pained grimace on his face. Tapping his foot absently, Flash sets his hands on his hips, hunches over slightly and gives Amon a conciliatory look.

“Amon, that’s a bad move. Those preps are bad news. It’s your call, but if you date a preppy, you’re gonna catch hell.” Amon gives Flash an incredulous look, and gets a shrug in return.

“Umm, why? Octavia said something about an unfriendly rivalry, but that’s just ridiculous.” Amon notes absently that it might make more sense that he’d never seen a Crystal Prep student before if they weren’t welcome around, but the idea just clashes inside him. ‘Disliking someone for no other reason than that they go to school somewhere else?’ Flash looked to either side, then leaned in, motioning Amon closer. Rolling his eyes at Flash’s antics, Amon leaned in as well.

“Rumor has it, they killed some girl from here…”

“Bullshit.” Amon’s immediate and brutal shutdown rocked Flash back slightly.

“Umm, they kidnapped and brainwashed some kids?”

Amon was moments away from slapping Flash silly. ‘Does he think I’m an idiot?’

“Try again.” Amon said flatly, crossing his arms over his chest. Flash chuckled, his serious mien evaporating as he pulled back and rubbed his head ruefully.

“Okay, okay. So they poached some really good athletes from here because their academic program is more ‘highly regarded’. Plus, they’re jerks, right?” Amon regarded his friend for a few seconds before he rubbed his forehead tiredly.

“Flash, that’s fucking stupid.”. Flash shrugged, as if say ‘what can you do?’ He set a hand on Amon’s shoulder, giving his friend an aggrieved smile before saying his piece.

“I don’t make the rules, Amon. This has been going on for a long time,” Flash gave Amon a look of concern. “Look, do what you want, but if you date a preppy you keep it on the down low.”

Amon frowned, but Flash seems to be perfectly serious. This was so incredibly stupid he was having a hard time believing it. He hadn’t thought Flash was the kind of guy to let a prejudice like this control his actions.

“Look, Flash, Lemon is-” Amon was cut off by an exaggerated yelp from Flash. Hopping backwards, Flash waved him off in an almost comically overblown fashion.

“No names! Plausible Deniability! I know Natheeeeng!” Amon looked on, stunned into silence as Flash scampered out of the shower room, hands over his ears. He stood there for a few moments.

“...You’re a strange guy, Flash.” Amon muttered, then chuckled at his friend’s antics. It didn’t take long for the moment of levity to fade, though, and Amon’s mood again darkened as he contemplated what Flash told him.

“Bullshit…” Amon shook his head, walked back out into the locker room and grabbed a towel to dry off. He slowly changed into street clothes and left the gym. He walked across campus, waved absently to a few friends who apparently thought it was best to leave him to it after they saw the look on his face, and managed to lose himself in thought again.

He wasn’t sure what to think. Would his friends really disapprove of a girl he liked just because she went to Crystal Prep? He thought the answer might actually be yes, which was a bit sobering.

Amon was having a hard time believing that something so stupid could influence people, but a nagging voice in his head reminded him that far stupider things had caused far worse.

Mulling these thoughts over as he made his way to the bus terminal, he noted that it had just pulled up.

“Well, fuck all that, I like who I like.” Amon said to himself as he stepped onto the bus. He blinked, surprised by his choice of words. ‘Wait, I don’t even know this girl, and now I like her? I think I might be counting my chickens a bit before they hatch...

“Funny, that, so do I.” Amon’s head jerked up at the familiar voice, then he felt arms slide around his neck. He was jerked sideways into a seat, the arms settling into a firm headlock. Too surprised to even struggle, and still a bit unsure of where he stood, his reply to the assault was understandably lame.

“Um, hi again, Lemon…” Amon tried halfheartedly to break the hold, but lemon’s grip was solid. She had him. He felt legs wrap around his waist, and looked down to see that Lemon had locked her ankles around him. He tried to swallow the lump he suddenly found in his throat with little success.

“Comfy? Good,” Lemon moved on without waiting for a reply. “So, what the hell was the big idea of sicking that Silverback on me this morning, dude?” Amon blinked, wracked his brain for a few moments, and came up empty. What was she even going on about?

“Uh, Silverback? What are you talking about?” He let out a slight wince as Lemon adjusted her grip, her arm tightening slightly around his throat, and stilled.

“The freakishly strong gorilla-woman with the grey hair?” Amon thought this over for a few seconds, then suddenly burst out laughing. Lemon shifted around behind him again, but her grip didn’t tighten.

“Dude, interrogation here? You’re totally ruining the ambiance!” Amon could hear the pout in her voice and tried to stifle his laughter, but it was impossible at this point as visions of a gorilla sipping tea and playing a cello ran through his mind.

“Sorry, sorry, just, picturing Octavia as a gorilla struck me as hilarious. She’s so prim and proper, it’s like a total dichotomy.” Amon managed to quiet his chuckles finally, just as Lemon relaxed her headlock on him. She let her arms fall over his shoulders and crossed them over his chest. Amon gulped, feeling like the situation had suddenly gone from tense to strangely intimate.

“Well, she didn’t seem all prim and proper when she bodily picked me up and shoved me around like a kindergartener…” Lemon groused, shifting against his back irritably. “So that’s Octavia…” Amon heard, although given the softness of her voice, he wasn’t sure if she’d meant for him to. Filing that away, Amon decided to try to explain as best he could.

“She thought you were trying to kick my ass. I thought you were trying to kick my ass, at least at first.” Amon heard Lemon scoff.

“For calling me cute? What kind of girls are you hanging out with, Amon?” Amon froze as he felt Lemon rest her chin on his collarbone. He glanced over to see her smirking at him, bright yellow eyes cheekily peering into his own, and his cheeks colored slightly. He shrugs uncomfortably, fleeting thoughts of Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Vinyl Scratch running through his mind’s eye.

“Err, I guess I run with a rough crowd?” Lemon raised an eyebrow at this, but let it pass.

“Right, well, let’s put all that behind us and get to the good stuff. You’re cute, Amon.” He freezes as she playfully licks his cheek. ‘What. The. Hell…’ She chuckled at the blank expression he gave her, and he felt her press a bit more firmly into his back.

“Um, thanks Lemon, I think you’re interesting, too,” Panic robbed him of any eloquence as he felt her shift around behind him, her arms pulling until he felt himself lean back into her slightly. “I mean, I’m interested in you. Uh, that’s, I mean…”

Amon trailed off embarrassedly. He feared the more he opened his mouth the deeper a hole he was going to dig himself. Lemon seemed to have other ideas, however, and hugged him closer to her as her back bumped into the window behind her.

“Hmm, hmm, I’m interesting and you’re interested, eh? Well, you sure know how to cut right to the chase, don’t you dude?” Lemon chuckled into his neck. ‘Sultry. That’s the word,’ Amon thought to himself. His cheeks burst into flames, or so it seemed to him anyway, as he finally recognized the promises behind that laugh. He tried to put on a casual attitude, but he had a feeling the hands crossed over his heart could feel just how fast it was beating.

“Sorry about this morning, Lemon. I kinda panicked.” Amon fidgeted a little. Not that this wasn’t kind of awesome, but it was going kind of fast. He sat up straight as Lemon suddenly nibbled on his collarbone. ‘Whoa, that’s nice.’ Amon’s brain was going a little sideways. He was slowly coming to grips with the fact that there was a girl wrapped around him, nibbling.

“Apology totally accepted, Amon. So?” Amon glanced back at Lemon, that glint of mischief still twinkling in her eyes. She looked back at him expectantly, a smile on her lips as she cocked her head.

“Um, so, what?” Lemon blinked at him, then rolled her eyes in exasperation.

“So, how long is it going to take you to ask me out? Kinda putting myself way out here, dude.” Amon mentally slapped himself. He could see the shade of doubt that lurked behind her confidant grin now that he was looking for it.

"Friday, sixth street, five o'clock, there's a movie marathon at the Grande. Old Sci-fi stuff. Gattaca, The Black Hole, 2001, that kind of thing. Sound fun?" Lemon nodded, and her smile bloomed as she gave Amon a peck on the cheek.

“That sounds great, Amon, but that’s three whole days away. What are you doing, like, right now?” He gulped as Lemon’s legs squeezed him just a bit tighter. His mind seemed to catch on fire as her hands started rubbing his chest lightly.

“Nothing important at all!” Amon practically shouted, drawing a few more looks from the other bus passengers. He was suddenly aware that while most had been pointedly ignoring them, a few kids from Ponyville High seemed to have noticed Lemon’s uniform. Amon thanked his lucky stars that he had decided to change into street clothes instead of back into his uniform. He was still pretty new at the school, and while he recognizes one or two of the Ponyville kids, he didn’t see that same spark of recognition from them.

“Actually, getting off this bus right now is what I’m doing. Care to join me?” Lemon shrugged and unwrapped herself from around Amon.

“Sure thing, dude.” He turned to face her, only to see her face inches from his, and getting closer.

Amon’s eyes widened slightly before he moved in to meet her.