Modern Gunderkeen AU

Friday Night

Halfborn's POV:
       It was Friday night and Floor 19 of Valhalla Apartments was going out for a fun night.
        I had finished my homework and and threw on a clean shirt before heading out to meet my friends.
       None of us got dressed up, but Mallory for some reason took my breath away when I saw her.
      Her hair was pulled up into a ballerina bun, it wasn't perfect. A few curls escaped around her ears, giving her almost a halo look. She wore green three-fourth sleeved shirt with some jeans and her worn converse.
      It took me a minute to think of what stopped me. Then it hit me, her hair was up. I had only ever seen her with her unruly hair down or tied into a messy ponytail at the nap of her neck.
      "What are you looking at, oaf?" The red-headed voice snapped me from my thoughts.
      "Um," I needed to think fast, "I thought you had peanut butter on your face." I came up with.
       "But I haven't had peanut butter in months." She said, quirking an eyebrow.
       Thankfully TJ came out, saving me from an uncomfortable conversation. "Let's get going guys!" He said, wearing a blue fedora with a plaid shirt. 
        "What's with the hat Jefferson?" I ask laughing at the little feather sticking out of it.
     "What? It's stylish." He said, tilting it to the side.
"You look like the Ken Barbie Doll." She says between laughs.
      "I didn't know you played with dolls Mack." TJ scoffs.
"I didn't," she claimed calmly, walking towards the elevator. "I set them on fire." Mallory then laughed manically.
       "You are truly scary." TJ mutters, straightening the hat.
        "Thank you." She says, laughing.
    We walk to a club nearby, the speakers were blasting some pop song that I didn't listen too. I mostly enjoyed the classics, like Mozart or heavy metal.
       Since we weren't 21, I was 19 and Mallory and TJ were 18, we ordered nachos and cokes instead of booze like the people around us.
      We laughed and stuffed nachos in our faces as people danced around us.
       Suddenly TJ's eyes light up.
"I love this song!" He then gets up and leaves to go dance, not before giving me a wink.
       "I hate Taylor Swift." Mal mutters, picking a mushroom off her chip.
"Me too." I say, eating said mushroom.
        "That's because you only like music from dead guys."
"The band members of "Cannibal Corpse" aren't dead."
"But they're dead inside with that deep throaty gaging they call singing." She then proceeded to make puking faces to get her point across.
       I just shrug and we watch TJ dance with some random girl. Not in a creepy way, but in a way that friends would.
       "That kid can make friends with anyone." I mutter.
"Kid? He's the same age as me." Mallory protests.
     "Exactly, you little brats."
"Very funny, old man. I'm seeing some grey in that beard of your's." She pulls my beard.
        We watch TJ for a bit until some girl starts talking to me. I recognized her from the library, her name was Annabeth and she would volunteer whenever she was in town.
        When I turned back to Mallory, she was dancing with some guy with dark hair. I began to fume.
     Just to spite her, I went up to some random girl on the dance floor and started dancing close to her.
        The girl was a bit tipsy and very friendly. Allowing me to dance with her and not pepper spray me. I saw TJ giving me weird looks, so I turned around and ignored him.
        Finally, the girl had to go, she gave me her number which I immediately threw away.
     I went to the bathroom to wash my face then saw Mallory and TJ at the bar. Keen was sitting in a stool, looking ready to pass out.
"Hey, Gunderson! Where were you?" TJ asks.
"I went to the bathroom, pervert." I say.
      "I think we are going to head out." TJ says. "I don't think Mal has been sleeping well." He adds.
        I glance at her dropping head. Sure enough, she had dark bags under her eyes, that looked as though it had been covered by makeup at one point.
      "Yeah, lets go home." I say, picking up Mallory piggyback style. She struggles at bit before falling asleep.
        "Man, what was that?" TJ asks after about a block of silence.
"What?"
"Flirting with those girls." He clarifies with a 'duh' tone.
     "Okay, I wasn't flirting with Annabeth, she's from work and has a boyfriend." I shift Mallory on my back, she was slightly drooling which was adorable.
         "And that other girl," I search for the words. "Was nothing. I don't plan on seeing her again."
      "Mallory danced with that one guy to make you jealous, he was gay." TJ says in a softer voice.
      "Very funny Jefferson. She may not like him, but I know she doesn't like me." I say, trying to keep a straight face. "Not that that bothers me at all."
       "Right." TJ replies skeptically.
      We get to the apartments, I carefully get Mallory's keys from her purse and unlock her door. I hear TJ going into his room behind me, muttering "goodnight."
    I walked in and glanced around her apartment.
      It was nicely furnished and was the same layout as mine. A small kitchen attached to the living room and dinning room, with a peninsula to divide it. A worn but clean looking couch, an old box television in the living room. A cheap bookshelf was in the corner filled with a few novels, with titles I couldn't read in the dark.
       I walked into the bedroom and laid her in the small bed pushed to the side of the room. There was a dresser on the other side of the room and a few items of clothing on the floor.
        I smiled as I placed the quilt over her, resisting the temptation to kiss her. I quietly shut the door and quickly leave. Making sure the door was locked behind me.
        I then went into my own apartment and turned in for the night. The smell of Mallory Keen still on my shirt.