Just another OctaScratch fic

by The Batmane of equestria

Hangovers suck

Octavia woke to the rays of Celestia's sun peeking through the red curtains of her bedroom. She groaned in agony as her head throbbed due to a hangover. I just wanna sleep... she thought. WAIT. Red curtains? She quickly realised, she wasn't at home. She shrugged the covers off of her and trotted into what she presumed was the kitchen of the strange flat, her headache getting worse with each step. Need...Coffee...

In the kitchen stood a tired-looking white unicorn with an electric blue mane and light blue highlights with double eighth notes as her cutie-mark. "Good morning, sleeping beauty." she said. Seems friendly enough. Octavia thought. "Or should I say afternoon?" Or not...

Vinyl stood at the stove on her hind legs while using her hooves to cook a late breakfast, apparently not fazed by a hangover, which Octavia guessed was due to the fact that she was wearing her trademark amethyst-tinted sunglasses. Why does she wear them indoors.... "What happened last night?" Octavia asked, groaning as her headache intensified. Vinyl cracked an egg before emptying the contents into a pan with a satisfying sizzle. Vinyl faced her and gave her a knowing smile.

"What do you think happened?" Octavia blinked. She then fought against the headache to try to vaguely remember the events of last night.

"Well...we had a drink and talked... we got drunk..." Octavia remembered the night before where she met the DJ, A.K.A Vinyl Scratch. "I fell over onto you and we... kissed." She almost whispered that last part. Vinyl looked at her, slightly startled.

"I was kind of hoping you would have forgotten that last part, Tavi." Vinyl said sheepishly.

"Well, it... wait. Did you just call me Tavi?" Vinyl blushed and looked away. Unfortunately, she had white fur so it was clearly visible.

"I-I... I heard you say last night that... no-one has given you a nickname before so I thought... you know..." she trailed off. Octavia smiled.

"That's sweet." she said, her tone genuinely sympathetic. Vinyl's blush intensified. "Soooo..." Octavia said, not wishing to prolong the awkward silence. "Where exactly am I?"

"You're at my apartment." Vinyl stated.

"How did I end up here? Did I... Oh my Celestia I did, didn't I..." she was cut off by Vinyl's assertive tone.

"No. Nothing happened. You collapsed at the bar so I dragged you to my flat because I don't know where you lived, I tucked you in to my bed and slept on the sofa." She pointed to the scrunched-up blanket on the large sofa in front of the TV through the doorway.

"Oh..." Octavia said. Now it was her turn to hide an awkward blush. "Thank Celestia for that. Where is this apartment exactly?"

"Downtown Canterlot. Why?"

"That's near where I live."

"Well, that's a strange coincidence."

"Indeed." The two mares stood in silence, Vinyl dishing out a late breakfast. She grabbed the plates in her telekinesis and carried them into the living room. She placed them on the table and they ate in relative silence, the only noise coming from birds tweeting and the occasional scraping of a fork against a plate.

"So." Vinyl said.

"So." Octavia said.

"Why don't you tell me about yourself, Tavi?" Octavia looked up briefly and returned to her food.

"Oh, erm, I'm a cellist for the Royal Canterlot Orchestra." She remembered the phone call from the previous day, tears welling up in her eyes. "Well, I WAS, but I got fired for not being able to make one rehearsal." Her voice broke as she said this and she let out a few pitiful sobs. Vinyl, instantly regretting asking Octavia about her life, slung a hoof around her shoulder and held her in a tight, comforting hug as the grey mare wept into her fur. She gently stroked her mane with her free hoof, whispering sweet nothings into her ear. The sobbing continued for a few minutes.

Octavia finally calmed down and composed herself, her purple, bloodshot, puffy eyes on the verge of bursting again. "Better?" the DJ asked, genuine concern entering her usually carefree tone. Octavia simply nodded, afraid that she would cry again if she spoke.

"Sorry I cried." Octavia finally let out.

"No." Vinyl said. "No, no. It's my fault. I asked about your life. I didn't know. I'm so sorry."

"No it's fine." Octavia persisted. "Anyway," she said, wiping her eyes. "What about you?"

"I'm an aspiring DJ making it big in the Canterlot Club scene. It said so at the start of the story."

"What?"

"Nevermind. Anyway, at the moment, I can only afford this dump." She looked around the room, eyeing the junk spread around the floor. Octavia did likewise. After another minutes silence, Vinyl finally spoke. "So what were you going to say before anyway? You changed topics when you noticed that I called you 'Tavi'"

"Nothing!" Octavia said quickly. A little too quickly. Vinyl raised one of her eyebrows, the expression still evident beneath the glasses. She shrugged it off.

"OK." Another silence. Vinyl took the two empty plates back into the kitchen and sat back on the sofa, looking for something to do.

"Are we friends now?" Octavia asked. Vinyl was caught off guard.

"Uhh, yeah, sure, why not?" she responded.

"Cool." Yet another silence. They stayed like that, basking in the sounds of the early afternoon.

"I have another question." Vinyl said.

"Ok. What is it?" Octavia questioned.

"About before. When you thought that we had done... That. I speak from past experience when I say this, but only a fillyfooler would say that. I'm not implying that y..." she was cut off by Octavia sighing.

"It's true." she said bluntly. Vinyl gasped.

"What?"

"It's true." she said, on the brim of tears again. Her parents had disowned her for being a fillyfooler. She had had to make her way up on her own talents without her parents' infrastructure. Vinyl saw this and immediately hated herself for how she had reacted. She hugged her again.

"No. Don't cry. Whatever happened in the past is in the past. You've already cried me a river. Now you need to build a bridge and get over it." The pun made Octavia laugh. "There we go. You should laugh more. You're cute when you laugh." She clamped both of her hooves over her mouth when she realised what she had said, her eyes widening. This prompted her to laugh harder.

"You should see yourself!" Vinyl blushed harder. Finally, Octavia calmed down, her previous troubles completely forgotten. More silence.

"We keep having awkward silences this afternoon, don't we?" Vinyl chimed, recovering from her previous embarrassment.

"Yes." Even more silence.

"THERE!" Vinyl shouted, startling Octavia and making her yelp. "It happened again." More silence.

"I, umm, think I should go home now." Octavia said.

"Ok." Vinyl said dejectedly. "Wait!" she said. She burst into the kitchen and came back a few moments later with a piece of paper with a phone number on it. Octavia blushed. "Here." Vinyl said excitedly. "Call me if you wanna, you know, hang out sometime." She smiled. Octavia smiled back.

"Sure. I'll see you soon, then." Octavia left in a cheerful mood, not even registering the hangover now.

Comments

[Jay_Baker]

Cool

[Gems]

Ahhhh fourth wall, how I love to see ponies break you.