Hello readers,

Here is my return from a long hiatus of fic writing. Daria is a favorite show of mine that I have been anxious to write for and the inspiration finally came after so long. I am writing while working full time and in my senior year of college so updates may go from weekly to a monthly basis. I have posted the prologue and first chapter for your pleasure. Thanks and enjoy. If you have questions, comments etc. feel free to message me and reviews are always appreciated.

Dammit Daria

Prologue

That Post-Grad Pizza Belly

Jane glanced up at a banner Trent had hung in their kitchen that read, "Class of 2002", she snorted at the gesture as she walked through the empty space. Aside from their humble furnishings and a few empty beer bottles on the table there was no presence in the room. She went down the hall to find him sleeping into the afternoon. He was in nothing but his boxers and he lay curled up into his side. She went to the other end of the hall where her room was and found Daria sitting on the bed. Daria's body sank between two heaps of blankets and a nested pile of clean laundry. Jane smirked at her as she narrowed knowing eyes towards her confidant. Daria's skin crawled at her best friend's piercing stare. Daria blanched and shrugged her shoulders with her usual groan.

"So what now?" Jane asked.

Daria groaned again.

"I see that your breakup with Tom has left you plenty of free time."

"How perceptive of you but it might also be that we just finished escaping hell." Daria replied.

"How's the head? I've never seen you stay up that late before."

Daria itched her nose and put her glasses on. Jane quirked a smile as she watched the girl wiggle her toes against the bottom of the bed.

"Want to go get some pizza?" Jane asked.

"I'm a bit queasy still but sure." Daria said with a reserved yawn.

"Here," Jane offered, dropping Daria's boot in front of her followed by her signature green jacket.

Daria grunted as she slumped down to pull her shoes on and Jane helped her into her jacket.

"All that cheese and grease will take care of the hangover." Jane said as she also got ready to leave the house. Jane drove them to Pizza King after she borrowed the keys from Trent. The two gathered into their usual booth and exchanged words about the impending future of their post-graduation lives.

"You're getting soft around the edges, Morgendorffer." Jane said from across the table.

"Maybe and maybe you've got glaucoma." Daria grumbled back to her as they raised their sodas in a toast to honor the end of a long road.

"To College. I can't wait. What do you think we'll find when we get there?"

"Hmm. That the students are shockingly ignorant, the professors self-centered and
corrupt, and the entire system geared soley to the pursuit of funding?"

"Hmmm, yes. You know that thing I said about you getting soft?"

"Yeah?"

"I take it back."

The pair traded smirks and slurped up the remainder of their drinks. Jane saw Daria turn her head out towards the window and her eyes trailed up and down Daria's jawbone. She admired how strong it looked and blushed when Daria caught her staring.

"Is there sauce on my face?" Daria asked.

"Ugh, no." Jane coughed as she looked away a moment.

Daria arched an eyebrow at her and nodded, "Wanna go back to your place?" Daria asked.

"Not eager to see your parents?" Jane chuckled.

"Not really." Daria claimed.

"Or is there another reason?" Jane quizzed as she got up out of the booth. Daria's face began to flush but she hid it by covering a hand over it. She hiccuped when Jane kept looking her way. Daria drove them back in Trent's car and they pulled into the driveway in silence. Jane was the first to go inside and found Trent guzzling Pop Tarts down with black coffee.

"Hey Janey." Trent greeted with a gentle smile.

"Thanks for the decorative touch," Jane answered, pointing up to the banner.

"Where's Daria?" he asked as he took another bite of Pop Tarts.

"She's coming in from the car." Jane shrugged as she poured herself some coffee in a chipped mug. Daria entered and Jane poured her a cup as well, handing it to her. They both sat down by Trent and everyone sipped their in the quiet stillness of the late afternoon. After that Trent got up to go play guitar and Jane took Daria out to the backyard.

"Cloud watching again?" Daria asked.

"Yeah help me find one to paint." Jane said as they laid down in the grass. On their backs they spread out with their arms and legs outstretched. Jane pointed up at a fluffy white cloud and Daria snorted at it, "Too cheery."

"There's one that looks like a kidney." Jane said.

"I'm thinking more uterus."

"I agree, what about that one?"

"The one that looks like a trailing intestine?"

"Yeah, that sounds good."

"Will you depict it fleshy pink or decrepit with rot?" Daria asked as her finger traced the outline of it.

"Fleshy and pink?" Jane said with intrigue as she rolled closer to Daria, "What made you think of that healthy condition."

"Um..." Daria blushed at the question and muttered, "nothing."

"That's hard to believe your mind is always churning something out."

"Uh, I don't know what you're talking about."

The afternoon lulled into a sunset as the day ended and the pair trailed back into the house. Jane painted at her easel while Daria laid on the bed watching TV.

"Glow-in-the-dark collectible kidney stones in a bottle in the arid downtown booth of the Scottsdale Art Fest! Next on Sick, Sad, World!" the TV blared at Daria's zombified face. Jane peeked over at Daria who had her chin propped up on her hands as her elbows rested against the top of the bed. She kicked her boots back and forth behind herself.

Jane mixed fleshy colors to paint over her pencil draft on the canvas of an intestine with tentacles devouring a skeletal woman. The paint squished around beneath her palette knife and Daria rolled over onto her back. Jane watched her and in the blank corner of the canvas she began to absentmindedly draw her below the skeletal woman.

After a few hours the wet acrylic paint was laid into the canvas. Daria yawned and got up from the bed to see what Jane was crafting up and her eyes widened when she saw the drawing of her in the corner of the painting. Her painted representation was laying on a stormy cloud wearing a sheer black dress and hooded veil. Beneath the sheer material Daria could see the slight curves of her nude form.

"I don't recall that being in my closet." Daria blurted out as she kept looking at the art. Jane nearly dropped her palette once she heard Daria's comment. Her cheeks flushed as she put her hands up to cover the Daria like figure.

"Wait," Daria said to an embarrassed Jane, "I was still looking at it."

"Oh, uh okay." Jane muttered.

Daria's eyes went back and forth across the canvas as she drank in all the details. She narrowed her eyes at the trailing intestines to the skeletal woman that had a striking resemblance to Jane. She perked her head to the side and made a sidelong glance towards her best friend.

"Why am I off to the side while you're being consumed?" Daria asked.

Jane licked her lips with apprehension and made a sharp inhale as she stared down at a wet brush. She wiped the bristles with a paint stained rag and wiped her hands against the front of her smock. Daria came closer as she noticed Jane's face become redder. They both looked down at their feet and then up at each other. Daria stared back over at the painting until Jane took off her smock and said, "I have something for you."

Daria observed Jane walk over to her bed and pull a gift box out from under her bed. It was a plain white box with no wrapping paper. She pushed the box into Daria's awkward arms and Daria gave her a lopsided smile. She pried the top off the box and pulled back the tissue paper to reveal a brand new black hooded sweatshirt with brass buttons down the front. The material was a thick woven canvas and it had deep pockets with zippers. She noticed he hood could be snapped on or off by clasps as she pulled it all the way out of the tissue and dropped the box onto the floor. She held it up in the light and then looked to Jane.

"Happy escape from hell," Jane offered with a grin, "It gets cold in Boston and I noticed your favorite jacket is getting worn out."

Daria took off her green jacket and gave the new garment a try. It was lined with soft cotton and she hugged it against her body as she crossed her arms over herself.

"I'm glad you like it." Jane said as she changed her shirt. Daria glanced over at Jane's back and saw the straps of her red bra before she put on a clean black tee-shirt. She tossed the one that had paint on it in the hamper nearby.

"What's got you all red?" Jane asked mildly as she walked towards Daria who cupped her hands over her face with the sleeves of her gift. Jane faced her square on and met her eyes. The best friends lingered in each other's presence and Jane noticed a stray bang hovering over Daria's glasses. She reached up to brush it out of the way until Daria flinched. Jane ran a hand through her hair and gulped on the lump she felt in her throat. Daria blinked a few times as she lowered her hands.

Jane inhaled deeply as she took inventory of Daria's soft features. As if on autopilot the two walked towards Jane's bed and shoved the blankets aside. Jane was the first to sit down on the wrinkled beige sheets that had been hidden beneath. Jane watched as Daria ran her hands over the top of the sheets, smoothing the folds caused by wrinkles. Jane sighed as she took a seat next to her best friend and relished in the fact that she was more than an arm's reach within her. It was quite rare for Daria to allow anyone to be in such close proximity of herself. Jane was honored to be the most trusted being in this girl's life and was contented by the fact that they needed no words about it between them. They could feel this trust branch between them with its rooting taken in the comfortable silence.

Daria looked her way and with pensive eyes she dared to gaze at Jane's bright blue ones. The dim light bulb from above caught the honey flecked centers of Daria's dark brown eyes. They both swallowed hard as they stared at one another, refusing to break away.

"So what now?" Jane whispered.

"There's a few weeks until Boston." Daria murmured as she witnessed Jane's face fold down from the tops of her brows to the dimples in her cheeks. Jane's chest fell with the raspy inhale of a sigh and her eyes closed. Daria saw a dramatic change in Jane's posture as her body noodled towards Daria's. Daria pulled away when she felt Jane's warmth coming towards her, causing her to flush from ear to ear with many shades of red. Daria's defenses puddled around her as Jane's limp body pooled towards her with the raven-haired girl's head now against against her slight chest.

"I'm going to do it." Jane said as the words dripped from her barely audible tongue.

Daria raised her brows and asked, "What is that exactly?"

"I have one more graduation gift."

"Oh?"

Jane clasped Daria's hands in her own and pulled them into her lap. Daria blushed at the gesture but gave no resistance as she was lowered to the bed on her back. Jane's shaggy mane of black hair cascaded over Daria's face like a curtain as they lay face to face with Jane's body on top. Jane's lips were barely within reach of Daria's as the two inched closer. Daria urged more physical contact from Jane as she opened up her arms against the mattress.

Daria's eyes bugged out of her skull as Jane moved in so close that the tips of their noses touched. A lock of Jane's hair brushed against Daria's cheek. Jane grasped Daria's hands even tighter as Daria's fingers wriggled beneath her grip against the sheets. She felt the hot breath of a tigress above her and she shuddered beneath it. Jane smirked at the reaction and kissed Daria.

They squeezed hands and Jane said, "Dammit Daria you're so beautiful," between mouthy helpings of kisses. Daria's heart drummed against her ribs as she replied, "you're easy to look at yourself."