Well, lookie here! Guess what I found? An old fanfic!

My awesome good buddy Hannah (who has an account on here too!) really anticipated the release of the Coraline movie. In preparation, she read the book, as did I, and we went together to one of the first showings. The book and the movie were very different, in my opinion, and both very good. This old fanfic I found consists of the movie universe, seeing as I love writing 'paring' fics for my own sick enjoyment. MUHAHAHAHA!!!

Eh-hem. The reason I went was because I love Nightmare Before Christmas, (the movies had the same director) and although the lack of Tim Burton is evident in the movie, it has very good merits- like the addition of Wybie. Now I can have some fun... Xb

Now, without a further movie-review, I present

Slugs and Snails, and Puppy-dog Tails

"Snail."

"Nah, slug."

"What? That is so a snail."

"Nope. Slug."

"No, it's not! It's a snail! See that swirly cloud there? That's its shell. Snail."

"Slug."

"How can you say that?!"

"That cloud of yours doesn't touch right. It's placed funny on it's back. It's a slug."

"Grr… He's just in a weird position. He's a snail, and that's final."

"…"

"…"

"…slug…"

"Grrrr!"

With a violent flip, Coraline, who had been laying next to Wybie on the grass, gazing up at the cotton clouds, rolled over onto him, forcefully pinning him to the ground. Her hands pushed hard against his shoulders, holding him to the dusty soil lawn of Pink Palace Apartments. Her friend cringed, curling in on himself as much as he could in the position he was in.

"Snail!" She yelled at him.

"Ok, ok! It's a snail!"

Coraline pursed her lips before letting out a soft sigh that ended in a dizzy smile. "You give up to easy." She said, rolling off him to flop back next to him, sprawling across the prickly grass, gazing at the sky.

"You're scary!" Wybie stuttered, pitifully trying to defend himself.

Coraline gave a halfhearted laugh, rolling on her side to look at him as his head also rolled to the side to match her gaze.

"Nah, you're just a wimp." Coraline teased, sticking her tongue out at him playfully.

Wybie pouted. "I'll stay with my first assumption." He muttered, turning back to scan the light blue above him.

"Which is…?" Coraline asked, sitting up a bit more.

He turned back to her with a coy look flashing across his eyes. "You're just plain crazy."

Smiling and gasping in mock shock, Coraline whacked him across the shoulder before bolting up for the ground and dashing away with a shout of "You're it!" trailing behind her.

Wybie, with a blank expression on his face, struggled awkwardly to his feet before tripping after her.

Coraline let a wispy laugh be lost to the wind as it whipped by her face. Without much thought on her part, she found herself rushing for the best climbing tree in the yard, Wybie gaining behind her.

He didn't look like much of a runner, but her could move when he wanted to. How many years had it been? Four? Five? They had both changed over the years. But not too much. Still at 16 and 17 they would play the same games that they had at twelve. Exploring, tag, hide-and-go-seek, cloud gazing. They still had a childish aspect stuck to their lives even though they were both driving now and worrying about things like college. Or, well, Wybie was driving; Coraline still only had her permit, as he loved to remind her of.

And as for that college thing, maybe she should rephrase that, as they should be worrying about college. They weren't. It wasn't real in their world. They hadn't aged a day since they first met in both their minds. They were stuck back in the days of laughing at knock-knock jokes and teachers with cooties.

They looked different. They both had gone through that most awkward age with each other. Coraline had rolled on the floor laughing for what seemed like hours when Wybie's voice kept cracking, and even harder when a few days later he had such a low voice it seemed like a speaker in his throat was saying things instead of Wybie himself.

Wybie, on the other hand, was more polite with Coraline's changes, I guess you could say. Or maybe just more oblivious to the fact that Coraline now had a bust line and curves. She was still thin in the extreme and wearing training and sports bras at 16, but it still didn't change the fact that her figure had completely re-vamped itself. She tried her best to hide these subtle differences with baggy sweatshirts and other loose articles of clothing. She felt like she had succeeded thus far.

A year and a half after having moved to Pink Palace, Coraline had reached her full and final height, like a normal person. She even stood a seeable distance above Wybie. But not for long. After Coraline stopped growing, Wybie's body seemed to decide that it was his turn. To this very day, Coraline didn't know weather Wybie was still growing or not. He towered over her 5ft. 2" at an intimidating 6ft. 6". (Coraline didn't think people could even get that tall!) Or at least, he would be, if he weren't constantly hunched over in a shy, protective way, as if he was expecting to be struck.

Wybie seemed to always be wound up tight that way. People talked of the boy who had something wrong with him, from the way he was, curled in on himself, stuttering, a bit shaky at times. Coraline couldn't stand how some people treated him. The looks they gave him. The things whispered about him. Her mother wasn't very happy with how many fights she had gotten into at school. Really, one bloody nose or black eye given or taken and her mother lost it.

Wybie was, in a word, awkward. Socially awkward, to be more exact. Like Coraline herself, he was a cast-out of society, part of what she liked to think of as the "fringe". Their friends (besides each other) were few and far between, all of them with at least one foot in their circle that was more of hexagon- just to be different.

Memories flashed past her in instants. She was the only one that Wybie seemed to feel safe with. The only one who he let see the more relaxed Wybie that she was used to, and had deemed the "true" Wybie.

Enough reminiscing, she told herself.

Her mind back in its place, Coraline sped up to leap up and hang on the lowest branch of the tree. She swung there for only an instant before she sucked in a deep breath and held it, using her upper body strength to pull her head up over the limb, curling her arms around it so that she now swung by her shoulders.

She was just about to hike a leg up to pull herself completely on to the limb and out of her chasing friend's grasp when suddenly, it was to late.

"Got'cha!" Wybie proclaimed as he wrapped both arms around her legs, holding her in place.

Coraline screeched in defeat and excitement, struggling to break free of his unusually strong grip. Wybie, thinking fast, flashed a devilish smile up at Coraline as the idea came to him.

Catching his look she breathlessly gasped, "What are you-?" But it, again, was to late.

She watched with growing horror as he slipped off one of her sneakers, letting it bounce on the ground once before it lay still, limp, and dead.

"No…" was all she could manage. One more brief look as a roguish smile flashed across his lips, and then it began.

He tickled her.

"DAAAMMMNNN YOOOU!!!" she guffawed in high-pitched screams of joy as his long, spider-like fingers danced across the sole of her foot. Her toes clenched and unclenched as her foot wiggled from side to side in his hand, but he held her firm. She kicked and yelped for him to stop, she pleaded, she begged for mercy. Why oh why did she ever let him find out her ticklish spot?

Weakness and desperation sapped her limbs strength. Suddenly she couldn't breath as she gasped in air that didn't seem to reach her lungs. A small jolt, a slip, and she watched in slow motion as she fell from the tree.

Her landing was soft.

His wasn't.

"Oof!" She released as she landed on him.

"OW!" He yelped as she landed on him

"Uuuh…" Coraline moaned as she oriented herself

"Uuuggg…"

Blinking her eyes a few times, all she could see was black. At least Wybie was soft enough. She didn't really feel too bruised anywhere, and she could hear his groans of pain, so he wasn't dead, always a good sign…

Then the sound stopped.

With sudden urgency, Coraline flashed opened her eyes, which faded slowly, agonizingly slowly, to give her visual senses again. Impatient, she again gave herself a check up. No rushing fluids, no aching pain, not even a headache. In fact, her face was cushioned against something quite comfortable….

Coraline watched as Wybie's face slowly came into focus. A sudden rush of fear. His eyes were wider then she had ever seen them, and a look of utter shock froze his face. Coraline tried to ask him if he was ok. Words didn't come though, for as soon as her lips started to form the words, something clicked as another pair moved along with hers.

His face was really close.

His breath was really warm.

His lips were really soft.

Coraline sucked in air for a scream as she pushed herself off him. No sound escaped her though. It was that same thing like when you climb all the way up the rollercoaster, dreading and dreading what's to come, but when it does, when you finally make that plunge, the shout gets stuck somewhere in your throat, and you ride down silently, wishing you could scream.

Instead, after a silence that expanded a few minuets she finally forced out the thought.

"Are- are you oh- okay?"

He just blinked at her, his face's expression not having changed since she first opened her eyes.

"W- …Wybie…?" She usually wasn't the one stuttering or struggling for words.

Wybie, again, just blinked. Coraline noticed that his eyes now looked unfocused and clouded. Unconsciously she leaned down a bit to look closer at him. That motion sure got his attention.

"Ah!" He sat up suddenly, flinging her off of himself. She scrambled to sit up before looking over at him. His eyes weren't unfocused anymore. They were sharp, and held something kin to fear in them as he stared at her.

"I'm…I'm fine…" He murmured, as if having just heard her question.

"O-oh…th-that's good…" Her eyes lost contact with his and she felt her face heat up, betraying her. Anger made her expression a scowl as she blushed, furious with herself. "Thanks for breaking my fall…"

"Huh?" Wybie responded, not really seeming to be paying attention to the present. "Oh, yeah…no problem…" His head swung to one side as his brow pulled together in worry. "I- I think I hear somebody calling me…"

Coraline sighed, suddenly losing her fury at everything and letting regret take her. He hadn't used that excuse in years. Coraline closed her eyes before woefully rising. "Right, Wybie…" she said in a less then believing tone. Turning after only a moment's hesitation at waiting for Wybie himself to struggle to his feet, Coraline turned and trudged back toward the apartments. "Bye Wybie."

He must have felt a little regret as he barley got his voice over normal volume to yell "Hey, Wait!"

Coraline stopped and turned only her head back to look at him with tried eyes.

Wybie had a hand stretched out that quickly curled its fingers in and then fell to his side. "S-see you tomorrow, then, right?"

The corner of her lips twitched before she replied "Yeah. Later Wybie." She then turned and continued back, the travel from her yard to her room uneventful.

Shutting her door and flopping onto her bed to lie on her back was done in one swift, familiar motion. Coraline released what she vowed to be her last sigh of the day as she finally let a part of her mind panic, let the confused emotions run though her. So strong and so passionate they were, and yet, she felt somehow detached. A single phrase kept replaying itself in her head.

Things can never be the same now, can they?

The innocence of their youth that they had been preserving for so long had in a single, accidental moment, left- and the world was a little bit poorer for it.

-----+----+---+---+----+-----

Now, don't think of this as a sad ending, the story has just begun! But the question is-

Will I continue it? In all likelyhood, no. Not unless I feel the love! Come on! Shout it in a reveiw if you want more! (please?) Each reveiwer gets a free cookie.

...

...love you...!