Recently I moved across state lines, and before I left I asked my tumblr followers if they would give me some writing prompts for me to work on during the long drive (we clocked in at 2400 miles, incase anyone's curious…). I got some wonderful suggestions, and I'm sorry I wasn't able to get more of them done while I was in the car. But I still have the list, and I plan on working through them in between updating Among The Stars.

This one was requested by WingsofGossamer on tumblr (seriously, go check her out, she's an amazing artist, incredibly sweet, and a very dear friend of mine). This is her favorite 80's song, and one of mine as well. I hope you like it!

Modern AU

Easily Distracted

Jack said she was "easily distracted," and that it could be both frustrating and cute in turn. Toothiana was well aware that others were not so kind, or endeared. She really didn't understand why Jack was dating her, of all the girls who would happily have taken her place. But they were dating (one years, two months, and one week as of next Tuesday). He hadn't even taken any coaxing when she had asked him to help her move into her new apartment. She suspected he was just glad she was leaving her old building.

Which brought her back to the fact that she was easily distracted. Especially when it came to packing. (And Jack probably much closer to the "frustrating" part than the "cute" part at the moment). It was why her mother had packed for her when she had left for college. She always got caught up in something – reminiscing over some knickknack, or debating how to pack something that probably wasn't as fragile as she convinced herself it was.

When Jack left to go get a shipping tube to protect all her posters during the move (something she had forgotten in all her runs to the UPS store for boxes), he had asked her to pack the things on one of her shelves while he was gone.

He was due back any minute… and the shelf wasn't even half packed.

She cringed as she looked over the books, papers, odds and ends. Packing should have been simple, but she really had no idea where to start.

But she had told him she would pack the shelf, so she would do her best. She went over to the stereo, turning up the volume in the hope it would help her get to work.

She got the bunch of books neatly lined up in one of the boxes by the time the song ended, and couldn't resist a fist pump. Small accomplishments were better than no accomplishments.

Turning back to the shelf, she reached for the frame that held a picture of her and her four younger sisters, forcing herself to wrap it in a towel and set it in another box without dwelling on it. As she set it down against the cardboard a familiar, synthesized beat came over the stereo.

Her head bobbed to the rapid beat, eyes closing as the music spread through her veins, taking over. Packing forgotten, her hands started a snap and clap rhythm to the distinct beat of the Sweet Dreams by The Eurythmics. Her hips started to sway, and she bounced on the balls of her feet.

#

Jack swung his key ring around his finger as he took the stairs two at a time up to Toothiana's third floor apartment. The stairs, because the elevator was broken. Again. Hence his reason why he would endure a day of redirecting Toothiana back to the task at hand so she could move into an apartment where he wouldn't lose so much sleep over her safety. He would still lose sleep over it (as often as she tripped over her own feet, he loved her too much not to worry), but now it would be worry about if she forgot to turn the stove off, rather than if she was mugged on her way home from work or classes. He had not been the type to worry this much before he met her.

When he had agreed to help her move he had known it probably wouldn't be easy (he knew his girlfriend too well). But he hadn't realized just how involved it would become. This had been his third trip to pick up something he couldn't figure out how to substitute. The first had been Windex, the second time for more boxes. Now a shipping tube. When she got hungry – and he knew she would, because those granola bars would not hold her over forever no matter what she said – he was not going anywhere. They could order Chinese delivery like any sane couple.

Otherwise they might never finish packing. And she was determined to get her cleaning deposit back, which would mean a thorough cleaning. He had come to the realization he probably wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight.

He loved Tooth. He really did. Her penchant for distraction could drive him up a wall; but he had made the conscious decision that a relationship with her was worth learning to deal with her eccentricities.

He reached the third floor and started down the hallway. As he got closer to the door he flicked through his key ring for his copy of her key. When he had left he had locked the door… but he doubted that was still the case.

Heaven help him – he would sleep so much better when she was in a safer neighborhood.

Sure enough, the doorknob turned under his hand, letting him in without resistance. He would have to ask if she had an aversion to locks, or if she really just didn't think of it. As soon as he stepped inside he heard the stereo in the bedroom producing a familiar down beat, backed by a synthetic melody. One of their favorite songs.

Shipping tube in hand, he headed back towards the bedroom. The door was already slightly open, and opened the rest of the way with a nudge.

Toothiana's eyes were closed, hands clapping to the beat, her body swaying to the rapid rhythm. (How could someone with almost no hand eye coordination, who tripped over her own feet, be such an amazing dancer? It baffled him.) When the vocals started, her timing was perfect.

Jack smirked, leaning his shoulder against the doorway to watch her. Her dark ponytail bounced with her movements, the jewel toned streaks shining in the bright afternoon sunlight spilling through the open window. The flash of the colored streaks in her hair, and the steady down beat, had a hypnotic affect. And her voice beat Anne Lennox, hands down.

#

Toothiana started on the second part – but stopped when she realized she was joined by a voice that wasn't her or Anne Lennox. It was unbelievable deep and smooth. She spun on her heel to look at her visitor, a cool, familiar hand taking hers as he continued to sing along with the music from the radio.

They had been dating more than a year, and she had never known Jack could sing. Dance, yes. Sing, no. And he was amazing at both. Of course.

He squeezed her hand, giving her a small nod. She understood, grinning as her body began to move to the beat again. Jack shadowed her movements.

The song ended too soon, giving way to some top 40 song she had already heard too many times. Toothiana pouted as he squeezed her hand, let go, and took a step back. He was too much of a gentleman to stand so close without a proper reason.

She watched him go back over to the door and pick up the shipping tube he had leaned against the wall.

"You take care of the posters, I'll pack the shelved," he said with a grin. "We have until tomorrow to get you out of here."

"One more dance?" she asked, doing her best to bat her eyelashes in an attempt to persuade him.

Jack stepped closer, a whisper away, fingers of his free hand skimming over hers as though debating whether to weave them together.

Toothiana met his steady blue gaze, and the whole force of that gaze stole the breath right from her lungs. For the thousandth time she wondered what cosmic clerical error had resulted in her being the one he was looking at with those blue, blue eyes and a tenderness she had started to think existed only in movies.

His hand glided back up her arm, to her shoulder. It sent a shiver down her spine, then another when he leaned down to press his lips against her forehead.

"When you're packed," he said. "Get your posters packed, then call The White Lotus and order dinner. My treat. If you eat one more granola bar I may have to throw up out of sympathy."

Toothiana giggled, accepting the shipping tube, and turning to take down the colorful posters that lined the bedroom wall.

My apologizes if it's terrible? I don't know. It sounded a lot better in my head?