Title: Oh, The Other Tucker
Fandom: John Tucker Must Die
Pairing: Scott/Kate
Challenge/Prompt: 100_women, 013. Laughter
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2315
Genre: Het
Summary: “Should I be worried? Do you have projects to mash the entire Tucker family into little pieces?”
Author’s Notes: One of my many weaknesses, dear readers, is for bad American teen movies, so of course when I found out Penn Badgley was in John Tucker Must Die and then watched clips on youtube and then bought the DVD for £5 from Asda, I kind of inevitably found myself wanting to write this. I know. Believe me, I know it’s wrong, I just couldn’t help it. I love bad American teen movies! They make me happy. And then I’ll go back to writing proper fandoms and things. Plus Penn’s long hair is… yummy.



Scott’s eyes are dark with amusement, which is probably a relief since he’s got copper sulphate solution all over his t-shirt and accident prone doesn’t even begin to cover it.

“I guess I’m a sucky lab partner, aren’t I?” he murmurs.

Kate shrugs. “You haven’t burned off any of my appendages,” she points out. “You get points for that.”

“Semester’s not over yet,” Scott reminds her, taking a step back from the experiment. “And really, I think most of the guys here would lynch me if I set any bits of you on fire.”

That’s a first for her, of course, but Kate’s not about to point that out. It’s never sensible to say well, actually, I’m kind of a loser to people, especially not guys with kind of crinkly smiles.

“We don’t even have Bunsen burners today,” she says instead.

“Doesn’t make a whole lot of difference,” Scott grins, and Kate has to turn away now in order to get some work done, or they’ll both end up flunking, and she doesn’t think but he has a really distracting smile is going to cut it with their teacher.

~

“How was Shop?” Kate asks as Scott passes her in the hall, giving her a friendly nudge with his shoulder as he does so.

“Well…” he draws it out, dark eyebrows already quirked at a self-deprecating angle, “I think I’m now on Alex’s top ten list of People Who I Will Never Go Near Again.”

“You’re lying,” Kate replies, grinning too wide and not caring. “Seriously, if you’re as bad as you say you are they wouldn’t even let you in the classroom!”

Scott considers this. “I think it would be better if they banned me,” he agrees. “But anyway. Alex has band-aids and my project is kind of in pieces and really, none of it’s my fault.”

Scott Tucker just seems to wander through the school causing accidents in a blameless sort of way while everyone drops their panties for his brother, and Kate wonders if maybe her mom just should’ve moved them while they had the chance. Still, she finds herself laughing anyway, Scott’s arm warm against hers.

~

“I have got the best new camera,” Carrie exclaims at lunch. She looks worryingly excited, and Kate really hopes that Heather or Beth are trying to get dates because she’s really had enough of this. She knows that she’s still not really experienced in this area, but she’s sure that some teenagers must manage to go out with other teenagers without having their every move documented by cameras tucked into their underwear.

“Ooh, project!” coo Heather and Beth, leaning forward eagerly. Kate instinctively folds her arms across her chest, doing her best not to look too terrified.

“I’ve been making a list of ways we can get you Scott Tucker,” Carrie continues brightly, reaching into her bag for her laptop. “A couple of weeks at most and we can have you two as the school’s cutest new couple.”

“That’s really… sweet,” Kate manages, a helpless note creeping into her voice, “But I was just gonna, you know… wait.”

The other three girls look at her in a disappointed fashion, and Kate feels like maybe she should remind them that she’s not actually a puppet and also they can have lives of their own now they’ve sorted out the whole John Tucker thing. They can date their own people. They no longer need to live vicariously through her.

“No offence,” Heather begins, “But the other Tucker seems a bit, you know… clueless.”

“Waiting’s boring,” chips in Beth. “Let’s get you to the fun bit.”

“Scott’s just a guy,” Kate points out. “I don’t think I’m going to need a complex plan. I think it’ll just… be ok.”

Her friends sigh, but they at least seem to be placated. For the moment.

~

“Carrie’s been following me around with her camera recently,” Scott mentions when they’re poring over their textbook. “Should I be worried? Do you have projects to mash the entire Tucker family into little pieces?”

“Yes,” Kate deadpans. “Well, not just you guys. I’m planning to get through most of the guys in our class by the end of the year. It’s a new show for MTV. They were going to get Ashton to do it, but, well, I’m prettier.”

She flashes him a grin. Scott shakes his head.

“Can I flick this at you?” he asks, pointing at the blue solution sitting in a beaker beside them. “Or is it going to burn and horribly disfigure you?”

Kate gives him a pitying look. “How did you manage in chemistry without me?” she asks.

~

“Do you need a ride?” Scott offers casually, looking gallant as Kate struggles with a pile of books. The other students swarm around them, all of them trying to get home, a few tossing envious looks in Kate’s direction. Really, Scott’s a secret hottie, only he hasn’t noticed yet. It’s kind of sweet.

“If it’s not going to be a problem…” Kate replies gratefully, as Scott relieves her of some books and they begin to walk towards the parking lot. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” Scott winks at her. “It’s not often I get to play the knight in shining armour; mostly I’m the shit, I’ve screwed something else up guy.”

“You cannot be bad at everything,” Kate says reasonably.

“Wanna bet?”

Scott’s car is decent, but not an intimidating truck like John’s, and he helps her dump all her things on the backseat. Kate has a sudden flashback to sitting anxiously in John’s truck with Beth attempting to teach her how to give someone a goodnight kiss, and almost laughs aloud. Then she glances at Scott, his long eyelashes casting shadows on his cheeks, and her stomach twists.

They end up singing loudly along to Elvis Costello all the way, which is fun, and they’re both laughing almost uncontrollably by the time Scott pulls up at her house. Kate glances at him when he cuts the engine, feeling momentarily awkward, her mouth going dry.

“Well,” she manages, “You’re not a bad singer.”

Scott laughs. “I might tell Alex that, if he decides he wants to talk to me again.”

“Singing doesn’t involve much fire,” Kate points out. “Maybe you could go for that.”

“I’m sure I could set people alight anyway,” Scott shrugs, giving her a big, cheesy grin. “I’m just that kind of guy.”

Kate fumbles with her seatbelt. “I’d better get inside,” she says.

“Yeah. See you tomorrow,” Scott tells her, leaning around to help her get her stuff out of the back.

Kate doesn’t glance back when she heads quickly up to her front door, and therefore misses him smacking the steering wheel in frustration.

~

“Do you want my plan yet?” Carrie asks.

Heather is toying with a tiny little camera that Kate suspects clips somewhere onto her underwear, and she grimaces.

“I can get Scott without you all following me around and attaching surveillance devices to my clothes,” she says.

Her friends don’t look exactly doubtful, but there’s an edge of uncertainty on their faces. Kate thinks that the power just went to their heads; getting to control an entire relationship does give you a certain rush. She resists the urge to say something like you all need to get laid, because she’s not the kind of girl who says thinks like that, and also Beth probably doesn’t need to get laid any more. She should probably lay off the whole sex thing, actually.

“We’re just trying to make everything more fun for you,” Heather insists earnestly.

“And you and Scott would be so adorable,” Carrie agrees.

“Maybe if we did something to his hair,” Beth murmurs, but she’s smiling.

“Really,” Kate promises, “It’s ok. I don’t need a whole plan of attack thing.”

She swears her friends look disappointed.

~

“Can I ask you something?”

Scott shrugs. “Go ahead. As long as it’s not ‘how can I crush your brother again; I don’t think I got all the fine details right last time’.”

“I had him scaling a hotel in a thong,” Kate points out. “I’m not sure even you could come up with something more creative.”

“And that’s a mental image I don’t need,” Scott groans. “What’s your question?”

“I hear they have a pretty good music scene around here,” Kate says carefully. “Have you heard about any good shows?”

Scott narrows his eyes at her; he looks a little embarrassed and awkward, like he does when she presses too close during experiments.

“You remember me babbling like an idiot?” he asks, looking slightly stunned.

“Yep.” Kate nods gravely, but her lips are twitching.

“But John sent you flowers. Lots of flowers. They should have distracted you!” Scott is still embarrassed, and yep; it’s still impossibly cute.

“What can I say?” Kate shrugs. “I found the inane babbling more interesting than the flowers.”

She thinks Scott might be blushing; he certainly seems grateful when the bell rings.

~

“Look,” Scott says later, cornering her by her locker, “I was doing it badly, but I was asking you out. I wasn’t just mentioning music in a random and stupid way.”

“I know,” Kate replies. “And then the next time I talked to you you ditched me and got a new lab partner, and the time after that you called me a bitch.”

“I didn’t call you a bitch,” Scott protests. “I mean, it was kind of implied, but you should remember that that’s your word and not mine.”

“It’s ok,” Kate smiles. “I was being a bitch.”

“And dating my brother,” Scott adds.

“I wasn’t really dating him,” Kate replies. “I mean, I had a camera down my bra half the time, which tends to ruin the atmosphere just a little.”

Scott raises his eyebrows, and Kate realises that she’s just said the word ‘bra’ in front of the boy she has a crush on and, well, now she’s flushing.

“Do you have a camera down there now?” he asks, looking amused.

When she was kind-of-dating John, Kate might have offered to let him check – while, of course, never letting him anywhere near her cleavage – but this isn’t her game any more.

“Nah,” she tells him, “My days of letting Carrie tape electrical equipment to me are over. Especially since that time I got an electric shock.”

“John did mention that,” Scott says, sounding bemused. “I didn’t realise he meant literally.”

“Is there anyone your brother doesn’t brag to?” Kate asks helplessly, cheeks feeling hotter than ever. Scott ignores her.

“So that’s why you let me be your lab partner,” he says, “I mean, your friends have already electrocuted you, whatever I do is gonna look kind of tame.”

Kate smiles a little anxiously. “Are you asking me out here?” she asks. “I’m confused now.”

“You’re the one who brought up your underwear,” Scott points out, with a flirtatious look in his eyes that makes her heart beat far too fast. “And no. Not right now. But I’m working on it.”

Right. Kate nods and tries to look slightly sane, while being seriously tempted to ring up Carrie and find out exactly what her scheme for getting Scott is, because it can’t be more complicated than Scott himself.

~

For the next two days, Scott avoids her. He’s perfunctory in chemistry and doesn’t seem to bump into her in the corridors. Kate is getting to the point where she is tempted to just go up to John and insist that he tell her how the hell she’s meant to get into his brother’s mind. After all, it seems to happen often enough the other way around.

“I’m telling you,” Carrie pushes, “The new and improved boob-cam won’t electrocute you no matter how drenched it gets.”

“I’m not planning on getting soaked again,” Kate replies. “And I don’t need the boob-cam.”

“Uh-huh.” Heather looks sceptical, folding her arms. “I’m telling you, Scott Tucker wouldn’t know how to ask a girl out if she tied him down and held up flashcards.”

“Oh my God!” Beth squeals excitedly. “If we waited until the audio room was empty-”

“No!” Kate says desperately. “We’re not doing that!”

Carrie has gone suspiciously quiet, but from the rate of her typing she seems to be adding tying up Scott Tucker and holding flashcards in front of him to her list. It’s not reassuring.

~

“My brother’s the one with the words,” Scott finally tells her. The corridors are emptying and they should probably be getting to chemistry and Kate doesn’t care. “He’s the one with the I’ll-take-girls-on-my-boat and the charm and he can get dates by snapping his fingers and I’m not… that’s not… I’m not him,” he finishes finally.

He’s not, and it’s a relief. Kate smiles slightly, because Scott seems to be on the point of imploding, and really, that would suck. Kate supposes that he’s trying to live up to his brother’s legacy, which is sweet and also stupid because he doesn’t need to.

“I want you to want me,” she tells him easily, managing to make eye contact and keep it. And really, if Cheap Trick can’t fix this for her then nothing can.

Scott’s mouth curls into that almost irresistible smile and he leans a little closer.

“Are you going to electrocute me?” he whispers.

“I hope not,” Kate replies softly. She tips her head one way and he tips his the other and they manage not to bang their foreheads together awkwardly or set off the sprinkler system when he finally kisses her. And he doesn’t kiss anything like his brother.

“There,” she says when they pull apart, “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“Nothing’s on fire,” Scott agrees, “I’d count it as a success.”

He grins, and their fingers lace easily together. Kate thinks that, well, this might just work out after all.