Written for the Taylor Swift Challenge, 'cause I love her and I thought this song fitted Kuki and Wally perfectly :) For blue-eyed-blonde12, who's just awesome and made me feel welcome here.
Disclaimer: I don't own (I can dream though)
I'm only me when I'm with you
Friday night beneath the stars,
In a field behind your yard
You and I are painting pictures in the sky
'Look, it's a rainbow monkey!'
'Whot? It's obviously a KND operative kicking ass!'
Underneath a canvas painted pitch black, dappled with specks of gleaming diamonds, two figures sat side by side, bathed in the soft glow of the moon.
'See?' The boy lifted a finger to touch the sky, tracing an image in bold, brash strokes. 'And that's Father, getting his ass kicked, 'nd that's Numbuh 1, and Numbuh 2, and Numbuh 5 and-'
He fell silent as the taller, more feminine figure in the oversized green sweater raised a dainty finger to her lips.
'Shhh...' She leant back onto her elbows, smiling so serenely that he had to wonder where all that calm was during the daytime. After a few seconds of studying her, and deciding that she looked prettier at night, the blonde laid back to join her.
And sometimes we don't say a thing,
Just listen to the crickets sing.
Everything I need is right here by my side
And I know everything about you
I don't wanna live without you
Strands of ebony and golden hair overlapped and interweaved as their heads plopped down next to each other onto soft grass. The night was near silent, the only noises being her deep, breathing and crickets chirping to each other, and to him, just for now, the world was at peace.
Without even opening her eyes, Kuki's sleeved hand made its way to his, and after fumbling around for a second, clasped it tightly. Emerald eyes shot open, a shade of pink gracing his cheeks, perhaps bright enough to light up the dark November sky. But seeing the girl beside him, eyes closed and a content smile playing on her features, he breathed out slowly and decided, for once, that pushing her away would be rude.
Just a small town boy and girl,
Living in a crazy world,
Trying to figure out what is and isn't true
He laughed, 'So, whot yer trying to say is that we used to be best friends, fight the 'tyrannous adults together' and then, for some reason, I was brainwashed and can't remember anything?'
She nodded earnestly, hopefully.
He only laughed again, but this time it rang louder with a a crueler edge to it.
And I don't try to hide my tears,
My secrets or my deepest fears
Through it all nobody gets me like you do
You say you know everything about me
You say you can't live without me
Wally wasn't surprised when the Japanese girl burst through his door, whole body shaking. He sighed deeply, already in pyjamas and ready to go to bed.
'Whot is it, Numbuh 3?'
Downcast eyes glanced upwards- there was an unmistakable pand in Wally's chest when he realised that they were red from crying. He repeated his question again slowly, only with a slightly softer tone that she didn't notice anyway.
'Whot happened... Kuki?'
She answered in soft, sobbing mumbles that he couldn't quite make out. And with absolutely no experience of comforting crying girls and a painful memory of a bright red hand print across his cheek under his belt, he was in a state of utter panic.
'Whot am ah meant to do?' he asked himself frantically as if the answer would materialise out of the empty crevice that he called his brain.
-Hugs! Girls liked hugs, didn't they?
'How do I do this?' he wondered mentally. Not exactly sure how the whole hugging business worked, and just standing there, watching her cry her eyes out, he finally decided to go on instinct. Arms encircled her, pulling her in and she returned it gratefully, sobbing into his shoulder. Rather awkwardly, he tried to soothe her with a few pats on the back.
In all honesty, he hated hugs, but for her, he'd try.
When I'm with anybody else,
It's so hard to be myself
Only you can tell
The two girls sat on the sofa chatting, grinning happily. But when a certain hoodie-clad Australian entered the room, Abby didn't miss Kuki's grin become that much sunnier. She didn't miss the little light returning in Kuki's eyes. She didn't miss their gazes connecting and sparks practically fly between them.
Of course, no-one missed Wally's face turn a fire-engine red when Kuki catapulted into him for a hug.
That I'm only up when you're not down,
Don't wanna fly if you're still on the ground.
It's like no matter what I do
'So Kuki, what'dya say we go grab some lunch?' Looking away from the smooth-talking pilot, Kuki saw Wally clench his fist menacingly, expressing guarded by a veil of messy blond hair from the corner of her eye.
'Poor Wally must be feeling left out,' was the first thought that came to her oblivious mind.
'No thanks, I'm gonna go have lunch with Numbuh 4 and the monkeys. Bye, Ace!'
Wally couldn't help but feel a little triumphant, despite being dragged away by a girl humming the rainbow monkey theme song, probably to go have a tea party with multicoloured primates. And though it wasn't the most mature thing to do either, he stuck out his tongue at the speechless boy.
'She likes me better,' he mouthed.
Well you drive me crazy half the time
Wally chuckled at the memory of her chasing him around, that fire blazing in her eyes.
'And over some cruddy Rainbow Monkeys,' he muttered under his breath; Kuki glanced at him suspiciously, cradling her precious stuffed animals in her arms.
The other half I'm only trying to let you know that what I feel is true.
He didn't notice the bag of homemade, heart-shaped chocolates lying on his doorstep as he rushed to get to school on time.
I'm only me,
who I wanna be,
Shuddering at the feeling of wet material clinging to skin, she hurried through the downpour, mind churning excuses to tell Ace. She sneezed violently, almost tripping over backwards. Wait-was that a flash of orange?
'Ugh, I'm getting delusional... I hope I don't catch a cold.' Dazed and disoriented, she staggered on, vision blurred by the hard falling rain and suddenly crashing into something.
'Huh?' she thought oh-so-intelligently as she attempted to compose herself. Her gaze travelled down from bright green eyes to his orange hoodie, worn jeans and- an umbrella, dangling off his fingers tauntingly.
'Oh, hi Wally,' she acknowledged tiredly, a small smile forming on her lips. He nodded back, offering his own greeting while she continued to eye his umbrella. Several seconds passed.
'Well?' she demanded, hands on hips and trying to tower over him as she once had. Unfazed, but with a highly amused look in his eyes, he turned to her with a 'well, what?' expression on his face now. Goodness, the boy could be dull at times.
'Aren't you going to offer me the umbrella, Wally?'
He just smirked that infuriating smirk, either not noticing or not minding that they were just standing there being soaked to the skin.
'Nope. We're gonna have fun- forgotten what it is yet, Kooks?' Fumbling over words, she sent him her evillest glare, which he simply shrugged off, tossing the umbrella aside. And then promptly jumped into a puddle, causing muddy water to splash over her and her designer jeans.
It might have made a passerby think he was cannonballing if it were not for the fact that the puddle was just a few inches deep. They just stood there, neither one moving a muscle as the rain hammered down on them, Wally not knowing whether to be afraid or regretful or sorry.
Any other day, and she might've been amused by his antics, but today, she was later and wetter and colder than she was before, if it were possible. And, after a second of deliberation, she let out a battlecry that made even Wally think twice before drenching her again. But only twice.
'Wallabee Beetles, you are dead!' She was hollering, but her facial features seemed torn between vengeful, amused, and full-on-happy as she leaped into the water.
It was a sight to behold: two teenagers playing in the rain like a couple of 5 year olds, kicking up tidal waves of water at each other, both dripping wet and freezing cold. And still, warmth and happiness were still radiating off the pair in a way it hadn't for a long time.
She should've thought about her boyfriend, still waiting patiently at the cafe down the road. She didn't.
She should've been worrying about catching a cold or pneumonia, or some other sort of virus. She wasn't.
She shouldn't have been playing like a child in the middle of the street during a downpour- but she did anyway.
Laughing at Wally, who'd landed backwards with his butt in a puddle, she offered him a hand to help hoist him up, a massive grin sweeping over her face.
'Ace can wait,' she decided.
I'm only me when I'm with you.
Whew. All done. Enjoy.
xx