A/N: HI! It's a new oneshot on your new favorite characters...Frankie and Josh! Except Josh is a little more like... SEXY!BEAUTIFUL!PERFECTION!WONDERFULNESS!JOSH. That works too. He responds to either. Anywho, hope you guys like! Please follow, favorite, review!

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, the Sleeping Beauty franchise or movie or whatever it is, is not ours! And neither is Disney...but the plot is! And so is James, Frankie, and SEXYBEAUTIFUL!PERFECTION!WONDERFULNESS!JOSH, so honestly, we're not that bothered.


Contrary to popular belief, the wings of demons are the same as the wings of angels, although they're often better groomed.

-Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman


Princess Francesca Victoria Vivica Marie had never liked days with storms.

To her, they were all about power, and merciless, merciless rain, an onslaught of emotions and thunder. They were loud, and they distracted her from her reading.

And they were frightening.

Princess Francesca Victoria Vivica Marie also never liked admitting she was afraid.

And today, was one of those days.

She clutched a book close to her chest, as far from the window as she could get. Every light she had in her room was turned on, every window was tightly shut, covered with curtains.

She shuddered from her place on the floor as the next wave of thunder crashed, seemingly shaking the entire palace.

She hated the rain.


Prince Joshua loved storms.

To him, they were all about a fearless soldier, holding his choice weapon of lightning, upholding the sky with dignity and courage.

Josh held up an imaginary sword, battling an imaginary foe, and as the next wave of thunder crashed overhead, he parried a particularly difficult blow, accidentally bumping into his bookshelf.

A gold ball that he'd stolen from the princess, plopped down onto the ground and rolled out the door, and Josh had to set down his sword to take after it.


The palace was silent at night.

Or so you thought.

If you were like Frankie, you could hear every little noise, every splash of rain onto the panes of a window, and if she tried hard enough, she could imagine it, falling, falling, falling...

Drip, drip, drip.

Crash!

Frankie sat up immediately, her heart pounding. It was the middle of the night, and the storm was still going on. Would it ever stop?

Hands shaking, she switched on her light, picking her book back up.

She was reading a particularly interesting story, one about a dark angel and a good angel falling in love, but the words looked like nonsense on the page.

Frankie squeezed her eyes shut, counted to ten, and then followed her finger to where she had left off.

The angel let out her hand to the dark. Come back to me, she whispered, her voice like a summer rain. Come back...


Josh was chasing after the ball, feeling excited about nothing special.

This, he thought. This is what the rain does to you.

But he loved it.

The ball rolled down the next corridor, and was it just him, or was it gaining speed?

He chased after it, determined, and feeling even more confident when the next thunderclap came.

He was the hunter, and he was closing in on his prey...

Frankie set the book down, her eyes wide.

There was no use. She simply couldn't concentrate.

So, climbing out of bed, she headed out her bedroom door, hoping a spot of tea would calm her down.

Josh was gaining on it. Gaining, but the ball was fast.

"Who's there?"

Oh, not her. Josh rolled his eyes. "The bogeyman." he replied, still chasing after the ball.

But the ball had a very different plan, and they rolled to the feet of the one person he'd rather not see on a good night.

"What are you doing up?" she said, picking up the ball and tucking it in a pocket of her nightgown.

Josh scowled at her. "I could ask the same to you," he said, trying to make a grab for her pocket, but she quickly jumped out of the way.

"I'm going down to the kitchen." Frankie answered boldly, holding the pocket protectively. "Couldn't sleep."

Josh was lost for words. "I liked listening to the rain." he lied. "I wanted to go out and see it."

Frankie's eyes looked like they would fall out of her head. "Outside? In the storm?"

Josh shrugged. "Why not?" He grinned spitefully at her. "Not afraid to get a little wet, are you?"

"N-no."

Oh, this was too good. "Hey, I'll give you, the chance to go out with me, in the rain. How about that?"

"How about no?" Frankie said coldly, trying to sidestep him.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"You shall go out in the rain with me, or I'll drag you." Josh threatened.

Frankie's bottom lip quivered. "NO! I said I didn't want to!"

Josh glared at her, and Frankie knew she was done.

She was ten, and he was eleven, but he was much, much taller and stronger than she was.

And she was afraid of thunderstorms.

"Why?" she asked, a little more timidly. "Why do I have to go out in the rain?"

Josh looked at her. "Because you're afraid."

Frankie was outraged. "Am not!"

"Are too!"

Frankie crossed her arms and held her nose in the air. "I'm not afraid."

"Then come outside with me."

Frankie swallowed, and listened to the rain as it battered the tops of the palace, and thought of all the blissful people sleeping through it all.

"Do you promise, pinky promise that you won't do anything funny and leave out there alone?" she whispered. Josh rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Frankie held out her pinkie insistently. "You have to do it!"

Josh sniffed importantly. "I'm above all that kiddie stuff." he said, shaking his head.

Frankie took his pinkie and locked it with hers, despite his protests.

"Come on," Josh said, grabbing her hand and leading her to the main doors.

"It's warm, so we won't need jackets or anything." Josh told her, unlocking the biggest one. Frankie gulped. She wondered if there was still time left to run.

He opened it.

Frankie took five more swallows at the dark, wet landscape in front of her.

Josh took hold of her wrist, and led her outside.

The sky was dark, and it was beautiful to Josh. The stars dotted everything, and occasionally, a flash of lightning would streak across it, coating everything in an infinite brilliance. It was light, and it was dark, and they were one.

Frankie gripped Josh's arm like it was her lifeline, and she felt wet, and she heard Josh laughing, but it seemed so far, so far away to her...

The rain poured down on the two of them, the darkness of the night sky and brilliance of the stars lighting up everything. Another roll of thunder. Another twinkle of lightning.

And then Josh let go of her hand, and put out his arms, and drank from the rain, looking strangely out of place with her real-life nightmares.

"Come on, you try!" he said, putting out her arms. Tentatively, Frankie opened her mouth, and stuck out her tongue, catching the sky's tears in her own mouth. It made her feel fizzy and warm inside, like a permanent bit of the sky resided in her soul.

And then she laughed.

She laughed out loud, and heard Josh laugh too.

And later that night, after retiring back in bed, she wondered, she wondered if it was all a dream. About Josh and the rain, and the way the thunder had become appealing and beautifully broken to her all at once.

And that was like Josh too.

He was like the dark angel in her book, the dark angel that was just misunderstood and mean and strangely kind at different times. And the way he was so very, very beautiful.

And she wondered at the way the starlight had danced in his eyes, and fixated itself in his smile. And she wondered at the way someone could be so beautiful to you, and so awful to you at the same time.

And she wondered at the way the prince had taught her to dance in the rain.


"For his was a deep and dazzling darkness, as hers was a great ring of pure and endless light."

-My Variation of a few certain verses of Henry Vaughan's "The World".


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