Title: Fighting Dragons
Author: slacker_d
Pairing/Characters: Aubrey, Chloe, Beca
Rating: G
Summary: kid fic AU Aubrey wants to read, but Chloe and Beca want to play.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Word Count: 1,102
Spoilers: Definitely not.
A/N: I don't know what's wrong with me. This is so fluffy, I fear that I've given myself a cavity from all the sugar. Consider this your warning.
Aubrey is excited when her mom tells her she can finally go outside and play. She's been wanting to finish reading The White Mountains all day, but her mom insisted that she clean her room first. Once her room has been declared spotless, she's dismissed, so the eight year old runs down the stairs and into the back yard. Aubrey settles under her favorite tree and opens her book.
Of course, the moment she's let free, she also becomes visible to her best friend, Chloe, who lives next door; which means she'll be interrupting Aubrey's reading any moment now. Aubrey should really know better, the red head seems to have some kind of homing device that knows exactly when Aubrey's out in the yard.
Aubrey's just gotten to the part where Beanpole realizes that the Tripods are tracking their group when a shadow blocks her sunlight. She knows it's Chloe, so she does her best to continue reading, though it takes some extra concentration to ignore the bouncing red head in front of her.
She lasts longer than Aubrey expected.
"Breeeee," Chloe whines, drawing Aubrey's attention away from Will, Henry and Beanpole's battle with the Tripods.
Aubrey sighs and looks up.
"Come play."
"I'm reading," Aubrey replies.
"But Beca and I wanna play."
"So? Go play."
"But I want all three of us to play."
Aubrey sighs again. She loves Chloe and she's her best friend, but Aubrey's been excited to finish this book for days, so she can start the next one in the trilogy. Besides, Aubrey's not sure if she likes Beca or not. Ever since Beca's moved into the neighborhood, Chloe hasn't stopped talking about her; even when Aubrey asks her not to. It's annoying.
"I don't see why," Aubrey replies. "Whenever we hang out, Beca's all you can talk about."
"Cause I like her. She's my friend. Just like I like you, Bree, cause you're my friend."
"I thought I was your best friend," Aubrey says.
"You are," Chloe tells her.
"Chlooooeee," Beca calls out interrupting them. "Where'd you go?"
A moment later, Beca appears next to Chloe. She's wearing a metal strainer on her head and carrying a large stick. Aubrey blinks twice when she notices this and then looks at Chloe again. The red head is wearing her older brother's bike helmet and carrying a plastic bat. Aubrey had been so intent on ignoring her that she hadn't noticed.
"Hi Bree," Beca greets, a shy smile on her face.
"What are you two doing?"
"Fighting dragons," Beca answers. "Whatcha reading about?"
"Aliens."
"Oh. Cool." She adjusts her headgear. "I guess that means you don't want to play with us, huh?"
"It's the exciting part," Aubrey says.
Beca nods, looking at her shoes. "I understand. You don't wanna play with me. That's okay." She sniffs and digs the toe of her dirty sneaker into the ground. "I can go if you want. Then you and Chloe can play."
"What?" Chloe exclaims. "No."
"But you wanna play with Bree," Beca says. "And she doesn't wanna play with me. So I'm gonna go. I bet there's still cartoons on."
"No, Beca," Chloe says. "Stay. Tell her she can stay, Bree."
Aubrey sighs again. It's not that she doesn't like Beca, even if she's only six. She's nice and always seems to want to make Chloe happy, which usually makes Aubrey automatically like people. She doesn't know why Beca's different.
"You can stay," Aubrey says, finally.
"And you're gonna play dragon slayer with us, right?" Chloe asks.
She wants to say no, but Chloe's pouting, which Aubrey can never refuse. Aubrey tries looking to Beca to steel her resolve, but the brunette looks so hopeful, that Aubrey's having a tough time saying no. Aubrey doesn't understand why Beca wants to be her friend so bad; after all, she has Chloe. Once Chloe becomes someone's friend, they never want to be friends with Aubrey.
"Fine," Aubrey huffs. "I'll play. For a bit. But then you guys are going to let me finish my book. Right?"
Beca nods eagerly, a bright smile on her face.
"Yay!" Chloe exclaims. She waits for Aubrey to mark her place in her book before yanking her up and hugging her tightly. Aubrey smiles; a Chloe hug is always welcome. "Let's go find you a helmet and sword."
"I'm not wearing a pot on my head," Aubrey tells Chloe as she's dragged into the garage, with Beca following close behind.
The three of them begin looking through the garage for something Aubrey can use, though she's not as invested as the other two are.
"What about this?" Beca asks, holding up her dad's safari hat.
"Yeah," Chloe says. "That works." She grabs it from Beca and plops it on Aubrey's head without warning.
"Ewww, Chloe," Aubrey says. "What if it's got cobwebs in it?"
"Like your parents let this garage get dusty," Chloe replies. "You Posens are all neat freaks."
Knowing it's true, Aubrey sticks her tongue out at Chloe.
"That means I'm right," Chloe gleefully tells Beca before returning to her digging.
"You look very grown up," Beca adds before returning to her search.
It's an odd compliment, but it makes Aubrey smile, nonetheless.
"Ah ha," Chloe exclaims a few minutes later.
Aubrey looks over and sees that Chloe found her skis. The red head is holding up a ski pole triumphantly.
"What's that?" Beca asks.
"It's a ski pole, silly," Chloe replies.
"Oh." She looks at Aubrey. "You know how to ski?"
Aubrey just shrugs. She's gone a few times with her parents, but she's not really a fan. It is nice getting to spend some time with her dad, though.
"Aubrey knows how to do all kinds of things," Chloe says. "She's super smart like that."
"Cool," Beca says.
Feeling a bit self-conscious about all the sudden adoration, Aubrey accepts the ski pole from Chloe.
"Now we're ready to fight the dragon," Chloe says. She grabs her red plastic bat off the ground where she dropped it. "You guys ready?"
Beca nods eagerly.
"Bree?"
"Yes, I'm ready."
"Okay, then," Chloe says. "Follow me."
Beca falls in step behind Chloe who is now marching out of the garage, plastic bat pointed forward. Aubrey follows, feeling a bit silly. She's never really been one for playing pretend; she only does it at Chloe's request. But fighting dragons always sounds so cool in all the books she reads. As she watches the two of them march in front of her though, Aubrey feels a bit of excitement and decides that maybe, just for today, she can pretend.