Fireflies
There he was, walking along the pavement, his head hung and a bucket full of grasshoppers in his arms. Martin Tubbs had never prized himself to be a lucky guy, but he loved his life nonetheless. Though now he'd rather jump of a bridge. He felt like the mayor of the friend zone and the emperor of the loser continent. What happened, you might wonder.
Well, Martin had been running with a glass terrarium full of grasshoppers. He wanted to deliver them as quickly as possible to the university of Heatherfield. They wanted to trade his grasshoppers, which they missed in their collection of living insects, with one of his choice. Now did he want to have a tarantula for a long time, so he couldn't wait to exchange them. But due to his excitement he hadn't seen a tree root which tripped him. Now this was a usual thing for him and Martin wasn't surprised when he fell. But what surprised him was that he fell into someone else. The two of them fell to the ground and the terrarium crashed. Martin, who'd already took his emergency bucket and was collecting the bugs, was apologizing and silently hoping he didn't run into Uriah. A piercing scream confirmed that it was not Uriah, but it made Martin's heart sink nonetheless. For when he looked, he stared right into Irma's scared face as she tried her best to create as much distance between her and the grasshopper before her feet. He'd picked it up, trying to show her it wouldn't do anything, but she'd screamed in fear and told him to never come close to her again. He paled, seeing that she'd never said that to him before. She stalked off, Hay Lin close behind her and trying to calm her while Martin dropped the last grasshopper in the bucket before closing it. He'd tried to run after her, but she'd ran away, clearly showing that her former statement was true. Hay Lin had tried to calm her, but Martin had heard Irma say that she did not want to be near someone who liked grasshoppers.
"What's with the long face?"
Martin's eyes bulged and he screamed in surprise, before coming to a standstill and staring at yet another girl his age. Will smiled friendly at him and Martin only sighed.
"Oh Will, it's just you." He said.
"Of course." She replied. "So what's in the bucket?"
Martin shrugged.
"Grasshoppers." He said dryly, awaiting yet another scream of horror.
"Really?" Was Will's interested response. "What kind?"
"Mantis religiosa." Martin answered surprised.
His surprise increased as Will gasped and took a closer look at the grasshoppers in his bucket.
"Praying mantis! Cool." She said with a grin.
"Y-You like grasshoppers?" Martin asked, completely stunned.
Will shrugged.
"I'm more of a frog person myself, but I don't mind bugs. And grasshoppers are also great jumpers." She replied.
Martin stared at her with his mouth wide open and Will raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
Martin shook his head.
"N-Nothing. I've just never met a girl who liked bugs." Martin said, emphasizing the word 'like'.
"Ah well." Will said with a shrug. "I'm not your average girl."
Martin smiled at her and she returned it.
"Want to walk along?" He asked. "I'm going to the university to trade them for a tarantula."
Will nodded.
"Sure."
They continued their way, Martin feeling slightly better, until Will broke the silence.
"So…. Why did you have such a long face?"
Martin sighed and explained the whole story to Will. Will remained silent during the whole explanation, though her eyes shone at a point and a mischievous grin was formed on her lips once Martin finished talking. She remained silent after that, which made Martin feel uncomfortable. He was feverishly thinking of a topic to speak of when Will broke his concentration.
"Say Martin, why do you like Irma?"
The question was rather sudden which caused Martin to look at Will with big eyes. His mouth opened and closed a couple of times, with no words coming from them. Will eyed him curiously and Martin felt a blush creeping up. Why would she ask that?
"Well?" Will asked, kind of impatient.
"It…It's nothing really." Martin said, looking at the ground with a blush as red as his companion's hair.
"Your blush tells me otherwise." Will replied casually. "Come on, I won't judge."
"Fine." Martin relented, taking a deep breath while his thoughts went down memory lane. "It all happened on our very first day at Sheffield Institute…"
Flashback
There he was, Martin Tubbs, freshman of Sheffield Institute and loner number one. He'd been the main target for pranks and stuff at his former school but now he could start anew. Get friends and perhaps not turn into the loser and the target of the class.
But his first day didn't go like he'd planned. Because he'd barely left the school doors to enter the courtyard or he met the bully of the school, who was two years older than him and already in the second grade, Uriah Dunn. He hadn't seen him and Uriah had taken that as an opportunity to completely humiliate the young freshman.
"What are you doing here, worm?" He sneered, while Martin could only shiver.
"I….I…I-I wanted to g-go home." Martin stammered.
"And you wanted to go through me or what?" Uriah sneered again, getting grins from those around. "I'd like to see you try that, toothpick."
With that he pushed Martin to the ground. Martin fell hard and his glasses fell off. He heard laughter once again and tears sprang up. It wasn't fair! Didn't he deserve a second chance.
"Ah look! Four eyes just lost two of them!" Uriah sneered and Martin was sure that Uriah was either standing near them or holding them. "Let's make sure he'll lose them forever…"
"Carrot top!"
Gasps went round the group which surrounded Martin and he could hear the footsteps of two people. His blurry eyes managed to make out two figures standing before him, but he did not know who.
"What did you say greenhorn?" Uriah growled darkly.
Martin squeaked but he heard the two before him giggle, telling him they were girls.
"Hay Lin, do I look green to you?" One of them asked,
"Not to me, Irma." The other replied. "Tell me, do I have a horn?"
"Not as far as I've known you." The first responded.
"You think you're funny?" Uriah sneered.
"Hilarious." Irma replied. "Now give that boy's glasses to me."
"Or what?" Uriah sneered.
"I'll yell loudly." Hay Lin said.
"As if that would scare me…" Uriah tried to say, but his sentence was overruled by a powerful yell coming from Hay Lin.
"MRS. KNICKERBOCKER!"
Martin had to plug his ears and even then they were still ringing. That girl had one heck of a volume. Not long after he'd unplugged his ears a new voice rang over the courtyard.
"URIAH!" Mrs. Knickerbocker bellowed. "Office! Now!"
After that Martin heard a lot of mumbling and muttering, while the two girls giggled almost innocently. He slowly went to touch the floor, trying to find his glasses, when a cold hand found his. He was surprised and pulled back, only for the hand to grab his tighter. He felt how someone tried to put his glasses on his head, being terribly clumsy at it. Once they rested on his nose, albeit it terribly skewed, he could see his saviours.
"You okay?" Was the question of the one who did not yell.
The girl who'd screamed so loudly had long black pig tails and seemed to be Asian. He recognized her as Hay Lin, who now smiled at him. The one in front of him was a girl who'd never talked to him before in his whole life. She had short brown hair, beautiful blue eyes and a cheeky grin. She looked him over and Martin felt himself blush. She was truly a…
Rude interruption and end of flashback
"Okay, okay." Will said with a grin. "I got it. The other was Irma."
Martin, slightly miffed that Will stopped his recounting of the first day Irma had actually talked to him, nodded.
"So that means that you 'officially' know each other for four years next week, if you were twelve when going to Sheffield." Will said, getting a nod from Martin.
Martin saw how a creepy smile crept over her face.
"Will?"
"Martin, I think you're not going to switch those grasshoppers for a spider." She said before pulling him along.
…
It had been a week since that disgusting grasshopper incident with Martin. Irma had been ignoring him and avoiding him like the plague, even now at their first day at school. Though somewhere it nagged her a bit. Ignoring Martin was normal for her, but not like this. She'd never went out of her way and usually gave him a hint that she still acknowledged his existence. But she hadn't done that and she actually felt troubled.
But Martin wasn't on her mind right now. Because right after school Will had taken her apart from the group and forced her to promise that she would go to the hill that overlooked Heatherfield from the forest around 10 P.M. The worst thing was that Will had been so damned secretive about it and it annoyed her terribly.
So there she was, sitting lonely against a tree and watching over Heatherfield, while the sun was slowly setting. She looked at her watch, showing that it was already 10:15 P.M. How much longer was Will planning to let her wait? If this would take any longer, she would leave and Will could choke in her secretive behaviour. She had better things to do, like finding a way to get rid of her guilt.
Still those annoyed thoughts were pushed away when she saw how beautiful Heatherfield looked as the sun went down. It calmed her and it took her breath away. Soon it was dark and Irma sighed as she got up. It was better to go home, because she was sure Will wasn't going to show up any time soon. Was this her idea of a prank? Then Irma had to teach that girl a lesson or two about playing tricks, because this was sad.
The cracking of branches caught her attention and Irma sighed, turning around and looking into the dark forest.
"Time you got here, redhead!" Irma said with a grin. "I was planning to leave… And I'm out of here."
It wasn't Will who'd arrived from the forest, but the beast itself. Martin. Irma heard him stumble behind her, in an attempt to come closer, but she shook her head. This was not what she'd planned for her night and she would give Will a beating during training for this.
"Please wait! Irma!"
Irma couldn't bite her tongue and turned around, looking at Martin.
"What, Martin?" She sneered. "Are you going to throw another disgusting grasshopper at me?"
"N-No!" Martin said shocked. "I…I want to make up to you."
"How? Showing me how not disgusting those green jumpers are?" Irma said.
"I-I swear! No grasshoppers tonight!" Martin said as he sat down next to tree Irma had left, placing his backpack next to him. "Pl-Please give me a chance?"
Irma sighed and hung her shoulders.
"I must be crazy." She said before sitting down next to him. "But I believe you."
She heard Martin sigh relieved.
"So, how are you going to make up?" She asked, making him tense up again.
"I…Uhh… The lights of the city…They are too bright….I'm not sure if I can…"
As if his stammering was heard did the lights of the city suddenly turned off, as if it was a massive power shortage. Irma raised an eyebrow, surprised by the sudden darkness that surrounded them. She started to feel a bit awkward, now that only the moon and stars were lighting her surroundings.
"H-Here."
She felt how Martin's clammy hands placed a pot in her hands. Irma stiffened and was planning to scream at Martin for giving her a bug, when suddenly a light flickered on in the jar. Irma's eyes widened in glee as she found several fireflies within her jar. Martin held a jar of his own, showing that he too held at least twenty fireflies in his jar.
"Martin! How…? What?" Irma asked, surprised.
"I wanted to thank you for all those years ago." Martin said, his blush only slightly visible. "And still, for saving me almost daily from Uriah. And it seemed fitting to do that on the day you first talked to me."
Irma was actually speechless as she looked at her jar with fireflies. Suddenly, without a warning, the soft sound of a synthesizer resounded softly from the forests after which a female voice started to sing.
"You would not believe your eyes,
if ten million fireflies
lit up the world as I fell asleep.
'Cause they'd fill the open air,
and leave teardrops everywhere.
You'd think me rude but I would just stand and stare."At the end of the chorus, a lot of fireflies came flying by, as if they'd been released from jars somewhere in the forest. Irma started to grin as she saw them fly past her and she looked at Martin, who was now also looking at the fireflies. Some fireflies zipped past his head, making his hair sway a bit. And the lights illuminated his eyes in a strange kind of way. In fact, he didn't look dorky at all, perhaps even… cute?
Irma shook her head, what was she thinking? This was Martin they were talking about. He was clumsy, a dork and a science freak. He was not and she repeated not cute.
"I'd like to make myself believe,
that planet Earth turns slowly.
Its hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep.
'Cause everything is never as it seems."
Martin opened his jar, releasing his fireflies and Irma felt almost compelled to do the same. She released them and they rose up in a whirlwind of light, only broadening her smile. She saw Martin smiling at her and she felt a blush creep up. He might be clumsy, but he did plan all this. Perhaps he wasn't that bad.
"'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs,
from ten thousand lightning bugs,
as they tried to teach me how to dance.
A foxtrot above my head,
a sock hop beneath my bed.
A disco ball is just hanging by a thread."
Martin had gotten up during the chorus and extended his hand to Irma, who looked surprised at him. What was he implying? Martin smiled friendly at her and Irma, who already was infected by his own happy mood and the joy her favourite bugs gave her, accepted his hand. He pulled her up and suddenly Irma found herself with one hand on Martin's shoulder and her other in his. He slowly started to lead and Irma blushed again, finding that Martin was just slightly taller than she was.
"I'd like to make myself believe,
that planet Earth turns slowly.
Its hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep.
'Cause everything is never as it seems."A happy laugh escaped her as he turned her around. She didn't know he could dance so well! The moonlight illuminated the ground beneath them while the fireflies shined brightly in the nightly sky around them.
"When I fall asleep…
Leave my door open just a crack,
please take me away from here,
'cause I feel like such an insomniac.
please take me away from here,
Why do I tire of counting sheep,
please take me away from here,
when I'm far too tired to fall asleep.
Their dance stayed on the rhythm, but Irma felt herself more free than she'd ever been. Martin now laughed as well and both looked upwards, watching how the fireflies started to merge with the stars in the sky.
"To ten million fireflies,
I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes.
I got misty eyes as they said farewell,
But I'll know where several are,
if my dreams get real bizarre.
'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar.I'd like to make myself believe,
that planet Earth turns slowly.
Its hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep.
'Cause everything is never as it seems.
I'd like to make myself believe,
that planet Earth turns slowly.
Its hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep.
'Cause everything is never as it seems."Their dance was slowing down and Irma felt a bit drowsy. Her head lulled against Martin's chest, a blush creeping up, knowing that this was a strange action of hers. She felt how his breast rose and how he breathed a laugh, which made her smile. He could be kind… and sweet… If he wanted.
"I fall asleep,
I'd like to make myself believe,
that planet Earth turns slowly.
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep.
Because my dreams are bursting at the seams."
They slowly came to a standstill as the music softly faded out. Irma did not know who had been singing, but she had to remember to ask Martin who it was. Because he knew how to pick his artists. The music was gone and the light of the fireflies was leaving them, but Irma didn't want to move away. Something about this pose made her feel calm and she liked it.
"I'm sorry for acting like I did, Martin."
The words had rolled from her tongue before she even knew it. She didn't look up and continued staring at their feet.
"I'm sorry for the grasshopper…And my usual clumsiness." Martin replied, sounding as every bit embarrassed as Irma felt.
"Y-You didn't know." Irma said, surprised that she was actually stuttering.
What was wrong with her? He was just a guy. No, he was Martin. There was no reason for her to stutter. Even if he gave her a beautiful night…With fireflies…
"How did you know that I love fireflies?" Irma said, looking at the boy who now released her from his grip.
He blushed even more and his eyes went to the trees a couple of times. Irma looked at the trees as well, but didn't see a thing.
"A….A helpful angel, I guess." He then said with a smile.
He then turned around and walked to his backpack. He crouched and pulled out just one more jar from it. Irma smiled as she saw that they were filled with fireflies as well. He then held it out to Irma, who not only took the jar, but his hands as well.
"Let's open it together." She said with a smile, visible by the lights of the light bugs inside the jar.
Martin blushed as his hand touched Irma's and together they opened the pot. The fireflies flew out, gradually and twirling, as if they were dancing. Both looked up, awed by the way the bugs illuminated the night. As if stars were returning to the night sky. Irma smiled satisfied at Martin, who was still looking up. On a whim, she stood on her toes and kissed Martin on his cheek, at the same time when the lights of the city came back on.
When she pulled back, both had a blush on their cheeks and neither looked the other in the eye.
…
A grin spread on her face as she watched from a tree branch just away from the spot where Irma and Martin were sitting. She had never thought things would work out so well. She watched how the two awkwardly looked at each other for a moment, before they both looked away. They silently packed their belongings and as she watched, she saw them walk off, both holding the hand of the other.
"So you were the cause of the shortage. Will"
Will turned around, surprised to find Taranee standing beneath the tree. Taranee too had a smile on her face, which told Will that Taranee had been standing here for far longer than just a mere seconds.
Will slowly climbed down the tree and grinned at Taranee.
"Ah, busted, I guess." She said with a grin.
"Red-handed." Taranee replied. "But how did you manage to create a shortage throughout the whole city?"
Will shrugged.
"I asked the power plant to shut down for about twenty minutes." She said casually. "The power plant is so big, that its intelligence is rather small and easy to manipulate."
"Good to know."
A silence fell between the two friends, Will defiantly looking at Taranee.
"Say, I thought our powers weren't supposed for trivial matters." Taranee said casually.
"True." Will replied soberly. "But since when is love a trivial matter?"
"Touché."
The two started to walk to where both their bikes were parked, wordlessly because they knew what the other thought. As they unlocked their bikes, Taranee grinned.
"Didn't know you could sing." She said.
"You never asked."
"I guess Martin gave you the speakers you placed in the trees and the microphone and you powered them with your powers?"
"Yup."
"Well, you know. I still need some entertainment for my birthday…"
"We'll see, okay." Will said with a grin.
"Great."
They started to make their way to town. Ahead they could see Martin and Irma, walking with their bikes in one hand and the other hand entangled with that of the other. Will and Taranee had seen them ahead of time and decided to use a bit of magic to end up an end before them, so they wouldn't spot them.
"You did a good thing." Taranee said as they entered the city. "Irma needed to stop looking at someone's exterior."
"And Martin needed to learn that there are ways even he could be a gentleman, without hurting himself or others in the process." Will said with a nod.
The two stopped at the street where they would separate ways. The two looked behind them, still not seeing a sign of the two soon-to-be lovebirds.
"And to think he wanted to get a tarantula."
Taranee looked shocked as Will cycled away, waving at her friend as she went.
[A/N] Ain't that sweet? Martin getting some help from Will to get with Irma. But sometimes you just need the right help. I hope you loved it! I loved writing it. And I think you can guess where my inspiration came from.
Review!