Author's Note:

From the streets of Södermalm, I give you "Midnight Massage"! This little F!Jesskas ficlet is inspired by my own back pains in the recent past. The only difference, though, is that one of these cases has a happy ending. Also, the protagonists don't end up with a nasty cold. And now I give you "Midnight Massage"! Hit it, Crisper!

Crisper: (hits it)

For the New Order (and honorary member Lukas) it had been a long drawn-out night of slaying mobs under the bright, bluish-white moonlight. It started with the group making their way home after a day of town dealings among other mundane activities. 'It's just a few of them', Petra had said as she strayed from their path to kill a bothersome few of the tall, dumb zombies. But zombies had this way of smelling humans from miles and miles away, and so 'It's just a few of them' quickly turned into 'Let's hope none of this horde gets to the village'.

Every now and then, Jessica would give the moon a tired, angry glare as it sat stuck in the middle of the sky. If the sun was ever going to rise, she knew it needed to do so before her soul instead rose into the sky and left behind her tired, dead body to the mobs. Even the moon's decision to sit in the sky and mock her and her friends' existence didn't give her enough rage to keep swinging at the groups of zombies with her enchanted diamond sword. Even her weapon seemed to grow tired and give out on her.

"You think we should head home?" She heard her redheaded friend Petra call over her shoulder. Jessica didn't turn to face Petra and instead focused on slashing at the few zombies that lumbered over to her.

"Of course!" She shouted as she watched the zombie hit the floor and disappear into a white puff of smoke. "The question is can we?" Suddenly, a zombie slammed to the ground in front of her with a loud groan. It sent her one final menacing, eyeless glare before it disappeared into the small ball of smoke. She looked up from where it flew and saw Axel throwing zombies around like they were huge and heavy wads of smelly socks. She also saw Olivia firing arrows at a few that soared in front of her armed bow.

"If we run fast enough," Olivia shouted as she took aim with her bow, "Maybe they'll lose interest!"

"Yeah, and if anyone followed, it'd only be, like, a few, right?" Axel said, though Jessica couldn't hear him over the loud, scratchy hiss of a zombie that tried to smack her face before she gave it some of its own medicine.

"Alright, I'll take that as a yes!" She shouted, glaring warily at the surrounding monsters that slowly closed in on her as she and Petra backed into each other. "Everyone, fall back!" She commanded. She felt a woosh of air as Petra took off running.

The thought of swinging open the door to a warm, quiet and dark home and collapsing onto soft covers gave Jessica extra energy as she and her friends ran from the herd of mobs that gave chase. She felt her heavy sword slipping from her hand as she jogged alongside her friends. But she didn't worry about their pace as much as she found herself fretting over Lukas who was beginning to lag behind.

"Lukas, are you okay?!" She shouted, unable to tear her eyes away from his strained face as he struggled to run with his hand grasping his shoulder-blade. She waited a few seconds to respond as they all panted wildly. "Lukas!"

"What?" He shouted back over the loud zombies behind them.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine! I'm just tired."

"Okay." She panted.

Jessica tried to ignore him throughout the entire run, something that was actually easy to do what with the extreme shortness of breath and the threat of getting mauled to strips by the zombies' disgusting, sharp claws.

When they finally arrived in front of the door of their red brick apartment, Jessica thought the thought of water, rest and relaxation would've taken her mind off of him completely, or at least the bustling crowd of annoyance called "fans". But there were no screaming pedestrians to bother her, and it looked like whatever was ailing Lukas so much had gotten worse!

"I am so sleeping in tomorrow." Olivia shouted as she walked to her door.

"Me, too. G'night, guys!" Axel said as he unlocked his and walked . Jessica turned to Petra who sent her a cool, exhausted nod before walking into her dorm. When Petra left, Jessica turned to face Lukas.

"Goodnight, Lukas." She said to him as he dug in his back pockets for his keys.

"Goodnight, Jessica." Lukas said just as Jessica glanced his uncomfortably tensed shoulders.

"Lukas, is your back okay?" She asked him, unable to hide her concern any longer. He turned around to face her and put on a weak smile. She could see the poorly hidden pain in the pinched features of his fake-grin.

"Not really. It's just pretty sore from all that axe-swinging." He said. Jessica instantly remembered that he used a heavy, iron axe during the slaying instead of a lighter sword. Knowing how long they'd been out there all night and how tired everyone was, she didn't even feel like including the number of zombies there would help her guess how much pain he probably was in.

"Oh… you want a massage?" She suddenly-and quite thoughtlessly-asked. As soon as the lazily-picked words came out, she wished she could take snatch them out of midair and take them with her to jump into the nearest hole in the ground.

She forced herself to hold eye-contact with Lukas as he stared back at her with wide, fazed eyes and pursed lips. She was sure he could feel the heat radiating off her doubtlessly red face.

"Aren't you tired, though?"

Jessica laughed nervously at his question, clasping her hands tightly together and shifting her weight. "Of course not, Lukas! I wouldn't mind this at all!" She sent him a quick glance, surprised that there wasn't a trace of red anywhere on his cheeks.

"You seem pretty tired though." He said after a few seconds of watching her strange, new mannerisms. He probably didn't remember a time seeing Jessica acting so weird, and, to be honest, Jessica herself couldn't either.

"No way! I'm fine! In fact, I want to do this."

"You… do?"

'How is he not blushing right now?! Isn't he weirded out?!' She thought as she fidgeted with her hands.

"... yes…?" A moment's silence passed.

"... okay, sure, I guess." Lukas finally said, looking at the wooden floor as he dug his foot into it. While he looked away, she looked at his cheeks and was relieved to see that he wasn't as mortified (or red) as she was.

"So… we doing this in my room or yours?" She asked. Her relief rushed out of her mind when his face turned a bright shade of flustered red as he quickly looked away. "I know that can be taken a wrong way, but I didn't mean anything by it! I swear!" Jessica rambled as Lukas sighed through clenched teeth and ran a hand through his blonde, sweaty hair.

"I think your room'll be fine." He said quietly.

Author's Note:

So, how'd I do? Think it was cute enough? Too awkward? Just right? Too many questions at the end? Well, tell me in a review!

Thanks for reading and please favorite this story and follow and follow me! Don't miss chapter two which is coming soon! (If you thought this was awkward, just wait… *evil laughter* But seriously, it'll be cute! You'll love it!)

Also, for whoever's reading this and also following my other stories, expect more updates soon! I just finished my first college exam (82% Score!), so I'll be free to write tons more! I just whipped this up to keep you guys busy while I write. Well, I'll see you next chapter!

Close it, Crisper!

Crisper: Boop! (closes it)