a/n: just a short, cute little drabble i started writing tonight for some reason because i was really in the mood to write and i have writer's block for everything else and i miss mickber a whole lot because they do things to my heart.
also i literally don't have the effort to proof read so oh well.
title: pizza can't break my heart
pairing: mick/amber
pov: third
note: set in the middle of season three. amber never got back together with alfie after the end of season two, that fashion school doesn't exist so amber never left.
"but every once in awhile, you meet someone who's iridescent, and nothing else can compare."
Amber was sitting at her desk in her room at Anubis House, sighing and banging her head against it every time she scanned a new problem on her maths worksheet she had to do for homework. Figuring out questions that had to do with numbers just were not her thing.
She always wondered why they couldn't learn about something useful at school, like the inner workings of boys' minds or how on earth Victoria Beckham manages to look so marvelous at thirty-nine.
Brand New was playing through the speakers of her laptop and as she started working on another problem, she quietly sang along: "So tell all the English boys you meet, about that American boy back in the States. The American boy you used to date, who would do anything you say!" By the end of the chorus, she had forgotten her maths work and was banging her head along to the beat and using her pencils to slam on a pretend drum.
She giggled to herself and said aloud to no one, "It's actually hilarious because Eddie's an American boy and he's dating Patricia who's from here in the UK, and when they broke up over the summer this would've totally been like their song!"
Amber tended to voice her internal monologue, even when she didn't really mean to. She just blurted it out and sometimes it got her into quite the heap of trouble. Apparently some people didn't like to hear that they were acting "awfully unintelligent and moronic" or that they were "dense and utterly unbearable human beings".
(Yes, Amber knew some big words, mind you.)
Jesse Lacey's voice singing, "I hope it rains there all the time," was suddenly interrupted by a beeping sound that caused Amber to drop her pencils and look up at the computer. It was just Mick wanting to video chat.
A smile blossomed on Amber's face. She wouldn't admit it to anyone except for Nina (but only because she was halfway across the world, back in America, and she could shut her up with the click of a button on her phone or laptop), but the fact she'd accepted after her break up with Alfie was that she never got rid of her feelings for that blonde ex-boyfriend of hers.
He didn't know that of course, but they constantly chatted over webcam because they were still, when it came down to it, the best of friends. Amber couldn't recall how she managed to get through that period of time when he dumped her and started dating Mara to the middle of the semester of the following year of that, where they barely talked or didn't speak at all to each other. She imagined she must have been utterly devastated, to go from talking to him every day since they met when they were thirteen to not at all.
She shook all of that out of her mind, realizing she had blanked out for a moment, and answered his call.
Butterflies in her stomach fluttered about when his face appeared on the screen, a bright smile lighting up his features as always.
"Hey Ambs," he said.
"Hi Mick," Amber greeted back, stifling a yawn.
He chuckled. "Not falling asleep on me already, are you?"
"No, loser. I'm just totally drained from attempting to do my maths work," she replied, rolling her eyes in faux annoyance.
"Oh, ew, school." He reached beside him and picked up a plate with a half eaten taco on it, which he progressively started to eat.
"Tell me about it. It's so stupid," Amber complained. Then she shook her head and said, amused, "Mick, do you ever stop eating?"
"Nah, not really," he said through a mouthful of tortilla, meat, and a variety of other things, shrugging. He swallowed and said, "So, what have you been up to? It's been, what, two days since we talked last? I'm sure something had to have happened in the ever so interesting life of Amber Millington."
"Oh, shut up, you're just jealous because my life is so much cooler than yours is. But if you must know, yes, so much has happened in two days." Before Amber could say any more, she was interrupted by a knock on her door, and then it opening irregardless of the lack of response Amber had given.
Patricia walked in, holding a box of pizza. She hurriedly placed it on Amber's desk, on top of her homework. "Okay, since you didn't come downstairs for dinner, I figured I would bring you up some before Alfie and Eddie ate all the rest. And they aren't too happy about it, so you better not ever tell me I never did anything nice for you," she said, wagging a finger at Amber. Sure enough, Eddie's voice sounded from the hallway, demanding to know what Patricia had done with their "delicious circles of baked bread and cheese."
Patricia snorted and then noticed Mick on Amber's laptop. "Oh, hey Mick! Long time no see. You have to come and visit soon. You know, Fabian's the only guy around here anymore that has any sense. You've gotta help him hold up the rep that all guys aren't total morons nowadays."
Eddie, standing in the doorway with a fake hurt expression, said, "Hey, that hurts! I'm the best boyfriend ever and you don't even include me in the guys with common sense cult? Ouch Yacker, not fair."
"Oh Eddie, you are so great, I cannot believe that I was lucky enough to get a chance with you," Patricia said back in monotone. "Bye, Mick, I'll see you soon, yeah?"
Mick nodded, his stifled laughs now ringing clear and loud through the speakers. Patricia turned on her heel and walked over to Eddie, who grabbed her hand and whirled her around and then kissed her.
"Slimeball," Patricia said when they pulled apart, a hint of a smile on her face.
"Aw, you guys!" Amber exclaimed, her hands clasped together and her eyes wide, as if she were a toddler that was just rewarded with candy.
"Oh god, let's get out of here before Amber decides to get all sappy weirdo fan girl on us and start collecting our spit samples or something," Patricia groaned, dragging Eddie down the hallway towards the stairs.
Amber sighed wistfully and turned her attention back to Mick. "They are so-" she started.
Mick cut in, finishing her sentence for her. "Adorable." It was kind of bad, how well he could read her. But he knew it was the same for him.
Amber always knew exactly what he was feeling or thinking, and that reigned true in the next few moments.
She looked at him sadly. "What's the matter?" Mick hadn't even noticed he'd let his expression slip into one of great discontent.
"Oh, um, nothing!" he said in surprise. He hadn't intended to let on to her that he was unhappy.
"Don't you dare lie to me Mick Campbell," Amber said sternly.
Mick let out a heavy breath. "I... I don't know. I just - how do you stay so happy all the time Ambs?"
Amber gave him a very strange look indeed. "You think I'm always happy?" she chortled. "Mick, all it is, is that I just try to have a positive attitude all the time. I found, during a time when I was curious about life - I know, me curious about something significant? - that, if you live your life thinking negatively, then that's all you'll ever be. So I just try, if I see someone without a smile, to give them mine." With that, she cocked her head to the side and beamed at him.
Mick couldn't help but pull his lips up into a grin at the sight of her. "Did you know that you're far smarter than everyone thinks?"
"Well, some people just can't take a girl like me seriously," Amber shrugged.
"Well, if it's any consolation, I think you're lovely Ambs."
"Oooh, I don't really know if I take compliments from thick headed jocks such as yourself," she said, pursing her lips to keep from laughing as she reached over into the box sitting on her desk, grabbed a piece of pizza, and took a bite nonchalantly.
"Wow, you know, that really brought my self esteem down to like zero percent. Thanks, you wench, thanks. I'm just going to go sob into my pillow and eat my feelings," Mick replied, sticking his nose up into the air and sniffling.
Amber giggled. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry!"
As she took another bite of pizza, Mick said, "No, don't apologize, I hope you choke and die."
Amber threw her head back in laughter then. It was truly a beautiful sight and noise and Mick was mesmerized by it. Unless you've seen Amber laugh like that or nonetheless, been the one to cause her to laugh like that, you wouldn't know that nothing could compare to it. It was resplendent and striking.
But really, he could never take his eyes off her.
As soon as the laughter started, it stopped. "Hey, I never told you what happened the past two days!" Amber said.
"Oh yeah? Okay, tell me," Mick replied.
"Okay, so first, daddy sent me new clothes from fashion week and they're amazing. Uh, we have some new project for school, kill me now, that girl Willow I told you about is trying to move in here, and oh! Speaking of Willow... Jerome was an idiot, and thought he could date both Mara and Willow at the same time. Can you believe him?"
"Well, Jerome is known to be a real piece of work," Mick said, shaking his head in disgust. Amber watched to see if he had any other sort of reaction to hearing about Mara, but he didn't. He was either a really good actor, or he really was over her.
"Oh, I know. Remember when he put up those awful pictures of me to help Mara win elections?" Amber didn't think she'd quite gotten over that, still.
"I remember. Cockroach," Mick grimaced. He remembered having to control himself from punching Jerome in the face because of that. It may have been after he broke up with Amber, but Mick couldn't help the soft spot he always seemed to have for her.
"Hm. Oh! And Alfie got into trouble with Victor because he um, blew up a pot of spaghetti in the kitchen. We're still not really sure how exactly he managed to do that, but, you know, it's Alfie," she snickered.
Mick figured it was now or never. "Do you - do you still like him?"
Amber flared her nose. "No. I think I've sworn off boys for now. Relationships get too messy. I think I'll stick with this," Amber said, raising a new slice of pizza in the air before shoving it into her mouth.
"Pizza?" Mick guffawed.
"Pizza can't break my heart," she said and then laughed. But Mick couldn't help but notice that even in her laughter, there was something missing.
"Did I?" he asked.
"Did you what?"
"Break your heart," he said faintly.
Amber nearly choked on the greasy food in her mouth. She swallowed hard. She'd been avoiding this conversation like the plague since they started talking again.
"Mick..." she trailed off, looking down at her now empty hands.
That was the only answer he needed. Just to see her, sitting there looking so small and vulnerable in that instant, broke his own heart.
"I'm sorry Ambs. I was an idiot," he told her, willing her to look up at him. Couldn't she see that he still loved her? That he wished with all he had that he had never made that quick, rash mistake of breaking up with her in the first place?
"It's fine," she finally said, shaking it off. She wasn't going to cry in front of him. Not right now. She didn't want him to feel bad. It wasn't his fault. She was terribly forgetful when she was with him and he was blinded by his infatuation with Mara. It was okay. Or, that's what she kept telling herself over and over until she believed it.
Mick bit his lip. "Hey, I'm sorry, I have to go. I'll talk to you later though, okay?"
Amber faked a smile. "Okay, bye!" Mick's face disappeared and a new song started playing. As the words It's only you, beautiful floated through the room, her phone chimed to alert her that she had a new text.
It was from Mick and all it said was, 'Top of the stairs.'
Amber scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion. She got up from her chair and stretched her limbs, and then walked out of her room and down the hallway. When she got to the stairs, she nearly fainted.
Right in the main entrance, under the chandelier, was that familiar blonde hair and sturdy body that always looked so inviting to hug.
"Mick!" she yelled, running down the stairs. She didn't care that the entire house had probably heard her, loud and clear, because Mick was there in person and he was wrapping his arms around her and picking her up, spinning her around and around. It'd been too long since she'd last seen him and he still smelled the same as he always did - a mix of cologne and just him - and she nearly cried because too many things had been changing in her life but he was still exactly the same. Once he put her down, she cried gleefully, "What are you doing here?!"
"I missed you." He said it so simply, as if he hadn't just traveled at least twenty-two hours from Australia all the way to England just because he missed her. The other Anubis residents had started to trickle out towards them with confused faces and questioning "Mick?!"'s.
They both disregarded everyone, but Amber couldn't even form any words, so Mick to the initiative to continue speaking. "So um Ambs, I was wondering. Can I be your pizza?"
Amber looked at him with wide, blue-gray eyes, her mouth agape. Then she did that delightful, enticing laugh. Still with her arms around his neck; her head flung back, her long, long blonde hair cascading down, her eyes sparkling with joy. "I'd be honored if you would be."
Mick grinned, his eyes crinkling at the corners. He leaned in and pressed his lips carefully against hers, wanting it to last. It'd been so long since he'd last kissed her and god, he'd missed it.
Amber ran one hand through his golden hair, and intended to stay the way they were as long as she could. She wished there was a way to make time stop, or slow it down. She wanted to stay wrapped up in him, his protective arms around her, breathing in his scent forever.
And Mick never intended to let her go ever again.
They heard cheers from around them and Patricia yell, "You better stay together this time!"
Mick broke apart from Amber long enough to say, "I don't think that'll be a problem."
"You're stupid and I love you," Amber whispered, looking up at him through long lashes.
"I love you too," Mick remarked back, his mouth curved upward. "And I'm never going to break your heart."
"Don't make a promise you can't keep, Mick Campbell."
"Amber Millington, do not make this difficult," he replied, capturing his mouth on hers again. He found her pinky and locked his with it. "You can't break a pinky promise," he told her seriously. "It was always you. I don't know how I ever could've thought anyone could come even close to comparing to you." She just smiled, closing her eyes and taking a photograph in her mind of the moment and squeezing his finger back with hers. She could hear the far off music from her room vaguely and she kissed Mick again as the lyrics she knew by heart swirled through her head: If I can choose... it's only you.