Prisoner's Love
Disclaimer: Oh, I bet I've fooled you. You thought I was just some girl, didn't you? Tsk, tsk. I'm Trenton Lee Stewart. Silly you.
Summary: What if Reynie and Kate had been a team at the beginning of Prisoner's Dilemma?
Author's Note: That's right. I've written a Kaynie. I know I should be focusing on "A Constance Carol", after all, it's already quite late to be writing a Christmas fic, but here's something in the meantime. And I'm sorry-because this is probably going to be the worst and most cheesy Kaynie in the entire fandom. But I bet the title has already told you that much. X)
Reynie Muldoon stood in a small room on the third floor of Mr. Benedict's large house. Beside him sat Kate Wetherall, a tall and athletic girl who was positively hot. Quite literally. There was a problem with the heating system of the old house that made the third floor rather stifling. One might wonder why they were there. The answer is simple. School. They were taking part in one of Rhonda Kazembe's exercises that replace the education that a normal child might receive. Participating in this exercise with them were Sticky Washington and Constance Contraire, who were in another room on the other end of the hall. For safety purposes, these four children had their own special schooling in the safety of Mr. Benedict's home.
Reynie and Kate had talked it over and both agreed that Option B would be best. They felt horrible ratting out their friends, as well as having a lack of faith in them, but they knew the other team. If it were to be anything like usual, Constance would choose Option B as well and Sticky will become nervous enough to oblige under the warm and irritating conditions. He certainly wouldn't want to, but with Constance's irritating influence he would be likely to comply.
And so it was, the two young children were waiting patiently in their room for the other two to reach an agreement. It had only been several minutes, perhaps three at most, yet both Kate and Reynie were already beginning to grow weary. It wasn't exactly what you would call pleasant, sitting in a stifling room, feeling as if you've betrayed your friends, waiting to see which punishment you'll be bestowed with, if any. So they begin to talk.
"What do we do if they don't choose option B?" Kate wiped a small inkling of sweat from her forehead.
"I suppose there isn't much of anything to do except apologize," replied Reynie.
"And help them with the heap of kitchen duties we'll have given them."
"Yeah. That too." At this, both children sighed. Although they were most confident going with the second option, it still was not desirable and hardly guaranteed to be the best choice.
The two youngsters sat quietly for an indistinct amount of time, sitting in the heat, slowly cooking to a crisp. What seemed like an hour passed, though in reality it was only around a dozen minutes. Once, Kate looked over at Reynie to see how he was faring. She was surprised when she noticed the way his hair sat on his head. The soft brown muss seemed almost fluffy when you compare it to the average face, glistening in a soft layer of sweat, of Reynie Muldoon. Then she gave a silent start when she realized that she had noticed this at all, and quickly looked away. Kate was going to be a secret agent! She couldn't catch herself getting lost in petty things like a boy's hair. She blushed when she thought of what Milligan would say, how he would scold her concentration on the wrong things. Then she really blushed when she thought of what Milligan, as her father, would say, and pushed the whole thing out of her mind. For the first time she was thankful that the heat was there, it would serve as an excuse for her rosy cheeks.
Once, Reynie looked over at Kate to see how she was managing. He gave a small smile when he saw that she was having a thumb war with herself. He couldn't for the life of him make out who was winning. Both thumbs gave the impression of ferocious ninjas engaged in a fight to the death. He almost chuckled aloud at the sight of it. How cute. He thought. Wait. Had he really said (or, well, thought) 'cute'? Surely it was just a mistake. Surely he had been subconsciously thinking of something else, a puppy maybe, or a smiley face, and had only been seeing Kate with his eyes. But something inside of him, some annoying force, told him that he had been thinking only of Kate. He wished he could reach his hand into his heart and wrestle it away the way Kate's ninjas were doing to each other.
Not long after Kate's blush and Reynie's inner thumb war did Rhonda come in to check in on the two of them.
"Made your decision yet?" she called out, to which both children jump up with a hearty "Yes!"
"Well, good. Feel free to talk it over some more though if you have any doubts. I think they might be a while," she said, jerking a thumb towards the room where Sticky and Constance were detained.
"You mean we can't come downstairs and wait?" Kate asked.
"I'm afraid not." Rhonda said with an apologetic frown.
Kate opened her mouth to object but figured it be no use and slowly slid down to the floor again as Rhonda shut the door. Reynie sat himself cross-legged beside her again.
"So what do you think, Kate?" he asked her.
Her heart gave a little leap when he said her name, something she told herself was due to her thinking of him earlier. All at once she almost felt guilty, like he had addressed Kate so he could reprimand her for thinking of him.
She knew she was being silly however, and refrained from apologizing. Instead she gave him a blank look.
"What?"
"I said 'So what do you think?'." He looked almost worried; he was slightly afraid the heat had begun to affect her brain.
"About what?"
"About what Rhonda said. That 'they might be a while'. Sticky seems to be holding out better than we thought. Do you think we should change our choice?"
As Kate snapped back to attention and realized what Reynie was talking about, she shook her head.
"Nah. Sticky's behavior is commendable, but I still think he'll crack."
"Yeah," Reynie nodded his accent. "You're probably right."
They both fell silent at this, however Kate was dismayed. For some reason she wanted to keep Reynie talking. Maybe it was the boredom that had driven her to having a thumb war with herself, maybe it was her restless spirit, but whatever it was, she was tired of the silence already. Not knowing what else to say, Kate went for the one topic you can always rely on-
"It's pretty warm in here, huh?"
-The obvious.
"Yes," Reynie replied. "very warm."
"This house is so old. I wonder if Mr. Benedict has anyone coming to fix the heating."
"Let's hope he does. Your guess is as good as mine though. Mr. Benedict can never be too cautious."
It was true. Ever since the beginning of the Mysterious Benedict Society the children had learned from the adults that you never quite know who to trust. Even a repairman could turn out to be a vicious accomplice to Mr. Curtain. Mr. Benedict takes little risk in this matter.
"Yeah. I wonder if Milligan could fix it though."
Reynie, who didn't know if Milligan possessed any handyman abilities or not, simply shrugged. Then, to break the silence, he started up with a new topic.
"So who won, there?"
"Won what?"
"Sorry, which hand won your thumb war?"
"I don't know. I wasn't finished yet when Rhonda walked in."
"Oh."
"You wanna thumb wrestle with me? Getting a winner that way should be simpler than it is with just myself."
"Sure." Reynie agreed with a feeling that he certainly knew who was going to win, and it wasn't going to be him.
They adjusted themselves so that they were sitting cross-legged across from each other. Their hands took their positions- Reynie's hand curled up in a ball with Kate's cupped around it, each of their thumbs sticking up in the air like a post from a garden- and Kate began the rhyme.
"1-2-3-4 I declare a thumb war. 5-6-7-8 Try to keep your thumb straight."
However, just as Kate's ninjas were about to reign down terror upon Reynie's poor, average fingers, a shrill, ongoing scream sent them each scooting back and letting out a short yelp of their own. After ten seconds of the shriek holding strong, they exchanged a glance and both muttered a single word.
"Constance."
Doing their best to block out the fierce noise, they moved together again.
"Shouldn't be too long now." Kate announced, as they returned their hands to the proper stance in order to presume the war. But as they both reached their hands in again, something happened.
They linked.
Reynie and Kate both looked down at their intertwined fingers. They seemed to fit together perfectly. The ten fingers that were hooked together looked about as good as two matching puzzle pieces would. They each stared at the hand that was tangled with their own for several moments before they simultaneously looked up into the others face.
What Kate saw was that Reynie's fluff of hair was nothing compared to his eyes. What Reynie saw was that Kate's thumbs weren't her only remarkable feature- her face was ten times as breathtaking. Constance's screams had completely faded into the background now- they couldn't hear a thing.
Except there was a reason for that. At that exact moment Rhonda swung open the door.
"Good news! Sticky and Constance have reach- oh!"
At the sight of the two holding hands, Rhonda flushed scarlet and swung the door shut, quickly backing out. But not quickly enough. Constance got a full sight of them before the door had closed.
"Kate and Reynie, sittin in a tree…"
Author's Note: Well, there you have it. My Kaynie. Although I'd certainly say this isn't my best achievement, I am quite proud of myself that I did it at all, no matter how absurd or cheesy it might be. I've wanted to take a crack at writing Kaynie for a while, but I was struggling to finish this one (even though it's a short thing), and I had already been hopping from idea to idea about how I wanted it to go. Anyway, I really don't write romance, so this was kind of awkward writing for me. Therefore, reviews would be much appreciated. Alright, I've abused this author's note enough for now. Farewell. :)