The inky sky lit in a quick flash, breaking the blanket of darkness thrown over the school and surrounding woods mere moments before a mutter of thunder vibrates through the earth. The wind carries with it heavy, cold droplets and torn leaves from the trees, all beating down over the roof and echoing through the halls.

They knew this storm would come. The tempestuous clouds daunting above them at dinner time, the sudden increase of the whistling wind, and that distinct scent of cool, metallic earth were more than enough signs to get them moving; closing the windows, moving the tables under shelter, covering the woodpile, securing the gates.

This storm, so booming and chaotic, left a damper on the morale among the group that evening, each dispersing throughout the school.

Clementine, staring out the front windows at the thick, gray curtain of rain with a somber frown, breathes out a low, heavy sigh. Her breath fogs over the glass where she absently draws a little smiley face.

Thunderstorm or not, the day itself hadn't been great.

In fact, she'd dare say it'd been shitty.

Real shitty.

"Hey."

Louis' warm hands grip her upper arms as he leans to peer over her shoulder. She presses back into him, letting out another sigh at the comfort his presence always provided.

"Hey."

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

"Really?"

Clementine can feel his stare but keeps her eyes peered forward, forcing interest in the patterns and crossed paths of the droplets slipping over the glass.

"Yeah."

Louis reaches over and adds a tongue to the smiley face she previously traced, saying, "AJ's having a sleepover with Tenn and Willy tonight."

She turns to glance up at him, brows raised.

Ever since they first came to Ericson's, she and AJ always slept in the same room no matter what, especially in the beginning and right after they took down the delta. Some nights he'd go out on patrol, but AJ still came back to flop down on his bed to sleep.

The thought of him wanting to sleep somewhere else never occurred to her.

"Really?"

"Yeah, he, uh-" Louis frowns, "-Tenn doesn't do too good with storms that're bad like this. AJ thought he and Willy could help distract him from it, y'know?"

Clementine's expression softens into a small grin.

Louis lets her go, moving to lean himself against the window pane with a mischievous grin adorning his full lips. She eyes him, brow perked curiously at the way he tugs on the flaps of his jacket and cocks his head at her.

"What?"

"Since the child's out for the night, I planned a little surprise for you."

"Is that so?"

"Yep! Think of it like-" his smirk softens, becoming almost timid, "-a date, if you will."

"A date, huh?" she smiles. "Haven't had one of those in a while."

"I think we're due."

She nods, reaching out to grab his hand, running her thumb over a scab on his knuckles, a small injury he acquired from hunting.

"A date does sound really nice."

"I'll see you up there, then?"

"Of course. I'll be up in a minute."

She had expected romantic candlelight, or perhaps ever a slow song from the gramophone to play for them to dance to.

But, this… is neither of those things.

Off-white sheets spread across from on bunk bed to the other, draping over the high stacks of pillows and covering more than half of the room. A soft glow repressed through the sheets reveals Louis' silhouette within the extravagant pillow fort.

His fingers slip through the opening of the sheets as he peeks out at her with a grin.

"What have you done to our room?"

"Proving that we can, in fact, keep my entire collection in here."

She laughs at that, approaching the pillow fort with crossed arms. "Is that right? Not very practical."

"Maybe so, but you'll change your mind once you're inside." He pushes the sheet open further, letting the yellow of the flashlight bleed out onto the wooden floors. "Won't you join me?"

"I'm thinking about it."

"I have pretzels," he offers in a tempting, sing-song voice, reaching behind to shake the wrinkly bag.

"Are they stale?"

"Oh, yeah. They taste like chunks of cardboard."

Clementine smirks, shrugging off her jacket and taking off her hat, tossing them by the closet doors to join his coat.

"Just how I like 'em."

The pillows are soft and clean, and for a split second, she wonders where he found the time to bring all those pillowcases to the river to wash. They get comfortable, sitting close enough for their knees to touch with the flashlight pointing up between them.

A particularly hard roar of thunder vibrates through the earth, but instead of bringing any feeling of dread, it's almost like a lull within the safety of the sheets and stacks of pillows.

"Pretty nice, huh?"

"Alright, I admit it," Clementine reaches over to lace their fingers together, "this is cozy."

"Cozy enough to keep it like this?"

"Let's not get crazy."

"Why not?" he asks. "It's good to be a little crazy every once and a while! You can think of it as waking up every morning in your own little pillow castle." Then, he nudges her, emphasizing, "Queen Clem."

She rolls her eyes, giggling at the silly nickname. "Only if you'll be my court jester, Belouga."

Louis winks, saying, "Anything for the queen."

They're both laughing now as Clementine leans into him, resting her cheek on his shoulder. He shifts, the laughter slowing as he leans back, bringing her to lie down beside him. She allows herself to relax against the fluffy materials beneath them, sighing contently at the soothing thunderstorm still shaking the earth outside.

Louis pulls a blanket over them, careful to avoid knocking over the flashlight. The warmth envelops them.

They're comfortably quiet, blinking up at the ceiling of the pillow fort and enjoying each other's company. The exhaustion of the day hits her, and just as her eyes begin to droop, weariness beginning to take over.

"What a shitty day," she murmurs with a sigh.

Louis' hand squeezes hers, bringing them up to rest against his chest.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"I don't know."

"It's not your fault."

She doesn't say anything, turning herself completely onto her side to snuggle closer into his shoulder.

"Violet'll come around."

She shakes her head. "So you say."

"She will," he insists. "Eventually."

"I should've just stayed out of it."

"You were worried about her. There's nothing wrong with that."

Worried was a little of an understatement.

When Violet walked back through the gates with Aasim by her side and a bloodied arm, Clementine was the first one there with panic in her wide eyes.

Thankfully, it hadn't been a bite. One of the traps malfunctioned and sliced Violet's arm. When Clementine asked her if she was alright, all she got in return was a harsh glare. Then, when Clementine reached out- her first mistake- Violet took her good arm and shoved her to the ground.

"Get the fuck away from me!"

"Violet!"

Louis stepped in between them, turning a fuming Violet around and guiding her towards Ruby. Aasim helped her up as he explained what happened, but Clementine's focus was solely on Violet as Ruby hurried her inside before Mitch came out to see what happened.

The fall hadn't hurt nearly as much as the sting those harsh, furious words or the contempt still lingering in those eyes.

Damn near a year later, and still… Violet still looked at her like that.

"How's her arm?" she asks.

"Ruby said it wasn't deep enough to need stitches, so an easy fix. I'll go check on her in the morning and-" he pauses, squeezing her hand again, "I could try talking to her-"

"No," she cuts him off. "Not after what happened last time."

"That was different. More time has passed now. She might listen to me."

"You can't force her to be friends with me again, Lou."

"...I know," he sighs. "I just hate seeing you both like that. I... I know how much you miss her."

She doesn't respond.

The silence falls over them again, only interrupted with the frequent rumbling from outside. She tries to push those thoughts of Violet out of her mind, rather wanting to focus on the comfort of the boy beside her, on this fingers absently running along her back. She pulls the blanket up closer, allowing her eyes to drift shut. When it feels as though sleep might take her, Louis' voice brings her back.

"Clementine?"

The use of her full name, the way it rolls off his tongue so smooth and natural, so soft, spreads a strange shot of warmth through her stomach.

Louis turns on his side, chin resting in his palm as he gazes down at her, chewing on his lip with hesitation in his eyes. Almost as if contemplating.

"I've decided something," he finally says slowly.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"What have you decided?"

He tilts his head, studying her thoughtfully. His eyes fall to her lips.

"I'm going to kiss you."

She blinks up at him, fully awake now, eyes widening at such a blunt statement. The pulse beating in her neck quickens with the fluttering of her belly and spreading heat through her face and down her neck.

She waits, expecting him to lean over, grip the back of her head and bring their lips together.

However, he does nothing.

She breathes out, "Well?"

"Oh, not right now," he smiles. "But I will before our date's over, so don't fall asleep on me, yeah?"

She could smack him. She truly could. All she'd need to do is grab one of the many pillows surrounding them and give him a good wack for making her heart flutter like that.

When Louis begins to chuckle at her expression, her slightly agitated pout, Clementine moves to try and kiss him herself. However, even though the idea went smoothly in her head, the execution didn't work so well. While trying to crawl over him, her leg knocks into the flashlight when it becomes tangled with another blanket, causing the fort to fall dark.

"Shit-"

"Ow!"

Clementine sits up, patting around for the fallen light within the blankets.

"Where'd it go?"

"Um, that's my foot!"

"Are you sure?"

"Clem, I'm pretty sure I know the difference between a flashlight and my own foot, thank you."

Louis moves beside her, helping in the search of the fallen light while chuckling lightly to himself.

She jerks the blanket up, hearing the light crash down against the bare wooden floors. The glow stutters, flashing twice before being covered again when a stack of pillows knocks over, caving in part of the fort.

"Oops."

"Clementine, are you destroying my- hey hey hey!"

The sheets fall on top of them, bringing down the rest of the fort to crash around them in a fairly silent avalanche of pillows. They're both stuck in a tangled mess of sheets, pillows, and blankets, trying to find an opening of escape.

Louis pulls the sheet off of her, exposing her to the fresh air of the room where they both burst out laughing. He managed to find the flashlight, beating it against his palm before it shines again, uncovering the disaster they sit in.

"What a mess."

"I blame you."

Clementine laughs, carefully bringing herself to her feet and offering him a hand. "C'mon, we gotta pick this up."

"Says who? I say we leave it, sleep among the destruction, and rebuild tomorrow."

"Nope," she shakes her head. "Queen's orders. These all go back to the jester's quarters."

"You're a strict ruler, your majesty. Very commanding. I like that."

She smiles.

With the light set on AJ's desk to help illuminate the room, Clementine begins folding up the sheets into nice, smooth squares, setting them on the bed. She glances back at Louis' reluctant frown at the mess.

"Can't say this is where I thought our date would go. Any idea where the pretzels went- Oh-" there's crunching beneath his foot, "-nevermind."

She moves over to their bed with a grin still pulling at her lips as she reaches down to grab the blanket.

Something hits her shoulders and back.

Though it didn't hurt, the suddenness of it causes an embarrassing noise to escape her throat as she whips around. A pillow rests at her feet, the obvious culprit for what struck her.

Her narrow gaze darts up at Louis, whose back is to her. Cheerfully humming to himself, he stacks his pillows into a neat pile oh so innocently.

"Did you just throw that at me?"

"Hm?"

Louis peers over his shoulder, brow raised with a small, knowing smirk pressing to his mouth.

"Louis."

"What?"

"You hit me!"

"What?" he repeats, pressing a hand over his chest and producing a faux innocence in his expression. "Clem, I would never."

She kicks the pillow at him. "Then, what's this?"

"...A pillow from the pillow fort you elegantly destroyed?"

Her head leans back as she rolls her eyes. She turns, but before she can finish bending down to grab the blanket she dropped, Clementine's hit again, this time against her bottom.

"Louis!"

He laughs, throwing the pillow at her, this time harder as he admits, "Okay, I lied."

Clementine catches it against her chest, pausing to playfully glare at his challenging expression before darting forward. Louis blocks her attack, shielding himself with his arms as he grabs more pillows, swinging them at her.

Pillows fly everywhere, being thrown and swung around as the two continue to laugh and fight for several minutes, the room buzzing with delightful laughter and soft thuds knocking around.

Clementine manages to knock him down against the cushioned ground where he lays sprawled, chuckling breathlessly as his chest heaves.

Triumphant with hands on her hips, she towers over him, saying, "I win."

"Oh, no," he huffs, pointing up at her, "you don't."

Louis weakly throws another pillow at her, which she catches and tosses back at him. He lets it fall over his face, muffling his laughter. Maneuvering herself onto the floor to crawl above him, she yanks the pillow off and secures both his wrists beside his head with a victorious smirk.

He barely struggles, allowing her to overpower him with a slight pout on his lips.

"Say 'Uncle!'"

"No!"

"Say it!"

"Never!"

Clementine's in a fit of giggles, barely able to get out, "You've already lost, so just give up!"

"Oh-ho!" Louis gives a challenging grin. "But, my darling, I've got one last trick up my sleeve."

"And what-"

He's quick, forcing himself up to break his wrists free of her grasp, hands moving behind her head to bring her into a firm liplock. A soft noise vibrates in her throat at the sudden contact, but the shock is fleeting. Eyes flutter shut as her hands run over his shoulders and to his neck. She returns his kiss, moving her lips with his in the soft, ardent way they always do.

Too focused on him, his lips and his hands, that she barely notices when her back presses against the comfortable mess of pillows. He tries to pull away, to end the kiss, but she brings him back to her lips. He grins, giving in and kissing her again.

Clementine lets him move away this time, both lightly panting and gazing at each other through loving, lidded eyes.

Louis smiles down at her.

"I win."