*1/12/14: Reposting this because FanFiction was being stupid yesterday* All things used are credited to Shakespeare. AU/AH, Fluff, OOCness, Typos. Enjoy!
"Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love."
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
"Oh Piper, Piper, wherefore art thou, Piper?"
The cry came from way below her. Piper leaned over the tree branches, looking down at the ground below. Jason was standing down there at the trunk of the tree, staring up at her and grinning. He was holding something in his hand, and Piper smiled down at him for a second before the wind blew hard and she snapped back, gripping the bark.
It wasn't smart, she knew, to be up in the tree on a windy day, but it was a perfect place to clear her mind. No one ever came out there, as it was in the middle of the woods, and she could be alone in her thoughts.
Up in the tree, Piper didn't have to think about the popular girls at school bullying her, or her Latin test next week, or the nasty cafeteria lady that always made sure there was hair in her spaghetti. Sometimes she brought books with her or just her phone—hey, there was great reception up there—and even tried to take a nap.
Risky? Yes. What was life without a few risks here and there? All she had to do was make sure she had two legs wrapped around a limb and her back against another. It was as simple as that.
The hardest part was climbing up to her little haven. She could barely hook her feet into the tiny nooks and crannies as it was. But she liked being up there and it was worth it all in the end.
Sometimes Piper would think about Jason.
Okay, she thought about Jason a lot.
He was perfect in every single way. Even his imperfections were perfect. His hair was the perfect shade of blonde. His eyes were the purest shade of blue. He was smart but not a know it all, a perfectionist without being annoying. He was tall and lithe, strong but no bulky, with a little scar on his lip that he got when they were in kindergarten and tried to eat a stapler.
How could you not love him?
But it wasn't just that. He was always so nice to her. Whenever she'd needed that shoulder to cry on, he'd been there. When she'd broken her arm in fifth grade, he'd been her first visitor to the hospital. He was always there for her, guarding her like a bulldog, helping her out in any way possible.
Jason easily could've fit in with any of the popular losers at school. He'd actually make them decent. Any one of those stupid girls would die to go out with him, and yet he'd always stayed with Piper.
He and Piper had been friends for a long time. And that was all they were. Best buds. BFFLs. She'd been friend-zoned multiple times when he'd always say, "You know? You're a really awesome friend, Piper."
Like, what was she supposed to say back to that? "Bro, I've loved you since we were like negative two hundred. Why the hell can't you feel the same way about me? Or do you feel the same and this is some kind of teenage movie love?"
No. That'd scare him away. So she'd always say, "Ditto."
Yeah. Ditto. She was helpless.
The only people who knew about her little-big tree were Jason and their longtime friend Leo. Now, they were eighteen and getting ready to graduate from high school and go to separate colleges and all that jazz. And Jason would never know that Piper had loved him for so long. Sometimes, life just wasn't fair.
"Romeo and Juliet, huh?" Piper asked, snapping back to the present. "Don't you have the roles switched?"
"Perhaps, but those are just little details." Piper leaned over again and saw Jason running a hand through his short hair. It was getting harder to see with the leaves in the way, but she noticed little pebbles in his hands too.
"Planning to throw pebbles too? Is this a fairytale?"
"Something like that," he admitted. And then his hands grabbed the bottom of the trunk, and he began to pull himself up. For a second, Piper couldn't even speak. She was in too much shock. Jason was strong but he wasn't a climber.
"What are you doing?" she demanded shrilly.
Jason didn't answer her really. The wind had stopped blowing, thank God, so now she wasn't as worried. He seemed concentrated on the task of climbing or something, but soon he stopped. She could've sworn that he his eyes were closed.
Then he said, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"
Piper froze. Was he really doing what she thought he was doing?
"Thou art more lovely and more temperate."
Yep. He was.
Unless she'd fallen off the tree and was in some sort of fantastical coma, which was always a sort of option. Because never in a million years would Jason have said this to her. Because this was not a 'best buddy' kind of thing.
"Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May. And summer's lease hath all too short a date," Jason continued, still climbing up towards Piper. She was hanging over the side of the tree still, staring down at him, her mouth wide with shock.
He glanced up at her and winked. Piper blinked in returned like an idiot. "Are you insane?" she demanded, feeling the wind blow again.
He shrugged slightly.
"Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, and often is his gold complexion dimmed." Jason grabbed a knot and pulled himself upward, his muscles straining with effort. Piper felt completely useless just staring at him. "And every fair from fair sometime declines, by chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed."
Jason stopped then for a second, glaring at the tree as if it were some new enemy of his and probably wondering why she'd chosen a tall tree like that to hide away from the world. But damn, if it wasn't romantic.
So Jason could recite Shakespeare from memory? That was kind of weird. . . and kind of hot. . .
Few people knew about Piper's secret love for Shakespeare. Her dad did, and so did Jason and Leo. But it wasn't something Piper wanted to broadcast to the world, because seriously, what kind of teenage girl was obsessed with a playwright that hardly made any sense most of the time? What kind of girl sat up in a tree and memorized a majority of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets?
Yeah that would be her. She was an oddity.
Of course, Sonnet 18 was one of her favorites. It was everyone's favorite. But Jason never showed any interest in Shakespeare. In fact, when they'd had to act out Romeo and Juliet in ninth grade, Jason had failed. It was the only time he'd ever failed a class. At least he'd been Romeo, a lover. Piper had been Tybalt. Yeah, she'd been a dude.
And Jason had had to kill her, of course. How lovely.
But that was what had started to read other things by him.
"But thy eternal summer shall not fade," Jason finally continued. He was almost up to the top now. "Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st."
This had to have some sort of subliminal messaging, right? He wasn't just sprouting sonnets for no reason. He couldn't be.
"Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,when in eternal lines to time thou grow'st."
Finally, with one long, dangerous pull upward, he was at her level. He was sweaty, but he was alive and everything was alright. Piper breathed a sigh of relief and wanted to hug him, but wasn't sure if he wanted that.
Jason stared at her for a long time, catching his breath. He gave her a smile and then snatched her hands. She squealed, but he wrapped them in his own, and stared at her straight in the eyes.
"So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see," he finally said, his thumbs brushing over her knuckles, and she noticed that deep emotion in his eyes that had never been there before. Or maybe she just hadn't noticed it.
"So long lives this, and this gives life to thee," he finished.
They were silent for a long time. "I can't believe you actually memorized that," Piper whispered eventually. "I'm impressed, Grace."
In one daring move, Jason pulled her into his lap. Her breath caught in shock but a giant smile broke out across her face. As she always said, what was life without its risks? She gripped the branches behind him as he settled his hands around her waist. They were nose to nose, closer than they'd ever been. They'd only been like this in Piper's daydreams.
"Only for someone I love," he answered her.
There was so much that she wanted to say to him. So much that needed to be discussed. But Piper couldn't form words, and Jason was obviously done talking. Piper didn't move an inch. So Jason did all of the moving for her.
"My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite," Jason quoted.
"Isn't Juliet supposed to say that to Romeo?" Piper teased quietly.
And then their lips met.