Summary: Oneshot. AxP. The first time Aerrow met Piper, she was reading. "Ew, why do you have to sit there in the library all day, how stupid is that?" he remembered saying to her. But then she gave him that irresistible smile.
Rating: K for Fluff
Disclaimer: I don't own Stormhawks... otherwise there would be more investigation into each Stormhawks' past
Read It To Me
A Stormhawks Oneshot
1. The First Page Is Always a Risk-taking Moment, a Held Breath
There's barely a light shown from behind his door. It barely shines in the darkness as the entire Condor seems enamoured in sweet dreams from above. No one creeps. No one moves. Everyone is asleep in their beds. There are no sounds... but one.
It's quiet. Human ears can barely hear it in the stilled silence. Creeping. Creaking. Creating. It's the sound of a page... turning.
Within the young sky knight's room, there is a boy. His red locks cover his fatigued eyes, but he doesn't care. The sky knight, the adolescent, the boy... is absolutely enthralled by the story he is reading. A small grin is curved at his lips as he barely mouths the words and gently lifts his fingers to turn the next page. Radarr gently snores at his side, lying messily in the blankets.
Aerrow gives Radarr an absentminded pet on the head as his eyes remained glued to each word, each sentence, each paragraph. His hand holds a small metal flashlight, which glints in the comforting shadows. The light gives a playful and innocent touch to Aerrow's face as a kind of excitement he only exhibits in battle returns to him.
This book is amazing. He craves for more and continues the page turning, so enraptured within the book's grasp. Even his breathing is silent. There is only the sound of the page, the suspense, the 'wanting' to know what happens next.
Suddenly there is an intruder. Someone has opened the door. Aerrow jumps up, almost waking Radarr, trying to hide the book (and his page) behind him.
She taps her foot somewhat impatiently at him, holding two juice boxes and a couple of cookies in her hands. She smiles gently at him, amber eyes filled with mute laughter at his childish attempt at hiding the book. Now all that can be heard is his erratic heartbeat. And there is still silence.
Piper is still smiling and now Aerrow feels flustered. A light blush comes to his cheeks as he composes himself, "... what are you doing up, Piper?"
He hopes he sounds innocent enough to let her overlook this.
It doesn't work. She merely raises an amused eyebrow at him and shuts the door wordlessly. Then she strides over to his bed, lifting the slumbering Radarr to her lap and nudges him.
"Scoot over... might as well read together then." The grin is visible in her orange pupils.
The sky knight is a little stunned. He had expected her to freak out or yell... because he had disobeyed a very personal request. Aerrow is in some what of a daze.
A cookie is waved in front of his face and Aerrow snaps out of it. Embarrassed, Aerrow tries to smile. Piper rolls her eyes. Laconic, she hands him a juice box, while she begins to sip hers. The napkin of cookies is put between them.
It's odd... the situation. A boy and a girl in their early teens, sitting on a bed together in their pyjamas with a book and cookies between them, shoulders touching... sipping juice. But it's not odd or strange or sexual or anything for Aerrow and Piper. It just is. It's just them. It's just what they share. A bond.
Aerrow accepts the juice gratefully and shows her the page nervously. They share a look of mixed anticipation and caution. Then they dive into the story together.
2. Never Judge a Book By Its Cover... It May Turn Out To Be A Life-changing Story
The first time Aerrow met Piper, she was reading.
Reading. Imagine that. Aerrow's nose had wrinkled up in disgust at the thought of indulging himself in a pastime so boring, so dull... such a waste of time. Books were merely things put together from billions of pages and ink. Nothing special. Nothing to spend a second of his life doing. Who would choose to sit there… just… reading when they could be having fun outside playing knights and castles?
Of course, she was a girl. At his age, Aerrow thought girls to be disgusting--infected with cooties. Girls were alien creatures who didn't know fun, didn't know joy or how to get down and dirty. It was best to play with boys who didn't care whether you got mud on them or whether you pushed them down a hill. With girls you always had to be on guard. Considerate. Patient. Yuck.
Aerrow wanted to move away and continue on his quest to find the baseball that Finn had thrown into the library window by accident.
Yet… he couldn't stop looking at that girl. She was tiny--surrounded by piles of thick leather books with worn and withered covers on an ancient wooden table. Her head was barely visible behind a giant black book which merely had the title of 'Crystals'. Perhaps she was studying… but then, why did it feel like there was more? He didn't realize it… but he had begun moving towards her. His eyes were magnetically attracted to the girl in the corner of the library.
Suddenly she looked up, annoyed. She glared at him with fiery eyes, "Why are you staring at me? I'm trying to read my book!"
"… why are you reading? There's no school today. You don't need to study," Aerrow indignantly snapped back. Girls were always really annoying. That was why Finn and Aerrow liked to play pranks on the local girls in their classes.
The girl had rolled her eyes, "I'm not studying. I come to the library just to read."
Wait. What? Aerrow's jaw dropped and the baseball in his hand slipped to the ground without even a glance.
"Ew, why do you have to sit there in the library all day, how stupid is that?" he remembered saying to her.
"Because it's fun."
Taken back, the boy became silent. Confusion swirled around in his head, "It's… fun?"
Her eyes were locked on his, as she nodded happily, her feet swinging back in forth in the massive armchair. Aerrow couldn't help but think that this girl was weird…
"Fun… how can it be fun?" Aerrow asked her.
"Just try it, or are you a coward?" she teased him.
He was about to retort, because girls weren't allowed to insult boys in such ways. But then she gave him that irresistible smile. Suddenly he didn't care anymore.
He just wanted her to smile again for him.
-
"Hey Aerrow what's up?" Finn waved a hand in front of the dreamy eyes of his fellow orphan. They had been together since they were six and they had found Radarr. It was on that day, in the orphanage that they had spurned an unbreakable friendship and became partners in mischievous pranks of all guises.
But today Aerrow was acting strange, spacing out for no reason at all. Finn didn't like it when people didn't pay attention to him, Aerrow had mused. In fact, Finn was like a magnet, calling for attention, craving it. Not that Aerrow gave it much thought. As the boy learned, it was easy to tune Finn out when his friend got too annoying. Radarr had his moments as well.
"Say… Finn, what kind of books do you read for fun?" Aerrow decided to indulge Finn into his thoughts for the moment.
Finn looked like someone had told him that they could grow daisies out of their nostrils. Shocked. "Reading?! What are you talking about man?! Are you on something? Why would I read something for fun when I can go around playing air guitar or throw pineapples at girls?! Geez, how boring!"
Taken back, Aerrow nodded numbly, "… yeah, you're right, there's nothing fun about that anyways!"
Nodding supremely, Finn smiled, "But of course, the Finnster is never wrong, man! Now, let's go…" he trotted to the exit to find some pineapples, but ended up knocking some paint cans on the shelf on top of poor Radarr.
Screeching Radarr snarled and tackled Finn.
His screams of agony were heeded as Aerrow frantically tried to pull his friend off of the traumatized Finn.
-
Nevertheless, Aerrow had returned to the library, hoping to run into the girl with amber eyes again. To his disappointment, she was not there. The library suddenly felt strange and alien as it had a few days before and Aerrow considered marching right out and never coming back again. But the image of the girl's smile did not leave his mind.
Aerrow sighed, a stubborn will clinging to him. Something drew him to the book shelves. A longing. A curiosity. A wanting… it couldn't hurt right? Just reading one page… a few pages… or merely skimming… he was merely intrepid, that was all…
"What's the matter? Chicken?"
An amused voice jolted him his thoughts, Aerrow sprang to his feet as if caught in a terrible act of crime. Then he blurted out indignantly, "I am not a chicken! I wasn't doing anything! I was just looking! Man!"
He found himself face to face with the smiling bookworm and his breath was taken away. It was her. She was here. She was here. And she had just caught him glaring at book titles like a cat eyes his prey. There was no way of escaping this jab to his pride…
"I wasn't going to take out a book." He said automatically, cheeks flushing.
She opened her mouth, "!-"
"And I do not think you're cute."
Now her eyes had widened slightly, as if she had misheard, "Wha-"
"And I will not come back here again."
"…huh?"
In the end, they were thoroughly confused. Aerrow had no idea why he was so… so tongue-tied. It let a burning impression in his memory as a moment that he would never escape out of embarrassment. Girls were so… complicated. They made him say unnecessary things!
"This is all your fault," Aerrow started to glare.
By this point, the girl was extremely confused. Her temper sparked at this point, "Now wait just a second, what are you being so… so… dumb? It's just a library! Anyone can walk in here and read what they want! What is this? Some kind of scary castle with witches and demons?! You're being ridiculous. Don't tell me you're afraid of reading one little measly book! It's not going to kill you!"
Before Aerrow could retaliate out of his stunned submission, the girl stormed out of the library, a pile of books in hand. Well… that was extremely awkward… Something like guilt began to pile in Aerrow's chest. Perhaps, he was being a bit… ridiculous. It wouldn't kill him to look at one book…
So Aerrow took out Peter Pan.
-
The words were jumbled. It all blurred on the paper. Aerrow couldn't even bare himself to read it. How boring. How tedious. How…
Don't tell me you're afraid of reading one little measly book!
Aerrow glared. He never lost a challenge. So he read.
-
Thump. The girl, bewildered, looked up at Aerrow who looked like he had run through five countries just to get to her. In front of her, on the desk she was sitting at was a copy of Peter Pan. The girl blinked questionably at Aerrow for an explanation.
Adrenaline peaked. "So…?"
"Uh…" the girl was edging away from him. Great. She was he was weird. That bothered him.
He took another breath, "I loved it. It was awesome. It was… wow."
Words couldn't describe how he felt at the moment. Somehow it was as if he has been taken by the heart and submerged into a brand new world where anything was possible, where he could be anyone, where magic and happy endings were real. It was as if he actually knew Peter Pan, could actually feel Neverland, taste the air of that setting and place, embrace it.
This high was the high Aerrow felt when he jumped off cliffs and went diving just to feel the exhilaration of death defying stunts in flight, or the simple feel of a toy skimmer. This was… this was something else. It was as if he had walked his whole life blind to all the doors around him, doors that were called books. Now this girl had opened his eyes, unlocked all the doors hidden from him to a possibility of endless worlds and he was excited.
She was speechless. Then she smiled in a way that said 'I told you so' and laughed at him.
"I'm Piper. What's your name?"
And that was how Aerrow met Piper.
3. Every Main Character Needs to Have a Flaw… How Can We Relate To Them If They Don't?
"Doesn't it annoy you sometimes, Piper?" Finn complained to the navigator… it was one of his favourite pastimes. The girl was like a sister to him… a nagging and irritating and boring older sister, but a sister none the less.
Looking up from her squadron log, Piper showed no signs of coherence.
"Are you even paying attention Piper?!" Finn pouted, it was no fun when Piper was off daydreaming or plotting some crazy crystal experiments.
Shaking her head, Piper tucked her pen behind her ear, "Yeah, what is it?"
"I said, doesn't it annoy you sometimes, Piper?" Finn repeated.
She blinked, "What's annoying?"
Finn groaned, she was so… clueless sometimes. "Aerrow."
"Aerrow?"
"Yeah! Aerrow! He's so perfect! He never loses a battle, never falls off his skimmer-"
"-he does sometimes…"
"-never looks bad in front of girls… I mean he's the perfect guy! How do I compete?! He can do anything! Like, my god, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't even have a bad side! He can probably play the violin and do the disco at the same time!" Finn exasperated.
"… it sounds like you're jealous."
"I am NOT jealous. Just… annoyed. I mean, seriously… Aerrow is too perfect! He has to have some kind of weakness… a flaw… I just got to expose it…" Finn muttered evilly.
Piper moaned, "Finn… no. Just no."
"… I know you want it…"
She rolled her eyes, "No I don't."
"… I know you're curious."
"No, I am not."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Oui."
"Finn, speak English."
"I'll give you all my earnings and do all your chores for a week, I swear on my honour as a Stormhawk," Finn wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
The prospect was very tempting. She nibbled her bottom lip in thought. Finn grinned; he knew she would cave soon…
"Deal."
"Alright!" Finn cheered.
Thus, they took to stalking Aerrow in Operation uncover-our-leader's-weakness.
-
In the morning, Finn had spied on Aerrow in the kitchen and in the hanger bay but to no avail. Aerrow was in tip top shape, revealing nothing. In the afternoon Piper took over, making sure to keep a careful eye on their team leader as said leader played keep away with Junko outside the condor. By evening, they were bored.
Stalking was a waste of time.
"You know Finn, let's just give up. We'll find something better to do," Piper grumbled, fed up already.
Unfortunately, Finn was stubborn, "Piper I am not giving up until I find out Aerrow's weakness!
"… He reads at nighttime…" Piper mused.
Finn blinked, "So? Aerrow's a bookworm like you… not a weakness…"
Then Finn's eyes widened. Or was it a weakness?
-
They took away Aerrow's flashlights and any form of light from his room. Then they waited. The results were successful. Aerrow had screamed, "ITS DARK IN HERE!"
Piper and Finn exchanged disturbed glances. Aerrow was afraid of the dark?! They ran to Aerrow's room, but Stork was there first.
Immediately Stork busted through the door to Aerrow's room, "What is it?! A germ infestation?! Night phantoms?! I've got hamsters and I'm not afraid to use them!"
Clunk! Aerrow had fallen to the floor, "K-k-k…"
"Yes! Aerrow, what is it? Is it over there? I knew it! It's a larpian worm isn't it?! They like to suck your souls out in the night…" Stork babbled.
"KEEP THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!" Aerrow yelled, pointing furiously at the hamster in Stork's hand.
"Aerrow? It's just a hamster man… it…"
"No! Stay away from me! I have… hairspray and I'm not afraid to use it!" Aerrow stuttered insanely, in the most out of character moment of his life.
Hairspray? Piper blinked, so that was how Aerrow kept his hair all pointy…
The hamster, poor thing, was so terrified by all the screaming that it jumped out of Stork's hands onto Aerrow's head.
Aerrow shrieked and grabbed onto Piper in a bone crushing grip before prompting going out cold.
Finn was never going to let Aerrow live this down. And Piper was never going to look at Aerrow without twitching in laughter again.
4. Writing a Story is Like Laying Your Heart Out On a Platter… It's Personal
"Piper's been acting… strange lately," Stork whispered to Aerrow one morning on the Condor.
Absentmindedly, Aerrow shrugged, "What are you talking about Stork? She's just writing in her squadron log… probably researching crystals… stuff that Piper would do…"
Stork pursed his lips impatiently, "Er… no, I mean she spends hours locked up in her room at night with the lights on… Piper, unlike you, actually sleeps at night without reading books."
"I don't read at night!"
"We all know you do, stop hiding it like you're hiding your crush on Piper. It's even obvious to ME. And I'm the crazy one," Stork deadpanned.
Aerrow blushed, "I do not-"
"Denial. Ya da, ya da, same old," Stork ignored him, "now what are you going to do about the Piper thing?! She's going to attract flesh eating flies… they come out when you don't go to bed you know…"
"…Stork you just said it yourself, I stay up-"
"Correction: Fleshing eating flies like to eat GIRLS… just as an FYI…" Stork stated.
So Aerrow ended up at Piper's room, wondering how he had gotten talked into this by Stork of all people… He couldn't help but feel concerned by his navigator though, and knocked on the door. He waited. But there was no answer.
Curious, Aerrow walked in anyways. Piper was sleeping soundly at her desk, crystals spread around her with a notepad by her side. Aerrow smiled warmly and grabbed Piper's blanket, putting it around her shoulders with care.
"Sleep tight Piper…" he leaned in, whispering.
This was nothing. Piper worked hard all the time, but it didn't seem like this case was anything serious. If Piper was working herself to death, Aerrow would know and Aerrow would stop it. He always had her wellbeing in mind, as well as the teams. But especially, Piper.
"Looks like Stork is overreacting again," Aerrow smiled to himself.
A blue journal caught Aerrow's eye titled 'Stories'. Aerrow felt himself stiffen in curiosity. A journal…? What was Piper using this for? She had her log and the last time Aerrow had checked, Piper still had several pages to go before that log was filled up. Besides, this blue journal seemed to be treated with more reverence and care than Piper's log.
Before Aerrow knew it, his fingers had itched towards the book. Curiosity was getting the better of him, pulling with invisible strings to the journal. Read me. Read me. It whispered. Aerrow's heart sped in anticipation as it always did before he read a book… his love of reading spurning from the day he met Piper.
In that instant, Piper chose to wake up and knocked her head against Aerrow's chest, hissing in pain, "Ow!"
Aerrow gasped, "Piper, oh my gosh! Are you alright?!"
She held her head in her hand, "Yeah… just a bump… ow…" she glanced at Aerrow's hand, which was on her journal. Her eyes opened in shock, "Don't touch that!"
Her harsh tone made Aerrow take his hand back and Piper snatched the journal away, "It's mine. You can't read it."
"What?" Aerrow felt cheated. Piper had never tried to hide anything from him before… "Why not? What's wrong with it?!"
Pink hues adorned Piper's face as she looked around frantically, "No… reason… it's just… uh… it's uh… it's a lover's diary! That's right! A diary! A girl's diary is private and as my team leader you should respect my privacy and er… stay away from it!"
"… Piper you're not the type to even keep a diary… you have the squadron log for that…" Aerrow caught on quickly.
"Oh… right… uh… see ya!" Piper dashed out the door.
"PIPER!"
-
Junko watched Aerrow pace up and down the hangar bay furiously like a metronome. Back and forth. Back and forth. When would it end? Junko was beginning to feel dizzy just from watching Aerrow pace. The wallop tried to snap his friend out of his angry mutterings and possessive stares at the floor.
"Aerrow… uh… you sound upset at Piper…" Junko deduced.
This was strange. Aerrow and Piper were really close. They almost never got angry at each other. If they did get into a fight, it was usually resolved quickly and Aerrow never got this angry. Perhaps Aerrow had tried to take their relationship to the next level a little t0o quickly and Piper had gotten insecure? No… Aerrow wasn't the type to butcher such a friendship over feelings. Plus, he was oblivious and in denial.
In conclusion, this little 'lover's spat' was most likely over a misunderstanding.
"Of course I'm upset!" Aerrow blurted out, hands in the air, "Piper's hiding something from me! She's never done that before! She said it was a diary full of girly secrets and lovey dovey stuff but I don't believe her!"
"Love…? Diary? Huh… maybe it's true?" Junko suggested thoughtfully. Piper was a girl after all, not that he wanted to stereotype…
Instead of feeling relieved, Aerrow looked appalled, "that can't be true, can it?! Then that means someone's going to take Piper away from us! She can just fall in love and leave! We're her family! She's not allowed to date anyone without our approval! Who is this guy?! I'm going to stop him from dragging Piper from our lives or…"
"… It's probably you anyway…" Junko mumbled.
"What?"
"… Nothing." Junko looked up innocently at Aerrow.
-
"Can I read it?" Aerrow begged Piper, pulling a Finn.
Piper moved away slowly.
"Please?"
"Aerrow…. You're overreacting again…" Piper said. He's doing that a lot lately…
"Is it really a lover's journal?" Aerrow asked, "Are you leaving us?!"
"What?!" Piper wondered who had fed Aerrow's overactive imagination, "No of course not! I'm writing a story! I wanted to keep it private!"
Pause. He looked up innocently at her, with a child's face, hair disheveled. Then he grinned, "A story? Can I read it?"
She grumbled, "It's personal… I don't really feel comfortable with…."
"Is that a yes?" Aerrow cut in.
"No."
5. Stories Never Really End… They Continue In Our Hearts From the Last Page On
"So… it's over," Aerrow blinks, as several black pages meet his eyes.
Piper yawns, finished her juice as she curls up beside Aerrow who holds the journal, "Well, I wasn't even finished it yet. You stole it to read it at night before I could write the next chapter!"
Aerrow smiled sheepishly, "Sorry… I just really wanted to read it."
She leans in, a soft smile on her face and says softly, "I know."
Their hands intertwine. Piper's eyes flutter to a close as she leans on Aerrow's shoulder and Aerrow leans back against her. Radarr snores softly beneath the bed, rolling around and scratching his head.
The shadows play against their faces as Piper and Aerrow are meshed together in a quant picture, sound asleep after reading the latest of Piper's story.
"… I can't wait to read more, Piper…" Aerrow whispers before drifting off beside her.
His last thought before surrendering to his dreams is that, he's glad this story, the one between him and Piper, will never end.
-
-
-
Back… after like 4 months. I had insane exams to study for. They're all over now… I decided to work on this AxP oneshot. I'll be sure to update 'Whatever Happened To the Dark Ace?' asap if nothing comes up…
I'm only two episodes away from the end of Stormhawks (tears) such a good show… I'm planning more AxP fics for it.
Thanks for reading my oneshot, even if it was lame…ish. Please point out spelling errors etc. :)