CRAZY
A short fic consisting of T/R fluff :-)
Set maybe just before the Animorphs have to move to the Hork-Bajir valley--around 45, something like that
Another note: since whenever I upload my stuff to ff.net, the words in thoughtspeak get deleted somehow, the symbol for thoughtspeak is just going to be quotations, like regular talking. K?
And: the end is kind of stolen from the movie The Princess Bride. Thanx, y'all!
It was the middle of the night, and Tobias just couldn't sleep. He and Rachel, though exhausted from their last mission, had decided to do something halfway normal for once. They had gone to see a movie.
The whole movie long, Tobias couldn't take his eyes off Rachel. She was just beautiful. He felt that he would think so even if, to everyone else in the world, Rachel was hideous.
Tobias shifted from his perch in his tree. His rustling woke Ax up. "Is there something wrong, Tobias? Why are you awake at this time of night?"
Sighing, Tobias responded, "It's Rachel. I can't stop thinking about her."
"Oh, you are remembering how today, when I picked up artificial skin of contrasting patterns in the Gap, she 'flipped out', as Marco said?"
"No, Ax-man. I can't stop thinking about her because I'm in love with her. Have you ever felt this way, Ax?"
"I do not believe so, my shorm."
"It's great. I wish you could feel it too. It's the best feeling in the world. Better than soaring the thermals on a sunny day. You thought that was good? This outdoes that combined with cigarette butts, chocolate, Raisinets, and cinnamon buns."
"That must be quite extraordinary," Ax agreed.
"It's much more than simple physical attraction. It's, I don't know, the chemistry between us, how we trust each other so much, how we'd do anything for each other. I'd give my life in a second if it would save hers. I just want her to be happy. The thing is, I don't know how . . ."
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile . . .
Rachel flies in Cassie's window. Cassie bolts upright and whispers, "Jake?"
"No, silly, it's me!"
"Oh. Sorry. Why are you here? Jeez, it's four in the morning. I need my sleep!" Cassie mutters, grumpy.
"I need to talk to someone about Tobias."
"Ugh, fine. What's going on?"
"I'm floating on air. It's love, I know it. I'm in love and it feels great! I'm just crazy about him."
"Congratulations," came the sarcastic reply.
"But also, I don't know what to do. I mean, I guess I'm thinking too far ahead--what if we die in the war? What if we lose and get infested? There are so many what ifs. Too many. See, if we do win, what will happen to us? A hawk and a girl can't get married, they can't even date. They can't have kids. They can't be normal at all. It would be awful, even though Tobias can morph back to his old self. I wish I could ask him to become a nothlit. We could live out our lives like regular people, grow old together. I can't ask him to, though! How could I deprive him of flying as a hawk and swimming as a dolphin, all those wonderful things?"
"Calm down, Rachel. There are just too many what ifs to be spazzing out about this now. Why don't we just see if we can just survive TOMORROW?"
"I know you're right," Rachel sighed. "I'm gonna go fly some more. Sorry for waking you up."
"Anytime," mumbled Cassie, halfway asleep again already.
Rachel demorphed, sat on Cassie's bed for a minute and got a little bit of her energy back, then remorphed. She spread her wings and flew out of the house.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Tobias and Rachel spotted each other at the same time. "Is that you, Rachel?" Tobias asked.
"Yeah. You wanna hang out in the field down there for awhile?"
"Definitely."
The two birds swooped down, carefully avoiding the electrical wires. Rachel demorphed while Tobias morphed.
They sat down on the ground together, both too scared to say anything about their feelings for each other. Finally, Rachel (feeling the need once more to be the brave, reckless one) blurted out, "I love you, Tobias."
Tobias smiled gently and told her, "I love you too, Rachel. And I always will."
Since the beginning of time, there have been five kisses that ranked the most passionate, the most pure. The one that Tobias and Rachel then shared surpassed them by far.