ENJOY!!!
Disclaimer: I don't own Storm Hawks. Hooray…
Piper loved many things, and if you asked any of her friends, they would probably answer faster than you could write.
"Making plans and stuff". Junko.
"Working with crystals". Finn.
"Practicing Sky Fu". Aerrow.
"Her redhead leader", Radarr would scribble on a piece of paper.
Yes, she did put her heart into all of that (ignoring Radarr, of course). But she had a hidden passion. And it was drawing in her sketchbook.
Very few people knew that she loved to sketch. No one knew just how well.
Drawings of her teammates elaborated the pages; a picture of Finn styling his hair with the help of the bathroom mirror, Junko sleeping with his teddy bear under his arm, Stork frantically spraying his pillow with sanitizer, Radarr raiding a large tin of sandcakes, Aerrow's cheeky smile.
There were some other drawings too; that chicken chasing Radarr, the classic bowl of fruit, a trail of Zambian orchids and a cluster of ice lotuses, some of her favorite flowers.
Today, the usual exciting feel of crystal work did not come to her. So she picked up her sketchbook and walked around, finding something to draw. She suddenly heard footsteps, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Aerrow headed for the main entrance. Following her leader, she was a bit surprised to see her best friend Nightjar waiting for him.
The gray-haired girl had a white box for him, with only the image of a rainbow flower legible; the words underneath were too small to read. As the Interceptor handed the box to the redhead, she whispered excitedly in his ear, and, after giving him the box and saying her good-byes, practically bounced away.
Aerrow took the box and headed for the kitchen. Piper followed and saw him placing it into the refrigerator, and she couldn't help but walk up to him and ask,
"What's in the box?"
He jerked in surprise and the handle of the freezer hit him in the head.
"Piper! Hey, what are you doing here?!"
"Just wondering what's in that box NJ gave you", she replied, stealing a quick glance at the closed door of the refrigerator.
"It's a surprise". Aerrow rubbed his aching scalp before saying, "You'll know soon." Her captain walked away, leaving his curious strategist to wonder about the white box.
She turned and walked towards the dining table. Sitting down, she opened her sketchbook to a clean page and began to draw. She drew a box with a scrawled flower on the lid, and a large question mark on each side. Then she turned to the right side of the page and began to sketch on the empty space. Soft lines and curves were summoned from her pencil, proportions of two people appearing on the paper.
Two oval heads drawn close together, one faced forward, the other being a side view of the person that seemed to whisper into the ear of its companion.
A pair of broad shoulders and a pair of small rounded ones, a long, thin neck for the whisperer. A pair of thick, steady hands receiving something, and a pair of versatile, scarred hands with delicate wrists and strangely beautiful fingers; one feminine hand gave its companion something box-like, the other hand was across its friend's back in a friendly manner.
Piper drew out the details of the two people. The first head was given enthusiastic eyes with thick eyebrows, a prominent, pointed chin, a cheeky smile, and thick, spiky hair. The all-too-familiar face of Aerrow looked back at her.
She smiled as she gave the second face long hair decorated with feathers at the ends, thin, ladylike eyes, full lips that turned into an open-mouthed smile, and a small pointed chin. The face of Nightjar appeared when she shaded the girl's hair gray and blackened her lips.
The orange-eyed girl admired her handiwork, for she had perfectly captured the scene of the mystery box. But she had little time to enjoy the result of years of sketching as Finn's infuriating rock music blared throughout the Condor.
She threw down her sketchbook and pulled at her midnight blue hair. "FINN!!!!"
Knowing that the crazy blonde didn't hear her, she stomped over to his room to administer yet another argument about the music.
Just as Aerrow brushed past her; she was too intent on yelling at Finn to notice him. Knowing full well what was bound to happen, the redhead let Radarr down from his shoulder. The mission specialist ran to the kitchen to steal a few speckleberries from the bowl in the middle of the dining table, and was surprised to see a beautifully done black-and-white image of his best friend and Nightjar. Wanting a second opinion, he brought the sketchbook to Aerrow and laid at his feet.
"Hey Radarr, wha'cha got here? Wait a minute, isn't this Piper's sketchbook?" He knew because the orange ribbon he gave to her as a twelve-year-old boy was used as a little bookmark to mark a certain page in the book. He picked up the sketchbook and took a good look at the drawing. Leaf green eyes widened; his strategist could draw…like a historical artist. The image of him receiving the box from Nightjar was uncanny; just a bit of color would make it look oh-so-real.
He began at the beginning of the sketchbook, leafing through so many works of art. He shook his head at the scene of Finn and his hair gel, stifled a snicker at the drawing of Stork spraying his sanitizer, laughed at the picture of his co-pilot raiding another tin of sandcakes, and a sketch of him smiling.
There was also a picture of him riding his skimmer, a sketch of him napping with his head down, and, of all things, a picture of him shirtless with a green headband and war paint around his eyes. He smiled as he remembered his navigator's reaction when she first saw him after his escape from Zartacla.
There were an awful lot of 'him' drawings, and the contents of the sketchbook only got more and more awkward. A drawing of Piper hugging him, a sketch of him and his strategist slow dancing, and a picture of her sleeping upon his back. He finally came to the bookmarked page in the sketchbook, and the image caused his eyes to open to their widest degree. It was him kissing Piper on the cheek, and he had never recalled doing so. She must have imagined the whole thing…
Wait.
She wanted him to kiss her?
An idea popped into his head. No longer would she have to imagine.
Piper walked back to the dining table where she had left her sketchbook. Finally, no more of Finn's consumption-of-nails music trying to grate her nerves into powder.
She picked up her sketchbook, only to find a simple message scrawled on a clean page:
Turn around please.
She turned around and was greeted by a sight she could've only seen in her dreams. It was Aerrow with a bouquet of flowers in his hands. And not just any kind of flower; no, they were Persephone's Bulbs, her favorite flower. The bulbs were orange in color with some darker flecks in the petals, the green stems were thick and cut short, and a familiar orange ribbon was tied around the bouquet.
"Are those for me?", she gasped.
"Yup. You know that box that NJ gave me this morning?". With a little bow he presented the flowers to her. "I gave her a little money and asked if she could buy these for you."
"That explains her practically bouncing away in that un-ladylike manner", the carnelian-eyed girl giggled, taking the bulbs in her hands as though she were handling a fragile glass vase. Her tapered fingers gently brushed over the orange flowers, and she murmured, "Thank you, Aerrow."
He did not reply, just simply leaned towards to grant her one silent wish. But, in that same moment, she turned her head up to look at him, and their lips brushed against each other.
Piper leaned in further, and as the two Storm Hawks shared their first kiss, she thought to herself, This is so much better than anything I could've drawn.
The redhead was the first to break away. "I had no idea you drew beautifully. I decided I'd give you something to draw."
The crystal specialist blushed slightly. "Again, thank you."
A sneaky smile suddenly worked its way into her captain's face. "Hey, why don't see if we can catch Finn headbanging to his music? You can draw that."
She prepared to berate him, but had a change of mind. "I think he changed to his headphones last time I saw him." A equally sly smile formed upon her lips.
Aerrow placed his arm around her shoulder, and off the pair went to watch their friend make a fool of himself.
For all the people who wanted this 'kiss'…If you were expecting something really good, so sorry for letting you all down!!!!
Yes, I know! This kiss sucked, from the beginning down to the freakin' ending.
Shoot me down, flame me, I don't care. Someone just step on me before I let down ALL my readers.
Have a happy…
9th Kiss: Cut
Every act has a ripple effect. A little accident gets a somewhat awkward effect.
See ya all soon!!!!
Love,
Lady Azar
