A Series of Aru Shah Oneshots

The Potatoes watch a horror movie

A/N This was partially based on a Tumblr fluff prompt, "You took all the pillows so I'm using you as one." I hope you like this!

"Tell me when the scary parts are over," Rudy said, burrowing deeper into his nest of blankets.

"Which one?" Aru said. "There are so many. I think it's safe right now, though."

Mini raised an eyebrow at her. Aru put a finger to her lips, unsuccessfully trying to act serious.

Rudy poked his head out just in time to see a headless corpse surface onscreen. He dove back for the cover of his blankets. "Nope, nope, nope. Not today."

Aiden rolled his eyes. "Come on, Rudy, it's just--WHAT IS THAT?"

He covered his eyes as a zombie started ripping into a corpse onscreen.

Brynne started laughing hysterically. "You should've... seen...your face," she gasped.

Aiden peeked through his fingers, his voice muffled as he said, "Very funny, Bee!"

"Why did we decide to watch this?" Rudy groaned from his nest.

"Brynne wanted to," Aru said, raising her fist at Brynne. 

Her soul sister held up hers in response, grinning. "Just trying out new things, y'know?"

"I think you just wanted to see the boys get scared," Mini said, smirking.

"That's a bonus," Brynne admitted. She shoved a handful of popcorn into her mouth. "Hmm. Not a bad move on the humans' part, but guns are pretty useless against zombies," she commented.

"If you get bit on the finger and you amputated it quickly enough, would you still be turned?" Mini said thoughtfully. "I'm not sure what the minimum time span would be, though--"

"I'm gonna stop you there before you start on the infections," Brynne said, tossing a piece of popcorn at her sister's nose.

Mini bounced some kernels off Brynne's cheek in retaliation.

"Be nice, you two," Aru interjected as her sisters readied themselves for war. "I don't wanna spend an hour tomorrow picking up all the popcorn."

"Your mom owns a museum, doesn't she have a custodian?" Mini asked, throwing a handful at Aru.

Aru deflected it and made a face. "Yeah, but they hate me because of the Blue Monkey Scandal."

"I'm...not even gonna ask," Aiden said, finally lowering his hands from his face. He sighed in relief as the credits rolled. "At least it's o--"

Just then, one last zombie jumpscare popped up on the screen and made everyone except Brynne and Aru scream. (Brynne was hard to scare and at this point Aru was desensitized to horror movies.) The two high-fived each other as everyone around them recovered.

Rudy quickly yanked out his moonstone contraption and fiddled with some gears. It started playing a melody that made everyone visibly relax.

"Comes in handy for when your family makes you watch horror movies." He glared at Aiden.

Aiden held up his hands. "Dude, you said, and I quote, 'I'm a prince. I've seen much worse than a mere human movie.'"

Rudy studiously ignored him and nestled into his blanket fort again. Within a few moments, he was snoring softly.

Aru spent most of the next half hour cleaning up popcorn. She was almost glad, because it kept her from worrying about the dreams that had been plaguing her for days--shadows, her sister's furious faces, darkness.

By the time she finished, her sisters were asleep, leaning against each other. Brynne snored loudly but Mini hardly made a sound. Aru smiled at how peaceful they looked. She blew a kiss at them and went over to the couch.

Aiden was the only one awake. He fiddled with his camera, nodding at her as she approached.

Aru plopped down next to him, grabbing her blanket and unfolding it. "Not sleepy?"

"This is like a wind-down thing for me every night. It's part of my routine. Plus, how can I sleep after that?" He shuddered.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you from the zombies, Wifey," Aru said, snickering. She searched the couch for a pillow. But there weren't any cushions left. Brynne and Mini had taken most of them, but she could've sworn there was one more...

"Looking for this?"

Aiden waved the last pillow in the air.

"Hey!" Aru scrambled across the couch and tried to snatch it. Instead, her fingers grasped empty air. Aiden held it above her head, smirking at her.

"That's not fair!" Aru protested. She stood up on the couch but he did too. Combined with the height difference between them, she didn't have a chance.

"I hate you," Aru grumbled as she sank back onto the couch in defeat.

Aiden looked smug as he tucked the pillow behind his head. "Love you too, Shah."

Aru had a idea. Scooting over to him, she lay back and rested her head on his shoulder.

Aiden's breath caught. "What are you doing?"

Aru grinned and crossed her arms. "Since you took the last pillow, I'm using you as one. Snob."

"Troll."

Aiden's warmth combined with Rudy's music finally was enough to make Aru's eyelids droop. But even though she was still scared of what the night would bring, tonight she felt...more peaceful. She didn't know she'd been tense until her muscles relaxed. She took deep breaths, catching hints of the clean laundry scent that always followed Aiden.

The last thing she felt before she slipped into sleep was his lips brushing the top of her head.

"Good night, Aru. Sweet dreams," he whispered against her hair.

And for the first time in months, Aru slept without nightmares.