RayEmma Oneshots

Matchmaker

Gillian loved drama.

Back at Grand Valley, she knew every piece of gossip there was among her fellow children. She was also involved in much of this drama - much to her teachers' disappointment. Though after being transferred to Goldy Pond, every day became a drama, and not a fun one. Constant bloodshed, running away from horrifying monsters, living every day in the constant fear that it may be her last... when Goldy Pond was finally destroyed, she thought she'd had enough drama to last her a lifetime. But seeing how these two geniuses from Grace Field looked at each other with puppy eyes when they were finally back together again...it reminded her of her days back in Grand Valley. A life where she spent her time trying to set her friends up with each other - a time when there was no danger or trauma. And everyone back at the village knew that Gillian was the best matchmaker.

And so she began to hatch a scheme, to get Emma and Ray together.

—

She first got the idea on the trek from Goldy Pond to the B06-32 shelter. At this point, they were only a few days or so away from the shelter, and everyone was starting to get excited at the prospect of finally being done with the journey. Though none looked as antsy and filled with anticipation as Ray had, constantly staring off into the trees in the direction of the shelter with a look of longing in his gaze. Gillian hadn't interacted with him much; all she really knew about him so far was from the brief description Emma had given her of him back at Goldy Pond - "He's kinda cold and broody on the outside, but he's actually a really amazing person and my best friend!" - and traits she had noticed over the trek; strategic, introverted, and really, really concerned for Emma. When they had downtime, he'd sit alone, giving the whole I-wish-I-was-with-her-and-not-in-these-stupid-woods stare to the trees for most of the time, and any time someone did manage to strike a conversation with him - usually Violet, they seemed to get along decently well - the topic seemed to always veer back to Emma and how she might be doing. Every single kid on this journey was worried for Emma - she saved their lives, after all - but his concern seemed less like concern and more like borderline obsession. It was on this day, with them being so close to the shelter, that Gillian decided to ask him about it.

At dinner time, as the kids chomped down a stew of animal meat and herbs, Ray sat against a tree, apart from the rest of the kids, seemingly on watch. Though she could tell that he wasn't really focused on anything; probably stuck in his head, thinking about every possible thing one could think about.

"Hii!" She chirped, as she approached him. He tensed up and snapped his head over to her, being dragged out of his thoughts. When he realized his life most likely wasn't in imminent danger, he calmed down. "Oh, hey Gillian," he mumbled.

She plopped down next to him, and they sat in silence for a minute. Before he could get caught up in his thoughts again, Gillian bluntly asked, "Soo, do you like Emma?"

The boy didn't seem to get what she was asking at first. "Of course I do, we're best friends," he said in a confused but indignant tone.

Gillian gave him a teasing grin. "No," she said, shaking her head, "I mean, like like. Romantically."

The words seemed to take a few seconds to settle in his brain, until he scoffed. "No, I do not. We're just friends, always have been and always will be." He then fiddled with the gun at his side, seemingly trying to fix a small piece of the handle to busy himself.

But Gillian noticed the faint blush spreading along his face and his ears as he said that, and she knew enough about guns to know that there was nothing that needed fixing, that he was just using the mindless motions as a way to reconstruct the cracks in his composure.

She also noticed how, a few days later when they arrived at the shelter, his face lit up upon seeing Emma, how he almost never left her side during that last week, how he always seemed to be holding her hand, gazing longingly at her when he thought no one else was looking.