The Abducted Scandal (An Aru Shah Fanfic)

Swings

Aiden followed Aru outside. He did not expect it to be that hot outside. 

He scanned the neighborhood and immediately recognized one of the houses.

"You live next to Brynne?" Aiden asked.

"Huh?" Aru asked.

Aiden shut his mouth. He did not want her to harm them in any sort of way. At least try to harm them in any sort of way.

"Yeah," Aru responded later. Then in a hushed voice, "They don't know I kidnapped you."

"Well duh. Your cover would've been blown by then," Aiden said. He was not used to walking and he almost tripped on his shoe.

Then there was silence for a few minutes before Aru asking him, "So, where do you want to go?"

"A park," he answered. He was getting sick of inside, even if there was an air conditioning.

Aru faced him and blinked a few times, or at least it looked like she had blinked through the sunglasses. "Ok."

Aiden just followed Aru akwardly as she was making a turn every corner.

They passed a donut shop, and after passing a few stores and a laundromat, they came back to that same donut shop.

Aiden tapped her shoulder. "Aren't we goin-"

Aru turned abruptly and knocked off his sunglasses with her head. 

"Oh, whoops, sorry," Aru said, clapping her hands together. "Pick them up and let's go!"

"In circles?" Aiden guessed and wiped of the grime the sunglasses probably picked up from the floor.

"What?" Aru asked.

"We just passed this donut shop two times," Aiden mentioned, pointing to it.

"Ah, I see," Aru said, squinting her eyes to look at it carefully. Aiden expected her to change her route or something, but instead she went into the donut shop. "I guess it's time for donuts after all that sort of burnt stuff."

"What do you mean by 'sort of burnt'?" Aiden asked. They were not sort of burnt. They were more like absoultely burnt or absolutely raw. There was no in between.

Aru just flapped her hands, gesturing him to follow her. Aiden rolled his eyes and followed her in. A blast of air conditioning blasted his face, or at least some of it, most of his face being covered.

"Two donuts please!" Aru said to the person in the register.

"I don't need a donut," Aiden said. He was sort of sick of all that sweet stuff after the same breakfast over and over again.

"Who said they were for you?" Aru said, counting some money. "There for me and tomorrow me."

"Is it because you ran out of Oreos," Aiden said.

"No!" Aru argued. "I still have Swedish Fish!"

"Swedish fish are not Oreos," Aiden countered. 

"There amazing stuff and that's what matters!" Aru said. 

"You burned a single Oreo in fire and watched it get ruined," Aiden remembered. His hair almost burned off. "Why would you burn 'amazing stuff' then?"

"Its called science," Aru said. "Plus, that's why it was a single Oreo. And little fires are really pretty too."

"Uh-huh."

"Shut up," Aru demanded, then she handed the cashier person some money.

The cashier person looked at her strangely. "Is the man going to pay for his girlfriend's donuts or-"

"She's not my girlfriend," Aiden said at the exact same time as Aru said, "I'm not his girlfriend."

Aiden could think of millions of reasons why he was not paying. One, he had no money in the first place. There was also the fact that Aru was going to eat all of the donuts so he had no intention of paying.

"Oh, okay," the register guy stuttered. "It's just that you guys bicker so much, like a married couple. You know?"

Aiden did not know. In what world was bickering considered something a couple would do? The more stupid and louder the arguments became, the more there would lead to a break-up. He knew that from his parents. Once there was a fight about the car gas and who would fill it up. That lead to slapped faces and isolation from each other for a week.

The register guy handed Aru a box. "Here's your donuts."

"Now should we go to the park?" Aru asked as she walked out of the store.

Aiden just shrugged. He actually had no idea what to do now. His mind was drifting to his parents at the current moment.

Aru frowned. "Stop looking like that. You really do look like a rat like that."

"What?"

"Follow me," Aru said. "And this time, I actually know the directions."

"Well, that's a relief," Aiden said. He didn't appreciate being called a rat for the second time, but Aiden just passed that along as a teasing joke. Never once in his life had he'd been called ugly. His self-confidence was slowly rising but he pushed it back down and followed Aru across a street.

"Oh, look!" Aru said excitedly. "Swings!"

"Okay?" he said as Aru pushed passed him and successfully got to full height by the time he arrived.

"Do you think I can swing this full circle?" Aru wondered aloud.

"Don't!" Aiden called out to her. "Your gonna break you neck!"

Aru flung her crocs to him, probably meaning to hit his face, but Aiden instinctively caught it.

"Don't touch my shoe!" Aru yelled. Then she jumped off the swing and fell on the floor.

"Woah, are you okay?" Aiden asked her.

Aru scowled. "I could've done better." Then she looked up at him. "If I had my shoe."

"Look, you were the one who threw it at me," Aiden pointed out.

Aru sighed, "I am literally your kidnapper and what-not so you should run away! Then I can scream 'FEAR ME HUMAN!' and I can cackle away happily."

"However, you won't kill me," Aiden pointed out.

"Well, true, but like, this is for me. I have an image to uphold!" Aru said.

"Yep," Aiden said, focusing more on this thing that got caught on his lashes.

"Boys and their eyelashes," Aru scowled. Aiden pretended not to hear that because he partly did not get it.

It was getting pretty dark and cloudy, Aiden noticed, but Aru seemed to have no intention of leaving any soon. She was just trying to attempt spinning 360 degrees with the possible side effects of dying.

Aiden sat down on the swing next to her and rocked back and forth with his feet.

"What are you doing?!" Aru yelled, trying to defy the wind that was entering her mouth.

Aiden just rolled his eyes.