Brilliance - Aruden AU

10 -uno

"Shah?"

Aru sat up with a start. She hadn't properly been sleeping, - every time she tried to, the nightmares stopped her - but still didn't notice Aiden coming in.

"What are you doing here?" She groaned, massaging her temple.

"Your door was open. And you missed breakfast. I was worried about you!" He did look surprisingly concerned.

"Wuh?" Aru tried to sit up and swing her legs around, but failed miserably. Had she sat curled up all night?

"Are you ok?"

Aru was decidedly not ok. Her mom had vanished during an urgent-sounding phone call. She'd received a very threatening text, and now she had to win a competition to save her mom - the only person to have ever taken care of her. Everything that was happening was in the basic, not-ok handbook!

She deliberated all of this before saying, "Yup, great."

"You sure? You look kinda tired."

"Thanks." Aru said dryly.

"I didn't mean it like that..."

Aru sighed. "Sorry. I didn't get that much sleep last night. Could you grab a mug?"

After making herself a coffee with all 8 sachets of coffee (Aru didn't drink coffee much, but she figured the more the merrier) and downing the drink full, she felt she had the sufficient energy to hold a conversation.

"Any other reasons for showing up?" She asked, holding onto the now empty mug.

"Well, Rudy was trying to harass me into filming a music video for me, and this," Aiden gestured vaguely to the conversation, "seemed like a good out." Aru smiled weakly, causing Aiden to look even more worried. "You sure you're ok?"

Aru nodded, internally smacking herself. Normally lying was easy, but obviously being tired didn't help with it much. "Just didn't get much sleep."

There was a pause. Aru waited for Aiden to leave, but he didn't. Instead, he continued to sit stiffly, not wanting to break the silence. Eventually, Aru did it for him.

"Um, do you want to play a round of uno?"

"Huh?"

"You look kinda awkward just sitting. We could watch a movie instead? And no nature documentaries." She added when she saw Aiden open his mouth. He frowned slightly.

"You don't know I was going to say that." He pointed out.

"Oh, but I do!" Aru replied. She earned a pillow thrown at her head. "So uno or tv?"

"Uno."

"Good choice!"

After a few rounds, (which Aru won, obviously) they started to talk. Not about anything major, just a normal conversation. Sort of like when they used to be friends. Joking, laughing, chatting about any random stuff. It was nice in a way. Aru - though she would never admit it - kind missed talking with him. Or just him, in general.

Aru shook herself. Focus on the conversation, Shah. Not on missing Aiden. Not on his face. Definitely not his eyes -

"UNO!" She yelled loudly in an attempt to shut up her inner dialogue. Aru looked at Aiden, who had a decidedly expressionless face.

"Ok," he said calmly, "Before I do this, remember that this is just a card game."

"Aiden..."

"Please don't kill me..."

"No promises."

He cringed, before laying down... a plus 4. Aru shot him a death glare, before picking up her cards. She glanced at them, smiling suddenly.