Mericcup one-shots

Babysitting the red-heads

Merida POV

"You ready?" Punzie asks leaning over my shoulder.

"Ready as I'll ever be," I reply, sighing.

"Ok," she says leaning back from me a bit "lets do this!"

***

I emerge from the bathroom with Punzie's hands covering my eyes.

"Can I look now?" I ask impatiently trying to prise her fingers away from my face with no success.

"Be patient!" she snaps making me obey instantly letting her lead me through the hallway. I hear a door open and guess we walk through it into one of the rooms. Slightly hushed voices are heard around me making me feel uneasy as to what Punzie has in store for me. "Ok, now, open!" she orders removing her fingers from my eyes.

I open my eyes and allow a minute or so for them to adjust to the light before concentrating on what's in front of me. A large, wooden mirror stands beside the wall; I just stare, with my jaw dropped, at what it shows me.

"You like?" Punzie asks, peering over my shoulder at a weird angle.

I stare a little longer at the mirror before stuttering "well... er... it's different."

"You don't like it, do you?" she says, her bottom lip protruding from her face sulkily.

"No, no, no! I do like it!" I assure her turning back to the mirror. "I'm just not used to it." I sigh receiving a friendly hug from Punzie. From over her shoulder I see MK, Mavis, Elsa and Anna looking at me in awe. Why is it such a big deal? It's only temporary. "I'd better be going." I say, breaking away from the hug "it will take a long time to explain things to mum." and with that I grab my bag and jacket and head out the door, waving goodbye to the others.

***

"Mum! I'm home!" I shout down the hallway, hanging my jacket by the door and dumping my back on a chair.

"Welcome home dear," I hear mum's voice echo from the living room. I make my way to the open door, breath a sigh of nervousness and walk into the room. Mum, as always, has her head in a book and doesn't pay much attention to me at first; but when she lifts her head towards me, her eyes widen. "What happened?" she asks, walking slowly over to me.

"Well," I start "I fancied a change. Do you hate it?"

"Of course not dear." she assures making me raise my head and smile broadly at her.

"Really?" I ask in disbelief "you're not mad?"

"Why should I be?" she asks, stroking my hair lovingly. I lean into her touch, savouring this once-in-a-lifetime moment that I can tell will never be close to happening again.

The door at the other side of the room revealing my three little brothers, Hamish, Hubert and Harris; wee devils in my book.

"What..." Hamish begins.

"...Have..." Hubert continues.

"...You..." Harris says, pointing his finger at me.

"...Done?" they yell in chorus, glaring evilly at me.

"It's only a small change boys, nothing to worry about. It's only temporary."

"Then you are a temporary traitor!" Hamish says crossing his arms. The other two follow.

I feel mum come up behind me and whisper in my ear "I think you'd better go before they do something stupid. Go upsataris and lock yourself in your room, I'll hold them off a bit. Just make sure there's no way they can get in, ok?" I nod quickly before hurrying out into the hall, up the stairs and into my bedroom.