The Guardian Slinger [Slugterra FanFic]

Chapter 8 The Movie Night

Nora sat at the couch in the hideout reading over journal entries and accounts of Blakk's activities while she'd been 'asleep'. She had been there reading with little sleep. She had delved deep into this little study project of hers. She tried to play it off as wholly trying to understand the situation they were all in now. However deep down part of it kept her distracted from remembering that graveyard filled with her loved ones.

She sighed and leaned back. She gently rubbed her eyes. This was exhausting. He'd caused so much trouble in this time. How had it gotten so bad? Another tired sigh left her mouth. There was a soft chattering sound next to her ear. She looked over and smiled tiredly. It was Kuro one of her two main slugs. Shiro was probably napping. Kuro chirped again, he was worried about her. She patted his head, "I am fine. Just a little tired. It's a lot of reading." He wasn't buying it.

He continued chirping at her, obviously he was scolding her in his own way. He knew there was more going on. Shiro and Kuro had been with her for as long as she could remember. She picked up the Negashade slug and kissed the top of his head. "I'll be okay." He still wasn't convinced but the small show of affection pacified him for now. She set him down on her shoulder again.

Time to get back to reading she told herself. She crossed her legs and pulled up another document. Before she started reading though a cup appeared in her peripheral vision off to her right. She could smell the tea, it was sweetened just enough. She knew who had brought it before even really taking a good look at the hand holding the cup. A smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "Thank you Eli." She reached out to take the cup.

There was a chuckle behind her and he pulled the cup out of her reach. She almost pouted. Almost.

"You need to take a break. You've been at this with little to no sleep for a couple days now. You aren't going to learn more now then you could have yesterday." He waited a moment and handed her the cup, which she took with a sigh. As she took her first sip he sat down next to her leaning back against the arm rest so he faced her.

"I could have missed something." The cup still held up to her lips. She glanced at him before taking another sip. Between Eli, her slugs and even trixie she always had a cup of something to drink and constantly being urged to rest.

"I highly doubt that," He said giving her that look. That look she had come to realize as the 'you-can't-fool-me' look. A look that seemed to be unique to Eli.

He spoke again after a short moment."I get the feeling you're not someone who skims over or misses the subtle things. At least not when it comes to stuff like this." Eli couldn't help but get the feeling she did miss on subtle social cues though.

Kuro chirped as Eli spoke giving Eli the impression his assumptions were correct.

Nora sunk a little deeper into the couch as Kuro sold her out, "Traitor." She mumbled before sipping some more. The whole scene pulled a laugh from Eli and a cheek nuzzle from Kuro.

"Come on, one break isn't going to hurt you." Eli leaned forward towards her. "Trixie suggested a movie night. I think it's a great idea."

She looked at him building up her protest. She came up with every reason she should focus on studying how to defeat Blakk instead of watching a movie. She never got her protest out though. Eli held up a hand to stop her words.

"I know what you're going to say and I get it. Really Nora I do. But, you can't defeat Blakk in a day and you sure as heck can't defeat him if you're exhausted and tired. Have you even noticed how much you've been squinting?" His concern rang clear in his words and in his eyes. "Movie night will be here. Join us?" How does one even reject such an earnest genuine request?

Nora took a moment her eyes moving from her cup to Eli. He waited patiently for her reply. He was right, she couldn't do anything more then she already was. She was tired mentally, a break would help. Plus, she should spend time with the team. They had been so inviting and considerate. She should take the time to get to know them better. They'd taken the time to help and learn about her. Finally she nodded.

"Okay, I'll do movie night." She sat up straighter. Eli had a large smile as she answered, Kuro chirped happily.

"Trixie will be so happy when I tell her," Eli was beaming, his smile was far too contagious to ignore. Soon a smile was pulled from her. Not as blinding up it was there.

Before she knew it she was sitting on one couch with Eli. Kord and Pronto on the other and Trixie was sprawled out on a large beanbag chair they'd gotten before Nora had joined. Everyone looked absolutely comfortable and relaxed. Nora looked around, this was a good idea. They all needed this break, at the end of the day most of them were just teenagers. Or she assumed so at least. It was hard to tell how old Kord and Pronto were. Regardless, this was a heavy weight they carried, they needed time to relax. She made herself comfortable. Her slugs along with the others all had their own set up on the coffee table.

Each couch had its own bucket of popcorn, Trixie had a bowl to herself and the even the slugs had a bowl they were sharing. Before Nora knew it she was drawn into the movie. Wow, when was the last time she had watched a movie? It had legitimately been years. Last time she had watched a movie, she suddenly stopped her thoughts. No, no negativity right now. Just enjoy the moment. She felt Eli shift on the couch, it was slight but enough to pull her thoughts from herself and to her surroundings.

She held back a sigh, Just enjoy it, act your age. She scolded herself mentally. As her hand reached for the popcorn the most cliche of cliche's happened. Eli's hand grabbed hers as they both reached in. There was a pause as they looked at each other. Then before she knew it they were both laughing. It was silly but she couldn't help it, it was like a scene drawn from a movie. The other's gave them confused looks.

It was a few long moments before they settled their laughter. She hadn't even realized he hadn't let go of her hand. She slowly pulled it away and he did the same.

"Sorry, it was an accident." He gave her a smiling apologetic look. Little did she know he did not regret it.

She shook her head. "It's okay, I know it wasn't on purpose." She knew he was being considerate since she wasn't big on the whole 'physical contact' thing. She glanced at her hand, she swore she could still feel his hand on hers. She had never noticed how much smaller her hands were until that moment. The thought sent a funny feeling through her. Her eyes glanced at him again only to find the boy staring at her.

She quickly glanced away feeling her cheeks heat up. She didn't miss that smile he gave her as she turned away either. She swallowed hard. That funny feeling in her stomach was back. She was definitely not ready to analyze what it was and why Eli was the one who stirred up the feeling. She had other things she needed to worry about. She curled up more as she tried to focus on the movie, but her attention was definitely drawn elsewhere even if her eyes didn't move from the screen.

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Authors Note: Sorry I took so long getting this up. Work has increased my hours and I don't get much time to write, at least not the type of writing this fic requires. Sorry for any mistakes, I didn't get to the rereads for this one. I hope you guys enjoyed it. This kind of took on a life of it's own. It took a turn I hadn't expected but I don't mind.  

So this chapters drawings are more of a sketch dump then a lined drawing. I had all these cute ideas. Maybe I'll flesh one out for the next chapter or do a completely new one.