Varying Perspectives [G/T Oneshots]

18 - CLOSE

Oona leans on Darius' broad shoulder, watching the movie with wide, unblinking eyes. They decided to watch The Secret World of Arietty, a Japanese movie about a little borrower girl, and even though Darius protested at first, now he was as invested in the movie as she was.

The borrower family was in the process of leaving, and Arietty had to say goodbye to Shō, her giant human friend. She looks over at Eridan, her own giant, mostly human, friend, and giggles as she sees tears on his cheeks.

"Look Oona, our giant's a sucker for sad movies." Darius chuckles, and Eridan fixes them with a withering look.

"Just watch the movie and make fun of me later." he chides, returning back to the silver screen with a huff.

Oona watches Arietty give Shō her hair clip, then she kisses his fingertip and leaves, sailing away on the teapot with Spiller and her family. The movie ends and Oona stretches, pushing herself off Darius and yawning, while Eridan wipes his tears and smooths down his hair.

"Time for sleep Dar-lek." she teases, and the man just folds his arms and sets his jaw, indifferent to her.

"I sleep when I want to, I'm still a borrower. See you tomorrow Oona, Eridan." he waves a hand to the both of them and disappears off the couch and into the darkened house. Eridan says a goodbye and scootches over to Oona, pulling his hair out of its ponytail and relaxing on his arms.

"Do you ever worry about him taking your things?" Oona asks, and the giant shakes his head.

"No, I wouldn't mind anyway, he did that the whole time before we met him." he looks at Oona with a sly smile on his face. "You seemed to be almost smothering him there. You sure you're just friends?" Oona reached over and slapped his arm lightly.

"Yes, we're only friends. I don't like him like that. There was someone else but, we could never get together now." Eridan cooed and rubbed her head with a fingertip.

"It's okay, I'm sure you'll find your mystery guy, and he'll love you for who you are." The touch sends lightning bolts through her, and she just wants to cuddle him. But it couldn't be, Eridan wasn't looking for a relationship, or at least she didn't think he was.

"I think it's time to sleep Oona, as you said previously." he yawns, picking her up and jumping up off the couch. Eridan clip clops into his room, steely and undecorated, placing Oona next to her bed. The tiny girl climbs into it, bashfully hiding her eyes as Eridan pulls off his shirt. She stuffs her face into the mattress, trying to ignore the temptation to sneak a look at him, which he probably wouldn't care about.

"Listen to yourself Oona, you sound like a perv." she murmurs, and pounds her face into the pillow, letting the far off breathing of her fawn friend whisk her to dreamland.

Oona wakes up slowly, but instead of her eyes being kissed by the warm rays of sunlight, she sees the chiseled jaw of Darius.
"Darlek what are you doing here?" she queries, folding upward to grill the borrower. He chews on an unknown substance and raises an impossibly thick eyebrow.

"You were talking about Deer Boy over there." he jerks a thumb at Eridan, who's sleeping in a very normal pose for a half deer, all tucked up because of the bitter cold. Oona pulls a piece of her long hair out of her mouth and grimaces.
"So what, you're allowed to do that."
"You were talking in your sleep, for 20 minutes straight." he sits at the foot of her bed.
"Oh."
"You guys need to get closer." he smirks, and Oona throws a pillow at his friend with laser precision, and it hits him square in the back of his neck.

"We're as close as we need to be." she hides her reddening face and swings her legs around the side of the bed, gripping it tightly. She feels a comforting hand on her shoulder, and is about to thank Darius, when he pulls her onto his shoulder.

"Hey! Let me go! What are you doing?" she bangs her fists against his broad back as he walks to the edge of the desk to a rope that leads down to the floor.
"Just matchmaking. Call me Cupid." he shimmies down the rope, still balancing Oona on his shoulder like a wet rug and landing somehow silently on the floor. In a very borrower fashion, he unhooks his rope and drags it along after him, only to throw it up onto the giant bed.
"Now, climb up this rope, or I'll tell Eridan what you said." he blackmails, watching as the tiny girl climbs the rope ahead of him.

Eventually they reach the top, Oona sweating bullets and Darius looking just as he'd been before. Oona flops onto the bed, and Darius stands over her.
"Now, for the real matchmaking." He takes a toothpick shard in his right hand and heads toward the Eridan's leg. He spins it, smiles at Oona evilly, then prods the sandy fur with the pointy end.
"Darius what the heck was-" Oona cries out, but the borrower is already down his rope and out of sight. She buries her nails into her hair, and silently screams, kicking her feet like a toddler.

"Oona? Is that you?" mumbles Eridan from behind her, and she freezes up.

"Yeah." she cringes, wishing she wasn't there.

"What're you doing down there, you might get hurt. Come up where I can see you."
Reluctantly, she ambles up towards his head until she's looking into his half-open grey eyes. Feeling extremely awkward standing, she lies down and places her head on the giant pillow. Eridan smiles slowly, before closing his eyes. As soon as she thought he was asleep, she stood up to leave, only to be stopped by a wall of flesh.

"Where are you going Oon." he slurs, still half asleep, and pulls the tiny right up to his chest. Oona's stiff as a board at first, these actions so unusual and intimate that she doesn't know what to make of it. But eventually, the curl of Eridan's hand, the heat that seems to cradle her, and the soft sounds of breathing, their source now inches away from her cheek, pull her into sleep's gentle embrace.