Jarida Drabbles

Surprise Return

"Just admit that you miss him," the brunette said as she finished slicing an orange. Placing the slices on a plate, she stashed the cutting board and knife in the sink.

"Like you miss a splinter," the redhead shot back from the living room.

"Oh, that's not quite true," the young woman teased her friend as she snatched the plate and made her way into the other room.

Merida's sat cross-legged on the couch; her thin frame enveloped in a tattered, blue sweater. She attempted to push her fingers through her matted curls but gave up when she couldn't get past her ears.

"Perhaps you should cut it," her friend suggested.

"My hair wouldn't look as cute as yours if I chopped it off. It would resemble—if you turned a dandelion red that would be my hair short."

"Wait," Rapunzel questioned as she grabbed an orange slice and curled up next to her friend, "the white ones, right? The ones with all the seeds.

"Yeah."

The brunette paused for a minute before a quick burst of laughter broke through her lips. "I wonder how he would take that."

"Could you stop talking about Jack? Why do you always have to bring him up?" Merida complained as she reached over and grabbed an orange slice.

"I didn't say 'Jack'. I said 'he'. You read into that one, my dear." Rapunzel smirked.

"Oh, stuff it," the redhead said.

"Alright," she replied. Struggling through laughter, she opened her mouth and stuffed her orange slice inside. Clasping her teeth onto the soft flesh and wrapping her lips around the peel, she smiled and titled her head to the side.

Merida chuckled at her friend's antics. For a brief moment she forgot that Jack had been gone two weeks and still wouldn't be back for another week. Dammit. There she was thinking about him again, missing him again. Not that she'd ever admit to it.

The front door clanged open. "You guys here?" called out a familiar voice.

"Yeah. In the living room," Merida called over her shoulder.

"Where's Rapunzel?"

"In here, too. She's just got an orange slice stuffed in her mouth."

The brunette attempted to say something but it was garbled by the citrus fruit.

Laughing, Merida mimicked her friend and placed her own orange slice in her mouth, smiling around it.

Hiccup walked into the living room. Sweat glued his bangs to his forehead, and his freckles had become more prominent from the early summer sun. His green eyes studied the two before falling into a fit of chuckles. He picked up an orange slice for himself and wrapped his lips around it.

The redhead pushed her fingers against the peel to keep it from falling out as her laughter increased. Her bright eyes flickered to Rapunzel. The brunette's smile had changed and her eyes twinkled in a deceptive amusement. Screwing her eyebrows at her friend's change of expression, her confusion was interrupted by a well missed voice saying, "Having fun without me?"

Merida coughed as acidic juice burned her airway. Spluttering the orange slice out and peering out through watery eyes, she looked over her shoulder to spy a familiar slender frame and brilliant blue eyes peering out from a mop of white hair.

"Jack," she squeezed out with her depleted air supply.

"Yes, I know. I just take your breath away. You weep with joy at the sight of my handsome visage," he teased, his thin lips pulling back into a familiar smirk.

"Yes, you idiot. That's why," she retorted, struggling in vain to hold back the smile that desired to split her face.

He laughed as he shifted his weight to one foot, cocked his head to the side and opened his arms. His fingers curled inward a few times, beckoning her over.

Merida leapt over the armrest of the couch and launched herself into Jack's waiting arms. He wrapped them tightly around her waist as he twirled a few times before setting her down.

"I missed you," he told her in a hushed voice.

"I missed you, too," she whispered back, but not quietly enough.

"Like you miss a splinter, huh?" Rapunzel teased.

Merida poked her tongue out at her friend before burying her nose back into Jack's neck.