RR Presents Oneshots

Stars (ARIDEN)(Aru Shah)

There was something Aru Shah and Aiden Acharya had in common, and that was their love of the stars.

Oftentimes the two would camp outside of the Pandava's place in the Otherworld, where most every night was cloudless and the stars shone bright in the inky sky. Aru spent her time tracing the Hindu constellations she had heard about, like Ashwini, Magha, and Jyeshtha, while Aiden simply photographed the night sky and the silhouettes of trees and buildings against it. It was totally peaceful.

Aiden set down Shadowfax and looked over at Aru laying on the blanket next to him. She was staring up at the sky, and she assumed that he was doing the same, but instead, his gaze was fixed on the way her fingers absentmindedly fiddled with the soft fabric and her hair messily fanned about her head. Even clad in her loose Avengers pajamas, she was stunning under the celestial light.

Aru turned her head to see Aiden's eyes still on her. She smirked, sending a slight but not unpleasant shiver down his spine. "Something on my face again, Wifey?"

Aiden blushed at the exact same words he had said to her in the elevator of Chandra being thrown right back at him. "No," he managed. "Just..."

He didn't know what else to say, so he reached over and took her hand in his, squeezing it gently.

After all, actions spoke louder than words.

Aru smiled and redirected her attention back towards the stars, enjoying the warmth of his touch.

Aiden was sure that she was blushing too, but he couldn't be sure in the darkness. He managed to tear his gaze away from her, focusing back up at the stars.

Aru's finger pointed upwards. "According to the Ancient Indians, there are twenty-seven constellations ruled by the planets, the Moon being an important one."

Aiden rolled his eyes on remembering Chandra, the stupid baby moon-man, and all his wives.

If Aru noticed, she didn't comment. "Each sign, as in zodiac sign, was divided up into constellations, which were in turn divided up into quarters of constellations. Aries had the stars Ashwini, Bharini, and Krittika, which it shared with Taurus, which also had Rohini and
Mrigshira, and Gemini had-"

Aiden cut her off with a quiet snort. "And you say you're not a nerd."

She elbowed him in the side. "Never said that."

"Eh, you probably did. Where'd you learn all this anyway?"

"My mom told me. Plus, I read. Sometimes."

"Mm," he said dryly. "Never would've guessed."

"Hey!" She said, although he could tell she wasn't really offended.

He smirked, scooting closer and putting his arm around her.

"Shut up for a minute, Shah," he whispered in her ear. "Let's just pretend to be normal kids for once."

Normally Aru hated being normal, but at this moment she wasn't too opposed to the idea, for once. She snuggled into Aiden's side as he held her and kissed her on the cheek.

And just for that night, they weren't Pandava and Pandava-adjacent with magic weapons tasked with protecting the cosmos from Doomsday. Instead, they were just Aru and Aiden, two normal teenagers on a normal night during a normal date. The only thing that wasn't perfectly normal in that moment was the stars sparkling overhead.

But no one ever wanted those to be normal.

-𓃰𓃰𓃰-

Bit shorter than my usual word count but I'm just living for the Ariden.

Also I HC that if Aru and Aiden ever get married (please) that Aiden would relentlessly call her Wifey to get back for all the times she'd called him that.

Reposted from a collab account