Purple wings, aqua springs [Descendants: Uma x Mal]

if i open up my heart to you, i know that you could lock it

UMA

If you'd asked Uma what she was eating for dinner that night, she'd probably be able to tell you in detail. But only because she'd memorised Louis' meal plans from the years of eating his cuisine, not because she was paying any attention to the mouthful she was currently chewing mindlessly. Uma knows whatever it is probably tastes good, Louis doesn't come cheap despite his status as a close family friend, but she can't really taste anything right now. (Or hear anything, or even remotely focus on anything that wasn't charcoal drawings and badly dyed purple hair.)

         "Earth to Uma?" Harry's in the middle of one of his tirades, probably about some kind of government conspiracy or alien spotting, and it's clear he's only just realised Uma clocked out of the conversation more than a little while ago. Gil's also looking at her, his eyes searching her demeanour with an intensity she didn't like. (She suspects he's not dropped their earlier conversation, even if he hasn't brought it up again. She hopes he doesn't, she's not in the mood for it.)

"Sorry, guys. Long day, I guess."

She wasn't lying, she just wasn't going into direct detail for the two boys. She didn't know exactly what her earlier interaction with Mal was , but it felt private, almost intimate, and it wasn't something she was in a mood to share. (If they ever found out, they'd no doubt be hurt; secrets weren't in the nature of their friendship. But this felt different. It didn't feel like her secret to tell if it could even be labelled as much. She could just be overthinking it.)

"I guess Gil's stupidity does that to you." Gil lunges over the table at Harry's dig; his tall frame clumsy and bulky as the table shakes, the blonde boy play-brawling with the brunette. Uma throws smiles of Ignore them! to the people sitting nearby, it's kind of a brother thing! They're sitting in the mess hall, on the counsellor's table, at the first dinner of the summer. It's a sort of welcome dinner ordeal - ordeal being the important word. It consists of a schedule of events such as Ursula and Uma saying a few words to the campers, introducing the campers to their camp leaders for the next month, laying down ground rules, and just general welcome talk. Looking down at her plate, Uma grins as she takes another bite. Crab. Of course, it's Louis' welcome special.

"I guess. I, uh-" that catches their attention; Uma doesn't stutter. "I met the new Counsellor today. Mal."

Both boys stop what they're doing instantly, and return to their seats, their curiosity piqued. Or rather, Harry's curiosity. Gil's staring at her with a knowing glint in his eye, and it makes her shift uncomfortably in her seat. This kid might be the youngest of us three, but Uma would be damned if he weren't weirdly the wisest when it came to things like this. ( What things? Uma doesn't even dare to think about exactly what is making his eyes glint.)

"I've been wondering how that went," Harry drawls. "Cute, isn't she?"

Now Uma swats Harry's smug face from across the table.

"Shut up. She's prickly, for sure, you were right about the attitude problem. But I think she'll get there."

"High praise from you." Harry says through a mouthful of baguette. It's true, Uma wasn't one to pre-empt anything, or give unnecessary praise. She didn't believe in sugar coating things.

"Well, I invited her tonight."

"You- Oh?" Harry chokes on his mouthful, clearing his throat while Gil hands him a glass of water, a sympathetic smile on his face. He truly was a golden retriever. Uma picks at her bread, feigning nonchalance, avoiding the eyes of the two boys who could read hers right back, in fear of what she might find there. (She wasn't ready for any of this, even the hint of it.)