Shattered Relations | Aru Shah AU |

XVII

a/n: enjoy some fluff, haha. i got such a serotonin boost writing this chapter, i kid you not. 

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RUDY
Every now and then, Rudy's stomach grumbled, as he squinted through newspapers once again, looking for more information on Supermundus. 

Mini looked up at him, from Aru's computer. "You should really join the others. What I'm doing... it's a shot in the dark." 

"Yes, but what if a Supermundus dude busts in and you need me to sing to drive him away?" he asked jokingly. 

Mini smiled slightly, before her smile melted into a frown. She stared at the screen, her eyes widening.

"Crap."

Rudy frowned, and went up to her. "What's wrong?"

Her fingers hovered above the trackpad, as she stared at a web page in front of her.

"I—I'm looking through newspaper articles of disappearances around Brunswick, and—"

She didn't finish her sentence, as he read the old article over her shoulder.

"'The victim's family'," he read out loud, "'reported that he was receiving a number of threatening letters in the weeks preceding his disappearance. His coworkers at the Supermundus Organization have also not reported any suspicious behaviour the victim portrayed in the weeks before he disappeared.'"

Mini began, in a quick, breathy voice, "What if that happens to one of us? What if Supermundus kidnaps us, and—and kills us, dumping our bodies off a cliff somewhere?! Our families don't know what's happening—"

She began rocking back and forth in her chair, the first signs of MOMDPA—a type of panic attack Mini experienced when very stressed, or nervous, or feeling... hopeless.

"Hey." He rested a hand on her shoulder, and squeezed it gently.

"Deep breaths. If, in the unlikely event that Supermundus does come after us, you can dazzle them with your keyboard skills, and I can display my proficiency in singing!"

Mini cracked a small, cautious smile as Rudy pretended to scream into a mic.

"Look, you have absolutely nothing to worry about," he assured her, looking straight into her dark eyes.

Something flickered in their depths, as a warm feeling spread through his chest, accompanied by a strange buzzing in his ears.

She covered his hand with hers, and said, quietly, "If anything happens any of us, and I couldn't save them... I wouldn't be able to forgive myself."

He stuck out his lower lip in exaggerated sadness. "Even me?"

She tilted her head, barely hiding her smile—the telltale dimple gave the game away—and said, in a fake-exasperated voice, "Even you, Drama Queen."

He mirrored her smile, but said, quietly, "Is there a way to be as, er, alive as possible? Without Supermundus kidnapping us?"

Mini's hand left his, leaving his hand strangely cold and clammy, as she raked a hand through her hair, contemplating the problem.

"Hand me your phone," she said. 

"What?" he asked, giving her his phone. 

"This is just a temporary precaution, but.." she frowned at it, and he went to her, looking at his phone behind her shoulder. 

She had opened Find My Friends, and sent a request to her own phone. 

Then, she unlocked her own phone, and accepted the request. "If we're going to continue chasing dangerous people, with the danger of kidnapping on the table, we might as well have a way to find out where the other is." 

"Yeah, but how do we know if the other people are in danger?" he asked, as she opened his Contacts App. 

She scrolled to 'Emergency Numbers', and added hers, Aiden's, Aru's, and Brynne's numbers, and repeated this with her own phone. 

"There," she announced. "click the power button thrice, it'll call all the numbers saved in your Emergency Numbers, and 911." 

He smiled slightly, and said playfully, "You scare me sometimes." 

Mini smiled back, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "Good." 

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ARU
Aru, Kara, Brynne, and Aiden came back to the apartment to see Mini asleep in front of the laptop, the pale blue light washing over her face. Rudy was in the chair next to her, also asleep, with his and Mini's littlest fingers interlocked. 

"Rudy doesn't look as capable of mass destruction by accident when he's asleep," Brynne whispered, snickering. 

Aiden lifted Shadowfax to his face, and snapped a picture. "Rudy's.... drooling. This may be the best picture I've taken," he said, looking delighted. 

Aru smirked, as Kara whispered, "Should we wake them up? They might be hungry." 

"If you have a sense of humour, no, you don't wake Rudy up. You throw a bucket of cold water in his face," Aiden said. 

"That's mean," Kara said, sounding slightly reproachful. 

"It works, though." 

"Let them be," Aru said. Then, she turned to Kara, and said, quietly, as to not wake the other two up, "Do you want to crash here?" 

Kara shook her head. "No. I'm staying at a place close to here, I'll be fine," she said, hugging Aru tightly. 

"Bye," Aru said. 

"Bye," Kara echoed, before leaving the apartment. 

After she had left, Aiden rubbed his hands, and said, "Do you have a bottle of cold water?"

Ten seconds later, Aiden, armed with a spray bottle filled with ice-cold water, stood in front of Rudy, before aiming the spout at his cousin's face, and squeezing. 

As Aiden had said, it worked—a little too well, as it woke Rudy up, who bit out curses and swear words Aru didn't know existed. 

His loud voice startled Mini awake, who rubbed her eyes, the movement making her glasses askew. 

"What's going on?" she asked sleepily, looking at them with bleary, unfocused eyes. 

"Nothing," Aru assured her. "Go sleep, you look exhausted." 

Mini nodded, and stumbled to her room, gently shutting the door behind her. 

Rudy, dripping in water, shot Aiden a glare, as the two cousins said, "Bye," to Aru and Brynne. 

Aru scooped up her laptop, and snapped it shut. 

Brynne grabbed the takeout bag, no doubt to finish it in the dead of night, and said to Aru, "G'night, Shah." 

"Don't eat the leftover food, Bee," Aru said, by way of a goodnight. 

Brynne raised an eyebrow, and sang, "No promises." 

Aru rolled her eyes, and stumbled to her room, slamming the door behind her, before falling asleep, her last thoughts wondering where Mini had gotten along with her project...

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