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Keith had never met someone quite like Aubrey Little. And it wasn’t just the fact that she could do real life magic, no, he had never met someone with her style and confidence and sense of self. He had never met someone who could in one moment be literally kicking ass and taking names and in the next be gentle and kind. He had never met someone who cared about people so deeply, even people like him and the rest of the Hornets, those who had antagonized her and her friends so much before.
But that was before. He and Hollis and everyone else, they understood now. They got it. And after the…Incident…Keith had felt himself drawn to Aubrey in a way he couldn’t explain.
Almost like magic, he thought to himself one warm evening in September as he walked hand in hand with the woman he’d grown to really really like.
“What was that, Babe?” Aubrey was looking up at him with an eyebrow cocked, a slight smile playing at her lips.
“Oh, uh, did I say something? I didn’t even realize…”
She cuts him off with a laugh, “You said, ‘almost like magic,’ and had that far away look you get sometimes when you’re thinking really hard about something.”
“Huh, I hadn’t even noticed.” He can feel himself blushing but decides to just pretend he isn’t and keep moving forward. He’s had this hike planned for weeks, Hollis even helped him find this rad spot where they’d be able to see the sunset and still make it back to Amnesty Lodge before it got too cold. Aubrey may be able to create fire at the snap of her fingers, but he isn’t keen on that being their only source of heat as they make their way back to Aubrey’s home.
Her hand tightened in his for a moment as she stopped walking and turned him back to her, quickly raising to her tippy toes to give him a kiss before dropping both down to her normal height and his hand to sprint ahead on the trail, leaving him with a befuddled smile. He shakes his head and follows after her, running to catch up.
“Hey, Little, you don’t even know where we’re going!”
“You think I’ve been friends with Duck for this long without being forced to go on at least one hike and learn some basic wilderness survival stuff? I know how to follow a trail, Keith!”
“I’m not saying you don’t, I’m saying wait for—“
“Shut up, Keith,” she calls back, but she does stop, turn back, and wait for him. She’s right at the edge of the trees, a few more steps and she would have seen the surprise.
It only takes a few seconds for him to catch up— she only had a few seconds head start— but Aubrey manages to look like she’s been waiting for years. He kisses her gently before turning her around and covering her eyes.
“This okay? Just so it’s really a surprise. If you’re not cool with it I understand and I’ll move my hands, wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
“You’re rambling, Babe. It’s totally okay. I just want to see what it is, you know I’m not good at this whole ‘patience’ thing.”
It’s Keith’s turn to chuckle as he begins to guide his girlfriend forward. Six months ago he never would have expected that Aubrey Little would be his girlfriend. But now, six months after she asked him out, he couldn’t imagine not having this wonderful, dreamy, spitfire in his life.
As they break through the tree line, Keith sees everything set up just how he and Hollis left it. He owes them big time for helping him pull this one off. Theres a portable “fire pit” (he made sure to check with Juno about fire safety before setting this up, Duck would be on his ass in a millisecond if he set the state on fire) and all the makings for s’mores (secured from the wild animals with something Mama recommended which seems to have worked, he’ll have to make sure he thanks her next time he sees her). Theres some stumps for chairs and pillows and a blanket to make sure they stay warm if the temperature does suddenly drop.
“Okay, so I know you said that six month anniversaries are totally BS and that you didn’t want me to get you a gift or anything, but I wanted to do something special with you and this was something that I figured would be the best of both worlds, ya know? Not too much but still something we can do and it’ll make me feel like a better boyfriend to do it, but I didn’t want it to be too high key and if you hate it we can just go, but I thought it wouldn’t be too much and you’d enjoy it and stuff and—“
“Keith, I can’t see anything yet and you’re rambling. But you’ve got nothing to worry about, I’m sure anything you planned is going to be awesome because it was planned by you.”
He can hear the smile in her voice as well as feel it where his hands are resting on her cheeks. It feels good, being the one making her smile. He moves his hands away and almost sighs in relief when Aubrey practically squeals. She grabs his hand and jogs closer to the makeshift campsite.
“This is awesome! You even got the little chocolate squares with the caramel on the inside! You remembered! Keith this is just so cool!”
She’s practically vibrating as she pulls him down into another kiss. When she pulls back, he can see that her eyes are shinning a little more than usual.
“No one has ever done something like this for me before. Thank you.”
Keith pulls her into another kiss, gentle, slow. He’s hoping he can put all the emotion, all the things he can’t figure out how to say into this kiss. When they break again he can’t help but smile, at a loss for words with what to say to this incredible girl that he thinks, he thinks he may just love.
“I’m going to get the fire started so we can get these s’mores going, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah Aubrey, that sounds perfect. That sounds just perfect.”