Genre: General, humour (or intended humour anyway)
Characters: Shinn, Rey, Lunamaria
Pairing(s): None
Word Count: 709
Warning: Unbeta-ed.
Summary: Set in their Academy days. The two of them didn't want to see their friend sad, so they decided to help her out. One-shot.
A/N: Not my best story. But the idea kept playing about in my head, so I wrote it down. Yes, and I know the title is lousy. Let me know if there was any humour at all. I fear cracking jokes that nobody gets. XD
“Come on,” Shinn wheedled. “You don’t want to disappoint her, do you?” He waved the skirt he was holding in his friend’s face.
“I said no,” Rey said firmly. His expression was as blank as always, but there was a look in his eyes that told Shinn he’d be sorry if he asked again.
“Fine then,” Shinn shrugged in mock defeat. “We can tell her tomorrow that we couldn’t find it, because you wouldn’t help---”
“You could do it yourself. I don’t see why---”
“Yes, of course,” Shinn replied sagely. “Anyone can wear a skirt. That doesn’t mean they can always carry it off. The thing could be in the girls’ locker room. While I’d look like a guy, skirt or no…For you it’d be a different matter.” Here he grinned impishly.
Rey glared at him for a moment, then snatched the garment from the black-haired boy’s hand.
***
The two of them had come across Lunamaria in the field, looking rather distraught. They’d never seen her look so miserable, so they’d gone and asked what the matter was.
“Oh guys, have either of you seen my necklace?” she asked in a tone of despair.
Both boys shook their heads. Disappointment washed over her face, and ignoring them, she went on searching.
“This, uh, thing you’re looking for, it’s important, isn’t it?” Shinn asked tentatively.
“My dad gave it to me, just before he left for Junius Seven,” she said flatly. The meaning of her words was unmistakable.
It prompted Shinn to think back on the death of his parents and sister at Onogoro, and the pink cell phone, which was the only thing he had left to remember them by. If he’d ever lost it…
A wave of sympathy and determination rose in him. “We’ll help you look for it,” he said quietly.
***
So they searched everywhere Lunamaria had gone to the day before: the lecture halls, the refectory, the corridors, but they still couldn’t find their quarry.
“Now I know,” Shinn said wearily, collapsing on a bench. “what they meant by ‘a needle in a haystack’,”
Rey didn’t say anything, but this looking around was getting to him. All he asked was, “Where’re the places we might have overlooked?”
“None that I can think of,” he said off-handedly. Then he suddenly sat upright. “No, wait a minute, there’s still one more place,”
“And where’s that?”
“Well, the girls’ locker room…”
His companion gave him a look. “Do you know what it’d look like if we went in there?”
“Yeah, but I said we’d look for it…” Shinn said uncomfortably. The next moment though, he had a gleam in his eyes. Most of the time, it didn’t spell anything good.
“…So?” Rey asked suspiciously.
Shinn went off to borrow a skirt from Meyrin. She looked puzzled, but agreed to his request anyway. And then, he told Rey he’d have to wear it and sneak inside to look.
***
“Shinn, you owe me big time for this,” he muttered darkly. It was already pretty late and most people had retreated to their dormitories. But there was still the risk that he could be caught. No mistake what the consequences would be, but he made a mental note to take Shinn with him if something like that happened.
“Purple pendant, purple pendant…” he repeated in his head. Then something caught his eye. There was an object glittering under the fluorescent light, right beneath a bench.
An amethyst pendant, hung on a fine silver chain, lay on the floor.
***
The next day, Shinn went off to find Lunamaria, the necklace clutched triumphantly in his fist. Much to his surprise, he found her chatting brightly to Meyrin, with no hint of yesterday’s sadness on her face.
Lunamaria turned to him as he approached, still smiling.
“Luna, we went looking for the necklace yesterday, and---” He was cut off by her.
“Thanks so much, Shinn, but I’ve already found it,” she said sheepishly. “Turns out it was under a pile of notes on my desk. It was nice of the two of you to look, though. Thanks again!”
He did his best to keep a straight face until he was out of her sight. Once he reached a corner alone though, he stared at the trinket in his hand with growing bewilderment. “Then whose is this…?!”
***
“Hmm, I was sure I left it on my clothes, right on this bench…” Abbey pondered. “Where’d it go?”
~END~