My first Storm Hawks and AxP fanfic in a while... I have a lot of time to waste this July :) So I wrote this for a little challenge I am giving myself: one fic. each day for the next week. Let's see if it works~

::Thanks, dedicated, and much love to all lovely readers of AxP and especially to katiecharlotte who has been a sweet girl and friend to me both here on FF and off it.

Hands

July 04, 2010

by: Her Head in the Clouds

There is nothing but silence. A comfortable silence felt between two friends.

Piper is in the infirmary. She takes a box of bandages off the counter in the corner and heads back over to the chair where Aerrow sits.

He smiles when she comes back, always liking when her presence is closer to him than when she is away. He doesn't say a word. He is content with the moment that passes between them.

She returns his smile and pulls a nearby stool in front of him to take a seat. Gently but efficiently, she opens the box in seconds, pulling out one bandage and tearing the paper adhesive that holds it to the others. Without even realising it, she is humming softly.

Aerrow keeps his eyes trained on her face with a soft grin. She is too entranced in pulling out the bandage to notice his stare. As always, she is a delight for him to watch.

The seconds tick by loudly on the clock on the wall. Aerrow breaks the quiet, despite his intention not to.

"Sorry, I did it again." His voice is deep and rumbles the gentle silence that blankets them.

Piper shakes her head, and he notes the sway in her midnight blue hair from over her bright orange headband. She is smiling.

"I knew you would. You never want to play it safe."

Aerrow hears the tinkling like bells when she giggles. He chuckles lightly and looks away sheepishly to a spot on the tiled floor.

"Alright, come here." Her voice is warm and inviting, not at all judgemental like the way she spites Finn or Junko for doing something similarly stupid.

Aerrow slowly lifts his hands from their place on his knees, where Piper takes them gingerly, inspecting him with her inquisitive carnelian eyes. He watches her. She sighs.

"I guess that means I'll have to stitch these tonight."

Aerrow looks down again quickly. She is referring to his gloves; they are torn and soaked in his blood in several places. He feels like a little kid, guilty for the mess he's made and more guilty knowing that she will take this responsiblity to clean it up.

Piper huffs softly but when Aerrow looks up again cautiously, she isn't irritated. She looks amused.

"Honestly, what am I going to do with you, Aerrow?" She giggles. He gives her a small smile.

"I…"

"Don't worry about it. I can fix these no sweat. You'll have them back in the morning, kay?"

"Uh…" She doesn't give him the time to answer her as she already begins to pull the material. In the moments that his gloves are coming off, he winces. His cuts are stinging and the rough material is rubbing them raw, pulling at the skin that is already sensitive and bleeding.

And the more he thinks about it, he isn't sure how he's gotten himself into this situation with her. Normally, he'd handle this easy job himself. Be in the infirmary, bandage the wounds, and be out in three minutes flat. How Piper suddenly finds him and chooses to do his job for him is a blur.

Not that he complains. Aerrow likes her company, more so than any other member of his team. He smirks slightly.

Piper looks up quickly into his face. She hears his sharp inhale and realises that she is hurting him. Not wasting time, she pulls off the gloves quickly and tosses them on the nearby bed.

"Sorry." She furrows her brows in mild concern and quickly goes to tending to the cuts.

Aerrow nods. As he sits and watches her do her thing, he is suddenly overwhelmed with a surge of memory. A wave of feelings and memories wash over him, and he suddenly sees himself as the little kid who ran around with Finn and Radarr on an isolated terra. He remembers all those times when he fell and got hurt, getting scrapes and scratches all over his limbs and face and when this same young girl would tend to him like she always did.

Aerrow bit his lip.

"Sorry again, Piper."

She shakes her head, and in the fluorescent light of the room, her dark chocolate skin contrasts with the moving shadows.

"Don't be. You're …just being you. Nothing to it." She laughs lightly. "Remember when you and Finn used to get cuts like this all the time?"

Aerrow's smile returns. He loves how she follows the same train of thought that he does.

"Yeah… but I don't think our cuts were nearly this deep back then."

Piper made a sound of agreement in the back of her throat.

"That's because we didn't do what we do today..."

Her voice trails off and Aerrow realises this. He looks up to find her face slightly scrunched in sadness. It makes his heart tighten in his chest. He didn't mean to bring up painful memories for her; that's the last thing he wants. When he looks down again, he sees that she is almost finished bandaging up his palm and fingers. Her long fingers move slowly in motion, giving his digits the care he often needs in these hard times. Her slim tanned palms envelope his larger ones and the warmth radiates from her long fingers onto his like a cooking crystal. He invites it wholeheartedly.

After some time, he doesn't realise how long he's been staring into their encased hand-holding because her movements have stopped and she is simply sitting across from him with his hands in hers. When he does realise, he blinks and looks up into her face with a slightly surprised expression.

Her skin, so contrastingly dark to his, is glowing in the room, and her eyes, so full of energy, are watching his face with the calculating gaze she gives everything and everyone in her life. He notes the small smile on her lips as he blinks himself back into reality. Her lips move in his dazed vision.

"Finished."

Aerrow blinks. It is his mistake when he looks down too quickly to see her work because when he looks down into his hands, she pulls her own away to leave him to his inspection. Yup, she's done alright. All his open wounds are cleaned and bandaged and there is that familiar throb when you wrap a bandage tightly around a sore cut. Aerrow flits his eyes over to her hands which are now back in her own lap. He instantly misses her warmth. Aerrow gently fists his hands.

"Wow… Thanks, Piper." His voice sounds so foreign, so loud to him in the wonderful silence that is swirling around them.

"No problem. Next time though, take my advice and use the protective leather gloves. I don't know how many boxes of these we have left and I don't think Stork will want to…" She stops mid-sentence.

In her attempt to pull the stool away from him to give him space, Aerrow has quickly reached out to grasp her wrists and is holding her steady. She hears her heart hammer in her ears. How could he break such a peaceful moment like this with something so simple like a hold on her hand? Everything feels like she is waiting for an earthquake to happen.

"Aerrow…?"

He doesn't say a word but is staring intently on her left hand, the one he is grasping gently. Piper blinks and gives him a look of concern.

"Is…everything okay, Aerrow?"

Still, he says nothing to her. But being the patient person she always strives to be, she eases herself back into the chair and sits comfortably, waiting for her best friend to respond. It's just Aerrow, and he's only having a moment to himself with her hand. It isn't extremely awkward.

After a moment, Aerrow blinks and smiles gently. His gaze is still on Piper's hand. Her finger twitches in waiting. And with a gentle tug, he pulls her arm along with her body just a little bit closer to him and the space between their chairs shrinks. But only a bit.

"…" Piper raises an eyebrow in deep thought. What is he thinking about?

Aerrow then uses his other hand to pull her own glove off her fingers. When it is off, he places it beside his own crumpled one and proceeds to take off the other. Piper's eyes widen but she sits waiting still.

After Aerrow pulls the other one off, he takes both of her hands in his and squeezes them gently, because he knows his own are still hurting beneath the bandages. Then he proceeds to rub her skin softly. His eyes never leave her hands.

Piper watches solemnly, feeling like a surge of bittersweet energy is passing through. She feels this is both a beautiful and sad moment for the both of them. Aerrow is taking in the workload that she carries in her hands.

In a non-sensual, non-lover type of way, he is merely taking in all that is Piper and how it is possible that she makes the Storm Hawks work as a team, as a system, and as a family. He can read it there in her palms, in her chocolate-toned fingers. Her palms are tough, but still smooth with a softness he knows he has never felt in his own hands. He is amazed that someone as busy-bodied as her, can have such soft skin... gentle hands. He traces the lines on her palms, trying to read which is her life-line as someone once told him.

Piper feels no strangeness in this moment. She gladly accepts his gestures and returns them by grasping his own hands. They are rough, as expected and small calluses are what she feels. It is this strength and energy she also feels radiated from his palms into her own and she realises just how much potential he has. It almost alarms her, but she doesn't look away. She too is entranced in this little moment.

They are looking into each other's scars, the tiny marks and scratches that mark on their contrasting skins from the countless times of fighting and physical labour. Piper notes the deep receding mark on the back of Aerrow's hand from a duel he got tangled in with the Dark Ace. She makes a mewling sound in the back of her throat when she notices the many marks on his fingers. They stand out against his pale, white skin. Aerrow touches a burn mark on Piper's index finger that he remembers her nursing after getting too close to an overheating engine crystal. He sees another cut on the back of her tan wrist from a fight he doesn't remember. He touches it gingerly, afraid that it still hurts her no matter how soft her skin is and how much it has healed.

They've worked too hard. Pushed too far. They have seen and experienced things no one their age should. And it's written all over their hands. It makes both their hearts ache. They both secretly wonder how many cuts and scars Finn and the others have beneath their own gloves.

After what feels like many hours, but is merely a couple of minutes, Piper pulls her head back and stares into Aerrow's face. She reads his handsome features with curiosity and amusement. He is sometimes too much but she never forgets to realise it.

"Um…Aerrow?" She giggles. He is tickling her now.

Hearing her laugh, Aerrow pulls his head back up quickly to look at her. His wild red hair is flipping in the motion and Piper smiles. He chuckles lightly and reluctantly takes a hand away from her to rub the back of his neck.

"Sorry. I, uh…"

Piper shakes her head. She is still smiling.

"It's okay. I get it... I do."

Aerrow returns the smile. That is one of things he loves about her. She knows him well enough to channel his thoughts without the awkwardness in between, like a best friend should.

In a mock display of thankfulness, he pulls her hand up to his face and presses his lips to her knuckles in a chaste kiss. Then just as quickly, from the embarrassment that always come with it, he pulls away and grins cheekily.

"Thanks again, Piper."

She continues to play with his hand as she fingers his knuckles, noticing the way her skin contrasts so well against his.

Despite the scars, she can't help herself.

Piper feels happy, feels warm inside.

And Aerrow. Aerrow feels the same.

I hope it was worth the read. How Aerrow gets hurt in this story is entirely up to you (:

Much love, Abby~