Soarin realized that things really did go bump in the night when he heard a sonorous thump come from the outside of his window. Sitting upright with a jolt, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, glancing blearily at the digital clock on his nightstand. Though his eyes were clouded with the mist of sleep, he was able to make out the luminescent numbers on the clock's face. Two-Thirty in the morning.
Incredulous, and miffed at being woken up in the lack hours of the morning, he clambered out of the bliss of the furnace that was his down comforter and blanket and immediately regretted going to bed in nothing more than a pair of boxers and a T-shirt as a wave of goose bumps washed over his limbs. Then there came another bout of urgent tapping from behind the glass.
"Okay!" he hissed impatiently. "I'm coming already!" With a scowl, he positively ripped back the curtains, hearing the howling wind and rain against the windowpane. He blinked several times just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Kneeling on his roof, wearing nothing but her pajamas was Rainbow Dash, drenched from head to toe from the relentless rain.
Without hesitating, he unlocked the latch on his window, and she climbed into his room followed by a powerful gust of wind, grateful for being out of the rain.
"Hey Soarin," she stated simply.
Without waiting for a reply, she busied herself by looking for a towel in his room to wipe off some of the excess moisture. Humming slightly, she wrung out her hair in the towel that Soarin normally used after he took a shower. Soarin found the action in itself to be somewhat disturbing and grimaced; did she know that he actually used that thing?
"Rainbow," he said finally. "What are you doing here?" She hadn't snuck over to his house since they were in middle school. She stilled her motions momentarily and shrugged. She then went on drying out her hair.
"Can I borrow some clothes or something?" she asked, ignoring his question.
"What?" Soarin was sure that he had heard that last request incorrectly. The last few moments of sleep had not quite melted away from his hazy mind, and he had extreme difficulty not nodding off right then and there.
"I'm cold, and I'm wet. Can I at least borrow a dry shirt or something?" She took it upon herself to give a theatrical shiver, which sent icy water droplets flying onto Soarin's exposed skin.
He scowled as he went over to his closet and dug out and oversized Wonderbolt shirt and some plaid shorts. With an exasperated grunt, he handed them over to her, and she accepted the garments gratefully with a "thank you." Before he was ready for anything however, Rainbow began to strip out of her soaked pajamas without warning. He spun around on the spot before he could see anything inappropriate, scratching the base of his neck and feeling somewhat awkward.
What the… "Why the hell do you always do that?!" he asked in an outrage finding it difficult to keep his voice lowered so as not to wake his parents.
"Dude, we're friends. It's not that big of a big deal." she said rolling her eyes.
"It wasn't a big deal when we were little! Now it kinda is!" He could feel his cheeks starting to heat up, though the rest of his body remained relatively cool. Was he the only one that realized that Rainbow Dash had practically flashed him her breast.
"Oh, don't be such a wuss. I'm done, see?" she held her arms out on either side of her as Soarin reluctantly turned around. For some reason, seeing her in his clothes made him feel oddly satisfied.
"Okay, great. Now can I go to sleep?" he asked.
"Knock yourself out," she said, grinning brightly, her magenta eyes sparkling despite the darkness.
Rolling his eyes, Soarin climbed onto his bed once again, snuggled into his mattress, and was prepared to ignore her as she prowled around his room. He really couldn't be bothered to wonder about her reasons for being there at such an ungodly hour. He watched her dark silhouette wander around for several moments.
He was beginning to drift off, his eyes struggling to stay open, when he felt a weight impose itself on the mattress next to him. He stiffened in shock and turned around completely to find Rainbow Dash staring at him in the dark, blinking innocently every few seconds.
"What are you doing?!" he hissed in annoyance. Before he got accused of doing something indecent or before his mom chose to go about on one of her random nightly prowls, he made to get up. Rainbow Dash however laid a tentative hand on his arm before he had gotten too far and gave him a dejected look that clearly said, "Stay.... please?"
His expression softening as Soarin reluctantly settled back into his bed and asked again, "What are you doing here?" his tone this time softer, more understanding. If there was one thing in the world that he hated was seeing his friend looking so vulnerable and defeated. To his horror, she responded with a sniffle, her eyes beginning to tear up. She clutched at the front of his shirt as her lip gave an ominous quiver.
Not wanting to send her the wrong message, Soarin contented himself with simply grasping her hand with his and stroking the back of it with his thumb in what he hoped was a soothing manner. His terror doubled when the tender action caused Rainbow Dash to break down completely into shaky sobs.
Apparently suddenly bitten on the ass by bravery, Soarin did something he normally wouldn't have done and wrapped his arms tentatively around her small form.
She reacted in a manner that was somewhat pleasing, pressing herself as close as she could to his torso and just allowing her cold arms to touch his own. If she had not been crying, Soarin would have actually found his current situation to be very agreeable indeed. He had almost drifted off to sleep when Rainbow Dash found her voice again. "Soarin, are you still awake?"
He responded with a noise that wasn't quite a word, his eyes closed. He could feel her warm breath on his neck and he was enjoying it immensely. "Are you ready to talk?" he murmured, already half-asleep.
"My parents were fighting."
"Again?" he asked.
"It was really bad this time… I think my dad hit my mom. I'm not sure though. I just couldn't take it, so I came here." She sounded apologetic for waking him up so randomly.
Soarin was sure that wasn't the only thing that had persuaded her to get out of bed in the middle of the night during a storm, and he remained silent until she chose to reveal part two of her grief. He could almost see her biting her bottom lip through his closed eyelids, it was such a "Dashie" action.
"Um… Hoops broke up with me…" Soarin's eyes snapped open at this, half in relief, half in shock.
"What?" he asked.
"I think I was expecting it… but it was still a shock, you know?"
"Well, I've been telling you for years that he's a butthole."
"I know… but…" Rainbow Dash let her sentence trail off.
"But?" Soarin repeated, beginning to get impatient again.
"I really liked him Soarin."
Something about that statement made his bed seem less comfortable. He knew that she hated Hoops. It was obvious. It was enough for him to run his hand through his hair in class to cause Rainbow Dash to turn around and tell him to stop. But this wasn't about how much of a butt pipe Hoops was. Soarin had to remind himself that it was about Rainbow Dash.
"Did he say why at least?"
She hesitated, fidgeting in the dark and combing through her damp rainbow hair with her fingers. "H-He was jealous." Soarin scoffed, his eyes sliding shut once more. "About what?"
"About… erm… you."
He gave her a nervous glance but she was busy looking at her fidgeting hands on the mattress between them.
"Me?" he asked, his voice hitching slightly. "He thinks that we're, you know… together…"
"But we're not. Didn't you tell him that?" Rainbow Dash neglected to respond for several moments, and Soarin assumed that she had fallen asleep. Shrugging internally, he decided that he deserved a good night's sleep and closed his eyes for about the fifth time that night. That was until he heard a timid voice speak softly through the penetrating darkness.
"I… I told him that we are."
He gave a shocked look to Rainbow who is still wrapped up in his arms. She met his eyes with shaky confidence this time, as if afraid of being rejected. There he was, holding her close to his heart and in her own roundabout way, she had practically told him that there was something more than friendship between them. Was that what she was afraid of? Was she afraid that he wouldn't talk to her or something if Hoops had told him first on Monday morning? His thoughts changed as he saw just how touchable she looked at that moment. That was how close she was.
Soarin was tempted almost eager to lean in and kiss her, to show her that he wasn't intangible like Hoops was, to show her that he wanted her, but most importantly, to show her that he really and truly cared.
"Do it!" he said internally.
This was what he told himself, but the only thing he managed to do was stare at her, his mouth slightly ajar.
"Well say something!" Rainbow Dash hissed at him, suddenly irritated with his lack of response.
Seriously, girls get annoyed easily…
"Is that the truth?" he asked her.
After several minutes of silence, he pulled an immature trick: "Well say something!" he mimicked when she didn't answer. Rainbow Dash then punched him in the shoulder.
"Ouch! Why'd you do that?" he said rubbing his shoulder.
"Because I could! Idiot…" she muttered, removing herself from his arms and turning around in the bed, her back to his face. She shivered as she scooted as far away from him as possible, her hair was still damp.
Soarin took it as a good sign that she didn't do something irrational like jump out into the storm again. At least it was implied that they were still talking to each other; a sane person wouldn't just lie in bed with someone they wanted to strangle. Then again… Rainbow Dash wasn't exactly sane…
"So? Is that true, then?" No answer. "If it helps… I wouldn't mind it…" She turned around again, her blue eyes glinting in the dark.
"Obviously it's true," she responded, brow furrowed in agitation. Her tone had an icy edge to it. "I'm not just gonna take off my clothes in front of anyone!"
Soarin couldn't help but laugh at her. "Do you realize what you just implied?" he asked in mild disbelief.
Rainbow Dash then looked back at him. "Are you saying you don't want to see!? Pervert…"
"What? I'm trying to be a nice guy here. If one of us is a pervert, it's you. You crawled into bed with me. Why the hell are you still mad?"
"You made fun of me!"
"I rip on you all the time!"
"You're not supposed to do that when a girl's crying!"
Soarin tried to quiet her with frantic hand gestures. "Dude, shut up, you're going to wake up my mom!"
Rainbow Dash complied somewhat reluctantly but punched him in the shoulder again though with less force than the first time. "Oh my gosh you're so stupid Soarin…"
"Rainbow Dash?" said Soarin inquired, ignoring her jab.
"What?" she replied, still a bit irked.
"I want to kiss you. Like really badly." He hoped that the tension that was building up wasn't just one-sided.
Before he could react, she had attached herself once again to his shirt front, burying her hands hurriedly in his hair. Their lips met with sweet caresses and frantic breath. Soarin's hands made their way down her back and crawled up under the back of her nightshirt of their own accord. She responded by linking one of her smooth legs behind his and moaning sensuously into his mouth as his hands roamed over her bare skin.
Both of them had had their fair share of kissing in the past, heck, both of them had been kissed by the fifth grade, but something about this one was different. Perhaps it was the fact that it was completely unexpected. Perhaps it was the fact that it was in the middle of the night and both of them were somewhat dizzy with sleep and want. But more than likely was the fact that the two of them were both finally sure, after dancing around it for so long, that it was what they wanted.
Making out didn't get much farther than that. They both parted, breathing heavier than normal. Her hands were still wrapped around his neck and his arms rested soundly on the bare skin of her hips. Rainbow Dash hesitantly brought her hand down to his chest where his heart was positively racing. He responded by closing his eyes and resting his forehead on hers.
"Soarin ?"
"Yeah?"
"Are we together?"
"I dunno, do you want to be?"
She nodded against him and then let out a cute yawn. "Can I stay here?"
"Of course," he replied fully aware that his mom would probably eat his intestines for breakfast the next day. "Let's just go to sleep."
But it was already an unnecessary request. Rainbow Dash was already breathing deeply, and her arm made its way around him. He pulled her closer and nodded off himself to sleep.
Author's Note
I've been wanting to do a SoarinDash one-shot for some time now and I'm happy on how it turned out. Criticism are always appreciated. And just in case if any of you spot for errors or incorrect grammar, let me know and I'll get to it right away! Let me know what y'all think!
