Aru Shah Oneshots

Happy Birthday, Shah. (Aiden's version)

A/N Prompt by- @emeraldeyedmonster

This is Aiden's POV  of the kiss in cog. I think it wasn't that good or something but yeah, here you go.

Thanks, man, I had a lot of fun writing this oneshot.

Aiden hustled around the room, clicking pictures of everyone. Shah wasn't downstairs yet. She wasn't supposed to, much to her annoyance.
To be honest, he was glad he didn't have to face Aru yet. His brain was a mess. His emotions were a mess. Aiden Acharya was a mess. 

What was with him? He didn't know. That irritated him. A lot.

Helping the rest of the potatoes arrange the party distracted him. He liked that. No feelings. How awesome would that be? But alas, his feelings were just kept at bay. Aiden was in do not disturb mode. He liked it that way. 

He helped Brynne and Hira make pastries. He disinfected decorations along with Mini. He yelled at Rudy to decrease the volume. He and Kara put up the string lights. Aiden did whatever job he could find. Until there were none left.

Five minutes to go, he muttered to himself. He couldn't avoid Shah that easily today. Aiden was confused. Aiden was afraid. He inhaled deeply. Brynne sent Aru a message to come downstairs through the Pandava mind link. 

Aru walked down the stairs. She wore an outfit that was designed by Nikita. A black velvet top, studded with gold pearls with ballooned sleeves and a dark gold skirt with a pattern of lightning bolts.  Aiden felt his voice stuck in his throat. An inexplicable sadness lingered over him. He wanted to smile at Aru. He wanted to wish her happy birthday. He couldn't. He just couldn't. All he could do was stare. Stare and walk away. 

The party started off great. There weren't many guests. Rudy's so-called-posse, Gunky and Funky, a few classmates from the otherworld, some adults and the potatoes. Aiden was having a good time. 

A while later, he felt someone tapping his shoulder. Aiden stared at Kara. He couldn't hear her over all the noise. He bent down so Kara could whisper in his ear.

"I need to tell you something," That's all she said. 

"Okay," he said.

"Can we talk somewhere private?"

Aiden nodded. "Okay," he said.

He followed her to the hall of the gods' exhibit. His eyebrows were scrunched, they weren't supposed to be here. This place was off-limits. He inhaled deeply, wanting to get this over quickly. 

"So...the weather's pretty nice, huh?"

Aiden almost choked. Weather? 

"Yeah."

"Perfect for a party." Kara paused. She took a deep breath. "Perfect for...confessions."

This time, Aiden knew he was choking. I do not, do not, not even in the slightest, like Aru, he thought to himself. Not that it was relevant at the moment, but he wanted to make sure that his brain knew.

Kara tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She laughed a little. "I like you," she said. Aiden stared at her, confused. She continued. "I, well, don't like secrets and everything so I thought...I'd..umm...let you know."

Aiden took a minute to register what she had just said. His heart stopped.  "Oh...Oh, I mean...I've always thought of you as a good friend, you know-"
He knew how heartbreak felt. He knew how his mother was heartbroken. Aiden felt his breath getting short. He didn't want Kara to be heartbroken. Heck, he didn't want anybody in the whole goddamn world to be heartbroken. But there was nothing he could do. Nothing he could say. All he could do was inflict pain.

She smiled at Aiden sadly. "Yeah, I understand." She sniffled and promptly walked out of the hall. 

Aiden laid back on the wall. He ran his hand through his hair, his heartbeat racing. His world just got really messy. Really really messy.  

He closed his eyes, embracing the moment. The faint music being played, the sniffles of a girl he rejected, scuttering footsteps and-

Wait, footsteps?

He opened his eyes and peered around the room. A figure stood behind the portrait of the Pandavas. The original ones, not the potatoes.
 He walked towards the shadow. Maybe to his dismay, maybe to his happiness, maybe to his luck or maybe to his unfortunate fate, it was Shah.

"What-" he told her, "-are you doing here?" 

He could see that she was clearly startled. "Nothing!" 

For a second, he was relieved to see Shah. She had that aura that calmed him but not this time. He recalled the words of fate. He recalled his fate. Their fate. "You cant change destiny," a voice suggested. He wanted to scream at that voice. He was tired of being tied to destiny. Whatever happened to 'We are the makers of our own destiny'? Why couldn't Aiden have a normal life? For once in his life...maybe not be pushed around by some stupid time ticking bomb called fate. He cursed at the universe. At destiny. At himself. "Gotta go..." he told Shah, hurrying away.

"Stop that." 

Aiden turned. "Stop what?"

"Do you hate me or something?"

"Of course not."

Aru "Well, you've been acting like it! Whenever I enter a room, you leave it. If I say something, you act like you didn't hear it. I thought maybe it's because you were grossed out that I..."

Aiden could almost hear two parts of him whispering, "Say it, please," and "Don't. Don't tell me."

"That I like you."

Aiden swallowed. He wanted to twirl her around and tell her that he loves her. But something stopped him. A part of it was Aru. 

"And I know you don't like me. And I didn't ask you to! And I didn't make it awkward! Or, at least, I tried not to make it more awkward than I usually do, which is really freaking hard, and I was okay with just being friends, but now we're barely even friends and it's awful and—"

"Slow down, Shah." He walked towards her. He smiled to himself, thinking of all the times between them. Fate. What about fate? Fate was a jerk. Destiny? Also a jerk. Future? A whole freaking jerk. Aiden thought of how worrying about some distant incident in the future. Why should he waste his time being depressed about the future when he could be happy remembering all the memories he made. It's now or never, he thought.

He did it. He did it. He did it. He did it. He kissed her. He kissed her. He kissed her. He kissed her. He kissed her. He kissed her. He kissed her. He kissed her. He kissed her. He kissed her. He kissed her. He kissed her. And she kissed him back. 

Aiden could stay that way forever. He felt all his worries melting away. He could've forgotten about the whole entire world. He loved Shah. And he will always love her. Until the stars stop burning, until the earth stops revolving around the sun,  he would love Shah. 

He stared at her chocolate brown eyes.

Then the museum started shaking.