Lunar Chronicles Oneshots

Oneshot #1: Smooth Like a Rock

"You mustn't fret, Jacin. It will go smoothly like a rock, I promise you," Winter said with a smile, hoping to convince her overprotective guard and herself. Mostly just Jacin though, whose pessimism never seemed to leave him.

"Princess--"

"Winter, Jacin. Winter."

"Rocks are anything but smooth. You aren't helping my nerves," he finished, dismissing her correction with a small roll of his eyes.

Winter scrunched her nose as she played with the fabric of the thin hospital gown. "I'll be fine," she whispered. "And when they're done, I won't be all loony-" she crossed her eyes and swirled her finger around her head "-anymore."

"You are not loony."

"Try telling that to Aimery, who's always following me around." Aimery was dead. "Or tell that to Ryu, who still wants to play fetch at times." Ryu had been killed. "I'll miss him lots, but I want you to be happy with me. And if you being happy with me requires my sanity, then so be it."

"I'm already happy with you, Winter. Stop speaking nonsense," Jacin grunted.

Winter sucked in a sharp inhale and pressed a hand, which was connected to a machine, to her chest. "Have I just been called foolish?"

"On a bad day, yes."

"Not on a good day this time, Jacin?" Winter asked with a smirk, tilting her head and causing a curl to fall over her left eye.

He groaned as the door to the small room opened and a young doctor stepped in. Or maybe he was a nurse? Either way, Jacin was eyeing him with what Winter knew was a tinge of envy. The man, who seemed no older than 25, tapped on the portscreen in his hand and pushed his spectacles higher up on his nose. "Good evening, Miss Hayle, I'm Doctor Wayler, and I'll be performing your surgery today... er, tonight." He looked up and smiled at his patient and her companion.

Jacin did not return the smile.

Perhaps it was because of Doctor Wayler's career, or perhaps it was because Jacin didn't particularly like anyone. Then again, maybe he fell threatened by him. He wasn't too bad, with neat brown curls and dark blue eyes. His features were soft, but chiseled all the same. It was irrelevant to Winter.

She sighed. "Will I be sane?"

"Uhh.. yes?"

Jacin glared. "You dar call yourself a doctor when your answers are full of doubt?"

Winter gasped. "Jacin!"

Doctor Wayler chuckled, itching behind his ear. "It's fine, Princess, you just so happened to find a very protective one."

Jacin flinched. Winter was his princess, no one else's.

"It seems I have," Winter giggled, clapping her hands. "But he's a keeper." She winked, and Jacin looked away. Lowering her voice, she added, "He's not much of a social person, really. Don't let him scare you. He's as harmless as a baby duck."

Except a duckling had nearly bitten her finger off once when she was five. Then again, Jacin wasn't completely harmless, so she left the synonym be. It fit just fine.

Doctor Wayler cleared his throat, nervously glancing at Jacin. "We should start the procedure now. Uhh... Mister Clay?"

He grunted and left the room, letting the door shut behind him.

Winter drummed her fingers against her thigh.

"Alrighty then," the doctor said, "let's fix you up."

***

"Aren't rocks not smooth?" Thorne asked, raising a brow. He smirked. "Hey, Jacin?" He waited for the following statement. "You're smooth like a rock when it comes to Winter."

He grunted.

Thorne finished processing what had happened in the hospital room and then nodded, slowly. "Yeah, you're definitely that one annoying, overprotective aunt. I had one of those. Her name was Pat. Aces. Don't get me started on the smell of her house..."

Jacin glared. "I do not act like an overprotective aunt that squeezes children's cheeks."

Thorne scoffed. "You wish you weren't. News flash though, you're even worse than that." He leaned back, and the screen moved along with him. He leaned closer to the camera, only his eye visible. "Are you in the waiting room?" He gasped and backed away. "Who comms in a hospital waiting room?" He shook his head and yelled over his shoulder. "Cress, Jacin's being disrespectful again!" He tisked as a muffled voice replied in the background. "That is not my fault!" he yelled back.

A minor argument erupted on his screen, and Cinder returned holding two styrofoam cups. She sat beside Jacin and handed him the cup with the sugarless, black coffee. "Who drinks coffee like that, anyway?"

Jacin sipped from his cup using his free hand. The hot liquid burned his tongue, but he didn't seem to care. "You don't?"

"Of course not. Tea is always the way to go."

Peculiar, Jacin thought. He shifted in his seat, waiting for Thorne to return his attention to the comm. Cress had now settled nearer to the portscreen. Jacin caught a few of the words. Words and phrases like I'm not the one who broke the toilet by flushing down two socks and Says the one who made a hole in the wall as big as my face. Other words he heard were peanut butter, acorn, and escalator.

Finally, it stopped, and Cinder raised a brow. "Uhh... Cress?"

Silence, then, "Hi Cinder."

Cinder shook her head, glared at Thorne, then stood, mumbling a quiet "Unbelievable."

"Anyways," Thorne continued like nothing had happened, an arm now slung over Cress' shoulders, "I have to go to dinner now, as an apology." He grinned. "Good luck to your significant other. Tell her I will deeply miss her crazy songs and words and--"

"I get it, Carswell." Jacin rolled his eyes.

"Right." He cleared his throat. "The flowers should arrive in a few minutes. Sorry we couldn't go; a very important part of the Rampion broke. What was it called again...?" He snapped his fingers, trying to remember.

"The engine, Thorne?" Cinder asked from where she was pacing up and down the hallway. It was rather flattering to see her so concerned about her step-cousin.

"Yes, the engine."

"You can't just drive a hover over like a normal Earthen? We are only an hour away from Los Angeles, Carswell," Jacin mumbled.

Cress snickered. "He never got his hover license."

"Cress!" Thorne whined.

The comm was disconnected, just as the door to Winter's operating room opened. Cinder stopped pacing; Jacin stood up. The doctor stepped to the side and Jacin rushed in, Cinder being held back because 'only one person could enter at a time.'

The door closed and Jacin smiled. "How was it?"

"I was out for the most part, but I believe it went well. Unless I died and this isn't reality..." She turned to Jacin. "I am alive, right?"

"Certainly. It went smoother than a rock." He walked over and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I love you, Trouble."

She smiled and gave a small wink. "Of course you do."