Title: Over Hill, Over Dale
Fandom: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Rating: G
Length: 600 words
Content Notes: teeth-rotting fluff, gen
Author Notes: n/a
Summary: Helena & Hermia as kids, playing... you guessed it.



"Ready or not, here I come!" Helena lifted her hands from her eyes and got up from the ground where she'd been sitting counting. She brushed the dry moss from her dress before racing off towards the nearest big tree, leaving a trail of dust in her wake.

Hermia, her friend, was nowhere to be seen. Helena shaded her eyes against the gleams of sunlight that fell through the foliage and slowly scanned the visible landscape for anything that could betray of her friend's presence - a speck of purple and blue from her dress perhaps, or one of her rebellious curls escaping its bonds.

She moved deliberately among the trees, all senses focussed. Hermia was wont to break into fits of giggles with no provocation whatsoever, a tendency that had given her away on previous occasions.

"I'm coming to get you," Helena sing-songed, "I'm coming for you, my sweet sister."

She heard a sound and stilled abruptly, then turned in the direction from where the sound had come.

"I'll find you soon enough," she whispered and strode onwards. Something had moved behind a huge stump of a the tree directly in front of her just a second ago, and she was about to find out if it was a woodland creature or her friend.

"And when I do," shejumped on top of the tree stump, "I'll tickle you all over!"

Hermia shrieked in mock hysteria but surrendered quickly when her friend pounced on her, tickling her mercilessly. Hermia gave as good as she got and so, before long, they both ended up lying side by side on the forest floor, smiling and panting in exhaustion.

Their hands found one another as they squinted up through the leaves. They let out a sigh in unison and for a second, Helena's heart constricted with the wish that it should always be like this, always summer, always the two of them.

"This was fun," Hermia said, and the spell broke. They'd been playing in the park for most of the afternoon, and judging from the sun's position and the chill that was starting to creep in, it must be close to home time. Hermia shivered a little, then asked, "Do we need to get going?"

Helena jumped up with a nervous giggle. "Race you to the gates!"

"On my count," Hermia said and got up as well. She brushed down her dress, then got into a racing stance. "Ready? Set? GO!"

They were very close for most of the way, but Helena finished first by a few seconds. She caught her friend at full speed and twirled her - a gesture she'd copied from the boys at school.

Hermia laughed as she was swept off her feet and held on tightly as Helena swung her around, then put her feet back safely on the ground. Their foreheads touched. Helena fished a leaf out of Hermia's hair as she let go of her slowly. Hermia's hand moved across her face at the same time, then dropped to her side. They both stood slightly dazed for a second. The leaves somewhere above them opened, and a gleam of sunlight blinded Helena so that she had to close her eyes and look down.

Hermia cleared her throat and turned to go. "Let's go home," she said and held a hand out for Helena.

Helena took it and walked out of the gate beside her.