Title: The Ride
Fandom: Aquarion Evol
Rating: G
Length: ~600
Author notes: Trying out this comm in an effort to get back into writing regularly again. Bear with me as I shake off the rust. :D Takes place after Shrade pilots Aquarion for the first time and ends up in the hospital. Hints of Shrade/Cayenne (if you squint).
Summary: Cayenne gives Shrade a ride home from the hospital.


Checking out of the hospital hadn’t taken long. He’d expected some objections to his release--the doctor had wanted him to stay ‘at least two more days’, but there was only a statement of that fact accompanied by a disapproving stare as the nurse handed him a copy of his release papers.

“Be sure to get some rest.”

Shrade bowed his head. “I will, thank you for your care.”

He made his way down the hallway and through the sliding glass doors. He hadn’t expected a car to be waiting for him at the hospital’s entrance. Nor had he expected Cayenne to let down his tough exterior enough to come pick him up, either.

Cayenne looked up as Shrade approached. “Hey, need a ride?”

Shrade smiled. Of course he was playing it cool. Alright then, he’d play along. “Hello, my good friend. Yes, thank you.”

He climbed in in silence. Cayenne waited until he was buckled in to shift the car into drive.

If not for his ability to feel the worry pouring out from his friend, and maybe if he didn’t have that ability, the silence would have deafened him. But there is never silence for him. There is always sound. Every single soul plays it’s own tune, notes that change and evolve with them as time passes. And Cayenne’s is one he knows well.

He attempted conversation by stating that they’d never sat next to each other. Maybe it had been presumptuous of him, but it hadn’t mattered, Cayenne shot him down anyway. He gave him a made up reason for being in the area when Shrade had expressed his appreciation for coming to get him.

Cayenne didn’t have it in him to say what his soul resonated. Shrade could practically feel how much he wanted reassurance that he was okay.

“Thank you,” he waited for Cayenne to shoot him a sideways glance before he continued, “for letting me take your place.” The smile slipped into his expression as he thought about it once more. “I’m getting a feel for Aquarion’s song.”

He felt more than saw Cayenne’s focus on him. After a long moment, he sighed and shrugged his previously injured shoulder, talking to the road. “Yeah, well...I couldn’t really pilot right then, and you were right there… What was I supposed to do? Say no?”

“You know the risks to my body as well as I do...”

Cayenne huffed and smacked the steering wheel as they pulled up to a stop light. “Yeah, which is why you ended up in the hospital.”

Shrade sighed. No explanation would do at this point. Cayenne couldn’t understand. He’d tried explaining it in the past, but it never got them anywhere, and things always ended with Cayenne’s temper and him trying to calm him.

He started to whistle lowly instead, a calming melody to soothe his friend. Cayenne immediately shot him a glare, revving the engine a little harder than necessary when the light turned green.

“Don’t play with my emotions, Shrade.”

He ignored him, quietly continuing his tune. Cayenne’s annoyance slowly trickled away, and by the time they were back at Neo-DEAVA, the tension in his muscles was completely gone.

They walked together until their destinations took them in different directions--Cayenne to check in, and Shrade back to his room in the tower. Cayenne didn’t say a word until Shrade turned to split off.

“Please be careful…” he heard him whisper at his back.

He didn’t turn. Cayenne would get annoyed again if he commented on his caring for him. Instead, he smiled and let it color his voice as he replied, “Thank you for the ride, friend.”