#yes i’m tagging the Thunderfam in every TAG related fic

[bonsaiiiiiii-fics]

Fireflies

original post here

ok so, since I’ve taken a night stroll earlier tonight, i’ve decided that it’s a good time to repost here a fic i’ve made exactly 2 years ago (this time the fireflies are early lol)

i decided also not to edit this fic in any way because i thought i’d have ‘attacked’ the fic’s fluffiness, vibe and everything (although, now that i read it again, i might want to add some things…😏), so get it as it is, sentences that probably don’t make sense and incorrect grammar (you gotta get the whole deal)

summary: Alice takes a nice and relaxing night stroll, welcomed by the Island’s beach and a full Moon peeping out. (think of this moment as a separate thing and not in line with Dust’s timeline and events). the chapter is pretty short, and any doubts you might have will hopefully be cleared out in the tags

It was midnight, and Alice couldn’t sleep. She was on Tracy Island that day to spend some time with Virgil and the others, naturally after having entrusted her home in Los Angeles to a dear friend of hers. Now she didn’t notice the jet-lag, because she went back and forth as she liked between the US and Tracy Island, but she couldn’t sleep anyway that night.

She didn’t have any weird feelings or bad feelings. She just needed to get out a little bit, to get some air. She looked from out the window at the ceiling. As with every time she was in her room, the various constellations painted with fluorescent paint and the great White Moon welcomed and guarded her thoughts, and often even her worries.

That night he was in her room because she wanted to be alone to think; Virgil had fully approved, arguing that every now and then everyone needed to be alone to think. After all, during the afternoon they were completely alone cuddling lazily on his bed all the time, they had enough time for them.

Alice sighed deeply. Evidently not even her room was made to be alone to think that night. So she sat on the bed after having affectionately greeted with her eyes her stars, slipping the soft slippers to the feet. She wanted to get out and so she would.

Turning the abat-jour on the bedside table, which made a warm and faint yellow light around the room, she looked around to accustom her eyes to that little light, then she got up from her bed, heading towards the door leading to the closet, located not far from the en-suite bathroom and opposite the glass wall that led to the balcony.

She entered the small room, lighting the light there too, and then headed to a precise drawer and pull out her two-piece swimsuit, the one that Virgil loved so much. She took off her silk pajamas and black underwear, quickly but quietly putting on her costume, starting with her underwear and then slipping on her bra, quickly binding it just under her shoulders. Then she covered himself with the silk shawl that was part of the pajamas.

She turned off the light from the walk-in closet and went out, closing the door behind her. Then she changed the slippers with a pair of flip-flops, heading to turn off the abat-jour. She headed to the door holding the flip-flops in her hand. She didn’t need any noise now that everyone was asleep. She calmly opened the door and then left. She tiptoed down the hall, making sure not to make any noise. Luckily, the parquet floor underneath her did not creak, so her presence was not even felt.

She calmly went down the stairs and then proceeded to the living room. She was somewhat surprised when John did not appear as a hologram to greet her, though she expected it. Maybe he was asleep, like everyone else in the villa. She went to the kitchen to get a glass of water, and could clearly smell the chlorine in the pool first thing. She smiled a little and then drank the water in one breath.

Then she went out, clenched in her shawl, and was surprised to sense movement in the pool. At this time of night...?

Of course she knew it was about Gordon, and in fact her suspicions were immediately clarified when his twin brother pulled his head out of the water after a dive.

"Hey, you. Yes, right you." Alice whispered to Gordon, who looked at her surprised.

"I didn’t expect to find you up this late, Litchi. Can’t you sleep?" he whispered back.

"Don't call me Litchi." she murmured sternly. "No, I can’t sleep tonight, so I thought I’d take a stroll to the beach."

Gordon was about to replicate something, his glowing look of excitement, when Tiger, with a slight meowing, dived into the water right next to Gordon, who chuckled.

"Sometimes I seriously doubt he’s a cat." he said, pointing to the young tiger cat swimming comfortably in the pool, as if he were in its natural environment.

"True. It looks like he’s made for water. I’ve seen cats swimming like Tiger online, so it’s not totally impossible. Just hard to see." replied Alice, lifting her shoulders, and then lowering to put on her flip-flops.

"If you want, I can go down with you to the sea." Gordon whispered right away.

"If you want, yes."

"Then turn around. I have to put my boxers on."

"You mean you’ve bathed naked so far?" she whispered maliciously, then giggled, turning her back to her twin brother.

She immediately heard him coming out of the water, and when he whispered the ok she turned again.

"Nice abs, bro!" she whispered.

He rolled his eyes, but not after posing. "If Virgil hears you then he becomes jealous of me." When Alice rolled his eyes he continued. " I go inside to get a sweatshirt. If I’m not back in 5 minutes it means that Scott caught me."

She widened her eyes. " Scott is awake? But I haven’t met him at all!"

"I saw his room light go out just before I dived in. He retired recently, but that doesn’t mean he’s asleep. You have to be careful."

"Go then."

"Anyway, do you have the communicator?"

Alice nodded her head as she followed him into the living room. "How could I not have it? I wear it even when I sleep!" she whispered and then showed the bracelet that was on her wrist, so thin that it did not even look like a communicator.

"Wait for me outside." Gordon whispered, and Alice nodded on her way back to the pool, sitting on a deck chair nearby.

She could hear the crickets and the bubbling of an owl in the distance. She stopped to listen to that angelic sound for so long that she did not notice how much time had passed. When she looked at the wrist clock, she noticed that 15 minutes had passed. She got up from the deckchair and then walked a little, until she found a small underground path in front of her. Without thinking twice she took that path, arriving with some trouble at the beach in front of her. She headed toward the still warm sand and without thinking twice sat down on it, comforted by its warmth. She turned to put her black shawl on a rock in the pine forest, and what she saw at that moment took her breath away.

As she had walked in the woods to get to the beach she had never noticed the thousand fireflies that filled the trees with small lights, numerous and beautiful. They looked like stars came down to earth. Some of the bright insects even arrived on the beach, also illuminating the golden sand and, shortly after, the sea.

When she returned to the sand, this time to lie down on it, she realized that there was no moon in the sky. There were several stars bright enough but, although there was no cloud in the sky, the bright star had not yet made its appearance.

She sighed, and then stood up and walked safely to the water, leaving the flip-flops near the shawl and enjoying the sound of the sand creaking under her feet at every step she was taking. She began to immerse herself in the water little by little, comforted by the heat that was releasing from the sultry day just passed.

Everything looked different at night; even the living room of the villa was different at night. There was more room for nocturnal sounds, such as cicadas, crickets and owls, sounds that during the day could not be heard with various commitments. It was as if the world really took on life during the night, revealing this dark but charming side of her, or at least that’s what Alice has always thought since she was little. She liked to walk at night, she always liked it.

It was only when she arrived with the water up to her neck that she stopped. And she enjoyed the Moon that was beginning to peep out, reflecting on the water.