Disclaimer: The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy belongs to Maxwell Atoms and Cartoon Network Studios. I own but my words—don't sue and don't plagiarize.

Happy Fourth of July to whoever lives in the US. I'm probably going to miss the fireworks yet again this year because it's supposed to thunderstorm where I live.

Special thanks to Atheyllia Fox for being my beta, and a very good beta at that.

g r a d i e n t

He had invited her to celebrate the holiday with the knowledge that she had nothing else to do that steamy July week. A few hours out in the night, watching lights explode and dance in the sky, and then it was back to home. That was the proposition—just the two of them.

His excuse? I need to get out of here. But am I right in assuming you won't let me leave alone?

Yes, you are, she had said, we wouldn't want you trying to do anything rash.

And so he said, Then come with me.

-

The early night sky was a sweet blue-black, filled with the same starless color all around. Humidity choked the air, making it heavy and soft as velvet. Billy was behind the closed door they stood in front of, convulsing and wailing on the floor at the news that he couldn't accompany his friends.

"Let's go," she said.

Grim whisked them away in a whirlwind of sparks, and the heavens disappeared from their sight.

-

The portal was purple with green undertones, leading to a vast field in the town center. She stepped from its interior, him following warily. Crowds of people gathered in their little cliques, only interrupted by carnival booths of men selling popcorn and patriotic toys. It was the picture of suburbia—grass was green and dying in clusters, medium-sized trees dotted the landscape, and cars lazily passed by along the roads hugging the field. Adults and kids alike babbled happily, watching the sky and waiting for it to turn irredeemable, all-consuming black.

The portal closed. Grim stuck close behind Mandy and edged her on through the heavy crowds. She finally settled down on the noisy grass, leaning against a wide-based oak tree. They were pressed for space, and she felt his cool bones rise against her own skin. It was a hot night—a night for dreams and a night for restlessness until she could reach them.

They fixed their eyes on the sky, and the sky turned black.

-

The first firecracker began its trail through the sky and the crowds grew silent. Upon reaching its peak, it burst loudly into a drooping red flower and died back into the night.

More missiles ascended after that, each having its own moment of glory before fading back into the chalkboard background. In heated frenzy, firecrackers raced for the sky in their great streams, erupting in hard cracks one after the other. Their tails and wings and rays shot out in wild directions, overlapping and layering and eventually falling.

Mandy gathered her knees to her chest and peered over them, her coal-hard eyes suddenly glad they were not alone to watch. It wouldn't have felt so wondrous, so surreal without the press of cold bone at her sides. Grim's robe parted and allowed for the feel of flesh against bones—it felt rather like knives were being held to her skin, but slightly softer, more flexible. Cracks and explosions rattled her and she slipped her hands down her knees, down her bare calves, trailing past her ankles, and grabbed fistfuls of grass. The blades felt brittle and old in her hands and she squeezed them tight as the festival continued.

The sky was falling apart—metaphorically. She could feel it; it was breaking into plates around her at the explosions, covering her with the bare air. The cracks filled with falling lights. She wondered if Grim felt it too, or if it was just a temporary sensation.

And there was no one else there but them, really. She understood—this was what it felt like to be full, to be whole. Furious red firecrackers parting the night, just a shade lighter than blood, and calm, fluid silver explosions patching the wounds—no, these weren't wounds, these were lines painted and etched to create something beautiful. Contained, depressed blue pillowed out against the sky and sharp green cracked like a whip hard against the other colors. Pink firecrackers ascended while intertwined with clean white, and they shattered into beautiful flowers—dyed roses and dainty blossoms that sat richly on trees and flaunted their petals—

Emotion.

Wasn't it?

She watched the fireworks as someone on the sidewalk would watch a car crash in motion. Grim sat still next to her, and she hoped he felt it too.

There was a bright flash and several cracks; the grand finale came in several bursts of red, white, and blue. She was mildly disappointed that the color was so limited and returned slightly to herself. Then the existing hues faded away and there came no more.

The show ended, but they remained.

-

The walk home wasn't until much later. They trekked through grass and then through pavement and then through grass again. A portal would have been more convenient, but Mandy opted to walk. It was late at night and quiet enough to count footsteps by their echoes. Her skin was stained milky white in the dark, almost the same hue as Grim's bones. And the sky grew over them endlessly, speckled with dull, lifeless stars.

Silence took up its reins and drove restlessly through the night. The crunching of footsteps on gravel was the only obvious sound. Everything was a shade of quiet grey-black, the indefinite colors weaving and blending to form a monochrome rainbow.

Two streets from home, she halted in the middle of the road.

"Mandy?"

"Grim..." She turned her eyes upon him, where they glittered like shadowed ice, subdued but still brilliant. "I'm not going back home."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Not yet, at least." She glared at him, communicating the rest in silence because saying the actual words would dull them and lose their meaning.

And it was strange; he understood her way of talking. There was some aspect of watching flurries of raw color in the sky that brought you into a new world. Whether it was the color, the noise, the combination of both—he didn't care to pinpoint it, but he knew. And she knew, and no one else. Despite the other people there, it would be only them, really, in presence because they got it.

"What do you want to do?"

She sensed his tone, and was inwardly glad he understood.

"Take us away," she said flatly, "and keep us away."

He swiped his scythe through the night air and another purple-green portal opened up. "Come on. We're going to see more fireworks."

.end.

This isn't my first time writing about a character taking out another character for fireworks, and it probably won't be my last, either. Whatever the fandom, I love this premise too much not to write a fic about it. There are a lot of BillyxMandy fics coming out these days. We needed some GrimxMandy (however slight and implied) to get things back on track and balanced. Ha.

Constructive criticism encouraged, as I am aware this oneshot is flat. Nevertheless, I hope you think of this the next time you go watch fireworks, whatever the holiday.