Title: The Happiest Place on Earth
Pairing: Cole/Phoebe
Request: Them doing something silly, late S3
For: Nicole - kajivar
Cole woke up and lazily reached for Phoebe. After all the chaos with Piper and Leo’s wedding, he wanted nothing more than to just relax with her. A jolt of panic coursed through him when he realized he was in the bed alone. He sat straight up and looked for some clue of Phoebe’s whereabouts.
Scenes of her being kidnapped and tortured by demons were running through his head and he was about to shimmer to Leo, wedding night be damned, since he could sense Phoebe, when she walked in the room. Her damp hair was tied in pigtails and she was wearing denim overalls and a huge grin.
“It’s about time you woke up, Sleeping Beauty,” she teased, leaning down and kissing his cheek. “Go get a shower and get dressed. We have to leave in twenty minutes.” She was practically bouncing.
“Where are we going?” he asked, desperately trying to remember if they had made plans. “And why weren’t you in bed with me when I woke up?” His voice took on a decidedly cranky tone.
Phoebe laughed. “I woke up and had a brilliant idea of how we are going to spend the day and since you were snoring like a chainsaw, I got up and made some plans.” She grabbed the blanket covering him and yanked it off. “Now get up and get moving, please.”
Grumbling under his breath, Cole got out of bed and yanked on a pair of sweat pants. He walked over to the drawer in Phoebe’s dresser where he kept some clothes and pulled out his standard garb.
“There are clothes for you in the bathroom,” Phoebe said, taking the black garments out of his hands. “Go get a shower.”
He gave her a wary look, but followed her instructions. After his shower, he was more awake, but no less grumpy, when he found her in the kitchen of the manor, drinking a cup of tea and talking to Prue.
“What the hell is this?” he asked, indicating the clothes he was wearing.
Prue looked up from the table and started laughing. Even his glare didn’t make her stifle her giggles. She got up, put her mug in the sink and grabbed her car keys. “You two have fun today,” she said, shaking her head and still giggling as she left the room.
“You have just enough time for a cup of coffee if you want one,” Phoebe told him after glancing at the clock.
“What I want is for you to tell me where we’re going and why I’m dressed like this.”
“You’re dressed like that so you fit in and I assumed the shirt would give away the destination.”
Cole looked down and wondered what clue a giant cartoon mouse was supposed to be.
Phoebe noticed his confusion and started chuckling. “Oh, baby, are you telling me you’ve never heard of Disneyland?”
“I’ve heard of it,” he contradicted. “A couple of bounty hunters had to go there to find a demon that was hiding out and they described it as ‘hell on earth’. So I’m still not getting what the mouse has to do with anything.”
“Disneyland is the happiest place on earth,” she explained. “You know what? It’s easier to show you.” She stood up and grabbed his hand. “Can you shimmer us?”
***
Three hours later Cole understood why the bounty hunters described this place as hell on earth. He’d rather be in hell than spend a day here again. There were kids everywhere; screaming, crying, eating and running into him. It was noisy and bright and everyone and everything was entirely too cheerful.
But he kept a fake smile plastered on his face, because Phoebe was having the time of her life, and after everything they had been through lately, he knew she deserved some fun.
“Oh! Let’s ride the carousel!” she said, tugging him in the direction of another ride. They got in line and he tried to figure out the point of the ride while Phoebe finished her ice cream cone. People were sitting on fake animals that went up and down while the big platform spun in a circle.
“You’re not having fun, are you?”
Cole blinked. “What? Of course I’m having fun. I’m with you.”
“We don’t have to stay. I thought you might enjoy doing something that normal people did. But I guess we’ll never be normal people.” The dejected look on Phoebe’s face caused Cole a twinge of physical pain.
“No, we’re staying. I want to ride the… carousel,” he said firmly.
Her eyes were hopeful. “You do?”
He favored her with one of his rare, genuine smiles. “I do.”
Phoebe grinned and tightened her grip on his hand. He continued smiling at her.
If Cole were totally honest with himself, he could admit that he was enjoying the acting like normal people thing. He made a mental note that they needed to do stuff like this more often. But next time, he was wearing his normal clothes, no matter what.