What if Shore married Juniper? How would Orange react?

Orange would be lying if she said that it didn't kill her a little inside. Watching Shore fall in love with someone like Juniper... It was rough. It was very very rough to watch the dragon you've been crushing on for years fall in love with somebody else. 

But Shore wasn't just some crush. He was her best friend. Hell, his whole family were her friends. She hung out with Rin plenty, and Ander, when she wasn't off dancing with mongoose or whatever she did in her free time. Even Joy loved having Orange around. But Shore just saw her as a friend, nothing more, so there was nothing for her to do.

And it hurt. It hurt a lot, watching his relationship with Juniper grow over the years. What was worse was that she was Shore's best friend. She was the first dragon he ran to when something exciting happened. Like when Juniper had kissed him for the first time. Like when he had realized that he loved her. Like when-

Orange shook her head. She had to stop thinking about it. It had taken all of her effort not to burst into tears every time he got excited about something related to HER. She had failed one time. Shore had spun her around the forest, unable to contain his excitement one day, and he yelled for all the forest to hear that he had told Juniper he loved her, and she had said it back. 

He had been so happy... Orange couldn't handle it. She had run away and ended up, of all places, with Rin and Ander. They knew she loved him too. Of course they knew. It was obvious to everyone but Shore, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. Rin had hugged her while she cried, trying to tell her that it would be okay, that Shore was a moron and she could do so much better. Ander had simply paced back and forth mumbling "This isn't right, it isn't supposed to go this way." 

"If it would make you feel any better," Rin suggested. "I could pretend to be your girlfriend and we can make Shore super jealous." Orange wiped at her eyes and shook her head.

"As much as I appreciate the offer, I don't think that would work," She said. "He'd have to be even remotely interested to be jealous."

"I suspect he is more interested than you know," Ander insisted.

"No he's not, he's dating Juniper!"

"Ah, yes, but THAT is because my brother has the brain of a freshly ground turkey." 

"She's got that right," Rin agreed. Orange half smiled. 

"Thanks guys," She sighed. 

She knew she should just move on from Shore, but how could she? He was... He was everything. He was kind and funny and and- AND JUNIPER DIDN'T DESERVE HIM! Rin and Ander agreed wholeheartedly with her, but there was no convincing Shore. He was too far gone.

And then came the day when Shore and Juniper got married. Orange had politely refused to attend. Ander had done the same, although she had been much more...vocal about it. A banshee shriek had definitely been used. 

Shore had been sad. Of course he had been devastated. It was supposed to be the happiest day of his life, and his sister and his best friend didn't want to be there? Who did that?

"But why?" Shore had asked, looking so crushed that Orange had had to look away.

"Because I can't." Orange said firmly, her voice starting to waver around the edges. She needed to end this conversation quickly, before she broke down. 

"Why can't you? Is the day not good? I can change it, I-"

"I just can't, Shore, okay!"

"No, not okay!" Shore stared at her, confused. "I'm getting married, and I want my best friend to be there! What's so bad about that? What about that can't you do-"

"I can't WATCH IT, alright!" Orange snapped. "I can't watch you marry Juniper when I've been in love with you for twice as long as she has!" Shore froze, and Orange burst into tears, covering her face with her talons. "I just can't." She whispered. And just like that, the secret was out. It was a weight lifted from her shoulders, yes, but it was terrible. It was a terrible, terrible feeling.

"You love me?" Shore whispered finally.

"Of course I do," Orange said. "How could I not?" He stared at her for a moment, and Orange watched something flicker in his face, some little, unreadable emotion that she couldn't explain.

"I'm engaged to Juniper," He said, as if he were reminding himself.

"I know."

"I-" Shore stopped himself. "....I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything." Orange stood up straighter. "I'm not going to the wedding. I'm sorry." She walked away, and Shore watched her go, wondering if he had been missing out on something his entire life.

His relationship with Juniper didn't last long after that, but it wasn't Orange's fault. Shore and Juniper had simply woken up a few days into their marriage and realized how different they were. They grew to resent each other from the start, and Shore hated it. 

Juniper insulted Ander, and since Ander didn't take shit, the two were no longer speaking. But since Shore was married to Juniper, that meant that Ander avoided him too. And if Ander wasn't speaking with him, then neither was Rin. Orange was too ashamed and depressed to speak with him after her confession, so they hadn't spoken since before he was married.

It was a mess, Shore decided. His life was officially horrible. Juniper was demanding. She was mean, and she insulted his family and his friends on a regular basis. The longer he spent with her, the more he started wondering what he had ever seen in her in the first place. The love was lost quickly. Quicker than he had thought possible. 

But they didn't split up. Divorce was frowned upon with just normal dragons, but if the Rainforest prince and his wife split? It would be everywhere, and Juniper didn't want to ruin her own reputation. But without any love for his wife, Shore found his mind wandering. He started thinking about Orange. He started thinking about what life with Orange could've been, what it still could be.

He found himself wishing that he had thought about life with her long before he had met Juniper.

He reached out one day, and they went out. Juniper didn't care what he did, so he didn't bother to tell her where he was going. He met with Orange and mended some fences. A few cactus ciders later, and the truth came out. Orange was still in love with him, always had been, and he... Well, Shore didn't know who he loved. He wasn't so certain what love meant anymore, especially after all the crap that Juniper had put him through. But he knew he didn't want Juniper. He wanted to be with Orange, and he told her that.

"Do you mean it?" She asked. "Don't say that if you don't mean it, Shore. It's not fair to anyone if you lie."

"I'm not lying," Shore promised. "I don't love Juniper. Maybe I did at one point, but not anymore. I want you, Orange. I was just too dumb to realize was what staring me in the face for so long." That had shifted the conversation, and led to quite a few more.

There were more meetings. More cactus cider. More talking. And then there was kissing, and then there was something else.

Shore knew it was wrong. It was so so wrong for him to be with Orange while still married to Juniper, but he couldn't help it. Not when Orange was everything he wanted, and Juniper was nothing but a ball of regrets and hatred. He was pretty positive he wasn't the only one cheating, either, so did it really matter? What were they staying together for anyways?

But then he and Orange took it too far.

"We messed up," She told him one day, not bothering with any other greeting then that.

"What do you mean we messed up?" He asked.

"I mean we MESSED. UP." She repeated.

"Messed up HOW?" Shore said. "You're going to have to be more specif-"

"Messed up like you're-going-to-be-a-dad messed up," Orange said quickly. Shore stared at her.

"Oh we messed up."

"Yeah, no shit." Orange started pacing back and forth, looking worried. "What do we do?" Shore thought about it. There were options. He could do nothing. He could be the ultimate of all assholes and go back to Juniper. Or...

"There's only one real option I'm seeing," He admitted, and Orange stopped pacing long enough to look at him. "I divorce Juniper and marry you." 

Orange stared at him. And then stared some more. He had said it so simply, like it was as easy as admitting the sky was blue. All that time she had spent wanting to be with him, then finally having it, but only in secret and now- NOW it was suddenly the only option he could think of? 

"No," She said, and Shore winced like she'd slapped him. 

"What?"

"No."She shook her head. "I don't want you to marry me because of a dragonet, Shore. That's not- I can't- That's not right."

"Well neither is being with Juniper when I want to be with you."

"And yet you are still with Juniper." She reminded him. "What are you going to tell her? That you've been cheating on her for a year, and NOW you want out? She'll destroy you."

"My marriage with Juniper has been over since it began, Orange. I think she'd be happy if we broke it off at this point, reputations be damned."

"So you break up with her. Then what? I'm not gonna marry you unless I know you're doing it because you love me, and I...." She trailed off, looking down.

"You don't think I love you," Shore finished.

"I think Juniper made you confused about what love means, and you still haven't figured it out yet."

"That may be true, but I'm trying. Doesn't that count for something?"

"Of course it does, it's just... I don't think trying will make a marriage work."

"Then at least give me a chance," Shore said. "So we don't get married, big deal. The whole forest will go nuts with gossip, but we'll deal with it. I want to be with you, Orange, if you'll have me. Juniper can go to hell for all I care."

A chance. That wasn't too much to ask, and Orange knew it. It didn't promise that anything would come of their relationship, but it promised that things wouldn't be secret. Juniper wouldn't be involved.

She could take that.

"A chance," Orange agreed. "That sounds perfect."

So Shore divorced Juniper. The rainwing was absolutely horrible about it, as he expected, but at least his family had his back. Juniper had thrown things and cursed quite colorfully at him, and Rin had cursed back more violently while Ander painted herself with war stripes and threw small animals at Juniper. It had been ugly, but Joy and Orange had laughed their heads off listening to the story. 

And Shore and Orange did get married eventually, but not until their daughter was a few years old. Ander came to the wedding, pleased, and insisted that although it had taken awhile, the universe had reordered itself as things should be. Shore had no idea what she meant by that, but Orange had smiled. She had always thought that she and Shore were meant for each other, and while they had taken a roundabout way of getting there, she had been right.

And Juniper could suck it.