#digific

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Sora never imagined that realizing the end of her relationship with Yamato would come in the form of a message. A text message from Taichi, to be more specific. 

It’s nothing special, just a “can you go to the bridge?” and she knows that it’s about a Digimon. The thing is, the one who always contacted her in those cases was Yamato. 

She made it clear when they started to get more Digimon appearing in the human world, that she was busy, and to only contact her when there was no one else who could go. She told them to think of her as the last option and Yamato, as the understanding boyfriend he was at the time, offered to do that. He also said that if he could, he would go himself, so Sora wouldn’t be troubled. 

So the times when she was actually required to go were few and far between, but now… well, she needs to start getting used to the idea that she won’t have any help from now on. Because now she doesn’t have a boyfriend who can give her a most-needed hand, no. 

Now, she only has herself and the text messages from her friends, announcing that they need her help.

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There’s a stitch in her heart as she reads Hikari’s message in the group chat. She's planning a meetup. Apparently, it has been two months since their last one, and Sora hadn’t even noticed. It really feels like it hasn’t been that long, but she reminds herself that it doesn’t feel that long to her because she’s used to seeing Yamato on a daily basis. And seeing Yamato was basically like seeing the rest. 

She’s not sure if she’s ready to confront him. They haven’t seen each other since their last encounter when they—or more like she, decided to end their relationship. It was something that needed to happen anyway since both of them were pretty much going opposite ways. 

That of course doesn’t mean that it didn’t hurt, because Sora has a hard time remembering the last time she cried the way she did that day when, with a sincere smile, wished Yamato good luck in whatever comes next for him. And he wished her the same because they were—still are, good friends.

Or at least that’s what she likes to tell herself.

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At the end she goes to the meetup because she has to, and also to prove to herself that she’s stronger than she first thought. Also because she may or may not have promised that she won’t make things awkward between them and their friends. 

It was basically the first point they mutually agreed in their breakup talk, and she’s complying like the responsible adult she believes she is.

Too bad Yamato excused himself for that day. He doesn’t come to the meetup. She assures herself she’s not mad—ha, she might be happy about it. At least now she won’t have to pretend that she has any desire to talk to him. 

Because, in case it wasn’t clear, she doesn’t. It’s not because she hates him. Quite the opposite. It's because this thing about them being friends hasn’t been working at all. And she’s okay with that, at least at the moment, because she’s giving herself enough time to grieve and she’s almost sure that Yamato is doing the same.

They’re meeting up in a new coffee place that recently opened near Taichi’s job. He said the place looked amazing and wanted to try it with them. And the invitation was a total success, almost all of them are there, even Jou took some time from his busy doctor—resident, Sora, I’m not a doctor yet—schedule to be with them, against all odds.

That surprises Sora, and she waves hello.

“Sora!” He greets her back, “I didn’t expect to see you here.” He takes off his gray scarf and takes the seat beside her. 

What she didn’t expect is for him to have thought that way.

“I don’t know why I wouldn’t be here!” she replies half smiling, half curious. “That should be my line, don’t you think?"

He briefly smiles and shakes his head.

“Well, you know... “ he starts nervously, “Yamato told me about you two and I thought…” He looks away, to the front more specifically, where Hikari and Takeru are making their entrance. “I thought you wouldn’t want to be here,” he finishes, and Sora has to add that to the list of things she didn’t expect that day. It’s increasing at a surprising speed.

“He’s not here.” Jou turns to look at her with wide eyes. “And even if he was, there’s no reason for me to avoid this meetup.” Even if I was just thinking of doing that an hour before coming here.

Jou weights her answer and nods once, twice and then, sighs. Sora is just there watching him, not knowing how to interpret whatever is happening.

“I’m sorry” he apologises, “I shouldn’t have said that to you as soon as I saw you.”

Sora downplays what he’s saying with a gesture of her hand.

“Don’t worry” she simply says. And please don’t make it more awkward she wants to add but decides against it. There’s no need to complicate it even more.

What she can do is ask him how he’s doing in medical school, and is about to do that when Taichi appears out of absolutely nowhere. She jumps a little after his hello.

“You two have been enough time alone,” Taichi says in a jokingly serious tone. “Koushiro said that he only has an hour and a half for us, so it’s better not to waste time.”

“I heard that!” Koushiro screams from the otherside of the room and the three of them laugh. 

Sora follows Taichi's steps and decides that she shouldn’t be overthinking the situation. She’d expected Yamato would have already told one of them about the break up. She didn’t expect that would be Jou, but that was a thought for another day. What she needs to do now is just relax, enjoy their time together, and stop thinking of avoiding them again.

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Except that’s exactly what she’s doing. Taichi’s is on the other end of the phone and she’s making her best effort so her excuse will sound believable. Okay, what she’s saying is not a complete lie because she is, in fact, very busy with her classes and helping her mom in the academy. The only thing that’s actually a—small?—lie is that she doesn’t have time to see them.

Because she has time, she just doesn’t want to spend it with Yamato.

And of course this time Yamato is going along with whatever plan they, or more like Taichi, has in mind. Taichi who suddenly wants to talk to them. Taichi who probably already knows about their breakup. 

Taichi who is making it impossible for her to refuse his plan. But if he’s stubborn, she’s even more so.

“Look, Taichi, for the twelfth time” she starts, patiently, “I can’t go for dinner with you and Yamato.” She expects that now that she's specifically said their names and their plan he would understand.

“Is dinner, Sora, and you always have time for dinner!” He retorts. “So stop making excuses because honestly, that’s not like you.”

Ugh, why is Taichi so… Taichi. 

“I was just planning on eating a sandwich while working.” And maybe eating a gallon of ice cream. Most likely.

“Sora, don’t be stubborn. You can’t avoid him—us,” he corrects himself quickly, “forever!”

And there it is. She knows what all of this is, although she admits he almost convinced her, but now that she’s sure that this is not about Taichi having dinner with them but about her confronting Yamato, she can’t help but feel a little betrayed. 

She’s unaware of how much Taichi knows about their breakup, but she really doesn’t have any desire to talk to him and Yamato, about how things shouldn’t be different because they’re still friends. She already knows that, but a little time to readjust her feelings doesn’t kill anyone.

“I appreciate what you’re trying to do but trust me, I won’t be the best company.” She hears him sigh dramatically. “Besides, I don’t think Yamato would appreciate it if I make a surprise appearance, don’t you think?”

“So you knew?” Taichi has the decency to sound ashamed.

She smiles.

“I have known you for almost 20 years, Yagami Taichi.”

"It was since the first hello, right?” She’s now laughing. “Dammit!”

She continues laughing and it doesn’t take him long to follow her. She hopes that after this conversation, he will stop trying to make things easier between Yamato and her.

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Or not…

Damn you, Yagami Taichi! 

She texts him quickly after finding herself alone with not other but Yamato Ishida. She’s so going to kill him.

Her phone buzzes soon after her text is sent and she’s waiting for a reply, but to her surprise, she’s getting a call. Well, if he wants to hear her screaming, she’s gonna give him that.

She’s about to tell him what’s in her mind but he goes ahead of her.

“It wasn’t my idea!” And that statement baffles her. 

So, she recaps her morning. 

She had breakfast with her mom, they talked about the very imminent, very important, very big event to take place in the Ikebana academy—don’t forget it, Sora!—. Then she checked her phone that for some mysterious reason had been buzzing non-stop since she sat with her mom. 

There’s a lot of messages that she didn’t bother to read, is not like they were talking about something she wasn’t aware of anyway, and scrolled until the last one. Nothing in the last text told her that there was an important conversation happening so she left the phone in her desk to do more productive things.

An hour or two went by when she decided that the insistent light of her phone telling her that there was something she needed to see couldn’t be ignored anymore. So she went directly to the group chat, again, but noticed that it wasn’t the general chat the one that was having activity, but the smaller one. The most personal. The one that only Taichi, Yamato and her were part of.

It took her more time than necessary to just click on it and check whatever conversation Yamato and Taichi were having, and even more to read and not merely look at the letters and words. They were planning on meeting that very same afternoon and that would be great if they weren’t talking about it where Sora could see —read and be aware of— what they were saying.

It was like a big joke that she wasn’t part of but somehow needed to witness. 

She wanted to mute the chat and just went with her life but something inside her was almost screaming that that would be unfair. She could still perceive the nostalgic tone in the conversation and it was like a punch in the face.

She could have ignored them, that was the logical step. But Sora must have had lost her dear friend logic, when she wrote “I’m going too” that was quickly replied to with a thumbs up emoji from Taichi and a simple “good” from Yamato. 

They ended up talking about plans and places and even shared some details about their college life. It was easy, so easy... that Sora forgot that it shouldn’t be.

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The minutes go by and the silence that she and Yamato submerged themselves into as soon as Taichi explained what really happened, is suffocating. Apparently, as much as it looked like it, Yamato’s big idea wasn’t planned at all and the conversation in their personal group chat was real and honest. 

They did want to meet, the three of them, what they didn’t expect was for Sora to agree. So Yamato didn’t hesitate to use this opportunity to have some time alone with her. That’s why he told Taichi to give them some time to talk before joining them.

She hears Yamato sighing and she can’t help but sigh as well. This is the most uncomfortable she has been since she got her period on a tennis match when she was fifteen. At least at that time she was sure she wouldn’t see the audience again, and that’s something she can’t assure will happen with Yamato. 

Because they will see each other, forever —that’s pretty much one of the most certain things in her life.

He opens his mouth in an attempt to talk, but then closes it again and crosses his arms. Sora is having none of it.

“Come on, you were the one who wanted to talk” she says with an almost irritated tone, “so don’t hold back and speak.”

He looks at her in the most Yamato way. As in, clearly telling her that he already knows that and she doesn’t have to repeat it, because he’s gonna do it, in a minute or two.

“I know that, but thanks for the reminder.” He’s using sarcasm and Sora is… confused to say the least. Why is he getting annoyed?

Who would have thought? Three months without talking and suddenly she can’t understand him anymore.

—except that that’s a lie. Because it’s obvious why he’s irritated: he’s afraid. He’s afraid of the aftermath of this conversation, and that’s almost endearing. At this point he shouldn’t be afraid of what will happen with them, the worst already happened when their relationship ended.

She’s aware that it was too much to ask to just go back and be friends, there’s a lot of baggage between them. Fucking hell, this man was her first… everything, and she also was his first. There’s nothing wrong with having time apart, especially when there’s a lot of obvious and unnecessary feelings between them.

And maybe she also needs to remind these things to herself as well. It’s just that, it’s hard. And Sora doesn’t like to admit it, but she’s hurt, even if it was her idea to end the relationship. 

But she still loves him—God help her because she does.

She’s absorbed in her thoughts and feelings when Yamato decides to talk again, that’s why she doesn’t hear what he says.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” She asks with honesty but instead of answering, he rolls his eyes. A simple gesture that angers her. “Listen, if you’re gonna act like that…” 

He interrupts her immediately.

“I’m not acting in any way, you’re the one ignoring me!” She snorts and that makes him stand up, shaking his head. “I’m gonna call Taichi and tell him that it’s not necessary for him to come. I’m going home.”

And after saying that, he walks out and leaves her there alone. She’s in shock, she wasn’t ignoring him, she was fucking thinking of how much she still loves him! So against all of her beliefs and all she is, she goes after him.

It doesn’t take her much to find him and for the first time, she’s thankful that Yamato is a slow walker, which used to annoy her when they were dating. But there’s not time to be thinking about that.

She calls his name and he doesn’t hear her the first time, or the second, not even the third or the fourth. The fifth time, he turns to see if she’s really the one calling him and stops when he notices her running towards him. This would be a perfect movie moment, except that she’s not gonna throw herself into his arms and passionately kiss him.

Even if that’s exactly what she wants to do.

Sora stops a few steps in front of him and raises her hand so he gives her some time to take air. She really needs to start exercising again, that wasn’t even a long run! He looks at her a little concerned, even more surprised, but waits for her to talk.

“Thank you for stopping!” 

“Sora…”

“I know, I know.” No time to beat around the bush, get to the point. She takes some more air and...

“It hurts to see you” … she opens her heart to him.

He doesn’t expect that. It’s all written in his face, in the way he’s clenching his jaw, in the way he’s looking at her. With that sentence, she pretty much explained her absence in the group chat, or any meetup they’ve had. 

She can see that he’s also confused. There’s a “well, you were the one who decided to end it”, dancing around them and growing by the second. And yes, she’s aware of that, thank you very much, but that doesn’t mean that she has stopped feeling.

Yamato nods in understanding and Sora smiles a little, thanking him for not making questions.

“Is the same for me,” he whispers after a while, and Sora can feel a hole expanding all over her chest.

She can’t help but ask herself if she did the right thing. To her defense it really felt right at the time, and she’s sure that after this encounter it will feel right again. Even if everything inside her is screaming otherwise.

So she does her best to silence every voice and just end all of what’s happening between them.

“I understand, and that’s why I decided to take a step aside. Not everyone has to know, besides it’s true that I’m busy with the academy and my studies so it really is natural…” She stops when she notices she’s babbling, and also because Yamato is looking at her with such a confused expression, it’s almost comical.

She takes a deep breath, and starts again.

“What I’m trying to say, is that I’m not gonna be around that much. They need you more than they will even need me.” And I’m sure you also need them, she doesn’t say it but it’s implied. “Of course I’m gonna be there when it’s extremely necessary but all I’m asking now is time. Alone, with myself.” Please let me forget you.

He nods clearly not knowing what else to say, she made it all clear so honestly, why would he refuse? She knows she’s being selfish, but this is maybe the first time that she’s putting herself first over anything.

Even the love of her life.

“I just have one question,” he says after a minute, she nods for him to continue. “Can we at least have this afternoon? I don’t really think Taichi’s coming.”

“But you said…”

“No, no, what I said it’s true, he was coming but,” he shakes his head, probably realizing that it's better to show than to explain, and gives his phone to Sora. “Look.”

Sora takes the phone with a confused face. She looks at it and what she finds doesn’t surprise her a little; is Taichi’s Instagram, making it clear that he’s already entertained, because he’s about to watch a movie with Hikari and Koushiro. 

She can’t help it, she laughs and Yamato laughs with her.

“Guess is only the two of us then,” she says and she really has to admire how composed she sounds saying that.

“Just like the old times,” is his answer and she would agree except that is nothing like the old times, because they’re not gonna end the day in his apartment. But they do end it in her building, when it is past ten. 

After deciding to spend the afternoon together, Yamato takes her to a new place some of his classmates recommended to him. They resolve to eat there and, to Sora’s surprise, Yamato asks for a beer. He almost never drinks in front of her but maybe that was his way to tell her they’re friends.

As strange as that sounds.

Later, when they finish eating, he invites her to walk around the city. Yamato is surprisingly talkative —maybe the alcohol, Sora thought—, and confesses that he’s still indecisive about his future path. Sora can relate a little, although she isn’t indecisive about her future, but about how to leave her past behind.

He offers to take her home after she casually spurts that it’s getting late. He says he has his motorcycle with him and she refuses at first, but if she’s honest, she really wants to ride with him for the last time.  

And now they're there. She’s not gonna invite him to take tea with her mom or tell him that she’s gonna call him later, before sleeping.

Even so, they joke about what they would be doing if they were still a couple and maybe that’s why, when he closes the distance and kisses her like he always did, she doesn’t refuse him, quite the opposite, she kisses him back harder. 

The working title for this was “true friends”, so this one goes out to all the friends I’d bury a body with, too.

tw: murder cleanup?

-

“So what do we do now?” Hope’s eyes wandered back to the ground in front of him and, unconsciously, he rubbed his palms against the rough material of his jeans. The night had begun to feel claustrophobic, even under the light of a half-moon, and he was finding it difficult to breathe properly. “We can’t just leave it, can we?” “We have to get rid of it.” Lightning stood next to him, arms folded across her chest. She hadn’t taken her eyes off the shadowed form at her feet. 

“How…” His mouth felt unusually dry. Perhaps not that unusual, given the circumstances. “What do you think, Light?” Lightning turned her head to look at Hope out of the corner of her eye. “I think you need to come up with a plan, and fast. We don’t have much time.” 

Hope glanced down at his watch. It was nearly three in the morning. They’d only been in the middle of the Raines Municipal Park for about ten minutes, but Lightning was right; the two of them couldn’t stay much longer. In a city this size, even at this hour someone would walk by sooner or later – if they were lucky enough that no one had heard them already and come out to investigate. Or, worse, called the police. Hope couldn’t see the lights of any houses from here, but who knew how far their luck went? 

“First off,” Hope began, “we need to get out of here.”

“Thanks for that astute observation, Mr. Hope Estheim,” Lightning muttered. 

“And we need to leave behind as little evidence as possible,” he continued. 

“Hope, I need to ask you something: have you ever seen a cop drama? Read a mystery book? I didn’t ask for your advice because the other option would have been to drop everything and run out into the street screaming at the top of my lungs.” 

“That’s Plan B.” As Hope dropped to a crouch to examine the grass and dirt at their feet, Lightning walked past him to a spot a few feet away, in front of him, and followed his lead. As Hope glanced at her, she rolled her eyes. 

“What are you thinking?” “You didn’t leave much of a mess… I think it’d stand out more if we did anything. Cut grass, or fresh piles of dirt – those would attract attention.” Hope produced his phone from his back pocket and opened the weather report app. “There’s a forty percent chance of rain in a few hours. I think we’ll have to take it.” 

“And hope that no jogger runs by and sees this first,” Lightning said. 

“It’s the middle of the night, and we’re off the main trails. Like I said, it’ll take some luck. Do you have a better idea?”

Lightning shook her head. “Not really. Okay, so we leave things as they are. I’m assuming you just meant the grass, not…”

“No,” Hope agreed, “we’ll have to do something about that.” He paused for a moment to think, ignoring the pressure of Lightning’s intense stare. “You still have the plastic down in the car, right?” “Yeah, it’s still there.” 

“Okay. Let’s just get this in the car, and we can figure out the next step from there.” 

“Sounds good to me.” 

Lightning flashed him a half-smile, and Hope started to believe, just for a moment, that maybe luck would be on their side after all. 

“Hope?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you going to help me move this body or not?”

Hope sighed under his breath and reached for the feet.

-

“You’re sure this will work?” 

Not for the first time that night, Lightning shot Hope a skeptical look. Her fingers neatly twisted the top of a full garbage bag into a tight knot, and she dropped the tied-off and bulging bag onto the ground next to the back door of her car before taking a few steps forward to stand next to Hope. 

“Not really,” Hope admitted, “but it’s the best shot we have.” Below them, after a sharp drop protected by an iron fence, the raging waters of the Yaschas River delta roared towards the ocean at the south end of the city. Perhaps ‘raging’ was too strong a word: in Hope’s memory, the river had been white with churned water and the noise had been deafening; looking at it now, the river was placid and still. He’d expected to have to take the risk of shouting instructions to Lightning, but it seemed the real risk was that the river wouldn’t move the body far enough into the ocean in time. The waterways would be the first thing the police would check.

Lightning leaned over the fence, arms rigid at her sides. 

“You’ll need to wash your hands as soon as possible,” Hope noted.

“That’s why I’m not touching anything. Now that this body’s safe in a bag, I won’t get contaminated again. You really think this river is going to do the trick? I could walk faster than this.” 

“You can walk pretty fast, Light… but this definitely isn’t how I remembered it. We’ll just have to hope for the best.” “Is there any part of the plan that doesn’t involve luck?” “We’re disposing of a body, Light. If you wanted a plan where luck wasn’t involved, we wouldn’t be here right now.” 

“Fair enough.” 

Lightning walked back to the car to grab the garbage bag. As she approached again, dragging it behind her, Hope watched the rippling reflection of the moon, distorted by the water’s movement, and wondered how much rain it would take to increase the current. 

“Want to give me a hand over here?” Lightning asked him, grasping the bottom of the bag. Together, they heaved it over the railing, and watched the bag containing the body fall towards the river. It made little more than a low plop as it splashed into the water below, and sunk instantly, out of sight. 

Hope and Lightning stayed at the edge of the river for another minute before turning back to the car for the plastic sheets. 

Plastic, as it turned out, tended to float. But not forever. 

As Lightning slid into the driver’s seat a few minutes later, she asked, “Where do we go from here?”

Hope watched the red lights of the dashboard clock flicker on as Lightning turned the keys in the ignition: a little after three-thirty. He hoped it wasn’t enough time for them to be discovered. They already wouldn’t be getting much sleep that night as it was. “Let’s go to my place. It’ll be easier to think there.”

“You have anything to drink?”

“I might have a beer in the fridge from the last time you were over.”

Lightning shook her head. “That’s it? I’m over all the time. Even if you don’t drink-” 

“I do,” Hope said as the car pulled away from the river’s edge and into the heart of the city. “But the last thing we need is to be intoxicated while planning how to cover up a murder.”

“Fair enough. But after this is over, take a few days off work, okay? The two of us are getting shitfaced.” Lightning made a remarkably smooth stop at a traffic light and swore at it.

Hope rested one arm against the door and propped up his head, watching the city lights and occasional pedestrian outside and wondering how long it would take for them to know of what had just happened. “Sounds good to me.”

-

“Mi! You have to come see this!”

She can hear him shout this plea from the other room, and she narrows her eyes and furrows her eyebrows skeptically.

“See what exactly?” Mimi asks, unsure of whether she should actually do as told or stay put where she’s safe. “You didn’t volunteer to stay with me today to pull a prank on me, did you? Like standing there naked or something?”

“As if you don’t want to see that,” he replies smugly, and she doesn’t even need to face him to know that he’s wearing that lopsided smirk of his, probably with his arms folded across his puffed up chest, because she knows him too well for that.

“Gross,” she mutters under her breath.

He’s headed towards her and is now standing in the door entrance. He’s waving his arms as though to usher her to whatever he wants her witness. “Mi, come on. I’m serious.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll come,” she finally caves. She closes her magazine and put it down on the table and tries to get up from her chair, but Taichi catches the way she winces when she tries to stand. 

He clears his throat before extending his hand to her.

“Give me your hand, Princess.”

She gives him an unamused look. “I told you years ago to not call me that,” she says, but accepts his offer anyways.

He pulls her up with much ease, laying her arm across his shoulders, and when she’s about to hop forward on her one ankle, he surprises her when he slides his one hand down to her mid-back and the other under her knees to lift her up in one fell swoop.

She can’t help but laugh. “Taichi, what are you doing?”

“We need to hurry,” he answers matter-of-factly. “Plus your ankle clearly still hurts, so it’s best if you don’t put too much pressure on it.”

“How thoughtful of you, Sir Knight of the Courageous Poofheads.”

He blinks and then chuckles incredulously yet entertained at the strange—and rather random—nickname because he knows she’s trying to get back at him for the Princess title, while he carries her towards the big window in the living room of the ski lodge they all rented.

Mimi notices how close her face suddenly is to his, and her eyes instinctively trace the strand of brown hair that’s partly covering his ear to the curve of his jawline down to his collarbone, and she can’t help but stare at how smooth his skin looks and...

She slightly shakes her head, as though she’s clearing herself from this sudden flood of troubling thoughts marching through her brain. She’s very much relieved when her attention drifts towards to what he urged her to come see, and a gasp escapes her lips. 

“It’s snowing!”

Taichi smiles, pleased at the fact that the scenery delights her just as he figured it would and he places her down at the window seat before scooting next to her.

“It’s such a beautiful sight,” she says, her eyes lighting up at each snowflake that passes her in a spiral.

“Not as beautiful as the sight of me being naked, though.”

She groans. “Why ruin this moment by planting that visual in my head? Why are you always so–?”

He cuts her off. “Hey, I’m just repeating what you said earlier.”

“You are so annoying,” she finishes. 

His smirk only widens. “The word you meant is endearing,” he utters, and she rolls her eyes pointedly at that.

She turns her focus back on the flurry of snowflakes, letting it calm her mind, and she supposes he has followed her action as silence has descended upon them. She finds herself rather enjoying the fact that they’re both peacefully reveling in the view of this winter landscape. 

“Thank you,” she whispers after a very short while.

“You’re welcome,” he responds, matching her muted volume.

“I love how many snowflakes are falling.”

Taichi nods in agreement at first, but then grins. “Yet they don’t measure up to how much I like you.”

She turns away from him, as an attempt to conceal the blush that’s creeping up on her cheeks, even though she’s fully aware at how cheesy his “compliment” was—really, self?—and then steels herself before meeting his gaze and readying herself to laugh off him being so ridiculous again but stops herself when she sees something shift in his eyes.

He leans forward, and she again notices how close her face suddenly is to his, and she swallows, hard, determinedly ignoring the spike in her heartbeat. 

“I mean it.”

She did not expect that.

And then Taichi’s hand curls around hers, giving it a small squeeze as though to reassure his that he’s truly, honestly being sincere.

She definitely did not expect that.

It’s quiet again, not a soothing quiet like before, it’s a startling quiet instead, like there’s something looming. Something she knows has always been there, but something she knows she doesn’t dare to define yet.

Her mouth opens to reply, despite her not even knowing how to, but closes it just as quickly as she hears the door open along with the ruckus that their friends bring back from skiing.

“Will you stay with me again tomorrow?” she finally manages to edge out, softly.

A brisk smile illuminates his features. “As you wish, Princess.”

It was a slow year, but given my near constant health challenges, I am choosing not to mind. Here is what I published:

Puits d'Amour, Brothers Pt 1, 2, 3

Tri: Integrity Lens, Ketsui: Drowning

Infinite Possibilities, Chapter 10

That's 28,820 published words and a few cute artworks!

I'm not sure if it's possible to make promises for next year until I know how my health stuff goes, but I do think I'll have an update for Infinite Possibilities on my birthday. I do want to try a monthly creating time goal that would include everything related to my fics (planning, drafting, editing, drawing, finding screenshots, research, etc). I'd like to finish Puits d'Amour, as it is the closest to completion (probably about 65% done), but I'm not in a place where I can make promises, or even firm goals.

But what's important right now is taking care of my physical health while maintaining my mental health, all while, you know, working and Adulting. Oof.