Then again, maybe it was society causing all the strain between them. Since they’d moved closer to each other, the assumptions strangers made continually swapped between romance and friendship which would be fine if they’d defined anything since being in Mio’s subconscious. Instead they were just living, seeing each other as much as they could and Mio didn’t know what to class Zoe as; a best friend or a romantic partner, or if it would matter to Zoe at all.

She wanted it to matter.

~

While Mio was still debating how to ask Zoe what their relationship was, Zoe invited her to her apartment for a “creative evening of colour”.

If anyone other than Zoe or her Dad had given such a weird and vague description of plans they’d have been rejected outright instead of reluctantly agreed to.

“What is this?” Mio asked upon arrival, looking over the dining table. There were two blank sketchbooks on it and crayons scattered all around them. To one edge of the table were sets of colouring pencils, felt-tip pens, and paints. It did match the description Zoe had given, but Mio was lost over what to make of it all.

Zoe’s expression said there was more to be explained which was great since even if Mio had done plenty of art before and even tried making a living from it before focusing on her writing more, she didn’t do well with drawing in unexpected moments.

“I saw it online. Couples drawing the moments each of them think of as important to their relationship to feel closer to each other,” Zoe began explained, “And I know we never said we’re dating, but it feels that important to me so I wanted to…” The sentence felt unfinished as if she wasn’t sure how to explain all that she’d wanted.

Mio got it anyway, and she nodded as she sat down, “Cool, might as well try it. Are we drawing our own and then swapping or something?”

“Hadn’t figured that out yet, but sure.” The agreement was easily given as Zoe took a seat opposite her so they wouldn’t be as likely to keep stealing glimpses of each others pictures.

~

The didn’t work in silence, but the things they chatted about were small. Zoe would ask about the job Mio had got to keep paying bills and Mio would ask how her parents were a few moments after that.

Some music was turned on a short time into their drawing so they wouldn’t be working in silent if they got absorbed in the art and didn’t want to chat for a while.

The first moment Mio thought of was the fight that landed her in Zoe’s simulation pod. It was what forced them to get to know each other so clearly was an important part of them becoming who they were now.

As she drew it, focusing on how Zoe looked in the pod most of all, she couldn’t decide if it covered everything from their time in the simulation or not. Plenty of moments from the simulation couldn’t be explained by the pod though, and Mio thought of a couple she wanted to draw next.

Considering the small competitions they had started doing to solve silly disagreements, she drew the races from the simulation next. She put herself in the kite run Zoe had made and Zoe on the other side of the page snowboarding.

A comment about wanting a drink reminded Mio of the discussion of tea in Zoe’s shapeshifting world which was relevant for being the first time she had realised they could be friends if they escaped the simulation. The first time they got the drinks together felt equally important however she she tried to include both. The picture became them sitting in the cafe they’d got the tea from, with the Snow King’s castle showing through the window.

She didn’t want to draw her Dad in his hospital bed. The memory was undoubtedly important as Zoe had been welcomed into the Hudson family on that day, but it hurt. Her Dad hadn’t been buried for long and Mio didn’t want her first time drawing her Dad after his death to be focused on his illness. Instead she drew hands, and quietly cursed how difficult they are to get right. The frail hand of her Dad wrapped over Zoe’s hand and her own partially covered both of them, all in front of a blue background made of the hospital sheets.

A balcony with a mech ready to shoot them was drawn next. That conversation was where Mio started voluntarily being vulnerable with Zoe, even if it was cut short.

Hours tumbled past Mio as she drew opposite Zoe, thinking over moments that felt important and then trying her best to create them with the crayons as neither of them had opened the other options Zoe had put out.

~

Zoe had drawn the lift at Radar Publishing. Even worse, to Mio’s mind, was that in the picture they stood frowning and facing opposite directions as if this memory was important for being negative.

The next picture had them reaching out to enter one of their stories and Mio still questioned if the way they met was so bad for Zoe. They looked uncomfortable and grim.

“I wasn’t that bad to meet, was I?”

Zoe’s eyes widened at the question, “No, no, not bad, but, well, we didn’t exactly get along instantly, did we? I’m not as skilled at drawing expressions as you, but we weren’t grinning from the start. Besides, I’m not even part of your first one.”

“You’re the biggest part of it!” The exclamation burst out of Mio, given she’d struggled to get the details right on Zoe’s face. “And it’s why we spent long enough together to feel this close now.”

The comments on their artwork or chosen moments didn’t get better from there.

Importance became an attack and Mio tried to breathe, to reframe the discussion of the moments drawn. They knew they viewed the world differently and that their values and reactions to the world contrasted from the beginning, so why was it so hard to accept that the moment they thought of as important differed too?

Why were they about to argue over something meant to bring them closer together?

“Starting with the earliest moments was wrong.” Mio stated, cutting through Zoe’s scoffing at the racing picture separating them again. She reached out to stop the next one being looked at, “Leave the rest until we’re calmer.”

“It was meant to be nice!” Zoe slumped back in her seat, not fighting to keep looking at the pictures. To give us insights into how we each view our relationship.”

Mio nodded, looking at the pictures in front of where she’d been sitting. “It’s not turning out like that. All this is doing is telling me we’re complete opposites still.”

The words sat heavily between them, but she still decided to take both sketchbooks with her. Perhaps in the morning she’d view them a different way.

A Brighter Light

There is an odd sort of peace found in graveyards. It’s like the world is listening on behalf of all those who can no longer reply.

Mio found it more peaceful than the hospital had been. Even if she started going there to visit her Dad’s grave, she had found a bench to sit at and watch the world go by.

The balconies and rooftop gardens she sometimes added to her worlds were meant to feel like this graveyard: An oasis of peace in amongst the chaotic heart of a city.

After yesterday’s argument over important moments, Mio wished she could ask her Dad for advice, but sitting with his grave in view and pictures of them from a few years ago on her phone was as close as she could get.

She’d brought the sketchbooks with her too, and decided to see if a pencil sketch of her Dad would help her imagine what he’d say if she could talk to him.

~

As she drew Blake’s eyes, she realised that she had no clue why Zoe had actually chosen any of the moments she’d drawn. All she knew about those images were that they depicted moments Zoe thought were important to them and seemed to be mostly in chronological order.

Mio paused her sketch of her Dad to try writing down what each moment was as well as the reasons she could think of for it being important. Perhaps she could ask Zoe to tell her more of the reason for them when they next hung out to understand them better than her guesses would allow.

Returning to her sketch, she felt a little closer to understanding what the activity was meant to help couples with and was also a little more hopeful that they’d agree to be dating if this could be resolved.

~

Erasing the hair on the sketch for a third time made Mio pause and breathe. She knew that working on it again immediately wouldn’t help since her art never turned out as nicely as she could made it when frustrated.

The frustration was similar to how she’d felt last night too, not because the drawings she’d done hadn’t turned out how she hoped, but because she wasn’t being given a chance to explain her choices of moments or depiction. Zoe had even complained at least once about the pictures combining moments that should have been separated and Mio didn’t see it like that at all.

Considering that, she flicked back in the sketchbook on her lap to start writing out the reasons for the things she’d drawn as well as why she’d done different things. If she had them written out they might be easier to say, or maybe give to Zoe to read for herself.

~

Mio finished the sketch of her dad with his lips. Lips were the worst part of portraits of him because so much media and so much of society made the mouth into something sexual if it’s focused on, but focus is needed to draw something accurately. She wasn’t going to leave the lips looking unfinished just because everything around her twisted the idea of looking at someone’s lips into something it wasn’t.

Hours must have passed while she worked on that one sketch and her water bottle had been empty for most of it, but she didn’t feel like the words from the night before were an axe being raised. They were simply things that had been said and things she could move past with a different approach to communicating.

Knowing how Zoe felt about the evening was harder to guess, especially since Mio knew Zoe could hold onto negative feelings for a long time. That was what made her decision about how to approach the sketches now.

~

Approaching Zoe’s apartment felt familiar after the months they’d been constantly visiting each others homes, but this time Mio didn’t intend to stay for long. She was only checking how Zoe was feeling and handing the sketchbooks over.

If she stayed she risked attempting to fight a hydra of Zoe’s thoughts that might not even exist.

“Hi Mio, were you coming to hang out?” Zoe caught her in the hallway, looking like she was heading somewhere.

She shook her head, “No, I just wanted to know if you’re okay, and return these.”

“The sketchbooks? You didn’t need to, but I’m fine. I was actually coming to yours to apologise for suggesting last night.” Zoe took them slowly, as if reluctant to have them until she noticed the note taped to the top one. “What’s this?”

Mio shrugged, “I did some thinking and looking at the pictures we both drew. It probably was a good idea for us to do. You have a look through them now though. I’ll see you soon.”

She left quickly after that, ready to get home and get something to eat after having very few snacks while she was in the graveyard. Part of her mind imagined Zoe looking down at the sketchbooks and smiling curiously as she took them back into her apartment. She could almost see her reading the note and accepting the gesture for what it was, hope they could understand each other some more.

The note Mio added on top of the sketchbooks when she returned them to Zoe read; “I think they will help us understand each other, but not like we tried before. That way we were seeing the pictures, making assumptions and then demanding justification for what we think the images mean, instead of getting to share them. Here’s my reasoning for my pictures and guesses for why you picked yours.”

Understanding in Sight

Zoe didn’t like the activities she suggested upsetting people. It made her wonder if she shouldn’t suggest things to do any more, as the ever lingering memories of suggesting playing by the river had made her do years before.

The two sketchbooks she held had been evidence that those ideas had justification when she let Mio take them the day before, but the note on the front didn’t agree.

She looked from the note to her apartment door a few times before going back inside. Her apology for the suggestion leading to a disagreement could wait for a while.

~

It is easy to forget how much understanding words becomes interpretation and as Zoe read through the explanations of the memories Mio picked as well as how she drew them, she could only wonder at how differently they’d interpreted the word ‘important’ in regards to their relationship.

Everything Mio had combined for a picture was because she connected moments together, either a progressions of each other or as moments which fed together to become important rather than being vital on their own. Zoe hadn’t considered that moments could be seen like that, but with the explanation in front of her she could only smile as how differently her Mio viewed their lives.

Thinking about the reactions she’d had to the pictures the night before, Zoe wished she’d asked why they were picked instead of criticising them. Even if Mio had seemed to be doing the same thing, their entire disagreement could have been avoided if either of them had simply asked instead of complaining.

~

Reaching the end of pictures in the sketchbook Mio had used made Zoe gasp.

The portrait there was beautiful and lifelike despite only being in pencil. She could recognise Blake but had never seen him looking as healthy as he did in the drawing. It must have taken hours of work and she wondered why Mio had drawn it.

Was it a way for her to gather her thoughts or a gift of some type for Zoe?

Whatever the cause for it’s presence in the sketchbook, there was no note on it, and Zoe wondered about getting it framed. That would be a nice gift, and perhaps make her apology feel a strongly intended as she meant for it to be.

~

When turning to the sketchbook she’d drawn her important moments in, Zoe forgot that Mio’s note mentioned her guessing why memories had been picked. She’d only intended to add the justifications for them in a similar way to the notes she’d just read, but instead found herself reading more notes.

Some of the guesses were completely wrong, but understandably so, she realised, because the moments felt important to her because of things she’d been thinking about. The self-disparaging comments about why Zoe drew the time they met Lord Evergreen hurt, but Mio couldn’t have known how shocking it felt to realising she was sharing this story with someone she was beginning to care about when it had been meant to be shared with someone she never imagined life without until that was all she had left. Apparently even the inclusion of that carving hadn’t helped explain the importance of the scene to Mio, as her notes guessing why it was there asked if she’d been wishing it wasn’t Mio present in that moment. Perhaps she didn’t know the carving had actually been there in the simulation.

Notes further on had similar reactions to that one. Zoe hadn’t thought about the fight with Dark Mio in a while, but she was fairly sure that the willingness Mio showed to find judgement of her in memories said the way Dark Mio formed was still a pattern in her thoughts.

Zoe wondered if she’d be able to help her with that. While she considered how to, the sketchbook she’d left open to Blake’s portrait caught her eye again.

Getting it framed would give her space to think of what to do as well as the chance to write out why she picked the moments she had without simply trying to respond to Mio’s guesses.

~

“You must really love this man.” The comment from the shop assistant made Zoe pause.

She’d asked for help locating a good frame for the sketch because she wasn’t sure if it needed to be a specific kind and wanted it to look like the sketch fit it. “I only knew him a short time, but he was very important to the woman who drew him. That’s why I want the sketch to be framed.”

He smiled and nodded, “Then I’m sure she’s grateful to have a friend like you. We have a few frames that would fit this if you want to see if they’re designs match the person, or I can custom make a frame for it.”

Zoe hesitated for a moment. A custom made frame would be more special, but she wasn’t certain she’d choose something Mio would agree with in that moment. “I’ll pick from the selection you have, and take a card so she can come back if she wants a custom frame for it later on.”

~

Explaining her memories felt simple to Zoe. She would be reciprocating the effort Mio had already put in for her.

She wasn’t going to complicate something that was easy to offer and do by trying to go beyond the original effort, but she did want to do something more, similar to the guesses Mio had done for her drawings, but what?

~

Once before, Mio had mentioned that she wasn’t a fan of people dropping around without saying first. Zoe had countered at that point that she quite liked her friends to feel comfortable enough to drop by, but she’d remembered since then to at least send a message to forewarn Mio of any visits.

This time she decided to call, stacking the framed sketch on top of the two sketchbooks.

“Sup?” Mio sounded distracted when she answered the phone.

“Hey Mio, wondered if I could come over tonight, give you something and hang out for a bit.” Zoe hoped she didn’t sound nervous, but it was always there when they disagreed.

She heard a thoughtful noise, “Yeah, we can hang out. Can I learn how your pictures were decided on?”

“I wrote the reason out like you did, but I can tell you as well, if you’d like.” Zoe smiled, relaxing properly for what felt like the first time all day.

“Sounds great. See you soon.”

“See you shortly.”

Clarifying Night

Neither of them knew what to say when Zoe reached Mio’s apartment. After two days, they both were beginning to see how much they’d overreacted and still were being dramatic.

Mio couldn’t bare standing around awkwardly for long though. “Stop pouting and give me those. That out is on its way so go get a movie or something put on.”

“Sure, but, um, is the top item okay?” Zoe glanced at her hands, getting Mio to properly look at the items she’d taken assuming it was just the sketchbooks.

Tears sprang to her eyes as her Dad looked back at her from the now framed sketch she’d done the afternoon before. “It’s-” The simple reassurance of fine she’d been going to say choked her, so she took a moment to set the sketchbooks down. “Thank you. It’s great. I’ll go find something to hang this up with.”

~

The show Zoe picked out was one they’d watched together before, so Mio didn’t feel the need to rush putting her sketch on display or looking through Zoe’s additions to their sketchbooks.

There were doodled comics added to the end of the one she’d originally used. Some of the comics were done of moments Mio had chosen as important but there were a lot of the sillier things from each of their stories.

“These are cute.” She commented, moving from her armchair to sit on the sofa beside Zoe. “Why’d you draw them?”

Zoe leant into her slightly. “I felt like I hadn’t done enough for you when I started them, but after a while it was just fun to remember those silly moments.”

~

“Dating?” The question cut into their peaceful moment of watching the show and flicking through Zoe’s comics, but Mio had to ask.

The comic she was looking at was poking fun at her reluctance to ride a dragon but it had reminded her of how Zoe spoke about her and Dragon Ella. If she’d heard those comments about her and Zoe, or any other human, she would have recognised them as an assumption of dating, but because Ella was a dragon that connotation never occurred to her.

“We can if you want. I can’t usually imagine dating people but I can with you.” Zoe agreed thoughtfully, “But let’s keep it out of our books. Romance isn’t something I like to write.”

“Definitely. Everyone cheapens stories to nothing the instant there’s a hint of romantic sub-plots.” Mio agreed easily, before thinking over what Zoe had just admitted.

She stretched to reach the second sketchbook to offer to Zoe after considering the implications, “If you’re not big on romance, let’s do doodles of what we’d like our relationship to include then take turns describing them later.

A wry smile was directed at her as the sketchbook was taken, “With no judgements or assumptions until we’ve spoken about them?”

“Exactly.”

~

Mio tried to remember everything that romances were usually made of, but in truth she hadn’t sought them out much either. Her life hadn’t revolved around her dad entirely, but he’d always been the most important and the central part.

The few times she’d dated, her partners had said it was weird how much time she spent with her Dad, or worried that it was unhealthy to have a healthy relationship with him; the person who made that accusation was very quickly broken up with.

She’d had sex in a couple of them and was honestly underwhelmed. It wasn’t something she’d avoid doing again, but definitely wasn’t something sought for in a relationship. What she truly wanted was certainty in the commitment between them, as well as a few kisses.

To be clear she used three pages of the sketchbook; one of things she wasn’t really interested in doing but would if Zoe wanted them, one for things she actively did want to do and the last for things she definitely would have an issue with including in their relationship. She even wrote the words on the top of each page as she started the doodles and noticed Zoe glancing at what she wrote and copying the idea.

~

Before either of them tried to explain the doodles they’d done, or confirm what any of the more complex ones were meant to mean, Mio and Zoe started chuckling.

Their choices weren’t identical, but there was enough crossover that Mio hoped boded well for the relationship they were making. “I guess you drawing thing just needed a little adapting and a bit more time for communication for us to make it work.” She muttered, looking from the pages they’d torn out to match up.

“Looks like it. So, are you sure you’re happy for us to date?” Zoe checked, pointing at the doodles she thought they’d both used to mean sex, hers having been added to the wants page.

“Yeah, maybe we’ll find out what can make it more enjoyable for me.” She shrugged unconcerned with the difference. “Are you?” She pointed out the romantic dinner she’d tried to draw on her wants page, noticing a similar one on Zoe’s page for things she wasn’t interested in.

Zoe thought for a moment before nodding. “Those type of meals have always felt full of expectations and stuff before, but I bet you wouldn’t let that linger. We could talk about some scene we’re working on until I’m relaxed and can enjoy or something.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Mio relaxed back into the sofa, feeling more peaceful now she firmly knew where their relationship stood and knowing some of the boundaries they each had.

Getting Tomorrow Right

Mio invited Zoe to stay over that evening, even suggesting sharing the bed though she wasn’t ready for anything more important than that. It was as her thoughts got slow with sleep that she quietly asked, “You know, all this drawing has been a nice change, but it’s not us, is it?”

“You’ve done art before, and I tried that children’s book. How is it not us?” Zoe sounded equally quiet, detached from the question when it might have been upset if asked in a more energetic moment.

“I don’t think writing a picture book means your attempts to draw it will get used,” The tease was gently said, as she rolled her head to brush against Zoe’s, “But I mean, we’re writers now. That’s what brought us together.”

A yawn delayed the reply, but Zoe sounded a little more alert than before, “So we should go back to writing together, leave drawing as an occasional thing?”

“Yeah,” The word was a sigh, “Something different when we start to hate the words we’re using.”

Zoe twisted to nuzzle into her neck. “I get that. Let’s try it.”

~

Thinking about it in the morning, Zoe knew Mio was right about keeping art as an occasional activity. It was sensible, even if she liked the idea of filling the two sketchbooks up together. Replacing writing had never been the point of the activity regardless.

Even so there was more to each of them than words and both of them had included going out on adventures in the things they wanted to do. They’d done some of that in their friendship but not as much as they could have.

“Do you think we could take turns to plan trips and nights out?” She asked.

Mio looked at her for a moment. “Sure, but what type of thing were you thinking of?”

Most of their hobbies and interested were only mentioning in passing, if something came up while they were together which wasn’t often. Inside the simulation their worlds had brought their interests up more so Zoe reached for those memories to find suggestions. “I’d like to take you hiking, and you seemed to like clubbing before, so we could try that. Or we could take a class together for martial arts or something.”

“Sharing things we like to do beyond TV shows and music,” Mio surmised. “We can do that as long as we can also back out if it becomes too uncomfortable.”

“Agreed. Maybe one longer trip a month and an evening event between them?” The suggestion was made from months of learning the type of planning Mio liked to have in order to feel prepared for what might come.

She nodded, pulling her phone to make a note of the suggested plans.

~

Zoe was pleased that she’d tried the drawing evening a month later. It was her turn to plan an evening and Mio had agreed to drive out to a view point a short distance from town to watch the sunset.

“This isn’t going to become a nighttime hike, is it?” Mio asked when she’d parked, noticing the viewpoint wasn’t the car park, but signposted down a small trail.

“I checked earlier this week. It’s five minutes to walk to the bench for the viewpoint, though there is a longer route we could take if you’d want to start here for a hike.” Zoe laughed, climbing out and getting the bag of a couple of glasses and juice that she’d brought with them.

Mio sighed, shaking her head, “Maybe in a while. Just show me this sunset.”

“Happily.” Zoe agreed, leading the way down the path, “Besides, you get to take me somewhere either this weekend or next.”

“Yeah, I’ve got tickets for that already. Want me to tell you what we’re doing?”

With a cheerful glance over her shoulder, she shook her head, “Nope. I’m happy to be surprised, but on our way back you can if you want to.”

“Sure. It is pretty beautiful out here. Peaceful.” Mio admitted looking around. “Almost perfect for a drawing.”

Zoe let out a chuffed noise, “We’ve got cameras if you want to draw it later.”

“We could each try drawing it from memory in the morning even.” She suggested instead as they reached the bench.

The sun shining past the trees they’d been walking through had them turning to each other and shielding their eyes for a moment. “Like keeping the memories we want to treasure recorded closer to when they happen?”

Mio nodded, glancing to and from the sunset to decide if the sun had actually set enough to be looked at. “Yeah. What do you think of doing that?”