Steve Saga Short Stories ♡

A Long Letter/ Colorful & Radiant

Authors note**     A two in one. The second story prequels the first, it was originally meant to be a little bonus part but I got carried away and made it longer than the first ('=. Angst & fluff - Rainbow/Void

2148 words

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A Long Letter

Rainbow slowly made his way back, not in any rush. It's not that he was dreading going back to the base, it's just that he was dreading going back to the base. That and the flowers were nice, after all, he was just on a walk. A walk that so happened to take from sunrise to sunset-just a quick walk. He took his time, looking at the flowers, trees, the setting sun, the few animals still awake. He knew the longer he stayed out the hard it would be to walk back and face what he did.

What did he do? He wrote a long, overthought letter to Void that could be summed up into three words; I love you. But why would he spell it out clearly and simply when he could slide a multi-page report under Void's door and avoid him for the rest of the day? Ironically, avoidance has 'void' in it, just as his thoughts did all day, despite his 'out of sight, out of mind' approach. Yet now, he had prolonged the inevitable as long as he could and stood outside the door to the base.

He pretended to act normal. He walked in and took off his muddy boots. He took off his autumn aviator jacket and hung it on the coat rack, showing his thin tank top. The room was warm, stuffy even. All the while he remained with tunnel vision to ignore seeing Void out of the corner of his eye, Memory chuckling at the both of them close by. Void had the letter in his hand, standing right by the counter. Rainbow finally took his eyes off his jacket and looked over at him.

The door opened into the kitchen, so while Memory took his precious time getting something from the fridge and eavesdropped so obviously it made its own sound, Void looked at Rainbow from the counter like he'd been hit with a freight train. The paper laid over his hands and slowly slipped to the table. Void was impossible for Rainbow to read right then, but he got the sense it wasn't anything good.

He looked away in what may have been shame and started the walk to the guest room, a.k.a. his room, to change out of his muddy jeans and curl up on the bed. Void couldn't force out the words he wanted to say, just watch him walk away. Memory leaned next to Void with a container of dip.

"What happened to 'I'm gonna strangle him'?" Memory asked.

Void blinked slowly, looking distantly at the hall Rainbow walked down. He listened to his steps getting more and more soundless till he heard the shut of the door. Memory looked at him with more sympathy.

"He wrote a whole ass novella saying how much he loves you," He said "You've just gotta say it back."

With a pat on the shoulder, Memory took his dip and a bowl of pretzels to his room. Void thought of going to his room and further denying his feelings. He refused to love Rainbow for every moment he got to know the bubble, sarcastic, and sickeningly sweet Rainbow Steve. But it crept up on him with every smile on his lips, every hug forced on him, every kind word that fell from the colorful steve's mouth.

As he drifted into the hall, he loosely held the sweetly written pages in his hands. It was written in long, romantic, cursive, and drawings of flowers, shapes, and squiggles danced along the edges. He took a deep breath and drifted past his door to Rainbow. Memory heard the steves clicking steps of his shoes to the hardwood floor as he passed his room and finally felt intent to continue his show.

Void almost just opened the door, which was closed. He hesitated and instead knocked. Rainbow sat on the edge of his bed, yet to take off his mud-caked jeans in favor of staring into nothing. He wished he didn't recognize the three startling, hard knocks on his door.