little bird // r.keene

ix. internally.

Wren reached out.

She grabbed his arm.

Miguel fell backwards, over the railing.

"Miguel!" Wren screamed.

His full weight was on her arm, slamming her hips into the metal railing.

Wren screamed again.

She held on.

She looked in his eyes.

"Wren!" He yelled.

She had no choice.

Wren couldn't hold him.

She let go...

Wren shot upright in bed, her breaths were ragged and uneven. She swallowed, hard, her throat felt like it was lined with sandpaper. She blinked once. Twice. Robby was still asleep next to her, tangled in her blankets by her side.

His nightmares were getting less frequent now and in some ways she was glad he was finding peace. Finally being able to sleep the whole night without calling out, without the nightmares, without reliving their memory. A luxury Wren didn't share.

She felt guilty that Miguel still rotted in that hospital, robbed of his movement, sight and speech. Unable to do anything for himself. Unable to smile, or laugh or cry. All because of her and Robby.

Meanwhile they remained tucked up and cosy in their small corner of the world, currently held unaccountable for what they had done. It was eating Wren alive.

She quickly got dressed and looked at herself in the mirror, the shadows under her eyes weren't getting any better. Then again, her and Robby had fallen asleep at 3am last night, Wren pulled her shirt back, revealing her collar bone where a dark purple bruise sat innocently on her pale skin.

"Damn you, Keene." She whispered, throwing a look back over to her bed with the sleeping boy. Though, she didn't regret a single minute, not one. Because in the middle of her chaos, there was him, and she wouldn't have wanted anyone else.
She couldn't help but smile at him, even now. For months she had thought about him constantly and she often worried about how dangerous it was to finally have something worth losing again.

But last night, Robby had confirmed for her that he had felt those things too.

For so long, ever since Rue went, Wren had been dying to hear someone say that she didn't need to try so hard to be perfect, that she was enough, that she was okay. And Robby was there to happily tell her all those things.

He turned over in the blankets and his eyes cracked open slightly, gently he reached out an arm, only to find the space next to him vacant. He opened his eyes wider and saw Wren standing beside the mirror, hung crookedly on the wall, tying her hair up.
Robby remained silent for a moment, watching as she pulled at her hair, making sure she gathered all of her wild strands together, and he found himself smiling.

He had known for so long how private a person she was, keeping her life concealed and separate from her other friends and the dojo entirely. They only saw what she allowed them to see and yet Robby felt as if he knew her like he knew himself these days. And he felt lucky that he did.

For the longest time he had wanted to feel cared for without feeling like he was having to ask for it- but now, with her, Wren cared for him subconsciously and he had never felt safer than when he did by her side. 

"You're up early." He said, breaking the smooth comfortable silence, letting her know he was awake. "Come back to bed." He told her and Wren smiled over at him, he was sat up now, the covers falling to his stomach revealing his bare chest which she had clung to before falling asleep.

Wren made her way back over and sat beside him, "I thought I would go get us some coffee." She told him, Robby reached over and grabbed her hand, taking it steadily in his. "I feel like we need it, we did fall asleep at 3." She muttered, looking down at their intertwined fingers on the bed.

"I suppose we did." He replied softly, a smirk creeping on his face, "It was-" he broke himself off, trying to find the right words, but he found himself speechless, no words could describe how much Robby valued the time they had together last night. "It was nice, really nice Wren. Thank you." Was what he came up with and immediately felt like an idiot.

"I'll be right back, pretty boy," something she had called him the night they first met, "try not to get into any trouble while I'm gone." She uttered and kissed him on the cheek gently but before she could pull away, Robby gently lifted a hand and cupped the left side of her face, pulling her back towards him.

He kissed her sweetly and she let him.