Lily Of The Valley (Aris x Reader)

13) Censored

Everything truly was water under the bridge which meant we were right back to normal. Not that that was a surprise. Absolutely nothing could tear our friendship apart. No silly argument or outside source could ruin literal years of being each other's other half, earliest memories, and the many more we have to make.

“You’re going to kill yourself one day, you dunce,”I sighed, keeping my hands in my pockets as I stood at the top of the train on the very edge with him.

“Oh yeah? Is that a threat?”He grinned, his hands buried in his jacket. Meeting my eyes, he raised an eyebrow as his face sparkled with mischief.

“No. Just my slight worry about you,”I shrugged.

“Only slight? That seems like an improvement.”

“Oh, shut your trap,”I snickered, nudging his side. Rolling his eyes, he nudged me back before we returned to staring at the setting sun.

“Life's actually started now, hasn't it?”He whispered, breaking our silence.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean we actually get to live now. Do what we want, act how we want, when we want, you know?”

“Well, nothing really stopped us from acting like us.”

“Now that is a straight lie,”He scoffed.

“It is not.”

“Really? Come on? You always wanted to ask questions that you were never allowed the answers to so you could be prepared for anything. When you didn't get them, you stopped asking questions there altogether,”He reminded me.

“It wasn't my place to know those answers.”

“We gave WICKED our entire childhood. Our time, our freedom, our blood, our brains, our energy, our everything. We deserved those answers more than anybody else.”

“But we’ll never get them, and that's that. Nothing will fix it,”I pointed out.

“Doesn't it ever tear you up inside? What you had to do?”He asked slowly.

“Only if I let it. In the end, it was all for nothing though. It was also all I was allowed to know for so long so what's the point in remembering? If I wanted to do that I would just cover my good ear.”

“You're better than me then. I guess,”He trailed off.

“What do you mean?”

“I don't really know. I guess I just have regrets sometimes, you know? Like maybe if I hadn't agreed to make the Mazes, more people could have lived.”

“If you declined, they would just find someone else to make one to put you in. There was never any getting out of it. One way or another, everybody was going to be a part of WICKED’s plan for the cure. Every last one of us.”

“You really think that?”

“I know it.”

“And you just know everything, huh?”He teased.

“Yeah. Pretty much,”I nodded.

Sighing a little at my words, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. Hugging him back, I let my head rest on his shoulder as we watched the sunset together. The once clear, bright blue sky was now fading into orange, with the clouds now appearing to be a light purple. It was a unique night, one that would make for a surreal photograph.

This is nice. I had my doubts, but this really does seem worth it so far.

× ~ × ~ × ~ ×

“That's the brightest one,”He insisted, pointing somewhere at the night sky that was now filled to the brim with shining stars. Despite the way it seemed like he had just raised his arm up at nothing, I nodded my head in agreement as I kept my head on his chest. His free arm had wrapped around my waist, keeping me close to him as we laid on top of the train instead of inside yet again.

“I could never get sick of the stars,”I sighed.

“I honestly don't know how anybody could.”

“Because they’ll have taken them for granted. They’ll have seen them so much that the stars will just be big balls of gas and not the suns of the night.”

“Does that mean one day we won't appreciate them?”He pointed out.

“No. You and I are different.”

“We are?”

“Yeah. I’d like to think so,”I answered slower than intended. At the small time though, we’re not in a rush anymore. The possibilities are essentially endless for us. We could stay up all night and talk only to sleep all day if we wanted. We could stay on this train forever. We could walk for miles on end without stopping. Whatever we want to do, we can. As long as we find his flower of course, but a few side missions never hurt anyone, especially not us. We've always loved those.

“So I guess we're just different then,”He said, his voice soft and a little muffled as he yawned a little at the end.

“I take it it's time for bed?”

“I’m not tired,”He lied. As I looked up at him though, I saw his eyes starting to shut no matter how hard he tried to fight them.

“The stars will be waiting for you tomorrow night,”I promised.

“They might not. It could rain, and then we couldn't watch them,”He tried to reason.

“We’ll watch them from the windows,”I assured him.

“It's not the same,”He murmured, yawning again as his other arm wrapped around my stomach. Holding back a smile, I shut my eyes as I listened to his even heartbeat. His breathing was starting to fall into a soft pattern too.

He would try to stay up, but the most he’ll have is five more minutes of consciousness, which he’ll spend forcing his eyes open until he physically can't.

Aris is definitely an interesting character. That's for sure.

I also wouldn't take him any other way.