One Was a Book Thief the Other Stole the Sky

***a short story***

about Max Vandenburg and Liesel Meminger when he finds her again.

yes, awkward age difference,

but he's all Liesel has.

I needed to write this.

I ship them so hard.

I will go down with this ship.

...I know, I'm too sappy.

On the bridge, Liesel was telling Max about what he'd missed when they were apart. Max watched her, a smile on his now less gaunt, clean-shaven face. His swampy eyes were as bright as Liesel's dangerous brown ones.

Max leaned on the railing next to her. "I've missed you, Liesel."

"I've missed you too," she said quietly. "I was all alone, for two years. When we finally saw each other again..."

He nodded. She knew he understood. He held her gaze for a few moments, with an odd intensity. She looked away.

"Well, let's get back," she said. Max nodded again.

They walked back together, side by side, talking about words.

The next day, Liesel walked along the bridge again, alone. She thought of Max, again amazed that they'd both survived. Why them, and not Papa and Mama, or Rudy?

Death is a strange thing.

She looked at the river. It was rough today, the cold wind thrashing it about. She shivered.

"Cold?" came a voice. Max's voice.

She turned to see him, his face smiling, feathery hair flying in the wind like a wild bird. Liesel nodded, and he stepped forward and put his arms around her. Loosely, but in a way that warmed her like a fire couldn't. She leaned against him like she used to, back in their days of the basement. She smiled at the memories.

"Remember your dictionary?" Max asked.

"Yes," she said. "And our snowman."

"And you reading to me to keep me alive. It worked, Liesel, it worked."

"I knew it would."

"How were you so smart?" he wondered.

"The books. Like you said, words are life, Max." She looked up at the face she'd remembered dearly for what seemed like forever. He had been her friend, the one who'd completely and utterly understood her love of books. And here they were now, talking about words, again.

She could see the sky past his head, and it was so odd to see Max outside and not in her bedroom or the dark basement.

"They are," he said. He held her face in one of his hands. He looked a bit unsure, for a moment. "Can I... kiss you?" he asked.

"What?" she asked, in confusion, amazement.

And he kissed her, on the lips. At first, Liesel didn't know what do to, but impulse took over and she kissed him back, holding him tightly, as if he was the only one connecting her to the world.

And in a way, he was.