Sanders Sides One Shots & Shorts

Benches and Blossoms (Prinxiety)

Date Published: Aug 14, 2018
Word Count: 1094
POV: Roman, 1st Person

I sat on a bench. A bench in not-quite-centre of the public park about two blocks or so from my apartment. I came to sit here a lot. I mean, I built it, after all.

The bench was sanded and stained, though not polished or coated, because I liked the graininess of it. The roughness of the wood making it feel like it had grown out of the ground, like the trees it sat under. It looked almost part of the park. It seemed to belong there. The only bit of the body that looked at all factory-made, was a 10-centimetre-by-30-centimetre black plaque that held gold lettering, and sat in the middle of the back of the seat.

I wasn't looking at that though, because I was sitting on the bench, with my eyes closed. But, when a sudden gust of wind burst through, it sent sent something tumbling into my lap. I opened my eyes, to see a cherry blossom, fallen from the tree overlooking my bench. I couldn't help but smile a little.

I had chosen this spot, for this bench, for a reason. My boyfriend, Virgil, and I had had our first kiss under this tree. During which, Virgil had had a flower crown of fallen cherry blossoms nestled in his purple hair. The one that I had made for him. I had made this bench for him, too. Just like that crown.

I was at that moment, that I felt someone's body next to mine on the bench. I looked up, to see Virgil sitting next to me. Virgil's long, purple bangs protruded from the hood of his patchwork sweater, and curtained off his deep brown eyes slightly. I reached forward, and pushed them aside gently. I smiled at him, before hugging him.

"Hi..." I sighed, happily. I felt Virgil relax against me a bit, before returning the embrace.

"Hey."

We broke apart, and simply looked at each other for a few moments, before Virgil awkwardly said: "Nice bench."

"You like it?"

Virgil nodded. I reached forward, and ruffled his hair a bit. Virgil then tried to slap my hands away. "Roman, stop! You know I hate it when you do that."

I just laughed, causing Virgil to scowl. His nose wrinkled a bit, and his eyebrows furrowed. I kissed his nose, which took him by surprise, causing his glare to fall.

"You're just in time for the sunset, Vee." I said, pointing toward the already-orange-horizon to indicate my point.

"You and your sunsets." Virgil rolled his eyes at me, hinting at the many times I'd dragged him away from whatever he had been doing, to look at pretty skies, or clouds, or stars with me.

But, even with his slights, his hand wandered to mine, and he turned to watch the sun as it slipped toward the roofs of the buildings in the distance. I noticed Virgil squinting a bit, so I poked him in the side. "Don't look straight at it, goofball."

Virgil squealed, almost falling off the bench. Whoops, I forgot that he was ticklish on his sides.

Oh, who am I kidding? Of course I remembered that, that's why I did it.

Virgil kicked me in the shin. I cried out an "Ow!" and Virgil sat back, a pleased smirk taking its place on his face.

After that, we sat in silence for a bit, with the sun dropping lower and lower in the sky. "Happy Anniversary to us, by the way." I mention, as casually as I could without bleeding too much emotion. "How long has it been now?"

"Four years." Virgil said quietly.

I whistled. "Wow, that's a long time. Look at us go." I squeezed Virgil's hand gently.

"Yeah. Where's my present?" Virgil asked.

"Present?"

"Yeah, moron. Where's my present? That's literally the best part of anniversaries."

"Um... I can tell you I love you very much, and I give you my heart."

"Meh."

I gasped in mock offence. "Excuse me?" Virgil chuckled.

"Actually I do have a gift for you." I said.

"Me too."

"Oh, really?" I raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"I made it myself." Virgil said. "Here." Then, he brought his lips to mine gently. After a couple seconds, we broke apart.

"I like that gift." I said, a little dazed.

Virgil smirked. "I thought you would."

I sighed. "I love you so much, you know that?" I shook my head a little as I said it. "Yeah, I know. I love you too."

"Here, my gift for you." I said, twisting around, and leaning over the arm of the bench, to grab hold of the flower crown that sat at its base. It was made of cherry blossoms, like the first one I'd ever made him.

But, when I turned around, Virgil had gone.

I looked down to where Virgil used to sit, and set the pink-budded wreath down on the wood there. I had known when I'd made it that Virgil wouldn't be there to accept his gift. But, still, I felt the need to make it anyway. The flowers on it looked almost orange, as the last rays of the sunshine fought to stay above the horizon line.

Even though I'd known he wouldn't see the crown on our anniversary, even though I had known already, it still broke my heart a little when he disappeared.

"Happy anniversary, babe." I said.

Then I looked up, my eyes settling on the black plaque in the middle of the bench. I smiled at the inscription sadly.

In Loving Memory

That one was a thinker. Thanks for coming along with me on that one.

I hope that that made some sort of sense...??? Hopefully it got across what I envisioned it my head to be?

I'm not sure, this one was a weird-ish concept, and I'm not sure how well I executed it. Oh well.

Sorry that this one is a bit angsty. I was challenged by a reader to make them cry, because they don't normally cry in books, so I thought I'd try, but with a bit of a surprise stab at the end.

Oh well. Hopefully it makes sense.

I don't know... I guess I feel like my writing is going downhill?? I feel like I'm getting worse instead of better. Ugh I hate my writing so much.

Okay enough of that! Too much angst for one chapter.

Sorry for the delayed updates. Thank you for your patience!