//------------------------------// // Intermission. Guess Who's Coming Home // Story: Truth Needs No Colors // by Lastingimage24 //------------------------------// Anthem’s walk through the empty town had finally gotten to his nerves. The words shared with Sketch still swam through his head, firing synapses that kept his legs moving. For the past few weeks, his mind was muddled and sluggish. Now it was clear as glass, but there was so much contained inside it, it was starting to spill over. At some point he had started to gallop. He had stopped paying attention to the space outside his mind. His emotions were an ocean in the middle of a storm. Waves crashing in and out. Hypotheticals and rhetorics climbing over the side and onto the deck of a lone ship being his conscious thought. Poetics aside, Anthem was terrified. And excited. And happy. And anxious. And door. BAMF Anthem’s face met his front door with excruciating force. After recoiling, he rose his hoof and wiped his nose, and then inspected his hoof to see if there was blood. He didn’t actually attempt to check, his body was simply going through the motions. He reached for the door before freezing. “What... what am I going to do? I haven’t even thought about this... fuck...” Anthem retracted himself and began to pace around the yard of their apartment. “Dammit. I need... to think. Okay. We’re already fooling around. I just need to... slide it in there. Not my dick. My words. ‘Haren? I love you.’ Okay no, that’s too forward. ‘Haren, we need to talk.’ What I’m I, her fuckin’ dad? Look, look, I just need to talk to her. I need to do this. I’ll wing it.” Anthem reached for the handle again, but stopped once he spotted one of his neighbors in the corner of his eye. She stared at him whilst slowly inserting the key into her door. Anthem chuckled a little bit. “I’m uh... not crazy!” Once she heard Anthem, she jumped and ran into her apartment, slamming the door behind her. Anthem sighed and headbutted his door. I’m a mess. Shit. Stop freaking out about this. What would Sketch say? ‘Just be yourself, man, I’m amazing and so much better than you.’ Yeah, prolly that. Okay. The doorknob turned- wait, no, locked. ... The doorknob turned, and the door squeaked open. He left it there for a moment, inhaling once more. He decided to rip the band-aid off. “HAREN!” Anthem screamed as the door crashed into the side of the wall. He instantly winced, slowly bringing his hoof closer to his chest and trying to physically shrink. Okay, that was bad. Stop being an idiot. Doing property damage and shouting at the girl you like is not a good strategy. “Ahem, I mean, Haren.” Anthem sloppily recovered. “We need to...” Anthem looked around, seeing nothing but the familiar furnishings he had become familiar with. Haren was gone. Anthem sighed in relief, glad he had a few more minutes to prepare. He walked around to the kitchen, taking a peek into Haren’s bedroom to assure that she hadn’t gone to bed early. He opened the fridge, took out an open beer that was no doubt flat as a penny, and shoved the whole neck of the bottle down his throat. After chugging that much needed alcohol, he flopped over onto the couch, shoving his muzzle in between the cushions. He stayed there with an empty head just for a moment, a moment he desperately needed. When the thoughts began to cascade, Anthem got up and began to work. He sprinted towards the fridge and grabbed two beers, which turned into one beer when one fell out of his grasp, stupid fucking lack of a stupid fucking horn, and after he cleaned up the mess, he grabbed yet another. He set them on the floor next to the sofa, and then ran to his bedroom. He opened the drawer way to fast which made it fall to the ground in a heart-stopping thud. Anthem was too occupied to care, and was content in looting the fallen furniture. Columns of film reels evenly spaced out in the drawer had been slightly displaced from the impact, but were still in pristine condition. He frantically hoofed through the labels before stopping at the one he was looking for. The closest thing he would be able to manage. “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” he whispered the title aloud. A great film, but not his favorite. It was about a pair of unicorn parents dealing with the fact that their daughter comes home with her fiance, who happens to be a zebra. A story about breaking down boundaries and prejudices to make room for a true love to blossom forth, between two clashing cultures, and more importantly, species. Haren was smart, and this might be a bit too on the nose, but Anthem had settled on making a gamble. He had to go all in. He ran out, slamming the door behind him. He panickedly brought the reel to the projector, nearly knocking it over in the process. The process was complicated and difficult, especially for hooves, but Anthem had done this so many times, he could do it in his sleep, even in his distressed state. “Okay, what else?” Anthem backed off from the projector, eyeing the entire environment, assuring himself everything was in order. Of course super-Haren also kept the apartment nearly spotless. Flawless, perfect, elegant Haren. Nothing like Anthem. He was a mess, flawed, and rough-cut. She was out of his league, even if someone would call him handsome. “HANDSOME!” He yelled, making a break for the bathroom. Slapping the lightswitch on, he ran to the sink and peered into the mirror. “I’m a goddamn mess,” he whispered, reaching for the sink. The sink was clogged, as he wanted, and he grabbed the soap. It wasn’t long before the sink was completely full. Once it was three quarters full, he held his breath and dunked his head into the ice-cold water. “BUH, huh, ahh,” he gasped and sputtered. Grabbing the soap, he lathered it into his hair and onto his face. It nearly got into his eye, but he dunked his head again before it could redden his eyes. The ice-cold water wasn’t exactly therapeutic, but it did wonders for waking him up properly. He was going to have to be as sharp as he could be to make it through this. He raised his head, taking sharp breaths and shaking his mane. The towel he then grabbed was a welcome warmth. “Shit, shit.” There was a moment given to recovery before Anthem continued with the motions. Brushing teeth, mouthwash, blowing nose... the works. After his hair was dry, he ran some product in his hair, only a tiny amount, to keep it from moving too much. He then decided that it looked dumb so he dunked his head into the water once again to wash it out. Anthem ran into the living room and jumped onto the couch, panting uncontrollably. His heartrate was uncontested, and the breaths he drew were hot and heavy. After four minutes of adrenaline, things began to stagnate. There was silence, and then there was this. ‘This’ was an unbearable emptiness that would drive a saint to sin. ‘This’ was the test given to the mightiest of stallions. ‘This’ was a room without Haren. Anthem’s eyes darted around the darkness, trying to focus on things that weren’t there, feelings he didn’t have. Anything to distract himself from the disturbing truth which was the lack of his friend’s presence. His mind began to once again wander. What if it stays like this forever? What if it gets worse. What if... what if he was already too late, and his carelessness caused Haren to pack her things and leave. She’d never do that, would she? I would deserve it if she did. Hell... she just might have. Anthem was about to get up and leave... when the front door opened. In all of his panic, he never actually turned on any lights, aside from the bathroom’s, so his eyes had adjusted to the darkness. But when the griffin walked in, the light invaded Anthem’s eyes and caused him to grimace. Before he closed his eyes from the discomfort, there was a moment’s silhouette of Haren, his friend. If he didn’t know any better, he would’ve been able to fool himself into thinking that her brilliance was the source of the light. He forced his eyes open, pushing his body past the pain. There she was, an angel on earth. “Yo, whattsup, asshole?” she asked, setting some brown paper bags on the nightstand nearest the door. An angel he didn’t deserve. “Uh, h... hey.” She tossed the keys into the glass dish next on the same nightstand before walking further into the apartment. She stretched. A long... sensual stretch, putting both her talons on top on each other and pulling them across the ground in front of her. She inhaled sharply, cause her chest to heave and her stomach to retract, accentuating her natural curves and enhancing them further. Her hind naturally rose as a result of her posture, and her tail flicked a few time. Anthem drooled. Haren walked into the kitchen and turned on the light. She began doing her borderline alchemy, before groaning and turning to face Anthem. “Hey, Anthem, can you hand- er, hoof me the bread from one of the bags I brought in.” There was some lag in Anthem’s head before he shook his head and got up. “Uh... yeah, sure!” “If you want to be a real fuckin’ gangsta, you’ll just bring the whole bags ova here,” she mentioned, the sound of a knife hitting a cutting board emanating from the kitchen. Anthem reached the bags, putting both of his forehooves on the end table and taking a few breaths, trying to gather his composure. He just keeps freezing up every time he looks at her. Stupid Sketch making me think about all this so differently. Gah! It used to be so easy! Anthem placed the bags in his mouth and trotted to the kitchen, slowly approaching Haren from behind. He had to face the ceiling once he remembered Haren shakes her rump whenever she’s working something on a table. At her side, he made a sound to alert her. “Ah,” she exclaimed, setting down the knife that she had. She put on a fake, thick southern accent. “Thanks, boo, yer a real sweetheart.” She grabbed the bags straight from his mouth, the edges of her talons trailing the sides of his lips. Anthem had to struggle to refrain from closing his eyes as she did, nearly losing balance from the contact. She placed the bags on the table and pulled out bread and that synthetic meat that she likes. Anthem eyed the table she was working on and saw cheese cut into very thin slices. A tub of butter was also nearby. She spotted Anthem looking at the contents and smiled. “Wanna grilled cheese?” “Uhh sure.” She nodded and cut another couple of slices of cheese out. It was then that Anthem hatched an idea. “Could you put a little of that synthetic meat on?” Haren’s eyes went wide before she smirked and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “Woah, feeling adventurous, are ya?” “Hey,” Anthem started, shrugging. “Gotta see what all the fuss is about y’know?” “Alright then, my little cannibal,” she laughed, and pulled an extra helping of meat from the container. “So,” Haren breathed, cleaning her area as she went. There was already a skillet sitting on the burner. She slapped some butter on the pan and began spreading butter on the slices of bread. “You wanna watch a mov-” “YES!” he bombastically interrupted. Haren recoiled a little bit before he coughed and rubbed his chest. “I mean, uh, yeah. Already got something loaded up. I was gonna watch it before you walked in. “Cool,” she replied, pretending the outburst didn’t happen because she’s awesome. “I swear to god all that I’ve been thinking about today was the fucking ending to ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’. The fucking horn signals got me.” Anthem smiled. The genuine interest in his hobby warmed his heart. She wasn’t just doing it to appease him, she wasn’t just doing it because he was doing it. She saw the joy that it brought Anthem and wanted that joy for herself, to the point where she had starting researching and purchasing films for herself. Films were an intelligent art form, and Haren was an intelligent person. It was a natural conclusion. Anthem kept thinking back on their endless conversations and musings about various films. Things that would be timeless in his eyes. Anthem trotted back to the sofa whilst looking over his shoulder. “Makes you think, huh? Something I need.” Haren laughed at his self-punch, whilst tossing the two finished sandwiches on the pan. The sizzle was overpoweringly loud, muting the buzzing in Anthem’s head. A welcome distraction. However, Anthem observed he had become significantly more stable since Haren had entered the scene. His thought’s finally slowed enough to be processed. His heart no longer felt the fear of uncertainty, only the slight flutter every time Haren did something that made her Haren. Sketch helped clear his thoughts, and Haren helped him process them. A sudden feeling of gratitude washed over him, and he only hoped he played some part in making one of his friends a better person in return. Anthem approached the projector and started the film. As the roll began and the familiar sound of the reel turning resonated off the plain walls, he closed his eyes and thought of something that had been hounding at the back of his mind. Haren, laying next to him, smiling. He suddenly got a huge urge to hug her, Maybe one day he could do it without any pretense. As he took his seat on the sofa, he thought back on all the times that he and Haren hugged. When they saw each other for the first time after a week apart, they embraced. When Anthem’s sister died, she held him. After Haren lost her job, Anthem tenderly wrapped his forelegs around her. Counting all of them in his head, Anthem lamented his lack of foresight in the past. How much he had gone through, only being able to because of her. “Food.” Haren handed him a plate with a perfectly cooked grilled cheese sitting up top. “Thanks.” “Welcome.” She took her seat next to him on the sofa, taking a large bite of her sandwich without skipping a beat. Anthem realized he was watching her rather creepily, and decided to take a bit of his sandwich to distract himself. WOAH! Anthem nearly had the food in his mouth fall onto the floor, as a brand new taste assaulted his tastebuds. It was extremely moist, and a strange liquid poured from his lips. The meat was stringy and fell apart in predetermined locations. It was both tough and soft, being firm during the chew, and soft during rest. It swam down his throat, and unlike most foods, he didn’t feel it hitting his stomach. “Woah...” “Wassup?” Haren asked in the middle of another bite, her sandwich already three quarters of the way gone. She was smacking her beak and licking her talons. Actions that Anthem only recently started noticing. Probably due to her nature, eating was much more carnal than a pony’s methods. More messy. A lot more alluring. Intimacy also followed this role, but due to his hesitance, Anthem hadn’t fully experienced it. “I might have to become a cannibal,” he joked. “This stuff’s amazing.” “Nothing compares to the real thing, though.” Haren threw the last piece of sandwich in her mouth before Anthem had taken his second bite. “Or, you know. So I hear.” “I know they do that stuff in your country,” he assured, giving her a confident smirk. “As long as it’s not me sitting in a cauldron, I’m not really in any place to judge,” “Yeah...” Haren tossed her plate to the side, making a slight clang as it hit the floor. They stopped speaking for a while and simply allowed the movie to play. Apart from a few chuckles from the comedy scenes and a bathroom break, very little was said. Anthem began to shift in his seat about halfway through the movie. Shit, what do I say? I’m running out of time. If I don’t do something, nothing will change. He faced her, rubbing his knee and biting his lip. But that wouldn’t be so bad, right? That’s what I wanted. I just want to be with her and I already have that. Why risk that? Sketch’s voice appeared in his head. ”See? You want this... Don’t you want her to know how much you care? Don’t you want to wake up next to her? If you don’t do something, you’ll be in more danger of losing her than you would if you did nothing. Don’t screw this up by being content with what you have. Help your glass support hold up what you love. The events of the past few weeks had been tearing him apart. If he left this alone, it would destroy him. “Yo, you okay? You look kinda pale.” Anthem jumped at the sudden attention. Haren had seen that Anthem was distracted, and more importantly, noticed he was looking at her absentmindedly. He quickly looked towards the floor and desperately searched for an excuse. “Uh, yeah! I’m okay, just kinda tired.” “Oh,” she oh’d, somewhat disappointed. There was a slight pause before she leaned a bit close to him. “You know, we can do this later if you’re tired.” “No! No. I’m fine, I’m... I need to finish this.” Anthem winced at the transparency from his words. He had learned a long time ago that there was a few things he needed to watch with his friends. Sketch saw through his lies. Trust, with the small time he knew her, could turn around any snark he threw at her. Haren, though? She could always figure out Anthem’s true meaning behind his words. It was one of the reasons she was so important to him, she never misunderstood him or took offense to his slip ups. Unfortunately it also meant taking small steps towards her was a goddamn minefield. “Alright,” she let go, unsure. It a sign of respect that she didn’t pursue his strange behavior. “Why don’t you just lie down on the couch? You really do look out of sorts, man.” Anthem opened his mouth to decline, but temptation got the better of him. It was obvious where this was going, but he couldn’t stop it. He wanted this too much. Maybe he could use this to his advantage however. In order to do so, he’d have to go on the offensive. “Could I use you like a pillow?” he asked, giving an innocent smile. Haren couldn’t help but look surprised at first. She was usually the one that said the flirty thing that led to the mutual benefits. But she quickly bounced back and chuckled. “Sure, why have a feather pillow when you can get the real thing?” “Like real meat?” “Mmn, that’s for you to decide.” Haren leaned back and rested her arm on the cushion at her side. Anthem repositioned himself and rested his head on Haren’s shoulder. The second his head hit her, she lifted her arm and wrapped it around his neck and placing her talon on his chest. Now, instead of resting on her shoulder, he was resting on her chest. It was absolutely heavenly. Firm on inhales, soft on exhales. Sort of like eating meat, oddly enough. And her smell? Cedar wood. But this close, it was stronger. Like... wet cedar wood. Walking through a forest in the rain. The sound of her breathing was as calming as the beat of rain, as well. He wanted to bury his face in her chest and inhale, but he wasn’t sure if that was okay even if she was his marefriend. Wait, marefriend was the wrong term. Girlfriend. Anthem decided to wait and just enjoy this for a while. In their weird friends with benefits type of relationship they had for a while, stuff like this was a rarity. The few times they... ‘cuddled’, it was incidental, one of them having dozed off after release. A few times, Haren had slept against Anthem’s shoulder on long train rides, the few times they went out of town. But this was... unprecedented. He kind of felt guilty that he’d be the only pony that’d get to feel this. Sketch should get a Haren of his own! Anthem’s eyes shot open. He panicked a bit, but he realized, after identifying the scene of the movie, he had only slept for a minute or two. Alright... focus. “Haren?” “Mmn?” Anthem tried to shift, but stopped once he remembered his position. It was a little frustrating, but given a choice, he’d always pick this. “I wanna...” He bit his lip and exhaled. What was he going to say? “I mean I...” “Hmm?” She tapped his chest with her talon as a weird sign of patience. Kind of telling him to pace himself. Must be a griffin thing. “Are we just gonna ignore all this?” A long quiet ensued. The only sound was the film, but neither was listening. “What do you mean.” “Nothing’s changing,” he stated. It made sense to him, what it meant. He could only hope Haren’s intuition was still working. Another silence. Suddenly, Anthem got whisked up, with an astonishing amount of force. His entire body got flipped into the air, and his legs sprawled out. Involuntarily, Anthem yelped out like a dog as he rotated midair. Anthem used to think he was heavy. He used to think he was strong. He was an earth pony after all. But Haren’s incredible ease of handling him like a sack of potatoes destroyed all of that perception. When she finished posing him like an action figure, she was on top of him, with her talons on either side of his head. She was looking down on him, directly in his eyes, a sultry grin across her features. They spent a precious few seconds just staring at each other. “Civil rights is one thing. This here is something else!” the movie bellowed. “It doesn’t have to,” she assured, digging her talon into his earlobe and messaging it slowly. Anthem struggled to make a response, but he simply stared at her mouth agape. She began to lower her head, and she dragged her body along his as she got lower. It was slow, and as she got to his neck, she began to drag her beak along his chest, sending pings of stimulation down and up his spine, into his brain. He wanted to say something, anything. But everything had stopped. His brain was dead, his limbs were lead. He couldn’t do... anything, Just like everything else. Haren was a drug, and he was an addict. He could never stop as long as she enabled him. He was helpless. “Oh my god.” Haren’s eyes went wide as terror entered her features. “Oh my god, oh god, oh god.” Anthem blinked a couple of times. After the initial confusion of her use of the word ‘god’ which he had to quickly remind himself of the cultural differences, he wracked his brain to figure out why she suddenly looked so scare. “Holy shit.” Haren pulled herself off of him and clawed back to her side of the sofa. “Oh god I’m so sorry, I...” She got into a fetal position on her side, and looked away. She ran her talons down her face, nearly poking her eyes, and almost drawing blood off her cheeks. “I didn’t, I didn’t know!” Anthem scratched the back of his head, utterly flummoxed. “Haren, what-” Anthem froze as he felt a warm moisture on his cheek. He rose his hoof and touched his cheek. Water. He followed the trail that lead up to his eye, where he displaced the well of water that had built up at the corner of his eye. Tears? He was crying? Oh. Oh no. This is bad. She thinks that... “I’m just...oh fuck I’m sorry, I’m just gonna go to bed, I- forget about it okay, don’t worry about this, fuck.” Haren squeezed her talons and kicked off the sofa she took a few steps, before... No. Enough preparing. Enough uncertainty. This ends now. Anthem shot his foreleg out and caught Haren before she could continue. “Stop.” Haren obeyed, craning her neck and looking him in the eye. There was a lone, solitary tear in her eye. Small. It broke his heart. This was the first time he had seen her cry. They stared at each other. “What...” Haren wiped the tear from her eye. “What’s wrong, Anthem?” I’m just gonna say it. Just stop thinking. It’s worked for me this far, fuck. “Haren... I... I’m scared.” Anthem retracted into himself and looked away. “I... I don’t know what to do.” “I... what do you mean?” “I mean, I don’t know what to do!” he yelled, his hooves hitting the cushion of the sofa. “For the first time in my life, I don’t know what to do.” Haren froze and looked at the floor, and then returned to the sofa. She was close to him, but she dare not touch him. “I’ve always known what to do. Due, in part, to you, honestly. Everything was so fucking simple. I always had you to back me up. I... always leaned on you, for everything. But... you got me that movie. ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. And after that... everything fucking changed. And I was so goddamn scared that...” Anthem’s tears began to fall again. “That things were gonna change. That- that... I was just gonna throw you away.” “What? Anthem, why-” “Because I’ve done it before! So many times! Every Time I did it with a mare I threw them away, and you’re not that! And, and, that’s all I thought about you for the past weeks. You became a body to me. You weren’t Haren any more.” Anthem looked at her and saw her face contorted into horror. A blind, bitter horror, the kind you feel encountering the unknown, something you can’t understand. “And I just- I couldn’t handle it!” he yelled. “You were such a solid in my life! Such a... guarantee! When that happened, the rug got pulled from under me. You turned into something else. I didn’t know how important you were, until what you were was threatened.” He got up and held Haren by the arms. “I need you, Haren. I always treated you like Haren, and Haren wasn’t something I had sex with!” Haren opened her beak... but nothing came out. How could she speak at a time like this? It was impossible. “Haren, I need you. I want you. Everything’s uncertain and I hate it. I need stability, I don’t like anything new! But I want you there, always!” Anthem got closer to Haren’s face, his eyes intense and heavy. “I need you to tell me.” “Tell you what, Anthem?” she asked, steeling herself and grasping his forelegs, as if it would fortify herself. “What do you want me to tell you?” “I know now, that I can’t expect everything will stay the same. Change, it needs to happen. And I know, now, that ponies change. People change. But I need you to promise me one thing.” Anthem hung his head, but not far enough for his eyes to be taken off of her. “I need you to promise me you won’t change.” Anthem shook his head violently, but Haren appeared unphased. Her expression remained determined. “I don’t mean, you. I know people change, to ask you that would be unfair. I mean... we won’t change. That no matter what happens... we will always be together. I’m not... me without you. I’m not complete. It took me four years to realize it, but... I love you. And that’s not new. That’s from day one.” Anthem didn’t realize he was out of breath. He panted, and held onto her shoulders to keep from falling. All the energy was drained from his limbs. His knees were shocking, and his lips were twitching. After a while, he laughed. “I’m being such a fucking chick about this, huh?” “Anthem, you’re an idiot.” Anthem’s eyes shot open. He looked up and earnestly asked, “Why?” “I love you too, you stupid shit.” “Oh.” They stared for around a minute, content in absorbing each other for a few moments. And then they laughed. A hearty guffaw. They began to cry for completely different reasons. “I’m,” Anthem started, taking a few deep breaths. “I’m still scared.” “I know,” Haren said, deciding to leave it at that. “Could you...” Anthem shufflled, “Could you kiss me?” “Jesus, Anthem,” Haren exclaimed, holding his neck and his cheek with either talons. It felt so strange, she was able to cradle and hold him with her flexible digits that hooves never would’ve been able to do. “You are being a chick about this.” “I want you to...” Haren’s beak hit his snout as he spoke, and he closed his eyes. “I want you to stay with me. No matter what.” “I surrendered myself to you the day we met, Anthem.” “I want you...” Anthem ran his hooves down her chest and trailed down her stomach. He envied her talons, he wanted to feel more. He couldn’t wait to bury his muzzle back into there. “I want you in my bed, Haren.” “Joke’s on you, I sleep in your bed all the time when you’re not here.” He couldn’t help but chuckle. Things really wasn’t going to change. Maybe nothing really ever did change. “Damn everyone else, Haren. It’s only you I ever needed. I’m sorry i was so blind to that before.” “Seeing you break the fuck apart was good enough consolation, Anthem.” Haren finally pulled him in, causing him to grunt in mild, pleasant surprise. Her tongue was so far down his throat, so quickly, he nearly choked on it. Ecstasy was the only way to describe how he felt. Her tongue was massively different than a mare’s. It was pointed and thick at the base, the complete opposite of a pony’s. But it was flexible, deliberate, and fast. She was able to do exactly what she wanted with it, with no limitations. Anthem couldn’t even feel her beak, her mouth was open so wide, but after a few moments of wrestling her tongue, he was able to escape her grasp and explore a bit of her. He ended up licking a bit of her outside beak and trading between that and the inside of her throat. Literally her throat, it was further up because of her anatomy and it appeared she had no gag reflex. It was messy. Carnal. Minutes passed before they finally separated. They both panted heavily, doofy smiles on their faces. “Okay.” Haren breathed, putting a talon on her forehead. “Okay,” Anthem mimicked with more resolution. “I can’t believe this is happening,” she laughed, rubbing her neck with her palm and stretching it out. “What do you mean?” “Well if this ever did happen, I thought I’d be the one being a sniveling wreck at your hooves, asking for like, a pity fuck.” Anthem finally looked like his regular self again, tired and lazy, but full of life. A half cocked grin plastered onto his muzzle. He arched his brow and snickered. “Haha, you’re too strong for that.” “Anthem?” Haren whispered into his ear, her beak tapping the inside. “Yeah?” “Let’s go to bed.” In the night, the only two things Haren could hear was the ticking of a clock she forgot Anthem had, and the wonderboy himself. His heart, beating to the rhythm of her own, and his long breaths calming, therapeutic. She was going to have to remember to burn that clock to shut it the fuck up. She had one talon strategically on his chest, feeling it raise up and down in sync with his breathing. The other talon was wrapped around his side and on his stomach. Low, low stomach. Her face was half buried in Anthem’s mane, with her beak resting on his ear like a pencil. At some point her tail wrapped around his leg, though that thing had a mind of its own. In the end, Haren didn’t believe what happened. She didn’t believe that Anthem would be that broken up, and she sure as hell didn’t believe he’d say the dreaded words first, I love you. But the one thing she straight up could not accept, was the thought that she was stronger than him. That just wasn’t true, plain and simple. She may have seemed sure of herself, or more confident than him, but he did what she couldn’t: confront what she was afraid of. Truth is, she was nothing without him. Just an empty husk of a woman, with nothing to live for. If she had just talked to him sooner, all of this would have been avoided. The sun slipped through the cracks in the blinds. It had begun to rise. But it worked out. Despite it all, it worked out. And now, the stallion she adored was in her arms, and he made her promise she’d never leave. It was everything she wanted for the past four years. She was going to have to thank Sketch, later. Anthem sharply inhaled when the sun reached his eyes, and stretched before realizing he was trapped under the full force of the spooning. He turned his head and met Haren’s eyes. They need not speak. But Haren didn’t care. “Mornin’ hotshot.” “Hey,” he breathed, his face becoming flush. He made an effort to rotate his whole body around, which Haren allowed, until they were face to face. His forelegs were propped up and extended past her shoulders. He could clop his hooves behind her head if he wanted. After a pause, he dove his face into her chest, making an audible thud and nibbling on of Haren’s feathers. She began to laugh and graped at his mane, pretending to struggle and faux trying to rip him off. After a few moments of wrestling around, he let go, and looked up at her, with big puppy dog eyes. “I’ve been wanting to do that for a while now.” Haren put on that fake southern accent again. “You haff to worn mah when ya do somethin’ like that, suga-cube!” He chuckled, rotating onto his back, with Haren following close behind. This wasn’t the end. Haren knew that. But at least, for now... This story wasn’t looking like a tragedy.