Ristretto sipped his cup of coffee, clutching the large cup for warmth as the chill bit into his coat. His attention focused on looking at nothing and everything at the same time. He sat on the bench next to the window, the perfect view of the streets of downtown Canterlot. The small house designed for three hadn’t had proper heating installed, and Ristretto had just finished scheduling an installation. In the meantime, he was getting by with the warmth of his jumper and the gentle heat radiating from his drink.
Hazell was at school, he didn’t need to work until tomorrow, the house was clean, the yard was neat, and the shopping was done. All there was to do was sit, and think. He sat there and reflected on a stallion he couldn’t quite remove from his mind in his quiet thoughts no matter how hard he tried.
He slowly blew at the wisps of steam emanating slowly from the black coffee as he sat dreary eyed looking upon the ponies down below. As he let the warm tendrils once again return to it’s slow rise from the cup, he noticed a couple holding each other close slowly begin their journey across his window from the street. Dreary eyed he felt a pang in his chest and quickly looked away from the window.
[i[knock… knock
Ristretto’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the front door. He hadn’t got overly close enough to his work colleagues enough to warrant a visit. The mail pony arrived Wednesday. There was no rubbish collection until next week, he didn’t expect anyone to visit. Unless…
Ristretto’s heart raced, his throat dried, his stomach flipped as he approached the door tentatively.
Could it…
no... that’s silly. He shook his head, but couldn’t remove the slight inkling from his head.
He slowly put his hoof on the handle and began turning the door handle. The door opened wider and wider. He called almost picture that orange coloured stallion, standing at the doorway. Yet all the door revealed was an empty porch.
Ristretto’s heart sank, emotion he couldn’t quite give a name to attacking his chest as he stared out. Empty, minus the small takeaway cup lying at the front of the door.
Damn litterbugs… Ristretto thought as he picked up the cup to place in the bin inside.
Shutting the door, Ristretto moved back into the kitchen, yet just as he drew eyes with the bin, something hit the floor behind him. He spun around slowly. Something had fallen out of the cup. Yet, Ristretto could have sworn it was empty when he picked it up from the porch… which was odd, the small vessel was clean, like nopony had drunk from it.
He picked up the paper that had fallen from… the cup…? It had to be from the cup.
Unfolding the piece of paper, Ristretto dropped the cup on the floor, his body feeling weak as he read the name on the bottom. It was under the label! He thought as he began from the top.
Dear Ristretto,
I thought I would return the favour. When you did the same thing to me that day, I didn’t know what to think. In fact, I think my entire motto for when I was with you was “I don’t know what to think.” Me not knowing what to think? It was crazy, to not know what exactly to do, my entire life had been spent thinking. But as it went on, I started to not anymore, I couldn’t imagine a time or pony that got me to stop, but you did it. And when you left me, once again; I didn’t know what to think. So I quit doing that, and I started feeling. That lead me here. If it is not too late, I want to see you again, Ristretto. The Crystal Empire was so big and crowded before I met you, and now you have left, it’s emptier than ever. Tonight at twilight, I will be at the cafe at the end of the street, I hope I see you there.
Yours Truly,
Sunburst.
Ristretto walked along the twilight infused street, one tentative hoof step at a time. He felt a million emotions rushing through his chest making it ache as he got closer to the corner café. He could feel the cool breeze rustle the fur on his back. As soon as the doughnut shop came into sight, he instantly felt his heart drop into his stomach. Nerves broke through him, and he stopped in the street, looking, either way, to see if anypony was looking his way. He resumed his pace even slower than before. Every step sent a pulse of nerves through his body as he approached.
He crept up to the well-lit shop, looking through the window both hoping and fearing the presence of brilliant orange fur somewhere inside.
After scanning through the window, his heart once again took another jumping session inside his stomach as he spotted Sunburst’s familiar shape, nervously clutching a coffee of his own. Ristretto didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to make it awkward and go for a hug, but he also didn’t want to awkwardly just stand there and wait for something to happen.
Maybe go up and order? No, I’ll break down if I feel his eyes on me nervously waiting for me to turn around. I could tap him on the shoulder and wait for him to stand up, or I cou- HE’S TURNING THIS WAY! Ristretto froze in place, petrified as Sunburst locked his eyes on the barista.
Sunburst slowly turned around in his seat, Ristretto’s legs felt wobbly as he shrunk away from the glass giving a tiny wave. Sunburst returned the gesture. Ristretto felt tears trying to escape his eyes. Quickly wiping his eyes with his hoof, he opened the door to the café, stepping inside.
Inside he could now see Doughnut Joe slipping into the back as he returned his attention to the gut-wrenching emotions going through his body. Ristretto could not keep his eyes off the pony he hadn’t seen since he moved to Canterlot.
Neither knew what to say.
Both stood there awkwardly as Sunburst nervously started ripping at his coffee label. Ristretto gave a little chuckle.
“Y-you st… still, do that?” he asked, breaking the tension.
“Huh, I guess I do…” Sunburst trailed off, “I don’t think about it though.”
Ristretto took a hesitant seat, awkwardly sitting on the end of his tail as he sat down yet not daring to lift up to remove it.
“H-Hi…” Ristretto said quietly, Sunburst straining to hear the words.
“Hi,” Sunburst smiled, letting it quickly drop from his face as he looked into his half-finished coffee, “I suppose you didn’t expect to see me.”
Ristretto’s sad eyes returned to his face. “No, I g… guess n-not.”
The two sat in silence for a long time, trying desperately to try to break the awkward silence. Finally, Sunburst spoke up, feeling a rush of nerves as he did so, “How is Hazel doing?”
Ristretto could feel his chest tightening and his intestine created knots. Sitting there in dumb silence as he asked himself how to speak. After a small eternity, he finally managed to build up the courage to respond to the question.
“Yeah, he is d-doin, doing well. H-He loves it,” Ristretto stuttered, putting on a genuine smile as he talked to Sunburst. “What ab… about Flurry Heart?” he asked in return.
Sunburst let out a weary smile. “She is doing alright, a bit too alright. She keeps going the way she is, and I’ll be out of the job.” He smiled. Sunburst looked down at his coffee, just managing to rip the last of the glue from the label, leaving the takeaway coffee cup bare.
As if Ristretto had read his thoughts, the barista finally worked up the courage to keep going with the conversation, “That’s amazing. Y-you’re an amaz… amazing t-teacher Sunburst. But…y-you didn’t come here to make small talk, did you...” Ristretto replied, looking down in fear of what was to come.
“Well, no. I guess I should explain why I am sitting in the middle of a coffee shop halfway across Equestria.” Sunburst had not felt nervous about meeting Ristretto until it happened, the moment he had been dreading since he had made his decision. He could feel every possible ailment hit him at once as he began to open his mouth. Closing again and regaining control over his breath he paused and let his mind mull over what he wanted to say. He had prepared it, yet as soon as he had seen Ristretto walk through the doors, his entire speech flew right out of his head.
Silence filled the room again. Sunburst continued to rip at the label subconsciously as he thought about what to say. The soft paper was slowly falling into pieces in his magic. It made him feel easier as if he had a form of control in his actions.
Sunburst returned Ristretto’s solemn expression. “right…” he trailed off, finally, after one gulp he managed to continue, “I don’t…” He took a breath, thinking about his every word, “I, came here because...” he paused. Looking deep into Ristretto’s eyes as what he finally wanted to say came him. “I came here because I did a whole lot of thinking. I thought about work. I thought about my home.” Sunburst scratched the back of his head.
“Y-your home is in the Crystal Empire. I.. I don’t wa-want to take that away from you,” Ristretto looked down, his cheeks getting warm. He began to slide his hooves away from the table when he felt something warm stop them. He looked back at the table to see Sunburst’s hooves over his, looking up Sunburst had a hard look. His brilliant green eyes were shining directly into his own.
“Where I live, and my home are two different things. Ever since that night we went out, my home has been right here,” Sunburst reached across the table and gently put his hoof over Ristretto’s heart. The barista looked down at the gesture, his mind slowly processing what Sunburst had just said.
Ristretto slowly stood up and came around the table, his mind blank at what he had just heard; all he wanted to do was hold Sunburst once again. The Crystaller got up and threw Ristretto into a deep hug. The smaller pony smushed his hooves against Sunburst’s chest as Sunburst wrapped around him.
“What about your job?” Ristretto asked, trying to come up with anyway things would be different. He loved Sunburst, but the last thing he wanted was for him to sacrifice himself in order for them to be together.
“it’s just a job. Cadence offered me a new one in Canterlot if I choose to leave,” Sunburst replied, squeezing tighter as his mind was focused on nothing else other than the little body he was holding tightly.
“And Starlight?” Ristretto shifted uncomfortably, feeling the hard seat bite into his back.
“Canterlot is closer to Ponyville than the Crystal Empire. It will be even easier to see her.”
Ristretto stood there mulling over every angle. “What about your house?”
“More like my hobble. I’d be happy to get out of there if it means being close to you. We can live nice and close, and maybe one day…”
Both broke the hug, Ristretto looking up at Sunburst in shock. “You really think this will work?” he asked shakily.
Sunburst sighed holding onto Ristretto’s hooves with his own, “I don’t know, but we don’t have to think about that. I’ve never felt what I feel with you right now Ristretto… and I want us to have a chance.”
Ristretto held on tight at the reassuring words being softly spoken into his ears as he flattened them. “Sunburst… I- I’m scared.”
Sunburst stepped back, tilting his head in confusion and looking into Ristretto’s wide weary eyes, “of what?”
“Us… it not working, what other ponies will think. Just stupid things you don’t usually think about.” Ristretto rubbed his leg with his other hoof and looked down at the ground a solemn, pensive look travelling over his face.
A pregnant pause came in between them, nothing but the quiet hum of the refrigerator and Doughnut Joe cleaning something around the corner.
Sunburst thought for a moment before reaching over to Ristretto, slowly putting his hoof under the other pony’s chin, slowly rising it from the ground, their eyes once again meeting, “me too.”
Ristretto frowned and slowly wrapped Sunburst’s hoof on his chin in his own, “What do you mean?” He asked.
“Well, I am scared of those things as well, but we shouldn’t let that stop us.”
After more silence Ristretto pulled away from their embrace, slowly breaking away from their entwined hooves. Sitting back down and sighing, wrapping his hooves around himself. Eventually, he looked up at Sunburst, now sitting down himself.
“Do you have any reservations about all this?” Ristretto asked.
Sunburst took another long moment to answer, “Well… I did at first. But like I said in that letter, I stopped thinking, and I started feeling. Sitting here with you… I-I don’t have a single damned one.” Sunburst gave him a small smile as he pushed his coffee across the table. “It’s getting late. I better head back to my hotel soo-”
Sunburst was cut off by Ristretto flattening his ears and looking down. “Retto? Is everything alright?” he asked tentatively.
“I was just maybe hoping you might wanna stay over at my house tonight for tea… Hazel would need picking up from his friend’s house now, so maybe I could go and you can wait, we can surprise him…” Ristretto trailed off looking up into the taller stallion’s eyes pleadingly.
Sunburst chuckled, smiling widely. “How can I say no to that face.”
The stallions got up from their seat, leaving a healthy tip on the table as they made their way out towards the twilight soaked streets.
“Hazel is gonna f-flip when he sees you by the way,” Ristretto replied after some time in silence.
This caught Sunburst quite off guard, he looked back at Ristretto with interest as they walked along, the cold of the night seeped in under his cloak.
“Really? Why?” he asked as he clutched the cloak tighter to his body in an attempt to keep out the cold.
Ristretto shivered slightly as he saw his companion wrap the cloak tighter to his body. “He really missed you, you turned into a second brother towards the end there.” A sad smile crept over Ristretto’s face, “He kept asking if we could visit you or something.” The smile faded quickly, “This was before I knew… that…”
A silence fell over the walk for a long moment. Finally, Sunburst finished, “You knew that I would come back?”
“Y-yeah…”
“Sun...burst?” Hazel Quill peeped around the corner into the living room, staring intently at the visitor sitting on the couch.
Sunburst quickly looked over to the beady set of eyes peering around the corner. Quickly getting up he made his way towards the colt hiding in the hallway with his big brother by his side.
“Hazel, you’re so big now.” Sunburst leaned down to give Hazel a small hug, when Hazel dove into a tight embrace that caught the stallion by surprise. Sunburst looked up at Ristretto giving him a big smile as the colt squeezed his insides.
“I missed you so much Sunburst!” Hazel tried his best to hug Sunburst as tight as possible, sending a shock through Sunburst’s body, opening his eyes in shock Sunburst managed to pry himself from the bear hug, smiling down at the colt.
“It’s been months Hazel! How’s your new school?” Sunburst asked, walking into the kitchen, Hazel close behind. Just as Hazel passed the older stallion, the Crystaller looked back and gave Ristretto a wink.
At the wink, Ristretto silently snuck towards the door, opened it and slid away. He held his breath as he slowly shut the door, leaving Sunburst and Hazel in the kitchen, the colt oblivious.
“So Ristretto, how is your school going anyway?” Sunburst asked, getting the jug of lemonade he had prepared earlier from the fridge and pouring two of the three glasses on the bench.
“It’s so cool! It’s a whole school that is for writers! There are ponies of all ages and there are other like, general topics and stuff. But I get to do so much writing and stuff.” Hazel jumped into one of the dining chairs and put his hooves on the table, a big smile plastered on his face.
“That’s fantastic Hazel! Made any new friends?” Sunburst set a lemonade next to Hazel on the table. He set the other one next to his own spot and ruffled the colt’s hair as he made his way to his own spot.
“That’s what I was scared of, but it turns out another colt started at the same time as me. I was just hanging out with him just then…” Hazel took a sip of his lemonade, putting it down as a frown spread across his face. “Hey, why haven’t I seen you in so long? I missed you so much,” he asked, looking intently at Sunburst for the answer.
“Well, it got hard for your brother leaving the Crystal Empire. It was hard for me too, I guess, but I actually wanted to talk to you about that.” Sunburst finished, taking a gulp from his glass, shuddering as the overly sugary drink hit his taste buds. ‘Lemonade tasted a lot better as a colt’ he thought, holding back a grimace.
“Me? Why me?” Hazel asked.
“Well you see, you mean a lot to your brother. You know that right?” Sunburst said, leaning forward in his chair.
“Uh huh,” Hazel slowly shook his head with a confused look on his face.
“Well, your brother and I have been talking. A lot of talking, and well… I am thinking about moving here, to be close to you guys.”
Hazel put down his drink and looked back at Sunburst, “Wait… really?”
“Yeah well, before anything happens. I wanted to ask you, because you should have a say. I wanted to ask you that if I do move here, you’d be happy to have me,” Sunburst finished, picking up his drink and forcing down another sip.
“Wait… you’re asking me if you can live here.”
Sunburst nodded and finished his sip. “I am asking if you would have me part of your lives here in Canterlot.”
Hazel sat there for a second, holding onto his lemonade. After a nervous pause he set the glass down, got off his chair and hugged Sunburst tightly. “Our family was pretty small anyway,” the little colt replied.
Sunburst sat there in shock, Hazel’s maturity never ceasing to amaze him. A big smile crept over his face as he returned the hug.
The two sat at the table for half an hour talking about school and Hazel’s life in Canterlot until finally there was a knock at the door. Hazel got up and answered, nearly jumping in surprise at who it was and what they were holding.
“Retto? Where have you been?”
Ristretto turned carefully, revealing two pizza boxes on his back, “Getting dinner!” He exclaimed, a big smile over his face.
“Really? Oh my gosh! Pizza!” Hazel beamed, opening the door wider for Ristretto to enter.
As soon as Sunburst saw Ristretto enter the kitchen he smiled and used his magic to place the pizzas on the table. The barista thanked him and scootched past to get the plates from the kitchen. “How’d it go?” he whispered into Sunburst’s ear as he moved past.
“Better than even I could even hope,” Sunburst quietly whispered back, giving Ristretto a wink.
Sunburst took a single look at the one-pony bed lying in the corner of Ristretto’s room and shook his head as the other stallion slowly pulled on pajamas. Clothing only worn when the blanket wasn’t quite enough to keep away the cold.
“I can tell you right now that isn’t going to work.” Sunburst shrugged, looking over at Ristretto, near tripping over his pants.
“Yeah well you caught me on short notice.” Ristretto manage to huff out as he fell onto the floor. Sunburst used his magic to finish sliding the bottoms on the upside down stallion and held out his hoof for Ristretto.
The topsy turvy stallion could feel his cheeks warm up as he went onto his side and reached up to let Sunburst help him up. “Thanks,” Ristretto blushed harder as they kept holding hoofs after he had been returned to right way up.
“I do have one idea…” Sunburst trailed off, a mischievous smile crept over his face.
One mattress, a sleeping bag and half a ton of bedding later and both were laying on floor in the lounge room, keeping as close as possible, keeping the cold tendrils of the night out of their makeshift spread. Sunburst shifted around, hugging Ristretto tighter, feeling the warm pajamas he was wearing brush against his own fur, the soft fabric feeling like bliss pressed against him.
“So… Hazel really wants me to be apart of your family?” Sunburst whispered, resting his chin on top of Ristretto’s mane, smelling a mix of his own aroma and shampoo.
“He really does Sunburst. He really loves you.”
They both laid there in peaceful silence, nothing but the crickets outside disturbing their quiet embrace. After minutes went by, Sunburst yawned, tickling Ristretto’s mane making him squirm and giggle in the ex-Crystaller’s hooves.
Sunburst smiled feeling Ristretto’s body move around in his embrace. “And… what about, Hazel’s amazing big brother?” he asked, using his magic to tighten the blanket around them.
“Well, I heard that he missed Sunburst to death. The… the one thing that stallion ever regretted about moving away was leaving him behind.”
If it were possible, Sunburst would have found a way to tighten their hug as both began to truly feel fatigue begin to hit their heavy eyes. Yet, right until the point where he heard Ristretto finally began to drift into sleep, he thought. Thought deep and hard, how he never wanted this moment to end. Yet, eventually he realised it didn’t matter. Whether this moment came or went, there are going to be many more just like it in his future. A smile crept over him again as he thought about them, all the moments they would share. Yet, the thinking didn’t burden him. For no matter how much thinking he did, it couldn’t take away the feeling he had felt ever since he received that letter.
“Love you Ristretto,” he whispered, drifting off to sleep himself.
Little did he know the stallion held tight in his embrace had been far from sleep, the goofiest grin reaching his eyes as he felt Sunburst’s body sag around him.
“Love you too, Sunburst,” Ristretto whispered back.