Anon snores soundly in his bed, dreaming sweet nothings, and cozying up with his warm sheets. Not a sound in the world could wake him up, he had been out all day walking around after all; a thing he isn't very accustomed to. Poor, tired, lazy Anon, if the sunlight blaring in his eyes can't wake him up, then what on Celestia's green Equestria could get him to-
"Anon!" A high pitched screech yells his name right outside his house; Anon is none the wiser to this distraction though, he just lazily sleeps, ignoring any and all commotion.
Pinkie huffs to herself, she's had to of yelled his name for the hundredth time by now. Blowing her hair out of her face, she walks around to see if he has by chance left something around his home unlocked.
"No... nope... nah-uh.... nothing?" Checking all the windows that surround the house, not one of them are willing to budge. She heads back to where this whole mess started; checking under the door mat, not even a spare key is found. "You make this a pretty hard hangout date Nonie." She frustratingly talks to herself, feeling everywhere for something, anything-
"Oh." She turns the handle of the door, finding it to be left unbolted. "Maybe I should've tried this first." She says in hindsight.
"Hello!? Nonie!?" She calls around. "Don't tell me he's still-" Entering his room, Pinkie finds a loud, snoring Anon, dreaming his sweet nothings. A part of her doesn't want to wake him up, she finds him incredibly cute just lying asleep.
"Oh well." She bites the sheet, pulling it off with rigorous force. "Rise and shine sleepy-Nonie!" She teases.
"Huh, not even a budge?" Seeing Anon still deep in his sleep and comfortably so, she makes it a point to accept her quick defeat and not to bother him anymore. She walks up to the bed slowly, a soft grin worn on her face. First her front hooves, then her back; slowly and cautiously she climbs right next to her special human, lifting his arm up with her head, she lays it delicately over her, acting as a wonderful blanket.
"Night, night, Nonie." She closes her eyes, drifting off into the sweet nothings of dreamland with him.
-------*-------
The faint blur of sunlight casts over Anon's eyes, he'd like to pay little heed to the annoying. dastardly light; him still feeling worn out from yesterday's hefty endeavor. But, he can't just sleep in all day, after all, Pinkie Pie is right next to him.
"Ah, Pinks..." Anon feels her head, oddly, it seems a lot less poofy then usual. Slowly he opens his eyes, the blurriness of the world fading away as reality comes to. But maybe it seems a bit more... pink?
"Pinkie? W-Wait a minute, Pinkie?!" His adrenaline kicks into full gear, panicking and befuddled as to how she got in his house, and for how long she'd been there. She sleeps soundly on his arm, her eyes fluttering up and down at the sound and movement of Anon.
She lifts her head up, her tired face looking around the room before landing on the ever surprised human.
"Oh *yawn* hey Nonie." She smiles at his looming presence, her eyes full of haze and not entirely fully opened.
"Pinkie. What are you doing in my room?" Anon emphasizes her name, wanting an understanding for the reason to all this.
"Weelll~" She starts, her eyes circling around as she begins her explanation. She tells him that she tried for a little bit at his door, knocking, yelling his name etc. and ultimately found his door to be unlocked-
"I tried waking you up, but you were really sleepy; so, I did the only thing I thought of, waiting for you to wake up!" She says with an optimistic attitude.
"By sleeping in my bed?" Anon tells her as if it that's a pretty weird thing to do, but Pinkie just acknowledges his words, staring at him with the same happy smile. "But Pinkie, it's early in the morning, you could've came late-" She points her hoof at his clock, showing him just how late it actually is. "Oh. I was out cold, huh."
"Yup~!" She nods enthusiastically. Anon gets a better look at her, noticing something off.
"Pinkie, your mane, it's... really straight?" He examines her hair confused at the bewildering sighting.
"I know that." She responds casually.
"How come?" Anon asks.
"Well, that's easy-" She says to him as if he's already under the impression to why she looks so different. "You said you wanted to get the to know 'the real me', right?"
"Uh... I mean yeah I-"
"Here I am!" She winks. "This is the first step anyway, I thought it'd be the most practical though, my mane wasn't always so poofed up after all." Pinkie inquires. "What'da ya think?"
"Honestly, it suits you. You look good- like that." He fumbles his words nervously, Pinkie laughs teasingly, finding it charming how embarrassed he gets with giving her compliments.
"Thank you Nonie! Really, I didn't think you would've liked it truth be told, but my expectations were blindsided wonderfully!"
"Why wouldn't I? It's kind of hard for you not to look so adorable anyways." Anon comfortably states, throwing Pinkie completely off base. She takes the words in gratefully, a blush forming around her cheeks. Anon chuckles, getting back at Pinkie for putting him on the spot. "I do mean it though, you're one of a kind Pinks, that's for sure." He pinches her cheek playfully.
"Hey, Nonie?" Pinkie eyes Anon up and down through the veil of his hand on her face, dubiously thinking of what to say. "You aren't wearing your 'cloth-wear'?" She tilts her head, her mouth to the side. Anon pauses for a brief moment, looking down at his body.
"O-Oh, I uh- don't wear a shirt when I sleep." He confesses in this bizarre situation. "Can you stop doing that?!" Pinkie keeps looking helplessly up and down at his body, fully examining it.
"What? Is there something wrong?" Pinkie asks without a care in the world.
"Y-Yes there's something- I mean no, but yes!" Pinkie doesn't understand, her face making it obvious about that. "P-Pinkie, what are you-"
"It's really soft." She feels his bare chest, no hint taken that this is extremely embarrassing. "Is a 'hugh-mang' supposed to feel like this?" She genuinely wonders.
"U-Uh..." Anon's speech is halted, unsure of what to think of this rapid development, he doesn't stop her from touching him however.
Pinkie puts her face up to his body, rubbing the side of her cheek on his soft skin.
"Ok, this is a little too much." Anon grabs Pinkie, pulling her away from him, Pinkie looks confused.
"Huh? Anon, what did I do?" She wonders.
"Nothing really... I know how you are and all Pinks but maybe it's not the most appropriate time to be all... 'touchy-feely.'"
Pinkie frowns, looking displeased. "But I thought it was fine." She says. "I mean, isn't this what partners do in relationships?" She thinks to herself, all the while curiously wondering if Anon has the answer.
"I guess it is but-"
"We are... you know, stallion and mare-friend... aren't we?" Pinkie shyly asks, rubbing her hoof around anxiously on the floor.
Anon thinks about Pinkie's words; it's only been one day and already she considers him much more then just a friend.
"I just think we're moving a bit too fast, that's all Pinks." He tries to reassure her.
"Really?" Pinkie looks saddened by this.
"Maybe we can just go a little slower, take things one step at a time, you know, like you said?" Pinkie stares at Anon for a couple seconds, nodding her head defeatedly with his sentiment. "Pinks." Anon says her name, feeling bad if he might've upset her. Sighing to no one in particular, he holds out his hands, Pinkie's mood sparks up a little with this notion.
"You're ok with it?" She asks, unsure. Anon nods; Pinkie comes close to him slowly, her face again pressed up to his skin. She revels in the intimacy. "Thank you, Nonie."
-------*-------
"No, no, Nonie, not like that!" Pinkie grabs the spoon from Anon, showing him how to properly stir. "More like this, see? It's better if you stir slower rather then faster because then it'll turn out much more delicious!" She happily demonstrates.
"I'm not sure if that makes much sense Pinkie; shouldn't you stir harder so everything mixes better?" Anon rebuts.
"No way!" Pinkie defends her stance, her tone lashing out like Anon said something horrific. "If you do that, the pancakes will taste bitter and all ewwie; we need them to taste great, put all our love into it! Stuff like that." She tells him while stirring the food passionately. Rather Anon can believe what she's saying or not, he can't deny that she takes cooking very seriously, something he finds charming.
Although she said she'd help Anon with cooking tonight, she all but steals the kitchen right in front of him. He doesn't mind though, watching Pinkie work her craft is always a site to behold, almost like she's putting on a cooking show for all the ponies to see; just without cameras, a stage, and all the usual professional talk.
"I wonder." Anon speaks up, catching Pinkie's attention. "Do you wear your hair up so it doesn't get in the food? Like a makeshift hairnet that never comes down?"
"Honestly, I've never thought about it like that." She tells him, her eye looking to the side of her flattened mane.
"Huh, is that so? Is there any specific reason you always have your mane puffed up? This is the first time since I've known you that you've ever had it down, and you told me a little bit ago it was just naturally like that when you were a filly, why the change?" Anon's interest is peaked, if it wasn't for his groggy and tired behavior earlier, with all the quirky stuff Pinkie stuff did to add on to it, certainly he would've asked sooner.
"It isn't anything too exciting, I just think my hair looks more- I'm not sure..."
"Cute?" Anon suggests.
"No, I wouldn't say that; approachable?" She concludes with an open-ended stance, indecisive of which word would fit best.
"'Approachable?' Like, ponies are more likely to come up and talk to you?"
"Yeah I guess... Don't get me wrong, I like my hair both ways, I just think the poofy-ness looks more happy; like a party balloon." Pinkie explains her reasoning like an analogy.
"That is something." Anon finishes, having nothing else to add.
"What do you think, Nonie? Do you think my mane looks more sad like this?" Pinkie spreads the batter out on a pan, making conversation as she does so.
"I mean I'll admit it's a little jarring for sure, but sad? I don't know, you look fine either way, you're still the same Pinkie Pie at the end of the day." Anon confidently assures her.
"I'm glad you think that Nonie." It warms her heart to no end to hear him say things like that.
-------*-------
"Weelll?" Pinkie stares as Anon takes his first bite, eagerly awaiting the results of her labor.
"These are amazing Pinks! How do you even get a pancake to taste this good?" Anon takes in the pink mare's cooking, never ceasing to surprise him with how wonderful her food turns out.
"I told you Nonie, love goes a long way, everything needs it after all." Pinkie puts her hoof on the table, propping her head up with it's weight, she looks to Anon's face. "Everything needs it." She mutters to herself, thinking of something upsetting in her mind, she frowns in the silence of her thoughts wrapping her in.
"I guess you were right after all. Heck, I think I should start taking a few pointers from you for now on." Anon attempts to raise her mood, he thinks just how quickly she went from 'happy joyful mare' to melancholy. "You know you don't have to hide anything from me Pinks." Her face lights up, shocked that Anon suspects somethings up. "What's holding you back?" His question acts like a void to her. What is holding her back?
"I don't want to act so sad around you; wouldn't it be better if I was just happy all the time?" Pinkie proposes, she knows full well he wants her to spill her emotions out, she just wishes he wouldn't.
"But that's not you, is it Pinks?" Anon hones in on her. "In any case, I can tell now when you aren't doing alright, I can't just sit there while you hide yourself from the world." He locks his hand on her hoof. "We're partners now, right?" He gives her a warm smile, she returns the same but something doesn't feel right; is he seeing hurt? Pain? She appears to shelter herself so well from others, even from Anon, but that magic seems to only last for so long.
Pinkie moves her hoof away from Anon's hand, she squirms around in the tiny chair, debating to herself how she's going to tell Anon.
"When I was younger... me and my sisters we'd- we would always make things together; to be honest, I was never gifted at cooking. I was just any other mare growing up in Equestria, a normal family, a normal house, and there was me, a small filly without a care in the world." Anon takes note at Pinkie's soft spoken tone, her grin matching the bittersweet-ness of the inflection she's giving off.
"One of my sisters, Limestone, would allllways nag on me when I messed up; 'not like this Pinkie, like this!'" Pinkie displays her sisters voice, her representation sounding more gruff and harsh, her demeanor lights up just by remembering her sisters grouchy attitude. "She would do that with all of us though, she cared, she really did; as grumpy and cranky should be to the three of us, she was always pushing me to do better, to make me strive to do things, she knew I couldn't do on my own. I love her for that." Pinkie's eyes trail off while telling Anon about Limestone, reminiscing quietly about her younger years.
"She was the one who helped me become better at what I do now. Like I said, I really wasn't gifted at anything, so to get a chance to be able to perfect my craft... they're moments I wish I could relive everyday." Pinkie finishes with a touching sentiment. From where Anon is sitting, Pinkie looks like she can see her memories so clear, almost like she's there.
"I never knew you had any siblings, Pinks." Anon chimes in, captivated by a story he'd never expect out of Pinkie, one with passion, woven in nostalgia.
"I don't get to see them often, or at least, as often as I'd like." She confesses. "I do love them though, I'm sure they're doing just fine- without me being there." Pinkie mopes, she wishes she could still be there for them, still talk about things only she and her sisters would understand.
"How do you feel with not being able to see them?" Anon questions with sincerity, he feels for Pinkie, something he'd never thought he would ever be saying; but he's so glad she's opening herself up.
"Honestly Nonie I-" Pinkie looks at the half eaten pancake, her mind again thinking about when her three sisters would always begin silly cooking projects. "In the moment it doesn't even seem like memories. The next day would come and I'd always be there to see the sunrise, I never thought how my life would've turned out, and I didn't care, everyday was a new adventure for me; I wish I carried that same carefree attitude growing up but- somedays, it just gets so hard going through the morning without my sisters around."
Anon relates to Pinkie's story, when he first arrived here, he would tell her about his life growing up. All the things in his childhood, she would just sit down with him and listen; it was a blessing. Never was he able to properly convey his feelings into words so accurately, so comfortably, like he had towards Pinkie.
"I know it isn't easy Pinks, going on everyday, thinking about the loved ones that you wish you could see just one more time." Anon and Pinkie sit adjacent from each other, they're only a few feet away, yet their lives reach further then one another could ever realize.
Pinkie's eyes light up, she looks dutifully at Anon. "I was supposed to be working today actually." She bluntly states, Anon doesn't quite understand the quick change in subject or the reason for her saying this.
"You... were?" He's not sure where she's going with this, but he humors her anyway. "Did you know you were supposed to be working when you told me last night?"
Pinkie nods, a trickle of guilt setting in. "I have to be honest with you, when you asked me out a couple days ago at the bakery, I was so happy- I felt like the most special mare alive. The whole rest of the day I was planning, preparing, on how to spend the whole day with you. 'Where would we go? What would we do?' It ultimately didn't matter, but it was a great feeling."
"But surely I'm not the only one who's asked you to go places; your friends have to, right?"
She nods again. "The difference with them is- they're just that, my friends. It may sound like I'm not appreciative, but I do care about them a lot; but you aren't just my friend, are you?" Pinkie states with an implication that Anon means something more to her. "From the day you first arrived here, to the kiss we shared yesterday-" She blushes, her rosy cheeks wholly taking in the memory. "I really have been trying to tell you how I've felt, Nonie. For a long time, I never thought you saw me like that, I didn't think anypony could."
"But that isn't not true Pinkie." Anon refutes, he doesn't want her to believe she's anything less.
"I want to believe that Anon, I really, really do." She desperately voices back, like maybe saying it aloud will some how convince her she does. Pinkie looks down, ashamedly. "My heart hurt a lot back when you told me those things at AJ's. It hurt me more then, admittedly, it probably should. I know it's selfish for me to say that- I don't deserve any of that attention from you regardless- from anybody, so, I should've just walked it off like nothing. I- I couldn't though. I wasn't strong enough to shake off my feelings." Pinkie blames herself for how she acted, like she was the sole cause for all the negative events that's happened over the course of the past week.
"No, Pinkie. You have every right to be upset. I was scared of how to approach you after what Rose said to me. Really, I thought that you'd never see me that way." Anon chuckles, trying to liven up the mood, he stops short when he sees how devastated Pinkie's reaction to all this is. "But I should've reacted differently, I know that now... Pinks." Anon gets up from his chair, walking around to Pinkie's side, she watches him as he sits down on his knees, a little bit below her level.
Anon moves her long, sweetly fragranced, hair out of the way; his hand brushing the strands of her hair considerately and with a care he wants to solely express to her.
"What's the reason you're doing this Nonie? Did I... did I go to far again?" Instead of smiling she frowns disapprovingly of herself. "I got you to feel sad again, haven't I?" Pinkie's defeatist tone rubs off on Anon. "Nonie, I'm sorry-"
A quick bolt of warmth befalls the pink mare's sides, Anon holds onto her for dear life. "N-Non-"
"I don't know how I can get you to see that you mean so much more- I don't know how I can-" Anon sighs, a tinge of pain creeps up in his body. "I will make it a mission, to prove to you how much I care about you; how much worse this world would be without you here. Pinkie Pie, please let me show you how much your worth."
Pinkie notices Anon's vocals filled with anguish, tears affectionately find their way on Pinkie's fur, Anon's tears. "What does he mean?" She wonders. "Nonie, you don't have to show me anything, I don't deserve it." She wants to tell him, she can never understand why someone would want to go out of their way for her; just a one trick pony, never cracking, never breaking, only happy, party mare.
Pinkie lays her hoof on Anon's head, petting his head as he stays as he his. "I told you I was supposed to be working today, but when you asked me out again... I couldn't resist saying no. Being with you is the happiest I've genuinely ever been in a long time. Me and my sisters would always do things together, and it was so special to me. Now, I can experience that happiness again, everyday, as long as you're by my side, Nonie."