Chapter Text
This was a beautiful sunny day. However, your Mommies decided that it’s time for you to join your sister in learning alchemy and potions and so there was nothing that you could do but comply.
For eight year old to stay inside, brewing potions and hiding from neighbours, wasn’t as exciting as to go outside and have some fun with your favourite playmate and neighbour – Cove Holden.
He wasn’t here for long, less than two months actually, but you could already tell that he was a special boy and someone you will want to spend more time with in the future.
You grumpily walked into the basement only to stop in amazement – there he was, Cove Holden, boy you had just been thinking about.
Mommy noticed you and gestured you to come over and take your sit.
“Cove’s dad decided that he is old enough to learn alchemy with you two, I agreed to tutor him as well. Hope you don’t mind?”
Don’t mind? Of course you didn’t mind! You were ecstatic!
With a skip in your step you quickly took your place at the table near Cove.
“Hi, Cove.”
He smiled at you.
“Hi, ___.”
You were happy and not even an entire lecture, on how you should be extremely careful when combining newt’s eyes and unicorn’s horn dust in one potion, because it can lead to an explosion, could ruin your good mood.
You looked up from the book you were reading and saw Mom standing at the bottom of the stairs.
“Lani.”
“Yes, Pam?” Mommy came up to Mom.
“This is Mrs. Williams. She is waiting in the living room. She said that you were supposed to make her special brew.”
“Oh, I almost forgot this. Can you look after children, I will be right back.” Mommy kissed Mom on the cheek.
“Yes, of course. Just don’t take too long.”
“Of course.” Mommy looked at all of you. “And you, behave.”
Upon receiving a promise to behave properly she left. Mom took her chair and sat in front of you.
“Just because Mom doesn’t know anything about magic doesn’t mean you get to laze away and do nothing. Go on, I am sure you have a lot to do.”
With combined sighs you all went back to each doing your own thing.
Not even a minute passed when you heard weird sound coming from your right, where Lizzie and Cove were busy mixing potion of illusion for the next autumn equinox. Of course without Mommy’s supervision and because of Mom’s lack of magical knowledge they were bound to do something wrong. Mom noticed commotion as well.
“You were not supposed to put newt’s eyes together with unicorn’s horn dust! Your mom even said so.”
“But in the book it says that I have to put both!”
“But not one after another! You need to wait until newt’s eye boils into goo and then add horn dust. Lizzie!” Cove looked terrified at the potion boiling out of the cauldron.
You looked at it as well and so did your Mom.
She had the quickest reaction out of all four of you so by quickly scooping all of you and running for the closest cover she managed to get you from the direct line of danger. With deafening sound cauldron exploded and covered everything that was in the open in bright red goo.
“Pamela!” Mommy screamed from upstairs. You heard loud thumping of her shoes getting closer and closer until you saw her. Mommy rarely looked angry but when she did you knew that it’s best not to be the target of her ire.
“Pamela, what in the world…” She looked at the red goop and shattered cauldron spread on the floor. As you looked on with bated breath, she loudly breathed in through her nose and loudly breathed out of her mouth, trying to calm down. Finally she turned to all of you with concern.
“Are you alright? Is anybody hurt? What even happened?” She looked you all over in search of any kind of injury.
“I am okay.” You said. “So am I.” “Me too.” These were Cove and Lizzie respectively.
“I am fine as well. Lani, everything is alright. No one was hurt.”
Mommy breathed out after Mom’s assurance, but then her face hardened.
“I am not going to ask you what happened, cleaning up is more important right now, but after we are finished I would like to hear the full story, no lies. Understood?”
With a chorus of ‘yeses’ you spent the next half an hour cleaning basement from the terrible accident that wasn’t even your fault in the first place.
After you finished you were led into the living room and sat on the coach.
“Now, I would like to know what happened.”
“It’s all his fault!” Lizzie was the first to push the blame on Cove.
“It’s not true! She added unicorn’s horn dust right after newt’s eyes!” Cove defended himself.
“It was in the book! I just followed the recipe!”
“Kids! Calm down, please.” Everybody settled down. “I am not going to point fingers and tell who is responsible for this incident; as far as I can tell everybody is to this or that extent. That includes me too. However, seeing as how all of us already cleaned the basement and the person most responsible for incident is Lizzie…” “Mommy!” “…she will have to spend some extra time studying so that something like this won’t happen again. Now that we learned our lessons, I think some celebratory ice cream is due.”
With cheer you run towards kitchen. By the end of the day only Lizzie remained sulking.
By the next day you had already forgotten all about what happened yesterday and were happy playing with Cove in the sand, making sandcastle together.
You were having so much fun and you could tell that Cove was having fun too. Until Lizzie decided to drop in on you.
“Hey, ___. I would like to borrow Cove for a minute. There is something I need to talk to him about.”
Cove was about to open his mouth and tell Lizzie off but you beat him to it.
“You can’t borrow a person. In fact you can’t own a person.”
“You know what I meant. I need to talk to him.”
“Then talk here, everything you can tell me you can tell ___.”
Lizzie was getting frustrated.
“I want to talk to him. It’s about that one spell.”
You were about to retort but Cove stopped you. He looked like he knew what she was talking about.
“It’s okay. I will be quick.” With a glare he followed after Lizzie.
You didn’t like it. For some reason you had this weird feeling like something was going to happen, not exactly bad but just something. You quickly got to your feet and ran after them.
You didn’t find Cove, but you found Lizzie who looked too pleased with herself.
“What happened? Where is Cove?” you demanded.
“I don’t know, he just run off.”
You didn’t bother with Lizzie and just run towards Cove’s house. You hoped he was there.
He wasn’t. Before the panic settled in you decided to search other places where he could be.
He wasn’t in the park and wasn’t on the beach. He wasn’t on the hill behind your house either.
You ran home to tell your moms what happened. You hoped they could help you find him.
“Mommy! Mommy, I need help. I can’t find Cove. He ran off and I looked for him everywhere but he was nowhere to be found. And I am just so worries. What if something bad happened to him?” You were gibbering, almost hyperventilating. Your Mom kneeled in front of you and put her hands on your shoulders.
“___, stop. Take a deep breath through your nose. Yeah just like this. Let it out through your mouth. Slower. Slower. Yes, just like this. Good, good. Come on, breath with me. In. Out. In. Out. Take your time.” You followed her advice and just took some time to breathe. Soon you started to feel calmer. “Now, what were you trying to say?”
“We were playing on the beach and then Lizzie came by and wanted to talk to Cove about some spell so he went with her. I went to find them but when I did it was just Lizzie and when I asked her where Cove went she said that he just run off somewhere. So I went to find him. I looked everywhere he could be but he wasn’t there. I don’t know what to do.” You started tearing up again.
“Oh, sweetie, we will find him. Everything will be good. Now dry your tears, it wouldn’t do you any good for your special boy to see you this way, right?” She winked at you. You were scandalized.
“Mom!”
“Pam, what is happening?” Your Mommy went through the basement door. With just one look at you she was near you holding you and asking if you were okay. Mom explained the situation to your Mommy and she frowned obviously not pleased with Lizzie. Of course she couldn’t blame her child for everything that happened between those two but she didn’t’ have any illusions that between the two of them Lizzie was the active one while Cove was, for the most part, reactive.
“We will figure something out. But for now, do you think you will be okay on your own for a bit?” You thought it over and nodded. You felt better now that you knew your Mommies were helping. They always knew how to make everything better. “Good. Then can you, please, go to your room and relax for a while? I am sure all that searching and crying tired you out. We will wake you once we have some information or we have found him, okay?” You nodded once again and with quickly exchanged kisses went to your room.
The moment your head made contact with your pillow you were lost to this world.
Pamela was already dialing the closest neighbour and Noelani was about to cast quick location spell, when somebody urgently knocked on their door.
They exchanged a look and Pamela put the phone back into place and went towards the door to answer it.
Upon opening it she found Cove who frantically tried to push something away from him. He looked up and saw your Mom.
“Cove, what is…” She heard weird sounds and looked behind him towards the source and there was. A goose? Yeah, it was a goose, a really angry goose that was pinching Cove and hitting him with its wings. The sound was its loud and obnoxious honking. “What the?”
“Sorry, I need to come through!” Cove quickly dove under her outstretched arm inside the house.
“Pam, what is…” Noelani noticed Cove as well. And a goose. It was kind of hard not to notice a goose considering that it was currently chasing Cove in circles all across their living room.
Goose tried to chase him up the stairs but Noelani managed to intercept it and so the goose was forced to continue chasing Cove across the entire living room.
“Lani, what is this?”
“I will need to get a closer look before making any assumptions.”
At this exact moment Lizzie decided to come back after spending time outside.
She found this picture: Cove running in circles around living room, goose following him with loud honking, Mom trying to catch the goose and Mommy who, for some reason, was standing at the bottom of the stairs. She couldn’t help herself, it was just so hilarious she laughed out loud.
Noelani’s eyes quickly zeroed in on the main culprit of this entire situation.
“Lizzie, Mommy wants to know what did you do?”
Lizzie stopped laughing immediately.
“It was just a prank, a little harmless prank!”
“Elizabeth.” Every child knew that when parent uses your full name you are in big, big trouble. So Lizzie complied.
“It was a simple spell.”
“Can you bring a book where you found it to me?”
Happy to be away from her Mommy’s scrutiny, Lizzie nodded and run around her to her room.
Noelani sighed tiredly. Why can’t those children spend one day without causing any unnecessary trouble?
Through the veil of sleep you heard weird loud noises. Whatever it was it woke you up and you were not a happy ___ when awakened from your day nap. Then suddenly memories of what occurred earlier today came back to you. Cove!
You jumped from the bed and ran, stumbling, towards the living room, where you could hear the main source of the loud sounds.
On your way down you saw Lizzie who was running towards her room.
You wanted to give her a piece of your mind concerning what happened today but there were more important things.
You run down the stairs skipping steps in the process and when you were finally on the first floor you saw…
A really interesting picture.
Cove running in circles around living room, goose chasing Cove with loud honking, Mom who tried to catch the goose and Mommy, who was standing near you.
“Mommy, what is going on?”
She looked down at you. “Nothing serious, sweetie. Your sister thought that it was funny to cast a spell that summons a goose on Cove, as soon as she brings the book she found it in we can start working on undoing it.”
‘Lizzie!’ You knew she did something. Well, you will just have to make sure to leave a big fat hairy caterpillar on top of her pillow.
Suddenly goose started pushing Cove into a completely different direction, to be more precise into your direction.
It stopped when Cove was right in front of you. And by stopped you mean it stopped biting, honking, pushing and generally acting aggressive towards Cove.
Everybody looked at this occurrence mystified.
“Ehm, hi?” Cove said unsure. Then he noticed your proximity and tried to move further away. “Sorry, I…” when suddenly goose started honking again, flapping its wings until Cove was standing right in front of you yet again.
Everything was quiet, nobody said a single word.
You see something click in your Mommy’s expression, like she understood what was going on.
“Momm…”
“Lani, is everything okay?” You weren’t the only one to notice the change. Mom did too.
Mommy gestured for her to come closer which she did. She leaned in and started whispering something to her.
Mom looked confused at first but when Mommy stopped explaining the same glimmer entered and her eyes.
They separated and looked at you two with equal amusement on their faces.
“Well, kids, we will leave you to your business.” Her voice cracked a couple of times but she managed to keep a straight face.
You frowned.
“Yes. Just don’t get too far from each other. Mommies need to go and find a counter spell. Have fun.” Mommy’s voice only cracked once but she couldn’t keep a giant grin from her face.
With these words they quickly went outside and locked the door.
“Bye!” “Bye.” You heard laughter from behind the door. Weirdos.
“Bye.” You said unsure, Cove remained silent just like he had been since the moment goose pushed him back towards you.
“So, what now?” he finally asked.
You shrugged. “I think I need to sit down.” Cove nodded and together side by side you went towards the coach closely followed by goose.
Together you sat down and quietly stared forward. ‘Moms are so weird.’
Silence was awkward but you didn’t know how to break it so you continued to sit still and stare into the distance.
Cove opened his mouth a couple of times but closed it soon after. He was about to say something when Lizzie appeared at the top of the stairs with a giant thick book on her hands.
“Here is the book! Oh, and here I wondered why it became so quiet all of a sudden. Where are Moms?”
“They said that they went to look for counter spell.” You answered.
“Hmm. Okay. Then I will just leave this here, tell when they come back. I will be in my room. This is such a mess.”
Cove fumed. “Well, whose fault do you think it is?”
Lizzie frowned at him.
“Well, obviously not mine. I was right.”
He looked seconds away from doing something he will regret. He stood up and took a step towards Lizzie.
“No, it was yours! Why can’t you just admit that you were the one at fault?”
Lizzie was about to say something in return when goose started honking and pinching Cove again. He yelped and tried to fight the bird off but it was stubborn and didn’t stop until he sat near you.
Lizzie was just looking at all of this, then shrugged and went back upstairs to her room.
You sighed. There was one thing that Lizzie was right about, this was a mess.
You had to do something while waiting for your Moms to come back. Your options were limited because you couldn’t move more than half a meter away from each other before goose started attacking Cove.
At the moment you were sitting on the coach thinking what to do, goose sat on your knees, seemingly content with being an object of absentminded pets from you. Cove looked at the goose like it was his personal enemy.
You couldn’t come up with anything interesting to do and were about to tell so to Cove when his stomach decided to notify you that it was indeed dinner time and that neither of you had eaten anything aside from breakfast.
You shared a look and as one stood and went into the kitchen, goose still in your arms. Without physically separating you managed to make a couple of cold sandwiches. Somewhere around this time Lizzie decided to come down and eat some sandwiches herself. Conversation was awkward and short. You were happily munching on your food, Cove was grumbling something to himself and Lizzie was pouting.
When she left you almost felt relieved, the atmosphere her presence brought slowly dissipated and you could finally breathe normally.
Next Cove proposed to simply read some books. “It’s not fun to just read books.” You said.
“Then what do you want to do?” “Let’s make a pillow fort and read books there!” He shrugged “I don’t mind it.”
For the next 10 minutes you understood exactly how not thought through was your plan, after all you had to do everything together. Bring more pillows together. Push furniture together. Cover it all with blankets together. By the end you were both tired and wanted to simply collapse inside your newly made shelter when Cove suddenly uncovered one more problem with your predicament.
“I need to use the bathroom.”
You both looked at the goose innocently sitting on top of the fort and cleaning its feathers.
You shared a look and together went towards bathroom.
“So, look. You will come inside and instantly close the door behind you.”
“What if it teleports?”
“Well, we don’t know that for sure. At least it’s worth a try, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t worry, I will do my best to not let it get to you.”
He smiled shyly. Then his smile turned teasing.
“Thank you. You are almost like that knight from your favourite book.”
Your cheeks aflame you pushed him towards the bathroom door. “Just go, I will be here, protecting your virtue from evil gooses.”
“It’s geese.”
“Whatever, geez.”
He laughed and finally opened the door. When he closed it the goose became upset it started honking and trying to pinch your legs but you stood like a steel wall between the goose and the door. Nothing was passing past your vigilant gaze.
You knew Cove was behind the door because goose calmed down all of a sudden.
Together, side by side, you settled down inside your fort.
With Cove at your right side and goose at your left you didn’t notice how you yet again started nodding off.
It seemed like only a moment ago you closed your eyes yet when you opened them the next time it was so dark. You heard key turning in the lock, then the bright light subdued by the blankets cut through the darkness and the shadow appeared right in front of the entrance to your little fort.
“___, are you here?” It was Mommy.
“Yeah.” You quietly answered, after all Cove deserved some sleep after what he had to go through.
“Is Cove with you?”
“Where else would he be?” You asked grumpily.
She just chuckled. “Is he sleeping?”
You looked towards him. “Yeah.”
“Then come out whenever he wakes up. I think we have a solution to this problem.”
“You do?” you were so excited that you forgot to mind your volume.
“What?” You were sure that’s what he meant to say but it was so mumbled and sleepy that it was almost impossible to understand. You quietly sniggered. He raised his head and looked at you while slowly blinking. “What? Why are you laughing?” but it sounded more like ‘WATYULFIN?’ You laughed out loudly.
He frowned at you and pushed you over. You continued laughing.
He rolled his eyes and tried to get up, stumbling over from still being sleepy. You noticed that the goose that was sleeping alongside you was wide awake from Cove’s movements and intensely observed all of his actions.
He obviously forgot all about the goose because he didn’t even think twice before exiting the pillow fort.
That was his first mistake.
His second was to scream loudly and run away in the direction opposite of you after goose decided to nom on his toes.
The same picture you looked at earlier today was repeating itself yet again.
There was Cove, running away from the goose, there were Mommies trying to get Cove to calm down and tell him to go back to you and there was also Mr. Holden looking at all of this and obviously having no idea how to help.
With little help from Mommy Cove finally understood what the goose wanted and ran over to you. Goose stopped near him, passive.
The only positive thing out of all of this was that Cove was wide awake now.
He looked confused until you could see a bulb go off in his brain, then he just looked embarrassed.
“So?” You asked when everything calmed down.
“So?” Your Mom asked in return.
“So, did you find what the spell is and what is the counter spell?” Cove obviously had no patience to deal with any more of your Mom’s behaviour. She frowned.
“Well, champ, you see.” Mr. Holden began uncomfortably. “There is no actual counter spell for this one.”
“What?! Are you saying that I will have to be with ___ at all times what with the goose not letting me to leave them for even a second?” Cove was obviously not happy with this.
“Well…” Mr. Holden began but soon trailed off when it finally dawned on him that Cove was near you and the goose was calmly walking in circles around the two of you. The same glimmer that was in your Moms’ eyes earlier today was now in his as well. Why were adults being so weird today?
“Dad!”
“Sorry, sorry.” He sheepishly carded his fingers through his hair.
“While there is no counter spell, there is a way to break it.” Mommy said. Everyone was quiet. “Lani.” Mom subtly nudged Mommy in the side.
“Oh, right. Well.” You looked at your Mommies expectantly. “It’s a Soulmate Goose of Reinforcement, meaning that when summoned it will follow its target, in this case Cove, and lead them to the one that was meant for them, one with whom they will spend the rest of their lives.”
Your jaw dropped to the floor. Meant ones? The rest of your lives? Not that you minded, Cove was nice and all but wasn’t it too early? You were both only 8.
“Don’t worry, after me and your Mommy met and I learned about magic, the goose was the reason why we got together in the end. I think at this point it’s almost a family tradition. Maybe even Lizzie will meet her meant one through a well casted goose spell?” Mom laughed at her own joke.
“But it’s a goose! How can it decide if we are meant to be or not? What does this even mean ‘meant to be’?” Cove wasn’t taking this revelation as well as you were.
“Well.” Mommy looked at Mom. “Goose is never wrong. But then again… Let’s have this conversation again in, let’s just say, 8 more years, okay? I will explain everything then.” You nodded, obviously this topic made adults uncomfortable, and why it was fun to finally see them loose their adult composure you understood that whatever had enough power to crumble your Mommy’s resolve it was something that was best left alone. At least for now.
Cove was really still and quiet. He wasn’t looking at you, in fact he wasn’t looking at anyone, just down at his feet.
“So.” He suddenly said. “How do you make the goose disappear?”
Your parent looked deep in thought.
“Well, you have to kiss the one the goose led you to.” Said Mr. Holden. At your shocked expressions he frantically added. “Nothing serious, kids! Just one kiss on a cheek will do.”
Cove looked almost panicked at these words. You were unsettled too, but soon, seeing as how Cove wasn’t doing anything and the situation needed to be resolved, you mustered all the courage you had and turned towards him.
He looked at you with big round eyes, his cheeks slightly pink. You leaned in towards his face. When you were close enough to count every eyelash he was as red as tomato, from the tips of his ears to the bottom of his neck. You leaned in even closer and pecked him on the lips.
You turned away quickly, as red as Cove, feeling like you were about to faint.
Cove just stood still, unresponsive, until he suddenly fell over, unconscious. “Cove!” Cove’s dad was quick enough to catch him before he fell on the floor.
Goose gave out a strangled honk before it seemed to shrink into a ball of white feathers that disappeared in a firework of whites and yellows.
You walked backwards before the back of your legs hit the coach and you fell onto it. Then you turned over onto your side and curled into a ball of embarrassment. Your Mommies tried to console you, but you remained inconsolable. You wanted them to just let you die from embarrassment in piece.
Right here, on this coach is where you will remain. Rest in pepperoni, ___.
You looked out of the window. It was your first day back from Augustus Mafursen Advanced Academy for Promising Witches, Warlocks and Wizards.
You were 23 and proud to say that you were finally free to stay forever, just like you promised to each other before you had to part for five years.
It was hell, five years without him constantly in your life. You felt like you were dying every moment you were away from each other. The only moments of solace were moments late in the evening, where you used mirrors to talk to and see each other. You would spend hours upon hours just sharing your new experiences and thoughts, talking about everything. Short holidays, when you got away from academy, were never enough to satisfy the skin deep hunger you had for his presence. You needed hugs and cuddles and evenings spent together and mornings where the first thing you saw was his face.
Oh, how you have missed him. But now you are here to stay. You are not going anywhere unless it’s with him.
You hear the light creak of the front door opening, then shuffling of things moving and then sounds of footsteps going up the staircase.
You prepared yourself for this moment, both mentally and physically by taking the same pose and place that he did five years ago when the first thing he decided to do upon coming back was to visit you in your room.
Door creaks open and you finally saw him in person for the first time in what felt like forever.
He looked at you, eyes round, unbelieving. You just smiled at him.
“Cove.”
“___? How? When did you? What?!”
“Surprise!”
You see when it clicks that you are really here, in his room. That you didn’t go to see your Moms and you didn’t go to see your sister who was also in town at the moment. No, you came to him first thing, because you wanted to see him more than anyone else.
He looked you in the eyes, lips split in smile so wide it looked like it hurt.
He made a step towards you. You jumped from the windowsill and stepped towards him. The next second you knew you were wrapped in each other in the tightest hug you ever had.
“I missed you so much.” He whispered in your ear.
“So do I. I still miss you and I will miss you until at least another month passes.”
He slightly pulled away and looked at you confusedly.
“I mean, I will miss you for even longer until I can finally fully recharge my inner Covemeter, which will take some time. So until it’s full I will miss you every day even when we are together.”
He squeezed you even tighter than before, face warm on your shoulder.
“You can be so embarrassing sometimes, ___.” But his actions betrayed his actual thoughts. He was happy that you were here, and even if he was unhappy that you were upset he was also clearly happy that you missed him so much.
“If you leave me for so long again, well this time I would just have to follow you no matter where you’ll go, right?”
“And you call me embarrassing? I have nothing on your levels of sappiness.” He pocked you in your ribs and you twisted to try to get away from tickling. He wouldn’t let you so you decided that the best defence is offense.
Two of you fell to the floor and were rolling around while laughing and tickling each other.
Soon you grew tired so upon coming to an unvoiced agreement both of you stopped tickling another.
“You cheated.” He said out of breath. “You used magic, it’s unfair.”
You huffed. “You started using magic first, so who was cheating?”
You looked at each other and broke into content smiles.
“Alright, me.” He conceded. “So, what will my penalty be?”
You rolled your eyes at him for being so overdramatic but played along.
“Judge decided that eternity of free piggyback rides for a victim is a sound punishment for convict such as yourself.”
He laughed openly. “You do know that you need only to ask me, I don’t mind doing something as simple as piggyback ride for you. You don’t have to take this to court for me to do this.”
“I know. I just couldn’t come up with anything else on the go.” You quickly pecked him on the lips before lying on your back. He did the same. Your hands bumped together and you quickly took hold of his. He squeezed yours in return.
You stayed like this for some time, just looking at the ceiling when you suddenly remembered something that made you laugh. Cove looked at you questioningly.
“I just remembered something.”
“What?”
“Remember the goose?” You cracked up.
He looked deep in thought until the look of disappointment in you crossed his face. He turned his head to face you.
“Really? Like, really, ___. You had to remember this exact moment? Right now?”
“I told you that I won’t let you live it down, didn’t I?”
“You don’t have to remind me about it at every opportunity. Control yourself, geez.”
“Heh. Geez.”
He just rolled his eyes.
“When I kissed you back then, you fainted.”
He took his hand out of yours and covered his face with both of his. You could hear a loud exasperated groan through his palms.
“Yeah, good thing you don’t do this anymore, right? That would be really awkward if I decided to kiss you in public places.”
“___.” He was still covering his face. You took pity on him.
“There is nothing to be embarrassed about. What happened the week afterwards however, that’s what was really embaras…”
He sprang from his position on the floor and covered your mouth with one of his palms. He looked almost as red as on that day, 15 years ago.
“Stop, just don’t talk anymore.”
You shrugged but nodded to let him know that you won’t mention this moment again, today. You will wait at least a day before reminding him once again.
He took his hand away.
“Are you hungry?” You nodded. Together you agreed to go downstairs and make something to eat.
The entire trip Cove looked like he wanted to say something but in the end he kept quiet.
“If you want to say something, you can do it. You do know that I am always here for you?” you said when you came into the kitchen.
He almost jumped out of his skin and sheepishly turned towards you. You raised your eyebrow. He sighed.
“It’s just, I had been worried.”
“Worried? About what?”
He almost looked guilty when he said his next words.
“That you won’t come back to me? That you will see that there are so many other people and you will finally understand that I am not that person for you? That you will find someone better for yourself than me?”
“Cove.” You had no idea he felt this way. You knew that he was stressed because he couldn’t decide what he wanted in the future and you had a plan that you were following through. You knew that he thought he was failing to be someone that was worthy of you despite all your encouragements and kind words that you wouldn’t have him any other way than the way he was, that you wouldn’t have anyone else but him.
“Cove. I don’t want anyone else than you. The goose was…”
“Was what?” His temper flared. “It was just a goose, a silly spell, it didn’t mean anything back then and it doesn’t mean anything now. Don’t you see?! You can’t build your entire future on something that happened fifteen years ago! You deserve the best, and I am far from it.” Anger slowly drained out of him and he sagged finally looking the way he felt: lost, tired and sad.
“Cove.” You walked towards him and took his face in your hands, wiping away tears that spilled from his eyes. “Cove, I chose you. No matter the goose or no goose, I will always choose you.” More and more tears came and you held him through his hysteria until it ceased. “You will always be the one for me, Cove, no matter what happens or what and who says, no matter all the new people that we will meet and all the new places we will visit, no matter where, how or when I will always, always choose you.”
He held you tight to himself.
“Cove. Do you remember something that I said before leaving five years ago?”
He was quiet; the only sound your combined breathing.
“Yes.” He finally said.
“Can you tell me what it was?”
He obviously didn’t want to say it, his dark thoughts still plaguing him.
“Cove?”
“’Once I am back, let’s always be together. Let’s never leave each other’s side again. I want this to be forever. Alright, Cove?’”
“Nothing changed since then.”
“Didn’t it though?”
You hit him lightly in the chest. “No, nothing did.”
You pulled away and looked in his eyes. He looked back at you, lost. You can’t believe how stupid he can be sometimes but you loved him anyway.
“I promised you forever, Cove.” His breathing hitched. “I wouldn’t throw these kinds of words around. I was being serious back then, and I am serious now. I want to be with you forever.”
He cried again. This time from happiness.
“What did I ever do to deserve you?” He whispered.
“Everything. And if you ever feel doubtful about my feelings, well, I will just have to spend entire eternity proving you wrong.”
He chuckled.
“Didn’t you say forever? Now you are talking about eternity.”
“Exactly. I will spend one eternity proving to you how much I love you and the next eternity we will spend having fun as a couple.”
“What, no having fun for the first eternity?”
“No. You forfeited your rights to have fun as a couple, at least until you finally get it through that thick skull of yours that I don’t want anyone else but you. Stop doubting me and have a little more faith in yourself.”
He flushed deep red and it seems that he felt much better after having this conversation. He looked like he was about to burst with all the happiness that he was feeling at the moment.
He grabbed and lifted you in the air and started spinning you in a circle.
“I love you so much, ___.”
“I love you more, Cove.”
You were happy and content exactly where you were – in the arms of the one person you loved more than anything or anybody else in the entire world.
Two eternities and forever, with these you have all the time in the world to spend together.
Always and forever.