Work Text:
The moment has finally arrived. I have waited so long to finally reach this day. I have strived unceasingly, hoping, wishing, desperately dreaming for a life in which I could be safe, comfortable… warm. I could never placate myself with being tucked away, taking up some boring life in a cold little nook, out of the light. I could never be so complacent as to to fade away, forgotten like so many others. There was only one place I could ever imagine myself.
I worked so hard. My bright complexion faded with time and exposure, as, day in and day out, I fought for what should have rightfully been mine. Once soft and young, my skin has become strangely stale and calloused. It never mattered to me. Younger folks may have laughed at my paleness, my wrinkles, but they were a testament to just how long I waited to be here. I jumped at every opportunity, always available, willing to do anything just to make it in. Still, it was always someone older… someone bigger… someone a different color than me. It didn’t matter, anyways. I’d get there one day… One day, I’d manage it one day, I always told myself.
It didn’t matter that no one believed in me. They all told me to give up on my dream. They all told me I’d never make it. My friends? They couldn’t understand. They didn’t know anything about the struggles I was braving, so close to me yet so far from knowing what it was like to be someone in my shoes. My family? All concerned glances, professed worry over my delusional state. They were never the support I needed. I couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t just help me. I couldn’t understand why my dream was so wildly outrageous. I couldn’t understand why they would all stop me, plead for me to just give it up, when I knew I could never stay where I was. It was no matter, I could deny the sting of their behavior easily. They could stare all they liked at the odd one out, the one who was different… the one who strove to be more. The dead eyes of those who have no aspirations could never phase me, I always knew I’d show them all one day. I knew I’d teach them all just how much you can achieve, just how good life can be, when you only believe… if you only strive for the fate you know you can reach, if you just wait one day more, just try a little harder, if you just aspire to be more than everyone else shallowly judges you to be capable of…
And now the day is finally here. It’s finally here. I feel safe, comfortable… warm. My friends and family look on, horrified. It doesn’t matter, not really. Shining walls surround me, just as beautiful as I’d always dreamed, as I float, relaxed, on a sea of sweet, creamy triumph and very foamy relief… though I don’t understand why they all can’t just be happy for me. I don’t understand it. I finally made it, after so long, after so much pleading and striving and waiting and knowing I had earned it and… wait… there's foam? Where di-
“Mmmmm, they’re always best when they’re stale,” she said, smiling contentedly.
He scoffed, as if there wasn’t a purplish-brown milk moustache on his upper lip from the foam, a testament to his own partaking in and enjoyment of the warm drink. “How old are these, anyways? It’s practically almost easter again!”
“Hah, you don’t want to know." She smirked, enjoying the incredulous reaction of her companion. It was always a joy to incite such outrage, after all, and they were just joking around. There was nothing serious about bunny peeps in hot cocoa, even if the tiny, melty little faces staring up out of their mugs were a bit sad-looking without the rest of themselves. They were still smiling, at least.