Work Text:
It was a warm Saturday and Min and Diya were en-route to the very dog park that had reappeared in Diya's dreams.
It'd be difficult to forget that day over five years ago when Min surprised Diya by taking her to the secret dog park, so it's no wonder she dreamt about it.
After Min threatened to kill an old man for looking down on Diya, the two of them fled from Diya's baseball game. Despite their options being limited to Home Depot, their own homes and Noelle's house (maybe?), they had the day to themselves. Though, none of these options were feasible that didn't take away from the excitement of the situation. The tunnel at the bottom of the ravine--a place where neither of them would normally be allowed anywhere near--led to a beacon of light, the embodiment of warmth: dogs. Small dogs. Big dogs.
That summer, Min moved to Florida--a place so unfamiliar that the only thing Diya knew about it was that alligators supposedly roamed the streets and soon, Min would too. Knowing her, she might even end up wrestling an alligator. But aside from all of this, Diya was certain that she would miss her. Even though Min said that they were destined to be together (...messily rendered into a pun) and promised they would meet again, her words couldn't stop the occasional intrusive, disappointing and anxiety-filled scenarios from appearing in her head over the coming years, but they did reaffirm the importance of their bond. Min was special, but a different kind of special from Noelle. Diya hadn't been looking for meaning in her dreams about Min, because it simply made sense to attribute their occurrences to simply missing her.
How were you supposed to reach conclusions when you don't even have the words to piece something together, let alone the awareness needed to start, anyways? She remembered witnessing classmates in primary school jokingly asking if other kids were 'straight' during recess, only for them to break down in laughter if the person in question failed to respond, either because they didn't know what 'straight' was and wasn't ('wiggly'?), or because they just didn't bother. All she knew was that she didn't want to be anywhere near the perpetrators and be faced with the laughter and taunting stares of her peers. Picturing that scenario alone had made Diya want to curl up into a ball, or play dead until everyone stopped paying attention so she could crawl away and never return.
People would say what they would and while that was anxiety-inducing, Diya loved Min and knew she was a good person, despite her tendency to pick fights. She knew that she would fight not only on her behalf, but by her side (...with the fights she had in mind mostly being baseball games).
Five years later, the two of them finally reunited and even formed a battery and eventually began dating. It felt too good to be true. But it was true. Had Akarsha and Noelle not intervened, well... who knows where they'd be. She wouldn't change anything about the moment, even if getting banned from Snowcastle meant one less place to get blue flavour. Her heart was beating so quickly, it felt as if it was going to burst out of her body and turn to mush. She thought she heard it burst.
Though, that might have just been the table she and Min accidentally broke...
There had been noticeably more weeds than there were years ago. To combat the foliage, Min insisted on using her trusty butterfly knife to cut through the greenery, which was honestly more of a dried-out yellow than green. While part of it was that Diya's height made it difficult to avoid being smacked in the face by dangling branches, Min also wanted to impress Diya. Even though she's lost in height, Min wasn't willing to give up and, whether or not she was going to keep growing (which she was!), she was going to hold her own and MORE (ideally Diya, but only after she asks if she can carry her first) in physical strength. If it was now, she could probably hold Diya like she would a potato sack...
Anyway, if you didn't believe in yourself, how were you supposed to grow? It wasn't all just down to that genetics crap and if it 'was,' Min had a fight to pick and she wasn't planning on losing anytime soon. Or rather than that, fuck the people who shove their biology-science fact bullshit down other people's throats.
To quote Akarsha, "sometimes you just gotta believe in the you who believes in yourself."
...That didn't sound right.
Only a few dogs were around, including a shih-tzu, sunbathing by the in-park bench its owner had dozed off on; a Jack Russell terrier that the two of them had attempted to play fetch with moments ago, only for him to give them an unsatisfied snarl and begin tossing his toy around by himself (Min thought this was pretty metal of him, 'live your best life, little dude'); and a retriever-mix puppy, whose only goal appeared to be snatching the tire-rope toy away from the terrier, appearing in a complete set with an owner-turned-referee.
The sheer power and energy of the terrier and puppy had the same effect on them as it probably did on the shih-tzu, so Min and Diya had gone to rest by a tree overlooking the park, leaning against each other. It didn't really matter that it was too noisy to get comfy, they'd be back on their feet soon.
"You know, it's been more than five years since we came here, but I remember it exactly like it was yesterday," Min says proudly, whilst pushing her bangs upwards--an attempt at getting the sweat out of her face, while still appearing 'suave.'
"Yeah! I remember. You took me on your bike. Got tired." Diya smiles.
"W-what?! You... I mean, I wasn't tired, no I mean, uh... you must be remembering wrong!" Min bluffs.
Diya continues to eye her with an unchanging expression and it was with that, that Min accepted her loss.
"FUCK."
"You were still cool, though."
If anything, Min thought Diya was cool, among many other things. Cute, beautiful, 'glamourful,' badass. The way she could pummel anyone and everyone to the ground thanks to her literal six-pack without breaking a sweat but didn't out of the pure mercifulness of her soul. The weird fuzzy feeling she got in the pit of her stomach when Diya smiled at her, like right at this moment. She made her feel things.
Five years ago it was certain that they'd both receive an angry-talking-to once they returned or were each dragged back home. Maybe she was still running by pretending to be out studying on a Saturday, thanks to Noelle's help, but how is that running away when you're just trying to live your life for real? It wasn't her job to make her parents understand or not be shitty.
Even if she had to deal with angry parents, at the end of the day, it didn't change that Min believed they had all the time in the world to figure things out, threaten, beat up...kill a person or two, even if some things weren't going to just change for the better or maybe at all. Time would go by fast and not in the shitty way where she kept staring at the clock during a test, but that didn't matter because there was more ahead of them.
Call her mushy, but just lying on the grass with Diya by her side, Min felt so happy, she could die. ...Except not really, because she would definitely come crawling back from the grave to make it on time for their next date.
Both of them used to talk about their future, about how they'd raise dogs and live together and today they'd do just the same. But it'd be different and every bit as special as all the past times. It wasn't just 'cause Diya was special, they were special.
--
"Hey Diya, you know what would be a great name for a dog?"
"What?"
"Skull Crusher."
"...You said that last time."
"Well, I came up with it all over again."
"Of course you did," Diya says, before pushing Min's bangs out of the way and planting a kiss on her forehead.
"Hey, my lips are down here."
"...Want me to warm them up?"
"You know it."
Diya leans over to kiss Min. She kisses back.