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Remington loved the morning after a snowstorm.
Actual snowstorms could fuck right off, but the morning after a storm, where everything was calm by the time the sky started to turn light? It was one of Remington’s favourite things about winter.
The world was so quiet: everything muffled by the thick layer of snow that had come down in the night. A layer that turned everything pure, glittering white, like velvet studded with diamonds. It was equally peaceful and beautiful, and there was nothing Remington liked more than getting up early enough to make himself some tea to drink as he quietly watched the sun rise over the glittering blanket of snow.
Well…almost nothing.
“Here you are, gorgeous. Nice cup of tea.”
Remington looked up to see his girlfriend Sherry holding out a steaming mug of tea for him.
If there was one thing that was better than quietly watching the sun rise over the freshly-fallen snow, then it was quietly watching the sun rise over the freshly-fallen snow with Sherry sitting by his side. She actually made pretty much everything in his life better, and watching the dawn was no different.
He gratefully accepted the tea – which was somehow also way better than the tea he made – murmuring his thanks and lifting the corner of the blanket he’d wrapped around his shoulders for her join him underneath it.
Sherry joined, cupping her own mug of tea, and snuggling into Remington’s side as he wrapped his arm, and the blanket, around her shoulder.
They sat like that for an immeasurable amount of time, and Remington basked in it. Soaked in every heartbeat of comfortable silence where he and Sherry watched the sky turn from pale, pearlescent grey to brilliant, bright pink to lavender-hued purple before it finally turned a pure, cloudless blue. The sun shone down on the backyard, making everything glitter and shine like crushed diamonds powdered over every surface, reflecting the light, making so bright it was almost hard to look outside.
So Remington looked at Sherry instead.
He still couldn’t believed she put up with him sometimes – not least this morning, since getting up before the sun rose was something she hated. He knew he wasn’t always the easiest person to live with – Sebastian and Emerson had made that pretty clear to him: just he and Sebastian had made it clear to Emerson, and he and Emerson had made it clear to Sebastian – but he was trying to be more considerate.
Or at least be able to say that there was an equal amount of give and take between him and Sherry.
It was hard when he hadn’t even worked up the courage to tell her that he loved her yet.
He did, of course. Sherry was hard not to love: he’d been infatuated since about three hours after he’d first met her, and realised that he was completely and utterly head-over-heels in love with her after around two months of dating. That had been four months ago, and he’d been scared of telling her how he felt and coming on too strong…so he was at least trying to show her how he felt, albeit in subtle ways.
“I’ve got the day off from the studio today,” he said quietly, feeling like he wasn’t quite able to break to peaceful spell of the dawn, even now the sun was full up: “Did you want to have a lazy day together?”
Sherry turned to treat him to one of her megawatt smiles: “I’d like that.”
Remington grinned back at her; it was hard not too when she seemed so genuinely pleased by the prospect of a lazy day with him. Only Sherry could make agreeing to a lazy day sound like he’d offered to fly her out to Europe for a month. It was a huge boost to Remington’s self-confidence, even on his worst days.
It was one of the many, many reasons he adored the bones of her.
Even if he couldn't tell her that...
“If you’re up for a trip out…” Sherry suggested: “…there’s something cool I’d really like to see with you.”
“Let’s do it.” Remington agreed instantly, not needing any more information than Sherry thought something would be worth seeing.
Sherry grinned: “Wrap up warm. It’s an outdoor thing.”
Remington didn’t need telling twice.
He stood up and pulled Sherry to her feet, leaning down to kiss her, taking his time to do it properly. Their kiss was slow but light, staying shallow and sweet while Sherry wrapped her arms around Remington’s neck, and he cupped her cheeks in his hands.
They could’ve stayed that way forever, Remington certainly wouldn’t have complained…but he wanted to see this thing that Sherry wanted to show him, so he reluctantly pulled away so that they could go and get dressed to leave the house.
An hour later, and Sherry was parking on a road near her old neighbourhood, and leading Remington into the small set of woods behind some of the houses. They trudged through the snowy underbrush and the icy trees, the snow glistening as far as the eye could see.
Soon enough they were deep enough in the woods that Remington couldn’t see any of the houses on the street they’d parked on, and the whole world had been silenced other than the sounds of the two of them crunching snow underfoot. He didn’t know how Sherry knew where she was going, but she seemed determined to reach…something. Even if he didn’t know what yet.
“How’d you know about this place?” Remington huffed, watching his breath mist up the air in front of his face.
“Uhm…well, I used to come here a lot as a kid. It was kind of my spot when I wanted to get away from the house.” Sherry admitted, looking a little embarrassed, as if Remington himself hadn’t felt the need to get away from his own house plenty of times when he was a kid: “It was just somewhere I could come on my own to relax. We’re almost there now…”
She was barely finished speaking when she pushed a low tree branch out of the way to reveal a small clearing in the middle of the woods.
It was beautiful.
The trees glimmered with a thin layer of ice: the branches almost glowing with the sunlight reflecting on them, and the icicles that dripped from them towards the glittering snow-covered ground. Trees enclosed the whole space, giving the little clearing a kind of ice palace kind of feeling, like something out of a fairytale.
It felt magical. Remington completely understood why she’d come here as a kid, and why she’d kept it a closely guarded secret. It felt too perfect to share with just anyone.
“It’s always been gorgeous in the snow,” Sherry breathed, echoing Remington’s thoughts as she reached out for his hand.
He wrapped his fingers around hers without a second thought: “Thank you for bringing me here.”
“There’s no-one else I’d rather share it with.” Sherry smiled at him.
“I love you.” Remington confessed, finally saying what he’d been meaning to for months, fears of coming on too strong be damned: “All of you, every brilliant, beautiful, generous part of you. I love you so much.”
Sherry’s eyes flooded with tears, even as her lips curved into a smile as bright as a supernova: “Oh, Remington…I love you too.”
Remington grabbed Sherry in a tight hug, and after that there were no more words between them. They just held onto each other for dear life.
It was all they needed to tell each other. Even without words, Remington could feel what Sherry was telling him, and he knew she could feel what he was trying to reply.
I love you.
I love you too.