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“…so…proud of you my—”
The drag of his footsteps shuffling through the dirt path rang in his ear, muted and distant.
“Your mother truly loved you.”
A few barely-there rain drops land on his face. Sea mist maybe? He wasn’t sure.
“You can’t just go and say a thing like that now!”
A hoppip whirred along a few feet away, carried by the quickening breeze. A feather of air left behind from its movement passed not far from him.
“Arven… I’m afraid this is goodbye.”
It had been five months since he and his friends travelled down into the crater and he learned of the death of his mother.
He was holding up, but whenever he slipped up and let his mind wander even just a little, there he was again, back in Area Zero, talking to the shell of his mother, feeling the pain, the relief, the guilt, the anger, all over again.
He was fine, though.
He had to be.
“— and it would be one thing if her ace made any sense but—“ Juliana paused abruptly and noticed her best friend’s distant expression and empty eyes. “Arven, are you okay?”
“Hm? Yeah.” He absently replied.
“You don’t seem like you are.”
“What do you mean?” His brain finally caught up to the present and he looked at her.
“You just… you seemed like you were somewhere else for a second.” Juliana carefully replied.
“Ha, real funny. I’m literally right here, Juli.” He nervously flashed a teasing smile at her, a desperate attempt to bring levity to the now-tense air around the two of them.
“Okay well, yes, obviously you’re right here, that’s not what I meant.” She rolled her eyes at him, taking the bait, much to his relief.
“Well then, what did you mean? As far I could tell, I was having a great time listening to my little buddy tell me all her cool champion stories,” he casually shot back.
“Oh were you? Then what was I even saying, hm?”
“You were telling me all about how weird it is that Geeta insists on using Glimmora as her ace when she should obviously be leading with it,” he replied, raising one eyebrow in a challenge.
Juliana narrowed her eyes at Arven. He narrowed them back.
They stared at each other for a few seconds.
She finally conceded.
“Hmph. Fine. Lucky guess.”
“Uh, no, not a lucky guess, I told you I was listening. You think I’m the type of person who would ignore my best friend?” He dramatically flared, “I’m honestly hurt, little buddy.”
“Oh, stop it,” she chuckled.
Wherever he disappeared to, it seemed like he was back.
Juliana was an excellent distraction that Arven was incredibly thankful for. After the events of Area Zero, the two of them remained best friends, and spent more time together than ever before.
He would be lying if he said he hadn’t grown to have more-than-just-friend feelings for her, but if keeping things the way they were meant keeping her as a friend forever, then he could be content with that. The alternative, losing her, wasn’t an option he could live with.
Arven had gone through a lot, but Juliana had done more than enough for him, and there was only so much he could expect her to stick around for. He didn’t blame her - no one wants a one-sided friendship. So he figured that now was his turn to be a support to her, whatever that looked like.
The two friends were on their way to Juliana’s house, where her mother was waiting for them. Arven had met her a handful of times over the course of the last few months, but still wasn’t quite sure where he stood with her. Maybe it was his own insecurities, his deep desire to impress both her and Juliana, or the fact that it brought up a lot of uncomfortable feelings to be around such a clear example of what a loving and supportive parent should be… but being around Juliana’s mom always gave him a little bit of anxiety that he couldn’t quite shake.
Either way, Juliana’s mom was important to her, and Juliana was important to him. So when her mother asked for a favor from him, Arven couldn’t have given a quicker yes.
So there they were, walking down Poco Path, Arven desperately trying to hide the road this weird mix of emotions was sending his brain down.
After a few moments, Juliana broke the silence.
“Thanks again for offering to help my mom cook tonight for her party, Arven. I uh… would have been happy to help out myself but…” she trailed off.
“But you preferred not to be the one who burned down your house and gave all your mom’s guests food poisoning?” He finished for her.
“Yes, that.”
They both laughed.
“But really, I’m always happy to help, especially when it comes to cooking.” He softened, “I don’t generally have a lot to offer, but when it comes to food, that’s one area I’m happy to show off my skills.”
Juliana stopped in her tracks, “What to you mean you don’t have a lot to offer? That’s not true.”
“Oh stop it, Juli. We can’t all be multi-talented straight-A, champion, poke-researchers like you.”
“Well I think you’re great. You think I would be best friends with someone lame? Nah.”
“Woooow, didn’t realize you were so shallow.”
“Can you please stop antagonizing me?” She said, hitting his arm, “I’m trying to compliment you.”
He grinned at her in response and the two of them resumed their walking, continued to jab at each other until they approached the door of her house, small and quaint, perched on the seaside cliff. The house overlooked a gray and brooding ocean, blanketed by an overcast sky and hints of fog.
With a few knocks, Juliana’s mother opened the door to a warm, brightly lit home, with an array of savory scents already permeating the air — a contrast to the cold environment outside.
“Hello! Welcome, welcome, come on in.” She ushered them forward, “please, feel free to place your jackets in the coat closet. Arven would you like anything to drink? Tea? Coffee?”
“Oh, no, I’m —“ he sheepishly answered, awkwardly standing in the doorway.
“Juliana, please, get your friend something, whatever he needs.”
She was already shuffling back into the kitchen, five steps ahead on her mental task list.
Juliana giggled at her mom’s overbearing hospitality and how overwhelmed Arven looked in response to it.
“You got it, mom!” She shouted at her mom, who was already back in the kitchen, stirring one of the pots on the stove. “Seriously, if you need anything at all, just ask, yeah? Mi casa es su casa, right?”
“Wow, look at you, you’re actually learning.” He smirked at her.
“I am, I happen to have a really great teacher.” She locked eyes with him.
“Oh yeah? What’s his name?” He looked back at her, drawn into her gaze.
She stared back a little bit longer.
“Mr. Salvatore, actually.” She broke into a cheeky grin.
For a half second he blinked at her incredulously before jumping back into reality.
“Oh okay, I see how it is. Rude.” He huffed.
They heard Juliana’s mother calling from the kitchen.
“Arven, once you get settled, feel free to come and join me! I already plenty to have you start working on!”
Startled, he urgently made his way over to her.
“Sorry, sorry for the wait, I’m here. Um, so…what can I do for you?” He asked, while rolling his sleeves up, tying his hair back, and turning to the sink to wash his hands.
“If you could start by helping me prep the vegetables, I need finely chopped celery, carrot and onion. Cutting board and knives are right on that counter. Think you can start with that?”
“Y-yes, I can do that,” he nodded, turning to get to work, “Uh, if you don’t mind me asking, what is this for? Are you making a mirepoix or something?”
“Exactly right, seems like you know your stuff,” she complimented over her shoulder while vigorously stirring something over the stove.
“Oh, uh, thanks, I’ve been cooking for a long time. I’ve still got a lot to learn, but I’ve picked up a few things here and there,” he replied, his knife already moving swiftly to chop the vegetables down.
Juliana quietly hoisted herself up to sit on the counter, watching her mom and best friend chat with a fond look on her face.
(And if her eyes lingered on the muscles on Arven’s toned forearms as he chopped and the plane of his exposed neck, that was between her and Arceus.)
“Alright, done, I think. Did you want to check my work?” Arven asked, turning to Juliana’s mom.
She walked over to closely inspect the quality of his chop, and after a few seconds, placed a hand on his shoulder, and looked at her daughter.
“You certainly weren’t kidding, Juliana. Your friend is incredibly talented.”
Arven shyly smiled to himself as Juliana grinned.
“Thank you, Arven, really,” her mom patted his shoulder before turning back to the kitchen. “Okay, what’s next? Oh, I know! I’ll have you take over the roux at the stove, do you think you can handle that? I need it light.”
Arven nodded with determination and made his way to the stove.
“Juliana, I hate to do this to you, but I’m going to need more heavy cream. Can you quickly run to the market to get me some while Arven and I hold the fort down here?”
“Of course! Koraidon and I are on it.” She jumped to her feet and made her way out the door.
That left Juliana’s mom and Arven alone. Arven tried his hardest to not to let his nerves get to him and focused on the food in front of him instead. It seemed like things were going well, he was in his element, and Juliana’s mom couldn’t be nicer, so why was this so terrifying for him? He couldn’t figure himself out.
After a few moments of silence, Juliana’s mother made her way to the stove to check on Arven’s progress.
“Just about done…” he mumbled in concentration. The buttery aroma filled the air around them.
“Excellent work, Arven. Thank you.”
Leaning back on the counter, she watched for a few moments as he continued to stir in deep focus. He finally clicked the burner off and took a step back to admire his work.
Once he put his hands on his hips in satisfaction, she piped up.
“You said you had been cooking for a long time?”
“Um.. yeah, since I was a kid. Started around five or six.”
“Your parents taught you to cook like this?” She asked.
“Uh… no, not quite. I never really knew my dad, and my mom was always too busy. I just… taught myself.” He answered stiffly.
She cocked her head in confusion.
“Cooking for yourself at such a young age? That doesn’t seem right.”
“I… didn’t really have much of a choice.” His eyes moved back to the stove to break eye contact with her. “It is what it is.”
She felt the mood shift, and kept her eyes on him as he started moving back to the food.
His throat felt thick and eyes started to glaze over. He started working again, clearing away stirring spoons to the sink, to distract himself from the growing emotion inside him.
She watched him carefully until she broke the heavy silence.
“Well, I suppose it is. Either way, I’m incredibly grateful for your skills and that I’m lucky enough to have you helping me today,” she said with a bright smile, “shall we move on to the next step? How comfortable are you with sauces?”
“I can do sauces. What do you need?” He allowed himself to brag, grateful for the topic change.
“Well, if you could, start with a bechamel base and we’ll go from there….”
A half hour later, Juliana returned with 6 different items from the grocer.
“I’m back! I didn’t know which one to get, so I just got them all!” She said, placing them on the counter.
“Juli, are you serious? Sour cream?” He asked picking up a couple of the options she returned with, “This one is literally whipped cream in a can!”
“I said I didn’t know which one to get!!” She said throwing her hands up.
“It’s fine Juliana, among all these… interesting options, you did get heavy cream and that’s all that matters,” her mom said, plucking the correct one out of the pile. “We’re almost done, so feel free to relax, you two.”
Arven turned back to Juliana with his hands on his hips.
“Sour cream? Really? How exactly are you even alive right now? You’re lucky you’re cute.” He said shaking his head.
“Aww, you think I’m cute?” She replied, batting her eyelashes at him.
He blushed a little, before smiling and scruffing her hair.
“Hey!! Stop that!” She laughed while he stuck his tongue out at her.
*ding dong*
Juliana’s mom cut away from watching the two of them to turn to the door.
“Early, of course…” she shook her head in dismay. “Kids, can you get that while I finish up in here?”
The two of them walked to the door still laughing to find a group of her mom’s coworkers at the door. One of them stared at Arven standing behind Juliana with a curious look on her face.
“Welcome! Please come on in!” Juliana chimed.
“Yes, thank you, thank you,” the one still intently staring at Arven distractedly said, as they all came inside.
He awkwardly stood in place.
“I’m so sorry, I’m not sure that we’ve met,” the woman said, as she extended her arm out to him.
“Uh, Arven. I’m a… friend of Juliana’s.”
“Arven? So I was right. I knew you looked familiar. Professor Sada’s son, correct?”
“Um… yeah,” he said, looking and feeling small, “good… to meet you.”
He shook her hand without meeting her eyes.
“Well, you must be so proud of Juliana for having such esteemed friends,” she said, turning to Juliana’s mom, who had just walked up.
“Arven is lovely, and I’m happy to have met him through my daughter,” she replied.
He looked up for a moment at her before looking back down.
Another one chimed in, “How lucky you are having Professor Sada as your mother! She has done such great things for this region. Such a brilliant researcher!”
His eyes glazed over, “Yeah…”
“What was it like being raised by her? What is she like?”
Arven could feel Juliana’s eyes watching him.
His words were getting caught in his throat. He couldn’t be honest without embarrassing Juliana’s mom, and he couldn’t lie without making himself break down, which would also embarrass Juliana’s mom, and open the door for even more conversation he really didn’t want to have.
He didn’t want sympathy or comfort. He just wanted to be left alone. Why couldn’t people just leave him alone?
Juliana pulled him out of his head again.
“Arven?”
“I just need some air,” he quickly replied, “I’m going to step outside.”
He pushed his way to the front door, stopping and quickly turning as he opened it.
“It was nice to meet you, ma’am,” he mumbled to the guest with a quick nod.
Arven stepped outside and closed the door behind him, walking through the garden to the nearest seaside cliff, trying his hardest to hold back his tears. If he started crying, he wouldn’t be able to stop, and even if he stayed out here for a bit until he calmed down, they would all be able to tell he had been crying when he returned.
He couldn’t start crying.
…it wasn’t working.
“…Arven?” Juliana approached from behind. “What’s going on, are you okay?” She softly asked.
He attempted to look away and hide his face from her.
“Yeah, I’m fine, just got really stuffy in there or something, had to catch my breath. I’m good though.”
“I don’t think you are.”
“Juli, I’m fine,” he replied, shortly, wanting to end the discussion.
“Arven, you’re clearly not okay, but you keep avoiding the topic every time it comes up. You know it’s okay if you’re not okay, right? You just lost your mom, you’re allowed to—“
“I said I’m fine. Can you just drop it?”
“I don’t want to just drop it, Arven. I want to make sure you’re okay,” she started pushing back.
“Juli, just stop, okay? I don’t need your help and I don’t want it. I’m fine. Mind your own business for once,” he got up and shoved past her.
“Excuse me?” She turned to follow him. “Where is this even coming from, Arven? You’re my best friend, am I not allowed to care about you?”
“Not when I didn’t ask you to. Not everything needs to be your business, believe it or not,” he kept walking.
She stopped and crossed her arms, “Fine! If you don’t want my help, then I’ll just leave you alone, is that what you want?”
He didn’t reply and kept walking away.
“…If you’re so determined to handle everything by yourself, then fine! See if I care!” She yelled after him.
Arven kept walking, full and heavy tears rolling down his face against his best efforts. He tried to keep his composure, but the harder he tried to contain himself, the worse he felt, until he was choking back full sobs.
He let his feet carry him, unsure of where he was walking to until he found himself approaching a familiar building.
The lighthouse.
He spent so many moments in his life alone in this building, trying to comfort himself, with no one to turn to. Of course he came back here. It’s all he’s ever known.
He quickly opened the door and let himself inside, collapsing in on himself once he closed the door behind him.
He felt Mabosstiff snuggling under his arm and placing his head on his lap, whining out of sympathy. Arven didn’t even remember taking him out of his pokeball.
The echo of his mom’s voice kept reappearing in his brain.
“…sorry…you were alone for so long.”
It was all too much. The space haunted him with memories of every time in his life he had to cope with feeling alone.
Why had he said all those things? He knew Juliana cared and was just trying to help. Why had he pushed her away?
And now, he ruined everything and lost his best friend because he couldn’t control his stupid emotions.
He felt small and alone, taken back to the painful days of his childhood, letting the sobs overtake him, just like all the other times he cried to himself, with no one but Mabosstiff to comfort him.
Cutting through the sound of his crying was a knock on the door.
He brought his knees up and buried his head in arms, still trying to hide from Juliana even though there was nowhere he could go.
The door creaked open.
“Arven?”
That… wasn’t Juliana’s voice.
He looked up in surprise to see Juliana’s mom walking towards him.
He tried quickly wiping his tears and face without making much of a difference.
“I’m so, so sorry, I didn’t mean to ruin— I shouldn’t have—“
“Arven, you really don’t have to apologize. I don’t care about my guests or my party,” she said, sitting down on the ground next to him, “I care about my daughter and I care about you.”
He started crying again, hiding his face again.
“What happened, Arven?” She placed a gentle hand on his arm.
“It’s my fault, I said such terrible things to her and she didn’t deserve it.”
“No Arven, before that,” she quietly nudged, “Things have been hard for you, I can tell.”
He sighed.
“It’s a really long story.”
“I imagine it is,” she replied, leaving the air empty for him to fill.
He took a few deep breaths, and with an encouraging nuzzle from Mabosstiff, he started to explain.
“My mom… she wasn’t there for me, ever,” he readjusted himself in his spot uncomfortably, “Her research was always more important.”
She watched quietly and let him continue.
“I… spent a lot of my life trying to get her attention, trying to get her to care, but she just… didn’t. It got to the point where I learned to take care of myself, and then she really didn’t have a reason to pretend to try. She… she only ever reached out if she needed something from me.”
“A couple years ago,” he continued, “I stopped hearing from her completely. She used to at least respond to my emails, but then nothing. No birthday messages, nothing on holidays. The only time I would see her was on the news when she would do interviews.”
“Arven…” Juliana’s mom quietly whispered.
He kept going, unable to stop.
“I found out that she died years ago. The person I had seen on the news wasn’t her, it was an AI, a robot she created in her image that used her face, voice, and memories. Juliana was with me when I found out.”
She said nothing, just placed a hand on him, and watched him with sympathetic eyes.
“And I was told I can’t tell anyone, because people will panic, so I just have to pretend like everything is normal, but it’s not. She’s gone.”
“That’s such a heavy burden to carry by yourself, Arven,” she softly replied.
“It is,” he said wiping tears away, “and I don’t know how to even feel about it, because a part of me is glad to know what happened, and relieved that she didn’t just choose to cut me off completely, but the other part of me feels guilty that I don’t feel more sad. Shouldn’t I be more sad?”
“I don’t think there’s a right way to feel about this,” she carefully said, “Everything about the situation is just wrong.”
“Everything feels wrong. But the rest of the world just kept moving forward like everything was all normal. Like I didn’t just lose my mom.”
She hummed in response.
“You know, I got yelled at about my grades about an hour after I learned what happened,” he let out a miserable and wet laugh, “I woke up the next morning and had to go to class. Otherwise I would fail and would get held back. Can you believe that?”
“You needed time to process everything but the world didn’t seem to want to let you,” she replied.
“Exactly. It just all felt… wrong,” he tried, searching for the right word, but failing.
She nodded sympathetically.
“And now here I am. Still not really sure how to make sense of any of it, and taking it out on the one good thing that’s happened to me in my entire life,” he said, putting his head back down and his voice full of shame, “She’s right to be mad at me, I deserve it.”
“What makes you think she’s mad at you?”
He lifted his face.
“She was just trying to help me, and I yelled at her and pushed her away, just like I do with everyone else. I don’t even know why I did it…” his voice started breaking, getting quieter, “I’m so tired of being alone,” he whispered, his tears starting back up again.
Juliana’s mom pulled him in for a hug as he sobbed, holding him tightly.
When he started to quiet again, she spoke up.
“Arven, you aren’t alone, and you’re not ever going to be,” she whispered back, “I know you’ve been let down by a lot of people in your life, and you’ve only had yourself to rely on for so long. No one should live like that. You have Juliana, and you have me, and we’re both going to work hard to not let you down, okay? Both of us are here for you, and you don’t have to go through this, or anything else, alone.”
He leaned into her.
“I really want to believe you, but I’m scared,” he confessed, still in a whisper, “Juliana deserves a better friend than me. One that’s not broken like I am. She won’t want to stay. She shouldn’t have to.”
She leaned back, “Listen to me, you’re not broken, you’re hurting. Your mom — pardon if this sounds blunt — was a terrible mother.”
Arven was caught off guard. No one ever said anything bad about his mother before. Even the people that knew how neglectful she was to him kept her on her pedestal due to all the work she did for the region, like all that came first.
Like Arven came second.
“I- I mean,” he didn’t know how to respond to that.
She placed her hand on his shoulder, “That wasn’t a question. She was, Arven. From what you’ve told me and what I’ve been able to gather, she was a bad mom to you. A really bad one, and you deserved a lot better. You’re not broken, and you’re not a burden, even if you grew up being made to feel that way by her.”
She squeezed his shoulder.
“Your mom is the one that messed up, not you. She’s the one who missed out on getting to know you. Juliana and I, we’re the lucky ones.”
He turned and hugged her tightly.
He wanted to thank her but nothing came out - she just hugged him back and rubbed his back gently.
“And Juliana… she’s not mad at you, Arven, she’s mad at herself. She thinks she ruined her friendship with you by pushing you too hard.”
“What? But… why?” He leaned back and wiped his eyes, “She didn’t do anything wrong. She was trying to help me. I’m the one who doesn’t know how to accept help.”
“Both of you need to learn how to take care of each other the way the other needs. What’s helpful to her won’t be helpful to you. You have to figure out what you need and how to ask for it,” she said, making eye contact, “it’s the most important thing you can learn to do in any relationship, do you understand?”
“I… I do…but I still need to apologize.”
“You can. And she can apologize too. I know she wants to,” she said, standing up and brushing herself off before turning back around and crouching, gently placing her hand on his shoulder.
“We can go whenever you’re ready.”
He took a few deep breaths and hoisted himself up, giving Mabosstiff a few tender pets on his head before putting him back in his pokeball.
“I’m ready.”
The two of them walked back to the house in silence, and as they turned down the path, they found Juliana sitting on the front steps looking heavy with emotion and guilt, eyes clearly red and raw from crying.
When she heard them approaching she perked up, jumping to her feet and running to him to embrace him in a hug, which he quickly accepted.
“Arven! Arven, I’m so sor-”
“I’m so sorry Juli, I should have nev-”
They both muffled apologies into each others’ shoulders while hugging each other tightly.
Juliana’s mom smiled softly, and interrupted them, “I’m heading inside to take care of my guests, please take as much time as you need.”
She turned away to head inside, leaving the two of them alone.
Juliana pulled away first, still keeping him in her arms.
“Arven, I’m so sorry, I should have never said those things to you. I care so much about you and I never want to hurt you or push you to share things you aren’t ready to share,” she said, looking up at him, “…it wasn’t right of me.”
“No, you were just trying to help, Juliana, I know that,” he said, looking away, “It’s hard for me. To talk about everything. I know that if I bring it up, it’ll be too much and I won’t be able to pretend like I’m okay anymore.”
“I just don’t want you to feel like you have to be okay. You shouldn’t have to have to pretend around me, and I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like you did,” she said leaning forward again until her head was on his chest and he was holding her close.
He took a moment to gather courage and be honest for once.
“You didn’t make me feel that way, my mom did,” he quietly replied, voice thick. “Every time I reached out like I needed something, if I was scared, lonely, sad, anything - she was never there. She only showed up when she needed something from me. I thought… I thought that maybe if she wanted nothing to do with me when I was sad and hurt, then I could just take care of myself and be someone she could rely on instead. Then maybe she’d want to be around me more.”
“Oh Arven…” Juliana hugged him tighter.
“And I guess I think the same thing about you and everyone else,” he continued, “That if I seem like I’m not okay, it’s going to be too much. Just another thing to have to deal with, until you won’t want to anymore.”
Juliana loosened a bit to wipe a few stray tears from her face that she shed for him.
“I know you’re scared to lose me, but I don’t want to lose you either, Arven. If I see that you’re not okay, I’m not going to run. Seeing you hurt is just going to bring me closer to you. I want to help you, I want to sit with you through whatever you’re feeling. That’s how it should be,” she said squeezing him tightly again, “I’m so sorry. You didn’t deserve to grow up feeling this way.”
He squeezed her back.
“I don’t want to feel this way anymore, Juliana. All the ways that she hurt me back then keep hurting me now. I don’t want to keep feeling like I have to put up these walls, but I don’t know how to stop.”
“I wish I had an answer for you… but maybe we can figure it out together?” She said quietly, leaning back and looking at him again.
“I would like that, I just…I feel so bad - you shouldn’t have to deal with this, Juli. You deserve someone normal, who has their stuff figured out.”
“Hey— stop that,” she placed a hand on his face, cupping it gently, “I want to help you, because it means that we’re doing this together. And I don’t want someone normal, I want you. All the good and the bad. Whatever you have to offer, I don’t care. As long as it’s you.”
He stared at her a few moments before closing his eyes and gently placing his forehead on hers.
“I love you, Juli. I really do,” he whispered, like a secret.
“I love you too, Arven. Every part of you,” she whispered back.
Like magnets drawn to each other, they leaned in and kissed.
It was sweet and tender and perfect, even with both of them having been crying with tears running down their faces.
They pulled apart after a few moments and kept their foreheads together, as Juliana brought her other hand up to wipe leftover tears from his face.
“Thank you, Juli.”
“Anytime. Every time.”
After a few hours sitting side by side in the garden and talking, away from prying eyes, they returned to the house. The dinner had ended and the guests had all left, leaving just Juliana’s mom in the kitchen cleaning up the dishes.
“Hey mom, we’re back,” Juliana spoke up, as they walked in, holding hands.
“Good to see you both. Feeling better, I hope?” She replied.
“Yes, thank you,” Arven said, “for everything.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” she said, walking over and tenderly putting a hand to his cheek for a moment before moving to Juliana, smoothing her hair, and placing a kiss on top of her head.
“Love you both,” she said, turning back to the kitchen as Juliana squeezed his hand gently.
Arven felt his heart swell with affection for the both of them. No one else had ever made him feel so cared for and wanted. He had never felt so at home.
He didn’t really understand what family was supposed to feel like, and had nothing to compare it to, but he suspected it might be this.
Warm. Safe. Accepting.
For the first time ever, he let himself get used to it.