Work Text:
Riven couldn't believe he was doing this. Who the fuck convinced him this was a good idea?
He threw down the pencil and growled at his paper. Poetry had to be the stupidest art form he had ever heard of. And considering his brief relationship with Musa had introduced him to things like dubstep, rap/metal crossover, and interpretative dancing, that was saying something.
How does Helia do this? he thought, staring blankly at the paper one more time.
It wasn't fair. Helia's poems were beautiful. Riven would never admit it, but he could listen to Helia read all day. His low, calm voice. His fresh perspective on the world around him. His mastery of every style in the book (yes, Riven knew poetry styles, though he would continue to feign ignorance if anyone ever asked him about the subject).
Helia brought peace to Riven's life on the days when he couldn't fight the stress away. When 'toughing it out' got too difficult. Helia gave him a chance to lay his weapons down. Take his armor off.
He wanted to thank Helia for reaching out to him. For sticking to him like... A sticky thing when he messed things up with everybody. When Musa got mad at him for not 'being into her' enough and ditched him for a normal guy.
Riven had to get this right. Helia's birthday was tomorrow, darn it! How hard could this possibly be? If that art school dropout pansy can do this, so can I.
He looked back down at his paper, staring at the scribbled mess:
"When the world spins 'round,
Throws me off course,
You show up to guide me.
When the days fly by,
And I don't know what to do,
You're stuck right here, beside me.
As the moon meets the day,
In the early midnight,
I felt you there, inside me.
On the day of your start,
When you came to magic lands,
The fates plotted beyond me.
And with your wise eye,
And unfortunate great advice,
I came to (shoot me) adore you.
Happy birthday, dude,
Enjoy your great day,
And remember, I wrote this for you.
You're the first that I've loved,
And the weirdest guy I've met,
But hey, at least I don't bore you.
Happy birthday, Helia,
Hope I wrote this thing right,
At least burning this won't be a chore for you.
Laugh all you want,
Riven"
He felt so dumb writing about his feelings this way. What if one of their classmates found it? Helia was trying to get him to stop beating up guys who deserve it. Riven had given up some violence for him (stupid former pacifist), so now what was he gonna do? It was the middle of spring, which meant he'd have to put up with teasing for months.
He could just imagine Helia listening to his thoughts. Giving him some long winded speech about how the masses would entertain themselves with anything and their ignorant remarks were trivial and some bullshit about the human condition. It was annoying and overcomplicated... but usually right.
The red haired specialist stayed up all night trying to make his present perfect. And when the morning came, Helia woke him up by reading the poem out loud. The little smile at the end was worth all the angst Riven's endeavor had caused.