Work Text:
If you have a problem, you can come to me. I am your friend and together we’ll figure out this problem like a jigsaw puzzle. I don’t know your secrets but I’ll pick up the pieces, pull you close to me now. I will let you snuggle into my side with the added comfort of a hot chocolate and a huge fluffy blanket draped over our shoulders as we settle down to begin solving your problematic puzzle.
We will start out with the edges for a base. First the corners, the smallest of your worries. We will find them together as well as the surrounding edges that make your problem seem all that harder. Sometimes the edge pieces won’t fit even though they are the right colour, but that is ok. I will loyally help you search for the small piece, the small answer.
Soon we celebrate our success at finally completing the edges and you may sleep easier knowing that your problem is that slightly less complicated. We continue fitting pieces together during the following days, sorting out category like piles to make everything just that tiny bit less confusing. Some days we sit down together for hours tackling this problem head on. Others, it’s just one of us sitting down in the limited time we have to drink our tea and scour over the puzzle for any obvious pieces that will fit. There are also days when the jigsaw isn’t touched at all or only by the person who has to yet again move the kitten away from the puzzle and place back all the pieces that were knocked off the table in the process.
But this is ok.
No not the cat licking its behind on the puzzle.
It is ok for your problematic puzzle to be left in a dark room for a while.
I promise I won’t forget it! I already knew this problem may take a while to solve and will keep working on it even if it takes months or years! Guaranteed there will be those pieces that are the exact shade of blue that you need for the sky but just won’t click together. You may want to give up after the 23rd similar yet so different puzzle piece but I refuse to let you get up to grab the box and pack it all away. I will grab your wrist and force your butt to be reunited with the chair, I will even sit on your lap if that is what it takes to make you continue solving the problem with me.
No joke!
Soon enough if you keep persisting you will find the mischievous piece that fits perfectly with the surrounding sky.
And yes, I apologise for not looking more carefully but it’s not my fault the piece was caught in my jumper! We will continue figuring out this puzzle as friends sitting side by side, of course with the occasional coffee bearing parent. Some days we will make so much progress that we actually have to stop and admire our handiwork with a congratulatory chocolate bar in hand. While others will be sluggishly slow with little to no progress made.
Soon enough the day will come where our pile of pieces has dwindled so low that we have almost run out of puzzle pieces to click together. I will be buzzing on the edge of my seat in excitement and anticipation just as much as you! Just as we are putting in the last few pieces is when the bomb is dropped. I looked to you with the same look of horror in my eyes.
The last piece of the jigsaw was missing.
We sat there for a heartbeat or two looking at the small yet devastating hole in our work as the realisation sinks in. Then without a single word spoken, a switch is flicked. We simultaneously get up in a panic and start searching in a frenzy. Objects are lifted up then placed down then hurriedly picked up again. Pillows in the neighbouring lounge room are roughly grabbed and held suspended in the air for a millisecond then thrown halfway across the room. Soon we are left double checking everything in a last futile attempt to find the missing piece. We plonk back down onto our seats and lean together in a disheartened heap. “We were so close to figuring this all out yet we are so far” you say bitterly to which I only hum in agreement. I let my eyes wander over our incomplete puzzle and they come to rest on our used mugs. I offer you another hot beverage but you politely decline, so I opt to picking my way through the mess we created in our search and I place our mugs in the sink. I stare out the window and let a small sigh pass my lips that is swallowed by the shriek of my name that is quickly followed by a rushed “I found the last piece!” which makes me scramble back to you. In my haste I trip over my own feet and stumble straight into your open arms. I watch as you jump around in excitement and I chanted “put it in quick!!” over and over again. Soon the jigsaw has been properly solved and your problem finally had its answer.
Later while we are lying together wrapped like a huge warm blanket burrito it finally occurs to me to ask you where the last piece actually was. Your reply is swallowed by a yawn but being your friend, I understood what your tried to say. I caught the yawn then scoffed “under the coffee mug huh?” I giggled a bit as I continued “well we both better go apologise to the cat for blaming her even though it was right under our noses” to which you sleepily nodded in agreement. As we both drift off to sleep, I make one last promise.
“I promise to forever be by your side and to continue helping you solve your problems. And maybe one day you might help me solve my own jigsaw."