Chapter Text
Strawberries
“Alex! Look at this one!” Mallory exclaimed, his knees popping as he stood back up to his full height. A bushel of strawberries was left in his wake beside the bush they had been plucked from, a single strawberry held carefully between his first finger and thumb.
As he reached Alex, all he found was the gaping maw of his parted lips, and a humming, expectant, “ahhhh.”
“What do you mean ‘ahh’? Look at it! It’s shaped like a heart!”
Alex blinked, regarding the brilliant red fruit before him. “I still wanna eat it,” Alex admitted cheekily. “Let’s split it.”
Adventure
A trip around the other side of Cindersap Forest hardly constituted an adventure in Alex’s eyes, but he humored his husband all the same. Sunset Cove was a hidden gem much like Pelican Town, an idyllic little seaside town that sat parallel to it along the coast, with only the forest in between.
Alex had visited the town countless times as a boy with Granny, but Mallory was seeing it for the first time. Anything that could make his sad eyes sparkle was well worth it, even if the adventure amounted to little more than visiting a slightly different beach.
Golden hour
The valley was always serene and peaceful this time of day, the hues of orange, pink, and fading indigo bathing the place Alex loved most in light and warmth. He leaned back against a fence post, catching his breath after his morning run.
His mom had been an early riser too, the pair always enjoying the sunrise together, listening to birdcalls and soaking in the first rays of sunshine of the day. A rare slice of stability in his tumultuous childhood.
Alex wondered what it might be like to watch the sunrise with a son or daughter of his own.
Lake house
It still felt strange being invited to dinner with Sebastian’s family, but Mallory supposed that the more times they ate together, the easier it would get. Alex was always by his side, squeezing his knee reassuringly and changing the subject if needed. Mallory’s usually outgoing nature hid away for much of the meal, coaxed out only by his husband or his siblings when he was being particularly shy.
His siblings… Maru’s bubbling warmth and inquisitive mind. Sebastian’s dry, razor-sharp wit. Both of them comforting, familiar, and reassuring.
This was Sebastian’s family, but in a way, it was Mallory’s family too.
Picnic
Maybe it was silly to have a picnic on their own property, but Paige Farm was large enough that Mallory had been able to set up the blanket and food without the farmhouse in sight, giving the illusion of another place. He sat between the fruit trees, peaches dangling from the boughs above in the glow of the early summer evening.
Alex found his way there at last, a warm smile gracing his handsome features as he took in the scene. A romantic dinner in the woods— sort of— only a hundred yards away from home.
“Wow…” Alex breathed fondly.
Mayflower
It had been a miracle that Mallory had been permitted to go on a field trip during his junior year of high school, influenced mostly by his grandparents who he had gushed to about the trip.
Steelburg was gray and dead, choked with smoke and industry at all times— but here? A hiking trail on the way to a historical site, hours away from his mother? Mallory finally felt at home.
A small, white flower blooming from a shrub had caught his eye. Plucking it, he tucked it away in a book to dry out and remember the day forever.