William's dark eyes reflected back the universe in its entirety at they stared up together. They seemed to swallow up all they light as they looked on; it was honestly alluring.

Not that Cole would know, he repeated to himself in an attempt to convince himself, quickly flitting his attention away from his crush. He had just happened to see, and could understand how someone could come to that conclusion. It was... Impressive. Yeah. 

"How's it look?" Cole snuck a peek at his companion. He caught William right as he scrunched his nose up, seemingly unsure how to respond.

"Um. Blurry?" Cole would never get enough of his clipped voice, buttered with that fancy accent. It always felt so strange to hear such a casual response coming from a boy who sounded more like he belonged in a Victorian English mystery show than real life. He chuckled and handed the glasses back. 

"Aww... Here ya go, Will. I was over here hoping you could finally see the stars without lenses. It'd feel more magical that way, wouldn't it?" 

"Don't insult my specs!" William frowned, putting his hands in a defensive pose around them, "They look great and serve me just fine."

Cole grinned, "I know, I know, that's not what I was trying to say." 

"I'd just be way better without them, is all?" 

"Seriously, stop that. That's not at all what I said or meant."

"Well what did you mean?" Will's defenses lowered slightly. Cole glanced over, into those deep brown eyes. He quickly broke the eye contact.

"I just wish you didn't have to worry about them. Like when you get up in the morning, ''Oh, gotta grab my glasses' or if you drop them or get bumped into... Y'know? It seems like a pain. I wish you could just be able to see well on your own." 

William stayed silent for a moment, making the other boy shift uncomfortably. "Will?" 

"Was just thinking. I get what you mean. 'ts fine for me, though. 'int too much of a problem." 

"Yeah, sorry... I didn't mean to make it sound that way."

The two turned their eyes back to the sky, and silence comfortably draped itself in the space between and above them; one light speck and one dark -- one bespectacled with brown eyes, the other with plain pitch back ones. All at night was calm once more.

Sometimes there are moments where things just click. It feels awesome, some many-lettered hormone springs into action in your brain, and you feel like you might be on top of the world. It's amazing.

But sometimes those clicks get undone, somehow. It's the worst when it happens slow and drawn out -- not one huge eruption of passion and pain and firey energy -- but instead a lengthy unwinding, drifting apart at the speed of Celestial orbits erring from their paths, and reeking the faint twanging scent of entropy seeping into every last interaction, each final firing of neurons, before the click is completely lost in all but memory.

That is when true tragedy spindles its way into a relationship and eats it alive, one miniscule bite at a time until all is lost. Then, only the relics of the past can stand as final connecting threads; soon to be chipped away -- devoured wholly -- by the moths of time.

~~~~~~~~~~

Yes, I had a mini existential crisis writing this. :/ 

Rina's honey-tanned skin is tinted with the gold of yet another never-ending day. The sun beats down on the scowling outsider as they haul up a load of bags. The bags aren't their own – a small leather suitcase and the clothes on their back is all they have to their name, but the grumbling stay locked away inside until after-hours.

It is in those darkening times, sun waning nostalgically, that Rina can finally relax beneath a tree, mutter about how everything sucks, and then laugh that at least the sun will be forced to its knees for a good couple of hours. This happens every time. Rina never wants it – in fact, it would be safe to say once upon a time young-Rina would beg upon arrival for things to stop moving, for everything to stop constantly changing – but it always happens nonetheless. 

This time is a little different, though.

As Rina carelessly plops down onto the ground beneath a tree that lies behind a towering stone building, legs slam into the hard roots, hardly visibly in the dim of twilight's shadow, and the teen yelps in partial pain and otherwise surprise. Brown eyes tiredly skim the bleeding neon-orange horizon for potential witnesses to the embarrassing incident when a soft laugh unexpectedly wafts down from above. 

Startled, Rina jumps slightly, eyes widening with the scene painted in the last fleeting rays of day. A young woman about her own age, fair as the moon above them, leans her chin on her palm, peering right back at Rina. Her eyes are a glowing light violet stones, and the waves of golden-brown locks cascading down and framing her face make her look like a goddess.

Rina's chest squeezes with something akin to a pure heart attack when their eyes meet. The walnut orbs flick away first, embarrassed and unsure of what to say. Who is this girl? Why is she looking out the window at this hour? She totally saw what just happened, didn't she? Ugh. The deep brown eyes flip back to the fairy-like girl, one last thought fluttering around their owner's head. …think she would ever marry me if I asked? That twinkling laughter spills from the window again, and Rina scowls up, indignant. However, before the traveller can speak up(and most likely say something insulting), the girl on the sill steals the chance to do so.

"Hi, what's your name?" Rina eyes the stranger warily, but the amethyst orbs only shine a shade brighter in amusement. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. The name's Rina." A slight pause, deep breath, "They/them." Rina explains further at the twinge of confusion in their inquirer's gaze. "My pronouns."

"Oh, cool." An awkward silence simmers between them.

"So, what about you?"

"Oh, um, she/her." The girl scrambles, seemingly taken off-guard.

"No... I mean your name."

"Ah," she laughs that magical laugh, and Rina has to force themselves not to stare for too long, "You can call me 'Baby.'" The latter squints at their companion, staring at her for a moment without a response.

"... Are you… serious?" 

Baby scrambled a reply together again, "I mean, my name is Babylonia, but it's weird and long and I don't really like it, so," She glances at Rina, "Um, you can call me something else if you want to."

"How about… Lonnie, then?"

Lonnie painted on a smile, "Sure."

And thus, the strange acquaintanceship began.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I do plan on continuing, but this also took a lot of will-power to write out, despite me having a solid plan and loving the direction it's going in. So just don't be too surprised if it takes a while, sorry! 

Dark pulsed around his periphery. Hot licked at his neck, but there was no one there. He was alone, in a dimly lit place, on his back; everything was vague grey silhouettes, turning darker grey.

His head hurt. It really hurt. But at the same time, the stinging prickly feeling in the front of his neck distracted him. Even that wasn't really the first thing on his mind. It was all kind of hazy now, just like his sight. There was a buzzing sound that wasn't really a sound. His right eye kinda felt wierd. He'd been slipped into kind of dizziness, pounding coming from somewhere in the background of his head-space, maybe from the other side of the gates of death.

His breaths were turning shallow. It was alright, he assured himself.

Only minutes later, his sister would burst in, panting. Not a breath stirred the air in the abandoned warehouse by then. Indeed, not a soul was left alive that day. No one but her. She was too late.

Some experimentalizing, may or may not relate to my ski lodge 

Sergei awoke to a picture of grey, storm-addled skies, both muddied and muddled in mind. He squeezed his eyes shut. This was just a dream. Definitely. There's no way this situation was real.

The Fäul-essers squawking above his head, frigid ice water lapping at his sides and the pain emanating from the gash in his left leg begged to differ. Groaning, he pulled himself up. Nope, this was apparently just as real as himself. He looked around. Night was bound to come soon, so the sooner he could find shelter, the better.

And so, limping, the boy with no memories other than the vague feeling his name was Sergei, disappeared into the darkness of the woods. Would this be the beginning of a winding epic, or the end?

Something should have happened that day.

All that happened was me breaking. 

Under the fireworks: Full of life and life and motion and noise; something beautiful should've happened that night. 

But instead my heart was turned to olivine; something destined to chip and crack and tear and flake away -- something meant to break and disappear.

Like the fireworks, my happiness blown to bits, whisked away in the night sky; faint clouds of green dust, invisible against the dark sky.

Indeed, the shock of lights and thunder, bursting -- blooming -- as you looked into her eyes.

I knew I had no chance. 

So blinded by pink and shining adoration that'd never be directed at me, I shattered into the dark. Under the fireworks that day.

I love the Sea

But I have to sometimes wonder,

Does she love me? 

'Cause she tosses me around,

Messes me all up,

Then spits me back up like trash before her. 

I know I'll never be enough

But it still hurt when her actions too

Simply reaffirm what the whole World's been sayin'.