Alois laid back on the blanket staring up at the clouds. He listened happily to the sounds of Luca and Victor playing by the stream. The the span of just one year, Alois' life had changed drastically for the best. After a rocky start, Alois and Naveen had grown closer than the blonde boy had ever thought possible. Naveen had accepted Luca quickly and had attempted to win Hannah's favor. The female demon refused him each time.
Alois sighed closing his eyes. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear Naveen approach him. He was completely oblivious to his presence and taken by surprise when he felt soft lips being pressed to his own. Alois opened his eyes to find sparkling emerald ords staring back at him.
"Hello beautiful one." Naveen greeted softly leaning over him. Alois smiled
"Hello love." He responded.
"I have something for you."
"You're going to spoil me"
"Is that such a terrible thing?" Naveen asked kissing the tip of Alois' nose, causing the boy to giggle.
"Of course not. I just have nothing to give you." Alois propped himself up on his arms and received another kiss. Naveen smiled after pulling away, kissing outside, even in remote areas caused Alois to blush. Alois had told Naveen everything from his past, including the old man and Claude and could hardly believe it when he the other demon had still been willing to accept him.
"Love is patient Alois," he had said. "We have forever, there's no rush and I could never do anything like that to you."
Naveen handed Alois a bouquet of Blue bells that he has been hiding behind his back.
"I know how much those mean to you. Can I join you down there?" Naveen asked, Alois nodded and moved over to allow the boy to lie beside him.
"Lovely aren't they, Luca and I used to do this sometimes when we were little. Especially on a warm spring day surrounded by flowers and when the breeze picked up just right, there were little pink petals that came in on the wind. Luca used to try to catch them." Alois chuckled.
"It must have been a beautiful place."
"Yes, it was, it was the people that made me hate it." He felt Naveen's soft hand grab onto his and give a comforting squeeze.
"I really am sorry you had to go through all that. I'm sorry for all the pain you went through. Even as a demon, I haven't witnessed anything close to the amount of suffering you described."
"Not much of a demon are you?"
"Does that bother you?" Naveen's voice was suddenly filled with concern.
"Not at all, all I want is someone who knows me, I mean really knows what happened and me as a person but can honestly love me. They have to love Luca too, I wouldn't chose between them. Luca and Hannah are always first."
"Of course. They're special to you. I feel that way about Victor. I still have my parents but I'm closer to Aunt Ann and nothing could ever come between my brother and myself. You know, you and I are a lot alike Alois, and I'm glad you agreed to try this out. I really... I'm happy when I' you and we've brought each other out of our shells. I think we're good for each other."
"I think so too, thank you Naveen, for everything."
"Mo trouble at all, I enjoy our time together. I wonder if... Cousin Sebastian felt this way for his Mate."
"Don't know, I've never had a mate before. I'm not sure what it feels like." Alois responded.
"Would you ever consider it... Being a mate I mean?" Naveen was becoming nervous, Alois could sense the change in his companion.
"I don't know if I could ever do anything like that. I doubt I'd ever make a good one."
"I'm... sure one day, when you're ready, you'll be great, even if it isn't...me."
"What do you mean?" Alois sat up.
"That's why you aren't sure isn't it, I mean because of me, I'm going too fast aren't I, damn it."
"No, Naveen. It's not you, you're amazing, you've been very patient with me. You make me feel special, like I can be anything and do everything. People notice me a little more now because of you.I could never have the confidence to be someone's mate, or live up to the standards of what a mate actually is. I hear It's difficult."
"At times I'm certain it is, but Cousin Sebastian is so in love with Cousin Ciel, even after all this time, that's all I would want in a mate, the love they share is one of the greatest I've ever heard of, fiction writers could never create anything strong enough to compare, I want a forever love, I want someone that can make me want to be better, someone I can't live without. I want-" Naveen stopped himself, to finish would have scared Alois off for good, he was sure of it.
"Sorry." He said quietly.
"No, don't be, you haven't done anything wrong." Alois assured him.
"Come back down?" Naveen tugged on Alois' jacket. Alois accepted the invitation and settled back down close to him.
"So, out of curiosity, if one day you met someone, opened uo to them and with all that went wrong in your life and theirs, you accepted each other, but he had little to give you, even though he wanted to give you the world, the only thing he could offer you, realistically was three words wrapped around your finger, understanding and an eternity of unwavering love, at the end of each day for the rest of your life, could you say that that was enough for you?"
"Yes." Alois said shortly. There was a long silence I'm which the two demons stared up at the clouds. Naveen smiled faintly. 'I'm one step closer, I can't push it. I'll take it one day at a time and I don't know what the future holds but I hope you're the one Alois.' Naveen thought with a contented sigh.
"Look, that cloud looks like rabbit." He pointed out.
"Yeah, it does. This one looks just like a butterfly." Alois said. Suddenly Naveen's eyes widened and he gasped in awe of the cloud above them.
"There's a heart!" They said in unison pointing upward at the sky. They chuckled.
They couldn't help but notice that this cloud was different, instead of passing by as the others had, this one lingered above them for a long moment before its departure. Neither boy would admit it, but both thought that maybe, just maybe they had received a sign.