Penelope leaned back in her favorite comfy chair, absentmindedly watching the TV flicker in the background, some crime show playing on the screen. It was exactly six years to the date that she first met Kevin, even though they didn't even speak until late at night, and she missed him. She missed all the fun they used to have, their annual trip to DC ComiCon, the late nights of watching Doctor Who together, and everything that made them, them.
She reached for a framed picture, the only one she had of the two of them, and stared at it. The date was scrawled in the corner of the picture; three days before they split.
How did things go so wrong? Whose fault was it? Who ruined them? She had a sinking feeling in her heart that it was her own fault that the two of them fell apart, all because of her fears. She didn't want anything to change. I really fucked that up, didn't I? she scoffed inwardly. She reached for a glass of wine sitting on the table, but stopped before she could. The last time she got smashed over Kevin, she woke up too hung over to remember the night, with a very naked Derek Morgan in her living room, and while that was a sight any member of the straight female species could enjoy, it wasn't exactly the best for allowing them to speak without crazy levels of awkwardness.
She walked over to a drawer in her kitchen, where she kept all of Kevin's old stuff, and dug out the Polaroid photos they had taken in the beginning, when they were two crazy minds in love. She didn't notice the tears until they splashed on a picture, one of her least favorites, smudging the ink. Underneath the pictures, she found a piece of paper, a torn half of a heart.
"Here, Plum Sauce. You have a piece of my heart, and I have one of yours," Kevin said, handing her a torn piece of paper in the shape of half a heart. He slid his next to hers, and the heart was complete. "No matter what, we'll always have our paper hearts.
Garcia picked up her phone, which had been laying on the counter over the drawer as if it knew, and tapped out a quick, hurried message.
PG: I still have ur paper heart.
KL: I still have urs.
PG: What happened to us?
KL: U were afraid + I wasn't
Garcia's hand tightened around her phone, before she tapped out a text, hesitating before sending it.
PG: Can we start over?
KL: I can't…
It took all of Penelope's strength not to throw her phone against the wall. She finally extended the olive branch back to Kevin, and he crushed it under his foot.
She let a tear hit his paper heart, and slid his drawer shut.
Please R&R. Inspired by the Tori Kelly song Paper Hearts. And thanks to my friend who suggested I listen to it, even though she'll never see this :).