This has been a long time coming (since June) but I finally found it in my notebook again, and completed it. It's a little (or a heck of a lot) cheesy, but oh well. It's fluff. It's not supposed to be serious.
It's a damn cold night, tryin' to figure out this life...
- I'm With You, Avril Lavigne
Prosper couldn't sleep that night. Maybe it was the cold, which had permeated the blankets in the unheated cinema. Maybe it was Bo, turning restlessly in his sleep. Maybe it was his dreams, filled with a certain brown haired, gray eyed girl.
Whatever the reason, Prosper was definitely awake. He got out of bed and walked over to a set of stairs that led up onto the roof. He had slipped his long coat over his pajamas, to guard against the bone aching cold.
As he emerged out onto the flat roof, he realized he was being followed. The feeling was something he recognized well from the long of months of escaping Esther and Victor the Snoop. When he turned, he saw it was Hornet, her waist length hair in its characteristic braid down her back. Even in the moonlight, her gray eyes sparkled when she smiled.
"I guess I'm found out." she said ruefully.
"I couldn't sleep." Prosper said shortly.
"Nor could I. But I heard you get up, and decided to follow you." Hornet admitted.
Something in Prosper's mind said he ought to wonder why she thought to follow him. But at the moment, he was preoccupied with why she had been awake in the first place. Her eyes were red and puffy, as if she had been crying.
"Hornet, are you all right?" he asked tentatively, stepping closer to her. Now he could see tears glinting on her cheeks in the moonlight. He lifted a hand to brush the rears off her pale cheeks. She was cold, deathly cold. Why hadn't he noticed before she wasn't wearing a coat? Only a flimsy flannel nightgown that did almost nothing to guard against the cold.
"What were you thinking? It's freezing out here!" He unbuttoned his coat and gave it to her, wrapping it around her trembling shoulders.
Prosper himself wasn't much better off, but he barely felt the cold. Hornet's shivering stopped almost immediately, and she stared up at the night sky, like black velvet sprinkled with diamonds. Prosper looked up too, and saw a single shooting star glide across the sky. He closed his eyes and made a wish. When he opened his eyes, the streak of white light was gone.
Next to him, Hornet saw the star too. She made a wish. When she opened her eyes, she saw Prosper still staring up at the sky. On impulse, she grabbed his hand. As she did, an electric feeling raced up her arm. But it was quickly replaced with the feeling of his ice-cold fingers in hers. She squeezed his hand tightly, as if willing warmth into it. And to her surprise, he squeezed back.
"Prosper, why were you awake? Is everything okay?" she asked tentatively, not wanting to disturb his thoughts, but desperately wanting an answer. Prosper had been lost in imaginings of a life where anything was possible. A life where wishes came true. When Hornet spoke, he was jolted out of his dream world, but didn't care. It was Hornet. How could he care?
"I was just cold. And Bo was moving. I'm fine. But what about you? Hornet, don't try and tell me that everything's all right. I'll know you're lying."
He reached up and brushed a single tear off her face with his thumb. It was then that she really began to break down. When Prosper heard her first sob, he pulled her into his chest, wrapping his arms tight around her. He felt her moving as she cried, but just held her close, rubbing circles on her back and resting his face against her hair.
They stood like that for a while, until Hornet stopped crying, and leaned against his chest, drinking in the moment. She decided she liked his smell, and the feeling of his arms around er, and didn't want him to let go.
But already he was lifting his head to ask "Hornet, what's wrong? You know you can tell me anything, right?" His voice was soft. Caring. It broke his heart to see her like that.
When she began speaking, her voice was so quiet, he could barely hear what she was saying, but the words tumbled out quickly, as though she needed to say them.
"Prosper, what's going to happen to us? This life is wonderful, in it's own way. But what if something happens to Scipio? What if decides to stop bringing us loot to sell? What if the police find us? What about when we're grown-up? I don't want anything to change. But what if it does?"
By the end, tears were already squeezing out of her eyes, running down her cheeks in thin streams that showed silver in the moonlight. Prosper just embraced her again and spoke in a voice that made Hornet believe his every word.
"None of those thing are going to happen. Don't worry. We all trust Scipio and he won't leave us. The police won't find us. No one ever sees us coming or going. And on thing will never change. I will always be here, with you." Hornet looked up, suddenly, and then did something neither of them really expected. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Prosper tentatively.
It was nothing much, just a brush of lips, but to them, it was everything. When they pulled apart, Prosper felt somehow incomplete, without her in his arms. So instead of awkwardly standing there, as she did, he just pulled her close again. This time, however, instead of just standing there helplessly, Hornet wrapped her arms around his waist, and they stood there for a minute, enjoying each other's company.
Finally, Prosper asked "Hornet, what did you wish for?"
Hornet replied quickly "You. But what did you wish for?" as if trying to change the subject.
"I wished for you as well." He said with a small smile.
"I guess both of our wishes came true then." Said Hornet, with a laugh that was barely audible.
Their wishes undeniably granted, they were satisfied with asking no more questions, and were absolutely positive that as long as they were together, nothing bad could happen.
Shorter than I would have liked, and I absolutely despise the ending, but oh well. Please please please review!
