Stu/May Alpha theme set

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#1 – Comfort

Stu agreed solemnly when Elli told him that the word hate should never be used lightly, but when he spends the afternoon sitting with May and holding her hand because her Mama isn't coming to visit this summer either, he thinks that he'd like to use it now.

#02 – Kiss

May suspects that Stu would be horrified if he knew she thought it was so sweet, when the Doctor caught Miss Elli around the waist and kissed her good-morning, so she pretended to be disgusted too.

#03 – Soft

When he trips and skins his knee badly on those rocks by the Hot Spring, May orders him back to the Yodel Ranch and cleans and bandages the cut with the a gentleness that elevates her to the ranks of Grandma and Elli as the people he seeks out when he's hurt.

#04 – Pain

He doesn't ask about their parents often, because whenever he does Elli looks like she wants to cry, but she says that Mom was very beautiful, with amazing long dark hair, so Stu likes to imagine that she looked a little like May.

#05 – Potatoes

At first, May was a little hurt when Stu presented her with a well-worn plushie Potato Friend for her birthday; but when she finds out that it's been his favourite toy for years, she feels like she just got a great big hug, and she thanks him again and again until he turns bright red and sulky with embarrassment.

#06 – Rain

It was kind of hard to run and hold his coat over May's head at the same time when they got caught in a summer storm, but it was worth it, because even though his hair and clothes were drenched, May's only got a bit damp.

#07 – Chocolate

And when they got home to Grandma's house, Elli's horrified exclamation turned to misty-eyed pride and a big hug and fluffy towel for her little gentleman, and Stu got extra marshmallows in his hot cocoa instead of a scolding for taking his coat off in the rain.

#08 – Happiness

May comes to the Church one day, almost shining, because her Mama is coming home to visit for-sure-for-sure this time; and Stu doesn't remind her that she always says that and never comes, because he hardly ever gets to see May this happy.

#09 – Telephone

When the call comes in the next day for Barley that Joanna isn't coming after all, Stu tries his hardest to cheer up a softly sniffling May, but when candy and stuffed animals and even the kittens living in Jack's barn fail, he gives up and just holds her hand again.

#10 – Ears

They haven't absorbed a word of his stern lecture about playing up on Goddess Peak, so when Stu and May gasp in simultaneous delighted horror that Mr. Gotz swore, the gruff woodsman can't help but chuckle at the selective hearing of children.

#11 – Name

"I think I was named after my Mama's favourite month," May tells him dreamily one day, and Stu decides not to voice his rejoining theory that he was named after his father's favourite dish.

#12 – Sensual

Stu can't understand why May looks so happy and drowsy when Elli brushes and braids her hair, because whenever his big sister takes a comb to his hair, he ends up yowling in pain.

#13 – Death

Ever since they turned ten and became really grown-up at last, they've been solemnly aware that neither his grandma nor her grandpa are going to be around forever, and they've made a pact that they'll take care of each other when that happens.

#14 – Sex

When two curious little pairs of eyes catch them under the dock, Kai and Popuri agree, bright red and giggling, that it's a good thing none of the kids in this town watch much TV, so it was easy to make up some excuse about looking for Popuri's necklace.

#15 – Touch

Lately, he hasn't wanted to sit too close to her, and pulls away when she tries to cuddle up while Ellen or Carter or Barley reads them a story; Elli assures her comfortingly it's just a phase, but she would still like to say some not-so-nice things to Duke for teasing Stu about his girlfriend.

#16 – Weakness

They've had more than one bitter feud in Jack's barn, because she loves to hold and snuggle and sing to the kitties that always seem to abound, but whenever he sees a cat perched on the shipping box, ostentatiously washing its face, the urge to pick up the nearest stone and see how close he can get without hitting it is almost irresistible.

#17 – Tears

May thinks that something about it isn't quite fair, that she has to coax and coax before the near-wild barn cats will come play with her, but when she stumbles and twists her ankle, they let Stu scoop them up with no problem to keep her company and dry her tears on warm silkensoft fur while he runs to find Jack.

#18 – Speed

And it's a good thing that he left the kittens, because he's trying so hard to hurry through Mother's Hill for Gotz after Jack proves nowhere to be found, that he trips over a root and twists his ankle too, and it's a while before the bearded woodsman hears his shouts and arrives at the Clinic with a child under each arm.

#19 – Wind

"Make sure you comb your hair again when you get there; it's windy today, and I know you want to look nice for May," Elli calls teasingly as he sets off for a birthday celebration at Yodel Ranch, and as soon as she disappears inside, Stu sticks out his tongue at the closed door and musses it up even more.

#20 – Freedom

Stu can't wait until he's a grown-up, and he can do whatever he wants; May can never agree quite enough to suit him, because it sounds a little scary to her, taking care of yourself, with no one to help you.

#21 – Life

The last time there was a litter of kittens at the farm, it took May a while to warm to the squirmy, hairless little creatures, because she expected them to be fuzzy and pretty right away; but there's a big difference between being seven and being ten, and now she adores the babies right away, and coddles the poor exhausted mother, and glares at Stu when he says something about more target practice.

#22 – Jealousy

Just now, Stu doesn't like doctors very much, because May is right in the middle of a schoolgirl crush on his brother-in-law, and he thinks resentfully that it wasn't enough that the jerk had to steal his big sister, now he has to steal May too.

#23 – Hands

But sometimes turnabout is fair play, even at twelve, and it isn't long before May gives a tiny, sad little sigh as Stu blushes bright red at Popuri's slim, pretty hands rubbing sunscreen over his neck and cheeks before an outing to the beach.

#24 – Taste

"You taste like peanut butter," she giggles as they move apart, both flushed and nervous and exhilarated.

#25 – Devotion

It kind of rubs him the wrong way when he hears someone suggest that it's because they're the only two children in town, poor things, that they're so close; as if anyone wouldn't like May best no matter how many kids there were to play with!

#26 – Forever

Recently, they've become more aware that her Grandpa and his Grandma won't be around forever, so it's become something of an agreement between them to help out as much as they can, and make the time they do have with them as wonderful as they can.

#27 – Blood

When May falls out of a tree and ends up with a gash in her forehead, Stu rushes her to the Clinic and looks so terrified while Elli wipes away the blood and dabs on some disinfectant, that she has to take him out while the Doctor stitches up the little dark-haired girl.

#28 – Sickness

May responds very politely when Ellen sends her away because Stu is too ill for visitors right now, because she wants him to get better more than anything, but she was still looking really forward to going to see him today after she finally got better from falling out of a tree, and can't quite stop a lonely little teardrop from rolling down her nose.

#29 – Melody

"Could you sing to me like May does?" Stu asked, whimsically and a little weakly as Elli pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead, damp with fever, and tucked the blankets around him, and she laughed: "I think you'd have nightmares if I sang to you, sweetie."

#30 – Star

Everyone is bound and determined to be famous when they're thirteen, and Stu and May are no exception: she's going to be a famous singer, like Karen should be except she hates attention and crowds and fancy parties, and he's going to invent something amazing, even if he hasn't decided what yet.

#31 – Home

He would never ask her for a promise like that, because he knows how much she misses her mother, but he still couldn't stop smiling after May swore solemnly that even if Mama came back to take her away to the city, she would stay in Mineral Town with Grandpa...and with him.

#32 – Confusion

It started as a squabble between the children, May lividly angry because Stu gave Popuri a bouquet of flowers and then tried to take them back when he noticed his more-than-best-friend looking sad, but now it's extended to the grown-ups, and as Karen and Elli and May spend a joyous hour lambasting men, Rick and the doctor and Stu shake their heads at these bewildering womenfolk.

#33 – Fear

Ever since he found out what that day of the month means, and why it's probably safer to leave her alone during it, he's been a little afraid of her.

#34 – Thunder/Lightning

When they got stranded on the shore by a terrible thunderstorm, they made a mad dash for Kai's Seaside Shack, even though Zack's house was closer, because they like Zack, but Kai makes such good snacks, and there's no Won there to tease May.

#35 – Bonds

It sure wasn't funny at the time, and she cried all night because she felt terrible for it, but now that she looks back on the day she tied Stu up in the caves during a game of Kidnapper when they were seven, then left for a few minutes to let him struggle and forgot to come back, she's able to laugh about it with him.

#36 – Market

He doesn't think Won was actually going to let May spend five-hundred gold on a stupid apple, anymore than he thinks she actually would, but he's still glad he got there in time to pull the transaction to a halt.

#37 – Technology

After a week of constant pestering, May has Stu almost convinced that he doesn't want that game system he asked for as a birthday gift, because she keeps hearing stories about kids who get them and never go outside again, and how does he expect to beat Kai in the swimming competition if he doesn't train?

#38 – Gift

And so, when Elli presents him with a big, brightly wrapped box, and informs him sternly as he exclaims in slightly guilty delight, that there are going to be very definite rules about how much time he's allowed to play each day, he agrees so gladly that Elli checks him for fever.

#39 – Smile

A lot of the things that Kai says to Popuri sound a lot like poetry, but Stu doesn't really like poetry, so he's trying to find another way to tell May that her smile is really pretty, without so many words.

#40 – Innocence

When Elli hurries into the living room, drawn by the crash of a pretty crystal vase hitting the floor, Stu blurts out that it was him that DDR'ed right into the side table; but only half an hour later sees May sneaking away from Stu and slinking into the kitchen to tell the truth.

#41 – Completion

But Elli knows that protecting his friend is important to her little brother, so they don't tell him until after the children are finished painting the backyard fence, Stu to earn enough to pay for the vase and May over bright and early to help because she's sweet that way, that the grown-ups know what really happened.

#42 – Clouds

"You say they all look like kittens," he scoffs gently at the pretty dark-haired girl stretched out in the grass next to him, and she pouts and reminds him that he just says they all look like clouds, which is kind of missing the point.

#43 – Sky

"I think you'll be on your own," she admits when he tells her that he wants to take her on a plane ride someday, because she doesn't like heights; and he fixes her with big, sad eyes: "Even if I fill the plane with kittens first?"

#44 – Heaven

She likes to ponder what Heaven might be like, but usually it just freaks him out and keeps him up reading comic books all night because he's scared to go to sleep.

#45 – Hell

"You know, Stu, when you tell everything to go to Hell, it loses its impact."

#46 – Sun

"It's not that funny," he huffs as she takes in his bright red sunburned face, with those stark white patches around his eyes where his sunglasses were when he fell asleep on the beach.

#47 – Moon

Grandpa didn't want her going to the Full Moon Festival yet this year, because he didn't take her grandmother until they were sixteen and that's three more years, but she still had a good time this evening, eating cookies and drinking punch with Stu and Ellen, and waiting until they saw Elli and the doctor walk past in the darkened street, so they could laugh and cheer and catcall at them through the window.

#48 – Waves

May's favourite part of their trip to the beach was sitting at the dock, letting the icy cold waves wash over their toes until it felt warm; Stu's favourite part was when May stood up and a gust of wind blew her skirt up around her waist.

#49 – Hair

She isn't quite sure why Stu is so upset when she talks about cutting her hair really short, but she thinks it's something like the same reason that she hates the idea of him marring his pretty, smooth skin with the tattoos he always talks about getting.

#50 – Supernova

He didn't expect her to be all that interested in the telescope an uncle sent for his birthday this year, so it was a pleasant surprise when she eagerly agreed to join him on Goddess Peak to try it out; and fourteen is a long way from grown up, so he was practically required to glare when Elli suggested mildly that it's not the stars May is really interested in.

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