Hold Me Tender, Love Me Sweet
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Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
Bon Bon listened to the kitchen clock count away each moment as they passed, each resounding tick announcing their presence in the quiet house. It wasn’t even muffled by the light sprinkle of cold rain outside, pittering and pattering against the roof with fervor.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
She rolled over to her side, tugging fretfully at the silken sheets beneath her as she tried to remain quiet. Of course, Lyra didn’t wake up. The unicorn rarely awoke for anything aside from a house fire or the promise of coffee, but that didn’t stop Bon Bon from trying to keep from waking her anyway. The mare sighed heavily as she turned away from Lyra, running her hoof over the sheet again and again as she stared a hole in the wall.
Maybe if she just ignored it, it would go away.
Countless attempts had proven her wrong, of course. Just like always.
Bon Bon hated feeling like this.
She bit her lip hesitantly, unable to sleep.
Of course, she couldn’t sleep. Not when she felt like her heart was weakly trying to pound its way out of her chest.
Stupid Lyra. Stupid… everything, she thought bitterly, tugging the thin blankets more tightly up to her chin as she tried to force herself to sleep. Not that it did any good. When she tugged at them, though, Lyra gave a sleepy snort of discontent as she was greeted by a small burst of cool air.
Bon Bon flinched in surprise when Lyra snuggled up beside her in her sleep, nuzzling the back of her neck and resuming her heavy breathing.
It only made the aching pang in her heart jab even harder.
She shook her head, desperately straining to remain motionless. It wouldn’t do any good to stay like this all night, if past experience had taught her anything. That didn’t make it any easier to rest, though.
“Bon Bon.”
The earth pony took in a deep breath, and slowly let out a long, discontented sigh.
“Come on, Bonny. I know you’re awake,” Lyra whispered, teasing the back of her neck. Bon Bon instinctively fought back a grin as the unicorn picked out her ticklish spot, but frowned when she rolled over onto her side. Again, Bon Bon fought the urge to flinch away, even though a tuft of Lyra’s mane was tickling her face.
“… I can’t sleep, Lyra.”
“Obviously,” she quietly retorted with a smile, facing her more evenly and thankfully shifting the tuft of mane out of the way. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
“That’s not what I meant, Lyra,” Bon Bon said seriously, sitting up and rubbing her aching eyes with the backs of her hooves.
“Ah. I see,” she nodded, sitting up slowly beside her. “Playing it straight this time, huh.”
Bon Bon opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off.
“Uh, no pun intended.”
That one elicited a miniscule titter from Bon Bon, but the sad look enveloped her almost immediately afterwards.
“Come on, Bon Bon.” Lyra pleaded quietly. “Talk to me.”
“I-“ she began, but cut off at the last moment. Bon Bon shook her head slowly, no emotion escaping her mask of sudden indifference.
“It’s nothing,” Bon Bon whispered, rolling back onto her side.
Lyra paused for a full beat, propped herself up on one elbow, and said “Oh, okay. So by ‘nothing’, you mean ‘something’, right?”
When the mare didn’t respond, Lyra let out a breath of wind, puffing back the lock of minty mane that had drifted back over her eyes.
“… Bon Bon, if you don’t tell me what’s wrong, IT is going to happen again.”
Bon Bon didn’t respond, but instead became very still.
“… I mean it, Bonny,” Lyra’s voice took on a dangerous tone as she crept ever closer, and Bon Bon couldn’t even be seen breathing. “IT will come to get you…!”
“Maybe in the morning, LyrAAAAAAAAAAGH!” the mare shrieked as Lyra tackled her, tickling her and cackling at the top of her lungs. Bon Bon fell off the bed in a pile of giggles as the unicorn picked out her every weak spot while the blankets were pulled off the bed along with them, and she struggled to keep from laughing.
She failed. Horribly.
“IT’S TH’ TICKLE MONSTAH!” Lyra growled ‘ferociously’, nuzzling at Bon Bon’s stomach with her nose again.
“Lyra, c-cut it ou- hee hee ha ha! Stop that,” Bon Bon strained, tears collecting in her eyes from laughing so much. “Right n-n-now!”
“Aww, what’s the matter?” Lyra teased, finally ceasing her relentless barrage of tickles. Her laughter was like music to Lyra's ears. She stared down at Bon Bon from her position atop her. “I did warn you about the tickles,” she said, but with a much more serious tone.
When Bon Bon didn’t respond immediately, Lyra’s face became a bit more somber as well.
After several long, silent seconds, Lyra closed her eyes, leaned forward and pressed her forehead against Bon Bon’s with a heavy sigh.
“… Bonny.”
“Yeah, Lyra.”
“You know you can talk to me about anything.”
“I know, Lyra.”
Instead of speaking anymore, they both simply lay on the floor, partially wrapped in bedraggled blankets as they listened to the drumbeat of the rainfall. The rain poured and pounded against the roof like a thousand weary soldiers, glumly trudging forward at a steady pace.
Lyra hated feeling like this.
She hated seeing Bon Bon in such obvious distress. She hated knowing that it was difficult enough to get her to open up once in a while.
She hated feeling so helpless.
“... I’m so tired, Lyra. I- I can’t…”
The unicorn blinked, shuffling a little atop Bon Bon and looking back at her. It wasn’t often that Bon Bon was brought this close to tears.
“I know, Bonny,” Lyra said comfortingly, embracing her warmly and nuzzling against her neck. “I know.”
“… Lyra.”
“Yeah, Bon Bon.”
She was greeted by silence once more, and even though she wiped her face with her free hoof, Bon Bon still said nothing.
She usually said nothing, of course. Not in moments like these.
And Lyra would never say what Bon Bon was waiting for, what she silently pleaded for and desired more than anything else. Just three, simple little words, ones that could change her entire perspective in a matter of seconds.
They stayed there, in one little spot on the floor, throughout the entire night. The rain eventually let up and eased away, even though neither one of them noticed, having both quietly drifted to sleep long ago.
Perhaps, in a way, it was even more painful to Bon Bon; that Lyra stayed by her side. Knowing, deep down, that those precious few words would never be spoken, because they would never be meant. She was her friend.
And nothing more.
All Lyra could do was hold her closer.
It didn’t make the heartache go away.
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