~*~
I’m not the best driver. I never have been. For one thing, cars haven’t really been around that long, and they seem to only show up in certain places. Cities, industrial districts, or in tourism spots of course. But I’m still surprised you found us one to rent. For another, trying to steer with hooves is a trial all its own. But for some reason, he seems to have faith in me. And that actually makes me have a little faith in myself too.
I keep my focus on the windy mountain road in front of us, and say a quiet prayer that I won’t see any other cars or carriages along the loose-paved lane. So far, I have been lucky. But who knows how long that will last. Either way, he doesn’t seem worried. Sure, easy for him to relax. He’s in the passenger seat, and he’s used to driving a car. Or at least more so than me. At this point, I just have to do my best and try not to let him know the constant panic in the back of my mind.
For a moment, I steal a glance his way. Anon is leaned back in the small black seat, far too small for a human, looking out the side window with a dreamy expression on his face. Ever since we got out of the tiny Germane city and up into the mountains, he seems to have relaxed into a kind of peace. One I’m not sure I’ve seen from him very often before. I can’t tell if he’s focussing on the world going by, or if he’s just letting his mind wander and breathing in the chill, crisp mountain air. Either way, I am reluctant to disturb him.
Of course, the panic in the back of my mind doesn’t really give a shit if he’s feeling all peaceful or not. It wants answers.
“Hey, uhhhh…” I say, as gently as my rising nerves will allow, “do you know where we are? Or where we’re going? Or how far out we are from where we’re going?”
He looks up at me as if he’s just remembered I’m there. I see him smile lightly before my eyes again flick back to the road.
“Hm? Why, worried that we’ll get lost and die in the mountains?”
“Worried I’ll lose my shit and crash us into the side of a mountain more like,” I say.
“Well, we’ll die either way, so don’t worry,” he says with a sly little smirk, “Besides, we’re both on borrowed time anyway, right? It would save everyone the trouble of our hospital bills!”
Damn him, he knows me too well. He can even make me smile as I’m freaking out inside.
“Hah-hah mister black humor,” I grumble at him with a reluctant smile, “Seriously though, how much further?”
“Well, if we’re trying to get to the campground, it’s at least another twenty miles.”
“And if we’re trying to get to the nearest restroom or something?” I say, not really needing to go, but looking for any excuse to take a break along the way.
“Another ten. On earth, I could do that in about fifteen minutes on these roads. With this car, probably about half an hour.”
“That’s not that bad,” I say with a relieved sigh.
“See? You’ve got this.”
I glance again and find him smiling at me. He places a hand along my shoulder and moves it up and down in a gentle, petting motion. I used to not like this. It made me feel like I was just a big cat to him or something, a pet. But now, I admit I do find it soothing. His touch in general does that for me.
“Careful,” I say with a smile, “can’t be flirting with me too much while I drive. Then I’m sure I’d send us both into a ditch.”
“I’m that distracting?”
“Anon, the very thought of you is distracting enough.”
He pulls his hand away. Slowly.
“You’re an odd creature.”
“But I’m your odd creature.”
“Yes, and I’m very glad of it.”
I try not to jump as I feel his lips brush past my cheek in a quick kiss. I can feel my cheeks get warm in a slight blush. I don’t need to look at him to know he’s grinning smugly about that. He loves to make me blush. I’d complain, but I also feel that way about him blushing. He’s just a lot better at it than I am.
“Oh, is that a blush?”
“No. Maybe. Shut up.”
“Adorable. Absolutely adorable.”
“I will absolutely drive off a cliff on purpose.”
“Fine, fine,” he says with a chuckle, “I’ll let you focus.”
The car falls into silence again. We drive on, going up and up past squat pine trees, low brush, and white and black speckled rocks. It’s not terrain I’m used to, and it has its own beauty and smell. It’s not cold, but it smells like cold all the same. The sun shines brightly down and bounces off parts of the mountains, making them sparkle like jewels. I enjoy camping, even if this isn’t the area I’m used to. But even I have to wonder if I’m prepared for all of this.
I’m good at worrying. Anon agrees and says I don’t need any extra practice. And I admit I’ve been stressing a lot about this part of our trip. But he’s so confident and excited that I’m doing my best not to let it show. Somehow I think I’m failing.
Minutes go by. Ten minutes, maybe twenty, it’s hard to tell. Time moves weird when you’re driving. Anon’s driven most of the way, but he needed a break. I volunteered, sort of, but I wish more than anything I could give him back the wheel and just gaze out the window like he’s doing.
I chance another look at him, and my stomach drops.
He doesn’t look relaxed anymore. Far from it. He’s sort of braced into the corner, and his face has gotten noticeably red. He’s looking out the front windshield and I can see him breathing hard. Something is wrong. Something is very wrong.
“Anon?” I say, splitting my looks between the road ahead and him.
“I’m fine,” he says, in a way that is both reassuring and more worrying, “Just feeling a little warm is all.”
“Fever warm?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Because it looks like fever warm.”
“I’m not getting sick or anything if that’s what you mean,” he mutters, “Just a little hot in here.”
“It’s cool and the windows are open.”
“I will be fine.”
Small alarm bells sound in my head. This is what he says when he’s feeling off, and doesn’t want to lie and say he’s fine when he’s not. So he says he will be. Future tense. My mind flits quickly between thoughts, unwilling to settle on just one. We have medicine in the car if need be. Fever reducers, painkillers, the works. I can’t reach any of them now, they’re packed away. There’s no place to pull over anywhere I can see ahead. Just ditches, rocks, and trees. If he’s got a fever, something more serious could be happening. Maybe I should try to find someplace to turn around. Or maybe this is just a little nothing hot-flash and he needs to find a place to cool off for a bit.
Finally, my mind flicks to something he said earlier.
“The place we can stop,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady, “What kind of place is it?”
“A lake,” he says, and I can hear some amount of strain in his tone, “Pretty big one, uses snow run-off. Supposed to be pretty.”
He’s picked up on what I’m thinking. He’s telling me it’ll be cold there. It’s a good option.
“How much farther?” I ask him again.
He pauses. I hate asking him to calculate and think right now, but I need to know if this is the best option. Though… it might be our only option.
“At this speed?” he says, “Maybe fifteen minutes.”
“At your pace?”
“Ten or less.”
“Then let’s hope you’ve taught me well,” I mutter.
I press my hoof down on the accelerator and put every ounce of energy into the car around me and the road ahead. I’ve never driven this fast before, or driven fast in general. Hell, I’d only done this a few times in total, but the occasion calls for some confidence. I’m sure I’ll find a little somewhere in me. My body tells me that this speed is unsafe. That the pull on my body with each turn is a warning. But I don’t slow down. Maybe this is nothing. I hope this is nothing. But getting him cooled off is a good thing, no matter what’s going on. And the sooner I can get him doing that, the better.
The wind whistles through the car’s open windows, biting through my fur. Hopefully, it’s making him feel more comfortable. I don’t chance a look at him. If he needs me to do anything, I know he’ll say so. But only as a last resort. Until then, I’ll drive. And drive hard.
Time doesn’t feel real. Has it been a minute? Five? It’s impossible for me to tell. But with every corner I go around, I’m looking for a lake. I’m looking for a sign about a lake. Anything that lets me assess if I’m moving fast enough. If I’m doing a good enough job at this.
At last, after an eternity and seconds, I come around one jutting crag of rock, and there it is. It spreads out before me, just down a small sloping strip of road. It’s massive, bigger than any lake I saw back towards Ponyville. Across from us, it has large sloping hills of stone jutting up, like they’re growing directly from the water. Even in my panic, I’m struck by how beautiful it is. It’s like something out of a storybook, not something real and right in front of me. But soon enough, my attention goes back to the water’s gleaming surface and stillness. It even looks cold. It’ll be perfect.
The car races down the hill, and makes a squealing noise as I turn it in towards the lake, to find one of only four parking spots. All the others are mercifully empty, so my shitty parking job thankfully won’t inconvenience anyone. The moment I hit the brakes, I turn off the engine and practically dive out of the car. I’m around to the other side of the car in a flash, and pulling the door open with fumbling hooves.
Anon, still flushed and breathing heavily. He looks at me with both weary and wide eyes as I grab him and somewhat manhandle him out of the vehicle. I don’t know if he’s unsteady on his feet or not, and I don’t particularly care. I just want to get him to the lake’s edge.
“Think you can navigate the rocks?” I ask, nodding to the many large boulders that make up the shoreline.
He nods and gives me an almost disapproving look.
“Berry,” he says, “I’ll be fine, I told you.”
“Sure, yes, I believe you, “I say, and I notice that I feel out of breath too for some reason. “Just please, go put your feet in the water or something, I’ll find the meds.”
He sighs and nods, then turns and walks towards the lake without another word. I can’t tell if he’s miffed at me or not, but that’s not important. It’s future Berry’s problem, and I kinda hate that bitch anyway. For now, I need to get the fever reducers and then go check on him. See what the damage might be.
I go to the back and open up my luggage. I throw clothing, scarves and hats mostly, pretty much all over the car until I find a small bag covered with blue and white stars. Inside is a series of bottles that would probably make quite the party cocktail if combined in the right way. In our cases, though, it just keeps us going for the time being. After a minute of searching, I grab the bottle of fever reducers marked with his name, and shut the car.
When I look back, I can just barely see the top of his head over some rocks by the lakeside. I move in that direction at a brisk jog and, as I come over the edge of a larger boulder, I can see him entirely.
He’s made short work of removing his shoes and socks, and is up to his mid-calves in the water. Even then, the ripples barely move outside his vicinity, and the surface remains still. He’s bent over, almost doubled over, and he’s not moving at all. It’s an odd posture, and I don’t know what it means.
“Anon?” I say, and the strange, eerie calm of the lake keeps my voice from carrying very far.
He doesn’t look up.
“Anon?” I say again, and hasten my steps.
This time his form flinches, like I’ve surprised him. He barely glances up over his shoulder.
“Yeah I’m here,” he says, almost like he’s not happy about it.
“What are you…”
I start to ask him what he’s doing or what’s wrong or if he’s okay but I’m stopped as I notice his hand. He has it cradled in towards his body, sheltered slightly. His palm is barely cupped, and on top of it is resting the most brilliant and largest dragonfly I have ever seen. The body is a jewel-like blue, and its wings are so clear they just look like air outlined in black. As he moves, and the sun catches the animal, its body seems to glint green instead, and the wings appear full of rainbows. It’s such an unexpected sight that it stops me mid-sentence.
Anon looks up at my expression, then down at the dragonfly, then up at me again. He shrugs.
“It was down by the water,” he says, “has some tree sap on its wings, can’t fly proper. Thought I’d try to help it get cleaned off, send it on its way.”
All at once, it hits me how calm he is. How calm he was in the car. He’s in some discomfort, but he’s not panicking. I’m the one doing that. In fact, he’s so not focused on the quickly-fading flush in his cheeks, that he’s just poking around at pretty bugs. I start to feel more than a little sheepish. Maybe I was overreacting. No. I was definitely overreacting.
“Uh,” I say, then extend the bottle of pills towards him, “got you these.”
He nods and takes them from me with his one free hand.
“Thanks,” he says simply.
He unscrews the cap and takes the pill dry like he usually does. Usually seeing him do that makes me cringe, but this time I feel a wash of relief at knowing the medicine is on its way to help him.
“So…” I say sitting down, “how are you feeling now?”
“Much better,” he says with another shrug. “The cold water feels good. And, I wouldn’t recommend you put your hooves in unless you really want some serious cold. I’m betting it’s all snow runoff.”
“I mean,” I say, trying to pick my words so I don’t come across as too pushy, “do you feel feverish? Do you feel lightheaded? Anemic? Anything like that.”
He thinks for a moment.
“Not exactly,” he says, “I felt a little strange, like I wasn’t quite getting enough air. But I get the sense you felt that way too, right?”
This calls attention to the fact that I’m still panting from just a little scramble over some rocks. I’d thought it was nerves, but he’s right that I feel very easily out of breath. I look down and glare at my own hooves, then sit down next to him.
“Yeah, now that you mention it,” I admit, “I do feel pretty tired. A Little woozy even.”
“Exactly, and I think I know why,” he says with a small smile.
“Well please share, because all this had me pretty fucking terrified.”
“I could tell.”
“So?”
“So,” he says slowly, “We’re at a pretty high elevation. Probably higher than you’ve ever been, and I’ve definitely never been this high. At the top of the pass I think it was 10,000 feet above sea level according to the guidebook?”
I blink and think back to the book. I seem to remember that too, and he’s right. I haven’t been into the mountains like this before, and Ponyville is generally at sea level itself.
“That sounds right,” I say, “But what does that mean.”
“People, er, ponies and people it seems sometimes experience altitude sickness even at this high. Flushed faces, being out of breath, hot flashes, fatigue. And in my case, it seems,a little nausea too. If you’re chronically ill, like us, I don’t suspect the symptoms are quite as mild as for others who get it. So that’s my thinking.”
“...that tracks,” I say, “and is it harmful? Like… do we need to take pills?”
“We just need to acclimate,” he says, “as in, kick back, relax for a bit, and our bodies will sort themselves out. For a change. God knows they’ve done a shit job of it so far.”
“So you’re fine,” I say with a sigh.
“I’m fine.”
“We’re both fine.”
“We’re both fine.”
“And we just need to sit and wait, and both of us will be okay?”
“All three of us,” he says with a smile and a glance down at the dragonfly, “at least I hope so.”
“Why didn’t you tell me,” I say, and I feel my shoulders slump with embarrassment and relief, “If I’d known I wouldn't have raced the whole way here.”
“I did try to tell you I was fine,” he says gently, “But honestly I didn't want to throw up in the rental car, and talking wasn’t really helping. I’m going to guess that puking on a rental car here, where they’re so rare, is even worse than how it goes back home. And I figured I could explain once we reached the lake and my stomach settled.”
“Well, I hope it’s settled,” I grumble, “You had me worried like crazy.”
“I’m getting that sense,” he says with a short chuckle, “but don’t worry, I’m alright, the water is nice, and I made a new friend. I think I’m naming him Alfred. He looks like the butler type.”
“You’re not keeping him.”
“But moooooom,” he whines, leaning over onto my shoulder.
“No. Do not.” I grumble.
“Fine, fine,” he says, and sets the dragonfly down on his leg.
Immediately its legs all go into motion. It’s pulling its wings down, then they sproing back up to straight in a flash. It seems to pet the back of its head moving forwards over and over again. I can see the drop of sap on one side where it’s stuck two of his wings together. He’ll be lucky if he can get them free before the sap dries into something completely solid. With each motion, his colors gleam in the sunlight.
“He is pretty though,” I say.
“I thought so,” Anon says, “And the lake is called Dragonfly Lake, so it’s only suiting we meet him here, don’t you think?”
“Mh,” I say softly, “Yeah, suiting.”
There’s a short silence in which I try to collect the right words to say what I really want to say next. But he beats me to it before I can get everything sorted.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what I was thinking,” he says softly.
“And I’m sorry I panicked rather than being calm.”
“You only did it because you care,” he says, and gently nudges my shoulder with his own, “And besides, if you didn’t we wouldn’t have gotten to stop someplace so beautiful.”
The two of us look out over the water. It’s got a mirror shine on it, and a soft mist rises like ghosts as the sun warms the snow-cold depths. I’ve never seen a place quite like this before, and I finally feel the deep, ethereal peace of the place start to seep into my body. Like it’s telling me it’s okay to let go. That I don’t have to fall apart or stay high strung or… anything. I don’t have to do anything.
“It’s nice,” I say after a small silence, “And I’m actually really glad I’m here with you to see it.”
“Same to you,” he says, with another nudge.
I lean over and rest my head on his arm, and shut my eyes long enough to find the dull thud of his pulse. It’s just a little quicker than usual, but so is mine. Elevation, who knew? I allow myself to listen, and tell my body to fall in sync with his. So that we can share this moment entirely, mind and body.
Abruptly, a flurry of motion draws my attention to his lap. The dragonfly makes a soft, mechanical buzz and suddenly rises into the air. It hovers, darting around us in flashes, then zips across the water. We watch it rise and fall, barely skimming the water until he’s out of sight.
“Well he seems to be better,” I say.
“Yeah, so long Alfred,” Anon says with a wave, “I still think you would have made an excellent butler.”
“How about I just be your maid instead, you know, to take away the sting of losing your dear dragonfly,” I say with a laugh.
“Do I get to buy you the outfit for it?”
“You know I already have one.”
“Yeah, one. That’s not enough for a maid!” he says with a frown. “One could get dirty or ripped.”
“I get the sense that if it did get dirty or ripped, it would probably be your fault,” I say with a chiding glance
“Yeah, so?” he says, a grin spreading over his face, “The point still stands, you need another one.”
“So I can clean hotel rooms for you or stuff?”
“Probably ‘or stuff.’”
“Ah I see,” I say with a knowing nod, “now I get how it is.”
“That’s not a no.”
“It’s not.”
His arm slides around me and pulls me close, and his lips brush past my ear. He kisses me on the cheek, then jawline, then neck over and over in a way that tickles and makes me giggle.
“Stooooop,” I whine.
“Is that a real stop?”
“...no.”
He kisses me again, this time almost on my collarbone. Abruptly, he moves back up to my lips and kisses me deeply. He pulls my whole body close against him so that I stumble into his embrace. My hoof brushes against his leg and I can already feel he’s hard, just from talking about me in a maid outfit. No one ever said he was difficult to get revved up, but even I’m surprised with how immediate that was.
“So,” I say as I break away from the kiss, “Is that just the altitude or are you happy to see me?”
“I don’t see why it can’t be both,” he says in a lower tone, “Besides, it’s your fault for talking about maid outfits. Now I’m picturing it.”
“This sounds like a you problem,” I say coyly.
“But I thought you were going to be my stand-in butler?” he says with a slight pout, “Serve me and all that stuff?”
“The ‘or stuff’ part again, huh?”
“Yes.”
“So what you’re looking for is an act of service?” I say, allowing my hoof to slide up his knee to stroke his inner thigh.
He locks eyes with me and never once flinches.
“I am,” he says, “If you’re willing.”
“We’re very out in the open, you know.”
“If that bothers you…”
“I didn’t say it bothers me,” I say softly, biting my lower lip, “only, would you help me with that?”
I glance down and then back up again to indicate his zipper. I can sometimes manage to undo it with my teeth, but I think, for expediency's sake, it would be quicker if he did it for me. The corner of his lips twitches upward in one corner in a hopeful, knowing smile. I lean back just a little to allow him to unzip and unbutton the top of his pants. I wait with an impatient little laugh as he adjusts, then pulls out his cock to give me access.
As I expected, he’s completely hard. Harder than usual maybe. If that’s part of altitude sickness, then bless you altitude. I have no complaints. That being said, there’s a slight chill in the breeze off the water. I wouldn’t want him to get cold.
I carefully lean across his laps with one hoof on his thigh. I keep the other against the rock surface, to aid in both balance and stability. Then I quickly take his cock into the warmth of my mouth.
He doesn’t exactly moan at the sensation, but I feel him let out a sudden breath. It seems like he’s always slightly surprised at how good I feel, even though he’s had me countless times at this point. It makes me feel powerful, eager. Any time I can get even the slightest sound of approval or enjoyment out of him, it makes me feel amazing. Not to mention, it turns me on at some primal level I can’t explain. Even now, I’m glad I’m sitting on a rock and not the rental car seat, for fear of leaving a stain.
I move my head to take as much of him as I’m able, though I can’t quite get to the base. Instead, I run my tongue along the underside, swirling and flicking to get him wet too. It’ll make it easier for me to move and keep some pressure with my lips. I draw back slowly, letting the sensation of my tongue and lips linger over every inch of him. He breathes in gradually as I move, in rhythm with me.
Then, I lower my head abruptly again and glance up to him with adoration in my eyes. He looks back down, his lips slightly parted, a look of wanting in his eyes. He runs a hand across my temple, then between my ears and down the back of my mane in a caress. He pushes just slightly, urging me to go deeper if I can. I shut my eyes and feel his cock press at the back of my throat as I take another inch or so. His thigh shudders. At the feeling of it under my hoof, so do mine.
I pull my head back again, and his hand relents, allowing me to find my own speed. I pick up the pace just a little, pressing up with my tongue against him with every retreat. When I plunge down I try to swallow him in entirely. My legs clench together, trying to hold back the ache between them at the sensation of his cock twitching in my mouth.
My rhythm finds a new speed, faster still. I feel his hips buck up slightly against me every time I come down, and his other hand moves to his inseam to help guide his dick more firmly past my lips. I set my pace to match his, enjoying the faint taste of precum as it begins to fill my tongue.
For a moment, I pull my head all the way back to let my tongue play across the tip and run the line of his head. I look up as I do, unable to hold back a smile at how I know this must be teasing him. His expression is a pleading one, exactly what I want it to be. His hand moves from his thick to his cock, stroking it as I lick, kiss, and suck at the tip. His breathing quickens, the muscles in his legs tense under my hoof. Then he can stand it no longer and he pushes my head forward. I let myself be pushed, thrusting myself onto his cock with more eagerness and enthusiasm than ever before.
His hand moves out of the way to give me access, and I feel it move up my side, then across my back to run over the curves of my hips and ass. I can’t help but let out a moan around his dick as I continue to bob my head up and down with abandon. I lean my body to the side to let his fingers find their way to my pussy. They stroke downward, probably noticing how wet I am, then slip barely inside me, immediately finding a matching beat with my movements. It’s all I can do not to stop and pant for air as my hips flinch and twitch at his touch. At this rate, with how wound up I am, I don’t even know if I’ll last as long as he does.
I speed up, wanting to please him. I want to make him cum, I want to feel the pulse and spurt against my tongue as he releases. I look up, eyes watering with the exertion of it, and I see he is breathing hard now, chest moving up and down in a desperate way. The sight of him like that elicits another moan from me, vibrating against his dick inside my mouth. He breathes out sharply, with a touch of voice behind it. Almost a moan. Almost.
My legs clench. God I love how much he enjoys me. How much he just wants to touch me and be touched by me. It’s all I can do at that moment to hold back. It’s almost painful now, the ache inside me. His skilled fingers moving in and out of me against my softest of spots do nothing to make the struggle easier.
I plead with him in my gaze to cum, and it’s as if he senses it. His hips buck towards me, the grip on the back of my mane becomes tighter. His cock is so hard, and running so deep that it’s practically in my throat now. I let him fuck my mouth. I lick, I suck. I please him in every way I know how.
“Gonna cum,” he manages to say between breaths.
It’s a warning, but also encouragement. I arch my back to press against his fingers, and he increases the pace there too. In my mind, sparks and color fly through my thoughts as I feel myself pushing past the brink. Everything builds as I hold his image, his smell, his taste, everything about him in my head. Then the orgasm hits me so hard my whole body shudders. My pussy clenches hard against his fingers, and it feels like everything in my benign releases.
I can’t help but let out a high-pitched squeal, muted against his cock. At the sensation, He also lets out a sighing moan and presses my head down hard and deep. I feel his cum hit the back of my throat, filling my mouth. I dutifully swallow it down, every drop. My lips milk everything I can out of him as I at last pull back and gasp for breath. Seeing one last drop remaining at the tip, I very tenderly kiss it away and drink it like the rest.
He releases my head, and I collapse sideways against him, still twitching around his fingers where they linger inside me. It’s definitely harder to catch my breath right now,but the euphoria is enough where I don’t even care. Anon squeezes my body to him, and slowly removes his hand from my nethers. He puts his cock away and zips his pants, then rests his chin on the top of my head as we both try to remember how to breathe. The only evidence of our actions remaining is a growing wet spot on the rock underneath me.
“Thanks for that,” he says at last.
“Same to you,” I reply in a still rather dreamy voice. “Hopefully that got us both… er… acclimated. Seemed like you enjoyed it.”
“I very much did,” he says with a sigh, “You are… quite good at that.”
“I should hope so,” I say with a soft laugh, “How else would I serve you as a maid then?”
He chuckles.
“Well you could clean the toilets, make dinner, you could-”
I cut him off by gently biting his shoulder. He barely even flinches as he laughs at me instead.
“So you’re saying that you’d rather I do those things.”
“No, I definitely prefer this,” he says, swiftly kissing the top of my head. “Berry, I love you.”
“Even if I only have one maid outfit?”
“Even if you only have one maid outfit,” he says, “Besides, I can just buy you another.”
“Ah, you treat me so well,” I say with an eye roll, “My dear master deigns to allow me fine clothes.”
“I can’t help it if you’re sexy when you dress up.”
“Fine,” I say, “I’ll dress as your little sex maid. But only because you make such damn cute noises when you cum.”
He makes a quiet noise like he’s in pain, and looks sharply away from me. I study his face, and find that there’s a reddish color quickly spreading up his neck. It’s like he’s flushed and feverish again, but I don’t think that’s it. A knowing, smug smile begins to spread across my face.
“Oh, is that a blush?” I say.
He turns away but I can still see it. In my head, I do a small cheer of victory. Even after all this time, it’s still the dumb adorable things that make me the happiest. There’s still that thrill when I can physically see how much I affect him, how vulnerable he’s willing to be around me. I somehow don’t think that will ever go away.
“No,” he says, “I don’t do that, never.”
“Don’t worry,” I murmur as I plant a quick kiss on his lips, “I won’t tell anyone. Your big scary asshole human reputation is safe with me.”
“Hey, with the way you drive, I’m not sure either of us would live to tell the tale anyway.”
“Excuse me?”
“You drive like shit, Berry!” he says teasingly, “you know I don’t sugarcoat things. If it helps, you’re much better in bed than you are behind the wheel.”
He grins at me, his cheeks still barely rosie and I’m filled with both adoration and a desire to push him off the rock into the lake.
“You’re an ass.”
“But I’m your ass.”
I look him over again, and give him another kiss. One that I hope expresses the depth of my feelings for him. One that I hope says ‘I love you’ in all the ways that words don’t properly express. He kisses me back tenderly, and I know he’s understood my meaning. I pull away, and gaze into his eyes, then wink. He slips an arm around me, and we both look out over the lake. This time, I feel as peaceful as it looks.
“Yes,” I say, “and I’m very glad of it.”
-END-
Author's Note
Altitude sickness is real, and can be a little scary, especially when you're anemic and it hits you sideways when you're not even that high up. Keep that in mind, if you rarely hike and are going someplace that gets steep in a hurry. Whew.
Also, I hope there's some of you out there who still enjoy reading these. They may be a little melodramatic, smutty, and sappy. Sure. But I enjoy writing them immensely, and I don't expect this pair to be going away anytime soon. Much love and...
Happy birthday.
-Pencil 
