created to create
When will you be back?
How could such an innocent question hurt so badly?
It tore at his heart, tearing a hole that surely didn’t belong there. It hurt to breathe, hurt to answer, hurt to hear those words reverberating through his mind, burning like fire through each synapse. Ipomoea took a slow breath.
Did he lie?
Or did he tell the truth?
“Hopefully soon,” he settles for, even though it’s no proper answer at all. But swallows it anyway and chases it down with a smile, one that he desperately wishes to be as full of joy as he is of sadness. He doesn’t want Mateo to know what he’s feeling, to see the uncertainty hiding between the sharp planes of his face.
He turns to leave then, dismissing himself -
”- Mateo?”
He stops at the door, hovering just upon the threshold.
A thousand words hover on the tip of his tongue, jumbling themselves up until they’re so badly entangled he can’t put together his own thoughts. He tilts his head around to peer at the dark pegasus over his shoulder, taking in again the dark walnut desk strewn with books and bits of parchment, the small alcove with the dark green trees just outside the window.
Then he smiles again, and he tries - he really does this time - to fill it with all the warmth and optimism he doesn’t quite feel. It was a good thing he was doing, the right thing. He could make himself be happy about that, if only to ease the minds of others.
“Don’t go looking for those pink river dolphins without me, okay?”
The laughter that touches his eyes, the smile imbuing his voice, is real, promising himself that his first order of business upon his return would be to seek out his new friend. Surely, if the world could keep itself together for that long, it would make a little more time for two friends to enjoy a short visit to the river.
He turns back to the door, and the hair upon his spine raises as he crosses the threshold.
“And I’ll make sure the owls know where to find me in Denocte.”
Then he’s gone, wandering the quiet library halls to find his own quiet place to think, his heart feeling the smallest bit lighter than before.
@mateo | "speaks" | notes: po is out <3
x