Tempered Hope

Dear Jasmine,

Hi! It means so much to me that you loved the Christmas card, so I wanted to write another one for Valentine’s Day!

I know they like to pretend this holiday’s only about romantic couples, but I never saw it that way growing up. Guess I have the lack of mass media to thank for that. I see all the red and pink hearts in the city and all I think about is the special bond we’ve forged together. …And the way I like to think our hearts beat for each other. Is that coming on too strong? I don’t think so. I owe you the fact that my heart’s still around to beat, after all. Anyone who doesn’t think our love should be celebrated today hasn’t seen us together.

I asked around about what goes into a love letter, and Elder Kai said something about complimenting your looks. And you look amazing. But when I try to put it in words… How do I put this… It’s like I can’t stop time and just describe a still picture of you. It’s the fact that you’re alive, here next to me doing all the things you do, that I love so much. I can’t talk about your sweet smile without talking about how it feels in my chest knowing that you’re happy. I can’t talk about your soft eyes without talking about the way they wander in those peaceful silent moments we share together.

Speaking of your eyes, when I see you looking off in the distance, it reminds me of myself. I used to look out over the ruins of cities and imagine what they looked like before the Androids. Those twisted metal beams and broken windows… It was like they’d been frozen in time, but people used to live there. They ate meals together and laughed and thought about their futures. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t envy those times, but I felt a strange kind of hope whenever I thought about them, too. The hope that, things may not be that way now, but it doesn’t mean they’ll never be again. Because silence never really means time has stopped, just that things have paused for a while.

I can never quite get the words right when I’m there with you, but that’s how I feel when I look in your eyes. I see that same hope, that these threats to the timeline will soon pass and we’ll finally have a safe haven in Conton City… That things will be better. As far as I’m concerned, they’re already better. I’ve never had someone quite like you in my life before. And I’ve never been more sure of that than in our quiet moments together, when you wrap your arms around me after a long, hard day for both of us. I want to be with you forever, both in the comfortable safety of your embrace and fighting hand in hand for a better future.

…Oh, and uh, I got you some pocky. I-I hope you like it.

~ Trunks