Blissfully Living in the Past

Michael sat silently in his room, idle paws playing with the machinery in front of him. He liked this time. Peacefully alone in his room, dad gone, brother occupied with his toys.. what a fantastic day off of school.

*clink*

If I ignore that, it’ll go away right?

*clink*

He literally JUST got done saying he liked today. Because he was ALONE.

*CLUNK*

Michael flew off his bed, haphazardly tossing the small robot back onto his bed. He ran to the window in question, undoing the latch and flinging it open.

“DON’T BREAK MY WINDOW PEPPER!”

Under his window, smugly on the ground; sat the red and orange scales of his best friend Peppercorn, rock in talon ready to throw at the glass window. If he hadn’t stopped her just now he suspected that one would have gone through the glass.

“Michael!!”

(have i ever said how much i hate that name?)

“What are you doing today!!”

“Why do you phrase that as if it’s less of a question and more of a warning that you’re about to fly through my window?”

Pepper smiled, crouching into a jumping position. Thankfully Michael knew enough, honestly he knew she would have done it anyway, he just expected her to just fly in normally. But as the body of his nearly full grown best friend flew into the room at breakneck speeds he realized he probably should have moved anything breakable out of the way first.

He didn’t need the lava lamp anyway…

“Oh! Sorry Michael! What was that? Why was it in the window?” Michael watched her fall to the floor and attempt to pick up the lobs of wax and glass, examining it as if she hadn’t seen that on his desk since he was a dragonet.

“Doesn’t matter anyway” Michael shrugged, stepping over her and going back to lay on the bed, watching her try and clean up her mess.

“So really, what are your plans for the day Michael?” Pepper asked, grabbing a nearby sheet metal slab to sweep the glass into.

“Honestly I just want to sit here and rot in my bed all day”

(rot. i’m rotting. rotting to the floor, the floor, the floor of the stone room)

“Ohhhh your dad isn’t home? Do you want me to leave you alone then?” Michael shook his head, laying his head into his pillows and picking his little robot back up.

“Nah Pep you can stay but I just don’t want to do anything.”

(please don’t leave me again pepper..)

(don’t leave like ghost.)

(don’t leave like lucky.)

“Oh alright then! Sorry about your lava lamp by the way, where’d you put your bin?” Pepper picked up more of the glass shards, holding them carefully so as not to cut herself on them.

The corners of Peppercorn’s mouth crinkled when she spoke, it was something he had never noticed before. He felt hyper aware of everything she was doing right now. A sense of deja vu was coming over him, washing like a wave on that ocean they had been to so many years ago.

(back when evan was alive.)

“Woah I feel like you’ve said all that before.”

“Said what?”

“That! All of that, like I feel like you’ve already broken my lava lamp.” He skrunched his face, peering at the glass confused.

“Bro. Where’s your bin before I throw the glass on your bed?” Pepper was just joking but it snapped him out of whatever was happening just now. He pointed down next to his desk at the already overflowing bin, laying back down in his nest of pillows.