I really want to tell Ozzie how I feel about him, but I'm scared. I've never felt like this, what if what I'm feeling isn't love? And what if he doesn't like me back? How do you even do a relationship like that?

I also felt a different sort of way towards him sometimes. I still felt what I think is love towards him, but I also felt more dependent on him. Like, I wanted to be with him more and actually do stuff, and I wanted him to take care of me instead of doing it myself. That also sounds like I'm just being lazy though.

Ozzie seemed to be fine with it when I was like that though, is anything he liked it. He let me cuddle with him whenever I wanted to, and he bought me some things to play with while he had to work. I normally ended up napping most of the time though.

A
Fae had been regressing when he got more playful. He also really liked coloring books and stuffed animals, so I got him a few coloring books with a crayons. I wanted to get him a stuffed rabbit, as that was his favorite animal, but I was saving it for his birthday. We figured out his specific birthdate, so I knew when it was; his birthday was in early spring, which I guess was pretty common with Elves since they have a set 'mating period' during mid-spring to early summer. Well, I guess it's more of, those times make Elves happier and they feel more energetic because of the nature things happening with the weather. So they usually end up conceiving during that period.

Anyway, he normally seemed to nap, but I've seen him coloring in the coloring books while I'm working. Even though he only uses the coloring books when he regresses, he still somehow makes them hyper-realistic. He would color in the fur of the animals and somehow make it look like actual fur.

He is an amazing artist; he's sketched animals for me at the rehab center, and they all looked like he had just slapped a black and white photo of something on paper. He never drew people though; it was only animals. He had only drawn something humanoid once, and it had been of Marie's hand. Of course though, it was still amazing and photorealistic.

I had tried asking him to draw people at times, but he seemed really adamant on not doing it from memory. Even when it was Marie's hand, he had her sit with him while he did it. I think the reason he was scared to draw people from memory was because he was afraid of drawing one of his rapists. We know he has amazing memory; his brain was tested when he was rescued from the Palace, and it showed incredible activity in the memory-keeping area, and we have asked him about things from the past and he can recall them without even trying. He's also said that when he remembers things, he remembers them in pictures.

I have offered that he draw me, and that I would sit still for him to do it, but he always got too flustered to do it.

After Fae had had his nightmare-followed-by-meltdown, I waited for a while before I even thought about actually confessing to him. I wanted to focus on him, make sure he was feeling better mentally. He stopped having nightmares for a while once we figured out why he was having them so often; he was only having them when he was alone when he slept.

I noticed that he never had them when he napped with me during the day, and he didn't always have them at night, or at least not bad enough that he would come into my room sobbing at night. Leiner made the connection that when he napped he was always right next to me, but he slept in his own room. So he started to sleep in my room with me, and his nightmares stopped. Not always did he sleep in my bed with me, he would just curl up on the mattress I put on my floor for him, but I usually woke up with him in my bed.

I didn't mind him sleeping in my bed with me, I just never knew if he was comfortable with it. Above anything, I wanted him to be comfortable.

One night at dinner, I suddenly got the strong urge to confess to him right there. I did go through a little bit of hesitation in my head, but I deemed it a decent moment. As soon as I opened my mouth to speak though, Fae suddenly blurted out, "I-I think I like you."

I was shocked, I hadn't expected him to a) blurt something out like that, he's pretty quiet usually, and b) beat me to confessing. His face was very pink though, and he was looking down at the table to avoid my eyes, so I could tell he meant it.

"What do you mean?" I asked. I wanted to test the waters before I agreed, as I doubt he has ever had a crush on anyone before to know what it felt like.

"I-I've never felt this for someone before," Fae started quietly, almost mumbling. "But you make me really happy, and I feel safe, and I don't want to be away from you even if we are just in different rooms. I don't know what love feels like or if this is it, but ..."

He trailed off a little bit, playing with his hands in his lap nervously, but I smiled. Though he was pretty vague, that sounded like a crush, and it made me so very relieved. I was kind of scared that he would just be feeling something else and that I would have to explain to him what he actually felt.

I reached across the table to gently tilt his head up so he could see me smiling. "I think I like you too," I said. "Well, I know I like you. But what you said sounded like you reciprocate."

Fae smiled a little at me after I said that, the pinkness of his face not going away but now it looked less red, like he wasn't as embarrassed and was more flustered.

I smiled back at him, chuckling a little bit. He looked down a little bit again, though I could still see his smile.

"Do you want to try out a relationship with me?" I asked him gently. "A romantic one." I was fully prepared for him to say no to this; I wouldn't blame him, he's new to these feelings already as far as I know.

He looked back up at me and nodded a little bit. "Yeah," he said, giggling a little at the end. "Though I don't know what do to in a romantic relationship."

"I know," I said. "We can go at your pace, I know you're new to all of this." I kept smiling at him. He looked so cute all flustered like this, and his smile was amazing. I didn't get to see it too much, but his eyes lit up when he smiled, and his pupils grew. The pink of his cheeks complimented the turquoise of his eyes as well, which made them stand out even more.

We talked a while longer, Fae went on a ramble about how he felt about me so I felt the need to do the same for him. We agreed to take things as fast as Fae wanted to go, as he was new to this.

When we went to go to bed, I took a shower so Fae was asleep by the time I got to my room. He had curled up on my bed, though off to one side. I laid down next to him, smiling at his sleeping face before pressing a light kiss to his forehead and drifting off.

—
Kay, so it's finally happened, this took forever to brainstorm Bc I didn't write it down and kept forgetting everything

Anyway, kinda stumped for the next chapter :/

PLEAAAASE give me some ideas of things y'all want to see happen with these two, or just otherwise.

Hope ya enjoyed this one, and merry gay 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈
~Snake Eyes