It seems like forever that he stands in tense silence, the last reverberations of his voice still carrying throughout the trees as he waited with baited breath. Should it take this long? Maybe she wasn’t home after all, though he couldn’t think of where else she might be this late in the evening. Perhaps she was visiting her family. It was then that his face visibly fell, what if she was spending time with some other boy? He shifted on his long, lean legs as his nervousness near double, a feat he wouldn’t have thought possible before now. Maybe this was all a bad idea. In fact he had better just leave and not risk their friendship, he thought already preparing to turn when that all too familiar cream colored form came into view from the shadowy depths of the den.

She stopped him dead.

His icy and golden eyes lit up when they saw her, as they always did as if of their own accord as he felt the usual pull of his soul towards hers. Slowly his gaze swept over her appreciatively as she moved, graceful as a mountain lion, and just as dangerous something whispered in the back of his mind. He swallowed visibly, not that there was much moisture in his mouth for his tongue was like sandpaper as he simply stared at her. It was apparent she was still cross with him, and for the millionth time he chided himself for downplaying his feelings for her, though he had only done it for fear of upsetting her with the truth. Had he known she might feel the same blossoming emotions he did perhaps he would not have so royally screwed everything up. Her words hit him like a freight train, their chilly tone and implications cutting straight to his heart. “Oh… uh, o-out huh? Where to?” he muttered, each word a bit more full of despair than the last.

This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. He was going to come to her den, looking fabulous and she would run to him with stars in her eyes. Then he would ask her ’Be mine?’ and she would say ‘I always have been’. Yet this…this was an utter train wreck. He shuffled his small paws for a moment before managing to turn back and look into her brilliant eyes. Nothing worth having would come easy, he reminded himself, and she was beyond worth doing absolutely everything for. In that moment determination lit in his two tone gaze and he stepped forward boldly. “I just wanted to see if you wanted to go for a walk, but…” His voice trailed off, if he left her the option there was the chance she would just leave him in the dust. He couldn’t let that happen.

Clearing his throat he stood a little straighter, fixing his yellow and blue eyes directly on hers. “I’m sorry for what I said,” he blurted, a bit louder than intended but he didn’t care who heard, “You know, you must know, that you are so much more than just a friend to me. I remember the fear in your eyes when you found out we were imprints, how scared it made you and I thought if I told you how I really felt, especially in front of your brother it would be the same thing again.” For a moment he paused, simply staring into her beautiful, precious face before throwing all caution to the wind. A light, airy chuckle leaves his dark lips, “You know I wanted to do this differently. I wanted to take you up to the firefly fields, but when do thing sever go as planned?” The last comment is almost more to himself, his gaze drifting slightly but finally he draws himself together, fixing her gorgeous eyes with his own once more. “I love you, Haven. You’re my everything.” There, it’s finally out in the open and despite the worry that she wouldn’t feel the same way it was like a huge weight had been lifted off his chest simply by saying it. All he could do now was wait, and for her he’d wait a lifetime.