Levi stepped through the door to his apartment, fingers fumbling with his keys. His hands were shaking again, the thin white scars like railroad tracks across his skin.

“Busy night?” Arthur asked.

The clock on the microwave read 2:13 am.

The TV in the corner lit the room with ghastly pale blue light.

“You know me,” Levi said, locking the door behind himself.

Arthur sat at the foot of his bed, looking concerned. In his hand was a Game Cube controller, purple plastic. One of the joysticks was always a little funky. He wore a red flannel, some dusty blue jeans, and a pair of hiking boots, just like always.

Levi slid past him to the bathroom and showered, still feeling damp and sticky after his workout, then his hunt. The cool tile felt nice on his skin. He studied the grout between the tiles, running his finger along the rough stuff. He needed to scrub the stone with a steel-bristle brush or something, the grout was dirtier than he liked.

When he finished cleaning himself, he climbed out, dried off, and threw on some sweatpants and a tank top. He grabbed his boots from by the front door and took them over to the sink of the kitchenette and started scrubbing them with an old toothbrush. The bristles looked like a bird’s nest after so much heavy use.

“How’s Derrick?” Arthur asked, concentrating on the little red Pikmin characters on his screen. Tiny little plant people... Video games are weird.

“Fine,” Levi said as he scrubbed. “Dour.”

Arthur snorted. “Yeah, what else is new? Everything go smoothly?”

“I didn’t end up on an IV drip, so about as well can be hoped for.” Levi turned off the water and dried his boots with a paper towel. “Derrick said there’s been an uptake in activity in the area. Asks about you.”

Arthur sighed, pausing the game and leaning forward.

“I didn’t know what to tell him,” Levi mumbled.

“I can’t help you there. I don’t know what the fuck I would tell him.”

“He’s such a busybody.”

“He’s just looking out for his friends,” Arthur chastised. “I don’t know. Maybe tell him the truth.”

“Fuck off.”

“I’m serious. I mean, he’ll get it-”

“All he’ll do is make me go south,” Levi spat. “I am done living my life as determined by someone else’s idea of what’s best for me!”

Arthur sighed, because this was a conversation they’d had before. “Your father-”

“Is out of my life! And I finally have something of my own. Leave it, Arthur.”

Arthur threw his hands in the air, his face colored blue-grey by the light from the screen. “Whatever, Levi. Do what you want. You have that right, at least.”

And that was the end of it.

Rosa beat him to Turtle Bay.

Running alongside the Sacramento River, Turtle Bay was a large park, covered in trees, gardens, and museum exhibits. They could hear the water running from the trail leading into its forested grounds, bubbling away happily. Levi could smell the wild of the water, of the trees, the scent of dirt and pollen.

Rosa was beautiful. She had reddish-brown hair, nearly the same shade as Levi’s. Her eyes were glittering green emeralds, set in high cheekbones and delicate, thin eyebrows which she swore up and down she didn’t pluck. Her face was always just the right kind of flushed; Rosa wore no makeup besides blush and lipstick, both of which she applied with an expert hand. She was shorter than Levi, but only by an inch, and she loved to look him in the eye. Her waist was thin, but her shoulders were a touch broader than most women’s after spending so many years acting as ranch hand to her father.

At her side was a large tote-bag. Levi could tell that it was full of snacks. Levi was a rather big fan of snacks himself, nothing quite like nibbling at a bit of cheese like a mouse to brighten the day.

She smiled at him as he approached, smiled in that way that no one else did.

“You’re late,” she said.

“You’re early,” Levi countered.

“We’re both here though,” she beamed. And yes, they were. And wasn’t that just lovely?

Levi took her hands in his and tugged her in for a gentle kiss, then a second one to her cheek. She smelled like rosewater and wildflowers, sweet and pure as snowmelt in the springtime.

“You look more sleep deprived than usual. Long night?” She asked.

“Yes,” he admitted, because lying to her was damn-near impossible, and because he’d done exactly that enough lately.

Rosa reached over and took his hand in hers. Her skin was soft and warm against his, and he gave the hand a squeeze on instinct. She squeezed back, then tugged him towards the trail. The rocks clattered under their feet as they went, and the river got louder as they went deeper and deeper into the trees.

“My dad is going to be in town next month. On the 22nd,” Rosa said. She seemed to be pulling him a tiny bit closer when he wasn’t looking. Or, maybe, he just couldn’t stop getting closer of his own accord, some kind of instinct drawing him after the scent of rosewater and wildflowers. “You’re going to meet him. I think we might do dinner, but I might think of something more fun to do. We’ll have to see.”

“You do always have fun ideas,” Levi mused. Rosa’s ability to plan events was... interesting. She seemed to decide at once on a course of action, and bend reality itself to make it happen. Her preferences for dates? Kayaking, laser tag, charity runs, axe throwing (that one time).

“Maybe an escape room. My dad has no idea how the modern world works, he might think we’ve actually been kidnapped and start tearing the place apart in a blind panic.”

Levi let out a snort. “That sounds like a good way to make him associate me with panic.”

“A reasonable response from a reasonable man,” Rosa nodded.

“You don’t panic around me,” he countered.

“I never said I was a reasonable individual. I’m decidedly not reasonable, actually.”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Most people would call that crazy,” Levi hummed.

“Then it’s a good thing you like your balls located between your legs and not a few acres into the woods, isn’t it.”

Levi wheezed, stumbling a tiny bit. “Yes!” He laughed. “Yes, yes it is.”

“Good boy. Come on, the botanical garden is up ahead.”

The botanical garden was a flat space, shaded by trees. It was host to a wide variety of plants native to warm, dry places that weren’t quite deserts, like California itself. Mediterranean species littered its grounds and, though it was not a large space, they stopped to read the label on each plant. Rosa was enjoying the plants, the flowers, the little fun facts sprouting from the ground alongside the specimens. Levi was enjoying the warmth of her hand in his. It was a good system.

They worked their way through the botanical garden. In the near distance, towering over the trees, a giant sundial loomed. A bridge, built to cast a shadow. It reflected the light of the early afternoon sun, bright and bold. They worked their way, slowly, in its direction.

“Speaking of dads-”

“Rosa,” Levi sighed.

“Speaking of dads,” she reaffirmed, cocking an eyebrow as if challenging him to interrupt her again. Wisely, he kept his mouth shut. “Have you called yours yet?”

“Yeah, see, I’m still not sold on that one,” he grumbled.

“You can’t just not talk to him,” she protested.

“Like hell I can’t. He made my life miserable, if I never talk to him again it’ll be too soon.”

“He’s your dad.”

“He’s an asshole so obsessed with his own legacy that he forgot to give a damn about anything else.”

Rosa sighed, shaking her head. She pulled a water bottle out of her bag and took a sip from it before passing it to him. “I’m not defending him. But I think you’ll feel better if you talk to him. It’s not good to have a loose end kicking around. Levi, we’ve already had this conversation. Last time you even agreed with me!”

“You wore me down!” Levi complained. “You wouldn’t let it go until I agreed with you.”

Rosa looked at him in a way that made him shiver.

“Are you saying I need to do that again? Because I am perfectly capable of wearing you down all over again if I have to, believe me.”

“... Stubborn.”

“As a damned mule. Call him.”

“I don’t even know if his number is the same, Rosa.”

“Then find out. By calling it.”

Levi sighed. “Fine. But not right now.”

“Obviously.” She squeezed his hand and tugged him past the Garden of Lights and towards the bridge. “You’re mine right now.”

“Oh,” Levi said, voice small. Rosa pulled him along.

Rosa had been ordering Levi around since the day they met. A stray cat, caught in the outlet for a gutter. Levi had happened upon the feline and been unable to liberate it from the gutter. Rosa had appeared, a prayer answered, and immediately ordered him to the gas station at the end of the road to buy a stick of butter. Sure enough, greased up, the angry feline had popped free. Rosa had promptly informed him that he now had a cat.

He still had that cat. Theoretically. Somewhere in his apartment. Mean little bastard.

Rosa was a peculiar creature. Equal parts soft and stone, muscular without being mannish, assertive without being bossy, stubborn but understanding. She always knew the exact moment to dig her heels in and when to let things slide. And, ever since they’d met, there’d been this... thing between them. It started out small, but the more time they spent together, the more familiar with her Levi became, the more it seemed to grow into a flame instead of a spark.

They walked across the sundial bridge. It was a pretty little suspension bridge over the Sacramento River, and the area on the other side was covered in trees. Little boats could be seen over the main body of the water to their left. The sunlight was going from white to orange and red. There were only a few clouds in the sky, but they were lit below now, growing bold.

The world smelled like rosewater and wildflowers.

They wandered past the little building on the far side of the bridge, feet crunching in the dirt, until they came to the edge of the river. The water was lazy here, shallow, and it split off around a large, pebbled beach. A few scattered trees survived, a smattering across the rocky shore. A stretch of the river, maybe twelve feet across, stood in their path.

Rosa turned and grinned at him.

Levi’s eyebrows rose.

She dashed forward, laughing, pulling Levi forward into the water. Levi, ensnared by her, felt himself laughing right along with her. They splashed into the river water, the stuff sinking into their clothes as they scrambled for the opposite bank. When they made it across she grabbed him, tugged him in, and kissed him.

Her lips were soft against his. Levi moved his hands to her hips, feeling the gentle curve of her body. She was sweet, sweet as summer days, and so wonderfully warm. She could feel her smiling against his mouth, and he tried to press forward, tried to press into the kiss, but when his tongue teased at her lips she danced away, giggling.

“H-hey!” He barked.

She laughed, running up the little pebbled beach towards the top. Levi ran after her, some primal part of him urging him on, urging him to follow her. She was fast, but he was faster! He caught up to her, tackling her, turning as they went so that Levi landed first in the pebbles, Rosa on top of him. He let out a soft “oomph” as he hit the ground. Those pebbles hurt!

Rosa was breathless and giggling between heavy inhales. “I almost got away!” she grinned at him.

“Fat chance,” Levi laughed. “And besides, I’d follow you anywhere.” He pressed his nose into her hair and breathed in the smell of her.

“I know that much,” she laughed, rolling off of him and into the pebbles. “Took that dive like a champ!”

“It only kinda knocked the wind out of me,” Levi said proudly.

Rosa reached over and took Levi’s hand, giving it a soft squeeze. The sun was low and heavy in the sky, straddling the horizon so that it seemed to bow under its weight. The bruise-purple streaks reflected on the clouds, rainbow sorbet spread across the sky.

“Beautiful,” Levi said.

“The sky?”

“That too.”

Rosa snorted, and Levi felt the grin stretch wide across his face. “Cheesy,” she said.

“You like it.”

“Oh, but I do,” she sighed. She squirmed a little closer to him, the pebbles shifting under her as she curled against his side. “Levi, what do you want out of life?”

Levi paused. He shifted uncomfortably, watching the clouds lazily drift by in brilliant pastels. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I used to know. Thought I did, anyway. But life has a way of turning plans into disasters.”

Rosa made a thoughtful noise, nestling her face against his side for a few moments. Levi listened to the sound of her breathing.

Eventually, she spoke again. “You don’t sound too broken up about it.”

“I’m not, really. I mean, sure, it can be a bit scary, not knowing what’s next. But I don’t know, I’m comfortable right now. There was a time when comfortable meant I was failing, but now… Now I think it’s all I want. I think that, if this was how I spent the rest of my life, I’d be happy.”

“This, huh?”

Levi sniggered, but didn’t reply.

“I,” Rosa said, “know exactly what I want to do with my life.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

Rosa looked up at him with twinkling, emerald eyes. “I want to fall in love, and I want to go on an adventure.”

Levi felt a touch of heat rise to his face and he averted his eyes, though he couldn’t keep the idiot grin from his expression. He had the curious feeling that this pleased Rosa a great deal.

“The sun is going down. Are we going to stay out here all night?”

“If I feel like it,” Rosa chimed. “You wouldn’t complain. Sit up. I want to look at the sky.”

Levi sat up.

They leaned against one another, nibbling away at snack food. The sun dipped below the horizon and the first of the stars made themselves known, twinkling in the twilight haze.

Levi pointed up at the stars, naming the stars. There was something so profound about giving names to stars, to constellations. These great, brilliant structures, so unimaginably vast, connected by nothing more than human imagination and human hope. Light that had traveled so astonishingly far to hit his retina and be perceived. The empty abyss, a maw that opened wide and swallowed everything, and yet… so beautiful.

“Which one is Altair again?” Rosa asked.

“There, that one,” he said, pointing. “It’s one of the three points of the Summer Triangle. We won’t be able to see it for much longer. Oh, and look, see, that one is Deneb, it’s part of the Northern Cross.”

It felt like they spent an eternity there, watching the stars twinkle above the river.

What a wonderful eternity it was.