This is Better (human!Winterwatcher)

seven (august same year): in which it is pointless to keep secrets from qibli

Moon still finds it hard to believe she's kissing Winter, her boyfriend,  on her roof in the middle of the night. She's nervous and so dizzy she's forgotten which way is the trees and which way is the roof and which way is the sky. 

The world narrows to the feeling of his lips on hers. She doesn't understand how Winter can make everything a blur just by moving his mouth like that, how it feels so, so familiar.

They break apart to breathe. Winter looks at her as if she's so much more than she is.

"I..." Moon starts a sentence, then trails off. What is she supposed to say? 

Silence rests between them.

"Are you alright?" Winter frowns. He's probably worried he did something wrong.

"Oh. Yes."

"You're scared?"

"It's nothing." Moon shrugs. "It's not you."

Winter waits a few seconds, then pulls her closer, burying his face in her shoulder. "Is this okay?" He rubs his hand in slow circles on her back, and Moon's sure she's turned to liquid.

"Yeah." Moon takes a deep breath. "If Kinkajou ever finds out-"

"I'll never live it down. I know." When Winter laughs, Moon smiles.

"You're a lot nicer than most people think."

"Mmm."

They stay like that, holding each other under the blankets, for a while, longer than they should. Warmth flickers in Moon's chest, and she thinks maybe she could go anywhere with this boy by her side. Maybe she could say anything, maybe she could talk to anyone.

"We really have to go back down," Moon says.

"You think?"

They scramble back down the roof and climb through the window.

"Can I kiss you?" Winter asks, once they're standing in the doorway of Moon's room.

"Please." Moon tilts her head towards his and touches his face.

He kisses her, soft and sweet and safe. It feels like magic, like golden lighting and jumping into the lake in the middle of summer.

Winter tastes of night air.

"Good night, Winter."

"Good night."

Moon closes the door and curls up in bed, leaving the window open, even though she knows she'll regret it. 

It's two am. She doesn't dream.

~

Kinkajou wakes her up early, humming "happy birthday."

"Moon! We have to set up for Winter's birthday!" She yanks the covers off Moon's bed. "I got a cake! He'll probably hate it, but oh well."

Did Moon really spend a few hours with Winter on the roof last night? She isn't sure, but she's certainly tired enough for it to be true.

"It's early," Moon mutters.

"Oh, c'mon." Kinkajou tugs at Moon's arm. "I don't know why you're dressed, but it means you can get up faster. No excuses!"

"Okay."

"Great!"

Moon drags herself out of bed, hoping she and Winter didn't wake Kinkajou up during the night. She's exhausted, but she follows Kinkajou down to the dining room, where Turtle is hanging a happy birthday sign. Qibli and Umber are sitting on the couch, discussing something that sounds important.

"You got her up!" Qibli grins, waving at Moon. "Whoa, what happened? You look super tired."

"I didn't sleep well."

Qibli raises an eyebrow. "Here, can you show us how the stove works?"

"Mostly, it doesn't." Every time their stove starts, it's a miracle.

Qibli makes breakfast, and Moon sits on the counter with her knees drawn to her chest.

"Hey. Don't fall asleep." Qibli pokes her, attempting to flip a pancake without a spatula.

"I'm too worried about you lighting the house on fire to fall asleep."

Winter walks into the kitchen with damp hair, carrying a laptop and looking half-asleep. He smiles at her, and Qibli glances between them.

Yawning, Winter climbs up onto the counter next to Moon and sets the laptop down. "Why does it feel so early?"

"Because you were up all night with Moon?" Qibli raises an eyebrow. Behind him, the pancake starts to smoke.

"Your pancake is burning," Winter says.

"Oh shit." Qibli spins around. "You know, Umber's the only one of us who can actually cook." He leaves the room, carrying the blackened pancake.

Winter rests his head in Moon's lap. It's nice. "It was real, wasn't it? Last night?"

"Yeah." Moon runs a hand through Winter's hair, and he moves the laptop to the side.

"Sometimes it's hard to believe I'm really here. You're really here."

"Feels a little surreal."

"Everything feels surreal."

And then they're laughing, because surreal was one of the vocabulary words for English class in April but it was funny because, really, who gets to tenth grade without learning what surreal means? She made a point of overusing it and Winter made a point of bothering her about overusing it and now they both overuse it to death.

Kinkajou walks into the kitchen and drops a fistful of spoons. They clatter to the floor, and she crouches to pick them up, grinning. Moon winces.

~

The next couple weeks with Winter are lovely. They are complaining about his electronica, dealing with his bullshit, arguing about words until they can't stop laughing, fending off Kinkajou's questions. They are stealing kisses when she and Winter are alone and learning that, no, that rush doesn't get old, cedar and snow and night air, texting Winter at midnight and knowing he'll meet her on the porch or the roof or wherever to talk until they're yawning and kiss until they're glowing and hold each other until Moon is this close to falling asleep. They are binge-watching Planet Earth in the basement with the whole squad when there's a summer thunderstorm because Moon doesn't have Netflix but she does have a vast collection of nature documentaries, starting out sharing a blanket with Winter and ending with her head in his lap, extolling the virtues of freshwater seals and dreaming about mangrove swamps.

Winter takes her to a movie, once. They eat way too much candy and hold hands and whisper during the previews and discuss the worldbuilding once the credits roll. Moon takes Winter to Peet's and convinces him that, yes, it's better than Starbucks in every way.

She doesn't want to go back to school.