some short statehouse fics

|| citrus friends ||

Was just rereading some old chapters, currently regretting my life choices-

tw!! mention of death and grieving
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It was a warm day out. Not an uncommon occasion, but a pleasant one. The sky was cloudy, with only a slight dark tint to it.

A boy, carrying a blanket in both hands, with a small cheese torta sitting at the bottom.

He was honestly way too tired to be out and about like this. He hadn't been feeling well the night before, and something about this time of year made him feel wrong. An off type of loneliness always set in around now, and he didn't understand why.

...Well. He supposed it did get rather lonely sometimes.

As he took a bite out of his torta, he glanced out towards all of the never ending flats in sight. Not a person to be found.

He recounted what his father had told him some visits ago when he asked why there weren't any other children he could get to know around there. "What do you need one of them for?? You got everything else to keep you company! Even those little lizards you like."

Even as he begrudgingly corrected his father about the so called "little lizards", he realized that he wasn't necessarily wrong. He had tons of things to keep him company, including the gators! He had the trees, and the grass, and the swamps, all made to keep him company as his nfather would say. But all that did was make him feel greedy as he still yearned for more.

Maybe it's because he once knew what it was like to have such company. It was some time ago, now. How long exactly, he'd lost tract. There was a young boy who had been passing through Florida's settlement with his family. At the time, he only looked maybe a year or two younger than Florida. And as he was exploring a small pond nearby, Florida made his kind, and rather loud introduction to him.

How he wasn't scared off by Florida's excited efforts to befriend him wasn't exactly clear to him. But nevertheless, it worked. The two were as inseparable as they could've been when accounting for their chores and Florida's state duties. Everyday, the two would meet at the same spot they met, and they'd talk for hours about anything, even if it was usually Florida doing most of the talking.

Florida had overheard one day that the boy's family had decided to settle pretty close by. Near a familiar swamp, and the house apparently having their favorite fruit tree out front. So it was truly a mystery to him when he didn't find the boy by the pond one day.

He'd grown up a bit since they met, the boy now looking just that much older than Florida. Still a child, but growing just a bit more unrecognizable. Maybe he'd started to get tired of him. He grew anxious at the mere thought. No, no, that wasn't like him. Maybe he'd gotten sick and was just too tired to leave the house.

After just one more day of radio silence, Florida decided it'd be best to scout out the boy himself. So he searched. He searched and searched. If his family really did settle nearby, it shouldn't have been hard to find their house. So by only day two of looking, he was getting rather inpatient. He'd started his search as soon as the sun broke on day one, and found himself still wandering around as the sun was almost starting to set the day after. The four hours of sleep he'd gotten along with the humidity that came with a Floridian summer did not exactly help his mood. With every turn that he didn't find a house in the distance, the more tears welled up, and the more sniffles he couldn't hold back.

That is until he saw it.

A small home not too far from from a swamp, with an orange tree growing out front.

Ecstatic would be an understatement, and his smile definitely showed that.

He ran as fast as he could down to the house, hopeful but still not sure what to expect. The feeling was small enough to where he could gladly ignore it. Even as he was just a few feet away from the house, the hint of dread didn't yet set. That is until he slowed his pace, and almost knocked on the door before hearing voices inside. Most notably, there was a woman's. She was sobbing.

Florida felt the memory start to fuzz up as he recalled sitting besides the orange tree below an open window.  The sky was blurring out of the bright blue shade it normally stayed as, and started shifting into its prettier oranges and yellows. Its the only thing he can clearly recall from that moment. There were still voices speaking behind him, and he'd just barely been able to understand them enough to realize that the boy he had called his friend was never meeting him at that pond again.

The sky was turning towards a faded purple by the time the house went silent. His chest ached, he felt his eyes start to tear up. It started to burn as he held back pained sobs to spare the poor family inside from taking pity on him.

Then sky was completely dark, barley illuminated by the stars and moon. His face was covered in now dried tears, and he could barley feel himself trembling. His throat was dry, surely dehydrated, since he couldn't even force himself to let out anymore tears if he'd wanted to. His face was uncomfortably warm indicating a fever, and he couldn't force himself to drag his legs any farther towards his own home.

Settling in the grass field he was in couldn't have been the safest option, but it was the most comforting. There was an orange in his hand, probably picked way back at the house. He somehow couldn't bring himself to eat it. Maybe he could sprout his own tree with it. He'd have to ask someone back home, he thought. 

Florida finished his torta by the time he finished recalling the entire memory. He glanced up right above him to the many branches and leaves of the orange tree, and sighed. He supposed he was still a bit hungry.

As he picked the orange, he couldn't help but feel that familiar, and nauseating feeling of nostalgia, one which strengthened as the scent of lemon zest hit him.

He felt guilty. Not initially, but it started to grow in him as the years passed on. He started counting what age the boy would be turning that year, and he'd constantly keep his name in his mind all day long. A sort of dread filled his mind when he started losing count, and it never left after he forgot his name.

He took a bite out of an orange slice, and felt his throating tighten as he choked back a sob.

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I have a soft spot for Florida if I'm being completely honest with y'all. He's actually a menace, but man :(