+Author's note
A reader was kind enough to point out that a story I wrote was inappropriate, and I have taken two stories down and have and will replace them with something more decent! I apologize for any trouble my writings may have caused, and I will be more careful with my future stories.
Thank you so much for all of your honest feedback!
"How lovely you are!"
"Aren't I?" the flower answered sweetly. "And I was born the same moment as the sun.."
-The little prince
Pg.23
There was no other like her, Joseph mused to himself.
How he had spent all those years, not knowing what it was like to see true beauty, and to be utterly taken by it the moment she danced in his grasp was beyond him.
Of course, he continued: One can never know something that they've known nothing of. How could you explain the sight of the sea to the blind, and the sound of a cough to the deaf, and joy to the dead?
"How about another?" she asked softly.
The German smiled warmly, and closed the distance between their lips tenderly.
Surely, he thought; there was no woman who could ever make him into more of a lovesick fool than her.
+++
She had soon begun tormenting him with her vanity.
Alluding to her four thorns, she remarked to the little prince, "I'm ready for tigers, with all their claws!"
-Pg.23
"Joseph, you're not paying attention to me!"
Seven months had passed since they started their relationship, but they had somehow already started to tread on thin ice.
Looking up from his paper, he folded the sunday news into a hand, a cup bearing his name in his other hand.
"Bitte, jou know zhat's not true"
"But look at you right now!" She whined, "You're already tired of me, pretending to listen when you're just reading that paper!"
"Tired of jou?" he questioned with a frown.
Joseph knew she was exaggerating again, a habit she made whenever she was feeling needy.
"Vell, how about ve go somevhere you'd like zhen? Zhe park? Zhe movies?"
He saw (Y/n) purse her lips, her expression clearly displeased.
"But you don't want to go to those places at all!"
"(Y/n).." he hesitated.
She glared at him from across the table.
"What's the point of going somewhere together when you don't even want to go? I hate it when you force yourself to do things with me"
The German gave a tired sigh.
"I just vant jou to be happy.."
+++
"I shouldn't have listened to her," he confided to me one day.
"You must never listen to flowers!"
-Pg.24
Time went on, at an almost agonizing pace for the two lovers.
Their dates were no longer joyful, no longer happy, fun, or whatever those foolish couples feel on a wednesday walk.
The two sat on a bench wearily. Almost regretting on agreeing to go out for the night.
'Perhaps it would be best if..'
+++
"Goodbye," he said to the flower.
The rose coughed, "I've been silly, of course I love you," the flower told him.
"It was my fault you never knew. Now don't hang around like this; it's irritating"
The rose coughed, but not because she had a cold.
-Pg.25~27
Joseph hid behind a wall of crates, shielding himself from raining bullets as he desperately tried to keep up with his teammates.
"C'mon doc!"
Covered in cuts, scars and bruises, Joseph was barely able to drag himself across the battlefield, hoping that he could get to the end of the day with his life.
And all the while, he wondered if he could get through the day with most of his limbs, let alone alive.
+++
"In those days, I didn't understand anything. Flowers are so contradictory!"
"But I was too young to know how to love her"
-Pg.24~25
Joseph exchanged a laugh with his dear friend the Engineer, and took a sip from his mug of coffee.
"Well what about you doc?"
Joseph gave a questioning look.
"Got someone back home?"
Smiling to himself, Joseph took another swig of coffee.
"Zhere.. Vas a girl.. Named (Y/n). Ve used to go everyvhere togezher. She used to make me zhese lemon pies vhenever I vas feeling down.. And she made a mug vith my name on it.."
Chuckling to himself, Joseph swirled the dark drink in his hand.
"And ve vould go out every week to go see zhe gardens in our town. Zhey vere quite lovely.."
"..And?"
Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked up at his friend.
"What happened afterwards?"
Almost startled at the question, he found himself also asking the same thing.
"I left her.."
+++
He stood in front of the small house, fist raised to knock on the door, but merely stood there like a fool.
His dusty travel worn coat and crooked necktie was in no way presentable, but his thoughts had driven him to his current spot; despite his disheveled appearance.
Joseph frowned. What was he doing here? Did he really have the right to be here? For all he knew, she could have started a family at this point.
Shaking his thoughts aside, he knocked thrice, each knock rattling the hindges of the wooden door.
He stood there for a good 3 minutes with no answer.
Joseph turned on his heels when he suddenly came face to face to the subject of his thoughts.
Time changed her. Or did it change him? He saw that she was the same woman as before, (H/c) hair with (E/c) eyes with curved lips. But she was almost foreign to him at this point, almost like seeing an old childhood memory.
The two stood there, staring at each other when she gave a sigh.
"Tea?"
+++
Following (Y/n) into the kitchen, Joseph looked around, and saw that even 3 years worth of time did nothing to change her home.
He watched her quietly set the kettle on the stove, licking his dry lips.
"What brings you here?" she asked tiredly.
"I.. vanted to see how jou were doing"
Silence fell on the two, each not quite sure what to say.
"I made a freund at RED, and he had me vondering vhat happened between us, vhy ve grew apart, and.."
He swallowed a lump.
"Vhy I left jou"
(Y/n) stiffened, but said nothing.
"I could've handled it better. I could've made zhings vright if I had zhought it zhrough, I-"
A laugh interrupted the man, (Y/n)'s eyes twinkling with nostalgia.
"You always did blame yourself Joseph, even when there was no one to blame"
The kettle whistled, and (Y/n) got up and rummaged through the pantries.
"We were just new.. new to being 'us'. We didn't know better, how to act, how to feel, how to talk.."
Pouring the water into some mugs, she placed tea bags into them.
"And I understood why you'd want to leave-"
Joseph cut her short as he pulled (Y/n) into his arms, gripping her tightly as her eyes widened.
"I was a fool"
His voice dripped with sorrow, and (Y/n) returned his embrace.
"I didn't think you'd be gone for good though.."
Joseph gave a questioning look, but soon saw a familiar sight; the mug set out had his name beared on it.
Smiling, he burried his head into her neck, his heart at peace realizing that he was finally home.