Of New Beginnings - Anne with an E Fanfic

Karma and Snowball Fights- Mi'inan

GUYSSSSS WE REACHED 4K I KNOW COMPARATIVELY THATS NOT A LOT BUT AHHH

   Mi'inan and Cole stayed in the greenhouse until the sun was high in the sky, shining down through the glass and making the snow on the roof crack and slide off in huge sheets, snowmelt dripping down the panes of glass and leaving dewey trails in the fog.

   There were no clocks in the greenhouse, so neither of the boys noticed that lunchtime had come and gone until their stomachs started to grumble.  Mi'inan would have been content working straight through to dinner- he insisted that hunger made you work better- but when he began eyeing Aunt Jo's pear tree, Cole insisted they go back for lunch.

   "We can come back though, right?"  Mi'inan asked, dusting his hands off on his trousers, leaving misshapen handprints on the dark fabric. This greenhouse was one of the most magnificent things he had ever seen, and he intended to spend as much time as he could here before he went back to barren Toronto.

"I don't see why not," Cole responded. "As long as Jo doesn't have a problem with it, and Anne doesn't recruit us to some for forced Holiday preparation."

Mi'inan raised his eyebrows as he shrugged on his coat.  "Sounds ominous."

   Cole laughed as he put on his cap. "Unless you fancy endless pie making and probably acting in some sort of Thanksgiving skit, I'd steer clear of Anne until tomorrow."

   Mi'inan chuckled, and opened the door for Cole before walking through behind him.  Although Mi'inan wasn't very short, when Cole passed by him on the way out the door, his head barely reached Cole's shoulders.

   This annoyed Mi'inan.

   They walked out of the clearing and back towards the mansion in the distance, Cole's scarf blowing slightly in the gentle wind. Neither boy said anything for a few meters, but the silence wasn't unpleasant, filled with melting snow and wind.

"So, how long have you lived with Ms. Jo?" Asked Mi'inan. Normally, he would have been happy to walk in silence, but he had found over the morning that he didn't actually mind pleasant chatter when it was coming from Cole.

"A little over a year and a half now," responded Cole. "Moving here was one of the best decisions I've ever made. For the first time ever, I feel like I'm free to be who I was supposed to be being all along."

"That sounds..." trailed off Mi'inan.  It sounded like everything he had ever wanted, but could never have.  It sounded like some sort of unattainable fantasy life.  It sounded...

   "Absolutely wonderful." He finished.  Cole smiled, a real, true, big smile, and nodded.

   "It is."

   For a split second, jealousy overwhelmed Mi'inan.  He wanted to jump up and down and scream out that it wasn't fair, that he deserved to have somewhere he could be himself, too, even though he knew that that would be impossible.  He wanted to sit down right where he was on the snow and just start sobbing and never, ever stop.

   But then, how could he begrudge Cole of something that obviously made him so happy? Cole really did deserve this life he had, and all the friends that he seemed to be surrounded by.  Mi'inan never would, and he had to come to terms with that.

   He cleared his throat.  "So, er... how did you come to know Mrs Jo?  Is she a relative of yours?"

   Cole laughed.  "No, but I wish.  She is actually Diana's great aunt.  I met her when we- we being me, Anne, Ruby, Diana, and Moody- stayed at her house for a night.  Before I lived here, I lived on a farm in Avonlea.  Not much to say about that life, it was sad and small and very, very boring."