GHOST CABIN ☆ EARTHMIX AU

Part forty-four: a dream so beautiful...

"The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value."

- Charles Dudley Warner 

Earth waited until Mix fell asleep in his arms, humming a soothing melody for Mix to sleep better. Once Earth was sure Mix was deep in a dream world, he carefully unwrapped his arms from Mix and instead, covered him with a duvet and fluffy blanket. He gently stroked Mix's hair, eyes lingered on Mix's serene sleeping face for a little bit longer, before he got out of bed, making his way downstairs.

Earth didn't have much time to come up with a Christmas present for Mix. After thinking about it for what felt like forever he came to the realization that not only he didn't have much time, he didn't have many options either. But then, yesterday when they were decorating the Christmas tree and the cabin, Earth's eyes fell upon Mix's painting equipment.

Earth loved to paint, or at least he loved it when he was alive. It would be nice to get back to it now when he was almost alive again. And he was sure that Mix won't mind if Earth use up a little bit of his painting stuff.

The plan was simple: Earth was going to paint a Christmas present for Mix while Mix was sleeping soundly. The question was, however, what was Earth going to paint?

Earth looked outside the window, seeing nothing but his reflection. He smiled. Earth was nowadays in his solid form almost all the time, it was nice to finally be able to see his reflection in the mirror or in the window for that matter. He even could touch basically everything at this point. Earth knew it — he was so close to being alive again, he could almost feel it. It was only one breath way, one heartbeat away.

But it wasn't happening yet. Earth had to be patient as he was all those years. But the closer he was to be alive the harder it was to wait. But no matter how long, Earth could wait. With Mix by his side, he could wait.

Mix.

Earth wished he had the right words to tell Mix what he truly meant to him. For some reason saying I love you wasn't enough. It felt too shallow no matter how many times Earth said it. It was like it didn't hold even a fragment of how strong Earth really felt about Mix. Yet it was the closest to what Earth actually wanted Mix to know. That was why he loved saying it and he loved Mix's awestruck expression every time he heard those words coming from Earth.

Earth knew what he was going to paint. Looking out that window, seeing only darkness and his reflection again, he walked towards the back of the sofa where Mix's painting equipment was, Earth picked up one plain canvas and colours, palette, and brushes, and sat next to the window.

He couldn't see anything outside but he could imagine it more than perfectly. The lake; that cold big lake in which Mix bathed and then caught nasty flu, all because of Earth's mischievous prank.

The maple tree, now covered in frosty snow that occasionally falls down from its branches, but when they first talk, the first time Mix heard Earth's voice, the crown of that tree shone with magically warm colours.

The place where Mix loved to go when he needed to think deeply about something. The place where they had their first-ever picnic, where Mix almost said that he loved him for the first time and Earth with everything he had in himself stopped him before Mix could speak those words out loud. And of course, the place where their picnic got interrupted because of the friendly bear.

That small part of the ground under the tree and next to the glistening lake held so many memories for both of them. The first stroke of a brush marked the plain white canvas as Mix upstairs rolled over in his bed, a blissful smile on his lips, dreaming a dream so beautiful it breaks hearts when it ends.

The night rolled to its second part, the cabin was silent, and Earth was pouring all of his emotions he couldn't express with words on the canvas, covering it with love, adoration, gratitude, respect, passion, fondness, tenderness, understanding, support...and everything he didn't even know the words for. It was all there, painted for Mix to see, for Mix to own, for Mix to know.

.....

When Earth finished and found a good place to hide the painting it was already the late morning of Christmas Eve and he could hear Mix upstairs already woken up, the wood cracking under his feet.

To avoid any suspicions from Mix, Earth made sure everything looked the way it did when they went to sleep last night and then he decided to light the fire both because it was getting cold inside again and to have a reason as to why he wasn't next to Mix when he woke up.

Earth was in the middle of putting more wood into the fireplace when he heard the stairs cracking and Mix appeared in front of him a few seconds later.

"Who allowed you to get up from the bed before I woke up?" Mix asked, his cheeks tinted in pink from good healthy sleep.

"My apologies sir, for it was in my utmost intention to keep you from getting cold, that is why I dared to leave the bed without your most honourable permission," Earth said in a serious voice, slightly bowing to Mix.

"Okay, stop," Mix shook his head, laughing.

Earth finished putting the wood in the fire and went to Mix. "Morning, Angel. How was your sleep? Dreamed about me?" He put a string of Mix's hair away from Mix's face, his fingers, lightly touching the soft cheek.

Mix leaned into the touch, his eyes big and round, gazing at Earth. And Earth could swear that he wasn't worthy of those eyes looking at him like that — like he was the only thing in the universe that was worthy of looking at. Mix's eyes held in them so much. They were the most perfect view. And Earth was blessed to be able to look into them every single day. So blessed.

"Good morning," Mix said softly. "I indeed had a very interesting dream."

Earth took Mix's hand and they walked to the kitchen, "You did? May I know what it was about?"

"I dreamed we had six cats...or seven...I'm not sure anymore," Mix casually said, opening a box of cereals.

"Seven cats?" Earth repeated just to make sure he heard correctly.

"Yup, six or seven. Sounds nice, doesn't it?" Mix poured the cereals into a bowl and smiled at Earth.

"I'm not saying no to cats—but six or seven?"

Mix shrugged, "why not? I think that we would be great cat parents."

Earth smiled softly, "that...we would."

"Uhm, yeah I wanted to tell you," Mix started, putting the bowl with cereals away, "My flight is at 4:30 on the morning of the 26th. This means that sheriff LeBlanc will be here to take me to the airport around 1 at night. If everything goes according to plan I'll be back on the 29th morning, at the latest. You think you'll be fine until then?"

Earth nodded, "sure I will," he hugged Mix tightly, seeing as Mix's smile disappeared from his face when he mentioned his flight. "Don't worry, Mix. I'll be safely waiting for you here. I promise. But do something for me."

Mix hmmed, in Earth's chest, "anything you want."

"Have fun at your sister's wedding. Don't worry about me. Be fully present at the moment. Be happy with your family. It's a special milestone in your sister's life, she deserves your full attention. Alright?"

Mix looked up at Earth, "alright, I promise," he whispered, his lips touching Earth's.

To be continued...

P.S. okay, we should say goodbye to fluffy moments soon...