Collection of Hearts

Fifth Drabble - Ashe

He had to finish the paperwork, he just had to. Ashe could remember a time before he had so much paperwork to deal with, a time before it was so important to complete it as quickly as possible. But he could also remember the reason why it had become so important to do so. Thankfully, he was almost done, the last form just needing one more read through before he finally marked it as complete and could stop sending out quite so many Shadows to reap the souls he was too busy to collect personally.

Well, that or keep sending them out and take a break to watch the stars without interruption for a while. Surely he deserved a break after completing a week's worth of paperwork in only a couple of hours. Just a little bit m-

"Hey, Ashe! How you been? I bet everything's just comin' up daisies! Get it?" A voice he could have gone far longer than just a few weeks without hearing called out from the doorway to his office, all hope of taking a break escaping from his grasp like sand from a fisherman's net.

"Azrael, why are you here? I thought I forbid you from entering this room... Or did you forget what happened last time you came near the paperwork?" His voice carried through the room, bringing a chill to the surrounding air.

"Naw, I remember, dude. That's why I'm standin' just outside the office!" Laughter could clearly be heard in the voice as Ashe slowly lifted his eyes from the paper that was tightly clenched in his hands, meeting the onyx and amber gaze of the being waving at him from the doorway before frowning at him. "And I thought I told you to call me Rae!"

Ashe winced as he saw the bright neon pink shirt with the image of a kitten hanging from a branch, black words splashed underneath reading "Hang in there". Black cargo pants hung loosely from the person's hips, the frayed cotton belt barely managing to keep them from sliding down. The only thing that gave Ashe a clue to what the visit might be about was the pair of black leather hiking boots that Rae wore, suggesting that either they had been or where about to be on yet another hiking trip.

"What do you want, Azrael?" He asked, carefully unclenching his hands before the paperwork he held was ruined. Setting it down on his desk, he began smoothing out the creases that had formed.

"I want you to call me Rae! I go by Rae now and have for quite some time now, you know that! Why do you keep calling me by that name?" Rae huffed, crossing their arms as they leaned against the doorway, looking agitated before their face broke into a smile. "But what brought me here was a thought that I couldn't get out of my head! I thought it would be fun going on a hike together! You know, go out to places nobody has been before and we could maybe talk about... stuff."

"Stuff?" Ashe peered at the one-time Angel with a raised eyebrow, a rare hint of curiosity in his voice. "And since when do you want to talk about anything with me other than plants, trails, and puns? What could have happened in the past three weeks that suddenly you want to talk to me about 'stuff' all of a sudden?"

Rae shifted in place for a while before shrugging, letting out a soft sigh as they reached up a dark hand to tug at one of their braids. Ashe hadn't seen them act so nervous since they had Fallen so very many centuries ago.

"I think... I think I might like someone and I have no idea what to do about it," the words were whispered softly enough that if Ashe hadn't been listening for them, he would have missed them.

Standing up, the unfinished paperwork left behind, Ashe grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair he'd been sitting in before walking to the doorway and holding out his hand.

"Come on, let's go on a walk, Rae."