Break a Butterfly

Collige Virgo Rosas

Viktor hummed and kicked his feet, tilting his head back and forth. He took the wooden pencil from between his lips and scratched down some letters, following the instructions in his book. When he lazily fluttered his wings, the light from above reflected off of their iridescent surfaces and aqua light scattered onto the carpet. Viktor ran his fingers through a lock of the long, long hair that was pooling on the floor.

"Very good," Yuuri praised, eyes soft from behind his glasses. Viktor's lips curled into a smile. "Your handwriting is already looking better than mine," Yuuri remarked. Viktor didn't know if that was entirely truthful, but he felt like he was glowing anyways.

"Thank you."

"Alright, let's try this last one."

"C-a-t. Oh! Cat."

"Good job."

Viktor copied down the word into the space provided. Over the past few weeks, he had learned so much and was improving in leaps and bounds. Each letter and word he learned felt like a veil was being lifted off of an ancient artifact, revealing its knowledge to him.

~~

Viktor yawned, leaned back, and stretched. Something caught his eye, and he looked out the window.
"It's snowing," he remarked.
"The weather has been colder than usual, hasn't it?" Yuuri replied, and Viktor nodded with a quiet hum.
"Do you think it will stay? The snow from the other day has started to melt," he mused. Yuuri mulled this over, leaning back in the sofa.
"If it snows more tonight, then probably?" he estimated.
"I hope so." Viktor smiled so purely and sweetly, and his eyes glittered as if they were filled with snowflakes themselves. "I wish the city had more places where the snow stayed clean and fresh."

The sheer number of people living within city limits and all of the grime that came with them prevented picturesque, fluffy white snow. Suddenly, Yuuri had an idea and his heart sped up in excitement.

"Viktor! Let's go where there is snow!"

VIktor's face brightened and he beamed. He stood up, wings fluttering. "Let's go right now!" he exclaimed.

"Eh? Right now?" Yuuri asked, surprised. He had been picturing the next day, or that weekend.

"Well, why not?"

Yuuri could not come up with a reason, so he just laughed in defeat and pushed himself onto his feet. Viktor moved to leave the room.
"Hold on, we need to pack."

In the end, they could not decide whether they wanted cucumber sandwiches or cucumber sushi, and so they made them both. Somehow Yuuri ended up with cream cheese on his cheek. Viktor gently wiped it off, and shortly after absentmindedly rubbed his nose. He blinked in confusion when he found it sticky with cream cheese.

After having a laugh about that, they finished preparing lunch within no time. It was fairly obvious which sushi Viktor's inexperienced hands had rolled, but looks were not what counted. Yuuri nestled a box of sweet buns wrapped in paper within a picnic basket, as well as a lidded glass dish housing seasoned and steamed kabocha slices. With the addition of the cucumber dishes, a bottle of apple cider, chopsticks, and red cloth napkins, Yuuri flipped the basket's flaps closed.

While he had been finishing packing, Viktor was changing into some warmer clothing. He emerged from his room shortly after Yuuri was done with the preparations. His eyes were clear and he held his chin high, holding an aura of confidence and happiness that would have been unimaginable when they first met.

He smiled dazzlingly and spun on his heel to show off what he was wearing, a cherry-colored velvet dress with sections that were striped with white and red like silken candy canes. The maroon lacing down the front was echoed in other parts of the gown, and frilly white lace at the wrists and collar tied everything together. A dutch braid arched over the top of his head, his hair drawn into a simple ponytail at his nape and fastened with a matching maroon ribbon. The locks fell elegantly in silver waves down his back, carrying the light-catching twists and bends left from the braid it had been in earlier.