Fall Month: 2 
Day 
Heavy Rain
Lovely, I love all of that.
Glad you liked the song too. Now enjoy a short story.
-
Patch It
Prompt; No prompt, just a mostly happy story for once.
Characters; Garvin and Nico. Guest appearances from Ingall, Revan, and Akira. Some more than others, haha.
Word Count; 3,500.
TWs; I… Don’t actually think there are any? I mean, I guess some dissociation? It’s mostly only implied though.
Notes; I’ve been struggling with happy stories long enough. Here is a happy one. Or at least a lot happier than usual. Just a small collection of giving and receiving homemade gifts. Also, a fun little note for you. There's a switch that happens, through a positive trigger for once. As I mentioned, most of them don't have names. So, uh, congrats to Nico, they basically more or less named one of the gatekeepers in the system. Also, if you're wondering about the end, Chips is one of the few that does already have a name and is also most likely the first to actually say/tell the polyship that name.
Prompt; No prompt, just a mostly happy story for once.
Characters; Garvin and Nico. Guest appearances from Ingall, Revan, and Akira. Some more than others, haha.
Word Count; 3,500.
TWs; I… Don’t actually think there are any? I mean, I guess some dissociation? It’s mostly only implied though.
Notes; I’ve been struggling with happy stories long enough. Here is a happy one. Or at least a lot happier than usual. Just a small collection of giving and receiving homemade gifts. Also, a fun little note for you. There's a switch that happens, through a positive trigger for once. As I mentioned, most of them don't have names. So, uh, congrats to Nico, they basically more or less named one of the gatekeepers in the system. Also, if you're wondering about the end, Chips is one of the few that does already have a name and is also most likely the first to actually say/tell the polyship that name.
*~*~*~*
Of all the things that it could’ve started with, it started with a bracelet given to him by Vega. A simple, colorful bracelet using beads to spell out ‘VINNY’, something that Star had been proud to point out. Which was probably for the best, because Garvin wasn’t too sure if he would’ve actually known if they hadn’t. Either way, the bracelet had been given to him and he hadn’t taken it off since putting it on. At the time, he hadn’t realized it’d create some sort of gift war between the two of them. And, if he were being honest, he wasn’t even sure if it had. But he had been looking for a way to repay the gift since he’d gotten it. Which wouldn’t be an issue normally, but the bracelet wasn’t just something Niki stole. Or bought. It was something that they’d made. He hadn’t been sure he’d even be able to repay it because of that.
---
The day he was able to repay it came a week after he’d been given the bracelet in the early morning. From the sounds of it, Gall was in the kitchen making breakfast, Rev was probably trying to get some work done, and Akeri was going between bothering Specs and trying to convince Angel to let them help in a slight to figure out how long there was left until they could eat. Garvin himself was still in bed. He was awake, he’d woken up just as early as he always seemed to, he wasn’t up yet though.
-
At most, he was watching Clef trying to pick an outfit for the day. He was fairly sure that the group had something planned for the day. He couldn’t quite remember what but that just meant he’d have to ask at some point. Still, it was mostly because of that that he hadn’t gotten up yet, taking the chance to rest before they did anything that he knew he had. His joints weren’t screaming at him at the moment but he never was good at knowing if that would change or not and he’d rather not have to deal with it while they were doing things if he could help it.
-
The sound of Starry groaning made him look over, her back turned to him and holding what looked like a jacket. He sat up and raised an eyebrow as he spoke, “You good, Vega?”
-
Tweet turned quickly to look at him, the red windbreaker jacket still held in their hands. “Hm? Oh, uh…” There was a pause as she looked at the jacket before looking back up at him and then shrugged. “It’s nothing. I was just… Trying to decide what to wear. I thought maybe I’d wear this over the rest I’ve gotten out but, uh. You know…”
-
As his voice trailed off, Garvin hummed, looking over the jacket as well as he could from where he was. It wasn’t hard to figure out what was most likely the problem, a tear at the elbow that was threatening to shorten the whole sleeve. It also wasn’t hard to recognize the jacket as one of the ones that Lyra wore more than the other ones they had.
-
So he laughed, just a little, mostly to himself. And then watched as Tune bit their lip and went to say something. Probably something that was just wrong, but he’d never know, because he beat them to it, grinning and half amused. “Yeah, it sucks when that happens.” He paused, just for a moment, just so he could shift into a better way to sit before reaching a hand out towards Coco. “Give it ‘ere, love.”
-
For a second, Lilt glanced between him and the windbreaker, and then held it out for him with a tilt of her head. “What are you gonna do with it?”
-
He smiled as he took it from his hands, looking down at the torn sleeve. It definitely wouldn’t be lasting but a couple more wears if it wasn’t fixed. “Eh, you’ll see, darlin’.” He looked back up, rubbed the fabric between his fingers, and gave a small smirk. “You can go ‘head an’ get ready, aight? I’ll get it back to you ‘fore we go anywhere.”
-
The smile and small laugh he got in return as they turned and grabbed whatever else she’d already pulled out was plenty enough to tell him that he had some time before Clef was demanding to watch what he was doing. So he shifted how he was holding the jacket, watched as Niki left to go shower and change, and pushed himself off the bed and towards the closet, grabbing the milky way pin that Gall had gotten him at some point off the nightstand as he went.
-
It had been surprisingly easy to keep a box of clothes no one ever actually wore at the top of the closet. Easier than he’d expected, if he was being honest. He had really thought Crescent would notice it and have him get rid of it at some point but if the blonde had found it, he hadn’t brought it up. So he counted himself lucky on that and pulled the box down, opening it as he settled to sit next to it on the floor. Keeping the more intact sleeve in one hand, rubbing it between his fingers and trying to commit the feeling of it to memory, he started going through the clothes in the box.
-
Time passed slowly. Or quickly. He’d never been all that good at keeping track. Still, time seemed odd enough after he started looking that he just started ignoring it. Up until he realized that there didn’t seem to be a red that matched the way the windbreaker felt in his hand. Or in the right color either, though he was fairly sure the way it felt was more important anyways. So he changed his search, trying to find something that felt at least a bit similar to the jacket he was holding.
-
What he ended up finding was green, and he stared at it for… Well, at least a few seconds, before he grinned and set it down next to him. If he were being completely honest, he hadn’t planned on doing anything more than fixing the windbreaker.
-
The small bag of buttons in the box came out next though, followed quickly by the color of fabric he had the most of in the box. White, for some reason. Probably because he’d argued against them getting him anything and they’d, mostly Hex and Siren if he had to guess, decided to try and trick him by only getting him white shirts. As if he wouldn’t realize there was more than one in the closet. And, okay, yeah, it’d taken him a couple of months to figure it out. He’d moved most of them to the box when he had though and they were all still in alright shape. At least better shape than some of the stuff he’d worked with in the past.
-
He sat everything he’d taken out into a pile next to him before standing with the box again. He wasn’t too sure how much of everything he was going to use, so keeping most of it out was probably for the best. As soon as the box was back in the corner of the top shelf of the closet, he closed the door to it and went back to the nightstand.
-
Looking through the drawer for scissors didn’t take long, which was good. He could’ve done what he was planning without them if it’d take too long to find them but it’d take longer and he would’ve wasted time looking for them. So finding them quickly had been a nice surprise and he’d walked back to the pile of fabric he’d made on the floor before sitting down again next to it all.
-
He grabbed the windbreaker with one hand, and cut through the small bit of fabric that was holding the upper sleeve to the lower sleeve. Then, he took one glance at the other sleeve and cut it at the elbow too. It’d be better if it all at least slightly matched anyways, right? Besides, his way of fixing it would make the sleeve a bit longer too, keeping them closer to the same length was probably good.
-
Grabbing the green shirt he had to use and cutting it so it’d work for what he was doing was easier. And he set it aside for the moment in order to instead grab the pin and the white shirt that seemed to be in the worst condition. Using the needle point of the pin he’d picked up off the nightstand earlier to pull up the threads was nowhere near as difficult as it was to do the exact same thing with his fingers or a pocket knife. Or a switchblade. Or just about anything other than an actual needle made for it, probably, though he’d never actually used one of those before. The pin was definitely the easiest he’d used, at least, and compared to how long it usually took him to strip a thread away, he had what looked like a long enough thread in basically no time at all.
-
So he pulled one of the sleeves of the windbreaker and one of the green slips he’d cut over to him, setting the edge of the green fabric onto the inside of the sleeve. It was a little longer than he needed but he’d be able to cut it again once it was actually put together, for now, he simply held it in place as well as he could with one hand. And with the other, he stuck the pin needle through the green fabric and the sleeve, using the top of the pin to shift the needle around enough to keep the hole it made in the fabric just big enough he could stick the thread through it. The rest after that was easier, a simple thing of over-under and shifting how he was holding it all so he was able to do what he was trying to do. It really didn’t take long once he started for him to get to the point where he could tie the two ends of the thread together and cut whatever extra there was on all of it. It was even easier to do the same with the rest of the sleeves, only having to pause long enough to fish a thread out using the pin before being able to go back to it.
-
By the time he was using the scissors to cut out small little flowers out of the white shirts that were in better condition than the others, there was a knock on the door. He glanced over at it, not moving to set down what he was doing just yet, and listened as Altairs’ voice passed through. “Bun? Ingall’s done makin’ breakfast.”
-
That, to his credit, did make him pause. Usually, he’d be up and out the door before Aki even finished talking for food. So of course it made him pause. But he still didn’t move to get up, he only heard himself hum before speaking, watching himself wave a hand towards the door. “I’ll be out soon, don’ eat all o’ it.”
-
There was a pause where he noticed the bracelet at his wrist, and he shifted to look at it as footsteps walked away. If anything else had been said, he’d missed it. He was more concerned with the colorful beads against his skin and whatever he might’ve missed was probably fine. His eyes caught the letter beads and he took a second to spin the letters. Vinny seemed like a nice name.
-
He shifted back to look at the white flowers he’d been cutting out. He wasn’t too sure how many he needed. He glanced at the name spelt by the bracelet he was wearing. It was his, wasn’t it? Chances were that the name was too. He hummed quietly to himself, and grabbed the ones he’d already cut out. He could always cut more out later if he had to. Which was probably one of the best things about being able to keep the box.
-
He grabbed the pin and the shirt he’d been using to get thread. He wasn’t all too sure how much thread he’d need for the flowers either. He’d figure it out as he went though, for the moment he could just pick out one of the longer threads and see how far that got him.
-
It got him pretty far, in the end, and he’d only needed six of the longer threads to get all of the flowers he’d cut out onto either of the green bands. And given how similar the process was to attaching the green fabric to the red sleeves of the windbreaker, it hadn’t taken Vinny all that long for him to get the flowers onto it. Which really only left the buttons to add. And, honestly, he probably should’ve added the buttons to the flowers ahead of time. But he hadn’t and it was probably better for it to be put through more than just one layer of fabric anyways.
-
Really, what he should’ve done was put the flowers onto the green bands first, then the buttons, and then just put the whole thing together. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t done it like that. But he still hadn’t, so he’d just have to deal with it being a bit harder to do than it could’ve been. Which wasn’t too bad, at least. There were definitely worse things he could be dealing with. So he fished out a few longer lines of thread, grabbed the buttons, and started the process of putting them at the center of each flower.
-
Another knock on the door came when he really only had one button left to put on, so he didn’t wait for them to say anything. Instead, Vinny turned towards the door and spoke first, “Give me a sec, ‘m almost done.”
-
Ravens’ voice answered him with a carefully distant, “What are you even doing in there?”
-
He glanced at the jacket before grinning at the door again, “Don’ worry ‘bout it, Sirius. I said ‘m almost done, didn’ I?”
-
The responding sigh almost seemed amused, and when footsteps began walking away, he almost thought he heard a muffled, “…Fine, okay.”
-
Vinny didn’t waste any time in turning back to the last button he had to add to the windbreaker. It didn’t take too long at least to guide the thread he was using through the different holes he’d made with the pin until he could tie the thread at the back. And as soon as he’d finished it, he was standing up and opening the closet again. He grabbed the box from the top shelf so he could put the clothes he hadn’t used for the jacket back into it and as soon as he had, the box was back in the closet and the door was closed.
-
He picked up the windbreaker after and left the bedroom with it held in his hands behind his back. It didn’t take long to cross paths with Lyra. Probably because they were already walking towards the bedroom, Cass following close behind. They stopped when they saw him and he smiled, trying not to look too close to laughing as he walked over.
-
Amber was the first to speak between them, “We saved a plate fo’ ya. I am winnin’ now though, by a good couple o’ plates.”
-
Vinny made a show of huffing, shaking his head in mock disappointment at his loss. He was smiling by the time he stopped shaking his head and raised an eyebrow, “Yeah, an’ jus’ how long do ya think you'll be winnin’ for? Enjoy it while ya can, sweetheart.”
-
Thistle coughed, laughing. Pavo managed to stop snickering in time to beat them to talking though. “What do you have there, Vinny?”
-
He looked over, watching as Star shifted to try and look behind him. And he glanced behind himself before remembering that he was holding their jacket. “Oh- Yeah. Uh…” He paused before just handing the windbreaker over, “Here ya go, Vega. I didn’ ‘ave any red, so I had ta… Um… Figure somethin’ else out..” He was pretty sure that there was probably a better word for that, a better way to put it. He didn’t know what it was though.
-
As he watched Lilt take the jacket and stare at it, he tried not to feel too much like he’d done something wrong, like he’d overstepped or crossed some line somehow. The feeling was shortlived either way at least, because after a few seconds of staring at the windbreaker, Starry was basically throwing himself into him for a hug. “Aw, love, you didn’t have to fix it for me! I absolutely adore it though, it looks super cool.”
-
Vinny chuckled at that, looking down to meet their green eyes. “Yeah, as cool as flowers can look, ya mean.”
-
Plum elbowed him, “Says the guy with vines goin’ across his knuckles.”
-
At the same time, Tweet gasped, pushing away with a smile. “I’ll have you know flowers are very cool!”
-
He grinned and lightly shook his head, mostly just trying to mess with them as she started pulling him towards the direction of the kitchen. “They really do look cool though. They look kind of like daisies, actually. Which, along with forget me nots, are easily the coolest flowers.”
-
He glanced over, “Forget me nots?”
-
Tune nodded, still smiling bright as ever, “Yeah. They’re tiny flowers, usually blue but they can also be purple, pink, or white. I like the blues ones a lot.” Coco paused, glancing up at him before continuing. “They can be used to show a promise to always remember someone.”
-
Vinny hummed for a moment before reaching over and ruffling Lyra’s hair with a grin. “Well, wit a name like ‘forget me nots’, I’d hope that’s what they show.”
---
More gifts had been given between them after that. In fact, the next day, Niki had given him a paper peacock. In reference to the Pavo nickname he had for them.
-
A few days after that, a few small light blue flowers had joined the white ones on the green bands. It’d been hard to sneak the jacket away long enough to add them, but it’d been worth it for the small, shining smile he got in return.
-
For weeks after that, he kept finding scraps of fabric scattered around. Patterned or colorful or made of some fancy material he didn’t have the faintest clue to the name of. Even some scraps that fit into more than one of those categories. It was all in good shape too. Most of it found its way into the box he kept in the corner of the closet top shelf.
-
Of course, plenty of the scraps found themselves adding little details to the flowers at different points through those weeks too. Like the shiny gold lining he added to the petals of the white flowers, or the soft light purple he used to outline the small blue ones. There was no real way to know if the scraps of fabric were from Clef though, so some of them ended up in other places too. Like the small shiny gray star that laid at the top of the neck of one of Apus’ dark blue turtlenecks. Or the bluish purple lining he’d managed to add to some of Kira’s gloves.
-
And the small, handmade gifts they gave each other just continued. From Lilts’ gifts of paper art he eventually learned was called origami, to cups made with clay, to even just well drawn pictures. Truthfully, and it was nothing against his other partners, Stars’ gifts were probably his favorite ones. He wasn’t even all too sure as to why. For whatever reason, they just were.
---
The second bracelet he ever got from Vega was given to him years later. He wasn’t sure what had prompted it but it’d been given to him. The beads were mostly blues and purples, and just like before, though it hadn’t been nearly as necessary, Lyra had pointed out what the letters spelt. Instead of spelling out Pavo’s nickname for him, Vinny, though, the letters spelled out ‘CHIPS’ instead. It’d been just a bit confusing, since he hadn’t mentioned the old nickname to any of them before as far as he could remember. But, if he were being honest, it hadn’t been any more confusing than him waking up the next morning to find himself wearing it with no memory of him having put it on, or of the night before overall. So he didn’t linger on it, there wasn’t really a point in doing so. He’d long accepted his memory was just plain shit anyways.
Of all the things that it could’ve started with, it started with a bracelet given to him by Vega. A simple, colorful bracelet using beads to spell out ‘VINNY’, something that Star had been proud to point out. Which was probably for the best, because Garvin wasn’t too sure if he would’ve actually known if they hadn’t. Either way, the bracelet had been given to him and he hadn’t taken it off since putting it on. At the time, he hadn’t realized it’d create some sort of gift war between the two of them. And, if he were being honest, he wasn’t even sure if it had. But he had been looking for a way to repay the gift since he’d gotten it. Which wouldn’t be an issue normally, but the bracelet wasn’t just something Niki stole. Or bought. It was something that they’d made. He hadn’t been sure he’d even be able to repay it because of that.
---
The day he was able to repay it came a week after he’d been given the bracelet in the early morning. From the sounds of it, Gall was in the kitchen making breakfast, Rev was probably trying to get some work done, and Akeri was going between bothering Specs and trying to convince Angel to let them help in a slight to figure out how long there was left until they could eat. Garvin himself was still in bed. He was awake, he’d woken up just as early as he always seemed to, he wasn’t up yet though.
-
At most, he was watching Clef trying to pick an outfit for the day. He was fairly sure that the group had something planned for the day. He couldn’t quite remember what but that just meant he’d have to ask at some point. Still, it was mostly because of that that he hadn’t gotten up yet, taking the chance to rest before they did anything that he knew he had. His joints weren’t screaming at him at the moment but he never was good at knowing if that would change or not and he’d rather not have to deal with it while they were doing things if he could help it.
-
The sound of Starry groaning made him look over, her back turned to him and holding what looked like a jacket. He sat up and raised an eyebrow as he spoke, “You good, Vega?”
-
Tweet turned quickly to look at him, the red windbreaker jacket still held in their hands. “Hm? Oh, uh…” There was a pause as she looked at the jacket before looking back up at him and then shrugged. “It’s nothing. I was just… Trying to decide what to wear. I thought maybe I’d wear this over the rest I’ve gotten out but, uh. You know…”
-
As his voice trailed off, Garvin hummed, looking over the jacket as well as he could from where he was. It wasn’t hard to figure out what was most likely the problem, a tear at the elbow that was threatening to shorten the whole sleeve. It also wasn’t hard to recognize the jacket as one of the ones that Lyra wore more than the other ones they had.
-
So he laughed, just a little, mostly to himself. And then watched as Tune bit their lip and went to say something. Probably something that was just wrong, but he’d never know, because he beat them to it, grinning and half amused. “Yeah, it sucks when that happens.” He paused, just for a moment, just so he could shift into a better way to sit before reaching a hand out towards Coco. “Give it ‘ere, love.”
-
For a second, Lilt glanced between him and the windbreaker, and then held it out for him with a tilt of her head. “What are you gonna do with it?”
-
He smiled as he took it from his hands, looking down at the torn sleeve. It definitely wouldn’t be lasting but a couple more wears if it wasn’t fixed. “Eh, you’ll see, darlin’.” He looked back up, rubbed the fabric between his fingers, and gave a small smirk. “You can go ‘head an’ get ready, aight? I’ll get it back to you ‘fore we go anywhere.”
-
The smile and small laugh he got in return as they turned and grabbed whatever else she’d already pulled out was plenty enough to tell him that he had some time before Clef was demanding to watch what he was doing. So he shifted how he was holding the jacket, watched as Niki left to go shower and change, and pushed himself off the bed and towards the closet, grabbing the milky way pin that Gall had gotten him at some point off the nightstand as he went.
-
It had been surprisingly easy to keep a box of clothes no one ever actually wore at the top of the closet. Easier than he’d expected, if he was being honest. He had really thought Crescent would notice it and have him get rid of it at some point but if the blonde had found it, he hadn’t brought it up. So he counted himself lucky on that and pulled the box down, opening it as he settled to sit next to it on the floor. Keeping the more intact sleeve in one hand, rubbing it between his fingers and trying to commit the feeling of it to memory, he started going through the clothes in the box.
-
Time passed slowly. Or quickly. He’d never been all that good at keeping track. Still, time seemed odd enough after he started looking that he just started ignoring it. Up until he realized that there didn’t seem to be a red that matched the way the windbreaker felt in his hand. Or in the right color either, though he was fairly sure the way it felt was more important anyways. So he changed his search, trying to find something that felt at least a bit similar to the jacket he was holding.
-
What he ended up finding was green, and he stared at it for… Well, at least a few seconds, before he grinned and set it down next to him. If he were being completely honest, he hadn’t planned on doing anything more than fixing the windbreaker.
-
The small bag of buttons in the box came out next though, followed quickly by the color of fabric he had the most of in the box. White, for some reason. Probably because he’d argued against them getting him anything and they’d, mostly Hex and Siren if he had to guess, decided to try and trick him by only getting him white shirts. As if he wouldn’t realize there was more than one in the closet. And, okay, yeah, it’d taken him a couple of months to figure it out. He’d moved most of them to the box when he had though and they were all still in alright shape. At least better shape than some of the stuff he’d worked with in the past.
-
He sat everything he’d taken out into a pile next to him before standing with the box again. He wasn’t too sure how much of everything he was going to use, so keeping most of it out was probably for the best. As soon as the box was back in the corner of the top shelf of the closet, he closed the door to it and went back to the nightstand.
-
Looking through the drawer for scissors didn’t take long, which was good. He could’ve done what he was planning without them if it’d take too long to find them but it’d take longer and he would’ve wasted time looking for them. So finding them quickly had been a nice surprise and he’d walked back to the pile of fabric he’d made on the floor before sitting down again next to it all.
-
He grabbed the windbreaker with one hand, and cut through the small bit of fabric that was holding the upper sleeve to the lower sleeve. Then, he took one glance at the other sleeve and cut it at the elbow too. It’d be better if it all at least slightly matched anyways, right? Besides, his way of fixing it would make the sleeve a bit longer too, keeping them closer to the same length was probably good.
-
Grabbing the green shirt he had to use and cutting it so it’d work for what he was doing was easier. And he set it aside for the moment in order to instead grab the pin and the white shirt that seemed to be in the worst condition. Using the needle point of the pin he’d picked up off the nightstand earlier to pull up the threads was nowhere near as difficult as it was to do the exact same thing with his fingers or a pocket knife. Or a switchblade. Or just about anything other than an actual needle made for it, probably, though he’d never actually used one of those before. The pin was definitely the easiest he’d used, at least, and compared to how long it usually took him to strip a thread away, he had what looked like a long enough thread in basically no time at all.
-
So he pulled one of the sleeves of the windbreaker and one of the green slips he’d cut over to him, setting the edge of the green fabric onto the inside of the sleeve. It was a little longer than he needed but he’d be able to cut it again once it was actually put together, for now, he simply held it in place as well as he could with one hand. And with the other, he stuck the pin needle through the green fabric and the sleeve, using the top of the pin to shift the needle around enough to keep the hole it made in the fabric just big enough he could stick the thread through it. The rest after that was easier, a simple thing of over-under and shifting how he was holding it all so he was able to do what he was trying to do. It really didn’t take long once he started for him to get to the point where he could tie the two ends of the thread together and cut whatever extra there was on all of it. It was even easier to do the same with the rest of the sleeves, only having to pause long enough to fish a thread out using the pin before being able to go back to it.
-
By the time he was using the scissors to cut out small little flowers out of the white shirts that were in better condition than the others, there was a knock on the door. He glanced over at it, not moving to set down what he was doing just yet, and listened as Altairs’ voice passed through. “Bun? Ingall’s done makin’ breakfast.”
-
That, to his credit, did make him pause. Usually, he’d be up and out the door before Aki even finished talking for food. So of course it made him pause. But he still didn’t move to get up, he only heard himself hum before speaking, watching himself wave a hand towards the door. “I’ll be out soon, don’ eat all o’ it.”
-
There was a pause where he noticed the bracelet at his wrist, and he shifted to look at it as footsteps walked away. If anything else had been said, he’d missed it. He was more concerned with the colorful beads against his skin and whatever he might’ve missed was probably fine. His eyes caught the letter beads and he took a second to spin the letters. Vinny seemed like a nice name.
-
He shifted back to look at the white flowers he’d been cutting out. He wasn’t too sure how many he needed. He glanced at the name spelt by the bracelet he was wearing. It was his, wasn’t it? Chances were that the name was too. He hummed quietly to himself, and grabbed the ones he’d already cut out. He could always cut more out later if he had to. Which was probably one of the best things about being able to keep the box.
-
He grabbed the pin and the shirt he’d been using to get thread. He wasn’t all too sure how much thread he’d need for the flowers either. He’d figure it out as he went though, for the moment he could just pick out one of the longer threads and see how far that got him.
-
It got him pretty far, in the end, and he’d only needed six of the longer threads to get all of the flowers he’d cut out onto either of the green bands. And given how similar the process was to attaching the green fabric to the red sleeves of the windbreaker, it hadn’t taken Vinny all that long for him to get the flowers onto it. Which really only left the buttons to add. And, honestly, he probably should’ve added the buttons to the flowers ahead of time. But he hadn’t and it was probably better for it to be put through more than just one layer of fabric anyways.
-
Really, what he should’ve done was put the flowers onto the green bands first, then the buttons, and then just put the whole thing together. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t done it like that. But he still hadn’t, so he’d just have to deal with it being a bit harder to do than it could’ve been. Which wasn’t too bad, at least. There were definitely worse things he could be dealing with. So he fished out a few longer lines of thread, grabbed the buttons, and started the process of putting them at the center of each flower.
-
Another knock on the door came when he really only had one button left to put on, so he didn’t wait for them to say anything. Instead, Vinny turned towards the door and spoke first, “Give me a sec, ‘m almost done.”
-
Ravens’ voice answered him with a carefully distant, “What are you even doing in there?”
-
He glanced at the jacket before grinning at the door again, “Don’ worry ‘bout it, Sirius. I said ‘m almost done, didn’ I?”
-
The responding sigh almost seemed amused, and when footsteps began walking away, he almost thought he heard a muffled, “…Fine, okay.”
-
Vinny didn’t waste any time in turning back to the last button he had to add to the windbreaker. It didn’t take too long at least to guide the thread he was using through the different holes he’d made with the pin until he could tie the thread at the back. And as soon as he’d finished it, he was standing up and opening the closet again. He grabbed the box from the top shelf so he could put the clothes he hadn’t used for the jacket back into it and as soon as he had, the box was back in the closet and the door was closed.
-
He picked up the windbreaker after and left the bedroom with it held in his hands behind his back. It didn’t take long to cross paths with Lyra. Probably because they were already walking towards the bedroom, Cass following close behind. They stopped when they saw him and he smiled, trying not to look too close to laughing as he walked over.
-
Amber was the first to speak between them, “We saved a plate fo’ ya. I am winnin’ now though, by a good couple o’ plates.”
-
Vinny made a show of huffing, shaking his head in mock disappointment at his loss. He was smiling by the time he stopped shaking his head and raised an eyebrow, “Yeah, an’ jus’ how long do ya think you'll be winnin’ for? Enjoy it while ya can, sweetheart.”
-
Thistle coughed, laughing. Pavo managed to stop snickering in time to beat them to talking though. “What do you have there, Vinny?”
-
He looked over, watching as Star shifted to try and look behind him. And he glanced behind himself before remembering that he was holding their jacket. “Oh- Yeah. Uh…” He paused before just handing the windbreaker over, “Here ya go, Vega. I didn’ ‘ave any red, so I had ta… Um… Figure somethin’ else out..” He was pretty sure that there was probably a better word for that, a better way to put it. He didn’t know what it was though.
-
As he watched Lilt take the jacket and stare at it, he tried not to feel too much like he’d done something wrong, like he’d overstepped or crossed some line somehow. The feeling was shortlived either way at least, because after a few seconds of staring at the windbreaker, Starry was basically throwing himself into him for a hug. “Aw, love, you didn’t have to fix it for me! I absolutely adore it though, it looks super cool.”
-
Vinny chuckled at that, looking down to meet their green eyes. “Yeah, as cool as flowers can look, ya mean.”
-
Plum elbowed him, “Says the guy with vines goin’ across his knuckles.”
-
At the same time, Tweet gasped, pushing away with a smile. “I’ll have you know flowers are very cool!”
-
He grinned and lightly shook his head, mostly just trying to mess with them as she started pulling him towards the direction of the kitchen. “They really do look cool though. They look kind of like daisies, actually. Which, along with forget me nots, are easily the coolest flowers.”
-
He glanced over, “Forget me nots?”
-
Tune nodded, still smiling bright as ever, “Yeah. They’re tiny flowers, usually blue but they can also be purple, pink, or white. I like the blues ones a lot.” Coco paused, glancing up at him before continuing. “They can be used to show a promise to always remember someone.”
-
Vinny hummed for a moment before reaching over and ruffling Lyra’s hair with a grin. “Well, wit a name like ‘forget me nots’, I’d hope that’s what they show.”
---
More gifts had been given between them after that. In fact, the next day, Niki had given him a paper peacock. In reference to the Pavo nickname he had for them.
-
A few days after that, a few small light blue flowers had joined the white ones on the green bands. It’d been hard to sneak the jacket away long enough to add them, but it’d been worth it for the small, shining smile he got in return.
-
For weeks after that, he kept finding scraps of fabric scattered around. Patterned or colorful or made of some fancy material he didn’t have the faintest clue to the name of. Even some scraps that fit into more than one of those categories. It was all in good shape too. Most of it found its way into the box he kept in the corner of the closet top shelf.
-
Of course, plenty of the scraps found themselves adding little details to the flowers at different points through those weeks too. Like the shiny gold lining he added to the petals of the white flowers, or the soft light purple he used to outline the small blue ones. There was no real way to know if the scraps of fabric were from Clef though, so some of them ended up in other places too. Like the small shiny gray star that laid at the top of the neck of one of Apus’ dark blue turtlenecks. Or the bluish purple lining he’d managed to add to some of Kira’s gloves.
-
And the small, handmade gifts they gave each other just continued. From Lilts’ gifts of paper art he eventually learned was called origami, to cups made with clay, to even just well drawn pictures. Truthfully, and it was nothing against his other partners, Stars’ gifts were probably his favorite ones. He wasn’t even all too sure as to why. For whatever reason, they just were.
---
The second bracelet he ever got from Vega was given to him years later. He wasn’t sure what had prompted it but it’d been given to him. The beads were mostly blues and purples, and just like before, though it hadn’t been nearly as necessary, Lyra had pointed out what the letters spelt. Instead of spelling out Pavo’s nickname for him, Vinny, though, the letters spelled out ‘CHIPS’ instead. It’d been just a bit confusing, since he hadn’t mentioned the old nickname to any of them before as far as he could remember. But, if he were being honest, it hadn’t been any more confusing than him waking up the next morning to find himself wearing it with no memory of him having put it on, or of the night before overall. So he didn’t linger on it, there wasn’t really a point in doing so. He’d long accepted his memory was just plain shit anyways.
