It was an early morning. The sun had barely started rising into the sky and Jack had just been pulled out of his sleep by his body's automatic clock.
Growing up on a farm, he was used to being yanked awake to get a jump on whatever was planned for the day. However, living in Briar Patch meant that clock just made it so he spent more time consciously laying in bed than anyone else.
There were some perks to it. Or rather one.
And that was getting to spend more time in bed with his moonlight.
Nana wasn't a morning person in the slightest. And Jack knew better than to try and "fix" it. She got to stay up late and he got to wake up early. It was a strange sorta balance.
So when he finally blinked the blur of sleep from his eyes, he got a perfect view of the puff of curly fur on her chest that he had, at some point in his slumber, buried his face in. Craning his head upwards more allowed him to take in her serene drooling face as she rested her head on their single shared pillow.
A drowsy smile of pure admiration came to his face.
The two had been dating for quite a while now, yet butterflies constantly filled his stomach whenever he looked at Nana’s face.
Jack had heard plenty of stories and received plenty of warnings about how the love he felt right now would dim. The “Honey Moon Period” is what people would call it. It was when the height of a couple’s love would be at the beginning of the relationship and gradually fade as they learned more about each other over time. It was certainly something Jack was concerned about. He knew it was a major concern of Nana’s as well. They obviously had their friendship they could fall back on but there was fear that their romance would have soiled it.
Yet, as Jack gazed at Nana’s blissful face and the ghost of a smile on her lips, he could swear he felt even more love than the day he confessed to her. It was the more he learned about her that he found himself falling even deeper. And the more time they spent together, the more he felt like he believed he found his soulmate.
Jack couldn’t lie, he never truly believed in the concept of a "soulmate” before the relationship. Having someone that was destined to be with you seemed way too much of a fairy tale for him to believe.
Of course, that was before he found out he was basically a fairy tale himself.
That belief slowly started to creep up on him but he still wasn’t too convinced about the concept of soulmates.
At that moment, Nana hugged him closer into her chest. With the way they were entangled, one of her hands rested on his head, her fingers entangled in the three flicks of hair that always sticked up, while her other hand remained on the back of his neck.
His eyes widened and his face became a deep shade of red. Peeking from the fluff his face was now practically smothered in, he could see Nana’s eyes were still closed, seemingly still in a dream. Yet, her smile grew and a small purr began to rumble in her chest.
It was a soft and calming noise. Something many would never get the joy of hearing, and something many didn't even believe she can make due to the antisocial personality she had around others.
Yet, Jack was mere inches from the source. A sound that let him know she was comfortable and safe. Closing his eyes, Jack let the blissful rumbles take over his thoughts and ease his mind.
And for a few minutes, the world just melted away and it was just the two of them in their bed. His arms wrapped around her body a little tighter, holding her just as close as she held him. Their scents mixed together as their hearts beat in time. A matching rhythm that others just brushed off as some imaginary phenomenon from the love birds.
However, it was this shared heartbeat that made Jack lose his disbelief in soulmates. Especially when he brought it up to Nana who experienced the same thing.
He could still remember the way her cheeks flushed the cutest red as she told him how she would always listen to his heart when they hugged. Her heightened sense of hearing made it easy. She puzzled at first when she heard how in sync they were and initially chalked it up to one of those things that happens to everyone that no one talks about. Yet when she tuned into other people’s heartbeat’s whenever she got close to them, they were always off sync with hers.
No matter how close in tune she thought she heard, none ever got as close as her sunflower’s. It was like a dance they did together that no one else could see.
Jack smiled as he thought more about how intertwined the two really were together. It made his chest flutter thinking about how the love of his life was a perfect match for him.
He knew some would claim she was a “near” perfect match, but Jack knew Nana was everything he wanted and more. She might not have the same sleep schedule, near polar opposite actually, and she might not be the most optimistic or cheerful individual, like some had expected his type to be, but she was still his other half. Her being the opposite of him made things more fun whenever they were together.
Sleep slowly began to creep back into Jack’s brain as he continued to listen to Nana’s heartbeat. He thought he could stay awake for just a couple more hours, at least until she woke up herself, but the comfort of being in her arms and the soft caress of the fur on her chest made it harder to keep his eyes open.
Something had compelled him, perhaps that literally green eyed part of his brain that urged him to do all types of things, to say something before he went to passed out. He knew Nana was still sleeping herself, but he wanted to say it nonetheless.
“I love you...”
It was muffled and a bit slurred as Jack had officially began to drift off but before he lost full consciousness, he could have sworn he heard that serene voice he knew very well echo back.
“I love you too.”
