Firefly.
“You shine brighter than a billion fireflies.
Creeping ever-so-slowly into the dimly lit room, Link’s heart is thrashing wildly against his ribcage. The glow of the almost-muted television illuminates Marth’s ashen face and the hum of the overhead fan cancels out Link’s soft, tiptoes. The road just ahead of Link begins to split in two: wake him up gently or jump on top of him and place a million, sloppy birthday kisses upon his forehead. After hardly any thought, he decides to take route B and promptly flings his body on top of the bluenette’s.
Marth’s cerulean eyes open-and-close slowly over and over again as he tries to blink away the sleepiness. He rolls over and his eyes meet the painfully bright, digital numbers alerting Marth that it is, in fact, 4:03 AM. “What’s wrong? Why are you still up?” Marth asks sleepily, rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn.
“It’s your birthday,” Link informs the exhausted prince in a way-too-excited-for-this-hour voice, “and I have a wonderful surprise for you.”
“I’m fairly sure that this surprise can wait another ten hours.” He replies groggily, allowing himself to roll back over and smash his face against his pillow and pulling his royal purple blanket up to his chin.
“No,” Link insists, pulling the covers off of the boy to expose his revealed body to the horrid chill of the early morning. “This is our one and only chance to do this. I need you to wake up. For me… for you. Please?”
Marth groans, forcing his weary self to sit up against the wall. “If it means that much to you, fine. But this better be something quick. We have to go out to breakfast with my parents in a few hours. Just keep that in mind as you drag me from this comfortable bed at four in the morning.”
“I’ll make this as quick and painless as possible, princess,” Link informs the younger of the two, rolling his huge, russet eyes. He grabs Marth’s bony hands and drags him to the kitchen, where he grabs two clear jars that once contained fruit that Link had brought from his homeland, Hyrule. “Here, take these,” Link thrusts the jars at a very, very sleepy Marth. He heads over towards their junk drawer and paws around for something, exclaiming a victorious “aha!” as he comes across his treasure. He holds up a flashlight and shines it at Marth’s eyes, “Rise and shine, sleepyhead.”
“An easier way to wake me up would have been to shake my shoulders or just say ‘wake up’. No need to blind me, elfboy,” the morning-hating bluenette spits.
Link’s crooked smile is so big at that moment that Marth begins to wonder if his face hurts. Before he gets the chance to formulate the thought into an actual sentence, Link seizes his hand once more and unlocks their backdoor.
“Why? Just… why?” Marth whines, scanning the wet and dark front yard.
Link ignores this and bends down to pluck a dandelion from the ground. He snaps the bottom off so it’s sans dirt, pushes Marth’s smooth, blue hair behind his right ear, and places the weed behind his ear. Even the eerie, unnatural light of the streetlight, this is the most beautiful thing Link has ever seen.
“You woke me up at this ungodly hour so that you could put a flower in my hair? We could’ve done this at noon or something, you know.”
“That’s not all,” Link boasts, still sporting his crazed smile from before. He places the empty jar in Marth’s hand and says, “We’re going to catch fireflies.”
Marth’s face quickly transforms from annoyed, to confused, to just insanely happy.
“You… you really mean it?” He asks in disbelief, eyes jumping from the hazy jar to Link’s hazy, tired eyes. Link nods slowly, leaning in for a swift, soft kiss.
By this point, Marth’s smile is outshining the moon and then some. He takes Link’s hand and the pair run, side-by-side, through the tall grass, painted with the early morning dew. Marth’s smile is even bigger than Link’s now. He decides that if he didn’t feel so infinitely happy, it would probably be painful. A small, glowing orb danced inside his jar and it began to feel as if his heart was far too big for his body. His bones were constricting his enlarged heart, filled-to-bursting with the utter joy of catching fireflies beneath the brightbrightbright moon. The dark is soon traded for a sunrise and the fireflies are fading one by one into oblivion. They lay down in the wet grass with not a care in the world. It doesn’t matter that the dew is soaking through their pajama pants, it doesn’t matter that their cheeks ache from too many smiles, and it certainly doesn’t matter that they’ll have to put on nice clothes and go dine with the Lowell’s later on.
“You shine brighter than a billion fireflies. Happy birthday, sweet prince.”
Marth’s cerulean eyes open-and-close slowly over and over again as he tries to blink away the sleepiness. He rolls over and his eyes meet the painfully bright, digital numbers alerting Marth that it is, in fact, 4:03 AM. “What’s wrong? Why are you still up?” Marth asks sleepily, rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn.
“It’s your birthday,” Link informs the exhausted prince in a way-too-excited-for-this-hour voice, “and I have a wonderful surprise for you.”
“I’m fairly sure that this surprise can wait another ten hours.” He replies groggily, allowing himself to roll back over and smash his face against his pillow and pulling his royal purple blanket up to his chin.
“No,” Link insists, pulling the covers off of the boy to expose his revealed body to the horrid chill of the early morning. “This is our one and only chance to do this. I need you to wake up. For me… for you. Please?”
Marth groans, forcing his weary self to sit up against the wall. “If it means that much to you, fine. But this better be something quick. We have to go out to breakfast with my parents in a few hours. Just keep that in mind as you drag me from this comfortable bed at four in the morning.”
“I’ll make this as quick and painless as possible, princess,” Link informs the younger of the two, rolling his huge, russet eyes. He grabs Marth’s bony hands and drags him to the kitchen, where he grabs two clear jars that once contained fruit that Link had brought from his homeland, Hyrule. “Here, take these,” Link thrusts the jars at a very, very sleepy Marth. He heads over towards their junk drawer and paws around for something, exclaiming a victorious “aha!” as he comes across his treasure. He holds up a flashlight and shines it at Marth’s eyes, “Rise and shine, sleepyhead.”
“An easier way to wake me up would have been to shake my shoulders or just say ‘wake up’. No need to blind me, elfboy,” the morning-hating bluenette spits.
Link’s crooked smile is so big at that moment that Marth begins to wonder if his face hurts. Before he gets the chance to formulate the thought into an actual sentence, Link seizes his hand once more and unlocks their backdoor.
“Why? Just… why?” Marth whines, scanning the wet and dark front yard.
Link ignores this and bends down to pluck a dandelion from the ground. He snaps the bottom off so it’s sans dirt, pushes Marth’s smooth, blue hair behind his right ear, and places the weed behind his ear. Even the eerie, unnatural light of the streetlight, this is the most beautiful thing Link has ever seen.
“You woke me up at this ungodly hour so that you could put a flower in my hair? We could’ve done this at noon or something, you know.”
“That’s not all,” Link boasts, still sporting his crazed smile from before. He places the empty jar in Marth’s hand and says, “We’re going to catch fireflies.”
Marth’s face quickly transforms from annoyed, to confused, to just insanely happy.
“You… you really mean it?” He asks in disbelief, eyes jumping from the hazy jar to Link’s hazy, tired eyes. Link nods slowly, leaning in for a swift, soft kiss.
By this point, Marth’s smile is outshining the moon and then some. He takes Link’s hand and the pair run, side-by-side, through the tall grass, painted with the early morning dew. Marth’s smile is even bigger than Link’s now. He decides that if he didn’t feel so infinitely happy, it would probably be painful. A small, glowing orb danced inside his jar and it began to feel as if his heart was far too big for his body. His bones were constricting his enlarged heart, filled-to-bursting with the utter joy of catching fireflies beneath the brightbrightbright moon. The dark is soon traded for a sunrise and the fireflies are fading one by one into oblivion. They lay down in the wet grass with not a care in the world. It doesn’t matter that the dew is soaking through their pajama pants, it doesn’t matter that their cheeks ache from too many smiles, and it certainly doesn’t matter that they’ll have to put on nice clothes and go dine with the Lowell’s later on.
“You shine brighter than a billion fireflies. Happy birthday, sweet prince.”