Sewing

They met in kindergarten. Seph and Rhea were quite the pair. They were inseparable as they were different but exactly the same. The boy, Seph, was trouble prone so Rhea often spent her time lecturing and caring for him which always seemed to include sewing up his clothes.

"Honestly," six-year-old Rhea sighed, gently dabbing at the six-year-old Seph's scraped knee, "I just don't understand how or why you do these things Seph." The boy just grinned at his best friend. "It's a part of my charm plus the kid challenged me and I had to defend your honor." Rhea rolled her eyes like she'd seen the adults do. "That's nice but still I don't want you to get hurt." With that she bandaged his knee and gave it a kiss. "All better!" Seph shouted his eyes sparkling with excitement. He frowned a bit glancing at the newly formed rip in his favorite pair of blue jeans. "Do you think we can put a band-aid on this?" Rhea shook her head. "No, it only works on people ouchies. Mommy said so." "Oh, well ok." She frowned thoughtfully at his sad expression. So, when Rhea went home that day, she asked her grandmother how to fix ouchies for clothes. She showed her how to thread the needle and do different stitch patterns over the next few years.

"Remember Rhea," her grandmother cooed, dutifully sewing up her grandfather's cooking shirt, "there's love in every stitch." 11-year-old Rhea smiled at her grandmother and practiced on a small cloth since she was now old enough to handle the needle on her own. "Yes grandma!" She chirped.

The next time Seph got into trouble was getting into a street fight with lots of rips, tears, cuts, and bruises included, Rhea was once again patching up a grinning, injured Seph in his bedroom. "I totally won that fight you should have seen those guys' faces!" A bouncing Seph cheered. Rhea just tiredly sighed, bandaging his split knuckles. "Yes, I know, I was there, and I punched one too." His grin turned blinding. "Yeah, that was awesome by the way." Rhea snorted "It was horribly violent, and my hand hurts now. Wait a minute I'm supposed to be scolding you!" Seph just laughed at their exchange as she pressed ice on his hands but frowned when he looked at his ripped clothes. Rhea hummed thoughtfully. "Hold that there while I go get something." She got up and ran out the room to get her sewing kit. She hasn't told Seph about the skill she's been acquiring over the years; she wanted it to be a surprise until her stitch work got really good. Coming back, she shooed him out the room to change so she could get started on her work. "Ok I'm done but what do you need my clothes for?" He asked his head tilting in confusion as he handed them over. "Remember a long time ago when you said we couldn't put band-aids on clothes?" "Yeah?" His eyebrow raised. Rhea just grinned. "I learned how to do something much better. Sewing!" She produced her kit with flourish. Seph oohed at all the colored threads and differently sized needles. Their evening was spent joking around as she sewed and showed him all she knew. "Remember," Rhea told him her eyes glittering with mirth, "there's love in every stitch."

They were 15 when they saw other again both broken in different ways. Him by his home and the undergrounds of society. And her, by her home and the cruelness of those around her. Seph was taller, handsomer, with sharper features but the wariness of an old war vet. Rhea was softer, kinder, with envious curves but with a deep sadness and the scars to show it. That doesn't mean they still weren't in the same positions as always. "You really need to stop going on walks." Rhea sighed standing on her tippy toes to clean the blood from his nose in his bathroom. Seph gave a short laugh the depth of his voice sending small shivers down her spine. "Hey, he owed me money anyways and he started it." Rhea just groaned and gave him the tissue. "Hold your head down so the blood can flow out." He blinked. "I thought you were supposed to hold your head back?" "No, it's actually down. If your hold it back, you could choke on your blood or swallow it or something I don't know a doctor said it once." Seph hummed in understand before shifting slightly. He was nervous about something. "Hey uh, I've got a huge rip in one of my shirts, can you fix it?" He never mentioned that not only can he mend the rip himself but that he also made it on purpose just to have an excuse for her to stay. Reaching down to hand her the shirt from his backpack he watched her expression go from curiosity to horror at the hugeness of the rip. "What the-, how???" Rhea sputtered out, flipping the shirt over this and that way. Seph just grinned, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "I fell out of a tree." Her horrified, suppressed, worry noise made him laugh once more. Ah, there was the glimpse of the boy she once knew. "Well then," she sighed, "I'll make sure to put extra love in the stitches, so you won't fall out of trees anymore." Seph gave a small smile his cheeks-tinged pink. "Yeah, I'd like that." Rhea smiled pulling him in a tight hug.

This time they were 18 when the met again. They were cuddling on her couch, exchanging small kisses, and getting as close as they could possibly be toward another. Seph confessed his love to her only a few months ago. A few months later, she told him she loved him right back but wanted to take things slow unofficially so they could figure each other out better as lovers. "Hmm." Rhea hummed unhappily. "What's wrong?" Seph looked in concern watching her pick at her shirt. "There's a rip in this tank top. I only have two and I ran out of thread a little bit ago." On the inside he was brimming with excitement. Finally, he could show her what he learned and pay her back for every stitch and band-aid. "Actually, I have just the thing. Go change while I get ready." Smirking in confused amusement, Rhea untangled herself from his arms taking off her tank top as she did and went to find a new shirt. Honestly, if he wasn't so focused on doing this for her, he would have bloomed bright red. Getting out his thread and needle he waited for her return. Seph didn't have to wait long as she popped up wearing the very shirt, she stitched for him at 15. Settling back into his side she watched him sew up her tank top in amazement. "You actually learned everything I taught you all those years ago?" "Well of course, I wanted to do the same for you." Seph finished up and handed her the shirt. He then pulled Rhea into his lap and said, "Remember, there's love," "In every stitch." They finished in unison bursting in a fit of giggles and shared a sweet kiss filled with years' worth of love and stitches.