Then I Saw You and I Knew PV Mikey Forville Complete

Mikey's trainers kicked up tufts of grass as he walked, his head dipped slightly toward the rising sun. He wasn't particularly focused on where he was headed, more engrossed in the way the light sliced across the grounds and the quiet that filled everything. And then his gaze fell upon movement. She sat there as if the morning were hers, and that soft light was flowing down on her hair, shining on it more radiantly than any sunrise could ever be.

He stood there for a second, stomach knotted up. He hadn't been looking to run into anyone, and now all the plans he'd made in his head walking out here disintegrated in varying directions like frightened birds. He shifted, one hand going instinctively to the strap of his backpack and tightening it. Perhaps he should just keep walking, like he hadn't noticed her. But then she turned to him, smiled, and it was too late.

Her "Hello" caught him off guard, and he swallowed hard, his throat constricting as though he'd never learned to speak. "Uh, hey," he got out, the word jarring, a bit rushed. His face burned, despite the chill still in the morning. He wiped the back of his neck, eyes scanning anywhere but directly at her. "Didn't think—uh, didn't think anyone else was awake so early." He let out a nervous laugh and then regretted it.

He walked nearer, more slowly than usual, not wanting to stumble over the wet grass. His hands did not know what to do with themselves, they pushed into his pockets and then one emerged again so he could wave loosely in the direction of the horizon. "It's. it's nice, yeah? The sunrise, I mean. Not that you're not nice. I mean—you’re…” He trailed off, biting down on the rest of it before he dug himself into a deeper hole. His ears burned. Why did he turn into an awkward mess around her. Sometimes he could relax, and she felt like a best friend or even something more. Other times his thoughts would get all jumbled and his words would get stuck in his throat like he was presenting to the class with no preparation.

For a moment he just stood there beside her, shoulders hunched, eyes flicking from the sky to the ground to her face and away again. He wanted to say something clever, something that made him sound older, steadier, but his mind refused to cooperate. “You okay? "he asked at last, voice soft, bordering on shy. Not a morning question. All the things he couldn't get together into decent sentences. Are you okay to be with me? Do you feel like I feel? Do I even deserve to be here with you? He smiled down at her a little uncertainly, hoping she could see what his words couldn't manage.


Pings: @Nova Astron and @Emiline Hunter and @Hazel Nelson

Interacting with: @Mikey Forville Mentioning: N/A Date: 10/02/25

Word Count: 373

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Avery shrugged before saying, "Me neither. It's rare that I see anyone up this early either. Most people enjoy sleeping in." Avery half smiled. Trying to keep her cool and composure, but for how long it would last, she didn't know. She nearly laughed with him, but didn't. Something was off between them. An awkwardness that left a chasm between them. Was the day the right day to say how she felt, or should she wait? Her fingers curled around her sleeves as she pulled her jacket tighter. Nerves getting the better of her. A blush crept of Avery's cheeks when he talked. Filling in the blanks as best she could. In an attempt to cover her embarrassment, she cleared her throat and said as nonchalantly as she could, "Yeah. It really is beautiful. I guess that's why I always get up early to watch the sunrise when I can." Avery wasn't sure how to respond when he asked if she was okay. Thousands of questions ran through her head at what he meant. Many were thrown out immediately as she searched for the right answer. Eventually she went for it. Not even thinking until after she said it what could and possibly would happen if Mikey felt the same. "Well, I have something to tell you, and I don't know how you'll react since I've been keeping it from you for awhile." Avery looked down and rubbed her shoe against the dirt as a distraction and to hide the fact that she was blushing again. More red this time. There was no turning back now. She was going to tell him. If he was willing to listen, at least. There was one thing she was still hung up on. His words asked if she was okay. They didn't sound like his normal way of saying it. They sounded, shy. Like some hidden meaning that she was too blind to understand stood behind them. She sighed internally. Where was her aunt when she needed her? Of course she had to be across the world and not easily contacted. It seemed as if Avery was going to have to face it alone and make sure she didn't mess up everything like she always did.

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Pings: @Nova Astron and @Emiline Hunter and @Hazel Nelson

Mikey's chest constricted as Avery told him she had something to tell him. He rested back on the balls of his heels, pushing the toe of his trainer through the soggy lawn until it left a twisted line in the mud. His head snapped once, a jerky nod, but his throat was so dry he didn't get the words out at first.

“Um yeah. Yeah, of course.” He pushed a hand into his pocket, pulled it out again, then crossed his arms as if that would steady him. It didn’t. He could feel the tips of his ears heating. “I mean… I’ll listen. Whatever it is.” His voice cracked a little on the last word, so he coughed to cover it, cheeks burning hotter.

He glanced down at the dirt on the ground between them, then mustered up enough nerve to glance back upward. She was blushing, and the thought made his gut churn so hard he was certain he was going to fall straight through the ground. "You don't have to be shy with me," he forced out more quickly, the words spilling from his mouth faster than he'd intended. "I mean, well, I get nervous too, lots, obviously, so I'm not saying you can't get nervous, but… you don't have to be, cause it's just me."

Realizing how ridiculous that sounded, he let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. His hair stuck up awkwardly from where his fingers dragged through it. “Sorry. I’m not...” he blew out a shaky breath, “I’m just not good at saying stuff the right way sometimes.”

He flashed her a small, uncertain smile and edged a fraction closer, so the gap between them wasn't quite so wide. "But I'll try," he whispered. "So… whatever you've been holding in, I'll hear it. I want to hear it."

Interacting with: @Mikey Forville Mentioning: N/A Date: 10/02/25

Word Count: 581

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She knew by the look on his face that Mikey was just as nervous as she was. Of course he would be. She was about to tell him the one thing that would probably change their relationship forever. Whether for better or worse, Avery didn't know. She just hoped it was for the better. That would make things easier. A whole lot easier. Avery swallowed thickly. The words on the edge of her lips. Unable to leave. She didn't know how to start, and was about to say something silly and probably embarrassing when Mikey spoke again. Saving her from the awkward moment between them. Avery nodded when he said she didn't have to be shy with him. That was easier said than done, but Avery took a deep breath. Ready to finally admit what had been plaguing her mind ever since she had first found out how she really felt about him. If the truth really did set people free, then maybe she would finally be able to sleep at night. All she had to do was say the words she was bursting to say. "Well, I don't really know how to say this the right way, so I'm just going to go for it and hope I don't mess everything up." Avery let out a nervous laugh and took one last deep breath before she began. "Over the summer, I was talking to my aunt. Turns out she's a lot wiser than I am as far as life. That's not surprising though since she's lived a lot longer, but she made me realize something this summer. Actually, she made me realize a lot of things, but one thing stands out above everything. I guess she had noticed our letters to each other. They were probably the highlight of my day considering my summer was far from perfect. There was one morning where she took me aside as we watched the sunrise, and she helped me open my eyes and see clearly how I really felt." Avery paused for a moment. Undecided as to what she would say next. She had so much she had to tell him, so she might as well start at the beginning. "I think it all started the first time we met at that ball. Our first dance changed everything for me. You were the first boy that had ever made me feel different, and every time we spent time together. . . I didn't know what was happening to me. You've always been there for me, and given me the confidence to finally share even the darkest parts of my life. It wasn't until my aunt talked to me that day that I realized something. That you felt like more than a friend to me." Avery froze. Eyes wide. She had done it. She had just dropped the bomb and there was no turning back. Her friendship or wherever they stood was about to change drastically, and Avery had probably just messed everything up. "I know you probably don't feel the same, so can we still be friends? I don't think I could live with myself if I just messed everything up. . ." Avery swallowed again. Her throat bobbing as her cheeks burned red. Why was this so hard? She had never been this nervous about anything in her life! It took all Avery could not flee from the mess she had made. She just hoped it wouldn't blow up in her face. That would be bad.

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Pings: @Nova Astron and @Emiline Hunter and @Hazel Nelson

Mikey's heart was thudding so fiercely against his ribcage he was certain she could hear it. Her words that had fallen on him like stones dropped into water, creating waves right through him, and for a long time he couldn't come up with anything to say. His tongue was parched and frozen to the roof of his mouth. His initial thought or, his initial fear was that if he did open it, he'd do something idiotic and screw it all up.

He looked down at the grass, and then at his own foot tracing another anxious line in the ground. "I… wow," he finally managed, voice quivering, breathless. He created a nervous laugh that was more tension than amusement, his ears burning hotter than they ever had before. "That's… not what I thought you were gonna say."

He shoved both hands into his pockets, fidgeting. "I mean, it's not a bad thing. It's not bad at all. It's just I don't… I'm not real good at this kind of thing. About talking, I mean. Feelings." He shoved a hand through already messy hair and breathed in frustration with himself, then glanced at her hastily before his eyes darted away again.

"Avery, you're" His throat was closing up, so he attempted it again. "You're one of the best things about it being here. Honestly you're one of the best things in my life. I mean it. When you said, you know, about us and the ball, and letters, and all of that I remember all of it too. I think about it all of the time. Too much, probably." His laughter was strained, cut down the middle, but warm.

He dared a longer glance at her then, blue eyes hesitant but genuine. "So you didn't ruin anything. Not even close. Friends, more than friends, I don't really… I don't know what to say. But I know I don't want to lose what we have. Not for anything."

He scraped his shoe in the dirt once more, nibbling on the inside of his cheek. "I like you too," he admitted, awkwardly, barely audibly shy. Then, in a rush, "I don't know how to be good at saying it. Or what I'm supposed to do next." A nervous laugh had escaped him once more as he rubbed the back of his neck. "So are we like… I don’t know, I'll figure it out. We'll figure it out."



Pings: @Nova Astron and @Emiline Hunter and @Hazel Nelson

Interacting with: @Mikey Forville Mentioning: N/A Date: 10/02/25

Word Count: 329

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Avery's throat closed as she forced herself to look down. Her words lost as she listened to him speak. She didn't know what to say anyway. She pulled her arms close to her chest as she tried to think of the right words to say. Though the only thing she could think of was what Mikey had said. He. Felt. The Same. How? How had Avery been so blind as to never notice before? Had she been blinded by her own feelings and not messing up what they already had she'd overlooked the truth that stood right in front of her? Probably. Most likely. "I- I don't know what to say." Avery began as she let out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding in. "All this time I've been so blinded by everything that I didn't even realize you felt the way I did. I'm just glad I know now." She smiled weakly. Unsure of whether or not what she had just said made sense. Her brain was going a million different directions, leaving her head spinning and unable to form a coherent sentence. Avery wanted to say something right for once. She could tell by the look on Mikey's face that she had probably surprised him in more ways than he was saying. Avery looked down again. Unable to meet his eyes as she said what would probably be the hardest words she would say, but they were probably the most important. "I'm glad that you feel the same. It honestly takes the weight off my chest that now I won't lose you. Though now the one question that keeps popping in my mind is what do we do now?" Avery hoped he knew what she was trying to say. She wanted to be more than friends with him, if he also wanted to. Just because he liked her back didn't mean that he wanted to be with her. Those two things were very different.

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Pings: @Nova Astron and @Emiline Hunter and @Hazel Nelson

Mikey's stomach twisted into roughly five separate knots as Avery's words resonated in his head. She wanted to know what happened next. What did happen next? No one had ever asked him anything that felt quite so enormous. His mind was trying to go every which way at once, bumping itself over the way he used to stumble running drills for football practice two years ago.

He shoved his hands deep into his pockets, as if perhaps his body would catch up sooner than his head would. He exhaled, almost laughed, but it died in mid air. "I, uh… I don't really know how this is supposed to go," he admitted, low and a bit breathless. "Like… the part after." “Nobody really demonstrates to you what you say when someone… when someone you really like tells you that they like you too.” His ears blazed and he could feel the flames creeping down his neck.

His eyelids flicked anywhere but onto her face, the color of the sunrise over the hills, the wet grass clinging to his shoes, the colors of the changing sky. But their gaze was drawn back to her again and again, though only for fleeting moments at a time. "But… I think… what I mean is…" He pushed both hands into his hair, making it stick up even more, and took a breath before succeeding in pushing it out before his nerve totally went away. "Would you… would you like to be my girlfriend?"

The sentence escaped softer than he had planned, almost on the wind of the morning, but it was there, hanging between them. He flinched the instant it passed his lips, shifting his weight to his other foot. "I know its. I dunno, awkward. I've never asked anybody that before. And I don't know if I said it right. But I mean it." His blue eyes had to look at her then, wide and questioning, but with something beyond his words. "You're… your kind of the best person I know," he went on, trembling but sincere. "If I think about Hogwarts, or Quidditch, or just, being in the library, it all seems better if you're there." So if, if that's what boyfriend and girlfriend is, then. then that's what I want. With you.

He rushed to finish the silence, restless again. "Only if you'll do it, though! If not, that's fine, we don't have to do anything. We can just stay… us. Still letters, still talking, still sunrises and things. I'd be okay with that too. I just… I didn't want to not say it and then regret it later." His foot twitched a nervous scratch in the wet earth, his shoulders tightening a fraction, as though preparing to witness something disagreeable happen. But when he glanced at her again, his lips were twisted into a small, abashed smile. "So. yeah," he whispered, voice feeling like little more than the early morning air.




Pings: @Nova Astron and @Emiline Hunter and @Hazel Nelson

Interacting with: @Mikey Forville Mentioning: N/A Date: 10/02/25

Word Count: 345

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Avery nodded in complete understanding. All the books she had read over the years that had scenes like this never explained what was next. They were stories anyway. Real life was never the same. Real life was when you made your own decisions and felt real feelings instead of someone else creating the story for you. Avery froze. Every part of her body frozen in time as the words left Mikey's mouth. Girlfriend. Would you like to be my girlfriend? Those words played again and again in her mind as she attempted to regain her bearings. No one had ever asked her that question before. It was a question that no matter how many times you rehearsed the words you wanted to say would freeze you right up. That's when reality came rushing back and she remembered who she was, where she was, and who she was with. She swallowed quickly and hid her shock with a simple tucking of her hair behind her ear, though she didn't think it worked well. Her movement was too jerky. Not normal. Just showing even more how nervous she was to mess everything up. "Yes." The word whispered out of her mouth barely loud enough for them both to hear. That was the only thing she could manage before clearing her throat and trying again."Yes, I want to be your girlfriend if you'll have me. You're the first person to ever ask me this too, so you're not the only one who has no clue what to do." Avery laughed lightly as she attempted to relax some of the tension created with their own nerves passing back and forth between them. Avery stood there. Unsure of what to do as her heart thumped loudly in her chest. She could feel each beat as her heart raced. She couldn't believe it. All that time she had spent with Mikey all leading to this moment. A moment Avery had been anticipating for a long time before it even came. Even before she realized how she really felt about him.

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Pings: @Nova Astron and @Emiline Hunter and @Hazel Nelson

Mikey felt like the world had shifted under him the instant Avery's replied. 'Yes', her single word hit him harder than he'd ever thought a word could. It wasn't a reply, but rather a key slotting into place, releasing something that'd been simmering beneath the surface for months within him. He had no idea how much tension he'd been packing. His heart was pounding so hard it hurt, as if it were trying to break itself out, but his chest was lighter with relief.

His mouth opened as if to say some clever thing to lighten the mood. But nothing clever happened. In its place, a nervous, stammering laugh with all the tenseness he could not help but display rang out. His hand moved of its own accord to his hair, fingers running through it until the strands that held it in disheveled manner. At last, he was able to manage, "That's. fantastic". His smile grew wider. "Really more than I ever could have imagined."

Mikey could feel the cold of morning vaguely but couldn't even follow it with how hot his face burned. He shifted uneasily, not knowing if he should be standing or sitting still. His gaze darted everywhere, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from her for longer than a second. "So, I guess this is where I'm supposed to have any idea what I'm doing," his words spilling out in a group. "But I don't. I've never… done it like this before. With anyone." He laughed stiffly, blushing a bit. "But I want to try. With you."

Then the silence was different. It wasn't strained or oppressive. There was tension between them, electricity, the kind of change that always seemed to happen right before rain. He breathed deep as he approached, easing his hand down so she could release him if she wanted to. His fingers grazed against hers, feeling the moment before wrapping around her hand. His palm was warm and damp with anxiety, but he gripped her hand anyway.

Mikey stared at her, his blue eyes worried but truthful. You could see he cared for something more than he let on. "So," he began, a hopeful grin on his lips, "perhaps we don't need a plan yet. Perhaps we can just begin small?" He tightened his hand around hers softly, attempting to ground himself as much as she was. Can I walk you to breakfast?"