Avery left to put the cloak in the washer, and Nytin decided to explore a little, he went up to the coffee table that was in the middle of Avery's living room spotting a picture frame, carefully he picked it up and saw what appeared to be Avery and her parents, she couldn't have been more than seven at the time, but she was in a hospital bed, being hugged by her parents holding up a sign, but Nytin couldn't make out what the sign said, as the photo was old and faded. He jumped when he heard Avery's voice come from behind him.

"It'll be about an hour or so before it's done, drying included…oh." Avery had walked over to stand next to Nytin, she noticed that Nytin was holding something, and looked at the table, the picture that was usually there was gone, so she could only guess that what he had was the photo. 

Nytin quickly put it down in its proper spot, "Sorry, I shouldn't have grabbed it, I was just curious.." he said softly. 

Avery gave a small smile, "Well, that was me and my parents, it's a little bit of a bittersweet memory though.." she picked it up, bringing it close to her face, staring at it for a moment before putting it back down, sitting down on the couch and closing her eyes, she felt the cushions move as Nytin sat down next to her.

"Do..you..want to talk about it?" Nytin asked, looking over at Avery, who simply shrugged.

"It's not..too bad. I ended up not having cancer like the doctors thought I did after months, and months of testing and treatments, " She said with a small sigh, "So we were all really happy, but it turns out I'm still getting worse, and there's no diagnosis, so there's no treatment.." 

She spoke so casually about it, that Nytin figured she was fine, but it was clear she wasn't, Avery seemed to put up many walls, which reminded Nytin of someone, that someone being himself. 

He put a hand on Avery's shoulder comfortingly, "Well, I'm sure you'll get better soon Starshine, you're doing pretty good now, yeah?" 

Avery opened her eyes when Nytin put a hand on her shoulder and smiled gratefully, "Yeah, you're right, I've been feeling pretty good these past few weeks, thank you for that."

Nytin was severely taken aback, he had to take a few seconds to respond, confused about why Avery was thanking him, "Y..wait..? Me..? For..for what?" 

Avery smiled a little wider at Nytin's confusion, "For spending time with me, I mean I know we didn't talk much in the beginning, but it was-well no..it is still fun." She said softly, "I was feeling pretty down a while ago, but you gave me something to look forward to every day." 

Nytin stared at Avery, it was so odd, he had been feeling the same way that day, down and lost, and then Avery appeared, prodding him with a stick, with little to no fear, looking at him with that welcoming and warm smile, and then their friendship had begun, he sighed in content, "Me too, I wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep for a hundred years that day, and then you started poking me and talking to me.." he smiled, "I can't lie..at first I was annoyed and bitter, but then you were so nice to me, so I decided to come back, and I'm really glad I did, so..thank you too." 

Avery and Nytin smiled at each other, they hadn't known each other for very long, maybe around a month but already felt a strong bond with one another, a mutual feeling of appreciation for the other. 

Then Avery spoke again, a devious smile spreading across her lips, "So…you were annoyed with me when we first met?"

Nytin froze, "No! Nono..W-well..wait...I guess but..not anymore! It was just for a little bit..a tiny..tiny bit...I swear..!" 

"I'm hurt Nytin, I thought we were closer than that." Avery covered her mouth dramatically and looked away, as if she were truly in some sort of emotional turmoil, truthfully, she was trying to hide the fact she was laughing.

Nytin then realized Avery had been messing with him again when he heard soft snickering, he frowned disappointedly, but couldn't help chuckling. He jokingly pushed Avery away,  "Pfft…enough with joking with me like that, it's hard to tell if you're serious or truly hurt." 

When Nytin pushed Avery, she let herself fall over and finally let herself laugh, "Sorry, it's just..you get so serious, I won't do it..much.." 

Nytin rolled his eyes and remembered he needed to wash his hair when the rancid smell hit him again, making his eyes water, "Hey...Starshine? Could...I wash my face..and my hair..? The smell is a bit…much." 

Avery perked up at that, she had forgotten that part of his offer, "Oh jeez, I forgot- hold on.. let me find a towel for your face and hair, uhm..you can wash in the shower or the sink if you want." She said sliding off the couch and walking over to a closet, inside were different plastic baskets that were all color-coded and labeled with braille stickers. She reached up and grabbed a light blue basket, grabbing a towel and a wash rag, she put the basket back and handed the items over to Nytin. 

Nytin took the towels gratefully, and Avery showed him the way to the bathroom, "There's face wash on the sink, and shampoo and conditioner in the shower..uhh..left is cold..right is hot, the shower head comes off if you use it, same for the sink…" she moved out the way for Nytin to walk in, "..but the faucet doesn't come off." She added playfully.

Nytin rolled his eyes again, not that Avery could see him do it, and walked into the bathroom, "Very clever, I'll be out in..well..as soon as I stop smelling like that disgusting newspaper." He grimaced just thinking about it and closed the door.

Avery heard the sink turn on and walked into the kitchen to wait for Nytin to come out, as she did the washing machine beeped loudly, she immediately went to it and put the now clean cloak into the dryer. She moved back to the living room and sat down, and that's when the exhaustion hit her, she slumped down and sighed. 

This was by far the most active Avery had been in a long time, her body was still weak and heavy, her eyes even heavier. I'll just close my eyes for a second, she thought leaning back against the couch, and with that, she closed his eyes, and within a matter of minutes, had completely fallen asleep, curled into a tight ball. 

Nytin had taken around ten minutes to wash his hair and face, he was drying his hair when he walked out of the bathroom, "Y'know, your shampoo smells gr..eat..?" His eyes fell upon the sleeping ball on the couch, he stopped talking and walked over leaning over Avery, "..If you were tired..you should have just said so Starshine." He said with a small playful scoff, he looked around and found a blanket, draping it over Avery, he moved Avery's hair from her face gently before going to check on his cloak. It was still drying and had about twenty minutes to go.

Nytin finished drying his hair and folded the towels he had been using neatly on top of the washing machine, he moved back to the couch, sitting down a little away from Avery to give her space. He closed his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest and waiting patiently for Avery to wake up, or for the dryer to finish. 

The dryer had won the waiting game, and Nytin quickly went over to it as it loudly played a tune. He turned it off quickly and grabbed his cloak, putting it back on, "Smells nice.." he whispered putting his hood back on, he closed the dryer and checked the lint collector, emptying it before heading back to check on Avery who remained asleep.

 He crossed his arms and snickered, "Sleeping so peacefully, just like on the day we met." He sighed, "I'm going to have to keep my eye on you, you're too trusting.." As he whispered, he slowly moved an arm under Avery's legs, and another around her shoulders, he picked Avery up with ease, using his shoulder to support her head, "You..really have no idea who I am, but you fall asleep so easily.."

Nytin carried Avery across the apartment and up the stairs to the bedroom loft, this area was even more decorated than the entire apartment, with countless books, posters, and items neatly placed around the room. He carefully put Avery back down, with her head on one of the many pillows on the bed, and covered her back up with the blanket, sitting down next to her, he saw a small but very thick book with no title right on Avery's nightstand, along with what looked like a tool to write in braille. 

He grabbed it and opened it curiously, it was in fact, written in braille. Strange, there's no title, but it's clearly a book, he thought, flipping through the pages, he then noticed that about halfway through, the pages were empty, ..why would She..oh..this is a diary isn't it? You fool. He internally punched himself for carelessly looking through Avery's things...again.

He put the book back where it belonged and stood up, looking around. Nytin searched for a few minutes before finding a notepad and pen. He wrote in big neat letters purposely so Avery could bring the note close to her face read it, and put it on top of the nightstand. He went to the front door and ensured it was locked before heading back upstairs to the large window next to Avery's bedside, "I'm not taking that thing again, so I'll be leaving from here.." He whispered, half to Avery, half to himself. He opened the window and crawled through, shutting it as he stood on the fire escape, they were up at least five floors, if he fell, he'd plummet to an almost certain death.

Nytin took one last look at Avery to make sure she was asleep, before climbing up the railing jumping off the platform, and vanishing into the frosty winter air. The moment Nytin disappeared, the first snow began to fall, inviting many to come outside or stare out of their windows as the large snowflakes slowly fell from the sky, telling everyone that winter had officially arrived.