Valley of Gold [m] I need not one thing more

Gently, tenderly, Dusty Rose marveled at what a fucking basket case his wife was — and about how sad her childhood must have been. He wanted to split some crap about how everything she'd been through had made her into the wonderful being he loved. But fuck that, y'know? He'd rather just not have her than have her go through any of it again. If he could go back and right every wrong, undo every hurt? He'd do it. That was what love was, he guessed. Even if it meant he didn't love who she might become. He loved her now, and that meant he loved her then and he loved her future self.

He supposed he was lucky he didn't have that power. He wished he could do it anyway.

"Then pretend," he suggested, his tail whisking. "For as long as you want. For as long as you need to."

He couldn't see the hurt in it. Reverie deserved a break from — from being Reverie, maybe. From the life she'd been living. Even though she had never been happier, she was still going through so much. It had to be exhausting. He knew it was. He could see it.

"It's different for me," he told her. "There's no place and no time I'd rather be, but I wouldn't change my childhood, y'know? Except maybe I'd spend a little more time there, if I could still meet you just the same. But when I spend time in those memories, it's with people who loved me. And I want you to spend time where people love you, too. And it's not those times. So you should pretend. I'll remember for us, just in case. But you should spend some time just here. Just with us."