Not a Fan (Wilbur Soot)

On purpose

"I can't believe you." Aurora laughed.

"And I can't believe you were listening to a Lovejoy song when you know better. You're about to be trapped on buses with us for months, I warned you not to listen-"

"You're so stupid, oh my god." Aurora rushed, pushing her face back into his chest to hide the fact all the blood in her body had flooded to her cheeks.

"Niki, seriously? She hit me and insulted my intelligence and you're really just going to stand there?" Wilbur pleaded again, despite wrapping his arms tightly around Aurora once more.

"She didn't say anything I wouldn't." Niki answered with another shrug.

Aurora and Niki both laughed when Wil pulled away one of his hands, clutching it tightly to his heart, like he had been shot. Aurora took this as her chance to step away, sneaking her way to Niki's side.

"Looks like she'll just have to stay here and move in with me instead. You know, since your ego bruises like a peach." Niki sighed, pretending like it was an inconvenience to wrap her arms around Aurora's waist, resting her head on her shoulder.

"I can't believe you two." Wilbur laughed, staring at Aurora in the soft way he always did. He looked at her like hung the stars in the sky and knew them all by name. She recognized the look when she realized it was the same way she looked at him.

"Sorry it has to be this way. It's not me, it's you." Aurora sighed, nuzzling her chin on the top of Niki's head.

"Excuse me, the saying is 'it's not you, it's me'." Wilbur laughed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Nope, I meant it the way I said it. Purple just looks better with pink than green. So, I'll say it again, it's not me-"

"Purple?" Wilbur interjected, his teasing smile melting into something far more genuine.

Aurora stood up straight, taking a small step away from Niki's side.

"Bright, electric, neon purple." She listed off slowly, letting her eyes follow the sound of her voice for the first time since Wilbur arrived.

She had been at what felt like a stalemate with her voice for the last nearly year. Her voice had started to come back to her all that time ago, appearing like a pastel haze in her vision, driving her absolutely insane.

Wilbur was the one to suggest it back then, and the fact he was right was astounding. With all her research, all her doctors' visits, all her attempts at getting it back- nothing worked until she met him.

He didn't fix her. He did not give her permission to be herself. She was not a fragile flower that Wilbur had to nurture back to the beauty it once was.

See, he didn't fix her because there was nothing that needed to be fixed. The only thing missing in her life was the understanding that the only one who had yet to accept her for who she is, was herself.

Wilbur opened her eyes to that fact. He showed her that she is imperfect and loved her anyway. He taught her that people are entitled to every misguided decision they make and, more importantly, they have every right to start over, to try again.

Acceptance is a beautiful thing, a scary thing, a freeing thing, an all consuming feeling.

The progress seemed so quick after she came to terms with it- that healing wasn't about gaining acceptance from others, but gaining it from herself. Her voice grew darker and more similar each day, teetering on the edge of what it once was.

And then, as days turned to weeks, and weeks morphed into months, the progress stopped.

It drove her insane. Her voice was arguable the right color, but it lacked the vibrancy it once had. She tried to accept it the same way she accepted that it was gone forever, but there was a new fire in her that refused to settle.