The way you control time in this one is awesome. Weaving just in and out of present without going so far that I'd get lost. The "five, ten, fifteen" repetition was cool, too.

And I think it's true.

Thanks! I was very much "in the moment" when I wrote the story (which was honestly kind of written in a pique of passion, you could say).

I love the present tense for creating a sense of immediacy, and I tried to heighten that sense with my sentence structure as well. The future tense came from my wanting to give the moments context outside of the now, and I liked how it came out.

I enjoyed this. Thanks for your work.

Thanks for reading it! I'm glad you liked it!

Yes. :). These sweet little stories that are both sad yet happy.. That is the kind I love the most. This story warmed me and even the slight bit of sadness in it also feels great. You're amazing. I liked how I felt after reading this.

Aw, thank you! I'm really glad to hear whenever my stories make people feel a certain way. Especially when it didn't make you feel bad. :)

I really enjoyed this. I'm loving your mini summer stories. :D

what's funny was that while I was reading this, 'Suddenly I See' by KT Tunstall popped up in my head. XD

Lovely. I love the nostalgia at the end, how the whole story plays out like a happily-ever-after fairytale but with this subtle tension throughout, where you don't know if the atmosphere is a ploy, if things will go horribly wrong sometime, somewhere, because hey -- this is a KM story, after all. (I kid, I kid :P)

But yeah. I enjoyed this immensely. I would put it on my recommended reading list, if I had one, and quite possibly nominate it for an Ursa. I don't know what you did, or by what magic you ensnared me, but I can't stop reading this story. It is Beautiful.

Thank you so much! I'm really happy that you lke the story! And wow, for someone to call my story "beautiful" is just such an amazing compliment. I'm thrilled that it's moved you this much.

(And hey, for what it's worth, if you want to nominate this for an Ursa when the time comes, I will totally not stop you!)

I know I'll definitely nominate this one.

Wow, that was really great. Like other folks mentioned, I liked the way you played with the tenses and the 'five, ten, fifteen' repetitions. Really gave it a fairytale quality. It's a very sweet story, especially with a bit of a bittersweet ending. It actually got me a little emotional for a couple of different reasons. It reminded me a bit of folks I've left behind over the years (and all of the attendant missed opportunities) and the beginning in particular actually tweaking an unrequited crush I've been nursing on someone. So yeah, some folks say it's the stories that have an effect that are the best ones, and this is one that touched me.

Yeah, as I was saying to one of my other readers, the ending is bittersweet, but only a little bittersweet. Overall, the ending message is supposed to be a very positive one.

Read this while waiting to pick up takeout pizza at a restaurant. I teared up! I can't wait to give it a slow, thoughtful read tonight before bed.

This seems so personal. I almost feel like thanking you for sharing it.

I feel a little sad D:

At the risk of peeling back the curtain a little, I will say that I borrowed at least some elements from my own life when finding the inspiration to write this.

I'm glad that you had such a (good?) emotional response to it!

It seemed a little too...personal and intimately detailed to be entirely fiction. I guess it's safe to say that wistfulness and regret resonate very strongly with me.

Definitely a good emotional response. I've been feeling very spent and hollow lately, so it was really nice to be made to feel something deep and genuine - and conpletely by surprise so I couldn't brace for it. I really appreciate this a lot. <3

I'm not saying that anything in the story is specifically based on real-life experience (then again, I'm not saying it isn't). But I did definitely reach back to points in my own life when I felt certain emotions, and used that fuel me in this.

And your comment is fitting, I think, because I was inspired to write this after reading something, myself, that made me feel something deep and genuine by complete surprise. :)

I really, really, really, really liked this one, though it did end up bittersweet.

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it so much!

And it's a little bittersweet, yeah, but I like to think it's mostly a positive story.

Mm... I'm left to wonder how true to life this was, though.

That story was so sweet, and the bittersweet note to finish just made it all the more so in the end. It wasn't necessarily sad, but it did make me a bit emotional.

It reminded me of a few friends that I never really went anywhere with, but that are still there and still close. Definitely a story that makes one think back on one's past. And it certainly seemed a fair bit personal - whether by design or by influence.

I'm glad that other people think that a hint of bittersweetness can make something a bit better, overalll. I certainly don't think this is a sad story by any stretch! And I hope that it made you feel emotional in a good way.

That was a great little piece KM. I enjoyed the conversational tone of the narrative (e.g. making parenthetical remarks, using terms like wolf-Matt). I think it really creates a sense of intimacy and emotional vulnerability, making it all the more relatable for the reader. This story definitely resonates with some of the unforgettable moments in my life :)

Thanks! I'm glad you liked the techniques I used here, and that the story had some emotional impact for you.

(And I was totally proud of 'wolf-Matt.' Not gonna lie. :3 )

Haha well I bet that's how folks would refer to each other in a furry society. Heck we have so many David's in our local fur community that sometimes we resort to that :P

"You? You loved someone?"
"It was a brief flicker of light amidst an ocean of darkness."
"What happened?"
"She died. That's the thing about True Love dearie. It can slip through your fingers."
If you've ever watched Once Upon A Time this little conversation between Rumpelstiltskin and Prince Charming is I think, the essence of this story. In this case, the relationship didn't end because one of them died, but I feel it's a similar theme. There's this sense of loss of the opportunity. That they felt love, had it in their grasp. But they just couldn't take that leap and the opportunity that their passion presented passed them by. And then time passed them by, relentless years of meandering. Lost. It's very sad and tragic. Shakespeare would be proud. ;3
Perhaps I might go so far as to say that the broader narrative implies that love is within all our grasps, if we but had the courage to grasp it. How many other things pass us by because we can't bring ourselves to take the leap?
I also enjoyed your use of the passage of time to mark the marring of something beautiful. I am reminded of something I heard, once. "Fire consuming wood. Time is like fire, for mortal men." Time scars and destroys but it is the fact that life ends that makes it worth anything. Limited time is a precious commodity, unlimited time is worthless. So in the context of love, it is the limitation of how much time we can spend with loved ones that makes the time precious.
So even though the opportunity is lost, that precious years of acknowledging their passion slipped through their grasp, it could still be reached. That is my impression at the end. Sorry for this meandering of my thoughts, Hirosaki! This was an awesome story, thanks for sharing! :)

Call me a romantic, but the way you showed the caring these two foxes had for each other was great. But I have always liked the relationship over wild sex. Just to let you know, I liked this short store much better than the pizza story.
The time element (5,10,15) was a very clever continuity device, while also emphasizing the long term relationship.
Thank you