Work Text:
They became strangers first.
Everyone was a stranger first, especially to Ivy.
But as time went on, they became friends.
He was a good friend, as far as friends went. Always ready with a joke, always able to make her laugh.
So few people really made her laugh, belly laughs, true laughs, hard laughs. But he knew just how, and she suspected there was more to his light jokes - that below his fooling, he cared about her deeply. That she was one of his first people - the people one valued above the others.
And, because she didn't have many friends - and those she did never made her laugh, and rarely put her first ...
They became best friends.
The more time they spent together, the more it seemed like it was meant to be. She wanted to be not just his best friend, but his mandated best friend - so he couldn't leave. There would be no one else for him - there was no one else for her.
So they became lovers.
It went well, at first, but she couldn't make him stay. She couldn't make anyone stay. She couldn't even make her cats stay, not forever. So he left.
He came back - oh, yes. He wanted to try again. So they kept living in the same house. They kept doing the same things. There were little ones to keep track of. There were responsibilities - there were jobs.
But they weren't lovers after that. Not in the same way.
They became strangers again.