Your phone goes off as you relax on the couch and when you pick it up you see that Simon had messaged you.

There was a picture, the image slightly blurry but it you could see that it was a well-loved stuffed animal, a brown beat; squished and missing one of its legs. The message came in shortly after, “Found this little guy in the road. Can’t leave him. Bringing him home.”

It made your heart squeeze, of course the same man who grumbles about ‘not getting attached to anything’ is the same one who is picking up a discarded and ran over stuffed animal just because it reminds him of the ones you both have collected over the years.

Later that night when Simon steps through the door, bear tucked under his arm; you greet him with a smile and a kiss to the cheek. Ready to get started on fixing up the little bear.

“Poor bastard was just lying there. Couldn’t leave ‘im.” He grumbled, handing it to you, it was covered in oil, smelled of tire and asphalt, and both of its beaded eyes were missing.

Together, you got to work. First, carefully unstuffing the bear, fingers gentle as you pull out the old and clumped filling; making sure not to cause anymore harm. Simon watches closely, taking the discarded stuffing and putting it into a trash bag as you worked. It was like surgery was happening right here on your kitchen table.

Next, you threw him in the washer and dryer and once he was finally done you settled together on the couch and got to work on fixing him. You patched up the bears leg and the random assortment of holes in it, besides the back seam; working carefully as Simon watched you diligently.

You then work on stuffing the bear as he hands you wads of new stuffing that you had excess of. Finally, once the squish was right; you stitched up the back. You held him out, looking him over; he almost looked brand new… minus the leg.

“Think we just added another one to our collection, hm?” He grinned, his soft eyes meeting yours. The little bear, once abandoned and forgotten; is now one of yours