It was mid-afternoon when he was shaken awake by Amanta.
There’s was a complaint on his tongue but the small, mysterious smile on her face made him pause.
“What are you up to, fae girl?”
She through her head back and laughed. “You’ll see, devil boy.”
Amanta pulled him up and lead him into the room she’d turned into a studio. He’d never really been in there. It had felt like an intrusion of her privacy.
She let go of his hand and walked over to the covered easel in the middle of the room. “Close your eyes.”
“Why?” despite his question, Ardere did as she asked.
Amanta smirked and pulled the sheet off with a flourish. “You can look now!”
“Finally,” he removed his hands from over his eyes and looked.
Staring back at him was a picture of himself. He was laughing at something, his eyes soft and his light grey hair pulled back in a ponytail.
“Ya know, when I met you, the first thing I thought was that I wanted to paint you. You were unnaturally beautiful and I wanted to see if I could capture it,” Amanta said, arms crossed.
“Did you?” he looked back towards her with a smug smirk despite the red blush crawling up his neck and across his cheeks.
“Kinda,” she rocked backwards on her heels. “I captured your beauty. I just think the real thing is better.”
Those words, spoken as if they were obvious, changed things. They’d known that they liked each other for a long time, they’d shown it in subtle flirting and obvious concern for each other’s wellbeing, but they’d never been obvious about it.
“Do you mean what I think you mean?” Ardere moved to stand in front of her, a disbelieving look in his eyes. “Cause I’m not sure if I’m correct.”
“God, you’re an idiot,” she grumbled before sighing. “I like you, Ardere. I didn’t expect to when I found you in that alley. I didn’t expect you to make yourself at home and never leave. I didn’t expect to care but I do. This house would feel empty with just me and Sam. You inserted yourself into my life without permission but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
He stared at her, slightly shocked by her small speech but touched all the same. A laugh escaped him even as tears gathered in his eyes.
“You dont know how much I feel the same way, Amanta. I dont feel at home anywhere but here. I didn’t expect to be fascinated by you but I am. I care more about you and Sam and this house then I do anything or anywhere else,” he smiled a sweet smile, completely different to his usual smirks and grins, “you’re my best friend and I dont know how that happened but it did.”
“Come here, you big sap,” Amanta muttered, pulling him down by his shirt. She looked him in the eyes before looking at his lips. “I’m going to kiss you now, if that’s okay.”
“Yeah,” he breathed, eyes flicking over the paint speckled across her cheeks.
He tasted, she found, like chilli. He tasted like spices and the coffee he drunk on a daily basis. His lips, like the rest of him, were soft.
She tasted, on the other hand, like paint. She tasted like oranges and coffee. Her lips were slightly chapped despite the fact he knew she had many lip balms.
From the doorway, Samuel the ferret watched them for a moment before turning away to give them some privacy.
“Finally,” he muttered under his breath.
@writer-grandma and @srazar
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