deathsmajesty | Fandom to Route 1, Maine, Wednesday Afternoon

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Fandom to Route 1, Maine, Wednesday Afternoon

The problem with surprises was that there were so many finicky little details that one had to handle before the surprise proper could go off. This was, of course, made all the more difficult when the person being surprised was as perceptive as Ignis was. Fortunately, however, Liliana was just as inventive when she needed to be, wheedling the promise of tasty treats from him to reward her for her industrious cleaning up of her office, since she wouldn't be teaching next semester. And with Ignis busy in the kitchen and not offering assistance she absolutely did not want, that left her free to take her scheduled portal to Maine to handle the last of the paperwork that a car rental required (yes, Dean had said California, which meant she had immediately began looking at places on the East Coast) and lugging with her the extra-special surprise Summer had passed along yesterday, placed carefully in a cooler and, once the paperwork was handled, placed carefully behind the driver's seat, well within reaching distance for someone sitting in the passenger seat to grab.

After delivering instructions about exactly where she wished the car to be waiting and at what time, Liliana portaled home (and sent her steward to actually pack up her office, it had been a convenient excuse but actually it needed doing), and announced that she had changed her mind, it was too lovely a day to spend it cooped up inside an office, and that he should pack up his treats and come with her, for there was a lovely open-air market that she'd heard about and she wanted to visit it. Whether he was motivated by the pleasure of her company or the concern that she would buy every single thing that caught her eye, Ignis had readily agreed.

And so once more through a portal and back to Maine, though this time ending up in a small rest area right on the side of Route 1. Any questions Ignis voiced were met with a finger over his lips and a promise that soon, all would be made clear. Less than five minutes later, the first (or second, or even possibly third, considering Ignis, sigh) puzzle piece dropped in the sound of a car approaching them, engine purring softly beneath the hood. The driver pulled to a smooth stop directly in front of where they were standing, shut off the engine, and stepped out, leaving the key in the ignition and walking away without another word.

"My, isn't this convenient!" Liliana said, giving Ignis a bright smile. "Well, I suppose there's nothing to it but for us to continue on our way, hmm?"

Welcome, Ignis, to your perfect day.

[For the dreadfully modded gentleman and NFB for distance]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It wasn't exactly the insistence on treats that had set the suspicious wheels of Ignis' brain into motion, really, although that was the first spark to the ignition. What really got the cylinders fired was the reason. Sure, every so often Liliana was one to crave particular morsels of his creation for the most menial of tasks, but he understood those demands were, on occasion, a convenient way to keep him busy, though, at times, they were genuine desires. But for cleaning her office? Now? A day before when she would normally hold her office hours and two days before the official end of the semester? Not even remotely last minute, with a lead-up of the whole break week to mewl and pout about the arduous task ahead of her?

He supposed he could finally be causing an influence on her on the benefits of getting a task done swiftly and without dragging one's feet, but he greatly doubted that.

So, yes, he had quite the impression that something was up, an impression made even stronger with this sudden, albeit it not at all uncharacteristic, switch in foucs from work to play, but he was certainly intrigued. And while it was tempting to try and sort out exactly what was in store for him, he supposed that Liliana was causing an influence on him in just allowing himself to be swept along by her whims, helped along by the fact that he quite often had no idea where to even start.

And he'd found that he rather liked that. Well. When there was a certain lilt to her voice and an airiness in her movement, like she was practically floating weightlessly on her own excitement and eagerness to reveal some big thing that she knew he'd appreciate or approve of or adore. And perhaps that was why he wasn't so concerned with figuring it out first; because it almost didn't matter what the end goal was, when he enjoyed how pleased she was in just the build-up.

Almost.

But then they were being whisked off by the portal, and he, of all people, was being told to be patient, while the smell of the sea air instantly pushed those ever-working cogs in his head into high-gear. An approaching car, and quite a fine one, too, by the sound of it, and those gears shifted, slightly, to confusion, especially after such a presumably excellent vehicle was apparently just abandoned to them by its departing driving for their....as Liliana had said...

"Yes," he drawled, somewhat distracted, as he felt every single piece of that puzzle fit neatly into place except for one very crucial detail that made him wonder if he'd arranged them all wrong after all, "convenient, indeed..."

He'd drifted forward, toward the car, letting a hand drop to its to feel its warm metal, trace one of its curves.

"Except, of course, one trifling detail, darling," he said, turning toward her again with the expectation that she might follow where he was leading, because surely, as flippant about some details as she could be at times, even she would understand that a car wasn't much use to two people who couldn't very well even drive it.

A piston chugged in his brain. But, no. Surely that couldn't be it...

Was Liliana taking a picture of Ignis gliding his hands along the curves of the car? Absolutely. She might have to ask him if she needed to be jealous of the car.

"Is there?" she asked, impossible to keep the grin from her face or tone. This was the best outcome she could hope for; there was no way to prevent Ignis from putting those pieces together, but she could make him doubt the picture it created. After all, she'd gotten caught driving! Had hated the entire ordeal! Surely that had been the end of that...

Liliana Vess didn't do defeat, darling. So long as she survived, she could always pull a win out of her back pocket.

She took his free hand, easing him around the car so he could get a feel for it. An Audi R8 Spyder, the closest she could get to the Regalia, at least based on images she'd seen, and in her signature color, no less. He might not be able to tell the latter at a touch, but hopefully the car was built enough like the iconic car of his memories that he knew what it was meant to be.

"I've got a very attractive man running his fingers over a very expensive toy, you'll have to forgive me if the majority of my focus is elsewhere," she added in a tone he knew quite well.

Time to discover what pulled his focus more: the promise in her voice, or the promise of a mystery.

(She was guessing mystery.)

Well, don't take it too personally, darling. After all, that promise was a familiar one, but this mystery was...well, it would have been an intrigue powerful enough to supersede nearly everything else, if it wasn't for but one, particularly...unfortunate word choice that had Ignis dropping his hand and angling a withering expression her way.

"By gods, Liliana, you didn't go and buy a car, did you?"

But even as the words left him, they softened by the end. His hand in hers tightened a little while the other nearly twitched to return to its exploration. From what he could tell so far...the hand returned anyway. Not exact, of course, especially in that it was two-doors instead of four, but the similarities were still...it had been over ten years now, surely he was just imagining it. A convertible, too, perfect for feeling the wind in your hair, especially in the seaside air, and...

Memories were such funny things, weren't they? Rarely did they care about precision, all they needed was just the slightest hue of similarity.

What would be your perfect day

The furrow along Ignis' brow became very complicated, indeed, and the breath he let out was almost amused, mostly mystified, absolutely marveling. Still a little uncertain, but his hand drifted away from the car again and toward Liliana, sliding over her hip as his other drew her in closer.

"Are we going for a drive, 'Iana?"

Well, look who suddenly seemed to forget about the word expensive entirely all of a sudden.

Liliana rolled her eyes at his question, even as his expression made her laugh. And absolutely did not answer. Let him sweat.

"Funny enough, my 'Nys, that's precisely what we're doing," she said, lips curling, arms sliding over his shoulders. For all that she was still wearing her headdress and the Chain Veil, she was dressed in modern Earth style, just for this. "I thought a day driving along the seaside sounded like a lovely way to spend a few hours, and I happen to know of a tiny little bistro tucked away en route."

Liliana certainly didn't feel comfortable driving into a city, busy the long stretches of state highway? Those she was prepared for. "Shall we head out, love?"

"With fresh seafood and local ingredients, no doubt," Ignis murmured, forehead tilted to rest against hers, "and I'll likely want to sample at least half the menu..."

Then, he needed to take just a moment, to let this all settle in and fall into place, to just hold her and be with her and figure out how to contain this warm tangle of emotions in his chest. Thinking back on that discussion that had lead to this, and how she'd wanted to give him that perfect day (and, he realized now, had either deftly avoided revealing her own or had simply not heard him, but he felt he knew now which it was; sometimes her attention to detail was fleeting, but as was clearly on display around him right now, it never was when it mattered) and how he'd brushed it off and dismissed it as nigh impossible. And this wasn't quite the same; it probably never could be exactly perfect, but, as he'd told her before, that perception of perfection had been flawed from its conception, because there had been so many things he couldn't even have conceived of back then that she'd opened his metaphorical eyes to.

Perfect was not permanent. Perfect had evolved.

"But no," he said, coming out of his moment to answer her question, "not yet."

Because he absolutely had to kiss her now, and if Liliana was hoping for a timely departure, well...Ignis did not at all regret to inform her of some unfortunate news in that regard.

But Ignis! Timetables! Punctuality! Schedules!

Oh right, none of those were things she actually cared about, and so was more than happy to spend the next however long leaning against the car and kissing him back, deep and slow and sure, sure in a way she'd been before only once.

...Sure enough to ignore how that had ended and focus only on how this might. Sure enough that, for once, she dared let herself hope it would have a different ending than the one she'd foreseen since the beginning.

"Keep this up," she laughed, low and delighted, "and I'll have to demonstrate all the interesting things I learned about the backseat of cars."

Yes in a rental in an open-air rest stop in broad daylight. At what point did Liliana strike anyone as a person with shame?

Oh, but if Liliana had protested that such amorous displays of ardent appreciation were going to put them off schedule? They wouldn't have even made it to the backseat. But even without that irresistible appeal to order and appointments, his voice still came out in that familiar deep and hungry rumble angled very close to her ear.

"And that argument," he murmured, "is supposed to deter me....how, exactly?"

There was this whole expanse of pretty purple hood, it was true. Though, honestly, it would be because Ignis was rushing her either to a chapel or a hospital, or possibly both in succession.

"Well, I had intended us to get further down the coast than just this rest stop," she said, angling her head to offer up the side of her neck - and, more importantly, that expanse of shoulder - to his mouth, "but I'm currently having trouble remembering exactly why that was."

The only thing stopping her from just dragging him into the backseat herself was the location of a certain cooler filled with a very special beverage and she wanted to space that surprise out a little further. Let the current one breathe a bit, like a glass of deep red, the complexities only compounding with time in the air.

"So the question is, what do you want?" It was his perfect day, after all.

"I daresay that is quite obvious, isn't it?" said Ignis, as his lips returned to Liliana's for another deep kiss, after they'd finished traveling across that expanse, because far be it from him to take territory willingly offered for granted. Especially when it meant feeling the thrum of her words as they drifted from her throat, with the cavalry of his teeth joining in when he reached her shoulder. And he lingered there, just a moment longer than usual, a soft sigh for the remembrance of the future and the plans set into motion toward it, which only deepened that kiss when he got there, beyond his gratitude for this moment, for her, for everything

"But I," he added, with a big draw of breath and a wandering hand that truly did warn of completely upending even the loose plans Liliana had concocted that afternoon, "believe what I'd like first is an answer to my own question." There was a pause, thought it was filled with an easy grin. "Whatever happened to never wanting to drive ever again?"

He was, of course, very much assuming that this wasn't intended to be him behind the wheel, although he would certainly be intrigued by any proposal she might have that could make that work.

It took a moment to drag Liliana's attention from that wandering hand back to his words, because she quite liked the arguments it was making against the sanctity of plans, surprises, and common decency.

"Mmm? Oh yes." Her voice was once more filled with the smug satisfaction of someone who had pulled off quite the little coup. "Well, first I realized that after that setback, the last thing you would expect was for me to double back and try it again, which made for a lovely smokescreen against you figuring it all out, and I had already engaged a far better teacher available than Dean."

She didn't use the usual scathing tone she often did when talking about him; without his help, however grudgingly and ungraciously offered, today would not have been possible.

Her smug smile only widened. "Prompto was very kind. He showed me what to do and how things worked and answered my questions and then it was simply a matter of practice."

A finger trailed down his chest, lingered at the waistband of his pants, and then slowly drifted back up. "Do you truly think I'd allow my plans to be stymied by squirrels? I was, one might say, dead set on making this happen for you."

Liliana's schemes, it would seem, were additionally rewarded by the rare appearance of open surprise on Ignis' face. It was still subtle, of course, in the lift of his chin, a raising of his brow, both of which seemed to settle as if being dragged back to where they'd been, and then even closer to Liliana again, with that trailing of her finger.

"It's hardly the squirrels I would expect to give you any trouble in that regard," he noted. "I believe the true testament to your skillful planning," and let's face it, that was only adding to the impressive pile of his admiration right now, "was that you managed to pull it off without Prompto letting it slip."

But the wryness of his small jab toward his chatty fair-haired friend smoothed out into another soft, genuine smile that he couldn't quite help, full of admiration and gratitude and warmth that he hoped to further express with a soft brush of his thumb against her cheek.

"And you really went through all that? For...this?"

This was not the word actually on the tip of his tongue, but it was the only word he seemed to be able to use, that ever-stubborn shred of uncertainty and doubt clinging to me and refusing to let it be acknowledged. At least not directly.

Their relationship was built on a foundation of not saying things aloud, of letting them remain beneath the surface, unspoken but not uncommunicated. Ignis in particular was adept at that, giving Liliana room to speak as she wished, but not forcing her to say what she did not.

Liliana, however, was a hypocrite. And sometimes, like after their trip to Shandalar, and like now, with the 'this' on his tongue because he would not (could not?) say what he truly meant, she took it upon herself to pull it all up to the surface.

"For you?" she asked. "Yes. You ridiculous, absolute fool of a man that you even need to ask. Yes." She laughed then, any inexplicable weight given to those words dissipated with the sound, completely enough to make one doubt there ever had been any at all. "Besides...how could I say no to learning such a..." Her voice dipped, rich and dark like chocolate. "practical skill such as this?"

Oh yeah. She knew what did it for you, baby.

And it certainly did it well enough that Ignis didn't even feel the slightest compulsion to point out the impracticality of driving as a skill when you lived on an island strictly without cars, not to mention the complete lack of them existing in the planes where your ancillary properties existed.

Which would have been a silly point, anyway, considering this plane, outside of Fandom, certainly was rather automobile-focused.

There was, when she said that which he seemed incapable of, a small sigh of relief, of gratitude, his head tilting toward hers again as he soaked up that laugh and clung to what he wasn't going to allow it to dispel. And then his own laugh, a brief huff of one, but not insignificant, especially for him, and he kissed her again, a lighter one, but one that still lingered a touch longer than he'd expected.

"Plausible deniability?" he suggested as a reason how, and that brought out of him a chuckle, far beyond that faint huff of a moment ago. "But...that said...what good is such a practical skill," oh, she was getting another kiss for that, too, and a little tug of her lower lip in appreciation with his teeth, "if one doesn't put it to good use? Tempting as it may be to dally around here longer, you have also aroused..." And of course he was lingering there on that word, "...my curiosity, my darling."

The next one tumbled out of him with conviction, as if that first epiteth was not nearly enough to do the job and it clearly needed reinforcement.

"My love."

No, no. Still not quite enough.

"My everything."

Said low and slow and deep, because, yes, he knew that game very well himself, and what was it, that she herself had said so recently? They could play these games with each other forever.

(Gods willing).

How easily he called her his everything when sitting smugly in the backseat was proof just how fickle he could be when it came to his affections.

Though, fortunately Liliana was still ignorant of the difficulties she was about to introduce into her own life, choosing to respond to his words - and that tone, sweet Serra that tone - by perching on that so very conveniently situated hood and pulling him in for one last kiss, this one complete with wrapping her legs around his hips while she gripped the front of his shirt and held him tightly against her.

It was only once she was nearly breathless, her lips reddened from kissing that she let him go, sliding carefully down off the hood and heading towards the driver's seat. "Well then," she said, voice husky now, "let me sate that curiosity of yours as thoroughly as I can, though I warn you, it's going to take a few hours..."

Nothing like starting the drive off with a thick slice of strawberry rhubarb pie. "Also," she added once he took his seat next to her, "you're in charge of music." And from her bag (useless Earth fashions) a very familiar music box and places it in his hands. In case he wanted something his Spotify couldn't play.

They were, truly, the words of a man who'd made peace with the fact that he'd lost his one true love to the cruel fate of his homeworld many, many years ago...

A man who, presently, was just going to linger a moment in the shadow of that kiss, turning just a sliver too late after she'd slipped off the hood to do much more than reach out for slight drift of his fingers against her moving form, and Ignis slipped away accordingly, that slight beat later. Another moment, too, once he'd made his way to the passenger side door to just...collect himself, to shift gears once more, but to also keep that very close, to revel in it and its tantalizing promise of more...eventually.

He slid in beside her and closed the door, and the only thing that kept him from not immediately employing both hands to appreciate the interior of the car, as well as he had the exterior, was that familiar weight being settled into his palm, and he gave another huff of a laugh.

"Excellent choice," he said. "I do have exceptional taste."

And, really, was it of any surprise at all that, when he opened the music box with a pleased smile, and it played something achingly familiar.

If that hadn't the first song he played, Liliana would have had serious questions and concerns about not only the day but also their entire relationship.

"Obviously you do," she teased, leaning over to brush a kiss against his cheek before settling back to adjust her seat and her mirrors, put on her seatbelt, and start the car. "You love me."

In the beginning, they did not travel as fast as Ignis might have expected. There was a difference between driving a car in the Danger Shop and driving one in real life that Liliana had to adjust to. Fortunately, the road was deserted and made for meandering down and after about a half an hour, Liliana relaxed a bit, the car sped up, and it became a proper scenic drive, with Liliana describing their environs while the wind played with their hair.

It had been almost two hours when Liliana spotted the little side road that supposedly led off to a secluded cove coming up and put her next part of the plan into action.

"Love, behind my seat is a cooler full of beverages. Would you mind getting one out for me?" Casual. Nonchalant. Relaxed.

In the beginning, Ignis was actually a little glad for the slower pace. Being in a car now felt quite a bit different than when he would drive around in the Regalia, and it was much more than just the lack of control that went along with not being behind the wheel, although that was most of it. He loved Liliana, with ever fiber of his being, each of those fibers practically vibrating with that devotion right now, but he did not know how good of a driver she actually was. After all, she'd had one frustrated lesson with Dean and the rest had been with Prompto, and, yes, yes, he became crucial to transporting goods and supplies between settlements back home, but he knew he was much better with motorcycles than cars, and, once upon a time, Ignis had been the one teaching Prompto to drive, and...well...

So he was, admittedly, a little nervous, and Liliana not immediately pressing the pedal to the metal helped him to relax and settle in and just enjoy it, and appreciate that his fears were so easily dismissed by the smooth ride, the feel of the car humming and vibrating below them, the thrum of the wheels over the road, the little bumps from the rough asphalt. The wind rushing by and threatening to drown out the music from the small box (which would eventually find its way to the sweeping overtures that filled their treks around Eos, collected in discs here and there from various roadside shops and gas stations, although one in particular seemed to drift up more often than many of the others), certainly threatening his hair, but he didn't seem to care much, leaning back and just breathing in that seaside air and even closing his eyes a little bit.

"Mmm?" His attention shifted, when Liliana's request came in, shifting and sitting up as he considered it. "Yes, of course."

His hand felt around for the cooler in question, and, opening it, reached in to find one of the beverages. "What did you bri--"

Once the can was in his hand, though, he stopped a moment. His thought about memories from earlier, about how they worked in such strange, imprecise ways, returned to his head once more. The weight of it. The way it fit as perfectly in his hand as one of his daggers. But...no, that was...it was just because he was in a car right now, one remarkably similar in a good deal of ways to the Regalia, and the lack of visual stimulus to go along with it was clearly altering his perception. It felt like Ebony because he would often enjoy one while driving, one of the missing pieces to the scenario that his memories were attempting to fill in.

"Let me just open it for you," he said, not enough to cover up his distracted moment, of course, but one to set him on track, and his fingers gripped the tab to pull it back.

And he was immediately greeted by that smell. A standard similar shape of a can in common was one thing, but that aroma...

"Darling," he was sitting straight up now;the swiftness of his heartbeat was alarming, "what is this?"

And wouldn't you know it, they were pulling into that little cove right now. Brilliant timing, Liliana, five gold stars for you.

She just turned to look at him with those fathomless purple eyes of hers.

"Take a sip," she said softly. "And you tell me."

And just as he felt the car stopping beneath them, Ignis could feel those sharp and attentive eyes on him, though the emotion coursing through him as quickly as that heartbeat right now was one close to suspicion, almost. Mistrust, perhaps, because it seemed so utterly inconceivable, and yet...

Cautiously, he took a sip.

The deep, guttural, longing groan that wedged out of him then could not be helped. And he took another drink, a longer, deeper pull from the can and, no. No, there was no denying it. This was Ebony.

Both hands were on the can now, even a thumb brushing along the rim, as if to confirm that it was, in fact, real, and he sucked in a very slow breath.

"How did you even get this?" he asked, his voice somewhere between marveling and demanding.

And then he remembered his fingers brushing against several more inside the cooler.

"Is there a whole case?"

"There is, in fact, more than one," Liliana said, because she was a fool. "And as much as I would love to tell you some heroic story of how I kicked my way into Eos and demanded they give me cases of Ebony in tribute--" though the idea was tempting and, you know, at least worth trying "--Summer received a shipment of them and thought that I might appreciate the opportunity to be the one to give them to you."

LITTLE DID SHE KNOW, HOWEVER.

"A shipment?" Oh, and Liliana would indeed recognize that look on Ignis' face now, as he leaned forward with determination, his free hand drifting up to his chin and curling underneath it. It was an expression of singular focus, honed in on a target, with intrigue and eagerness to revel in the implications of what was currently being presented to him. Were it not for the glasses, were it not for the scorched damage that had left them dull and void, Liliana might have even seen a sparkling gleam in Ignis' eyes.

It was an expression interrupted only by a moment to lowered that curled hand under his chin enough to take another sip before continuing.

"Like the Jetty's. And the Tetsuo's. The leaks from Eos. They've finally paid off."

Yes, yes, yes, there was a whole world still locked to them, filled with all the people they'd ever known and loved outside of Fandom that they might still never get to see again, but the important thing was that he now had Ebony again.

Yet another reason it was better to have these reactions in front of Liliana than, say, Gladio or even Prompto: Liliana fully agreed with that sentiment. She also liked possessions better than (most) people.

"So it seems," Liliana said with a soft chuckle. "I don't know if they're going to be a regular thing or not, so best to assume that what we have is what we have, but I thought you might appreciate a day of splurging."

And, thinking nothing more about it, she reached for his can to try a sip for herself.

Without even thinking much of it himself, or even really consciously perceiving it, Ignis' hand moved away from Liliana's. His lips parted, drawing in a breath to form words, to suggest that she simply help herself to her own, but then that suggestion, the one that made him stiffen oh-so-lightly when it left her mouth, that this might not be a regular occurrence, that rationing might be in order, had his hand (and the can) moving back toward Liliana.

He smiled, though it was small and stiff, and he disliked the fact that he wasn't sure if it was out of concern for this momentary, unintentional gaffe or just for the idea of sharing.

Though, in his defense, it had been so very long...

"And what is a perfect day," he said, "without a little splurging. Although, I suppose, until we know for certain whether or not it can make the regular rotation in Summer's orders, we best not splurge too much..."

While his mind was already blazing through equations, figuring that if there were x amount of cans in a typical case, and he had y amount per day....or should he ration per week?...then he would likely need z number of cases to last him until Month...

Liliana sat back without taking the can and regarded him. "When I pictured this, there was a lot more, hmm. Spontaneous cheering and adulation, possibly even odes written to my overall wonderment," she noted.

And here he was. Doing math. Being Mr. Snatchy-snatchy.

Would Liliana snatch things away from Ignis? Of course, absolutely and without question. But she was a bad person.

"Are you..." She wasn't even sure what to ask. He clearly wanted the Ebony, but he didn't seem happy to get it.

There was a world of difference, thank you, between snatching and gently diverting, but when Liliana didn't even take the can after it was gently diverted back, Ignis began to understand the gravity of his mindless mistake. He drew in a breath as a new, potentially even more concerning math started to work its way through his head instead.

"I'm sorry, Liliana," he said, and his free hand fumbled for a moment in the space between them, searching for a cup holder in which to slip the can, for now, thus freeing both hands now to take hers, and his attention to divert back to her, as well as it could, with the aroma still lingering and just the knowledge of its presence there. But, oh, it tasted just as good as he remembered, it was practically divi--

No. No, he was focused on her now.

"I believe I've just still....processing it," he admitted. "I...never thought I would ever actually ever taste Ebony ever again. I'd tried...countless of Earth equivalents, and none of them can even hold a candle to--"

He cut himself off, before his words made way to rambling, or worse, odes to the wonderment that was Ebony, instead.

"It's honestly a bit difficult," he said, instead, "to believe that it's actually real. That I'm not about to just wake up in a sour mood because every bit of this entire excursion has just been some cruel dream." He smiled faintly, a hand now drifting softly for er cheek. "Wouldn't that be just my luck?"

Liliana reached up and placed her hand on his, and continued to regard him, though with a different kind of thoughtfulness now.

"Are your dreams so frequently cruel in that direction? Or your luck so bad in this past year?" she asked, a slight smile playing around her mouth. She tilted her head again, amusement fading. "Do you normally dream of things that...you wish were different?"

Gaia - and Ignis - knew Liliana had bad dreams on occasion, though hers were never of things she wished would be, but only those she wished would not.

Either way, that trio of questions were still kinder than the one she didn't ask: are you truly so attached to it because it is the best coffee you've ever had? Or was it simply the one thing you ever allowed for yourself to want?

"Not this past year," Ignis said, his smile instantly warming when her hand met his, his thumb still lightly brushing her cool cheek. "This past year has contained so much that exist well beyond what I'd have ever thought possible, even in dreams. And today yet another astonishing example."

But like her amusement, his smile faded, as well.

"But for the longest time," he said, "the only dreams I had were of things still to come. The true irony of my curse: I may have lost my natural vision, but I was given visions of a different kind, of things that would happen but things I could not change. There really hasn't been much else."

Which just may lean toward an answer to one of those unspoken questions.

But also, genuinely, no coffee he'd experienced yet could even compare.

Liliana unfastened her seatbelt, and, carefully, ever so carefully so as to not knock over the Ebony, crawled over the divider to straddle his lap. Not usually the reason (or the emotions) she did this for, but she was adaptable.

"It's not a dream," she promised him, leaning in not for a kiss, but to bite his lip. Look, pinching was for squares. "Even if it feels like one sometimes. This--everything about today, about me, it's real. And you're allowed to be this happy, even outside of your dreams."

She reached for the can and took a sip. Okay, she could admit it, it was damn good coffee.

But then leaned forward to kiss him for real this time, letting him taste the coffee on her lips, on her tongue, the way he so often preferred to taste the food he made for her.

The taste of her, mingled with the taste of Ebony, was almost too much to bear. Ignis' hands drifted up from where they'd rested on Liliana's hip to help steady her when she moved to straddle him and pulled her in closer so that he could drink from that intoxicating brew as deeply as possible. This, with the salty sea air in his lungs, his hair no doubt disheveled from the wind in it, and those words--you're allowed to be this happy--made his head swim. He clung to Liliana and her kisses like an anchor and realized that she wasn't the only one beholden to something. She, totally her daemons and sundry, he, to his past. And while she had to vanquish hers, all he really needed to do was just...let go.

Allow himself to be happy. In this gorgeous car with this stunningly magnificent woman who'd effortlessly claimed him from the very first word, who'd brought him a taste of something he'd thought long forgotten for good, taking his idea of a perfect day and showing him just how truly blind to the concept he'd been, how narrow his focus, because he couldn't truly fathom what to even do with that kind of happiness.

But he knew now.

Gods, did he know now.

"Mine," he whispered, on the exhale of a breath he had no choice but to take, and he wasted no time in returning to where they were.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Fandom to Route 1, Maine, Wednesday Afternoon

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