Fandom to Route 1, Maine, Wednesday Afternoon

[deathsmajesty]

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]

Comments

[chef_chocobro]

"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.

[deathsmajesty]

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.

[chef_chocobro]

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.