closed 🌠⚡ it's far too easy to miss the beauty in the simple things

[starshower]

Who: Eustace & Tifa Lockhart.
Status: Closed.
Where: Around.
What: It's Tifa's birthday, and she's overworking again, so Eustace takes her away. Event stuff tba.
Warnings: Fluff.

Comments

[starshower]

[Why sheepish? She catches that look, but she smiles anyway and shifts so that she's sitting up beside him, her body immediately leaning against his. She stares at the little package in his hands, and she thinks she already knows what it might be, but as her eyes land on him, she feels her heart thrum in her chest, that warm feeling washing over her all over again.]

I know what you're gonna say, but... you didn't have to.

[She takes it and holds it for a moment, the paper crinkling slightly under her fingers before she starts to open it by carefully tearing the wrapping away...]

[flamekthunder]

[Well in that case he won't say anything!! But that's more because he's smiling instead or... Maybe smirking a little? He had been a little embarrassed for forgetting the gift, but now thst she had it in her hands that feeling has been replaced as waits for her reaction.

Especially once she gets a glimpse of that very questionably suggestive cover of the next installment of that series she thinks she so secretly kept away from him and isn't supposed to be released for another week.]

[starshower]

[As she uncovers the book and sees what it is...

...

....

!!!

She feels her face go red and her eyes go wide, both with surprise and sheer embarrassment because wow, that cover is definitely quite a suggestive one, with the wolf-like man and his princess in her flowing dress, and...

Wow.

Butterflies erupt in her stomach and she slaps her hand over the cover as if that will do anything.]

I—how did you know that—?

[flamekthunder]

[Smirk.]

Just asked the clerk.

[He then leans in close to murmur low in her ear.]

You can learn how "it" really works another time.

[starshower]

[There's a violent shiver that rushes up her spine, his voice and his breath tickling her skin. She has to reel her imagination back before it strays too far away from her at what "it" could be. (She knows what "it" is, and it makes her cheeks flush more furiously.

Yet after everything tonight, she is feeling daring enough to ask...]

How do you know what "it" is?

[Please tell her that he did not read any excerpts from the book—]

[flamekthunder]

[Just a very wolfish smile.]

Chapter four was interesting.

[starshower]

[Now she can't even bear to look at him, and he can probably feel the heat falling off her.]

You read it...!? It's really not... what it sounds like... most of the time.

[flamekthunder]

[Did he? Or is he teasing her? Perhaps both, especially when he leans in close, his lips now brushing against her neck.]

Don't want to try that "tree" scene I the last book? Or a different camping one...

[starshower]

[He somehow manages to draw a soft noise out of her as some of that heat from before still lingers, which only embarrasses her further and has her hand going up to her mouth to stifle any further ones.]

The tree...? Oh.

[That tree scene.

She drops her gaze, but her arms go around his shoulders. She swats him gently against the back with the book.]

Well, maybe next time...

[flamekthunder]

[Just a low laugh as he eyes her, that flame from earlier starting to ignite again.]

I wonder when that will be.

[A playful tug of her ear between his teeth.]

[starshower]

[Her breath catches, and she runs her hand through his hair in a gentle attempt to nudge him away from her ear as she giggles.]

Whenever you want it to be...?

[She turns her head to try and capture his lips instead.]

You did promise me more of these.

[flamekthunder]

[He lets her take them with a laugh, but it will be returned with a rough push back to the ground.]

Careful, or it might happen sooner than you're ready for.

[starshower]

[She stares up at him, wide-eyed and flushed, her lashes fluttering as she takes a deep breath against the heat that's already starting to build again.]

If you want that tree scene, then we're gonna have to leave the tent, and I'm not so sure you seem willing.

[flamekthunder]

[He just laughs.]

Me? It's you who'd have to make that call.

[As in, her desire.]

[starshower]

Me? I think I remember... [Her voice lowers to a near whisper, like she's scared to say it out loud and be overheard.] That he brought her there.

[She leans up to kiss him again, softly, sweetly, as if to make those intentions known now. And then she remembers the entire reason that they are having this conversation.]

But seriously...? How did you even get this? This wasn't supposed to come out until next week?

[flamekthunder]

Only because she tempted him.

[Though in the context of that novel, she could have just been sitting somewhere and that would have triggered the male lead.]

But I was just asking what books you read, and I guess she recognized me from before. And something about you being a frequent customer...?

[starshower]

[Her voice grows even quieter.]

It's one of the best romance bookstores in town... They always have everything. Though, I've noticed an uptick in certain kinds of romance books lately.

[Case in point: the one that she is holding.]

I was curious.

[flamekthunder]

About?

[starshower]

[Don't look at her like that...

She shifts under him, and draws him close with her arms around him, pressing her nose into his neck.]

About wolves. Or wolf-like.

[flamekthunder]

And how long have you been read these books...?

[Oh he's going to keep looking at her like this for quite a while.]

[starshower]

Um...

[She can feel her nerves crackling under that sly gaze of his, and she dares to look up at him to catch that gleam in his eyes.]

About a year? N-not that it matters or anything! They're just books.

[flamekthunder]

[Just a sharp rise of his brow.]

So since as long as you've had feelings for me.

[Yeah. He knows. He's caught you, Tifa!!!]

Have any questions?

[starshower]

[More squirming under him, though it's doing nothing to help ease that ache that grows all over again.]

I, uh... well...

[Okay, there was one thing, and they've already sort of? Addressed it?]

What happens when... you know... "It". [Why is she having so much trouble forming proper sentences right now!?] Never mind!

[flamekthunder]

[There's a light snort as he watches her, guessing fairly easily what she means since he referenced it himself precisely because of these books.]

Do you want an answer or not? Or wait until an actual demonstration...?

[starshower]

[She huffs out with a shaky exhale, her hips moving against his gently.]

Think I can wait for a bit. I'll be sure to read the book before then.