Title: Kiss
Author: The Fallen Sky
Rating: T due to a couple of curse words
Summary: At some point, her eyes settle on his lips.
A/N: This is a short one-shot set during the game, either in Winter, shortly after the whole 'David' incident, or during Spring, sometime before they reach Salt Lake City.
Feedback is welcome. Enjoy!
Her fingers curl into the material of his shirt, gripping it tight, to the point that her knuckles turn white.
Her heart hammers in her chest, her throat is dry, her stomach is in knots, and she struggles to breathe.
Her whole body is trembling with nervous anticipation and a hint of fear.
Her eyes roam over his face, touching every inch of it while purposely avoiding his eyes. It's not that she doesn't want to look him in the eye. It's that she's afraid to do it, afraid of what she might see there and even more afraid of what she might not.
At some point, her eyes settle on his lips.
She's so close, just a few inches away, but she hesitates.
If I do this, there's no going back. Nothing will ever be the same again.
The potential for ruin weighs heavily on her. The thought of losing him scares the shit outta her, but so does the thought of never taking a chance, never knowing what could be.
"Ellie."
The tenderness in his voice, along with his gentle hands on her shoulders, threatens to shatter her already fragile heart, because she's certain he's going to push her away and is just trying to soften the blow.
She can already feel the tears filling her eyes, blurring her vision, can feel the sob trapped in the back of her throat, ready to erupt.
All she has to do is let go and walk away, chalk the whole thing up to stress. After all the trauma she's suffered, she's sure he'd understand a momentary lapse in judgment. After a few days, everything would go back to normal, and, eventually, they could laugh about the time she almost kissed him.
Except...
Except she doesn't want to walk away from this, doesn't want to laugh it off as some almost mistake.
She wants to kiss him.
She wants to kiss him for all the times he's saved her life. She wants to kiss him for putting up with her ceaseless chatter, potty mouth and stupid jokes. She wants to kiss him for not abandoning her like everyone else she's ever cared about. She wants to kiss him for not dying on her, for fighting to live when it would've been so easy to just give up.
But above all, she wants to kiss him, because she loves him.
Fuck it.
Mustering every ounce of her courage, she closes the distance between them and presses her lips to his, consequences be damned.