A.N. So here it is, guys. The last chapter. There will be, of course, a short epilogue and that would be all of this story ;)

Chapter 20 – November 6th

One year later

Luca POV

The sound of the shutter woke me up, making me flinch and blink blearily. My head felt heavy when I looked up from the pillow, looking around for the culprit.

"No, nope, just stay where you are!", the little demon instructed.

"Babe…", I groaned, burying myself back in pillows and blankets. "I thought we made a deal."

He was allowed to take pictures of me, as long as he showed them only to me and (if they weren't very embarrassing) to close friends and family members. If he wanted to shoot early in the morning he was usually thoughtful enough to use a hobby camera with the sound effects turned off.

Not today, obviously.

"I know, but the light was perfect and just the way that you had arranged your body…", he started explaining, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"As in, actually asleep, relaxed and oblivious to my boyfriend's evil intentions?"

"Er… yeah."

"Mmm."

"I'm making you coffee. Yeap. Right now", he nodded to himself, standing up.

"You better. But first…"

"Hm?"

"C'mere."

He bent down, smiling slightly, pecking me on the lips with none of the nervousness he used to feel; he was at ease now. Comfortable with where we were and what we had.

"Good morning", I smiled back.

He shook his head, smiling down at me, pecked me on the lips again and stood up to go make me some much needed coffee.

And if anyone should shake their head it was me. One year and we had gotten so far. One year and he had gotten from blushing even when our hands brushed to actually taking the initiative in the bedroom, becoming much more confident. He was now so obviously content and at ease in this relationship that it made something in my chest swell pleasantly every time I caught him doing something from rearranging the wardrobe so there was more space for his clothes to sneaking some very intimate photos of me. There were probably a dozen of albums of me sleeping, shaving, cooking, drawing, training. Although it was only basketball, swimming and running these days, no martial arts. We had had enough of fights over that. We'd been close to even breaking up over it once or twice. It was that and the fact that I finally saw how much it really hurt Hajime that made me stop seeking out Ares when shit hit the fan. Ares himself wasn't surprised. He said training with him was only temporary in everyone's life, a phase that eventually passed. I never got the guts to ask him why it hadn't passed for him too.

"Your coffee is getting cold!"

Grumbling, I accepted that I had to get up and drag my ass into the kitchen; because even providing coffee was pushing Hajime's limited knowledge of using the kitchen appliances and I was still supposed to make us both some breakfast.

Surprisingly, Hajime refused a real breakfast and settled for some cereal. He looked nervous and twitchy.

"Is everything alright?", I asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, sure, why do you ask?"

"You refused food. And no matter what your skinny ass suggests, you never refuse food."

"If my ass is skinny, then why do you like and worship it so much?", he snipped. "Besides, it's only the food you and my dads and your moms make that I never refuse."

"Which makes it pretty much any food near you", I pointed out.

"Urgh!", was Hajime's eloquent answer.

A few minutes passed in silence, both of us munching on the crunchy cereal.

"You will come tonight… right?", he finally asked in a small voice.

I sighed.

"Babe. It's your first solo exhibition. How could I not come?"

That didn't seem to reassure him all that much as his tiny frame still looked kind of shrunken and he still looked like the definition of insecurity. I grabbed his hand and waited until he looked up. I smiled at him.

"Of course I'll be right there next to you."

He finally cracked a small grateful smile and returned to eating his cereal.

The gallery was full. People were admiring the exhibited photographs and congratulating the author. I had tried to step back a little, to let him enjoy the spotlight, but his surprisingly strong grip on my wrist didn't allow me to go anywhere. Hajime was uncomfortable around people. I had been quite surprised that he had agreed to set up his own exhibition but he was now stoically accepting praises and critique with a pleasant, but sadly fake smile.

Izumo and Kotetsu were extremely proud. They had invited all of their friends and colleagues and some of them actually appreciated what they saw. Iruka for example, and surprisingly Kakashi too. Hidan looked like he had expected some nude photography and was now a little bored, seeing as Hajime was leaning more towards the fine art photography. Kotetsu's sensei colleagues immediately recognized themselves and their students in some shots; the Academy had decided to buy those and exhibit them in their lobby. There were actually quite a few photographs already bought.

Everyone noticed one particular frame, covered with a thick veil. Hajime had explained that it was a particularly intimate shot and he had to talk to someone first before he decided if he would ever show it to other people at all.

I had a hunch who exactly that someone was.

In a few hours the crowd started to slowly dissipate. Hajime and I, and our parents, were the last to stay and we started to clean the place up, picking up paper tissues, wrappings and glasses, some empty and some half-full. At some point Hajime gathered the parents and quietly thanked them for coming and for their help then pointedly said that we'll finish cleaning by ourselves. They got the hint, hugged him and wished us a good night before they left.

Hajime came closer, took an empty glass from my hand and squeezed my fingers hard. I could see he was quite nervous. He smiled a shaky smile as he said,

"I guess you know who I need to talk about that one", he nodded towards the covered frame.

I shrugged, fighting down a pleased smirk. With no further ado, Hajime grabbed the veil and pulled it down.

I understood immediately why this photograph wasn't included in the exhibition. It was simple, yet too intimate. Too personal.

It was me. I was laughing hard, standing in the middle of a small pile of orange and yellow leaves, and it looked like more of them were falling around me. I remembered the day he had taken this one…

I was in the middle of finishing another painting when he'd suddenly bolted from the couch, grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the bedroom.

"Hey, wha-…"

"Get dressed. Something nice and warm. Let's take a walk. In the park. Now."

"…Okay."

I knew he was in one of his 'phases'. He got like that when he'd gotten inspired and needed to start shooting immediately – he talked quickly and harshly, he looked feverish. The best course of action was to go along.

He dragged me to the nearest park. We kept walking and he still looked kind of frustrated, like he was waiting for something to happen. To distract him, I scooped a handful of fallen leaves and threw them over us both, laughing when he turned around, shocked. Feeling a bit childish, I did it again, loving the look on his face. I remember the sound of the shutter; a single one, the very picture Hajime had been waiting for. When I looked at him again, he was smiling widely, in a calm way. He took the few steps separating us, the leaves crunching under his feet as he stood on his toes to kiss me in the quiet park, in the middle of the falling leaves.

The picture was signed simply. November 6th.

"This is the day I realized that I'm really in love with you and your real smile; that you're the only one for me."

My heart skipped a beat or two when he said that. There had been many gestures, many ways to show it… but that was something different. Something deeper.

"Until then… it was nice, being with you, and it kept getting better and better and then on that November 6th I just knew. Clearly. I had a name for it and I was sure what it was."

I gulped dryly. His arms sneaked around me from behind and he hugged me, in a comforting way he had never showed before.

"I'm not a romantic guy, Lucas. I don't believe in the whole traditional insanity of a marriage ceremony. But I… I would very much like it… if you continued to put up with me, for many more Novembers to come."

I snorted, brushing off a few traitorous tears. "Not a romantic, huh?"

I turned around and smashed our lips together in a hungry and demanding kiss.

"Till my very last November. Always", I whispered over his lips.

…

The annoying sound of someone munching on popcorn made us both twitch and pull back as someone drawled,

"That was sweet, dollface. Now start taking off his clothes."

I turned around, glaring at Hidan, who stood nonchalantly there, stuffing his face with popcorn I was sure he had just grabbed, just for his little stunt.

Suigetsu, always the more sensible between the two (psychotic ANBU and married to Hidan as he was), grabbed his beloved and dragged him away, grinning apologetically at us. "Come now, Hi-chan. I hear Luca kun still has some very mean right hook and I ain't in the mood to save ya'r ass again."

I sighed, annoyed, then looked back at Hajime. Who was, surprisingly, still smiling. I grinned back at him.

"Where were we?"

He chuckled, shook his head and leaned back into the kiss.