"What did you just say?"
She was so cute when she was confused. Her nose scrunched up, like she was . . .
Not the time to be thinking about that. Focus. Think. Tone. Cheerful? Excited? Flirty? Flirty. "You heard me."
Her cheeks lit up red, like, like, Lovers' Day hearts that suddenly symbolized something other than sugar highs and empty smiles. "I'm … not too sure I did, actually. I mean . . . half my hearing is covered up, after all." She bit her lip, eyes skimming the room, as if her being nervous was remotely possible. "But . . . if I'm not wrong . . . I think maybe you asked me if …"
A smirk, a slight tilt of the head, as if it her not being nervous was remotely possible. "If I could kiss you, right? Er, right. I mean, you know, if …" You know, if a certain heartbeat could just slow down for about six seconds then maybe she could hear herself think - "... if you were comfortable with that. With kissing me. All that jazz."
The last sentence stretched itself out over the silence. Like taffy, almost.
"Why?"
Sparks dancing whenever they nearly touched, smiles made of silk and ribbon, sleepless nights spent counting someone else's breaths, adrenaline rushes that didn't fade after the battle was over, suddenly remembering favorite brands of coffee for a cup somebody else would drink from, half a girl yet hidden, a feeling that grew instead of shrank, eyes like the world didn't hurt anymore -
"Why wouldn't I?"
She froze at that sentence, and took the rest of the world with her. Probably the only way to explain the way she stilled – exactly the same way that a leaf on the wind didn't.
And then she was cupping her face gently, and leaning in close, a song made of silence with staccato heartbeats to keep time, a scent like lavender that filled up her entire universe, don't screw this up, can't screw this up, it was really really happening -
-and finally, a sensation like, if she really wanted to, she could reach out and touch her soul.
Dust, she was beautiful.
She pulled back after too short a time, wearing the smirk the world had recently revealed itself to be secretly revolving around."That . . . is all you're getting for free." Turns out, that was a fuse hidden in her eyes – and something, from the look of things, had just lit it. "Anything else, and you're going to have to pay recompense. A date to . . ."
"To the depths of the ocean? Or the top of a mountain?" So this was what exploding felt like. "To the beaches of Vacquo? To the ruins of Mistral? To the moon?"
"Tonight." Her laughter made the whole world warm. "Reason's Season will do just fine. Maybe a movie after, if we have the time to. That sound okay to you?"
"Okay." Meanwhile, her smile probably just made her look like the world's biggest dork.
She looked at her like a midsummer night – flickering firefly eyes beneath a star-speckled sky of hair. ". . . you really would take me to the moon, wouldn't you?"
"Well, I mean …" Even if she didn't know quite what she was saying, she could at least feel out the dramatic pauses. "You just did. I gotta return the favor somehow, right?"
"Hmm. Alright. A silly question, then." Suddenly, her eyes changed – from fireflies to sunrise; the dawn of a new day. "May I kiss you?"
"Hmm. I guess so." Speaking of returning favors – cup the cheeks, be gentle, and make sure to focus. "But I gotta warn you: any more's gonna cost you a second date."
Yang kissed Blake, and suddenly she'd found themselves.