A/N: Ahem, nsfw content ahead. Also, feel free to find me on my tumblr; you can find the link on my profile. Thanks again for ya'll's support, alright? Faves, follows, reviews, even those hits-I appreciate them all.

On the chirping morning of her second Flower Dance, Kutone stood on the steps of her veranda, and watched the sky, clouding over in direct betrayal of the weather forecasting sunshine. Emily's custom dress fit her perfectly, the fabric like whispering clouds against her skin. True to the seamstress's word, Kutone even had arm gloves covering her arms up to just below her shoulders, and her outfit's delicate silver embroidery sparkled under the spring sunlight. Haley had even insisted on finalizing Kutone's look, and stopping by on her way to the venue, fashioned the ends of Kutone's violet hair into loose, bouncing waves. She even fitted a handmade crown of purple, indigo, and yellow flowers on Kutone's head.

She was the picture of a damn storybook princess, and she loved every moment of this realization. Coupled with the jitters of asking Sebastian to dance with her, Kutone practically bounced down the steps. She spun once, watching her dress rise and settle with the movement.

"I dreamed about this last year," she murmured, toeing the ground with her flats. Happiness really was an attainable thing.

With a final preparatory breath, she began the journey toward the venue for what Lewis called the "newly improved" Flower Dance. Thanks to a "gracious and anonymous" donation, Pelican Town was able to update the end-of-spring tradition to better suit the changing times. Some facets of old tradition still supposedly remained, like the dance Haley had coached to Kutone, and the crowning of the Flower Queen. Everyone in town now had a suit or dress for the occasion, in spring-themed pastel colors for females, and matching darker colors for males. Bachelors and bachelorettes wore special corsages to denote their availability.

Regarding this, Sebastian had managed a cackle. "Sam's going to love parading his singleness."

Of course they talked about Sebastian's icy situation, once both had woken up and showered away their caked-on grimy stress. At least, Sebastian filled Kutone in on the results of her venture. Though disheartened by her failure to rein in the debacle, Kutone could agree with Rasmodius's assessment: it wasn't an utter and complete failure. She'd found the root of Sebastian's icy aspect. She'd tried to reconcile with it. And Sebastian was willing to try again, some time in the future. Hopefully, he added, when he had a better understanding of his own complicated nature.

He'd cast her a worried grimace next. "I saw everything as it happened," he said. "So I know what you saw and heard."

"About your father," Kutone replied, gently rolling Sebastian's new earring between her thumb and index finger, "when were you planning to tell me?"

"Never, if possible. Why would I tell you I was unwanted?"

"So I could tell you, that if that's true, your dad's full of shit." She had pressed her lips and nose into the crook of Sebastian's neck, and after breathing in his fresh scent, continued, "You were a really cute kid, you know."

"You're full of shit."

"Then here's your pragmatic answer: there's no telling what your dad was thinking when he left. Trying to conclude his motives based on the hurt he left behind—you're doing nothing but destroying yourself."

Sebastian held an uneasy expression, like he wanted to agree, but wariness held him back.

"It's not something you have to resolve right away," Kutone had added. "You can take your time."

After contemplating in silence, he'd thanked her, apologized, and promised he'd try again. But the issue, Kutone knew, still weighed on him despite his easy recovery over the few weeks leading up to the Flower Dance. While he fielded Abigail's and Sam's concerns well enough, remembering the debacle alone was enough to get Sebastian down into an unnerved quiet. Robin and Maru, overjoyed at Sebastian's recovery, had the same effect, and Demetrius? Sebastian had adopted a new type of awkward coldness with him, a distance that struggled to inch the gap closed with every interaction. "Because none of it was Demetrius's fault," Sebastian had explained to Kutone. "His doting on Maru never helped, but, maybe I was just being difficult."

She'd resolved to support him through his new revelations, and thanks to this, Kutone found herself more and more on the receiving end of Sebastian's affection. It wasn't so much that he used her as an emotional crutch. Neither was it blind dependence. The way he held her, the way he looked at her, and even sometimes, the way he said her name—they all resonated with a newfound stability in Sebastian's conviction. He seeked her knowing he would find her.

Which was probably why Sebastian was the first to notice Kutone, when she entered the western clearing. From the way Sam had to shake him back into reality, Haley had done her job well.

In their quest to match partner outfits, Emily and Haley had opted for a deep wine color for Sebastian's suit. Under the unbuttoned jacket, they'd outfitted him with a gray pinstripe vest, over a deep gray dress shirt. He'd even somehow agreed to let someone—Haley? Maru?—style his hair, that the usual fringe framing the right side of his face seemed to bounce with a subtle, yet volumized curl.

A hot flush flared up Kutone's neck, to the tips of her ears and across her face. Only Sebastian could make her blush like this. Flustered beyond anything she'd ever experienced, how was she going to ask him to dance with her? Biting her lip to keep her jaw from dropping, she tried a small wave.

He lifted his hand in return, the motion finally getting Sam, dressed to the nines himself in a deep blue suit, to realize what had his best friend star-struck. "…in a dress!" Sam's exclamation carried over the buzz of the gathering community. "You never told me… in a dress?!"

Sebastian denied the question with a shake of his head. Pushing a hand into one of his pockets, he fought off Sam's spirited slaps, and started making his way through the crowd, toward Kutone.

At least until Emily and Haley, in sky-blue and pastel yellow sundresses respectively, seized Kutone and dragged her deeper into the clearing. "Flower Queen is still my title," said Haley, "but I think we made a strong contender for the crown here!"

Emily stepped back, marveling Kutone. "You're truly so lovely today, Kutone!"

"It's thanks to you two," Kutone replied, glancing back over her shoulder. Sebastian had changed course, but still negotiated his way toward her. "Really. You guys worked so hard on this."

"And now we have a town full of absolute dolls," replied Haley. "You're welcome, by the way."

Someone rested their hand on Kutone's shoulder, snickering his response. "No one ever even asked you in the first place, Haley. Don't go putting people's words in their mouths."

The momentary leap of Kutone's heart crashed back down, upon seeing the dark green sleeve of Alex's jacket. While Haley argued back, Kutone turned to search the crowd again.

…There. By the banquet tables. Maru and Robin had stopped Sebastian to take their turns doting on him. Sebastian's attention, however, meandered to Kutone whatever chance he had.

She could catch up to him.

She'd barely stepped away from Alex, Emily, and Haley, when Alex seized her by her arm. An easy grin graced Alex's features. "Calling dibs on third dance," he announced, "since you're giving the first two to him, right?"

"You look like you want to grab those first two as well," Kutone replied, "just to make him mad."

"Would if I could," Alex cackled. "But I'm not that dirty of a fighter, so, I'd be okay with giving him at least the second dance."

"As if I'd go along with that. Let me make sure no one nabs him before I do."

Alex released Kutone's arm, calling to her as she set off, "Who else would do that? His mom?"

"You never know," said Kutone, pivoting on the ball of her foot. "Sam might want to make me mad!"

She turned away from Alex's laughter, and meeting Sebastian's eye again, she stepped lightly toward him. Were the townspeople always so suffocating for the annual Flower Dance? Kutone remembered Robin saying the occasion was more for the younger bachelors and bachelorettes, but the springtime daze seemed to have made all the town's age groups giddy. Chattering from one direction, giggling from another. Admonishment in one corner, and sighs in another. Pam pressed a flute of fizzy punch into Kutone's hand, and Gus presented a crystalline rosehip and strawberry jelly for sampling. Harvey could barely stammer out a greeting as she passed, while Elliott bowed a grandiose flourish far too formal for the occasion.

Then, in the middle of a farewell pivot, she bumped into Abigail. Not at all fazed by the collision, Abigail, grinning, examined Kutone's outfit from head to toe. Eyes on Kutone's bare collar, she pouted. "I was about to get a little miffed that he still hasn't given it to you," she said, "especially after Alex and I busted ass to help him, but seeing you, I think I get it."

"Who hasn't given me what?"

"The only 'he' that would want to give you gifts, duh." Laughing at Kutone's confusion, Abigail linked arms with her. "But that's on him! We should dance, Kutone!"

"You'll be waiting in line."

"Geez. Life of the party, aren't you?"

She wished she weren't. And she wished Demetrius hadn't grabbed Sebastian next, primping and straightening his collars and pockets and especially the corsage pinned into his breast pocket. Judging from Sebastian's strained expression, Demetrius had even managed to weave in a pep talk of sorts, the content of which made Sebastian alternately pale and flush.

Abigail, following Kutone's line of sight, blew a raspberry. "Who would've thought Sebastian could be a looker, huh?"

Kutone sighed at herself, and pressed a hand against her face. "Haley and Emily really outdid themselves," she replied. "Has anyone asked him yet?"

"Maru, of course," said Abigail, lifting one finger. "Since they've started getting along so well." She lifted another. "Penny, because of Sam, I bet." Then a third and fourth. "Leah's apparently asked too, and of course Sam, because he lives for nothing else but to humiliate Seb. Oh, and," Here, with a mischievous smirk, she lifted a fifth finger. "The rumor mill says Haley's stepped up too."

"Surprising," said Kutone, voice shaky, "considering the Flower Queen only took Alex's hand last year."

"And the year before that. And the year before that." Abigail shrugged. "It's probably the new costumes. New look, new partners? Fresh starts? Open horizons?"

Apparently, five new, fresh, and open horizons.

Not, of course, Kutone thought, if she stole him away. Sipping on her drink and allowing the fizz to bubble over her lip, she filed a slowly developing plan into an accessible corner of her thoughts. Meditated on the chilly weight in her chest. "I'm jealous," she murmured, earning another knowing simper from Abigail. "Never thought myself so petty, and yet at the same time, I know I'm arrogant."

Abigail raised a brow. "How's that?"

She downed the rest of her drink. Blinking back the rush of boozy fizz, she set her flute back on the tabletop. She wiped aside a droplet of punch with her thumb, and tossed the curled waves of her hair over her shoulder. "Look at me. Does Sebastian have any reason to say no?"

"Negative," replied Abigail, giggling.

"So if he does do something stupid like that, I'm moving out of here."

A gentle touch trailed up her shoulder, and caught a lock of her hair. "You move out," said Sebastian, "and you take me with you, right?"

While Kutone cast a calculating side-eye, Abigail snickered. "Just don't say no, Seb, and you're good."

"'Don't say no?' Some kind of inside joke?"

"A statement of fact," Kutone corrected, turning to Sebastian. Her gusto, however, faded before Sebastian's amused smile. "Hi, by the way."

Abigail rolled her eyes. "Ugh. Couples." Laughing anyway, she waved and skipped off.

Her exit brought about a surreal type of silence—an eye of the storm type of silence where the dull roar of camaraderie continued around them, and yet, the space between them remained warm and thick with both expected talk and inevitable wordlessness. The sort of quiet that teased a kiss at the end, but Sebastian, unwilling to end this moment, wouldn't go for it. Yet. His caress at her temple slid her hair back behind her ear, and followed the ridge of her ear down, down the edge of her lobe, the corner of her jawline, the nape of her neck. It had to be on purpose, to get that shudder out of her.

That plan developing in Kutone's head took another step closer to actuality. Now to keep an eagle eye out for the perfect moment to slip away.

Sebastian, undoubtedly oblivious to Kutone's thoughts, smiled. "You look incredible."

"I'd say the same for you," Kutone replied. "Your usual getup's cute, but would you consider wearing suits more often? For my sake?"

"Look, I—I adore you, Kutone. Believe me." Cupping her fingertips in his palm, he pressed his lips against her knuckles. "Just not enough to wear this all the time."

She snatched her hand away, pouting as a cover for the second hot flush flaring up her features. "So that's how shallow your affection runs. I see."

"Kutone."

"Then compensate." With a victorious smirk, she leaned in to Sebastian, just enough to prompt him to lay his hands on her waist. "Dance with me."

"I thought you'd never ask."

The clouds overhead cast deeper shadows as morning wore into early afternoon. Even as the dewy scent of rain melded with the floral tones of the venue's decorative flowers, the airs of the Flower Dance capered on. Pastel sundresses bloomed and settled like drifting spring petals, while their dark-suited counterparts played their steady roles of leaf and stem.

Kutone's first dance was nothing short of magical. Literally, for the hidden Junimos in the boughs above bouncing with the music. And figuratively, because until the moment she stepped into the first beat of the dance, participating in this event with Sebastian—who infamously hated the Flower Dance to the Void and back—never struck Kutone as a possible reality. Not a single ounce of his begrudging attitude dulled the confidence of his lead. In fact, lively enthusiasm glowed in his features, enough that, at a lull in which they came close enough to share a breath, a whisper, a heartbeat, he pressed his forehead against hers, and smiled. Of course, he fought to keep a semblance of his usual stoicism, but in that single moment, his collected demeanor crumbled, totally, in favor of a radiant, effortless, and heart-stoppingly beautiful smile.

At the wave of emotion washing up her chest and tumbling back down, Kutone was surprised her knees didn't buckle. Even moreso at the single, crystal-clear thought that struck through her:

I want him.

His every touch after that jolted her, as though ice still frosted his fingertips. Every press of his hands against her, and she wanted nothing more than to bury herself in his touch, his breath, his voice, his all and everything.

The dance's final flourish swelled, and dwindled. Rested, as a misty breeze accompanied the last twist of her body. Her back against Sebastian's chest, she brought her arms down in unison with the rest of the dancers, to a rousing applause. She let the thrumming of her heart continue, and even let it rise again, as Sebastian placed his palms against her waist, and murmured into her ear. "I'm actually enjoying it this year."

Make him mine.

She spun around to face him. "I am too."

An announcement reached them in their breathless moment: feel free to prepare for the second round; we have to make sure we don't need to move to the saloon…

Because of oncoming rain. Kutone's voice jumped ahead of her thoughts. "Unwind with me?" she said. "Maybe we can beat the rain?"

"The woods," replied Sebastian, almost too readily. "There's an old trail. Enough trees that even if it did start raining, it wouldn't ruin your dress. Your outfit. Or anything. I mean…"

Trees and rain meant no one would see. She wove her fingers between his.

"Take me there."

The rain came as a gentle curtain of mist, as they slipped away from the festivities and meandered along the woods' obscure trail. Sebastian led the way, holding Kutone's hand as she lifted the hem of her dress in her steps along the forested floor. Again, and again, they looked back over their shoulders and held their breaths to listen out for anyone on their trail.

Yet, at a point deep in the woods that the mist veiled the air in downy flecks of gray, Sebastian apparently had enough. Tightening his grip on her hand, he yanked her close, and with a shuddering breath, kissed her. Hard.

She loved the suddenness. Loved his breathlessness as he dragged his hands down her back, her waist, her hips, his rough caress trying so hard to press her deep against him. Loved that he'd learned, showed she'd taught him well, in his nibble and pull on her lip, in his suckling kisses against her neck, down her neck, to the crook of and against her collarbone. As she breathed in a musk of rain, hair product, and sweat from his hair, he sighed against her skin. "God…"

He slid his lips, his breath, back up her neck, and pulled away just before he breathed into her ear. Teasing? She trailed her fingertips through his hair, against his cheek, coaxing him to come back and taste her again.

And he almost fell for it, leaning in once to tug a kiss on her upper lip. "Wait." Grasping Kutone's hand, he kissed her fingertips again, while reaching into his pocket. "Here. For you."

He let go for one moment, to reach around behind her neck.

She seized the chance, craning her head up and planting a long kiss on his bottom lip.

Whatever Sebastian was fiddling with, he finished immediately, allowing a weight to fall against Kutone's chest, as he returned her invitation. But he pulled back again, allowing Kutone to look down at the pinkish prism hanging from a metallic mount and silken cord around her neck.

She touched the crystal of her new necklace. "Is this…?"

"The wizard nearly blew it," Sebastian replied. "I nearly blew it." He let out an admiring sigh. "What do you think?"

It's beautiful… would have been her answer. I love it… because she truly did. Yet these words died on her tongue, as Kutone looked up from the Star Shard necklace, to Sebastian's eager gray eyes—alive and present and waiting for her.

She seized him by the lapels of his jacket. Drew him down. Left a light kiss as a show of her gratitude. Another, harder, as Sebastian wound his arms around her waist.

Then she brushed the tip of her tongue along his lip. Breathed in with the tingle between her legs, and out with Sebastian licking a kiss on the corner of her mouth. His hand trailed past her hip and around her thigh, as he pushed her back against the rough bark of a nearby tree. Her hiss at the pain melted into a pleasured sigh, both from his searching kiss, and his own hardening anticipation pressing into her inner thigh.

"You…" He ground against her. "You should have been Queen." Already pulling up one side of her dress, he laid another hard kiss on her lips. "It should have been you, Kutone."

He was hot on top of her. Icy hot, from the suckling kisses he trailed back down her neck, to his fingertips caressing up her thigh. She breathed deep, mouth half-open as Sebastian's touch grazed over her, then back again, sliding up to a growing wet spot.

She was already shaking. So much for her experience. Or maybe, she'd taught him too well in the time since Winter Star. He circled his fingers against her, pressing hard, then softening his pressure in each arc. She could barely restrain a squeak, as she gripped his wrist and ground into his touch, every motion wetting her further. God, she wanted him! Even without her guidance, the way he spread and closed her, rubbed her back and forth in lines and circles with that slow, deliberate pressure—she could scream for him, she wanted more. He'd wrested control from her, had her nearly crying already, and he was nowhere close to being in her. And what would that be like? How well would Sebastian fill her? How deeply could he love he—?! "—Ah!"

He'd slipped his touch under the cloth of her panties, and rested his fingertips just inside her softened folds. And he stared, face flushed bright red, incredulous at the reaction he was getting. He pushed his fingers in, just enough for Kutone to moan again, his name a faint gasp on her voice. She watched him through hooded eyes, as he lifted his other hand to one of the straps of her dress. He eased it down, and pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder at the same time he pushed his fingers deeper inside.

She tried reasoning with her body. Over a year had passed, after all, since the last time she had someone in her like this. But then he pulled out, and pushed back in. Again. And again. In and out, as he kissed down her chest, and drew down the bodice of her dress—and Kutone knew, as the collected mist in Sebastian's hair trickled onto her skin, as she gasped between each rock of her hips, "I need you."

He watched her for a moment with his mist-freckled features, and soon enough, cracked that natural, shining smile. "How much?" he pressed, pulling his fingers out.

She shuddered at the hollowness setting in again—she was truly starving for him—but without hesitation, undid the topmost buttons of his dress shirt. Dove in, and sucked a hard kiss against his collar, while frantically unhitching his belt and rolling down his zipper. Reached inside—forget the teasing—and tugged a stroke up with both hands. He pulsed hard and hot as she reached inside again, cupping him with one hand and stroking him with the other. She earned a low groan, and another deep kiss. "Do me," she hissed.

He shoved her against the tree once more, as she pulled him out of his pants. His hand on her side slid down, guiding her exposed leg up and around his hip. Forehead on hers, he let her guide him, until he stopped, touching her entrance. They shared a breath, Kutone already arching back, the limp waves of her hair plastering to her skin.

Sebastian trembled with her. "You're sure—we can do this?"

Kutone curled her arms up around his neck, and laid a kiss on his lips. "Even if I scream," she replied, "don't stop."

He nodded, and with a hitch in his breath, slid inside. They jerked against each other, Sebastian groaning, Kutone whimpering.

Oh god…

She bit into the fabric of Sebastian's jacket, muffling her cry as he drew out, and without waiting, slid in again. And again.

Oh… god…!

Again, his breath already ragged against her ear. Each thrust drove deeper than the last, his voice a lower, pent-up vibration against the nape of her neck. Was it the position? Was it Sebastian himself? He reached a point buried so far within her, that Kutone's cries became a mix of helpless whines, from when he pulled back, and laughing euphoria, when he hit that spot once more. Again, and again, she alternated between this high and low, that her voice climbed higher with desperation, that she clenched his jacket in trembling fistfuls, that she tightened her leg around him and bucked with him, attempting to pull him in even deeper.

She could barely say his name. Could barely speak, as Sebastian bit her ear. He stopped a moment, buried deep in her. Whispered something (I need more…), reassuring her (You're so warm and soft, Kutone, I need you so bad…), and pulled her down. Laid her on the ground, hair splaying out behind her, flower crown tumbling away as he pinned her wrists down. He slid into her again, his rhythm faster (I can't stop…!), harder than before (Fuck, I can't stop…!). She wrapped her legs around him, squeezed her knees against him, her quick breath matching the pace of his thrusts (I can't hold it back, Kutone…!), and she felt so alive, so present, so goddamn in love (I-I'm… I can't…!) with the man over her—

That was it.

The realization hit her like Sebastian's final jerk and choked cry. It tingled and pulsed and flared all through her nerves, like the unconscious rock of her hips against him, and the wave rushing up her spine to the roots of her hair, and back down in an icy flush. She felt Sebastian pouring into her, at the same time he planted a long, probing kiss on her lips. His breath still short, still heated, sweat and mist rolled down his face, and yet he smiled.

She returned a fond smile of her own, as she loosened her legs around him.

I love you… would have been her remark, but with Sebastian pressing his lips over hers again, it hardly seemed the proper moment. Another time, she promised, suckling his lip. Another time, when her breath wasn't catching, when she could look at him the same way he watched her then—straight on, honestly, lovingly.

She repeated the words in her head anyway, I love you, as she brushed her fingers through Sebastian's damp hair.

With all and everything that is mine.

I love you.