"We can't dance!" There was a hint of laughter to her voice, cutting away at the seriousness of it, "I'm sick!"
Dancing was a bit iffy of a word to describe their arms moving back and forth and the perfect amount of distance to fit another person in between them.
Yet Zeno was smiling as if he'd never been happier, and all Kaya could grasp is how silly this whole situation is and how much she really wishes she weren't sick, just so that she wouldn't have to worry about the what if scenarios that Zeno is so good at chasing away.
"It will be fine." There's so much genuine honesty in his voice, that Kaya can't help but believe it, if only for today.
"We're dancing wrong anyway." Kaya admits, and it hits her that maybe Zeno kept this distance with her, because he knows her worries. He's often told her that he won't get sick, and once he'd even said that he doesn't get sick which had put a different kind of gravity to his words then, though Kaya can't imagine never getting sick, ever.
"Are we?" Zeno stops swaying their arms side to side and looks at her, as if he's wondering just what she'll do.
"Yeah." Kaya stepped closer, squeezing Zeno's hands in her own, "We should be closer, for one."
And when Kaya steps closer to Zeno, no longer the length of both their arms together keeping them at a distance, but their arms have relaxed some, and she's struck by the blue of Zeno's eyes. Like the sky on a beautiful, cloudless Summer day. Have they always been so light and so pretty?
She swallows what she hopes is just a bit of nerves. They are rarely this close, because Kaya's always trying to make sure that they maintain enough distance that Zeno shouldn't get sick, she hoped. Just this is close.
"Like this?" And it feels like Zeno's hugging her, one arm resting so gently on her back that it's as if it's not there.
"I think so?" Kaya offers, as she holds Zeno's hand as if afraid he might pull it away and hug her closer. And she rests her other hand up on his shoulder, so close that she can feel the soft brush of his messy hair against the back of her hand.
And Zeno and Kaya just sway, half-moving away from this tiny spot in Kaya's hut and half-just swaying without any steps. Zeno is so, so warm; his warmth seems to seep into her skin and keep Kaya warm, so warm that any chill is long since melted away.
Kaya's never really danced with anyone before or at least not like this. Though the steps are far from professional and far from natural gracefulness. They move like a couple that hasn't bothered with formal lessons, because they like each other's steps more than the finesse and the grace involved in fancy footwork.
And despite the fact that Kaya had tried to maintain her distance just a while before, her chest feels light, like her heart is floating on air or perhaps on the sunshine of Zeno's smile. And she's just so happy right now; it's a moment that she wants to tuck away inside her mind somewhere so that she never forgets it.
Even the faintest giggles can't be held back, and when Zeno joins her in laughing, even the informality of the dance loses formality, as if there were some to be lost. And Kaya marvels over how Zeno somehow manages to bring a smile to her every single time they are together and how she's never had this much fun before they met.
Love and gratitude seem to be a pair whenever she's spending time with Zeno, even when it seems like everything would be against them. And even time is set back and overlooked, and this moment feels timeless, the right kind of all in moment, the most beautiful joy that connects them.
And really, moments like these make forever seem more and more possible, even if it's the feeling of forever rather than the words that would confirm it's stay.