Hugo
. . .
Hugo couldn't keep his eyes off her. The way her whole body shifted as she ran towards the falling form, how her eyes widened at the realisation that it really was Phym, how she stood there with her arms wide open, prepared to catch the little girl.
That smile.
The smile of true and utter joy when she turned around to them, cradling Phym in her arms. To see this side of her, of just raw emotion, acting on nothing but pure instinct was something he hadn't seen her do before in all the years that they had known each other.
Like a switch in his head that was suddenly flipped, Hugo's whole body twitched slightly, warmth and desire to run towards his old friend and pull her into his arms threatening to overcome him. It was a strange feeling. His stomach felt queasy and his face hot. It was in that moment that Hugo finally accepted what had been on his mind all along:
That he was undeniably and utterly in love with Luca.
The woman that stood there before them, having fought countless battles alongside him, being the only positive constant in his life.. The only person he could always count on, no matter what, who would always have his back. Who slayed hundreds of monsters, who rarely let her carefully put together mask of a tough killer slip.. That same woman now gave them the biggest smile he had ever seen, tears slightly glistening in the corners of her eyes. She stood there, covered in dirt and blood, exhausted mentally and physically from the battle but looking so breathtakingly beautiful, an aura of relief and joy surrounding her, that it took Hugo a few seconds to force himself out of his own thoughts and back to reality.
Together with the others he joined Luca who was still holding on to Phym for dear life. Her eyes found Hugo's and there was an unspoken moment that passed between them. Her gaze boring into his, displaying a kind of emotion Hugo couldn't really place yet.
He had to swallow down the urge to lunge forward and pull her into a hug, to make sure she was alright, to feel her skin under his fingers, to prove to himself that this was indeed reality and they were all still alive and well.
And god was it hard for him not to.
„Let's go home." He said instead, knowing that this was neither the right place nor the right time to act on his desires.
He gave his friend a reassuring smile and followed the other Hounds back to the base.
Once they all made it back to the Crysanthemum, Hilda and the others were already waiting for them, welcoming them with cheering faces and warm hugs. Pleasantries were exchanged and the collective relief at Phym's return was apparent.
"Right, celebration time!" Zeke exclaimed and threw his arm over his brother's shoulder. "We'll start with the preparation ASAP."
"N-Now hold on a minute… I don't want to end up doing everything by myself again," Keith replied and tried to pry Zeke's arm off of him.
With a small smile Hugo turned his back to them and left them to banter. His eyes searched the room, spotting Luca with Phym still cradled in her arms, stepping into the elevator. Most likely headed to the living quarters, Hugo made to follow her and left the others to prepare for the party themselves.
He quickly caught up to her but she didn't seem to have noticed him yet, so he was able to witness the scene unfolding before him.
„Mommy, promise you will wake me up for the party?" Phym asked, staring at Luca with big red eyes as she was being tucked into bed.
Luca smiled warmly at her. „Of course. Now promise me you'll be a good girl and rest for a few hours."
A loving pat on the head and a kiss on the forehead later and the Aragami girl was fast asleep.
„She must be exhausted.." Luca muttered to herself as she stood up.
„You must be exhausted as well," Hugo said, revealing himself and stepped further into the room, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed in front of his chest and studying her with a raised eyebrow.
„I am. Not enough to pass on the celebration though," she said with a lazy smirk.
Hugo smiled at that. He had always loved this side of her. No, who was he kidding.. He had always loved all of her. How she was loving and caring, not afraid to give her life for the people who mattered to her. How she was fierce and sarcastic, precious yet deadly.
„What are you doing here?" she asked him, breaking his train of thought. She was still standing in front of the bed Phym was sleeping in peacefully.
Hugo thought about this question for a moment. What was he doing here? If he had to come up with a reason his guess would have probably been instinct. He didn't think when he went to follow her, he simply did.
„I wanted to check up on you after you suddenly vanished. Make sure you were okay," he opted to say in the end, not yet sure how to breach into the territory of the conversation he knew he was about to have with her.
A confused look settled on her face.
„Of course I am okay, why —"
„Luca," he interrupted her, his voice serious and with an edge to it that he usually tried to keep from slipping out.
Both of them came closer than ever to loosing what was most dear to them today. Their lives. Phym's life. Their family's life. The sheer gravity of the situation only hit Hugo then, staring at Luca with a gaze so intense, the only thing occupying his thoughts being that they were all alive. That nothing else mattered but Luca and Phym being alive.
The change in his usual demeanor seemed to have shocked Luca into silence as she simply stood there, across the room, looking tense and confused.
Another moment passed between them and Hugo became painfully aware of how sudden the mood in the room had shifted. The air around them felt charged with electricity and his fingers started to tingle. Anticipation was building up in his stomach because deep down he knew what was about to happen. He had known her for years and vice versa. The lingering touches and intimate looks weren't lost on either of them, but the consequences of acting on them too dire to risk. Today, however, it was different. Maybe it was the near-death experience just moments before, maybe it was almost losing a loved one. But today he has had enough. He's had enough of being passive and possibly letting the only good thing that has ever come into his life slip away. To hell with responsibilities, to hell with possible repercussions.
He wanted to be selfish just this once.
And so he crossed the distance in a few long strides and wrapped his arms around Luca's small but strong frame, pressing her against him. He didn't give her any time to object or question his erratic behavior because not even a second passed before his lips came crashing down on hers. Finally, finally, finally…
Her lips were soft underneath his and when he felt her hands come up to rest on his neck, returning his kiss, it was as if the world stopped momentarily. Like a piece that was missing all along finally fell into place and filled his body with a warmth that made him dizzy.
"You…" he breathed against her lips, but words were lost on him and he leaned back in to kiss her again. It was an uncoordinated and desperate mess of lips colliding and tongues invading each other's mouths. Hugo's hands gripped her head, clinging on to both sides for dear life while Luca's hands were tightening around his neck, pushing them impossibly closer.
There was nothing romantic about this kiss. There was no softness, no patience. Only pure and raw need and desperation. It felt like everything had been leading up to this moment. This moment where they were both too exhausted to fight it, having been just that much closer to facing death.
As Hugo slipped his tongue into her mouth again, a small, needy sound escaped the back of Luca's throat and her grip on his neck tightened, with her nails softly digging into his sensitive skin.
God, she was driving him insane.
Almost instantly he started to tug at her uniform, trying to free her of the jacket hanging loosely around her shoulders, only held in place by a few bits of black tape. As it fell to the floor and his hands brushed over Luca's exposed shoulders, another small moan escaped her.
„Hugo.." Luca breathed against his hot mouth, bringing her hands up to his chest, applying just the tiniest bit of pressure.
Her voice brought him back to reality and Hugo's hands stopped as he closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers.
„I know." he whispered.
They shouldn't be doing this here. Not now, with Phym sleeping behind them and the rest of their friends preparing a party for them all downstairs. They both knew, yet neither of them made any move to pull away. Having finally had a taste of what it felt like to be with her, to be selfish with her, to not hold back ... it was intoxicating. She was intoxicating. And he'd be damned if he let this moment pass without making the most of it.
His rational and responsible side was battling the one driven by desire and hunger and it became evident that the latter was winning when despite their previous understanding of their current situation and surroundings Hugo slowly closed the distance between them again and brought their lips together once more.
Though it wasn't as rough and desperate as before, the hunger in both their movements was obvious. Over and over did their lips meet and when Luca allowed Hugo to lick his way inside her mouth, tongue's dancing, he felt the last bit of self-restraint leave his body.
His hands, still on either side of Luca's shoulders, now tightened their grip and sharply spun her around. He pushed her back into the wall and immediately crashed his lips to hers again, hands all over her body. Needy. Desperate. Wanting.
Luca buried her hands in his silken black locks and gripped almost painfully tight as Hugo's teeth sunk into her neck, sucking and nibbling like his life depended on it. She threw her head back and had to suppress another moan while holding onto Hugo like he was the only thing keeping her knees from giving out. The thought that she was just as desperate for this to happen as him made Hugo's mind spin. This was something neither of them had ever even dared entertaining the thought of.
A barely audible but definitely there yawn shocked them both into reality again. Hugo froze while Luca slowly peaked over his shoulder at the sleeping form still wrapped up in a blanket on the bed. Phym let out another yawn before turning her back to them and getting into another comfortable position.
„Still asleep.." Luca signed with relief.
Hugo chuckled.
„What?" she asked and leaned back a little, trying to see the expression on his face but his head was still buried in her neck, his eyes and mouth hidden in her hair.
„Nothing... I just never thought I'd see the day where you'd literally let yourself be backed into a corner by a man. Me, no less."
He lifted his head and smirked lazily at her, letting out a small chuckle when she pouted at him, no doubt trying to look offended.
"Your tricks won't work on me," he said and leaned forward again ever so slightly, his lips brushing against her ear and lowering his voice before continuing; "I know you too well for that."
Luca shuddered and Hugo couldn't help but feel slightly triumphant over the fact that he had this effect on her.
A few moments passed, both of them just basking in each other's presence when Hugo became aware of their position and what would have happened had Phym's yawn not interrupted them.
His heart sped up slightly and he leaned back to get a good look at Luca's face; cheeks flushed, lips parted and swollen, hair a mess..
„You are so beautiful," he whispered, bringing one hand up to her face to push a few silver strands of hair back behind her ear. The flush on her cheeks deepened and she averted her eyes, but Hugo was having none of that.
"Don't look away," he said quietly. "We denied ourselves this long enough. Don't look away from me now."
Just as Luca opened her mouth to speak, the door burst open and Hugo stepped away from her in an instant. Rushing in came Zeke, hair full of glitter and what looked to be confetti stuck to his clothes.
„GUYS!" he yelled, not even registering the disheveled state his two friends were in.
„Hilda and the others are done with most of the prepping, so you need to come down to celebrate. There's cake dude. Cake!" he exclaimed cheerily, turning around to leave again. „Oh, and don't forget to bring Phym!" he added with a laugh, making his way back to the elevator.
The excitement in his voice was most likely the reason he was oblivious to the situation he just walked into and Luca turned around to see Hugo look both parts annoyed and amused at the same time. With a grin she shoved him slightly and said „Let's continue this later. First we celebrate!"
He let out a sigh but couldn't help the amused grin that was slowly spreading on his face. His eyes followed her as she made her way over to check on Phym.
„Stop staring. It's rude," she said in a playfully rude tone and grinned at him over her shoulder.
He laughed at her remark and came to stand beside her while shaking his head.
„The things you do to me..." he muttered to himself, kneeling down to gently nudge Phym awake.
„M-mommy..?" Phym's big round eyes seemed to first focus on Luca but as soon as she saw him sitting beside her, she exclaimed happily: „Daddy's here too!" That statement made Hugo shut his mouth and had him look away in embarrassment. Having her address both of them as her parents together hasn't happened before and especially after what all that happened in the last hour this was something he wasn't really prepared for. A small blush creeped up his neck but one glance at Luca's expression gave Hugo the peace of mind that he wasn't the only one taken aback.
„Come on Phym, the party downstairs is about to start, you don't want to miss that, right?" he said to break the slightly awkward silence.
Smiling, the little Aragami girl hopped out of the bed, taking both his and Luca's hand in her tiny ones, dragging them to the door. She was so excited and energetic that you wouldn't have thought that she almost died a few hours ago. The thought left a sour taste in Hugo's mouth but when he felt Luca look at him, he forced himself to smile and continued walking towards the elevator alongside them.