A PERFECT LOVE
A/N: First of all, I want to say a massive thank you to all the wonderful people who have supported this new K18 one-shot collection. Your support means so much to me. I had a real blast writing this latest instalment. Don't forget, feedback is warmly welcomed.
Observations
The serene ocean tide crawled ever closer towards Eighteen as she enjoyed a relaxed mid-morning reading session. Her chosen reading was the latest issue of her precious fashion magazine collection. Patiently roaming from page-to-page, she mentally noted what items of clothing she pined to purchase and which ones she wished she could erase from existence.
"Seriously, who would want to be seen in that outfit?" She vented to herself, squinting her eyes in disdain at the eccentric patterns on the outfit. She flicked over to the next page, carefully readjusting her sunglasses. Well, they weren't exactly her sunglasses. She had successfully snuck them out of Krillin's bedroom while he was resting. It was a good thing that he was such a heavy sleeper, as well as being extremely generous with his belongings.
Little did Eighteen know that Krillin had awoken from his deep slumber and was now standing by the porch of Kame House. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the refreshing summer air before deflating his chest back to normal size. A content smile gradually etched itself across his dry lips; Krillin's infatuated eyes admiringly mused over Eighteen.
Sitting alone by the ocean's edge, she appeared as angelic as ever, despite her windswept hair. Her face emitted a unique elegance unrivalled by any other. Krillin attentively observed Eighteen's subtle body language; her relaxed posture was a pleasant sight to see. He decided to make his presence known, promptly advancing towards the shoreline.
The sound of Krillin's muted footsteps were a pleasant surprise. Choosing to cast her magazine aside, Eighteen flicked her sunglasses to the bridge of her nose, fervently chewing on her bottom lip; he looked as fine as ever.
In spite of his initial protests, she was so glad that Krillin acquiesced to her relentless insistence that he should grow out his jet black hair. Better yet, since the summer weather had come around, sightings of him without a top were becoming more and more frequent. This presented a prime opportunity for Eighteen to gaze upon his well-toned muscles in all their splendour. She didn't care what anyone said or thought about his appearance. To her, Krillin was simply stunning.
"Finally decided to get out of bed, uh?" Eighteen cordially greeted Krillin as he rooted himself on her left side. He retaliated swiftly with a brief kiss on her warm cheek.
"You know me. If I ever get the chance to have a lay-in, I'll take it." He assuredly replied, noticing that his sunglasses were loosely hanging off of Eighteen's ears, "I see you've stolen my sunglasses again."
"Hey!" Eighteen asserted, raising her arms in defence, "I didn't steal your sunglasses. I'm just borrowing them."
"I ain't complaining." He then proceeded to straighten his sunglasses up for her, before adding, "You actually look kinda cute with them on."
Without saying a word, Eighteen showed her appreciation of Krillin's kind comment with a habitual gesture. A gesture he didn't see all too often. But when he did, it meant the world to him.
"I've noticed you do that from time-to-time."
"Do what?" She tentatively asked, feeling as if she had suddenly entered a "deer in the headlights" type situation.
"Don't worry. It's nothing bad." Krillin reassured her with a warm timbre in his voice, "I've just noticed that whenever I give you a compliment or if you see something you like, you have this tendency to needlessly brush your hair aside."
Eighteen eyes immediately darted up to where her right hand was currently placed. It was exactly as Krillin described. She instantly felt the soft blonde tangles that ran between her fingers. In an effort to combat her self-consciousness, she instinctually moved her hand unto her lap.
"Have you seriously never noticed?" He enquired, watching Eighteen's face grow with slight perplexity.
"Not really, no. But if it's weird, I'll stop."
"Weird?" Krillin answered calmly, pulling his knees up to his chest, "Take it from me. That hair thing you do is far from weird. It's just a quirky habit you have. That's all."
"Habit?"
"Yeah. Everyone has them." Krillin added, lifting his eyes to the cloudless blue sky above him. At that moment, Eighteen's concerns morphed into curiosity. Now that she gave it some consideration, Krillin did have some fairly odd traits of his own. Realising this, Eighteen violently crashed her hands together with excitement. The resounding clash of her hands drew Krillin's attention away from the empty sky and unto a far more captivating sight.
"You know, you always start to laugh nervously when I stare at you for an extended period of time." Eighteen astutely remarked.
Shaking his head from side-to-side, Krillin firmly disagreed with a great amount of confidence, "Erm- I believe you're imagining things because I'm pretty sure I've never done that before, babe." His confidence, however, was set to quickly vanish. Eighteen silently folded the arms of Krillin's sunglasses, delicately resting them on top of her magazine.
"W-what are you doing?" His query reeked with diffidence. Eighteen purposefully ignored him, electing to silently close the gap between them instead. Krillin dared not move, especially since Eighteen developed a kittenesque sheen in her eyes. She fearlessly pounced on him; Krillin willingly collapsed unto his back. The space between them was now non-existent. What followed was the inevitable.
"Ahh, damn it." He humbly admitted, "I guess you're right."
"See," Eighteen gloated with raised eyebrows. She remained on top of him, resuming her point with a velvety inflexion, "and I think you laugh because you don't know what else to do when I have my eyes set on you."
Krillin provided no reply as strands of Eighteen's hair lightly tickled his besotted face. Her strong emphasis on the word, 'you' drew forth another excitable chuckle. Now that she had brought it to his attention, he couldn't stop himself. Nor did he want to.
Satisfied by the result, Eighteen distanced their proximity, if only by the smallest of margins. This gifted Krillin the chance to not only wipe off the soft sand from his back but also reveal another fascinating observation he made about Eighteen.
"Here's a really good one!" Krillin's child-like enthusiasm gripped Eighteen, staring back him with a sense of anticipation, "You always make sure that the TV or radio volume is set at an even number."
"You're kidding, right?" Eighteen answered him with a doubtful snicker. Krillin shuffled himself closer to Eighteen, eagerly elaborating, "I am 100% serious. There have been times where I have deliberately set the volume at 19 and then I catch you changing it to 20 or 22-"
"Or 18?" She noted with a sense of irony.
"Exactly!"
"I can't say there's a valid explanation for it."
"The only thing I can think of is that because your name, you naturally prefer even numbers." Krillin's winged reasoning technically made sense.
However, Eighteen wasn't fully convinced, logically stating, "If that's the case, then maybe my brother likes his volume set to an odd number."
"That's gotta be true." He firmly agreed, "You should ask him the next time you see him."
"Actually, speaking of my brother, you two share a habit."
"No way!" Krillin exclaimed with great elation, 'What is it!?"
"I wouldn't get too excited if I were you. Eighteen warned him, hinting at the fact that this habit wasn't exactly a positive one, "You and Seventeen need to learn how to eat without talking at the same time."
"Huh. I never would have imagined your brother doing something like that." Krillin remarked bemusedly. Even though he didn't know much about Eighteen's brother, he was relieved to discover that they did have something in common, even if it was just talking with their mouths full.
"Believe me, he's almost as bad as you." Eighteen slyly teased, sneakily resting her head on Krillin's shoulder. Sticking to the subject of her brother, she calmly suggested to him, "Perhaps on my next visit to Seventeen's place, you should come with me."
Eighteen almost lost her balance due to Krillin's sudden movement. She fixed her eyes on him, reading the agitated expression which had rapidly overtaken him as he paced back and forth in front of her.
"D-do you think that's such a good idea?" Krillin responded apprehensively. This wasn't the first time the topic of Krillin meeting up with Seventeen had occurred. When she had mentioned it to him before, he would quickly change the subject or brush it off with a fake smile. She decided it was time to tell it to him straight.
"What, so you don't want to meet him then?"
"No, I would like to meet him." Krillin unconvincingly replied.
Eighteen candidly returned with a stern tone, "Really? Because your face is telling me something completely different."
Krillin halted in his tracks as Eighteen's words escaped her mouth. Disappointment followed her as she looked away from him. Sitting back down on the sand, Krillin hoped he could clearly convey his anxious thoughts:
"I do want to meet your brother, Eighteen. I guess I'm just worried that he gonna think that I'm not good enough for you. Or maybe we won't get along with each other."
Eighteen's face perked up at Krillin's response. She could totally understand why he may feel that way. Nevertheless, she desired to put his concerns to rest.
Taking a hold of his shaky hand, she sincerely reassured him, "Honey, you have no reason to be nervous about him. He knows that we've been dating for a little while now and he seems pretty chilled about it. I mean even if he wasn't, I don't need his approval. Besides, I believe we've been together long enough to pay him at least one visit from the both of us."
"So, I don't have anything to worry about?" Krillin asked with a hint of courage in his voice. Eighteen strongly shook her head; he seriously had nothing to fear. Swiftly rising to his feet, Krillin boldly proclaimed, "Alright then! We better get going!"
"Go? Go where?"
"Well, I said that I wanted to meet your brother, didn't I?" Krillin clarified cheerfully, offering his right hand out towards Eighteen. Gladly accepting Krillin's outstretched arm, she arose from the ground, asking with an ebullient expression,
"You want to meet Seventeen right now?"
"Sure!" Krillin confirmed confidently, "I wanna do whatever makes you happy, Eighteen!" His elegant blush was infectious; the surface of Eighteen's cheeks were being painted with same rose coloured hue. Krillin then wrapped his arms around her neck, like a scarf on a cold winter's night. She willingly returned the favour, tenderly caressing the sides of his face. As their bodies gently swayed, Eighteen inquisitively enquired,
"Why are you so good to me, Krillin?" The man in question instinctually released a nervous chuckle, before answering with a heartfelt resonance,
"Because you've been so good to me."
Neither of them knew for certain who exactly initiated the kiss. But one thing was obvious: neither of them cared. Their hands crawled around each other's bodies as their kisses grew more and more intense. It was a good thing Master Roshi and Oolong weren't around to see this. Krillin and Eighteen rarely got to physically express themselves since their housemates always stood around like vultures.
It was Eighteen's turn to fall unto her back, dragging her lovestruck partner with her. As Eighteen's fingers danced around his toned stomach, Krillin passionately pecked her neck, leaving little imprints of where his lips had been. It was yet another adorable idiosyncrasy Eighteen so dearly treasured about Krillin.
Soon enough, they carefully rested their foreheads against each other, leading them to stare intimately into each other's eyes. The exhilarating adrenaline which had suddenly thrust them into the moment was gradually settling down. Their pounding hearts were left playing catch up.
"Well, that was a pleasant surprise." Krillin breathlessly panted in a euphoric daze.
"You're telling me." Eighteen concurred, evidently indicating her contentment with a sudden sweep of her hair. Little dimples appeared on Krillin's cheeks at the sight of Eighteen's signal of satisfaction, readily noting,
"You just did your hair thing again."
Eighteen embraced her little quirk proudly, "I know."
"So, should we get ready to leave, babe?"
"Hold on a second, Krillin! I've forgotten something!"
"What did you for-" Cutting off Krillin's sentence, Eighteen boldly pressed her lips on his. She simply couldn't resist the alluring taste of Krillin's sweet kiss any longer. He gladly welcomed the interruption; he didn't mind being silenced if this was his reward for doing so. Before they got too caught up in the moment, Eighteen gradually withdrew from their brief kiss, playfully stating,
"Okay, now I'm ready to leave."
"Well, you might be ready. But I need to at least wear a shirt at Seventeen's place." Krillin noted, lifting himself off from Eighteen. She followed his lead, promptly dusting off all the sand she had collected on her clothes.
"You should you wear that new shirt I picked out for you the other day." Eighteen advised, grabbing her magazine and Krillin's sunglasses which had thankfully not been stolen by the ocean tide during their impromptu make-out session. Krillin agreed with her suggestion as they both made their way inside Kame house.
"So, what kinda things does your brother like?" Krillin curiously pried, "Is he into any TV shows or movies or anything like that?" He wanted to make sure that if their conversation was beginning to run dry, he had something he could bounce off from to keep things going. Unfortunately, Eighteen wasn't a lot of help, replying with shrugged shoulders,
"I don't really know. Seventeen's pretty reserved and private; even more so than me. But I have reason to suspect that he has a soft spot for animals."
"Really?" Krillin returned, neglecting to hide his surprised expression, "What makes you think that?"
"Well, when I first met up with him, he mentioned how much he enjoyed living in the middle of nowhere, away from the cities and close to the heart of nature. It may have sounded poetic, but I just rolled my eyes at it, to be honest."
"Uhh. I mean, I like turtles." Krillin's light joke warranted a painless punch on his arm from Eighteen as she accompanied him to his bedroom, depositing his sunglasses on his bedside dresser. While Krillin equipped his recently acquired bright orange t-shirt to match his baggy khaki trousers, Eighteen ran a brush through her hair, rigorously untangling the knots she had created for herself. Of course, the brush itself didn't belong to her. But it may as well have; she made more use of it than Krillin did.
It was Eighteen who had finished getting ready first. She decided to kill some time by taking a seat on the edge of Krillin's bed and resuming to read her magazine. Her eyes bounced around the pages, scanning to see if there was anything worth treating herself to for her next shopping spree. However, her search was quickly interrupted,
"Babe, should I wear my sunglasses to your brother's or not?" Krillin queried, pointlessly rotating them in uncertainty.
Eighteen's answer was concise, yet definitive, "No. They wouldn't match your outfit." Krillin reluctantly agreed, placing them back on his bedside dresser.
Retreating from Krillin's bedroom, Eighteen knowingly abandoned her magazine on Krillin's bed; it gave her an easy excuse to return to his room later in the day. Krillin promptly joined her at the top of the stairs, before heading towards the mouth of the house together, hand-in-hand. As they exited the residence, they both sharply covered their eyes to counteract the blinding light being emitted by the scorching sun. Thankfully, their eyes readjusted quickly to their surroundings.
They stood still for a fleeting moment. It occurred to both Krillin and Eighteen that this visit to Seventeen's place was going to be a big step forward in their relationship. It was a step that neither of them could have even imagined taking when Eighteen first stepped foot inside Kame House. But they were so grateful that they had each other to take it.
"Hey, Krillin." Eighteen softly uttered, effortlessly attaining his pleasant gaze, "Before we leave, I just wanted to say thank you for doing this. You have no idea just how much this means to me."
Krillin couldn't think of any sufficient words to say in reply. He simply smiled back at Eighteen, who was gleefully mimicking his expression. With each passing day, Krillin and Eighteen continued to discover new things they adored about each other. From big gestures to small habits, all of these things brought them closer together.
Taking flight to the endless skies above them, they joyously marvelled at where exactly this relationship was taking them.
THE END