It was a fight that kicked the confessions out of them both.
A simple disagreement, one that spiraled skyward within a matter of minutes, both talking about one thing but meaning something else entirely.
They were sitting in the courtyard on an ordinary stone bench on an ordinary Wednesday evening, ordinarily enjoying the other's company as they babbled senselessly about things neither of them had much care for, both mainly trying to hide the fact that they wanted nothing more than to tell the other the thought that was branded to the forefront of their minds, the scar they thought ugly and taboo but was really a beautiful, growing and blossoming mark permeated onto their fragile skin.
On the topic of ice cream, of the favourite and least favourite flavor variety, Fabian made the unintentional mistake of labeling mint choc-chip as his least favorite flavor. Hestia, ever the one to defend her favorite ice-cream's honor, called him out on it, and from there the ignited spark flourished.
"Maybe if you just opened your eyes and looked, you'd see the better flavor right under your nose!" she screamed at him, her usually calm and uncaring demeanor gone with the wind.
"Maybe if you stopped and regarded someone other than yourself for a moment, you'd see that there are so many other options, ones that would taste far better than bloody mint choc-chip!" he shouted back, his usually smiling face contorted into one of anger and a longing to just grab the fuming girl in front of her and kiss her.
"Well maybe if you gave it a chance instead of running off to your stupid, safe cookie dough flavor, you'd see that it tastes far better than anything else!"
"Maybe I like to be safe! Maybe I like to stick to one flavor that I know will never turn it's back on me and won't make me feel inadequate with its extra toppings and ingredients!"
"Well then your not living! If you just tried, stepped out of your comfort zone, you'd find that safety isn't any fun! And you might just find yourself loving a new flavor!"
"What if I don't? What if it's all just a joke to the mint choc-chip and it doesn't realize that I'm serious and scared and longing to leave the comfort zone but am terrified of the consequences?"
"It's not like that! Mint choc-chip wants to be tried, wants to be loved! It's not going to run off when your backs turned, it's not like that –"
While to anyone listening in on the conversation would have realized that it had stopped being about ice cream within the first ten seconds, it seemed to have just dawned on the both of them that maybe they were referring to themselves rather than their preferred flavor.
Just to fill the tense silence that had built itself between them, Fabian rushed out the overdue confession all in one heavy breath, "HestiaIloveyou." (While this was not exactly how he pictured his declaration, it was better than keeping it bottled up, he thought.)
And despite the man usually initiating the kiss, it was Hestia that barreled forward into his arms, threw her own around his neck, and crashed her lips to his.
It was fiery passion and pent up feelings and longing and freedom and finally, all rolled up into one movement of lips against lips, tongues sliding over tongues, fingers twisted in hair and hands clutching hips.
"I guess I love you too," she whispered through labored breaths, lips still on his, fingers still locked in ginger tresses.
"I guess that's cool," he replied, trying to get her closer to him when it wasn't even physically possible anymore, a dazed smile claiming his lips.
"I guess it is," she answered, before kissing him once more.