"Are you stalking me?" Lilac eyes peer curiously over the mountain of whipped cream as he takes a sip of his hot chocolate.
Rialyn scoffs and looks a bit incredulous. "I was here first! If anything, you are stalking me!"
Louis hums softly and closes his eyes a moment as he savors the chocolate. Licking the whipped cream off his upper lip absently as his lilac eyes open again, showing a hit of amusement. "Ah. Well, I suppose I can agree you were here first. But I must deny the stalking accusation. I didn't know you were here until I turned around." He grins. "Not that I'm unhappy at all to see that you are…"
Rialyn rolled his eyes, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. "Is that so?" he drawled, leaning back in his chair with an air of casual indifference.
Louis merely smiled, a warm but mysterious expression that seemed as intoxicating as it was elusive. He didn't respond immediately, instead choosing to take another slow sip of his hot chocolate, maintaining eye contact with Rialyn all the while.
Finishing his drink, he set down the cup with deliberate care, licking the last of the whipped cream off his lips, and finally spoke. "Sometimes, Pretty One," he began, his voice bearing the soft cadence usually found in his song lyrics, "unexpected encounters can be the most bewitching."
He leaned slightly forward, resting one hand on the tabletop the red-haired Fae was sitting at. The t-shirt he wore gaped open a bit with the movement, showing off his collarbones. "Don't you agree?"
Rialyn let out a huffed chuckle, his amber eyes gleaming with amusement. "Bewitching, hmm?" He rose from his seat, the serpentine movement of his tall, lean frame, highlighting the glow of his rune tattoos under the warm café lighting. "That's one word for it."
The red-haired Fae rolled his eyes, their golden runes glimmering in stark contrast to the caramel hue of his skin. "Spare me your dramatics," he retorted, though the smirk on his face betrayed his obvious amusement. "This place isn't big enough for two drama queens."
Louis raises an eyebrow, scrutinizing Rialyn as he straightens up with a challenging smirk. "Is that so? And here I thought I might have finally become interesting enough to warrant your attention Pretty One."
Rialyn chuckles, a warm and rich sound that manages to make Louis' heart skip a beat, though he'd never admit it aloud. "Oh, Louis," Rialyn murmurs, the playful teasing that usually colors his tone replaced by something softer. "You've always been interesting enough."
It's a candid admission, one that seems to catch Rialyn off guard as he blinks in surprise. Louis watched the flicker of emotions in Rialyn's eyes – defiance, frustration...interest?
"Is that so?" Louis ventured, his voice low and entrancing as he took a few steps forward, further closing the distance between them. The vibrant energy churning between them sparked with an electricity that seemed to set the air itself aflame.
His gaze dropped to Rialyn's lips which were curving into an amused smirk. They were as tantalizing as the rest of him, but also decidedly off-limits unless he wanted whatever was going on between them to end.
Rialyn chuckled, breaking the momentary tension. "Oh, don't look so surprised," he drawled, running a finger along the rim of his own empty cup, one hip cocked out casually, eyes never leaving Louis'. "I'm not completely immune to your charms. I just usually choose to ignore them." He smirked and tossed his head, sending his red braids flying, the tiny amber beads on the ends clicking together in a rush of sound.
"Charming, me?" Louis feigned shock, accentuating it with a theatric gasp that earned him a playful shove from Rialyn.
"I wouldn't go that far," Rialyn teased back.
"Ouch, the burn," Louis responded, clutching his heart for dramatic effect. Rialyn merely raised an eyebrow in amusement as he leaned against the table, arms folded across his chest.
Louis maneuvered himself back into an upright position, the move executed with a dancer's grace. Dipping a finger into the last of the whipped cream in his empty cup, he popped it into his mouth. Closing his lips around his finger, he held Rialyn's red gaze as he licked it clean. "I guess I'll have to keep working on it then…"
"One would think," Rialyn drawled, his voice laced with a teasing undertone, "that you'd have given up by now." He watched Louis, flicking a tiny amber bead against his thumb. The soft click it made when it connected with another bead was barely audible over the cacophony of the café.
"Who says I'm trying to win anything?" replied Louis, his lilac eyes flicking from Rialyn's gaze to the bead in his hand. There was an edge of curiosity to his tone, an unspoken question hanging in the air between them.
Rialyn smiled, a dangerous smirk that had Louis reevaluating his earlier words. "Oh, aren't you?" He shot back, meeting Louis' questioning gaze with twinkling amber eyes.
Louis chuckled softly, a sound that echoed in the quiet moments as he took another step closer. "You've got me all wrong," he murmured thoughtfully. "I'm not here to win, Pretty One," he continued, lightly spinning his empty cup on the table between his hands. "I'm here to play."
A spark of interest lit in Rialyn's eyes at that statement, his smirk evolving into a grin of genuine amusement. "Well," he leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice to a teasing whisper, "Let the games begin."
As they locked gazes across the isolated table in the bustling café, Louis felt a thrill surge through him – a mixture of anticipation and excitement. The chase, it seemed, was far from over. And he was absolutely going to win. To the winner goes the prize and all that, and his Pretty One was certainly a prize.
Before he could read more into it, Rialyn's eyes hardened, the mischievous glint returning. "But coming to this place regularly?" He shook his head, the thousands of tiny braids adorned with amber beads swaying along. "Terrible for my reputation. Makes me seem almost...normal." He flashed a wicked grin.
Just as Rialyn made a move to leave, Louis reached out to grasp his hand. "One more thing," Louis said, holding Rialyn's gaze steady. A hint of surprise flickered in those red eyes but was quickly replaced by curiosity.
"And what would that be?" Rialyn countered, a hint of challenge lacing his words.
Louis tilted his head, his lilac eyes glinting with mischief as he held Rialyn's hand. "For a prize to be appealing," he purred, leaning in close enough that their noses nearly touched, "it needs to be... attainable."
A laugh escaped Rialyn, the sound rich and surprisingly warm. He didn't pull away as Louis might have expected, their faces still dangerously close. "And who says I'm not?"
The words hung in the air between them, a challenge and a promise all in one. Louis merely smiled, releasing Rialyn's hand with a gentle squeeze. "That," he murmured, "is what I intend to find out."
With that, he turned and strode towards the door without a backward glance. The way the lights glinted on his short indigo hair and his rhythmic stride was as much a performance as anything he did on stage. Louis knew the power of a dramatic exit, and nothing was more thrilling than leaving Rialyn wanting more. With every step he took towards the exit, Louis' black leather pants seemed to hug his form a bit tighter. A taunting spectacle designed to elicit an enticing response from his unsuspecting observer.
Rialyn watched as Louis left, a hint of surprise in his red eyes being quickly replaced by appreciation. His eyes traced Louis's retreating form until the door swung shut behind him, leaving him alone with the remnants of Louis' hot chocolate, his own espresso, and an odd sense of anticipation.