"Cor! You scared me." She said trying to sound angry but failing at it, instead, there was some enthusiasm trailing her words. "Why are you here? I said I was coming back soon." She said and slid down the pillar.
"You shouldn't go out like that, it's danger–" Cor started as usual because she wouldn't get away only for their about-to-change relationship.
"Yes. Yes, I know. But there. Nothing happened." Aelia said a little sullenly. "Even if something did happen, I know my way around these ruins to run easily."
Aelia patted away some leaves and dirt from her pants, Cor looked at her in some relief she was in good spirits again. She stretched and he knew she wasn't trying to be enticing, but she was nonetheless. Since the time after Altissia Cor had started to become aware of things about her, he hadn't before, and at first, he had been incredulous at himself for it and self-reprimanding. But now he understood it was because she had started to pull his heartstrings, not for some other less tasteless reasons.
"Something's wrong? You're very quiet, even for you." Aelia said as she walked to him, hands in pockets and slow steps, she was being cautious.
"No," Cor smiled shortly. "Just a Princess that makes me go around Lucis for no reason."
Aelia huffed and looked down, her face becoming a little pink. "I said you didn't need to come! Why are you so over–"
Cor really couldn't help it any longer and he moved towards her. Aelia shut her mouth when he stepped closer to her suddenly, she staggered back. The quick dubious look that crossed her face when looking at him told him she was starting to become nervous. He wanted to play a little with her now, she probably thought he was angry at her– which he actually was, but just a little. However, she didn't need to know that just yet.
He stepped closer to her again and she kept backing while holding her hands up. "Ok. Ok! I won't do it again! I'll always go out with a whole bunch of Crownsguard or Glaives!" Finally, she ran out of space to retreat as her back hit the fallen pillar she had been sitting on a moment ago.
Cor stopped a few inches from her and looked down into her eyes. Now she seemed slightly panicked and her mind was probably wiring for a way out of this situation. She licked her dry lips, and his eyes immediately zeroed in on the action. Cor knew she would try to bolt and make a run for it, hoping he wouldn't be bothered enough to stop her. But he didn't let her. As soon as she tried to get past him, he took her arm and pulled her back against the pillar. She opened her mouth to say something again but he leaned down and captured her lips, he felt her gasp under him and then freeze. He smiled against her lips and pulled back, just an inch.
"What- what are you doing?" She sputtered, confused.
"That's called a kiss, Princess. You might be unfamiliar with the action–"
And he got distracted midway through his teasing by her biting her lower lip. So he kissed her again, this time longer and slower. She give a confused noise, then grasped at his jacket, not pushing him away just tugging a little at it. He moved away again, and looked at her flustered face and closed eyes that opened slowly.
"Did you hit your head or something?" She finally asked when she gathered the courage to look into his eyes.
"No." He said softly and rubbed her scarred cheek with his thumb as if that would erase the heightened color of her skin.
"Then... Then? I- You!" She became even more flustered until it seemed it was too much for her to process "Never mind." She mumbled. And now Aelia's face was burning, so she hid it against his chest.
Cor smiled, it was odd for her to get tongue-tied, and it was more amusing now that it was over this. He put his hand on her head, now that she was close he could smell her citrus and minted scent he had become familiar with in moments of danger when he had to take her close to protect her but never to enjoy her warmth and softness like this.
"I'm hungry." She finally said after a minute or so of silence.
"Then let's go back," Cor said quietly and took her by the shoulders, turning her around and pushing her lightly forward. She started to make her walk away barefooted, Cor sighed and picked up her shoes. Cor looked on in amusement at how Aelia halted, then looked down at her feet and turned around.
Aelia turned embarrassed at her forgetting she hadn't had her damn shoes all this time, only to be met by Cor's eyes shining with some mirth as he held the offending objects in his hand. Aelia was sure that she couldn't make him more entertained by her reactions even if she tried, so with a burning face she grasped the shoes from his hand and put them on quickly, then she scurried away from him towards the place she had left her car parked.
The tell-tale of unhurried steps behind her told her he was following her. She was so confused, flustered, and hungry! Why had he kissed her? He had been so adamant all this time that he didn't hold any feelings for her nor ever would! She spun on her heel and came face to face with him. Aelia suppressed the surprise of him being so close without her even realizing it.
"Why did you kiss me?" She asked looking up at him and denoting heavy frustration, her usual control, which she let down a notch around Cor -or a lot at times-, was almost non-existent now.
"Because I wanted to." He said simply and with such calmness that she wanted to tug at her hair.
"Yes. And tell me, why did you want to? Is it some kind of joke, because if it is–!"
Cor stopped her, invading her personal space again. She tried to step back, but again, she was pinned; this time against her car.
"I'm not toying with you," Cor said in earnest. This made her gape stupidly for a moment then cast her eyes down unable to hold his gaze.
"But all this time you've told me to forget about it, to not hold any hope…" Maybe she was a little upset and knew her voice was projecting it quite clearly, she hated showing her vulnerability like this again. So she ended quietly "-that you didn't feel anything."
"I wasn't being truthful," Cor said honestly and her eyes snapped up to his, "Or what did you expect? For me to accept a girl twenty years younger than me, that is coincidentally the daughter of my friend and king, that could just be passing by some fleeting crush–" she opened her mouth to protest but he stopped her by putting his hand over her mouth, "-that I could see myself wanting to have a future with?"
Aelia frowned and pushed his hand away, "I guess if you put it like that– And it's only seventeen years!" She exclaimed then grasped the edges of his jacket and pulled him closer, to which he complied with an amused gleam in his eyes. "And what made you change your mind then?" Her eyes fixed on his cleavage, feeling too shy again to look into his eyes.
"Your father." He said.
She opened her eyes and looked at him again. "Dad?" She almost screamed. "But what- how? I mean, you-" Aelia who usually was such an eloquent and smooth talker had lost her capacity to speak it would seem since ten minutes ago. And what was worse, she could tell Cor was enjoying this way too much.
She snapped her mouth shut and let her head fall on his chest. "I'm hungry." She mumbled, her brain too burnt already to try and comprehend what was happening.
A pat on her head, a push later, and she was seated in the front seat of her car with Cor turning on the engine and pulling it into the road.
Cor wasn't surprised when Aelia fell asleep on the way back to Insomnia, if there was something besides their looks that held a resemblance in the royal siblings was their proclivity to sleep whenever and wherever they got a chance. Cor almost huffed when remembering her initial fussing at the start of the ride, but after he had kissed her again she had almost fused with her seat in her giddiness. Then, of course, she closed her eyes and her breathing became even. Not that Cor minded, it gave him more time to think, even if thinking seemed the only thing he had been doing for a long time.
So this is how to love someone feels, or at least in the 'I'm going to spend the rest of my days by your side' kind of love. It still puzzled him how this had come to happen, but now that he wasn't rejecting this chance he was glad it had come to be, as unexpected and unwanted as it had been. Cor's mind flashed back to her confused and flushed face after he had kissed her, how soft her lips had been, and how her eyes shined with confused pleasure. Cor planned to enjoy her awkwardness as long as he could, for he knew it would not long last as once Aelia became accustomed to it, she would turn to be very bold and shameless in her shows of affection. Not that he wouldn't enjoy that as well, and maybe, a lifetime as well.
For the moment though, the drive in the closely darkening road took his mind away from that and moved to a farthest future. Nothing took a specific form, Cor only knew that now that they were together, there was only one way for them to go. Cor was too old and uninterested to care for anything but his work and now -well, probably for a while- Aelia. But it was different from other times he had tried the relationship thing before; he had never truly cared for the women he had dated more than his duty to the King and Lucis, so they hadn't been long-lived and at some point, Cor just didn't see the point of it anymore. It had been like that for at least ten years or more, so maybe that was part of why it had taken him so long to admit he loved the infuriating Princess who was pleasantly sleeping just beside him.
Finally, they arrived back at one of the Capital's doors, and as the car slowed down into the traffic Aelia stirred.
"We're already back?" Aelia mumbled, sleep still clinging to her voice.
Cor hummed in affirmation.
"Let's get something to eat, I'm dying." She complained and her stomach rumbled in agreement.
"Maybe next time you shouldn't run away to a remote place," Cor answered, even if he had mostly gotten over it, he was still annoyed by it. They stopped at a red light and Cor felt Aelia's eyes on him, he turned to catch the half-hearted guilty look, but the turn of her lips upward betrayed her unrepentant mischief.
"Maybe. Or maybe, next time I better pack a lunch." She sniffed, then laughed when Cor narrowed his eyes at her, of course, she was being provocative for her own amusement. "Alright, alright. I promise to not go anywhere desolated without you."
Cor wouldn't admit it, but part of him felt contented at hearing that. But he couldn't show weakness or she would capitalize on it later on, the little wretch. So he didn't answer and kept his eyes on the traffic.
"So. What did my dad tell you?" She asked after the silence stretched on.
Cor tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, "That it would be a bad idea to leave you to run rampant without supervision."
"Ha-ha. Very funny."
He didn't answer.
"You won't tell me will you?" She sighed, resting her head on her hand that was propped in the armrest of her door.
"No."
"Fine, keep your secrets," Aelia said, waving her fingers, then muttering. "I'll just ask Dad later."
"I heard that."
Aelia sniffed, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Maybe I should just take you back and lock you into your room," Cor said under breath.
"I wouldn't mind if you stay locked with me," Aelia commented.
Cor raised an eyebrow, it seems the Princess did know pickup lines, albeit bad ones. He smiled, "I could still make it into a punishment."
And she did catch the undertone of it at least, because she sputtered and turned beet red. "Oh. I wasn't expecting that." Aelia said as she put her hands to her burning cheeks.
Clearly, she hadn't, just like she hadn't expected him to kiss her a couple of hours before. "You'll get used to it." He shrugged.
"That's not fair! Why am I the only one getting embarrassed?"
"Do you want me to be embarrassed?"
"Well… no. But it's still not fair." The Princess said, and if he didn't need to have his eyes on the surrounding cars at the moment he was sure if he turned to look at her she would have a sulky look.
They fell into silence again and Cor thought amusedly at her sporadic fidgeting and blushing when she noticed him looking. It wasn't like she hadn't blushed or acted shy from time to time before, but she had tended to hide it from him not wanting to make him uncomfortable. He still had noticed it though but pretended not to. Cor had rarely felt uncomfortable about it, now that he thought about it, exasperated from time to time. Sure. But now he could admit that it had amused him and on more rare occasions, felt tenderness growing towards her. The usually collected, cunning Princess that seemed way older than she was, becoming girlish and just acting the age she was supposed to be for him.
Aelia looked in curiosity as they parked, the eastern part of the capital wasn't one she frequented or knew very well, it was the Wutaian district by the looks of it. "Where are we?"
"A place I like the food of."
"Oh?" Aelia said curiously, then she remembered he liked spicy food. "Wait, food that you like?"
"You should be hungry enough to eat anything, right?"
Aelia narrowed her eyes and bite her lower lip, trying to figure out if he was trying to take revenge or if he was just teasing her. His face revealed nothing, damn he was good at this! Then he broke and smiled humorously.
"You're very mean Marshal." She sniffed.
He huffed a laugh and opened his door, Aelia hurried to follow him and then stopped a moment to look around; they had parked beside a park that was on a terrace that overlooked most of the city. The whole day had been windy, the afternoon was no exception, a gush of wind guided her gaze towards the west the sky was tinted with orange and reds as the sun set on the west behind the tallest buildings of the center of Insomnia and the Citadel.
"Weren't you hungry?" Cor asked from behind her, Aelia was startled out of her reverie.
"Yes. It's only– I had never seen the City like this." She said looking into his eyes, which were locked as well westwards, then looked down at her again with something in them that she had thought to have seen before but would always go away as soon as it came. But this time it didn't disappear, leaving her wondering if she had even seen it at all in the first place, and it was a look that accelerated her heart. Aelia flushed and rushed past him, taking his arm and pulling him along to the other side of the street where the restaurant was.
Aelia stopped once they were inside and looked around; it was a charming and cozy place; all wood, tatami, and paper lamps.
"Welcome!" Greeted an old man, then his eyes opened a little seeing Cor. "Cor! First you don't come for years and now you come almost every week." He laughed warmly and clapped Cor's shoulder, then turned his keen gaze at her. "Ah! A date perhaps?" The man's eye twinkled when Cor didn't say anything to contradict the assessment, "He's never brought a girl before you know!" He added in a conspirational tone to her, then laughed heartily when her face turned red again, a little more and she was sure she'll be more tomato than a person by the end of the day. The old man took pity on her and ushered them inside to a quiet corner.
Cor was still having fun at the expense of her continuously fluctuating face tones it seemed, and Aelia thought that it was perhaps part of the payback for running off in the morning to the ruins. So focused was she on fighting off her embarrassment that she didn't realize Cor ordered for both of them when the old man -Noboru he presented himself to her- left to go for their food.
"I didn't know you could become so shy," Cor said from across the table, "for someone who is so brazen most of the time."
Aelia sniffed, a little aggrieved, "And I didn't know you could be so callous! No. Wait, I knew that already." She said more aggravated.
Cor smiled and raised one lazy eyebrow leaning back against the wall behind him, "Then why did you insist on getting yourself such a callous man? If I didn't know better, I'd say you like to suffer."
"You're the one that usually complains about being around me, not the other way around." She shot back.
"Yes. Because you always find a way to get yourself into problems which I have to take you out of."
Aelia bite her lips trying to not smile guiltily, she wouldn't give in so quickly, but by the shining laughter in Cor's eyes, she knew she had already lost. "But I think you like to get me out of trouble." Aelia couldn't help herself and to turn exasperating, he's had his fun so she might as well take some as well.
"You're certainly searching for trouble now," Cor said dryly.
Aelia was sure she would later regret saying it, but she just had to, "You're my kind of trouble."
Cor huffed out in amusement, "Where do you get such lousy pick-up lines?"
"Movies and trash novels." She answered laughing.
Not long after their food arrived and Aelia was pleasantly surprised at the bowl of sour fish soup she was presented with, a bowl of fried noodles and some pickled vegetables she couldn't recognize or simply didn't know. Getting used to the chopsticks had been a little challenging but she had managed after a few tries, Cor wouldn't help her at all. She would get back at him eventually for being so unhelpful but she was hungry enough to let it go for the time being.
They finished eating without talking much more, so Aelia's mind started wandering again, trying to understand what had happened, it still seemed so unreal. She feared that this was just all a dream and that she would wake up at the ruins, all alone -and still hungry-. As they made their way out of the restaurant, Noboru had held back Cor to tell him something so Aelia made her way to the car to wait for him.
Aelia sagged against her car in defeat while looking at Cor; she had started to like him since she was around what? Eighteen? Her twenty-fourth birthday passed not long ago, and now that she had finally gotten her "callous man" she was feeling somewhat lost. So her mind started to overthink things; was this some kind of prank? No, Cor wasn't that much of an asshole. Then what was it? Was he doing it out of pity? That didn't sound like him either. Many more scenarios and possibilities ran through her mind but none seemed to fit, so she gave up on it with a sigh.
Cor finally finished talking with the restaurant owned -or rather finished listening to whatever the old man had to tell him- and walked to her, then he caught her staring intently. "What?"
"Nothing," Aelia answered.
A silently raised eyebrow told her he knew there was something she wanted to ask or say.
"It's just– it's somewhat difficult to believe–" She stopped herself and started again, "You know, I never really had many hopes with you– Well, err…"
An amused smile drew on his face, "Me what?"
Why was he smiling so much? It made her fluster again so easily, damn him! Aelia wasn't sure what she had been about to say; 'loving her back?' He hadn't said those three words, or at least not directly. But Cor clearly knew what she meant to say by the glint of understanding in his eyes and he was enjoying way too much her tangling herself over a simple question.
And didn't he feel anything sort of confusion or doubt? For Astrals' sake! Aelia had been the one insisting on this for years now, so why was she the uneasy one now? She glared at him, she had never seen him acting awkward or feeling embarrassed. The longing to see every face and emotion pass through him suddenly overcame her doubts for Aelia knew now she would be able to see it.
"I really love you." It escaped her and she said it so in earnest that when she realized what and how she had just uttered she bite her lips and turning bright red she turned her gaze pointedly at her feet. Aelia didn't dare to look at Cor, because yes, she had told him she loved him once before but it hadn't been very emotional or romantic, it was more like a statement or an explanation. But now, she had said it like a complete dorky girl, it was nothing like her, not at all! Or perhaps it was, but still, she was very embarrassed all the same.
"Aelia." Cor's voice wasn't leaving room for her to avoid what she had just said, and she couldn't run, she was caged against the car door.
She turned her head slowly up and before she had time to think or say anything his hand had taken the back of her head, pulling her into a tender kiss that lasted a few seconds. He released her and looked down at her with so much emotion in his usual cold gaze and such a tender smile was drawn on his that she knew what he was saying without using any words. Cor had never liked to talk much anyways. Aelia knew she must have a similar expression, for how could she not when her heart felt like it didn't fit into her chest? She laid a tender hand on his face and she had to rise on her tiptoes to reach him, Aelia returned a short kiss then rested her head against his chest and hugged him as she had wanted to do so many times before, his arms circled her and he kissed the top of her head.
THE END