ash

“What?” he asked her with a laugh as he watched her carefully pick up the cupcake, so she didn’t get any of the pink frosting on her fingers. He decided he should probably eat his food he ordered as well before it got too cold. So, he picked up his sandwich and started filling his mouth.

Nana ate her two cupcakes she had ordered in silence. Though, Dante wasn’t complaining because he always knew she loved to enjoy her baked goods. That was just what he assumed to be the case now. Or, she was thinking about something random like ‘what am I going to make for dinner?’ or ‘Should I continue watching that one show? I heard it’s really good’. Even though Dante knew he should leave her alone, he didn’t like the silence. And he wanted to talk to her.

“Nana,” he said to get her attention, wiping his lips off with the sleeve of his shirt to get the last of his sandwich crumbs off. 

“Hm?” She hummed as she turned to face him, her right ear twitching at the disturbances. He had her full attention now; “Yes, Dante?”

He reached a hand over to place on her knee, right on top of her skirt as he smiled at her. “What are you thinking about?” He asked, but it was quickly replaced as he noticed her form shifting in front of him and how her leg tensed up under his hand. He withdrew his hand, afraid he may have crossed some boundary he wasn’t previously informed of. “Sorry, that was weird– did I make that weird?”

Nana shifted in her chair. Dante had a feeling he made her uncomfortable and it was beginning to destroy him from the inside. She cleared her throat a bit, anxiously brushing her fingers through her hair to let it sit behind her ear as she looked over at him. 

“No, no. You didn’t.” She told him, trying to ease the anxiety she could see creeping onto his face. “I’m just not all that used to being romantic and all that in public. Maybe it’s weird, I don’t know.” 

“I don’t think it’s weird.” Dante said, as Nana let out a breath. “If you’re not comfortable with PDA, then that’s totally fine. We don’t have to do any of that, y’know?” He smiled at her. He would do anything for this girl; she had him totally wrapped around her finger at this point. 

“But you like PDA, Dante. I can tell how much it means to you.” Nana scooted back in her chair, starting to clean up the table, collecting the trash onto one singular plate. It gave her something to do, something else to focus on during a serious conversation, that (in her mind) could end badly. 

Dante started to stand as soon as he saw this, knowing she would want to leave the café soon. He tried to help but scooped up the renaming napkins. “I do,” He told her, truthfully, “But, I know you don’t and that’s okay. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable or push you to do something you don’t want to. Okay?” He let out a sigh as he let her finish cleaning up the rest. “Maybe we can work our way up? Like little baby steps. Y’know, how they say you gotta make smaller stairs before you get to the bigger ones?”

Nana held their dirty plates in her hands. “What do you mean? That’s not a saying, Dante.” 

“Oh, well, I mean we just do small stuff first till you get comfortable with that. You don’t have to want to show affection in public. Or, maybe we find there’s some stuff you’re okay with and some you’re not! I’m just saying: we test and take small steps together.”

Dante held out his hand to hers. Nana looked down at it. She then went to dispose of their trash from their afternoon snacking at the café. After coming back empty handed, her palm found his. Dante felt a surge of energy run through him as their fingers were woven together, his warm palm against his and he couldn’t stop himself from grinning.