i see you.

“I know,” he says simply, focused on the cast waffle iron set on the counter before him.

“We actually have a full staff and they’ll make us whatever we want and even bring it right up to our room for us.” She’s perched up on the quartz countertops in the Carrington kitchen, legs singly freely over the ledge as she watches him in awe, completely in control of the breakfast he’d been whipping up for her. “We wouldn’t even have to leave our bed.”

“I know,” Liam grins, finally turning the warm and bright smile towards her and away from his task at hand. “But I want to.”

“I do have one question though.”

“Yeah?” He turns back to the waffles, checking the light to indicate if the batter was fully cooked yet - it wasn’t. He moves to the bowl of fresh strawberries he’d already chopped up into halves, pouring a spoonful of sugar over them to let them soak in their own sugars, to allow the natural sugars in the fruit to be tasted fully. “What’s that?”

“Do you actually know how to cook?”

The pair of tongs in his hand swing towards her direction before his smile meets hers, a blank stare in his eyes full of false irritation. “Oh ye of little faith.”

“I’m just saying!” Her hands that were gripping the edge of the counter, securing her place on the high surface, fly up in an automatic defense. “Do you know how to cook?”

“Alright,” he mutters quietly. He flips the waffle iron over, the green light indicating the fluffy batter had cooked through completely. He uses the stainless steel tongs to pull the golden brown waffle out of the hot cast iron, setting it against one of the stark white plates he’d already set up for them. “I thought you were joking at first but now I’m worried.”

She scrunches her eyes together and paints on the best look of confusion she can muster; his sad eyes sway her a little, but she stays strong and lets her baby blues steer him in the wrong direction. “How come?”

“Do you…not remember our first date?”

Her head tilts to the side as she watches the blank look in his eyes grow with each passing second. “What first date?”

His face falls, Fallon noticing that he grips at the end of those silver tongs just a little bit tighter. She almost breaks then, the sadness looming in his facial features almost forcing her to crack a smile and give the whole charade up, but she presses on.“I cooked you an eight course meal, Fallon.”

“You did?”

“Yes, I did!” Liam exclaims, just after finishing closing the waffle iron with the second bath of batter cooking away inside it. “I…I made you sea bass and…and…”

“Liam, breathe.” Her hand comes up to rest upon his shoulder, stiff and tense from the hell she’d just made him sit through; having him believe she truly didn’t believe the first time he’d asked her on a date. Of course she’d remembered their first date, she only regrets not sticking it out for the duration. “I didn’t forget our first date.”

“That,” he stops short after the one syllable. The tongs come up in front of her face and he opens and closes them a few times, letting the ding of silver clashing against each other ring in her ears for a second. “Was not nice.”

The green light on the second batch of batter appears then, and he’s quick to turn his body back to the cooking device to pull at the crispy edges and set it against the second bright white plate he had laid out on the countertop. He pushes a pad of butter on to each crispy pastry before he takes a spoon into the bowl of strawberries, scooping a generous spoonful of the bright red fruit on to each waffle.

She watches on his movements in amazements, how he seemed to know exactly what he was doing and how in control of everything he actual was. She’s pretty sure she’d burn the kitchen down if she ever attempted to cook something in the vastly lit space. He moves to the Vermont made, glass jar of syrup, drizzling enough against each of the plates to cover the full waffle and then grabs at the bottle of whipped cream before adding a tall dollop on top of the strawberries.

“You’ve never made me waffles before though.”

“You never gave me the chance,” he mutters. Liam moves around the island to bury his hands into the silverware drawer to pull out two forks before maneuvering his way back to her. “You know with you running away from your feelings for so long and all of that.”

“Hey!” Fallon’s voice raises slightly with her exclamation. Although after just making him think she’d forgotten their first date, she supposes she deserved that dig. “It took me a little bit but I caught up to you.”

His face inches closer to hers and she can feel his breath against her mouth before his lips graze against her own, capturing her top lip in between his in a sweet kiss. “I suppose you did.”

“So, can I try this masterpiece of a waffle now?”

“I suppose so,” he says, before pressing his lips against hers in another peck. He takes a fork and cuts a small piece off one of the golden brown waffles, making sure to scoop up a strawberry with the bite as well before moving the fork towards her mouth. Her mouth closes down on the sweet, cake-like breakfast item getting a taste of each and every ingredient as the flavor bursts between her teeth.

“Okay, that’s really good.”

“I know,” he smiles smugly and she can’t blame him - the waffle really was that good. “You got a little something there.”

She feels the sticky syrup against the side of her mouth when she points to it in a questioning way, but lets him have his fun nonetheless. He moves in closer towards her again, lips covering hers in an attempt to get the maple syrup off her mouth. His hands rest against her upper thighs, keeping her in place against the high counter as their lips move together slowly and sweetly.

“It’s weird,” she says softly, his forehead resting against hers when he pulls back from her - an easy movement to keep their bodies close together. His body heat radiates off her as the love in his eyes bores deep into her own blue orbs. “I never thought I could feel like this, but you showed up. Now, it’s like I don’t wanna go on knowing I might lose the feeling.”