#kiss2

The both of them knew it was going to rain, that was no lie. But for some reason, the two had still agreed on that picnic. They’d planned this thing since what felt like forever, but there was always something that made them have to reschedule. JR got sick, or Leaf had to go do some ultra-important battle, or Dennis had to take care of this car repair “real quick”. But they had had enough of the planning and un-planning. They were going to do this.They were going to do this, rain or shine!

...And, well. It was definitely more rain than it was shine. At least they had finished their food (well, Dennis had eaten everything Leaf hadn’t, at least) by the time it started to pour. They quickly put everything away in the basket and cooler they’d brought with them, taking each other's hands when they were done so they could run to shelter, umbrella in the mechanic’s hand. Dennis had put his jacket over her head as well, of course.

Alas, nature was a cruel mistress. In their rush to get under a roof, Dennis was unable to watch his step and inevitably slipped on a prominent pile of mud. He brought the both of them down when he fell, a shout of surprise coming from the both of them. Oh, no. Oh no no no, she was sure to get upset at him for ruining that (really cute) outfit that she wore just for today.

“Leaf, baby, are you--”

Laughter. The sound of her lovely, cute, absolutely precious laughter. She had rolled on top of him, the both of them quite covered in mud at this point. At first, he didn’t understand. But her giggling was contagious, and so he couldn’t help but laugh along with her. What a silly pair they were, running out for a little date when they knew the weather wasn’t going to be in their favor.

“I love ya,” he managed to say as his laughter became chuckles that bubbled up from his chest. His thumb went to wipe a little spot of mud on her cheek only to make it smudge up. His smile widened at the sight of her beaming expression; she certainly stood out in this gloomy weather.

Their noses nuzzled against one another for one brief second, another giggle coming from the pair before they began to share a warm, tender kiss in the cold downpour of rain. She radiated the warmth that he needed, she was the embodiment of it. She was his sunshine, and he would do anything to keep her smiling like that.

Sometimes Clair stressed herself out too much. Maybe that was sugar-coating it, though. She always stressed herself out too much, at least, that was what Dennis thought. He knew that she was her own woman, and she was free to do what she wanted, free to feel how she did. But sometimes he wanted to help out, and it was rather difficult for her to let him do that.

He’d tried everything. He’d tried doing little things, things like telling her she was beautiful every now and then, holding the door for her, taking her hand and cuddling her. These were things he noticed she would react to short term, but in the long run, it didn’t seem to change much at all. So he’d done bigger things, moving onto kissing, buying her presents and pulling her into his lap so she could nap on his shoulder as he sung a soft lullaby in her ear.

...Still not much later on.

He thought about what he had tried to do to show her that he truly, really did love her. But her voice. Her voice. Her loud, powerful, angry, forceful voice. It commanded strength. It demanded he listened to her. It got in the way of his thoughts.

She was yelling at him for worrying about her too much, as she could handle herself without his fretting. Dennis understood that. What Clair didn’t understand was that it was just him attempting to display how much he cared for her, how important her well-being was to him. Perhaps he just got in the way too much, but why didn’t she understand? Why was she still yelling? Why couldn’t he say anything while she jabbed her finger into his chest, while his head hung and she just kept shouting?

His hands grabbed onto her shoulders, gripping tight. His stare was hard, serious. The words stopped coming from her mouth, and the only thing left was only a look of surprise. He had never looked at her this way before. Now, Dennis commanded strength. Now, Dennis demanded she listened to him. But that look in his eyes would only be visible for one split second, as his lips had smashed against hers right then and there.

He almost shoved her against the wall, restraining her movements by pinning her wrists down against it. She would know he loved her. He’d make her believe that. And if being sweet and gentle didn’t work, then he’d go the opposite direction.

His kiss was rough and insistent. It lacked the innocence he unintentionally conveyed, and instead was filled up with a sort of toxin that was a result of their mouths pressing against one another. Pulling out this side of the mechanic would always do something like this.

Dennis was sure that the way Aurelien looked at him was like no one had ever looked at him before. It was unreal. He looked at him like he was a sort of artwork, one that had hidden meanings, one that was something you could traverse your thoughts around and figure out, like a sort of… beautiful but simple puzzle.

He would never describe himself like that. He thought he was less of a “beautiful but simple puzzle” and more of a “boring, curious thing”. The biker never put himself above standards he believed he couldn’t reach, at least, not in a self-imposing manner. He was much too humble for that.

But the way he just glanced at him, it made him feel like he alone was something important. Something actually worth looking at. And what did he do whenever he was given that look? The biker tended to look away in embarrassment, or to stare back into his eyes and forget that time was passing by and he needed to answer his question about whether or not he was hungry or something.

Today, though, he had reacted in a different manner. Ary had taken a seat on his lap and gave one of those signature smirks that made Dennis’ heart race faster than a Rapidash. He then had commenced to give him that stare, the stare that was meant only for him, the one that made him blush in embarrassed flattery.

“...Ya gotta stop lookin’ at me like that,” he choked out, clearing his throat afterwards. “It’s gonna get ta my head!”

Ary refused to stop. If anything, the nearly lovesick glance intensified in its potency. This was not good for the mechanic’s already burning cheeks.

“Ary…!” He gulped, eyebrows knitting. But the designer had only chuckled and leaned down, saying something teasing like he always did. “So mean ta me…” His voice came out as a mumble as he momentarily closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes, Ary was even closer to his face. Dennis gave a little pout, which he hadn’t realized would feed the confidence in his smirk.

Perhaps a little peck on his lips would wipe that grin off his face!

Smooch!

...No. No, that didn’t work at all. Oh, Arceus. That was a mistake.

“Ary, w-wai—Mmph!”

There was a sort of passion that was in his veins that night. It was fueled by something like jealousy, or a sort of guilt or insecurity. It was something that made his heart heavy and made him want to remind her that he cared about her the most, and that she was a sort of necessity to him. That logically meant that her attention should be towards him whenever possible, right?

His arms had wrapped around her, her back pressing against his chest as they sat on the sofa.

“I… Y-ya love me, right?” He asked humbly, looking genuinely worried and almost even scared. “I-I hate t’ ask, but… It’s just…”

It’s just, you’re so beautiful. You’re so perfect. What if someone better than me takes you away?

“I-I just get worried sometimes…” Dennis nuzzled into the crook of her neck, eyes closing momentarily before he rose his head once again to gaze into her eyes. They shined with a kind fretfulness, a look that he had grown to love more and more with each passing day. It made him squeeze her tight, but only for a second, as he was always still so scared of breaking her and her delicate existence.

“I know…” He pressed his forehead against hers when he felt her hand gently cup his cheek. That always got him, she always soothed his heart like that. She made it seem so easy. “I… I know…”

He kissed her when she turned around in his lap. It was a delicate press of lips in the beginning, nothing more, nothing less. But that was the problem. It wasn’t enough; he needed to show her more, to prove himself in a way. And so their kiss deepened, and his arms moved from around her waist so that he could place a palm on the small of her back and another just a bit higher.

“Annie, baby,” he whispered his nickname for her against her lips, which he had only parted from for one second. Then he lit the flame once more, mouths dancing with one another in an ardent manner. He had pulled her impossibly close at this point, forgetting how fragile he had always thought she was. But he needed to do away with that anxiety for now, as there was much more important business to attend to.

Her hands had gone to his shoulders when one of his palms went to the back of her head, fingers carding through her rosy pink hair. The taste of her lips were of a soft, delicately sweet kind, which Dennis thought was absolutely perfect for her. How could she be any more perfect than this? And how imperfect could he be?

He would drown out his many flaws with this kiss; that was his thought process. Almost instinctively does he press her down on the couch, his arm now around her waist and his hand on her cheek this time. Her own arms were around his neck, and the mild treatment they gave one another was suddenly gone.