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Even though I know that Age is the strongest weapon we have and that almost nothing can hurt him I still worry about him every time he goes out to fight. I just don't know what I would do if he got hurt and I wasn't there to help him, not that I could do much.
When I first met him I couldn't stand him because I was jealous that the princess paid more attention to him than she ever did to me but somewhere along this journey, after getting to know Age, I came to accept that the princess would never love me like I loved her. Accepting this made me look at others more closely and I came to find myself caring about Age, in more than a friendly way. I mean sure we're friends but recently I've been noticing things about him that I wouldn't normally. Things like how long his eyelashes are and how beautiful his eyes are. It doesn’t help that he never zips up his jacket either because I'm always distracted by his amazing body. He's always so happy and I find myself wanting to make him smile at me. It's getting harder to pretend that he annoys me because the truth is that I actually don't like being apart from him, and I think other people are starting to notice my feelings towards him. I just can't hide my concern whenever I'm sidelined and he's out there fighting all alone. So today I'm going to be brave and I'm going to try to explain my feelings to him which won't be an easy task because I'm positive he doesn’t even know what a kiss is.
I don’t have anything to do this afternoon so this is the perfect time to tell him. I slip off my bunk and go look for him. I find my sisters instead;guess I'll just ask them where he is. It's kind of weird he's not with them.
“Hey guys, what's up.” I say trying to keep my voice from betraying my annoyance.
“Oh hi Iolaous, we're just getting something for Dhianeila, why are you here?” Mail asks.
“Wait don't tell me; you're looking for Age aren't you? Tail smiles at me, it's a smile that tells me she knows how I truly feel about him.
“What? I'm not looking for him, well I am but...It's not because I want to find him, I'm just-”
Tail cuts me off, “It's okay” she says, “We know that you like him and to be honest we think he might like you back, right Mail?”
Mail shakes her head and smiles, “yeah, he's always talking about you.”
I’m shocked, is this true, could Age actually feel the same way? I need to find him like now. “Okay guys, I am looking for him, I’m going to try to explain my feelings to him, do you know where he is?” I ask them trying not to sound too hopeful.
They both make thinking faces and it feels like an eternity before they answer, “We're pretty sure he's in the Hydroponics Bay, and Iolaous we hope you can make him understand.” Mail says.
I thank them and head towards the Hydroponics Bay. I'm nervous all of a sudden and a million questions are going through my mind. What if he doesn’t get it? What if he thinks I don't want to be friends anymore? What if I ruin our friendship by telling him I want something more from him?
Finally I reach the Bay, I take a deep breathe and enter. I quickly scan the area but it's unnecessary because Age is already running towards me.
His blue eyes are sparkling and he's not even wearing his jacket as he comes up to me, “Hi Iolaous, I'm helping pick tomatoes, do you want to help me?” he asks and before I can answer he's grabbing my jacket sleeve and dragging me toward the tomatoes.
Once there he hands me a basket, “Here, you hold this and I'll put the tomatoes in it.” he says and his big eyes are looking at me and making me feel more relaxed.
What was I even worried about? Age is the most understanding person I’ve ever met, and plus he is smarter than he looks, I'm sure I can get him to understand. He picks a tomato off of the vine and is reaching to place it into the basket but I place my hand over his, stopping him, “Age, I'd like to help you but I really need to talk to you first, is that okay?” Oh god, his hand is surprising soft.
He looks up at me, “Yes, we can talk” he says and he looks down at my hand covering his and smiles.
I quickly remove my hand, was he smiling because he liked it? He puts the tomato in the basket and I place it on the ground. I look around and notice that there a bunch of other people picking the various fruits and vegetables, “Um, Age we need to talk in private, do you mind if I teleport us to my cabin?”
He looks confused, “what's private?” he asks.
“It's when you don't want other people to hear what you're going to say, what I have to say to you is just for you to hear, understand?”
He smiles, “yes, just for me to hear and you too.” he laughs.
“Yes, me and you only.” I reach out my hand, “here you can hold my hand instead of my sleeve this time.” I say with much more control than I thought possible. He takes my hand and it somehow feels right, like it was made to fit in mine. “Ready?” he nods and I transport us to by cabin.
Once we're there he hops onto by bed, “So, what did you want to talk about Iolaous?”
I’m suddenly realizing that I didn’t really think through how I was going to tell him. First I guess I’ll just find out how much he really knows about the different types of relationships.
“Age, I brought you here because I want to be more than friends with you, but I'm not sure you'll understand what I want us to be, how much do you know about boyfriends and girlfriends?”
His face gets serious and he looks like he trying really hard to understand, “you don't want to be friends anymore, you want to be something else but I don't know what a boyfriend or a girlfriend is, is it bad, do you not want to see me anymore?
Oh no, I was afraid of this, I take his hands in my own to reassure him, “No, I still want to see you, let me put it this way, actually it's like I want to see you more. You see a boyfriend or a girlfriend is someone that is more important to somebody than anyone else is.”
He looks down at our hands then he looks directly at me, “hmm, so you want to be a boyfriend, my boyfriend?
He still looks pretty confused like he isn't sure what to say. “Yes, I want to be your boyfriend ,you are more important to me than other people but just because I want to be your boyfriend it doesn’t mean you have to be mine, you can only be my boyfriend if you feel the same way about me as I do about you.”
“Well I know I like being friends with you, how do I know if I want to be more than that, how did you know you wanted to be my boyfriend?”
Here it is, the time to let all of my feelings out, I let go of his hands and move to sit next to him, I'm not brave enough to look at him while I say this so I stare at the wall in front of me, I take a breath.
“I know I want to be your boyfriend because every time I see you I feel it, this feeling inside me, it's like I'm being pulled towards you with an invisible rope. I know because when you smile at me my heart starts pounding faster and all I can think about is how much I want to be the reason for that smile. I know because just being with you, even now, I feel a sense of peace like if you are next to me then nothing else matters, I could be having a terrible day but the minute I'm with you I feel better. It's just a feeling I have and it's hard to describe it in words but I hope you can understand.”
I turn to look at him, he's deep in thought. He probably didn't understand half of what I was saying. I didn't want to trouble him, maybe I should of just kept quiet. I've got one last thing to try, I am going to have to use actions instead of words. I’m going to have to just show him how I feel and hope he doesn’t hate me for it.
“Age, if you don't fully understand I can try and show you.”
“Show me? Yes, I think that might help.”
Okay, I'm going to do something to you, don't worry it won't hurt but I'm sure that after I do this you'll know whether you like me back. Do you trust me?”
He nods.
“Alright, just...just don't move.”
I'm really going to do this, I'm really about to kiss him and he looks so cute right now. This is it, my last hope, this may be the only kiss I'll ever get from him but I hope not. I lean in and he doesn’t back away though his eyes go wide, I place my hand on his cheek and plant a gentle kiss to his lips. It's wonderful, he's got soft lips and he tastes a little sweet like he's been eating strawberries. I feel his lips move against mine, is he's trying to kiss me back or does he not like it? I pull away to look at him. He looks stunned, I've got to say something.
“So...was that good or...” I can't even talk properly, I can't believe I just kissed him, what's going to happen to our relationship now? “Did you feel anything, It's okay if you didn't.” I told him it's okay but I'm desperately hoping he felt something.
He takes my hand in his and smiles at me, “Iolaous, was that a kiss?”
“Um yes but how do you know what kisses are?”
Now I'm the one that’s confused, did someone kiss him before? Did someone tell him what one was? Was he asking about them?
He tucks a strand of hair behind his ear, “Your sisters told me, I asked them what you're supposed to do to show someone that you really like them and they said you give them a kiss but I didn't know where to find one of those so...”
I'm shocked, “Age, who did you want to give a kiss to?”
He made a face, “You Iolaous, because I like you, but I guess you gave me one first didn't you?.” he laughed and it filled the room and made me feel lighter.
I smiled at him, “So I take it you enjoyed the kiss.”
“Yes, and I want to give you one, will you teach me how?”
“I just have one important question, was there anyone else you wanted to give a kiss to?”
He looked like he was really thinking about it, “No, just you, is that wrong? Does that mean we can't be boyfriends or girlfriends?” he replied looking a little upset.
I laughed, “No, you're not wrong, this means that we can be boyfriends and I can teach you everything about being boyfriends so you don't have to worry.”
He smiled and took my hand, “Does being boyfriends mean that I can kiss you and you can kiss me and does it mean I can hold your hand whenever I want because that would be nice, I want that.”
I squeeze my hand in his, “Yes, that's exactly what boyfriends do so let's make it official. Age will you please be my boyfriend?”
“Yes Iolaous, I will be your boyfriend.” he smiles, “but hurry up and teach me how to kiss because I want to kiss you right now.”
I have never been so happy. Age is officially my boyfriend. Sure he's still not one hundred percent informed about what that means but I'm going to teach him. I believe him when he says that he likes me, I think he's always had those feeling but never knew what to do to express them. I'm happy that he's happy and I'm so ready to show him all the wonderful things about being together.
Before I know what's happening Age is leaning in and pressing his lips against mine, I guess he really couldn't wait, he's not actually that bad for a first timer. I gently press my hand to his face and help him get into a better position and just like that we're kissing like our lips we're were just waiting for each other, he's stealing the air from my lungs and I can barely breathe but as far as I'm concerned I don't need air right now, only him. I push him down on the bed and he smiles up at me with those sparkling blue eyes, “keep kissing” he says and I'm more than happy to oblige.
I don't know how long we stayed like for, making out on my bunk, lost in the new and exciting experience of each other. All I know is that I'm going to do everything in my power to make Age happy because he has made me the happiest person on this ship.