Acylius/Aelia: Yours (lover100 Prompt #069)
TITLE: Yours
FANDOM: Insektors
PAIRING: Acylius/Aelia
RATING: G
SUMMARY: Acylius asks Aelia a very important question in the wake of Electrik Night.
WARNINGS: Absolute, shameless, sugary-sweet fluff. I take no responsibility for your dental bills.
NOTES: Six drafts. Six. Remind me not to do that again.
“Aelia, there’s something that I would like to speak to you about.”
Blinking, Aelia looked away from the spectacle in front of her. The festival was starting to wind down, but there was still plenty to look at: graceful swirls of dancing lights, flowers lit from within like lamps, and of course the ever-present river of firefly stars. Given how entranced Acylius had been by the simple, makeshift background to Spotty’s act back at the Stump, she was surprised that he was interrupting.
“Is something wrong?” she asked. A thought struck her, and anxiety closed her throat. “Do you have to leave already?”
“No, no,” Acylius said hastily. “It’s not that. I won’t be missed until dawn, at the very earliest.” Aelia breathed a sigh of relief, which was cut off as Acylius continued. “What I want to speak to you about is...something that you said earlier tonight.”
Nervously, Aelia replayed the night’s conversation. Even though Acylius didn’t look at all like a Joyce, he behaved so much like one that sometimes she forgot they had such different experiences. She and Fulgor had had to untangle several misunderstandings during Acylius’s brief stay in Flower City. “Something I said?”
“Yes.” Aelia heard him swallow. “When you found me in my room... You called me yours.”
Aelia felt her face heat to boiling temperature. “I did?”
“‘My poor Acylius, always trying to escape’.”
The only thing that she could manage was a weak, “Oh.” She hadn’t even realized that she thought of Acylius that way, let alone that she could say something like that and not even notice! She was grateful that Fulgor wasn’t with them. He’d tease her even more mercilessly than he already did.
“I’m sorry,” she finally managed. “I didn’t mean to-” She stopped. Was she sorry that she’d laid claim to him like that? Or just that she’d said it out loud?
She let the end of the sentence hang.
Acylius swallowed. “Did you mean it?” he finally asked.
My Acylius. It felt so natural. She was beginning to suspect that if she was sorry, it was only because she’d disturbed him. Still, how could she have said something like that out loud? When had she become so possessive?
“Aelia?” Acylius was almost vibrating with tension.
“Yes? I mean, yes! Oh, this is so embarrassing.” She clapped her hands over her face. “I didn’t mean to say that,” she said, voice muffled. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
“That’s not what I asked.” Very gently, he put his hand over hers. “Aelia, did you mean it?”
She was acutely aware of the feel of his skin against hers. She could feel the callouses on his palms, the way that the skin was roughened from his constant digging.
My Acylius.
She owed him honesty, but it still took a long moment to force the answer out of her throat. “Yes.”
He went still. Embarrassment and shame turned Aelia hot and cold. “I’m sorry!” she choked.
Then-“Why are you sorry?” The relief in his voice made her lower her hands. “It’s only the truth.”
He was-he was smiling.
She hadn’t even considered the possibility that he might not mind.
“Oh,” she said. Slightly dizzy with relief, she turned her hand over under his, and folded her fingers around him. Their hands fit together perfectly.
“It goes both ways, you know,” she blurted.
Acylius’s smile vanished. He stared at her for a moment, then ducked his head. “Oh,” he said. His tone matched exactly the way that her stomach was bubbling with something warm and light. She found a word for it: wonder.
She squeezed his hand, then-teeth nipping briefly and nervously at her lip-leaned in and kissed his cheek.
Acylius’s wide eyes glowed almost as bright as the fireflies. His tiny, amazed smile was the most beautiful thing that Aelia had ever seen.
My Acylius, she thought, and this time there was no guilt.