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That dopey smile on her face as he “siphons” her power into himself is exactly what he’s after, Hak muses as he watches her.
“This way, I know I’ll make it back,” he says decisively, still holding her hands.
He thinks of another moment he held her hands like this: in the cave where they found Shin-ah, imploring her to come back to him safely. He has to force himself to keep smiling.
Yona’s eyes go wide and begin to shine and Hak can only stare as she begins to speak, her voice trembling.
“I… I feel,” Yona begins, her eyes squeezing shut for a moment as though she’s psyching herself up.
“When you hold my hands to give me strength or push my back, I feel the same. When you give me power, Hak, I feel like I can be stronger than anyone else.”
Yona’s eyes bore into him, bright and terrified all at once.
The words echo in his head for a moment and Hak’s eyes go wide, a host of emotions rushing through him.
To stop himself from doing something stupid, he drops Yona’s hands and begins to walk away, wondering aloud if they should return to their rooms.
“Wait!” Yona yelps, and then she’s crashing into his back, her forehead landing between his shoulder blades.
Hak turns to make sure she’s all right, the question on his lips automatically at this point, and finds her rubbing her head, muttering about his back being hard.
“Do you need something?” he makes himself ask, clenching his fists as he tries not to reach for her.
Yona’s cheeks are tinged with a blush but she looks almost determined as she pulls a hand up to her chest and opens her mouth.
“Well, I…” she starts, fingers gripping her cloak for a moment before she blurts out in a rush, “I like you too!”
Hak blinks for a second before tilting his head curiously.
“Uh, okay…?” he asks, not sure he’s fully understood what she means. Certainly she shouldn’t be blushing like mad over a platonic statement, even if it is nice to hear that she actually likes him versus all those comments about him being “different” and everything else she’s thrown at him the last few years.
The blush deepens as Yona squeezes her eyes shut like she’s afraid to look at him and Hak swallows.
Oh.
“You… You like me,” he repeats stupidly.
Yona’s eyes go wider still as she meets his gaze, her face a hilarious shade of pink.
“Yes,” she says timidly, wringing her hands together nervously and glancing at her feet.
Hak wants to kiss every single one of those beautiful fingers, but forces himself to settle for clutching them between his own, drawing her gaze back up to his.
She looks like she wants to cry and Hak is overcome with memories of her in tears before, too many to count. The one that stands out most, though, is kissing her before that battle near Kalgan’s village. While he’d only kissed her cheek, he’d longed for a day when he could freely kiss her lips and any other part of her she’d let him.
Hope swells within him and he can’t think of anything to say.
Yona fills the silence with ramblings of how he’s grown less annoying and more precious to her over time, how her heart pounds every time he gets too close, how unsure she’s been of these feelings until recently.
Hak can’t take any more rambling, so he shuts her up the best way he can think of.
He cradles her face with both hands, his lips finding hers as his eyes close, and Yona lets out a surprised squeak.
She doesn’t pull away, which he takes as a good sign, but Hak stays cautious, lingering only another moment and then forcing himself to pull back.
Yona’s face is at full blush now, but as her eyes slide open she almost looks disappointed about something.
Hak gets confirmation of that errant thought when the princess’s fingers tangle into his robes and she smiles shyly at him. Her tone is just short of demanding as she stares at him and says breathlessly, “Hak. Do that again.”
He obeys immediately, colors bursting to life behind his eyelids as he tugs Yona closer and pours years’ worth of bottled up longing into this kiss.
Yona’s fingers tighten on his robes and she pushes herself up onto her toes to tuck herself impossibly closer.
Hak doesn’t fight the gasp that leaves his throat at that action, another following it in quick succession as Yona grows bolder, one hand sliding up to tangle into his hair.
His hands shift, one sliding to the back of her neck as the other finds its way to the small of her back, and Hak grins at the noise she makes. While she’s distracted, he lets his hand trail to her hip, reveling in the way she practically goes limp in his arms. The sounds she’s making are delightful, but it’s the trembling of her knees that makes Hak break the embrace, breathing heavily and cursing himself for going too far.
Yona looks dazed but not angry, and the shy smile she gives him before her head lands against his chest is worth all the years of squashing his feelings.
He wants to keep kissing her, to find out exactly how long he can kiss her before he needs to come up for air, but something in the back of his head says now isn’t the time.
Yona’s nose moves against his robes and Hak stills at the sensation, frowning as he asks, “Are you—are you sniffing me?”
“You smell good,” Yona replies, and he can hear the embarrassment. “I never really noticed before.”
“I smell good,” Hak repeats, confused.
Yona’s nose bumps the amulet she’d given him, and then her lips are pressing against the gem, grazing his skin in the process.
Hak inhales sharply, his hand tightening on her hip in a way that makes her peer up at him.
The innocence and curiosity in her eyes is too much and Hak tilts her head further so he can kiss her again, slowly and carefully.
Yona’s fingers clutch his amulet and then, tentatively, brush the skin around it in a way that sends fire coursing through his veins.
“Thunder Beast! Yona! Time for food!” Yoon calls, and Yona practically jumps away from him, her face as red as her hair.
“Coming, Yoon!” she calls back, running her fingers through her hair and avoiding Hak’s gaze.
She starts toward the others, and Hak lets her get almost back to the group before he catches up, slipping his fingers into hers as he says, “Ah, Princess. After we eat, I’ll go speak to General Kyo-ga about assisting him.”
Yona turns to look at him, her eyes bright, and Hak grins as he brings her hand up to his lips to kiss her fingers.
Her face turns the most beautiful shade of pink and he can’t help himself, he tugs her closer and presses a kiss to her lips, ignoring the way the Dragons stare and stammer.
“Yoon, what’s for lunch?” He asks, dropping Yona’s hand and strolling toward the boy genius, who only raises an eyebrow and begins filling a bowl.
“Yona, aren’t you going to eat?” Yoon asks, frowning slightly in a way that Hak knows is a smile in disguise, and Yona jumps before approaching Yoon cautiously, her face still pink as she glances between Hak and the Dragons.
No one says anything while they eat, though Kija shoots Hak glares and Jae-ha waggles his eyebrows in a way that makes Hak want to punch him.
At least Zeno and Shin-ah keep things normal, and by the time they’re all finished eating, Yona’s blush has gone away.
Hak catches Yona’s hand in his as he stands, tugging her up with him as she blinks at him, confused.
He lets his fingers trail up her cheek, relishing the way her blush returns under his fingers and the way her eyes widen in recognition as he leans in closer.
He kisses her gently, his other hand clutching hers, and leans his forehead against hers.
“I’ll be back. Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”
He drops her hand and grins as he turns around, memorizing the way Yona’s hand hangs in the air as she watches him walk away.