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All it took was one.
One look. One touch. One kiss. That’s all it took for Haken Browning to fall head over heels for a certain princess all over again, ever since that fateful afternoon on the Zeit. Simple it may have been for Kaguya to pierce his heart, sure, but he barely cared. One thing was clear, each and every time.
He was, without a shadow of a doubt, in love.
So even as he looked into rapturous blue eyes, clear mischief playing at her expression with a finger tracing his chin, he knew how badly he had it. Alone the two of them were for a brief moment in the Zeit’s halls, his back against the wall metaphorically and very much so literally, the faint whirring of machinery did nothing to drown out the hummingbird-like beat his heart took on. He could only imagine how red his face was, feeling the rising heat and cursing himself out for not keeping it more under control.
A quiet laugh drew his attention back.
“Haken…” Kaguya started, her innocent gaze doing nothing to stamp out any desire he felt bubble up. “You’re blushing really bad. More so than usual, even…are you feeling alright?”
Mental floodgates already under a lot of strain, Haken drew in a breath as Kaguya traced his cheek. A shaky exhale doing him no favors, he had to wonder if the princess knew what she was doing. With the look from earlier still etched in his brain…thinking back on it, she probably did.
“I’m doing okay, Kaguya, it’s just…” All the emotions he usually kept under a cool facade began to resurface, unable to be stifled any longer. “There is one thing, though.”
“Hm? Is there…something you want?” Kaguya asked, her doe-eyed glance up at him almost bringing him to his knees. It failed, however, to belie something he figured was for certain at that point.
A wordless affirmation brought her own blush to the surface, the both of them sharing a gentle laugh. Gently cupping his face, Kaguya leaned in close with a genuinely warm smile despite the almost frisky look in her eyes.
She knew. She had to, the ghost of a wry smirk playing at her lips nearly doing him in right then and there.
One look was all it took that evening. One touch, and he was forcing himself to keep it together for as long as he could with his back against the wall. One kiss…one loving, passionate, spark-igniting kiss within the Zeit Krokodil’s quiet halls, and he was all hers.
Haken Browning was head over heels for Kaguya Nanbu…just thinking it to himself as he whisked her up into a princess carry brought a near-unremovable smile to his face, leaving him grateful that no one else would be boarding the ship for another few hours.
He loved her, with every fiber of his being. With the door to the captain’s quarters soon clicked shut behind them, he realized rather quickly that he wouldn’t have had it any other way.