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“Let’s get out of here, I have something I need to tell you, remember?”
You look up into Quest’s eyes and smile reaching for his hand. Finally. You’re both finally here. You feel the weight of his hand in yours and a smile creeps across your face. It’s almost too good to be true...but it’s not...it’s real and he’s here with you and you’re walking out of the airport into the crisp fall air.
“Are you cold? I can lend you my jacket.” Quest looks down at you with concern, already starting to shrug his bag and jacket off while you wait in the taxi line.
“It’s fine,” you answer, laughing softly, “I’m not cold, and it’s almost our turn.”
He nods and shrugs his jacket and bag back onto his shoulder, “Whatever you say angel.”
He looks at you with an adoring glance before a taxi pulls in front of you. Quest reaches for your bags and opens the door for you to get in. He deposits the bags in the taxi’s trunk, then slides in close next to you.
“The Hilton, please.” The driver nods and begins to speed through the airport as Quest reaches for your hand once again.
You lean against his shoulder with a content hum and feel him rest his chin on top of your head. You both sit in silence for a moment, Quest rubbing small circles onto the back of your hand with his thumb; listening to the rush of wind through the slightly cracked driver’s side window, breathing each other in.
You feel Quest move a bit and start to groan in protest before he kisses the top of your head. You blush and look up at him. Quest raises his hand and traces your jaw with his rough finger tips. Your breath hitches in your throat as he holds your chin in his hand. Growing redder, you look into his eyes.
Your eyes meet and it’s his turn to lose his breath, turning bright red in an instant. You look at each other for a moment, centimeters apart, unsure of what to do next, when Quest finally catches his breath.
He pulls back a bit and sighs, “Sorry angel, you’re just so...wow.” He lets out a low chuckle and leans against the seat, sighing and pulling your hand into his again.
You let out the breath you were holding with a nervous laugh, “Well, you’re pretty wow yourself.”
You look at each other again with sly smiles as the taxi slows to a stop in front of your hotel. Quest thanks and pays the driver as you get out. You go to reach for the trunk, but he’s somehow already there, opening it and reaching for your bags.
“Oh angel, you’re not going to be lifting a finger this whole trip.” You roll your eyes at him, but let him take your bags.
You get up to your hotel room and Quest places the bags by the bed. You start unpacking a few things, dancing around each other in a bit of an awkward silence. You had a feeling things might be a bit awkward, this was the first time you were meeting in person after all.
Once you finished unpacking you sat on the bed with a dramatic flop. You didn’t realize it at first, but you were exhausted. Every step getting here, from the moment you joined the strange server to finally seeing Quest in the airport, was a mystery, and the long journey had finally come to an end.
Quest hovered by the bed for a moment, looking at you but not quite meeting your gaze, unsure if he should sit next to you or find a chair. You noticed his apprehension and giggled to yourself before reaching for his arm.
“Come on, sit with me.” You tugged his arm lightly and he sat across from you, slightly surprised and blushing. Your heart skipped a beat seeing him at eye level again, and you worried he might hear it beating out of your chest. Of course, he was worrying the same thing, but you’d never know.
Another moment passes, Quest tracing his fingers along your arm, hand, fingertips, and back up. He does this a few times, and though he doesn’t meet your eyes, the awkwardness fades. Finally, he clears his throat.
“I’m so glad we’re finally here, you’re even more gorgeous in person,” he gives a shy smile, meeting your eyes.
You feel your face heat up, “I could say the same about you, you know. I’m not used to seeing you without your glasses yet.” You reach your hand up to Quest’s face and start to trace the scar under his right eye. A flash of worry crosses his face at the initial touch, but when he sees your loving eyes, he leans in to the touch.
You trace the scar under his right eye, then move to the one above his left, and finish by running your fingers along the scar on his chin. You find yourselves getting closer with every touch, until once again you’re centimeters apart, only this time the roles are reversed from when you were in the taxi.
You and Quest seem to realize the situation at the same time, your hand stalling while his moves to hold the back of your head, tilting it ever so slightly up. His eyes linger at your lips, breath mixing for what seems like an eternity, before he whispers.
“Can I kiss you?”
You nod your head yes, but he doesn’t move.
“I need to hear you say it, please. Can I kiss you?” You can hear slight desperation creeping into his voice, as if he truly feels somewhere, you might say no.
“Y-yes,” you reply, barely audible, but there. Quest smiles, relief and affection crossing his face, before he pulls you in.
Your lips meet, softly at first. You move closer to Quest as he moves his other hand up to cup your face, deepening the kiss. You wrap your arms around his neck, bringing you chest to chest and closing the final gap between you. Quest moves one hand up into your hair, the other trailing your side, as he begins to kiss you more frantically.
He kisses you like he’ll never see you again. Even though this is the first time, he kisses you like it might also be the last. He kisses you breathless, until you both have to pull away, quietly gasping for air in the small space between you.
You look into each other’s eyes, your arms resting on Quest’s shoulders, one hand playing with his hair. Quest strokes your cheek with his thumb, gazing at you with the reverence of a lost man, found.
“Oh angel,” he finally whispers, before kissing your forehead, cheeks, chin, jaw, making his way back to your mouth painstakingly slowly. But he does, and this time the kiss is deep and slow.
Quest sighs against your mouth and pulls back once more. He reaches his arms back and pulls your hands into his lap, lacing your fingers together. He looks down at your joined hands in near disbelief, raising them and turning them over, before gently kissing the backs of your hands.
He sighs once more before looking back up at you, “So, I’m an open book, what do you want to know?”
You sit and talk for a while, Quest shares what he can, it’s been so long since he’s had someone who's tried to understand, since he had someone he could even tell everything too, that some things are just too painful to get out. You understand. He’ll be ready when it’s time. You talk about your life as well, sharing the ups and downs from before you entered the server. The conversation comes easily, the sun sets and you talk well into the night, ordering room service to share once you get hungry.
You both munch on the last of a plate of fries when you realize something.
“I still haven’t gotten to see your tattoos, you said you’d show me them up close when we met in person!”
Quest blushes and swallows, wiping his salty hands on a nearby napkin. He looks down at his arm with a nervous chuckle, “Well, you can see this one fine, right?”
“Uh-uh, doesn’t count, I want up close and personal!” You grab his arm and try to tug him closer, but he won’t budge. You look up and see the blush across his face. “Don’t be nervous! I’m sure I’ll love all of them.”
“That’s not the reason I’m nervous,” Quest replies with a low chuckle.
It’s your turn to blush, but you’re not giving in. If he won’t come to you, you’ll just have to go to him! You scoot over to Quest’s side of the bed and sit squarely in front of him. Before he can try to back away you pull his arm tightly to your chest and stare at him.
“All right,” he sighs, leaning in to press a swift kiss to your forehead, “go ahead.”
You smile brightly and begin to examine the tattoo. A winding black and white snake with a red rose. He’d explained the meaning to you once, but you ask for a refresher, nodding along as you trace the tattoo with your fingertips.
“You’ve got one on your chest too, right?” You ask as you put his arm down in your lap.
“Ah yeah I-” the sentence gets caught in his throat when you gently tug at the collar of his shirt.
You look up at him, serious as ever, “I want to see that one too.”
The flush on his face deepens and reaches to the tips of his ears, “A-are you sure? I can just tell you what it is if you’d like.”
You shake your head, “I want to see it. If you’re comfortable showing me of course, I don’t want to make you feel pressured or anything.”
Surprise crosses his face, “No, angel, that’s not what I meant, I...” His voice trails off but the redness on his face remains. He shifts on the bed, giving you a kiss on top of your head before pulling off his t-shirt.
“There, now you can get a good look.” He smiles and leans back on his hands, chest in full view.
You’re overwhelmed at first. You knew he worked out but this was impressive. His strong chest moved up and down with each quick breath, betraying his seemingly calm exterior. Aside from that, the large tattoo was there for you to finally see, but you were shocked to also find his torso covered in scars, some that seemed almost fatally deep.
Quest could see the mixture of surprise, concern, and attraction cross your face as your hand hovered over the rose in the middle of his chest. He reached his hand up and covered yours against his chest. “It’s okay. You can,” he whispered gently before removing his hand.
You swallowed and shakily moved your hand against his chest, tracing the wilting rose, then moving to the wings. “And, what does this one mean again?”
“Well, like I said, I was in kind of a weird place when I got it. But basically, I wanted to be able to fly away even if my love, or life, was falling apart.”
You nod, tracing the tattoo one more time, but your eyes can’t help but wander to the scars scattered across his torso. You move your hand down to his stomach, toward a particularly deep one, and gently run your fingers across it. Quest winces a bit, not out of pain, but the discomfort of feeling weak and being so seen.
You notice and stop, but don’t remove your hand. “You don’t have to talk about it. Thank you for showing me. I know this isn’t easy.”
Quest nods and you fold your hands in your lap. You both sit there for a moment, contemplating everything that’s brought you here. After a while, Quest reaches out his arms. You slide into his warm embrace and snuggle against his chest.
Quest kisses the top of your head before burying his face in your hair. He’s so warm, and the exhaustion hits you once again, you could almost fall asleep right there.
“I love you.” So quiet, you almost didn’t hear it. You look up and see Quest staring intently down at you, adoration in his eyes. “I love you,” he repeats, meeting your eyes. His serious expression almost doesn’t match his warm tone, but you know him well enough to understand the juxtaposition by now.
“I love you too,” you reply softly. Quest sighs as if he’d been holding his breath waiting for you to say it back. He pulls you against his chest tighter and begins to sprinkle kisses across your face, his love flowing through each gentle touch.
He hums and says it once more, “I love you,” before reaching down and tilting your head toward him, moving to make your lips meet again, and again, and again.