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“I bet you have a nice smile.”
“Haaaa?” The Wanderer turned, brows knitted with confusion before scoffing. “Your jokes are terrible.”
“I wasn’t joking.” She said before she poured herself another cup of tea. “I do think you’d have a nice smile.”
He clicked his tongue before covering half his face with his hand. Leaning into the palm of his hand, his eyes lifted to see the traveler smiling softly as her eyes moved to look at the view. If anyone had a nice smile, it would be her. Or maybe nice wouldn’t be enough.
The softness of her eyes, the way her eyes mimicked the way the stars would shine, gold and warm. She always had a soft glow that seemed to surround her like she was some celestial being. And maybe she was.
Unreachably beautiful.
“You’re staring.”
He felt his cheeks beat up before he turned his head sharply. “You were just in my line of sight. Don’t flatter yourself.”
A soft chuckle and he carefully glanced and saw her smiling at him. “See. Staring.”
“Your smug expression is unbecoming.”
“I’ve heard it’s quite charming.”
“Hmph.” She always had a comeback, didn’t she. “Why did you even invite me to join you? if its to tease me—"
"I just didn't want to leave you behind…Aether always did say i had a soft spot for strays."
He scowled. A stray? Did she just call him a stray?!
It wouldn’t be incorrect to think of him this way. After all he was abandoned by his creator. Betrayed and forgotten by the group that he thought could be his new family. He didn’t belong anywhere. He didn’t have a land to call his home. He didn’t have anyone that would welcome him with a smile. He just had himself and— His eyes watched as she turned her head, eyes squinting from the breeze. “Does that mean I’m yours?”
“Hmn?”
“You called me a stray. If you’ve taken me in because you didn’t want me to be alone… doesn’t that imply I am yours?”
She blinked a few times before she gave him the prettiest smile he had ever seen. Her eyes curved into into half moons as she smiled. “Would you like to be?”
Thump. His eyes blinked as he stared down at where his hear would be. This strange feeling, her question that seemed so simple— Was he ever asked what he wanted to be? He was created to be a vessel. He has no other choice. He was told to be a god. He has no other choice. But she was asking if he wanted to be her companion. To join her on this strange and unknown journey. To stay by her side. She was giving him a choice. “I tried to kill you before.”
“I know.”
“More than once.”
“I know.”
He didn’t want her to be his savior. He didn’t want to owe her a debt he knew he could never pay back. He didn’t want to— Lose his place beside her. He didn’t want to leave her side. He didn’t want to be all alone again. “And what—" He stood up and walked around the table. “You want me to be your soldier? To be your puppet? To be your— “
“If you don’t wish to fight, I won’t make you. I don’t want you to do anything that you don’t wish to do.”
“So what do you want from me?”
“I want you to be happy.”
Eyes trembling, he stood in front of her, looking down at her as she sat so calmly. As if the words she said weren’t words that he longed to hear his entire life. “Why couldn’t I have met you sooner?” He knew that she was here before. She had told him she had slept for hundreds of years—Why did he have to suffer for so long when she could have found him earlier? Why did he have to waste his years wondering if there was anyone that could possibly want to stay by his side? Why couldn’t she have saved him earlier?
“I’m here now.”
A broken laugh left him as he covered his face. Not wanting her to see such an ugly expression from him. She was here. She was here, right there in arms reach. And yet she still felt so far away. If she left him, if she abandoned him like all others did— he won’t survive it.
She whispered his name but he didn’t want to look up. It was then he felt her arms reach out and pull him down for a hug. “I’m sorry I was late.”
He buried his face into the book of her neck. Breathing in the soft fresh scent that was uniquely hers. “You’re here.” He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. He was afraid this was just a dream and he’d wake up and be stuck in that machine. Destined to be alone because In the end, aren't all gods left alone. “You are making a mistake.” He muttered.
“Perhaps.” She placed her hands on his cheeks and pulled him away so she could see his eyes again. “But it doesn't feel like one.”
“…I won’t let you leave me. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you with me…”
“Will being with me make you happy?”
He closed his hands before he rubbed his cheeks against her hand. The warmth spread throughout his body and he let out a soft sigh. “The happiest.”
“Then can I have a smile?” Her request was so simple. A smile in exchange for her company. He would pay it over and over again. It was cheap compared to the joy he felt with her, the woman that remembered him when the rest of the world forgot. A smile was easy to give her when she deserved the stars plucked from the night sky, when she deserved happiness more than any other. If a smile was all that she wanted, he'd be the one to give it to her.
His lips curved slowly before he let out a choked laugh and felt a more natural smile appear. He felt her thumb stroke his cheek. Lowering his head, he pressed his forehead against hers. The smile on his lips softening as he leaned into her touch. Oh what a fool I am. He thought. A blissful and happy fool that finally found his purpose in being her companion. It only took a few hundred years and a smile.
“I told you that you’d have a nice smile.”