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Rio sighed as she tipped her head back, toward the late spring sun, basking in the warm rays. With a small smile, she went back to tending to the small garden she kept behind the cottage she shared with Agatha. She never used her magic on the plants she grew there, much to Agatha’s bewilderment. To Rio, there was no comparison to the feeling of the dirt between her fingers, nurturing the plants as they grew without the influence of her green magic. Some of the plants thrived while others perished despite Rio’s best efforts. The inevitable cycle of life and death.
Agatha had stared at Rio as if she’d grown a second head when she’d explained it to her the first time. She had neither the patience for nor the interest in gardening whatsoever. So while Agatha spent her time consuming all of the magical knowledge she could get her hands on, the knowledge that she’d been deprived of for too long, Rio tended to her garden.
The sound of footsteps approaching caught Rio’s attention and she looked up to see Agatha coming around the side of the cottage. Agatha hadn’t been there when Rio returned that morning, not that that was out of the ordinary. Agatha came and went as often as Rio and she would often return to find their shared home empty. She never ventured far and more often than not is back before nightfall. On the rare occasion that she wasn’t, Rio would simply seek her out and accompany her until she was ready to go back home.
Rio smiled as Agatha approached where she knelt on the ground.
“Hello, beautiful,” she greeted, sitting back on her heels and tipping her head back with puckered lips.
Agatha’s responding chuckle was soft and she wrinkled in quiet affection. Still, she leaned down to brush a sweet kiss to Rio’s lips. Rio smiled into the kiss and reached up to grip the front of Agatha’s dress to keep her close when she tried to pull away.
“Your hands are filthy,” Agatha pointed out with a frown, her eyes dropping to the stain Rio was leaving on her dress.
Rio released her hold and Agatha straightened back up.
“Would you like to join me?” she asked, already knowing what Agatha’s answer would be.
“I don’t think so,” Agatha answered without hesitation.
“One day,” Rio said with a wistful sigh, shaking her head.
Agatha’s lips curled up into a fond smile. “One day,” she repeated, dramatically copying Rio’s tone. “But that day is not today, my love. Whenever you decide you’re finished playing in the dirt, I’ll be inside.”
Rio hummed in acknowledgement and looked back down to the seeds she was almost done planting. They would just need some water and then she was free to spend the rest of the day with Agatha. A light tap on her shoulder drew her attention back to the woman in question who hadn’t made any move to go inside just yet. Rio tilted her head and raised in eyebrow in question. Agatha just continued to stare down at her, chewing on her bottom lip for a moment until she leaned down again to leave a lingering kiss on Rio’s lips.
“I missed you,” she whispered against Rio’s lips, her cheeks tinged pink at the soft admission.
“Me too,” Rio assured her as she stood to her full height again. “I won’t be long.”
Agatha nodded and turned on her heel to head back to the cottage. Rio watched her go, grinning from ear to ear. It had taken a long time for Agatha to openly show affection without immediately pushing Rio away and burying it under her characteristic snark. But Rio was patient, showing Agatha time and time again that she didn’t have to be ashamed of what she saw as a weakness because words alone weren’t enough. And each day her patience was rewarded in soft smiles and the sweetest kisses.
Before she met Agatha, Rio had brushed the idea of love off as something so frivolously human it wasn’t worth her time. The lengths to which mortals would go in the name of love, often landing them in her realm long before their time, was something she could not wrap her head around. Now? There was nothing short of her own destruction that would keep Rio from returning to Agatha’s side.
Rio carefully covered the seeds with fresh soil, humming softly to herself, eager to get back to Agatha now that she was home. Her hands froze midway through her task when Agatha’s offhanded words suddenly registered in her mind.
She abandoned her garden and sprinted to the door of the cottage. She threw it open with so much force that it bounced off the opposite wall, startling Agatha where she sat at the small table in the kitchen. She nearly fell out of her chair and pinned Rio with an annoyed glare.
“Rio!” she barked as she steadied herself with two hands gripping the edge of the table. “What is wrong with you?”
Rio didn’t answer and instead crossed the space between them in a few strides. She stood in front of Agatha as she eyed her wearily.
“What did you call me?” she asked, her voice shaking with the emotions she was struggling to keep under control lest she spook Agatha.
Agatha’s brow furrowed. “Your name?”
Rio shook her head and took a step closer. “No, no. Out there,” she said, pointing out the window that had a perfect view of her garden.
Confusion momentarily colored her features as she wracked her brain for what Rio was talking about before realization shone in her eyes. The same light pink blush from before darkened her cheeks and she averted her gaze.
“I think you heard me well enough,” she mumbled under her breath, still not meeting Rio’s eyes.
Rio clicked her tongue in soft admonishment, unwilling to let this one go so easily. She was patient, yes, but she selfishly wanted to hear Agatha repeat that particular endearment over and over and over again.
“I think it bears repeating,” she gently prodded, taking a step closer to Agatha.
Agatha looked up then, her eyes quietly assessing Rio with her lips pulled down into a slight frown, the wheels turning in her head.
“Please,” Rio whispered.
She offered her hand out, wiggling her fingers in invitation. Agatha glanced down at her hand, still covered in dirt, with distaste. Rio breathed out a short laugh and summoned her magic to vanish the dirt in the blink of an eye. Agatha’s eyes found hers again as she laid her hand in Rio’s and allowed her to pull her to stand. Rio slid her arms around her waist to pull her closer, lowering her voice as she leaned in to whisper in her ear.
“Just once,” she bargained.
Agatha made a soft noise in the back of her throat and tipped forward to press her face into the crook of Rio’s neck. She drew in a long breath before Rio felt her lips lightly graze her skin. It sent a shiver down her spine and Rio tightened the hold she had around her waist.
“You’re going to be insufferable about it, aren’t you?” Agatha asked, the question slightly muffled from her position still pressed against Rio’s neck.
Rio grinned, bringing a hand up to loosely twirl a strand of Agatha’s hair around her finger.
“There’s only one way to find out.”
Agatha grumbled something unintelligible before she lifted her head from Rio’s neck.
“I said,” she started, drawing the word out as her eyes darted away from Rio’s. “That I would be inside when you finished playing in the dirt.” A pause. “My love.”
Rio’s heart sang as those startlingly blue eyes met hers again. She could see the uncertainty swimming in those deep pools and she was quick to plant a kiss on Agatha’s slightly pouted lips.
“Was that so difficult?” she couldn’t help but tease as she pulled away, hoping to ease the tension she could feel beneath her fingertips.
Agatha rolled her eyes with a scoff and gave her chest a light shove, but Rio held tight, leaning in to steal another peck.
“Can I confess something?” Rio asked.
“That only seems fair,” came Agatha’s swift response.
Rio’s lips pulled up into a beaming grin as she leaned in to nuzzle her nose against Agatha’s. Agatha squirmed in her hold as Rio deliberately let the silence drag on, letting the anticipation build for the words that might spill from her lips. She had an inkling that Agatha already knew what she was going to say if the way she braced her hands on Rio’s arms was anything to go by.
“I love you,” Rio breathed against Agatha’s cheek before she brushed her lips against the rapidly warming skin there.
She drew back, only catching a glimpse of the violent flush that had overtaken every inch of exposed skin from her chest to the tips of her ears, before Agatha hid her face in Rio’s neck once again. Rio allowed her the time she needed to process what she said and how much she truly meant it. Rio wasn’t shy about showing Agatha the full depth of her affection for her and to finally be able to voice those feelings was freeing in a way Rio hadn’t expected. She hoped that Agatha was prepared to hear it again and again, from now until the end of time.
Rio felt Agatha’s lips moving against her neck, but with how tightly she had her face pressed there, she couldn’t quite make out what she said.
“What was that, sweetheart?” she asked, turning her head to kiss Agatha’s brow.
Agatha didn’t move, but repeated herself nonetheless. Rio chuckled and brought a hand up to run her fingers through her unruly mane of curls.
“Will you look at me, please?” she softly requested.
Agatha lifted her head and met Rio’s eyes, the color in her face mostly returned to normal, save for a few patches along her neck and chest.
“What did you say, my love?” Rio asked, testing the endearment for herself. She decided in that moment that she quite liked the feel of it and the way it caused Agatha’s lips to curl up into the sweetest smile.
“If you had been listening,” Agatha accused with a huff that held no weight. “I said, I love you too.”
Rio felt like she could melt. The entire universe could collapse and she’d be none the wiser. Nothing else mattered in that moment outside of Agatha and the home they’d built together. It wasn’t just the words themselves, but the fact that they had gotten to a place where Agatha felt comfortable enough to willingly express how she felt for Rio without recoiling in the process.
“You do?” Rio couldn’t help but ask, her cheeks starting to ache from how long she’d been grinning.
“Of course I do,” Agatha told her in a firm tone though she was smiling.
“I think I’d like to hear it again,” Rio teased, poking Agatha lightly in the side.
Agatha wiggled out of her grasp, putting some space between them and crossed her arms over her chest. She glared a Rio, but her smile negated any heat it might have held.
“I think you shouldn’t push your luck,” she advised.
It was a good thing Rio was the luckiest being in existence.
“Oh come on, just one more time,” Rio pleaded, raising the pitch of her voice in a whine.
“No,” Agatha denied with a shake of her head.
Rio batted her eyelashes and poked out her bottom lip in a pout that never failed to turn Agatha to mush.
“No.”
Well, it seemed like there was a first time for everything. But Rio wasn’t deterred.
“Would you like me to beg?” Rio questioned, her lips pulling up into a lopsided grin.
Agatha’s mouth opened before it quickly snapped shut again. She appeared to think it over as Rio quickly closed the space between them.
“As much as I’d enjoy it,” Agatha said, the beginnings of her wicked grin pulling at her lips. “I’d hate for it to go to your head.”
Rio just smiled and reached out to tug at Agatha’s crossed arms until she relented and let them drop, allowing Rio to pull her in once more.
“It’s a little late for that,” she said.
“You’re being insufferable,” Agatha grumbled, leaning in to rest her forehead against Rio’s.
“You love it,” Rio said with a giggle. She tilted her chin up to nip at the tip of Agatha’s nose. “Just like you love me.”
Agatha pulled back, her lips pressed together in an effort to hide the smitten smile Rio could see tugging at her lips. Her eyes betrayed her though, her love shining clearly in her blue irises.
“I do,” she conceded. She brought a hand up to cradle Rio’s jaw in her palm, using the pad of her thumb to gently caress her cheek. “Despite my better judgement.”
Rio laughed and turned her head to kiss Agatha’s palm.
“I think we should celebrate,” Rio suggested, leaning into Agatha touch.
Agatha raised an eyebrow, her hand moving from Rio’s cheek to thread her fingers into the hair on the back of her neck. She gave the hairs a light tug, pulling a soft moan from Rio’s lips.
“And how do you suggest we do that?” she questioned, her tone taking on that silky quality that Rio was helpless against. She could already feel her knees going weak.
“Let me show you, my love,” Rio breathed out.
She lifted her own hands to cup Agatha’s cheeks and pull her into a kiss. Rio felt Agatha hum into the kiss and parted her lips to run her tongue along the seam of Agatha’s. Agatha immediately opened up to her gentle prodding, allowing Rio to deepen the kiss. She swallowed the moan that bubbled out of Rio’s throat and pulled away slightly breathless.
“Take me to bed, my love ,” she requested in a whisper, making sure to put extra emphasis on the new endearment that Rio was certain she would never tire of hearing.
Rio grinned. “With pleasure.”
She took hold of Agatha’s hand and lead her back to their bedroom where she intended to take her time pouring every ounce of love she felt for Agatha into absolutely ravaging her. Maybe Rio could convince Agatha to utter those three words again before she was forced to leave again.