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“I know you guys are reserved as a party, but I wanted to let you know we’re having couple discounts since it’s Valentine’s Day! So are there any lovebirds in your party on separate checks?” The hostess said, smiling at them all.
Wise heard Nicole gasp in excitement and it’s like it lit a spark under everyone—who wouldn’t want a discount, considering it was Lumina Square’s hot pot restaurant, known for its popularity and more pricier options. The others quickly gravitated into pairs: Nicole hanging onto Belle, teasing her; Nekomata grasping onto Anby’s arm; Caesar and Lucy getting into a small scuffle before Lucy reluctantly moving to be beside her; Pulchra sighing as Burnice skipped over to her; and Piper and Billy simply nodding at one another before also pairing up.
Wise scratched his head, a wave of nervousness washing over him as he realized this left just him… and Lighter.
He glanced over at Belle, eyes wide in desperation as the others clamored around them. She simply stuck her tongue out at him.
He felt a warmth beside him, and he tensed slightly.
“I suppose that just leaves you and I, manager,” Lighter said softly, head bowed enough to meet Wise’s eyes over his sunglasses.
‘Fuck,’ Wise thought, his heart racing. This was his worst nightmare and best dream put together. It was easy for Belle and Fairy to have put two and two together, but it wasn’t exactly like he had been hiding it well—every time Lighter texted him, sending slightly blurry photos of the landscape from the Outer Ring or asking about a new product from the Lumina Mall and joking about if certain things were really what inner city folk liked, it left him giddy. It increased tenfold when he actually spent time with the other man, coming home full of energy and excitement. He had never fallen this hard for anyone before, but something about Lighter just made it click.
Belle had teased him relentlessly but promised that no one else had noticed, which was relieving. He had tried to act normal though after, or as normal as possible, not wanting to mess anything up. If Belle and Fairy caught on easily, who was to say others wouldn’t?
He didn’t want to force any feelings on Lighter. Who knew if he even felt the same way? And he had so many responsibilities being the Champion, so why would he even bother with a Proxy like him?
So maybe he had stopped spending some quality time with Lighter, coming up with excuses on why they couldn’t meet up. It was honestly just pathetic of him, but he didn’t know what else to do.
However, today he had been finagled into hanging out with both the Cunning Hares and the Sons of Calydon—something about a brewing business plan between Nicole and Lucy, again, but he was sure it was just an excuse for everyone to hangout. Lucy had offered to make a reservation at the hotpot place and no one could really pass up on it, considering how popular it was and how good the food always smelled when passing by.
So, that led him to the here and now. Standing beside Lighter, awkward and withdrawn.
‘Fuck,’ he thought again. It was just for a meal, right? Maybe… he could indulge in the fantasy. How nice would that be?
‘Fuck it,’ he thought finally, as he turned fully to Lighter and grabbed his hand. He gave him a smile, which he was sure probably looked a bit pained.
“Yup, you and I, Lighter… together!”
“Oh wow, I didn’t realize you all were couples! That’s so sweet of you all to go on a double date… Sixtuple date?” He heard the hostess murmur as she led them inside.
Wise felt sweat prickle on the back of his neck as wiggled his fingers in anxiety. The leather of Lighter’s glove and the warmth that seeped through was nice, as well as the soft squeeze he gave to Wise’s hand.
“Well here we are! Go ahead and get settled. Your server will be right over to get your drinks and then bring the broth and ingredients you requested.” The hostess smiled one last time at them before hurrying off back to the front, likely to deal with the other customers that had shown up when they had been pairing up.
Wise moved to sit, forgetting for a moment that he was still connected to Lighter and slightly dragging him with him.
“Oops, I’m sorry,” he blurted out, feeling his ears redden.
“S’all good,” Lighter replied, a small smile on his face. He untangled his fingers from Wise’s and moved towards one of the available chairs, pulling it out and gesturing towards it.
“Thank you.” Wise settled onto it as Lighter pulled out his own chair beside him and sat down.
Their dinner seemed to simultaneously go by and drag on; it was torture to Wise as he tried to pay attention to the multiple conversations that surrounded him. He felt bad yet relieved that every time Lighter tried to draw him into conversation, someone else would call for him to give his opinion on whatever they were bickering about–he just didn’t know what to say to his pseudo-partner for the night without blurting out, “Hey, I’ve been dreaming of this moment pretty much from the moment I saw you, but can we do this for real?”
It finally seemed to be drawing to an end though with everyone finishing their meals.
He could hear Burnice whining to Lucy that it would’ve been even more delicious with some Nitro Fuel while Pulchra was talking to Nekomata about how to deal with hairballs after eating… that had to be a joke…?
The waitress appeared with a smile at the head of their table.
“I hope everything was to your guys’ liking?” A chorus of “yes’” and a cheer from Burnice was the answer, the waitress’ smile widening.
“I’m glad! Anyone want dessert? It’s on the house–I recognize you guys,” she said, focusing on Nicole and the others of the Cunning Hares. “Thank you guys for dealing with that whole PubSec debacle,” she continued in a lower tone.
“I mean if it’s on the house…” Nicole drawled. “Can we get a few ice creams?”
“No problem! I’ll get you guys a couple plates of vanilla and chocolate.”
She was quick with it, coming back and doling them out to the pairs. She hesitated though as she set the plate in front of Lighter and Wise. He noticed immediately why: while everyone else seemed to have two spoons, they only had one.
“Sorry, we don’t have any extra spoons right now. We can run some through the wash but it’ll be a couple minutes…” The waitress said sheepishly.
“I’m sure you guys can share, right?” Billy asked, innocent to Wise’s internal screaming that had started after laying eyes on the spoon.
“That’s fine with me. How about you, Pr-manager?” Lighter asked, eyes soft as he looked at him.
“Yup. Totally fine.” It was definitely not, but what else could he do.
Everyone else dug into their desserts, blissfully unaware of Wise's inner turmoil. He watched Lighter pick up the spoon, scooping a piece of the ice cream onto it.
“Here,” Lighter offered as he held it aloft in front of Wise. He tried to reach out to grab it but he felt Belle kick his shin and he held back a grunt, shooting her a look across the table instead. She wiggled his eyebrows at him suggestively and he frowned.
“You okay, manager?” He focused back on Lighter, who was still holding the spoon for him.
“Yeah, sorry, just got a little distracted.” He steeled himself and leaned forward, taking the spoon into his mouth.
The ice cream was actually pretty good. It wasn’t his favorite of sea salt caramel, but it’d do for their limited selection.
He looked through his lashes as he pulled off the spoon, tongue darting out to get rid of any chocolate traces on his lips.
“Thanks,” he murmured. It looked like Lighter’s cheeks were turning pink–it did feel like it was getting warm in the restaurant. The other man simply nodded at him before his eyes darted to his lips.
“Hold on, you got a lil’ somethin’.”
Lighter’s hand was so warm on his chin, his thumb gentle as he ran it over the corner of Wise’s lip. He hadn’t noticed that Lighter had taken his gloves off; it must’ve been somewhere between when they had sat down and when the ingredients had arrived at the table.
He must be losing it if he was really focusing on random details like that. Lighter’s touch lingered, and he made eye contact with him. Lighter smiled at him, and Wise was sure he’d burst into flames right there and then.
He shot out of his seat, hip hitting the table and causing the plates closest to them to rattle. He felt everyone’s eyes on him–he just wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere and never return.
“I’m just gonna go to the bathroom,” he forced out, before scurrying off.
The bathroom was empty, a quiet reprieve from the mortifying ordeal earlier. Wise bent over the sink, trying to avoid looking at himself in the mirror.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” He groaned, running his hands down his face.
He heard the door open and stood up quickly, eyes meeting Lighter’s in the mirror.
“Sorry, I… I’m sure everyone’s ready to go. I’ll be right out,” Wise said, soft and withdrawn.
“Actually, they’re fine,” Lighter replied, a thread of sternness in his tone. Wise turned to fully face him, tense at the tone.
“Is there something wrong, Proxy?”
“What do you mean?” Wise said, a shiver down his spine at the title used. It felt like a small wedge between them.
“How about the fact you’ve barely talked to me tonight. But it just hasn’t been tonight. It’s been for the past few weeks.”
Wise felt himself curl inwards, ashamed at the accusations. They weren’t baseless ones, though.
“I don’t know if I did somethin’, but it feels like you’re avoiding me. Every invitation to hangout? Declined. Our conversations have been shorter. Tonight, you’ve also barely looked at me.” Lighter stepped forward slightly, and Wise felt his back hit the edge of the sinks. Lighter stopped in his tracks.
“I just wanna know what’s going on. If I did do somethin’, I want you to tell me. I wanna fix it.”
“It’s not you, Lighter,” Wise sighed.
“Then what is it? You? Don’t give me that bullshit.”
Wise felt irritation rise up within him. “It is me, actually. I have been trying to avoid you, okay?! I don’t wanna force any feelings on you–it’d be pathetic.”
Silence hung between them before he felt his face burn at the realization of what he’d just said. His short temper was his one weakness when stressed, one he usually kept under wraps, and here he had completely given into it.
“What d’you mean, feelings?”
“I-Ignore what I just said, please,” Wise huffed, trying to move past Lighter.
“No. We’re gonna fix this,” Lighter said, moving in front of the door. “What do you mean feelings? And forcing them on me?”
“... I have a crush on you, okay?” He felt so childish as he forced the words through gritted teeth, scrunching his eyes closed in defeat.
He heard Lighter’s boots on the tile as the man got closer to him.
“You thought the solution to that was to avoid me?”
Wise sighed and nodded, eyes still closed. He didn’t want to see Lighter’s look of disappointment, of possible disgust.
Instead, as he stood there, he felt the soft touch of a hand on his chin and tensed further, before he felt a warm breath caress over his lips.
‘No way,’ was all he could manage to think. Lighter’s lips met his—they were chapped but soft, warm and the pressure against his firm. He scrambled, his hands coming up to grab at Lighter’s jacket as he felt his knees weaken.
“Easy there, darling,” Lighter said as he pulled away, his own hands trailing down Wise’s waist and settling on his hips. Wise opened his eyes, sucking in a breath.
“You-,” he began before simply staring at Lighter with his mouth slightly open.
“You wouldn’t force any feelings on me, Wise. I… kind of assumed you knew with how often we hung out, but maybe I should’ve listened to Lucy when she told me to just straight up tell you.” Lighter chuckled, raising a hand to scratch as his cheek. His face became serious again after a few seconds.
“Don’t avoid me when something like this is plaguing you, Wise. It’s what I’m here for.”
Wise’s face softened and he nodded. “Sorry. I should’ve just talked to you…”
“You should’ve. Now, though, we figured it out, and from here on anything troubles you, you tell me.”
Wise nodded again and Lighter leaned in, a question in his expression as he looked at Wise’s lips then back at him. Wise grinned and pulled him in by the lapels of his jacket, their mouths meeting again.
Lighter’s tongue traced against his lips, and he opened them, inviting him in. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach, pleasure building as Lighter encompassed him.
This was better than he could’ve ever imagined. The night had started out feeling like a disaster for him, but now here he was, feeling like he’d won the scratch-off.
He heard the door to the bathroom swing open, cracking his eye open to see who it was.
“Manager, are you- Oh! Oopsie!” Billy spluttered, the other two pulling apart. Wise watched as Billy vacated as fast as he’d come in. He felt his ears burn in embarrassment; maybe they really shouldn’t be making out in a restaurant bathroom.
“I guess we should go pay and get out of here, yeah?” Wise asked, a laugh building.
“Yeah. You owe me a bike ride though since you skipped out last week,” Lighter said, voice rough and breathy.
“Yeah, anything,” Wise agreed, a shiver going down his spine.
“Let’s hit the road then.”