Chapter Text
The sun sets behind the screen of clouds, and the world seems to glow. He'd spoken to you some time ago (at length) about stage lights and gels and gobos and what brings about what effects, and you could definitely tell that he wasn't spouting nonsense when it came to bastard amber. The calm light of the orange sunset through gray clouds made the whole world glow. the green of the grass and trees seemed greener, the small (very, very, very small) cottage behind you more comforting, and Karamatsu… his hair seemed darker, his eyes shone brighter, and his skin was absolutely glowing.
“At last, we can honor the last storms of the year with no interruptions! Ah, how I'll miss these few, fleeting visits before she changes her form to snow and ice, leaving us with beautiful reminders of her at her best before spring rejoins us all once more. A halo of her droplets around every streetlamp and porch light, a gentle glow caught in her as she falls past windows and doors, feeling the warmth at last as she drips through your fingers and drizzles over your cheeks... this is our temporary farewell as Persephone reunites with her beloved Hades in the underworld, a reunion they've longed for since March."
Karamatsu frowns, just a bit. "I truly do pity Hades," he says, twisting at his bangs. "Waiting in the dark for his beloved to return, doing what he must, drudging through each day until his light comes back to her other home. I'm incredibly fortunate to have you by my side all year! Though I temporarily lose the rain, I know for a fact that you will remain, and I thank you dearly for it." He gently lifts up the wide mouthed bowl at his feet, pouring it carefully into a jar labelled with the type of clouds that float overhead. "What a night!"
You can't help but laugh a bit at his monologues-- he doesn't flinch when you do, not anymore. The happiness you feel with him gets too strong to contain when he says his little speeches. “I'm glad that we're giving her a good sendoff.” The two of you had scattered bits of summery dried fruits about the building and yard for local spirits and, possibly, to the storm herself. “I'm sure that she appreciates it.”
“I'm doubly sure that she's pleased that I'm not the only one showing my devotion to her! Perhaps she's happy that I'm sharing my affections with another as well,” he nearly sings, fingers lacing with yours with a giddy little giggle that he likely hopes you didn't hear. It makes your heart skip a beat. It always has, and it always will. “I hear that too much of my adoration can drive someone mad,” he says in that familiarly comforting “I'm trying so hard to seem deep and seductive, please buy it” tone that he's used around you from day one.
The best response to his dramatics is to match it, you think before logic can stop you. “Then I welcome madness! It may swallow me whole if it pleases, if your love is what summons it!” You can't help laughing then either, but you manage to say “It suits you better than me, Kara, I'm sorry.”
He gets that glimmer in his eyes, the kind that makes your heart feel like sunshowers. “Nonsense! I must admit, I’m feeling rather moved.” Karamatsu places a hand over his heart and leans in close. “You know,” he says, almost confidentially, “if this is how I make you feel on a daily basis, you may be the strongest person I’ve ever met.”
You can’t help but smile as you nudge your shoulder against his. He nudges back, and the bumps form a rhythm that turns into something steady. He starts humming a melody you’ve never heard before, and you know that he’ll have that locked away in his mind until he can record the melody for later usage. (“Music can be magic, my dove. Look at what my songs have done to you, for example!” He wasn’t saying it to brag so much as to confirm that his songs have affected you. You knew that. And they have.)
“Darling?”
“Hm?” You were borderline hypnotized by the rhythm you’d set. What he said next was almost a surprise.
“Dance in the rain with me?” You must have looked surprised, because he fumbled over his words for a moment before continuing. “I-I-I just thought that, well, we’re alone out here, there’s a tune in my mind, you’re happy, I’m happy, I just… kind of figured that, er…” his facade crumbles like a bad graham cracker crust, and he drew his hands up from the step you sat on, curling them together in his lap.
You stand up, offering a hand out for him. “Why not? Come on!”
He's a beam of sunlight in the middle of a storm when he takes your hand, pulls himself up, and goes running with you in tow. Seeds and dirt from the ground stick to your shoes and feet, and you don't care all that much. He's still needlessly dramatic, of course; twirls and spins, dashing and sliding, and his hands don't leave you for more than a moment. Just as he goes to dip you, your feet slide out from under you, your hands fly to his shirt to steady yourself, and you both fall to the soggy grass. Karamatsu looks frightened… then confused… and then he starts giggling. When you huff out a giggle in relief, his snickers grow into a laugh, and he holds you as closely as he can.
“No injuries, my water nymph?”
“No, I'm fine! Are you ok?”
“I must say, in all honesty, I haven't ever been better!” He's propped up on one elbow over your face, your head being shielded from the rain by his, and everything seems to go quiet when he looks into your eyes. He looks amazed, like he just saw a miracle before his very eyes.
Fingers trace the lines left behind by the raindrops falling from the apples of his cheeks to yours, while his eyes flicker between your lips and your eyes. He smiles almost apologetically in the hopes that you'll let him kiss you. You'd hate to disappoint him, and the moment did have your heart skipping several beats in a row. You nod slowly, and he sighs in relief (peppermint, he was always fond of those extremely strong mints) before gently tipping up your chin with shaking hands, his cold lips still dripping with rain, and pressing a kiss to each cheek before… pausing to look into your eyes again.
His voice isn't so practiced and careful for just a moment. Karamatsu shines like this. “Thank you. For coming here. For spending time with me. For everything.”
Karamatsu is always very… tentative when he kisses you, especially when he feels that something special is afoot, when he feels like it's an important moment that should be as perfect as possible. Now was undoubtedly one of those times. The touch is as gentle as gentle could be, just an instant before he pulls back minutely, pecks you again, another gentle kiss, and another, and another. Warm rain drips from his hair and shirt and onto you, tracing the outline of his shape on your clothes as his breath ghosts over your lips and across your cheeks.
It almost feels like the first time every time when his light, fleeting kisses start getting more and more insistent, when his lips almost tug at yours in the hopes that he can deepen things a bit more. Kissing is just as important an act as anything more intimate, he insists, and he refuses to simply skip over a chance to kiss you senseless-- or, more frequently, be kissed senseless himself. Said sense goes running down into the dirt just like the storm once your tongue comes into play. The elbow he'd been propped on slips a bit lower, and the slight arch his back had stubbornly held onto melted as quickly as his heart did. One of your hands slides down the back of his neck, he slips one hand between your back and the grass, and--
A rumble of thunder violently shakes the ground beneath you. He pulls back with a look of fear that morphs instantly into breathless amusement. “May I have the honor of escorting you inside?!” he laughs, standing on slippery feet and offering a hand.
You pull yourself up, and the two of you are running again, slamming the door of the miniscule cottage behind you and sliding down to the floor. After a moment of silence when your backside hit the floorboards, you look him in the eyes and burst into giggles once again. For a moment, you didn't register that you were the only one laughing. Fearing the worst as the giggles die away, you look over at him, and he's looking at you like he'd never seen anything or anyone more beautiful.
You're left guessing a lot of the time when you're around him; what's intentionally part of his protective romantic act, what's his shaky nervousness peeking through like dandelions through sidewalk cracks, what's a happy accident that sticks in your mind regardless of his intent?
He hesitates before he leans in, forehead pressed against yours, being that sort of staged-sentimental-or-maybe-just-flustered that keeps you still in your spot. Karamatsu is close enough that staring into his eyes seems to blend the halves of him together, everything a little hazy, a little unreal. You notice a shine dancing over his eyes, and you realize that he's trying to restrain the need to cry. (You feel some thrill in your chest that you still make him react so strongly when he's happy, but at the same time, he's a messy crier and sometimes his sentimentality is better when he restrains himself a bit.)
Your arm reaches up to cradle his cheek, and he seems to go slightly slack like a pleased, lazy cat. He breaks through his urge to simply melt into you by lifting up a hand to cover yours. He all but nuzzles your hand, cheek still slick with rain, staring at your wrist, desperate to show how much every display of affection means to him as the tears take to his eyelashes. A drop of something, be it from the storm or him, rolls down his cheek and into your palm, and he pulls away to drift close to your face again. Maybe he's building up anticipation, or maybe he's just nervous to come any closer. Either way, his lips are just barely touching yours, and a shiver rolls up his spine.
Everything is quiet except for him, huffing out what may have been a laugh if he could bring himself above a whisper.
"It doesn't matter that winter is on its way. You make every minute feel like the most perfect day of spring.”
You end the night nestled under several blankets, cozy and content, your fingers and his stained with the ruby red of pomegranates. When the frost finally came, he made sure that your hands and heart were as warm as his.