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Things had been going well. Hunter and Willow were in a QPR, they figured out what parts of romance they liked (dates, hand holding, Hunter loved pet names), and which parts they didn’t (neither liked possession, Willow didn’t like nicknames like “love” or anything close to “girlfriend”, Hunter had a thing about sleeping in the same bed). Everyone was mostly understanding, it helped that so many changes were happening during the Reconstructing. Compared to completely reforming how jobs, the social ladder, local government, and the main government worked, accepting a slightly weird relationship was easy.
So, Willow was heading to Dell’s workshop to pick up Hunter. They were planning to take a nice walk at night, just for the sake of it. That’s part of what she loved about being in a relationship, she had someone to do that with, and it wasn’t weird. They would schedule a time and day just to… walk down the street. It was amazing.
It was golden hour, the light shining through the trees made the smallest things look magical. The smell of fresh wood was prominent as she opened the workshop’s doors.
“Hello! I would like to request a Hunter?”
Dell chuckled. “He’s in the back cleaning himself up. What are you two young’ns off to do tonight?”
“Just a night time walk. Trying to appreciate the nice weather before it becomes cold.”
“Captain!” Hunter exclaimed, running up to her to grab her hand.
“I will say, you two are much more tame than what I did at your age. I would sneak out and do petty theft…” Dell smiled at the memories.
Hunter shrugged. “I think we’ve had enough adrenaline in our lives.”
“I second that. Ready to go?”
“Yep, let me just grab my jacket. Thanks for the lesson, Dell.”
“You’re welcome, see you Sunday?”
“Yep!” They headed out the door. Walking through the forest, golden hour had passed and was changing to dusk. It would be dark out by the time they got back into town. Hunter was talking about what he’d learnt, and Willow was listening! She was just also staring at Hunter’s cracked lips with a bit more than just chapstick in mind.
She wasn’t a fan of kissing. She’d been kissed, once, as a sick joke on her, and had sworn it off ever since. It seemed unpleasant, and making out. Ugh. It made her squirm like she was a little kid. She loved Luz, but she’d rather listen to an hour-long lecture on the history of lint than have to listen to Luz talk about how Amity is “such a good kisser” and how “her lips feel like a summer’s day”. It was gross.
But here she was, looking at Hunter, wanting to kiss him. It wasn’t a particularly strong urge, but it was strange. Objectively, she thought, it wouldn’t be terrible. His lips were dry, no icky saliva. And she trusted Hunter! If she didn’t like it, Hunter wouldn’t take it personally, because he knew she didn’t like kissing. And if she did like it, they could just… do that. Or something.
“Whatcha thinking about, honey?”
She turned red, redder than just a pet name would warrant. “Y’know… romancey stuff?”
He turned a similar shade. “Oh.”
She giggled. She didn’t like people flustered over her, but causing flusteredness? She’d do it to anyone, Luz, Gus, Hunter. It was fun. “Kissing… and things.” She said in a mix of a nervous mumble and a sing-songy tone.
He turned much redder. He stared at her for a few seconds, and then ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more. “You don’t like kissing.”
“I have not enjoyed being kissed in the past.” She agreed.
“And you want to kiss..?”
“You?” she squeaked.
“Oh.” His blush, which was starting to fade, came back. Willow had mixed feelings about this.
“Do you want to kiss?”
He looked down and fidgeted with his hands. After a minute or so, she spoke up again. “We don’t have to if you don’t want! I’m fine either way, and I won’t hate you or anything.”
“I wasn’t worried about that. You hating me. I just… kissing seems like a lot.”
She nodded. They were close enough to town that she could start to read the signs. The sky was a dark blue, the clouds holding the remains of sunset. She reached out to steady one of Hunter’s hands.
“We can kiss.” He said.
“Really?”
“Yeah.” He turned to her. “It’d be nice. It only has to mean what we want it to mean, right?”
“Right.”
“So… we can kiss.”
Her face was very red at this point. He smiled at her, but didn’t say anything. Thankfully.
“I… fuck. I didn’t… you…” She stammered.
“What?” His stupidly smug smile came out.
“You can’t just! Say… yes! You… ugh!” His smile got wider, and she turned away to try to collect herself. “Not here. It’s not… perfect enough.”
“Alright. Where are we kissing then?” He said in a flirty tone. His semi-dorky, but very lovable, flirty voice always made Willow a mix of uncomfortable and giddy. She decided that the giddiness would win out this time.
“You’ll see.” She teased.
“Tell me when we get there?”
“Of course.”
They chatted as they walked into town. They spotted a hot cocoa stand and had a debate over whether softened boiled rocks (chunks of flavored sugar that had pockets of chocolate inside that exploded in your mouth) or marshmallows were better. Hunter won, because he argued that “they teach kids why you shouldn’t boil rocks found in coolwater!” The busy center slowly faded to a nice tree-covered path, lit by string lights. Willow pulled Hunter off the path, beside one of the trees.
“Here. This is where we’ll… kiss.”
“Oh. Okay.”
They stared at each other for a few moments before Willow started laughing, and Hunter followed.
“Why is this so hard?” She exclaimed.
“It’s just… smashing lips together.”
“Yeah… wow. Wait, that is weird.”
He shrugged. “Life’s weird.”
“Fair enough.” She dug around in her tote bag a bit, before pulling out a handful of lip glosses and chapsticks. “Pick one?”
“You pick one for me, you’ll be the one tasting it anyway.”
“By that logic, you have to pick one for me.”
Hunter nodded. He looked at each one, smelling them, checking the flavors, before deciding on a sweet, strawberry scented, red lip gloss. Willow handed him a mint one. Once everything was settled, they spent a few more moments just looking at one another. She held his hands, and tilted her head up.
“Just squeeze when you’re ready.”
Hunter nodded. He took a breath, squeezed her hands, and before she could react he was kissing her. He pulled away just as quickly.
“How was that?” He asked.
“Good. I think. Again?”
“Sure.”
“Maybe a bit longer this time.”
“Got it.”
Willow squeezed Hunter’s hand before standing on her toes. He was still a bit too tall, so she pulled him down by his jacket. She closed her eyes, and kissed him. They didn’t use tongue or anything, she was keeping her tongue as still as possible. His lips were rough and cracked, but had a certain softness underneath. Her glasses were pushed up a bit. After a second or two, although she would’ve sworn it felt like they were there for a good 15, she pulled back.
“Better?” She asked. His face was dusted with red blush. So was hers, probably.
“Yeah. Titan, you look cute.”
Willow retreated into herself a bit. Despite the very “romantic” action they just performed, “cute” was still too much for her.
“Shit! Sorry. You… yeah. Give me a bit.” He took a few deep breaths.
Willow nodded and took the opportunity to fix her ponytail. When she was finished, he was awkwardly looking around.
“You good?”
“Hm? Oh. Yes. It’s just, y’know, a lot.” He took a breath. “I liked it though.”
She laughed. “It was a lot. It was nice. Maybe not all the time, but we could do that again sometime.”
“Sure.” He nodded.
They continued walking. The lights were a nice, soft, purplish-pinkish. The stars were out, and Willow could spot the Titan’s heart. When they got to the end of the street, she spot up.
“We’re not boyfriend and girlfriend?”
“Nope.” He shook his head. They’d been through the routine of reassurance many times, they practically had it down to a science. Somehow, asking for it never got easier.
“I’m not being too difficult?”
“By..?”
“Being weird about… stuff.”
“Hm. Then no, you’re not being difficult.”
“Okay. Thanks.” She squeezed his hand. After a few moments, Hunter spoke up.
“You're not going to make me do anything I don’t want?”
“I will never purposely force you to do something. And if I do, you can just safeword.”
“Good. Want to start heading home?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll walk you.” They turned down the road to her house. Usually, they would've flown. But it was nice out, and her house wasn’t too far.
Willow cuddled up against Hunter as they walked, soaking in his heat. They both seemed a bit drained, so they were walking in silence. “Captain?”
“Yes?”
“Can we add something to our list?”
“Oh. Yeah, here.” She handed him her scroll.
They had a list of boundaries. It helped make sure everything was clear, and they didn’t have to have an awkward conversation when they wanted to establish a new one. They would just say “I added something to the list”, the other would check, and all would be well.
Hunter handed the scroll back. Willow opened the document. The most recent bullet read:
We wiLk always azk be4 kisSing
Willow cleaned up the typing errors as she said “That’s a good one. Thanks.”
“No problem.”
She put the scroll back in her bag, and leaned onto Hunter.
“I love you.”
“Love you too.”
No clarification was needed. They just were.
