portrait of adoration
⎯⎯ ✦ synopsis: kaiser watches you look at pieces of art. you only catch his gaze when you feel brave enough to turn your head. and to any onlooker, it is the picture of the tethering of two lovers.
✦ featuring: michael kaiser x fem!reader ✦ content: sfw . established relationship . vacation / traveling (Mexico City, Mexico) . nerdy!reader . VERY selfship coded/self-indulgent (but can still be read generally if you wish!!!!!!) . alternating povs ✦ word count: 2.5k ✦ authors note: this fic was written for and as a part of the wonderful stephanies ( @princesa-querida ) BAECATION EVENT !!! writing this fic finally had the dusty wheels spinning again after months of writers block sobs <333 IM SO SORRY THAT THIS IS A BIT LATE :'3 BUT THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH FOR HOSTING THIS AND LETTING ME PARTICIPATE LOVE!!! and also i apologize..... i truly did try to make it as general as possible this time but it kind of ran away from me again anyway hfkjfkjhfljhfl forgive me guys </3
Kaiser watches you stare at the piece on the wall, notebook clutched in hand and eyes pinning the abstract mural in the grasp of your gaze. Your head tilts as if looking for something more than the lines and material in front of you.
It's cute, he thinks. The way you try to find meaning in things, regardless of whether they might be there or not. His eyes catch at the way your shirt rides up a bit as you stand on your toes, looking for another angle.
“Mihya... do y’think if I stand back further I’ll find something new?” You say as you shuffle off to the side, eyes still tacked onto the artwork.
“I think...” He takes his hands out of his pockets and strides close, “that you should move back a bit.” His hands grasp your waist and you jump a little, the press of his fingers skimming just underneath the fabric of your top.
“W-we’re in public,” you immediately hiss, but still allow him to guide you to the bench he was standing by a moment ago.
He simply hums a response and tugs down the edge of the shirt, palms resting on top of the waistline of your jeans. “Relax. I’m not doing anything. See anything different now?”
Turning your head back to the artwork, you’re startled to finally notice the crowd of people moving into the spot you were just monopolizing and feel a bit of heat crawl up your face. You were so absorbed in your own viewing that you hadn’t even noticed the awkward visitors around you trying to get a closer look themselves.
“I could always lift you up, you know.” Kaiser interrupts your plummeting embarrassment and snickers at your immediate squawk of protest.
You try to shuffle away from his grasp a bit, but his hands flex and refuse to budge (as they often do when they have their hold on you).
Sighing, you crane your neck to the side once more, mind funneling back into the focus that so rarely found you willingly.
When Kaiser had first suggested the trip, you’d raised a brow. Sure, it was the off-season and you’d had a few break days saved up from work, but truthfully, nothing came to mind for him to prompt this so out of the blue.
You’d always loved the idea of traveling. To explore and see the world with your own two eyes and all that it has to offer. The art, culture, and architecture of a number of countries called to you. And your bookmark bar was continuously being filled with articles and videos of all the places you had dreamed of once visiting.
The call of something more had always tugged you along. From daydreaming about jungles in your school years to wistfully looking up plane tickets in your university days to even now. Watching videos of vloggers and their adventures during your lunch breaks.
Maybe it was childish, but the thought of finding pieces of yourself in places you’d never set foot on made you feel hopeful for things you didn’t know if the future held for you or not.
And then you met Kaiser.
Kaiser whose love, once he fell, seeped through the cracks of his glass armour. You’d stared at the ichor dripping from your fingers in awe and a wisp of fear. To own something so shattered required the utmost care. Care you didn’t know if you had the ability to let resurface.
But it did. Hesitantly. Quietly. Softly. It bloomed.
And Kaiser in turn clutched it like the first gift he’d ever received. Never to be found anywhere else.
So inevitably — it was only expected really, you later realized — when you started gushing about all the places you’d love to go to one day to Kaiser, his thoughtful nodding resulted in your first ever trip outside the country.
Nevermind that he didn’t ask if you could even go of course. You remember chewing him out as you scrambled to call out of work (after nearly toppling him a hug when the surprise had passed over you).
So trips like these weren’t out of the ordinary anymore.
(You’d refused to go on any trips at all ever if he didn’t at least tell you beforehand. Excluding big surprises of course. Which was a bit you kept to yourself, but Kaiser heard it anyway and smirked at your apprehensive face.)
But you still think it was a bit sudden. Call it a gut feeling. Or rather, your attunement towards Kaiser's feelings, specifically.
“Okay. I think I’m done.” Your arms drop, the ache of holding up your notebook and pen nipping at your muscles.
(He’d laughed the first time when you’d excitedly pulled out the comically large spiral bound notebook from your bag and you’d flushed to your ears. The smile that rippled across your face and your twinkling eyes however, didn’t cease as you defended yourself.
The pen in your hand always felt better than fingers on keys for things like this, you’d argued, huffing before turning away and missing the way his eyes twinkled at your antics.)
Your eyes catch his again before you move towards the exit of the room and you find that he's already looking at you.
(he always is)
To any passerby, the term ‘apple of his eye’ doesn’t begin to compare to how he looks at you. You still have a hard time even beginning to acknowledge it on the rare occasions you happened to catch it.
Some things are meant to be left unspoken you think — unless they burst into nothingness — and you believe it's selfish anyways. The way you never want him to stop looking at you like that.
But every time you did catch it; it was akin to the first taste of an apple's crunch. Sweet and hard and heady. You are by no means a saint either. Far from it actually. So, you allow yourself to hold his gaze for a moment. Let it wash over you for a cusp of a second.
And only just that. Before you turn away with your heart thrumming a little faster and brushing by his arm, fingers loosely hooking onto his, forcibly staring straight ahead as you collect yourself from the aftermath of his tsunami-gaze.
You’d always been told you had an expressive face. And with Kaiser that was practically a death sentence, depending on how you looked at it.
He doesn’t squeeze your hand, but you feel him shift closer with each step taken towards the next room. Until your shoulders are brushing side by side and you can smell his cologne invading your senses.
It takes everything in you not to lean over and bury your nose in his arm right then and there. Unfortunately, normalcy is something that ran from you whenever you were with him.
Another thing that didn’t escape him.
“Do you want to check out the other exhibit on your list next?” Leaning down close to your ear. “I think they won't close for another hour or so.”
His scent overwhelms your nose like the smell of an intoxicating flower; you can barely restrain your shudder. Your eyes flutter and you miss the wickedly pleased grin on his face.
Because as much Kaiser loved letting you flourish in your own bubble, your own area of expertise. Thought it was a stunning thing to watch you dive into the things that made your eyes shine like stars and your face brighten like the moon.
(Selfishly, he wonders if this is how you feel watching him on the field.)
He loved settling into your orbit even more.
(Notice him, he thinks.
See him. Keep your eyes on him.
Always.
His child-keeper heart whispers.)
He patiently waits for you to collect yourself. Can’t be too forward all the time, lest he makes you shyly skitter away at every instance.
“I-i mean we can if you want to?” You manage to get out. “Is there anything you want to see?”
Kaiser — surprisingly enough, if you didn’t know him well — had his own sense of appreciation for the arts. Where you were driven by the urge to understand by observing; consuming piece by piece so you could find its center, its meaning. He was drawn forward by finding its purpose; picking it apart with his eyes and mind to understand its origins. In a way, you both were similar in that regard. Searching for things others might have missed or looked over. A hidden beauty or a cracked flaw, if you will.
You turn your head to face him, apology coating your words. You’d been so absorbed in seeing all the pieces you’d written down that you’d forgotten to ask if there was anything he’d wanted to see too.
He straightens again and resumes his stride. “No, I’m good. Let's head in before they close.”
“You sure?” Your mouth settled into a purse, feet digging in. Eyes still glimmering with doubt and guilt. He brings his other arm up and squishes your cheeks. “I’m sure,” he drawls, smile tickling the edge of his lips at your whine.
The truth was. He’d missed you. He might be in the middle of the off-season right now, but that didn’t mean you had work off. It was easier when you were both busy at the same time; that way he could at least keep himself occupied and away from the gnawing in his chest.
Your presence had very quickly become a constant in his life. The feeling of his chest caving in when you were gone from his side for too long even more so a fastly established thing.
The acknowledgement of both those truths were barely kept at bay with his teeth. So, instead, he’d noted your recent youtube video searches and booked two plane tickets for after your earliest long weekend.
And he feels sated now. Watching the way your steps quicken just a bit when the archway to the next exhibit come into view and the way your eyes immediately started to look around in wonder and awe at the walls.
“Oh my gosh look, they have a souvenir shop!” You squeal as quietly as you could and drag him over to the side of the grand room where aisles of books, figurines, and clothing lined the corner. You quickly let go of his hand and wander off to take a look at everything and he trails behind after you.
“Didn’t we already get postcards and stamps from the stand yesterday?” He asks amused, watching the way you walk between row after row, your head barely reaching the top of the shelves as you make your circle around the store.
“Yeah, but those are staples. I needed them for my travel journal.” You wave him off. “I wanna see if they have something unique here y’know?” You say as you set down your notebook and pen to pick up a wide illustration book and open it to flip through the pages.
Kaiser comes to stand by you and picks up the briefly abandoned notebook and pen, tucking it away in your bag that he was already carrying. You had a bad habit of forgetting these if they left your hands and your line of sight. And this particular journal held all your carefully hand-written notes about all the places you’d been to so far.
“I don’t know… I just like being able to capture my thoughts and feelings in the moment when I’m in all these places. Pictures are great, but they can only do so much y’know?” Is what you’d said when he’d asked why you bothered
(The question only really prompted because of the cramps your hand would get with all the writing you did making his brows pinch.
Though he can’t complain too much… it gave him another excuse to coddle you as he pleased.)
You finish flipping through the book and put it down, eyes drifting to the wall full of dangling jewelry. Making your way over, you gaze at the wide selection and cross your arms, hips tilted to the side.
Before gasping and letting your hand reach over to gently snag two pairs of whatever your gaze had landed upon and carefully turn them over in your palms.
“Mihya… ohhhh we have to get these.” Turning to him, you lift up your little treasures to show him.
He leans in close and cradles your hand to get a closer look. The two bracelets sitting in your hands were sterling silver. Smooth stones the color of deep blue embedded in between the two bands.
“They look pretty,” Kaiser hums out. “Try one on first.”
He shifts your bag to his other arms and clutches your wrist in his hand, fingers circling it completely. Fastening it on, he trails his hand up to your forearm and moves it away from your shadows and lifts it up towards the lights raining from the ceiling.
Through it all, his fingers remain gentle on your skin. Their touch on your wrist and arm firm, but tuned with care one uses to handle the most delicate glass.
Your heartbeat picks up a bit at the treatment and you can’t help but feel like melting. It's moments like these that make you feel like your feet aren’t touching the ground anymore.
Kaiser makes a sound of contentment and lets go. “Is that all you wanted to buy?”
(More of a question of formality. He knew when you wanted something by the way your eyes lit up and your fingers traced over it longingly. His hand already reaching to drop it in the cart or basket at his side while flippantly ignoring your protests and requests to put it back.)
“Yeah, I think that's it…,” you say, turning your wrist over and over under the light, admiring the jewels glinting prettily. You whip your head up and grin impishly, “now your turn.”
He raises a brow as you carefully take his wrist in your hand and gently clip on the other set of jewels.
“Now we match!” You look up at him and smile, teeth peeking out. It makes him want to kiss you.
And he does. Because when does Kaiser ever deny himself something when it is already his?
Your surprise is quickly swallowed and you lean into him, pliant and easy and soft. He breathes you in and you give, tides pushing and pulling against each other. Not in the way of roughness and anger and tension. But as natural as the reason they exist. To give and take and give and take. For as long as the moon decides to cast its lofty beams onto the sea.
You pull away and the unbridled happiness on your face consumes him.
You take his hand into yours. “Let's go?”
He hooks his thumb over the space between your thumb and index finger. “... yeah, lets go.”
any and all likes/reblogs/replies are appreciated!!! <3
