michael mouse. do your absolute worst, he deserves no mercy
“i wish we could help aqua” for ten years when he knew exactly where she was and was just too much of a pussy to go in there and help her without a depressed seventeen year old to protect him
this is super stupidly fluffy as hell, you’ve been warnedi really loved writing this, it was a lot of fun. super dorky. also, i’ve got a ko-fi and a patreon for my writing now xoxo.
“Our first date is a picnic on a beach under the stars?” Isa had been told to not comment until everything was set up and the date was really ready to start, so jabs had built up. He had to take a moment to decide which he'd lead with.“Have you swallowed a romance novel? Do I need to call a doctor?”
“Haha, very funny. I put this all together for you and all I get is made fun of.” Lea spoke with fondness saturating his voice, more than happy to just be with Isa. Of course, he was planning something special for this romantic night, something that could really symbolize that they were finally over the initial difficulty of adjusting to having their hearts back. Something to really remind them both that they’d forgiven each other.
Isa looked at Lea and cracked a small smile, both of them were obviously glad to be falling back into their old banter. Jabs were received with love instead of the vaguest hints of annoyance.
“You knew, otherwise you wouldn't have made me not comment on it until we got here,” Isa said, smile remaining on his face far longer than it used to. He savored every moment of happiness he could feel, everyone former nobody did.
“Well, yeah, but that's because you're a prick.”
“Great way to start our first date, Lea.”
“It's hardly our first.” Lea fidgeted with something in his pocket when ‘first’ was mentioned again. It wasn’t their first date, that would make him sound like he was jumping the gun when they’d been officially dating for months. It was probably a good thing Isa wasn’t the most observant when he was comfortable. “We’ve gone out before.”
“Pizza and ice cream at your house isn't going to be counted for your sake.”
“We’ve gone out to lunch multiple times since we made up.”
“Not dates.”
“We’ve eaten dinner out together.”
“You didn't ask.”
“Why’s that up to me?”
“You're the one who’s been in love longer.”
“Isa.” The both knew that wasn’t exactly true, Lea had just told Isa he’s been head over heels for him since they were kids, before everything happened. But of course he was bringing that up, otherwise he wouldn’t really be Isa, would he?
“What was that about loving me since we were kids?”
Lea sighed and shoved at Isa’s shoulder gently before taking a bite of his food, something he kept forgetting he had in front of him. “I shouldn't talk to you.”
“But you do,” Isa said with a sharp breath through his nose, amused.
“But I do.”
Quiet settled as the two men sat on the towel Lea had laid out so they could watch the waves and look up at the sky. Having calm after a storm was more important than the anxiety-inducing calm before a storm. Both men finally could feel calm settling over them as they sat together and looked over the ocean together.
It had been almost a year since Isa came back, since people got hurt, since every emotional response they'd both been incapable of feeling and truly understanding hit them full force.
There had been a week where neither of them really spoke to each other. Isa had to come back to being Isa, Lea had to keep himself from losing what he'd regained. A body would always try to regrow a heart when given the slightest opportunity, but a heart couldn't keep a person from feeling the hollow feeling they'd grown accustomed to again. And none of them knew how to fix it.
All that they really had was time.
And time together worked surprisingly well.
“It's been a lot, but, for what's it's worth, I’m glad you're back.”
“It's worth everything. I was giving up. I had turned into something else and I didn't even recognize there was change. I’m s-”
“Oh, not you too. Not with me. I thought we got apologies out of the way.”
“But I’m still-”
“Shut up and eat your very romantic, kind of cold dinner.”
Isa couldn't help but laugh at Lea. That's what made this all better, being able to laugh together again. They were never lacking in things to laugh at Lea for.
“You could've brought cold food and cooked it here. Isn't making fire kind of your specialty?”
“It's no fun when I don't get to say dramatic things when I’m casting spells.”
“Dork.”
“Yeah, well, the food’s already cooked, so I can’t exactly uncook it then fire it up.”
“You know I don’t mind, I just have to jab at you.”
“Yeah, I know, I missed that.”
Choosing to ignore the food wasn't an incredibly conscious decision by Lea, but it was one that was made nonetheless. Leaning his head against Isa’s shoulders and looking up at the sky, he smiled. There was barely a sliver of a moon in the sky, Isa had once told him it was called the Balsamic moon, but he had no idea what it meant.
As if reading Lea’s mind, Isa hummed and took Lea’s hand in his. “You know, this is a great night for a first official date. This moon’s supposed to be a healing one, and that's… what we need.”
“Dork.”
“Are you rubber today? Are we twelve again?” Isa laughed gently and kissed the top of Lea’s head. “You were just staring at it like you'd forgotten something. I figured I've mentioned the phase before, so.”
“Yeah, because you're glue.” Kisses weren't infrequent, now that both of them were really coming back to themselves, they both needed and gave constant reassurance that they'd be together without anymore problems. “Thanks. I thought you were just some kind of mind reader, but I guess not even you're that cool.”
“No, I am that cool, you're just easy enough to read that I don't need to. Maybe if you weren't just looking at the moon like you wanted to marry it but didn't know how to ask.”
“Is that what I looked like?”
“Yeah, it was cute,” Isa said into a bite of food, at least one of them was remembering this was a date with food and not just company. “I’d forgive you if you decided to leave me for the moon, she’s your type.”
“Is she?”
“Probably, she’s everyone’s type. I’d go straight for the moon.”
“Oh, wow, don’t go that far. That would ruin a lot of my plans.”
“You’re making plans all by yourself now?”
“Well, since your long-standing plan didn't work out the way it was supposed to, yeah. So don't start liking girls and really don't start only liking girls. I need you to like me and admit to this not being our first date for my plans.”
“Well, one of those is fine.”
Taking the chance, Lea moved his food back into the basket and took out a small box. “I planned on things being cheesy and romantic because I wanted to ask you something cheesy and romantic.”
“Are you-?”
“Yeah, I don't want this to be our first date, that would make this weird.”
“Okay, yeah.”
“So. Everything’s sucked for years now and we’re just starting to get over it, but we’re finally starting to get back into things, right?”
“Are you making your proposal into a conversation?”
