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 Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:07 pm
"Is that so?" he asked airily, though he felt his stomach twist at the response. This was very optimistic and surprisingly easy now that it was actually started. Apparently he just needed to build up some momentum before he could really get anything said.
"And you'd be OK with that?" he asked, glancing over, his tone still keeping with the light, indirect tone that was meant to evade trouble if things didn't go as he hoped, "Me hanging around with you, all the time. Just me and you."
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:14 pm
"Of course I'd be okay with that, silly! You're my best friend, after all. In the whole wide world, even counting Utunzo and Upenzi and Alcmene and Mom!" She had a niggling he might have meant something else, because if not that had to be the stupidest question on earth. Since they were, you know, already spending time together, just the two of them.
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:23 pm
Baddie actually stumbled at her response. They had taken a rather gigantic step backward very suddenly, he didn't know how to respond. He moved to catch back up and keep walking but after a couple half-steps he just stopped and stood still. His mind was moving quickly now, he'd missed his chance because he was joking around like that. Even though it was meant to rescue him in just this scenario, he was decidedly displeased with the turn it had taken and was motivated to act directly. He wasn't going to let that just happen, he'd deal with the consequences later if she meant what she had said how she said it but it had to be worth a try. Ukene was worth it.
Not that he was acting very quickly.
"That's not what I meant," he said finally after several long seconds of silence and just standing there, looking at her.
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:30 pm
She'd stopped when he'd stopped, looking worried at his sudden stumble. Had he stepped on a sharp rock or something? Except apparently not, because he was staring at her with a sort of determined look on his face. Or at least she was pretty sure that was what it was, although it could be excruciating pain from a foot slowly getting infected with whatever you could get infected from from a rock. If so, he was taking it pretty well.
"Oh," not excruciating pain, then (she was sort of really very relieved, because that'd have been just horrible), and her niggling feeling had been right, "then.. what do you mean?"
She still felt as if she was missing a piece here, something integral to the conversation that was floating past her reach every time she tried to grab on to it. They'd been flirting and now.. oh. Oh! Was he- was he asking her if-? Oh wow.
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:41 pm
As the real meaning dawned on Ukene, Baddie was just about staring her down as he tried to think through an answer. Tried, but did not succeed. He wasn't thinking now, he was just talking. It wasn't any easier on him but it was a lot quicker.
"You're really going to make me say it?" he asked, despite knowing perfectly well it was both for the best and something he would require before actually responding. He managed to slow himself down enough to get a couple seconds pause in but he was still just talking. Get it over with.
"I- love you."
And then it was said. It couldn't be un-said and there was nothing else Baddie could do. Ukene had to react now, and no matter how quickly she reacted, as soon as he finished his last syllable it already felt like forever.
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:50 pm
Okay, so she'd sort of guessed that it was something like this, but she wasn't- she wasn't expecting a declaration of love. Maybe an 'I like you' or 'your tail's been looking extra spiffy lately', but for him to all out and say love was sort of, well, surreal.
So she stared. She was pretty sure there were birds chirping in the background and the grass was warm under her paws, but she just kept staring.
And then, after what was possibly a minute but felt like an hour, she broke the silence with a "Seriously?"
It was confusing. She was confused. More than that, she was happy, and it was suddenly bubbling up through her stomach, up her throat and manifested in a head-thrown-back, full-body laugh.
"That, that's.. wow." She was smiling like a dope, and she knew it. "You really do?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:56 pm
Now he was being laughed at. Not cool.
Unsure how to interpret her reaction, he stayed silent and tried to work through possible excuses. He was sick, very sick.. crazy, maybe. He panicked, it wasn't what he really meant. He was .. joking? With a deep breath and a long sigh, he calmed himself down and decided the truth was really the best way to go here. He couldn't really be blamed for what he felt, could he? It was awkward but Ukene was a girl, she'd understand more than say, his brothers. And she was his best friend. She already had a lot of his trust, he just had to trust her now.
"Yes," he said with a nod, fidgeting as he waited for a more definitive response.
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 11:03 pm
"Oh." She blinked, once, twice, three times. "Well, that's easy - I love you too."
And it really was that easy for Ukene - now that she was sure he wasn't pulling some sort of joke, anyway. She walked closer, a soft smile on her face as she neared him. "So.."
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 11:11 pm
He tensed when she started blinking, his fidgeting coming to a stop-- and then he relaxed again when she spoke. All that trouble for such a so-called easy answer. He took a step closer to her when she moved closer, then nearly head-butted her as he rested his head against her neck and sighed. He stayed there for a moment before lifting his head again and looking at her, shaking his head.
"You couldn't make that easier on me, could you?"
The light, joking tone was back but to a lesser degree. He was happy, very happy. And now wasn't exactly the time for joking around but he just couldn't be perfectly serious now. It was a good way to diffuse the remaining tension.
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 11:13 pm
"Well, I did my best, you know! Should've fallen in love with a smarter lioness if you didn't want to deal with my obtuse ways." Joking was good, joking was safe, joking was the only thing keeping her paws on the ground and stopping her from floating to cloud nine.
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 11:20 pm
"You can't belittle your intelligence and use obtuse in a sentence at the same time," he said, chuckling at her. He was feeling better, much better. He was still a bit jumpy but it was OK, he didn't actually have to worry now.
"Besides, I love you just the way you are," he said, saying it for the second time, this time having a much easier go at it. He puffed up proudly, positively beaming now.
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Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 11:50 am
"That's good, because I love you just the way you are too." She giggled and nuzzled up against him, sighing with happiness. This was perfect - it even beat the time they'd sat for hours and talked (or, well, she'd rambled and he'd listened) or the time she'd asked for an impromptu fighting lesson. And that'd been fun! But this.. this was way better, just having him here and knowing that he definitely, definitely wasn't leaving her now, no way no how.
Except if they had like, an invasion of killer rogues hell-bent on stealing all the flowers on their land and trampling on elderly and infirm as they went. But even Ukene considered that pretty unlikely, and that was saying something.
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Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 2:02 pm
Baddie nuzzled against Ukene happily. This was good, this was very good. He couldn't have hoped for it to be better. They hadn't gotten very far in their walk and they probably weren't really going to go much further just yet. It was nice to just stay here, basking in the happiness of what had been decided. No need to worry yet about telling families and making anything official just yet. Just them together by themselves, just like he'd said.
Fin.
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