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Amarië was so close to him that he could smell her perfume- jasmine and grapefruit, like his mother’s gardens in midsummer. They were laying in the field behind her house, basking in the sweet summer humidity, and Findaráto could’ve sworn that Amarië was glowing in the evening light. Her arm was pressed up against his, their fingers entwined so tightly he could feel her heartbeat where his wrist rested against hers.
“Findaráto ,” she whispered, turning to face him. Her breath was warm on his cheek.
He turned to her to find her lips parted expectantly. Flushing so red it probably would’ve been embarrassing, had it been light enough to see, he slowly leaned forward, until their noses were brushing. Shutting his eyes, he closed the distance and-
“Findaráto , that's not my mouth,”
“Findaráto , that’s not my-”
“Findaráto , that’s not-”
“Findaráto -”
“Findaráto -”
“Findaráto -”
“Findaráto Artafinde Ingoldo! Get down here this instant!”
At the sound of his mother’s voice, Findaráto snapped back into the present.
“Yes, Amme!” He called, picking himself up from his bed, where he’d been sitting for the past hour replaying that fateful moment in his head. Smoothing his robes, he pulled open his door and moved to the top of the stairwell to find his mother looking up at him impatiently.
“I’ve called your name five times, Ingoldo!” she cried. “Even Artanis listens better than you, and she is but a tenth of your age! Perhaps for your next begetting day, I should buy you not only earrings but some new ears to hang them on!” CC
“Yes, Amme,” he sighed again. “What did you need?”
“Kanamíriel is here to visit you. And watch your tone with me, Findaráto !”
“How long has she been waiting?” he asked, ignoring his mother’s last comment.
“Five minutes probably. However long it took me to get you out of your own head!”
Findaráto grimaced. Though his cousin shared much of her mother’s temperament, she could be just as hot headed as her siblings when feeling displeasure. And being patient was not one of her strong aspects. He descended the stairs and slowly opened the door, his mother grumbling about insolent teenagers all the while.
“Findaráto ,” his cousin acknowledged, before brushing past him as if she owned the place.
“Kana!” His mother greeted happily. “So nice of you to visit. I swear you haven’t visited in ages! Have you grown?”
“I was here last week, tatyamil,” Kanamíriel laughed. His mother beamed at the title, and began attempting to usher Kana into the kitchen.
“Actually, tatyamil, I wanted to visit Findaráto a bit,” she said, grabbing onto his arm. “Perhaps we could catch up a bit later?”
“Of course, of course,” Earwen smiled, “Though I must head off to the market right now. Don’t get into trouble you two!” The cousins nodded, and as soon as she turned away to search for Artanis, Kanamíriel began dragging Findaráto up the stairs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Ouch,” he grimaced. “What was that for?”
“You’re too slow,” Kana said from his perch on Findaráto ’s window seat. “Plus, it was revenge. For making me wait outside your house for ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes? That seems a little extreme.”
Kana shrugged loftily. “However long it was, I don’t appreciate being kept waiting.”
“You Feanorians,” Findaráto grumbled, sitting down on his bed. “You’re going to be the death of me.”
“Excuse you, I am the nice one. If any of them are going to murder you, it’d be Curvo or Tyelko.”
“Not Moryo? She’s by far the most terrifying of all you lot.”
“Nah, Moryo’s a real softie once you get to know her. Besides, there are more pressing matters at hand.”
“Mmm?”
“You went on a date yesterday with Amarië .”
“How did you find that out?” He cried. He’d really thought he’d kept it hidden.
“Findaráto ,” he sighed, “It wasn’t hard. You practically make heart eyes every time you look at her.”
“Fine,” Findaráto groaned, flopping back onto his bed. “And before you ask, it went awfully.”
“Wait, you actually went out with her?”
Findaráto looked at his cousin in confusion.
“What?!” Kana cried. “I was bluffing! I didn’t think she’d actually said yes!”
“Gee, thanks,” Findaráto grumbled. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter now. There’s no way she’ll want to go out with me again after what happened.”
Kana gasped. “Did she find out about-”
“NOPE!” Findaráto shouted, leaping up at slapping his hand over Kanafinwë ’s mouth. “We are not going there.” Kana rolled his eyes. Taking it as a sign of surrender, Findaráto removed his hand from his cousin’s mouth before sitting back down on his bed.
Kana arched an eyebrow expectantly.
Findaráto avoided his eyes.
“Well? What happened Findaráto ? Knowing your love of dramatics, it can’t have even been that bad!”
“Fiiiiiiiine,” he groaned. “So, we got dinner at that on place in Tirion, you know, that one haru brought us to and Uncle Nolo and your father started a brawl at, and then we went back to the field behind her house, and-”
“Awfully forward of you, Ingo,” Kana giggled. “You fucked her on your very first date?”
“I didn’t…I didn’t… fuck her-”
“You’re right, it’d probably be the other way around-”
“We didn’t… do anything, Kana!” he cried, face burning. “We just kinda…laid there.”
“You’re so boring ,” Kana grouched. “Did you even kiss? Never mind, that’s a bit forward for you, though I think she’d be happy-”
“I missed,” Findaráto blurted out, then groaned. Kana was not supposed to find out about his failed attempt at kissing Amarië .”
“You missed?”
“Yes! I just, I turned toward her, and she looked like she was waiting for me to kiss her, so I leaned forward and she let me, and…”
“Yes?”
“So I closed my eyes and leaned forward again, and I accidentally kissed the side of her face.”
Kana blinked.
Then burst out laughing.
“Ingo!” he crowed, black hair rippling as he shook with laughter, “You had one job! Put your lips against hers! How did you mess that up?!?! ”
Findaráto rolled over and covered his burning face with a pillow as Kana wheezed in the background.
“Oh, Ingo,” he gasped, “You complete, utter fool! That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in ages!”
“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” he mumbled from underneath his silken green pillow. “Laugh all day, I don’t have anything else to do.”
“Besides wallow in your embarrassment?”
“Kana!”
“Fine, fine, don’t lose your head. You can still fix this! All you need is some practice.”
“Practice?” He asked, sitting up to face his cousin.
“Sure! Snog a few people now, then be totally ready next time you meet up with Amarië . It’s foolproof!”
Findaráto eyed Kana suspiciously. In the shadows of the fading light of Laurelin, his cousin looked like one of the spirits his mother used to tell him about, that would promise toys to elfings but then lead them to their doom. He wouldn’t put it past Kana to do just that with whatever scheme he’d created.
“That’s an awful idea, Kana,” he pointed out suspiciously. “And basically cheating; Amarië already probably hates me for being an awful kisser-there’s no way she’d ever speak to me again if she found out!”
“Just don’t tell her.”
“Don’t tell her, Kana, are you out of your mind?! I’m an awful liar! Besides, who would I even ‘practice’ with?”
Kana grinned mischievously, and Findaráto felt his stomach twist.
“Me, of course.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“You can’t be serious.”
Makalaurë shrugged. “Why not? It’s a win-win! You get practice kissing so you don’t make a fool of yourself in front Amarië again, I get leverage against you. There’s nothing to lose. Besides, I’m a great snogger.”
Findaráto snorted.
“ What!? ” They cried indignantly. “I’ve snogged loads of people! Laurefindil, Elenwe before she got with Turukano, Turukano himself, that one nis from the marketplace, Irisse, Eonwe-”
“ Eonwe!? ”
“Meh,” Makalaurë said nonchalantly. “Dick is dick.”
“ Makalaurë !” Findaráto admonished. “That is no way to talk about-”
“Oh calm down ,” They groused, flopping back on the window seat.
“Yes, but-”
“Ingo! I promise my sex life is not as fascinating as you think. Now, do you want help or not?”
Findaráto squirmed. He wanted to be good enough for Amarië , but at the same time…kissing lessons from his cousin weren’t the way he pictured improving.
Makalaurë arched a perfect brow.
“...Fine,” Findaráto relented. “What do we do?”
Initially, Makalaurë said nothing, instead sitting up from the window seat, walking over to Findaráto ’s bed plopping down beside him, thigh pressed against Findaráto ’s own.
“There,” Makalaurë said, moving a hand over to rest on Findaráto ’s thigh. “It’s simple, really. Now go.”
“What?”
“Go ahead! Kiss me!”
“Like, now?”
Makalaurë rolled their eyes. “Yes, you dunce. That’s what we’re here for!”
Findaráto bit his lip. He felt weirdly fluttery, like the nerves he got before performing. His eyes drifted down to his clenched hands, then back up to his cousin, who was looking at him with fond exasperation. Makalaurë , he realized, was a perfect blend of all of his brothers. He was Nelyo’s nose and shared his eyes with Ambarussa and Curvo. His inky hair had the same wave as Moryo’s, and his slight swagger must have been where Tyelko got his from, and-
“Are you done staring at me yet, Ingo?” Findaráto flushed what must have been brilliantly, eyes darting back to his hands.
“Look at it this way…” Makalaurë sighed. “Pretend I’m Amarië . We’ve just had a lovely dinner, and now we’re back in the field behind your house.” They dropped their pitch slightly, adding a slight rasp.
“There,” Makalaurë said in a perfect imitation of Amarië . “Now kiss me.”
Findaráto swallowed. It felt like a weird dream, hearing his lover’s voice out of his cousin’s mouth, but not necessarily a bad one. After all, his cousin definitely wasn’t unattractive , and he supposed there could be worse people to-
His mind screeched to a halt. Nope. He was not going there. Just because Nelyo and Finno-
“Findaráto !” Makalaurë ’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “Do you want to do this, Ingo? I’m perfectly okay to not, but really, the stalling is getting a little-”
“Stop doing that, please.”
“Doing what?”
“Acting like Amaire. You’re distracting me.” He wasn’t even looking at his cousin but could tell their eyebrows skyrocketed.
“Ooooooh, Ingo, fantasizing about your giiiiiiiiirlfriend?”
No. I’m thinking about you.
“Makalaurë !”
“Fiiiiiiiine,” They groaned, switching back to their normal persona. “Does this mean you’re finally actually gonna kiss me instead of skirting around it?”
Findaráto nodded, slowly lifting his eyes up to meet Makalaurë ’s. His cousin looked at him expectantly, and he gulped in a breath, steeling his nerves before leaning in and-
“ Findaráto ! That’s my nose! ”
He groaned, flopping back onto his bed as Makalaurë shook with laughter.
“Oh my Eru!” they cried. “ Again!? Ingo, your track record is two for two! You absolute dumbass!”
“What am I supposed to do!?” Findaráto whined.
“Don’t close your eyes, you dunce. This isn’t one of your father’s romance novels. Here, let’s try again.
Findaráto groaned. “No, it’s no use.” he sighed. “You just pointed it out; my track record is awful. I can’t do this.
“Hey,” Makalaurë ’s gaze softened. The laughing ceased. “Don’t beat yourself up. It takes some getting used to. Here, I’ll lead this time.”
They pulled Findaráto up into the sitting position he was in before, then took his hand and held it gently in their own, rubbing circles into his palm with their thumb.Their hands were soft, much more so than expected, despite the thick calluses on the tips of their fingers, and Findaráto felt his stomach swoop.
Makalaurë tilted their head towards Findaráto ’s, making the space between them so small he could feel their breath on his face.
They disentangled their hands from his, then reached up and cupped Findaráto ’s face in their palms. Makalaurë moved in even more, now so close that Findaráto could see himself reflected in his cousin’s blue-gray eyes, and count every freckle in the spray across his cousin’s face.
His breath hitched as Makalaurë ’s hand shifted to brush a stray strand of hair back behind Findaráto ’s ear. Goddamnit, why did Makalaurë have to be so attractive? The point was to learn how to kiss, not cheat on his girlfriend with his fucking cousin of all people!
Findaráto was jolted out of his thoughts by Makalaurë suddenly leaning in and pressing their mouth to his own.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<
Makalaurë ’s lips were soft and warm, and Findaráto could feel them tugging into a smile as he relaxed into the kiss. They were chapped, too, which he hadn’t expected, but supposedly made sense, what with all the singing his cousin did. As the kiss deepened, Findaráto felt a sort of buzz in his stomach. He felt giddy, almost, and the feeling only grew as Makalaurë ’s tongue swiped over his own lips. He parted his mouth slightly to let his cousin in, the flutter in his gut turning into a roar. Makalaurë ’s fingers began working their way upwards, threading through his hair, and the heat flooded through his entire body. Almost as if of their own accord, Findaráto ’s hands began to move as well, wrapping around Makalaurë ’s waist and pulling them closer. His hands slowly drifted upwards until he was cupping Makalaurë ’s face just as they had done to him moments before. They moaned slightly, before sinking even further into the kiss. Invigorated, Findaráto raised his hands once more, and began tracing light circles over his cousin’s pointed ears. Makalaurë shuddered under his touch, pulling away slightly to gasp for breath before coming back onto Findaráto with renewed energy. The warmth flooded through him once more. He was on fire, he was burning, he-
“Makalaurë ?”
The two jumped apart, blushing furiously. Findaráto was pleased to note that his cousin was red all the way up to the tips of his ears.
“Yes?” He called, trying to sound as if he hadn’t just fully made out with his cousin.
“Nelyafinwe is here to pick up Makalaue,” Angarato’s voice called through the door. “He says Feanaro’s in a bit of a mood and won’t appreciate your tardiness.”
“Alright!” Findaráto called back, waiting for Angarato’s footsteps to fade before turning back to his cousin. Makalaurë looked as breathless as he felt, still flushed from his ears to the bottom of his neck.
“So…” he began, trailing off awkwardly. “That was…nice, I think”
Makalaurë laughed softly. “Yeah,” they murmured. “That was nice.”
Findaráto noticed with a start that Kana looked different now than he had before. More open than before, if that was the right word. The confident way he held himself was still there, but it seemed like less of a front and more of simply his natural state. He liked this version of his cousin, he decided.
“I have to go.” Kana stood abruptly, moving for the door and effectively breaking Findaráto out of his thoughts. “Atya’ll be pissed if Nelyo and I aren’t back before the lights stop mingling….I’ll see you around?”
“Obviously,” Findaráto teased. “I…I think I still need some kissing lessons.”
Kana grinned playfully as he reached for the door, but Findaráto thought he caught a glimmer of something other than mischief in his cousin’s eye. Hope, maybe? No, that was stupid. He shook the thought from his head as quickly as it had entered.
“Definitely,” Kana smiled. “I’d like that. I have…a few things in mind to teach you.”
And the smirk was back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He didn’t mean for it to turn into anything, he really didn’t. He thought it’d just be a few short stints, then he’d go back to Amarië and his kissing lesson with Kana would be ancient history; something to joke about in a few centuries.
Of course, that wasn’t really how it had gone.
One of Amarië ’s cousins was getting married, and then shortly after the wedding had insisted that the family join them for another few months of celebration. (A bit longer than usual, but certainly not unheard of…Findaráto had heard from some of his older cousins that the entire Finwean district had celebrated for a full year after his parents wed.)
The point was, Amarië had been gone for months, leaving Findaráto with no reason to stop his ‘kissing lessons’ with Kana. (To be fair, he could’ve stopped anytime he liked but he discovered himself thinking that he didn’t exactly want to do that. He was attracted to Kana.) Now, though, Amarië was back and he needed to put an end to something, whether it was terminating things with Amarië or stamping out his and Kana’s growing affections for each other. (Because Kana did like him back. He had been skeptical at first, but now there wasn’t a doubt in his mind.)
Amarië had been the apple of his eye for years. He’d first seen her when she began apprenticing with his aunt Nerdanel, and was instantly stricken. He’d written many a sappy sonnet about her long blonde braids and warm brown complexion, and even more about her wonderful green eyes. (Which he’d promptly burned. If Aegnor ever found them…well, he’d rather wrestle a rabid wolf than deal with the repercussions of that .) He couldn’t give up on Amarië . He’d been so overjoyed the day he’d confessed, when they were laughing about showing up to a party in the same outfit and he’d just…blurted it out, only to find she returned the feeling. Even after everything with Makalaurë , he still wanted her. He refused to let go of her after so long for his cousin. But at the same time…
Makalaurë was the complete opposite of him, but at the same time, the most kindred of spirits he’d ever met. Where he was warm, Kana was aloof, but reversely Kana had more empathy than Findaráto had ever expected. Kana was full of zest in aspects where he was bland, and he was soft where Kana was sharp. They fit together, more so than Findaráto ’s wildest dreams. He found himself unable to even entertain the idea of giving Kana up. Kana, who was prickly and bitter, cold and cruel, and Kana who was passionate and empathetic, caring and wise. And also a fantastic snogger.
He couldn’t choose.
And yet, he knew he had to do something. He couldn’t draw it out…it would be unbearable for every party involved. His mother had even begun to call him out on his moping…if word ever reached his father, it would be over. Finarfin would make him sit down and talk and then lecture him on how he was a growing elf and-
Findaráto shuddered from where he was lying on his bed. Simply the thought of that was all the enticement he needed to grow up and fix his mess.
He put special thought into his outfit, even more so than usual. He decided on the green dress and robes he’d been wearing when he’d first confessed to Amarië …the emerald ones, embroidered and bejeweled in a nod to Lady Yavanna. With that he paired an abundance of emerald jewelry, mostly gifts from Makalaurë that the minstrel had created themself with the help of Feanaro. He wanted them both to know he was theirs, if they still even entertained the idea of doing so after the monster conversation they were about to have.
His plan was to pick up Makalaurë from the Feanorian district, then head over to Amarië ’s, sit down and explain everything. With luck, at least one of them would stay with him, though he didn’t really have his hopes up. He’d never heard of three elves in a relationship, and they wouldn’t want to be chosen between. It was likely neither of them would stay with him at all…
Shaking the thought from his head, he added the last touch to his outfit…a ring Makalaurë had crafted him to match on of his circlets; two intertwined serpents, with eyes of emerald so lustrous he could see his own face looking back at him as if he was looking in a mirror. Satisfied, he adjusted earrings once more, then slipped down the stairs and out of the house.
Thankfully, it was a short ride to the Feanorian district. Feanaro obviously disliked being in such close proximity with his brothers, (which he had been very vocal about, on several occasions,) but had also refused to move away from the center of the district, where Finwe himself resided. Findaráto thanked Iluvatar for that, because the robes he was in were not comfortable to ride in, and he wanted to spend the least amount of time in the saddle as possible. He quickly approached the Feaorian’s mansion, though he could hear the sounds of screaming children emitting from it at least 2 blocks away.
The house itself was mainly marble, 4 stories, and adorned with various red and gold accents. The grounds were expansive as well; in the front there was enough yard to fit a whole nother mansion, and in the back they stretched all the way through the outskirts of the city and into the wilds behind Tirion. As Findaráto rode up the driveway, he could see Tyelko wrestling Moryo and Irisee as Huan barked on the side, while Curvo was being told off by Finno for presumably antagonizing a sobbing Arakano, in the process of being comforted by Nelyo.
“Nelyo!” he called, waving cheerfully. “Hello!”
Nelyo looked up tiredly before breaking into a grin when he realized who was calling his name.
“Hey, Ingo,” he greeted, lifting up Arakano and resting him on his hip. “What brings you here to this…fine establishment.”
“Well, as much as you appear to need some help babysitting-”
“Oh, shove off you prick.”
“Fine! Fine, okay. Is Makalaurë here?”
“No, she just left.” said Nelyo, a furrow forming between his brows. “Why? I didn’t know you two met outside of disastrous family gatherings.”
“No reason,” shrugged Findaráto , internally cursing his need to play dress up. If he’d just been an hour earlier- “I was just hoping she could help me out with a composition. I guess I’ll head out though, if she’s not here. Have fun babysitting!”
“ INGO!”
Disheartened but not totally ready to give up, he continued on his way to Amarië ’s house. It was much smaller than anyone’s in the Finwean district, though that was probably just because the Vanyar didn’t value craftsmanship as much as the Noldor did and didn’t see house building as the twisted dick-measuring contest the Noldor treated it as. It was more peaceful as well, built right between the edge of a forest and the cliffs, much more privacy than he could’ve imagined back home in Tirion. There wasn’t a screaming child to be found; the only things he could hear were the waves crashing against the rocks at the bottom of the cliff to his left and the tinkling of the various wind chimes in Amarië ’s back yard.
Her house was an abalone sort of cottage, two levels, with a pool on top of the first level and balconies at every window. Findaráto had spent many an evening floating in the warm pool with her, gazing up at Varda’s creations. As he dismounted his horse and removed her bridle, saddle and saddle pads, he despondently wondered if he ever would again. He placed his tack on the appropriate racks outside the house, then steeled up his nerves and knocked on the pearl encrusted lilac door.
It was Amarië ’s mother who answered. She was short, about the same height as Kanamíriel , and had green eyes, a rosy complexion and thick blonde hair that flowed almost to her knees.
“Ingo!” She greeted happily. “It’s been too long since I’ve seen you. Come inside, come inside!” She ushered him into the living room and tried to force a plate of pastries into his hands before he even got his shoes off.
“I’m okay, I’m fine, really,” he declined, pulling off his second slipper. “I just…is Amarië here?” Her mothers’ eyes widened before narrowing with a conspiratorial grin.
“They’re just upstairs,” she smirked. “ Have fun! ”
Findaráto ’s throat felt dry. Had Amarië already found out about his ‘kissing lessons’? Did she find another partner? Drying off his palms, he slowly turned and headed up the stairs towards Amarië ’s room. He found his way to her door easily, just as he had many times before, and paused one last time to smooth off his robes and take another deep breath. He held up his hand hesitating for just the slightest second before knocking.
No answer.
“Amarië ?” he knocked again. “Are you in there?”
Again, nothing.
“Please, I just want to talk…”
Silence.
“Amarië ?”
Not a word from inside her room. Panic began to flood through him. Was she that mad? Had he messed up so badly she wouldn’t even be able to speak to him?
“Amarië , please…”
Now he was worried. Five times he’d tried to get her attention, with no response. Was she okay? Who was in the room with her?
An awful thought crossed his mind.
No, that was unlikely…she wouldn’t have become that close with someone in the two week range she could’ve found out about his ‘lessons’ in…could she?
Shoving that thought out of his head, he knocked one last time, yet again without response.
“Amarië , I’m coming in.”
He slowly eased the door open, only to find…
“ Amarië !?”
It turns out he’d been interrupting something after all. Amarië currently had someone pinned against her sage-colored wall and was kissing them…rather intensely.
“ Findaráto !?” She cried, turning to face him.
She was also not wearing a shirt.
“Eru, I’m sorry!” he yelped, flushing bright red. “I’ll leave, I swear, I just had to tell you something!
“That you’ve been snogging Kanamíriel ?”
Findaráto ’s jaw dropped. “I…what? How? You…what?”
“I know all about your little ‘kissing lessons’...” she smirked.
“How did you…?”
“Me.” A third, very familiar voice chimed in.
Amarië stepped to the side to reveal that the person she had had pinned to the wall only a second ago was an also very shirtless…
“ KANA!?!?!?”
“ Surprise!” She cried. “I’ve been snogging your girlfriend for the past two weeks.”
“You…what?” He felt almost numb with shock. He’d came with the intent of attempting to make room for the two most important people to him, and had expected them to be jealous and hostile that they would have to share him but now they were…kissing?
“What can I say?” Kana shrugged. “There used to be something between us-” she gestured to Amarië , “-and now that there’s definitely something between the two of us, I decided to come clean for you, and ask if I could maybe I could be a part of this, if you’ll have me.”
“Too which I said yes, at least on my end.” finished Amarië . “What do you think?”
“I…what..you…Amarië ? The three of us…huh?” Findaráto stammered.
“Basically, I have decided to insert myself into your relationship.” Kanamíriel explained. “...Wow, that sounded really rude. To rephrase…I really like both of you. And I don’t want to be a homewrecker, but I was wondering if maybe there could be some space for me in your relationship?”
“I…yes!” Findaráto explained, finally getting back the use of his ability to speak. “Yes! That’s just what I was going to ask the two of you; if you could stand to both date me.”
Both jaws dropped.
“Wow, Ingo!” Kana teased. “I didn’t think you had it in you to actually say it.”
“Oh, shove off.”
Kana reached for Amarië ’s hand and led her across the room to where Findaráto stood, linking all of their hands together.
“Does this mean you’ll have me?” she asked hopefully.
“Yes, you doofus, ” Findaráto laughed. “Didn’t I already say that?”
“Wonderful!” Amarië cried. “Now that we’ve got that sorted out, I just have one last request…”
“Mmhm?” Kana hummed, squeezing Finarato’s (and he assumed Amarië ’s) hand gently.
“Would the two of you mind demonstrating what your average ‘kissing lesson’ looks like?”