insteadofwords | (no subject)

“Just a sec,” Rapunzel says before heading to the kitchen. Once there, she leans back against the counter and takes a moment to breathe, putting her hands on her cheeks. She wasn’t expecting that at all and as good as it felt, she’s glad that she put a stop to it for now.

She likes Keys a lot and what he’d done has felt amazing, but Rapunzel doesn’t want to rush into anything, not with how fragile she feels.

After pouring two glasses of cold water, Rapunzel carries them into the living room and grins at the sight of Keys with a pillow in his lap, looking flushed with his hair all messy from her hands being in it.

“Here,” she says with a knowing smile, holding a glass out to him as she sits next to him. “Maybe it’ll help you cool down.”

"Honestly, I think it might take more than one glass of water," he says, taking it from her gratefully and taking a long, cold swallow. When he's done drinking, he holds the cook glass against one cheek. She sits next to him and it's the easiest thing in the world to drape his arm around her shoulders.

Rapunzel laughs happily at his antics and leans against him when his arm goes around her, resting her head on his shoulder. His glasses are still hanging from his sweatshirt and Rapunzel reaches out to slide her fingertip along the frames.

"You flatter me."

Peter helped her a lot, but she still sometimes finds it hard to believe that someone could like her in this way, not just to want to touch her, but to spend time with her and hear her thoughts and ideas. Gothel did a real number on her, and she's really not sure that she'll ever recover.

"The woman who took me-- she was very... unkind," she tells him, then realizes that might seem like a rather abrupt change of subject, so she puts her hand on his chest and tries to explain. "Sometimes I don't really know how to react to compliments."

He hates that, honestly -- that someone could have done a number on someone like her, someone not list beautiful but kind and sweet and funny and all of those other things, too. He covers the hand on his chest with one of his, squeezing gently.

"I guess..." He thinks about it for a moment. "When I give you a compliment you can just ask yourself if you trust me. And, if the answer is yes, then why would I lie to you?" He lifts the hand on his chest to his lips. "We can keep practising until it's easy."

"God, that's sweet," Rapunzel says with a soft, enamored laugh, turning her head to look up at Keys' face. He looks so sincere and Rapunzel's lower lip wobbles a bit as he kisses her hand. She can feel herself growing attached, and that's terrifying. When she lost Peter, she felt like she might die. And now here she is, opening herself up to that pain all over again.

"No, I don't think you'd lie to me," she says quietly, smiling a little and lifting her head to press another soft kiss to his mouth. "I think you're good, Keys."

He brushes a tendril of her long hair back from her cheek, tucking it behind her ear.

"I try," he says, a crooked smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Behind the cushion clasped in his lap, he can feel that things are starting to settle down. "I meant it, before. I'm happy to do...whatever this is at whatever pace suits you."

He's not pretending that it'll be easy, but she's definitely worth it.

"I appreciate that," she says softly, smiling as he touches her face. His fingers brush back her hair, and she knows that part of what is holding her back is that she needs to tell Keys about her powers. She doesn't tell many people, too afraid of someone coming after her again, but if Keys wants to be with her, then he deserves to know.

"Like I said, I've only ever-- you know, done anything with one other person," she says, blushing and biting her bottom lip as she stares at his face. He's so handsome, with warm chocolate-honey eyes and a full mouth, and he's from such a modern world. "You've probably done it a lot, huh?"

From someone else, the question might be a trap. But from Rapunzel, there's no judgement, no jealousy. She's just curious about him and, if she's honest, a little nervous that she won't be any good. She and Peter never had any problems, but he was younger than her and they learned together.

"I wouldn't say a lot," he says, because he knows that some of the guys that he works with -- Mouser included -- are hooking up as often as they can. "But, yeah, I've been with girls." There's a trembling, nervous look in her green eyes, and he traces one knuckle along the line of her jaw. "That's okay, right?"

"No, of course it is," Rapunzel assures him truthfully, smiling a little as she places her chin in his hand. "I'm just curious about you."

She kisses his palm and then picks up her water glass, taking a few sips before setting it down again and pulling herself against the back of the sofa, tucking herself under his arm and leaning against his side. "I don't do that stuff casually. If that works for other people, I'm happy for them, but it's just-- not me. I need to feel something first, I think."

"I'll tell you as much or as little as you want," he says, sitting still while she rearranges herself against him and, once she has, squeezing her in against his side. "I don't think I've done anything out of the ordinary or anything, and...well. There was always Millie, so...nothing ever stuck."

He listens and then nods. "Welll, I'm glad you feel something for me, then."

"Do you think this will be different?" Rapunzel asks before she can help it, thinking of the woman that he's in love with. And then she lets out a bemused laugh and shakes her head. "I suppose we won't know until we try, right?"

She rests her head against his chest, resting her hand on the cushion covering his lap. "That's the scary part."

"You're right. Neither of us will," he says, intensely aware of her hand, the cushion in his lap. He covers it with his free hand, squeezing gently. "But I want it to." He drops a kiss into her hair and tries not to think of all the baggage they're both bringing with them.

"That's what matters," Rapunzel assures him, turning her hand to thread their fingers together. He kisses her hair and it makes something inside Rapunzel squirm, reminded unhappily of Gothel. She can't really explain it without talking about things she'd rather not yet, so she tips her head back a little to look at him almost pleadingly. "I like it better when you kiss my forehead."

She threads her fingers with his, her hand so much smaller than his, and it kind of makes something in his chest ache for a moment. He can't read the look in her face when she looks at him, and a frown flickers across his face for just a moment before he bends his head and presses a kiss to her forehead, instead.

"No problem," he says. "Your majesty." His mouth tugs into a smile at the tease.

His soft lips touch her forehead and Rapunzel relaxes against him, sighing happily and closing her eyes. It feels so much better, reminds her that he likes her because of who she is, not what she can do.

Keys teases her and she opens her eyes to tip her head back and smile up at him, nose scrunching slightly.

"Thank you, sir," she tells him, squeezing his hand. "And I think-- well, I think that we just need to be kind to ourselves with this. Ourselves and each other."

"Yeah, that sounds...Yeah." He strokes his thumb against her skin, head tilted so that he can look down at her. "Kind sounds like the way to go. Just...be kind and make sure we're talking to each other, and...Yeah. We'll see."

God, he wants it to work out.

"We can take it slow, feel it out," Rapunzel says with a nod, squeezing his hand. They're both bringing a lot of baggage into this, a lot of loose threads to pick at, so that's the smartest way to do it, she thinks.

The heart wants what it wants, but she's been through enough that her head is a little louder now.

"We'll start with a date," she says with a smile, lifting their hands to kiss Keys' knuckles. "Like people do."

"How does dinner sound?" he asks, his cheeks flushing, lightly, when her lips brush against his knuckles like that. He'd had his mouth on her breast a few minutes before but, somehow, that slight touch feels incredibly intimate. "Somewhere quiet? We can go somewhere really nice if you want an opportunity to dress up? Or just burgers or something. I basically don't care as long as you're there and happy."

"Dinner sounds great," she tells him, smiling wider the more he speaks. "Somewhere nice, I think. I do love dressing up. But not too nice, because those places make me feel awkward and they're far too expensive."

She squeezes his hand and then smiles at him again, holding the tip of her tongue between her teeth. "I'll be there. And I'll be happy."

He smiles in response, warm and broad, his hand still twined around hers. He tilts his head.

"Definitely sounds like a date," he says. He pauses, his eyes darting down to her mouth. "Can I...is it okay if I kiss you again?"

The question makes her blush, and she finds him asking at all very romantic. She bites her lip and nods quickly, smiling and leaning in a bit closer to him.

"You can kiss me," she assures him, tilting her chin up expectantly.

She's so pretty when she blushes like that that it actually makes him feel a little giddy. She leans in, tilts her chin and he lifts his free hand, fingers skimming along her jaw as he leans in to kiss again. Like before, he keeps it light, chaste. He's detirmined not to rush her.

Keys kisses her softly and Rapunzel hums, eyes falling shut as she puts her hand on the side of his neck. She can feel how easy it would be to fall into this, to let him touch her all over, and while a part of her wants that very badly, she knows that it'll smarter to take their time and not rush into things. She wants to do this right, if she's going to do it.

She knows that he respects her, and that he'll let her set the pace, so she deepens the kiss a little, touching the tip of her tongue to the seam of his lips briefly before pulling away and smiling at him.

He's holding himself back so hard that his hands are trembling, finely, when she breaks the kiss and leans back. He makes a soft sound and leans in, pressing his forehead lightly against hers.

"I...should go home," he says. "Because, if I don't, it's going to get harder and harder to take this slowly." He brushes his thumb against her cheek. "And I want to do this right."

"I know what you mean," she says breathlessly, reaching up to clutch at his wrists as he touches her face. She kisses him again, brief and soft, and then takes his hands in hers as she stands up from the sofa.

"Okay, okay. You go home," she tells him, smiling up at him once he stands. "I'm-- I'm really glad you texted me earlier."