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rapunzel

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He gives their first date a lot of thought. He talks to people. He does research. Finally, he manages to settle on a little Italian place that's got great ratings and reviews, that's fancy without being overbearing. He wants to give Rapunzel a chance to dress up, if she wants to. He doesn't have a suit made by her, yet, but he goes shopping again and finds a dark suit and shirt combo that he thinks works.

He's inexplicably nervous as he climbs the stairs to her apartment and knocks. In his hands, there's a bouquet of flowers, carefully chosen -- he'd gone with wildflowers in pinks and purples, flashes of yellow. They'd seemed more fitting for her than something more formal.

God, he wants this to go well.

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He also loves when she blushes like that, but he keeps that to himself.

"Wow. Seriously?" He digs into his own food, carefully cutting the portion in half first so that he doesn't accidentally eat too much like an asshole. "Yeah, no wonder you just want to try everything. What's your favourite flavour? Of ice-cream?"

Part of him sincerely hopes it's not bubblegum.

"No electricity, remember?" She says, smiling fondly at his disbelief. "It never even really got cold enough for water to freeze. The tower was high enough that I could see snow in the distance sometimes."

She takes another bite as she ponders his question, and licks the corner of her mouth before answering. "I actually really like vanilla. It's complementary to pretty much anything, you know? I can add in whatever I'm in the mood for, like brownies or candy. What about you?"

"I always forget," he admits. When he's with her, talking to her, they have so much in common -- they fit so well -- that it's easy to forget the fact that they grew up in places that were so wildly different. He blushes, faintly, reflexively, when she licks her lips, and he disguises it with a sip of his wine and a bite of his own food. "Mint chocolate chip," he says. "Is definitely the best flavour. Objectively."

"Mm, it depends on how it's made for me," Rapunzel admits as she takes one last bite of the pasta. "Sometimes the mint tastes too fake. But real mint? I'm all for it."

After eating about a third of the plate, she realizes that her hunger already feels pretty satisfied, so she sucks the tines of her fork clean and pushes the plate forward a bit. "I'm ready to swap when you are." Her eyes dart to the bread and she grabs a piece, dabbing it in the sauce. "Okay, now I'm ready."

She grins at him and then takes a bite of the bread, shifting her hips in her seat in a happy little wiggle as she reaches for her wine.

Keys takes another bite of the food in front of him before he juggles the plates, leaning to set his in front of her before he snags the pasta. He studiously doesn't watch her react to what she's eating because, if he spends too much time thinking about it, he gets onto the subject of how she reacts to other things, and he's honestly trying really hard not to think about that.

"Shit," he says, grinning, his eyelashes all but fluttering. "This is good."

"I told you!" She giggles at his reaction and then takes a bite of the other dish, which is almost just as good. The server comes by and refills their wine glasses, and Rapunzel thanks her before taking a sip. She feels loose and warm, charmed by good food and better company, and she slowly rubs the side of her foot up and down the inside of Keys' calf.

"Make sure to save room for dessert," she tells him, tipping her glass at him. "I bet they have amazing desserts."

"I bet they do," says Keys, lifting his own wine glass. He puts it down, twirling pasta with one hand while, under the table, his other just grazes against the curve of her knee.

"We can always get the leftovers boxed up for you to take home."

The touch to her bare knee startles her a little, not because it's unwelcome but because she's still not used to it. She smiles at him, soft and private, and then perks up at his suggestion.

"Really? You don't want them?" She takes another bite and while a part of her feels like she should insist that he take them, the thought of having such nice leftovers for lunch tomorrow wins out. "Okay, I'll take them. I do have a busy day tomorrow."

She takes one more bite and looks at his face as she chews, a warm expression on her face as she nudges the plate away. "You're very sweet."

She startles, but then she smiles and he doesn't jerk his hand away. He strokes her bare knee with his thumb and then he shifts his hand back to the table, reaching for his wine glass.

"Busy? What are you up to?" He takes another bite and then sets down his fork.

"I have a few deliveries coming into the store, and a few different fittings," she says with an easy shrug, reaching for her wine again. "Normal kind of busy, but it'll be nice to have something good for lunch."

Their server comes to drop off a dessert menu and take their plates away to box up the leftovers, and Rapunzel glances at it before looking up at Keys again. "How is everything at Barton going?"

"Yeah, it's good," he says, eyes skimming down the dessert menu. "I still think I know more about Game Design than the professor I'm TAing for but, whatever, right? It's an easy cheque."

His fingers, he finds, are itching to touch her again. "I like it better than my old job, anyway."

"Hey, you seem to be adjusting really well," Rapunzel assures him, because he sounds like maybe he's a little unfulfilled. "I'd say that you found a pretty good starting point, but there's room to grow."

She smiles encouraging at him, and then stabs her fingertip down onto the menu. "I'm leaning toward the flourless chocolate cake."

"Yeah, you're right. I'll figure it out." He reaches across the table, idly brushing his fingers against hers. "I...am torn between tiramisu or...the lemon meringue pie. What do you think?"

"I know you will," Rapunzel assures him, turning her hand to offer her palm up to Keys. She likes the casual touches, and wants to encourage that.

"Oh, gosh. That's a tough choice." She looks down at the menu again with a thoughtful frown. "Tiramisu sounds far more decadent."

She offers her palm and he immediately threads their fingers together.

"Decadent is a good word for it," he says, pushing his glasses up into his hair with his free hand. "Tiramisu it is."

Rapunzel smiles as Keys takes her hand, catching her bottom lip between her teeth as she glances up at him from under her lashes. It all feels very romantic, holding hands over a candlelit dinner, and she sighs happily.

The server comes and they give their dessert order while still holding hands, and Rapunzel smiles at Keys again, warm and a little teasing. "Are there any plans for after dinner?"

"If it was warmer, I'd say we could for a walk along the shore," he says, stroking his thumb against her skin, his eyes fixed on her. "Or we could go dancing, but then there's the leftovers. So I figure, I'll just walk you home." He smiles. "If I play my cards right, maybe you'll invite me in for coffee?" He squeezes her fingers. "Just coffee."

"Some other time," she says in regards to a walk on the beach, because that sounds lovely. Keys is staring at her in a way that makes her cheeks flush a little, and she smiles at his reassurance.

"You can come in for coffee," she tells him, biting her lip before lifting her glass to her mouth to take a small sip. "We could dance at my place. I have music and a floor."

"We can do it all summer long, if that's what you want," he says, because he definitely intends on still being around. She blushes and so does he, his eyes flickering away from hers, stilll holding her hand, his thumb still stroking against her skin.

"And that sounds perfect. Deal."

"I like that plan," she says coyly, smiling at him again. There's no telling how long they sit there like that, staring at each other while holding hands, but eventually their server arrives with their desserts. She sets the plates down and Rapunzel's eyes widen at the size of the slab of cake, giggling a little as the server tops off their glasses with the rest of the wine and takes the bottle.

"Thank you!" She says to the woman, and then covers her mouth with her hands for a moment, stifling a laugh. "This is a truly ridiculous amount of cake. We should have gotten one to split."

"Holy shit," says Keys, laughing a little as he picks up a fork. "Yeah. We...we might definitely be taking home leftovers of this too." He nudges her knee with his. "Hopefully we can work up an appetite with that dancing, right? Go for seconds?"

"Oh, definitely," she says with a laugh. She's laughed more tonight than she has in a long time, because she's having fun. Being with Keys is fun. Polishing off half of a bottle of wine helps too, but yeah, it's mostly him. "A perfect midnight snack."

She cuts off a small piece of cake and takes a bite, eyes widening as she stares across the table at Keys. It's delicious, and she makes a pleased sound as she raises her hand to cover her mouth as she chews. "Oh wow."

The sound she makes, the look on her face, might be one of the sexiest things Keys has ever seen. His face flushes and he directs his attention to his own dessert, taking a mouthful and, a second later, making a very similar sound himself.

"Jesus Christ," he says. "That's good."

"So good." Rapunzel stares at his face as he savors the dessert, a little distracted by how nice he looks. It makes her bite her bottom lip and she has to tear her gaze away to take another bite of her cake, chewing slowly and then leaning forward a bit.

"Let me try a bite," she tells him, cheeks flushing slightly as she parts her lips expectantly, waiting for him to feed her a piece. "I'm curious."

She does something like that and Keys realises that controlling himself, behaving himself, until she's ready? Is going to be a struggle. He's up for the challenge, though, no matter how difficult it might get.

He clears his throat, scooping up a forkful of dessert, making sure it's got cream and sponge and all of the good stuff before he leans in and looks at her expectantly.