118 Quiet Moments

How sweet. Vixen felt a bit like she was intruding. But she was not really to blame when the two had fallen asleep outside.

The two leaning against each other, with their fingers entwined, looked far more adorable than she would have thought it would.

Especially for Dawn. Her husband was fairly easy to picture as someone who would do this, but the queen had always seemed less approachable.

But seeing her snuggled up close with him made her appear more like just a regular woman with the man she loved. Well, the two had been acting rather close anyway, but she had thought Raven had been doing all the chasing. But this looked mutually endearing.

As she was smiling at how adorable the two actually looked, Lowks emerged from his tent. It immediately drew her attention. Sometimes she found it annoying how much work it was not to look at him, but now that they were practically engaged she could eyeball him at her leisure.

Lowks was not entirely put together this morning. His hair was not lying flat, and he was not really wearing his cloak properly. Was he still half-asleep? That was not normal for him…

But seeing him looking slightly a mess, made Vixen realize two slightly related things. One, a messy Lowks with bed-hair was adorable. Two, she did not really want any of the other girls to see him when he was like this. It was too intimate…

Well, Tira would be one thing. His sister would not harbor thoughts on him, and had likely already seen him looking like this. But all the other girls, she did not want them to see this sight. She wanted it exclusively to herself. If that was selfish she did not really care.

When he saw her, Lowks opened his mouth to greet her, but she stopped him. Clapping a hand over his mouth, she murmured softly to him, "Hush. Don't wake them."

His eyes had widened at her action, and then he nodded at her. She released him at the silent acquiescence. He leaned towards her and whispered in her ear, "Morning, Vix. Did you sleep well last night?"

Her brain short-circuited when she felt his breath on her ear. Especially at the sleepy note in his voice. With warm cheeks, she found herself fumbling out a reply, "Yeah. Fine. Uh, you?"

She wanted to kick herself for how unconfident she sounded. But Lowks gave no real indication of realizing what a mess she was at the moment. Just one simple gesture from him, and she was already melting inside. So what if he was so close to her at the moment?

"Well enough." He straightened himself up, and she found herself once again just admiring how perfect he seemed to her at the moment. He smiled at her, a sleepy looking tilt of his lips that was messing with her heart. "Want to sit with me a bit while the others are sleeping?"

For a moment she didn't answer, just gazed at him blankly. Then without a word she nodded. She would love to spend time with her beloved Lowks.

Before she knew fully what was happening, he had taken hold of her hand and pulled her along beside him, walking to the far side of the lake.

They sat down by each other and Vixen was not entirely sure what to do with herself. She peeked over at Lowks, expecting to see him gazing out at the water or something. Instead, she realized he was gazing at her.

Which meant he caught her glancing at him. "What is it?"

"Uh, your hair?" She said it mostly to cover her embarrassment, but ran with it. "It's kinda messy…"

"Hmm?" He reached up to touch his hair, then he shrugged, "So? Does it bug you?"

"… It makes me want to fix it." She mumbled, but then looked at him brightly, "May I?"

She did not bother waiting on his answer. Instead she immediately reached up to touch it, trying to use her fingers to fix its messy look.

Lowks's eyes widened, but he made no move to stop her. She felt happy, just touching his mop of hair. It had been a while, as she had started feeling self-conscious about the fact that they were different genders and it had made it hard to be entirely carefree around him. Especially when she had realized she had a crush on him.

But with the way their relationship was right now, she could do this right? Even if it was a bit nerve-wracking, at least she no longer worried that he might get upset with her.

Suddenly, Lowks seized her hand as she was stroking his hair and combing it into place. She blinked looking into his eyes. She watched him shutter them as he leaned down towards her.

His lips covered hers in a soft gesture that made her cheeks heat up at the sweet gentle caress.

As he kissed her, he released her hands, and instead grasped her waist and pulled her closer to him. As he did this, his kiss changed from being gentle and soft to have a hint of fervor to it.

Vixen grasped hold of him and kissed him back with the same ardor.

When he broke off the kiss and pulled back she was a bit hesitant. She wanted that to continue longer. It felt so nice being kissed by the man she adored.

But Lowks released her entirely and turned away from her, taking deep breaths.

She frowned, but let it be. She was still happy he had kissed her. Even if she could have continued longer she would try to understand that he might not be as content just to sit with her and kiss her for that long.

So, she just went back to trying to fix his hair. But as she touched him, he moved his head away from her, "I can fix it myself. Thanks though."

She pouted at him, "Aw, come on. Let me. It's rather fun!"

"No. Seriously, I can handle it. You don't need to bother."

She did not listen to him, instead reaching again for his hair. He went to protest again, then thought better of it and just sighed and looked away. "Fine, but can you not look at me like that?"

"What?" She happily threaded her fingers through his hair, "What do you mean?"

"…" He sighed, "My heart can't handle this…you're too cute."

Vixen felt her cheeks grow even warmer. She was not used to Lowks speaking to her like this. With that odd tender sounding voice that made her want to believe he really had some deep-seated feelings towards her. But she did not want to misunderstand him and assume. It would hurt too much to be proven wrong.