You shine brighter than the stars

Remus was just about to put another bite of meat into his mouth when Ike went to take a drink—and choked on the wine in doing so. His ears perked with alarm and he dropped what he was holding, reaching over to guide the bottle back to the ground, lightly tapping her back and rubbing between her shoulders as she sputtered and coughed for a few moments. Once the caught her breath he was able to relax again, smiling and chuckling as she mentioned how the wine wasn't bad. Leaning close to her like this, nearly nose to nose, it made his heart skip as her pale gaze connected with his again. He felt like he should pull away, remove his paw from her shoulders, but he didn't want to. It took him a couple of moments of being lost in her eyes to force himself to move again, bringing his paw from her shoulders to her lips, gently wiping away a bit of wine that had gotten caught in her pale, pink-tinted fur. I should have warned you about that first drink," he joked lightly, giving her a little grin before he finally looked back down at the spread in front of them, continuing to eat and drink while occasionally letting the side of his paw and foreleg brush against hers, his shoulder beginning to lightly rest against hers the longer that they relaxed there together and the longer the wine had the chance to work through their systems and soothe some of those wayward nerves.

After a while, once a good portion of their meal was eaten—and over half of the wine was gone—he couldn't make himself focus on the food any longer and he let his paw curl around Ike's, shifting his gaze to her's again. Was he leaning on the bit of boosted courage the warmth and lightness of the wine provided him? Absolutely he was. But if it meant that he was finally going to admit to her how he felt for her and their relationship then he felt like it was a worthy cause. He gave her paw a gentle squeeze as his eyes found hers and for a moment it took all of his willpower to not just kiss her then and there. As long as everything went how he hoped he was sure there would be plenty of kissing to be had when he had said what was sitting on his heart, but Ike deserved for him to take his time and do this right for her. She deserved to be swept off of her feet and shown just how truly special she was. He didn't know how well he was doing in that department, but he hoped he was at least doing alright.

"Ike..." he said after a moment, slowly finding his voice and piecing together what he had practiced before he came to get her for this outing. "Ike, you mean so much to me. Since I met you I just haven't been able to stop thinking about you and over the last couple of seasons you've become my best friend and companion... Before I met you I didn't know what I was doing with my life and now that I'm in Ashen with you I feel like I actually have a purpose and a drive again. You've made me so much better and so happy just by being with me." He hesitated for a moment his dark slate tipped ears flicking as he fought against his own nerves. He knew this would be the one tipping point that would change their relationship and now he just had to see whether it would be for the better or not. "I... I love you, Ike. I love you." Now that the words were finally past his lips, he found himself grinning like a fool, his tail wagging and accidentally brushing over hers and against her hip in the process, his heart feeling like it might actually beat out of his chest. He felt like he was holding his breath as he waited on her reaction, desperately hoping he hadn't fucked everything up in the span of a few seconds.

"Remus Armada"