The Red Means I Love You

he doesn’t pull away, she thinks dazedly, relief and joy warring with something distinctly warmer, a flickering heat that sparks in the pit of her stomach and skitters up and down her spine. the press of his lips on hers burns a fire right through the core of her, and El shivers as she chases that feeling, chases the sensations unfurling between them. when they finally part, El blinks her eyes open - when had she closed them? - and drinks in the emotions whirling through those vermillion eyes with an insatiable thirst. she wants to know every thought and urge taking shape inside that gorgeous head  (even the shape of his cranium is perfect), wants to be the sole keeper of every secret and insecurity. one day, she promises herself, still awakening from the haze of their first kiss, she’ll have every part of him.

El is flooded with a burst of clarity as Red voices his question, confident in the wake of his uncertainty. “it means,” she begins, reaching out to stroke his face (she can’t seem to stop herself from wanting to touch him, all the time), “that i’m yours, Red. and you’re mine.” she lowers her head, suddenly bashful, cheeks pinking. “that is…if you want me.”