Yerbol had been taken by surprise at Aria's sudden desire to clamber up the massive tree in front of them, but he wasn't about to back down from her brazen challenge nor from her well placed taunts that spurred him on even further to focus on his ascent. His concentration was broken when he looked up to try and gain a better view on his next handhold, seeing as his eyes quickly found Aria's hand moving towards a cluster of branches that, if she were paying more attention, weren't attached to the tree but instead laying on a larger branch that was nearly off the trunk. He shouted a warning, but instead of hearing it in time and heeding the instruction, both he and Aria found themselves planted on the ground after a long fall. Yerbol's eyes had closed tightly during their untimely descent, but snapped open when he felt weight being pressed on him, his face deeply reddening when he spotted Aria trying to lift herself off of him.
"Right, here, let me-" He didn't realize that their legs had become intertwined, so when she tried to rise, she lifted his legs up at an angle where they naturally kicked her back down. Cursing out of embarrassment, the Knight lifted his legs up, but then accidentally caused Aria to slide further down his torso onto his stomach. It took several more attempts and more cursing before the duo were finally separated from each other, Yerbol brushing his legs and arms off, wincing at a few cuts that had been caused by the fall.
Snorting a chuckle, he nodded, finishing off his self grooming as he added:
"Yeah, we'll need to have a cover story too just in case we get grilled by her or others that might be curious as to why we sneaked off into the wilderness." When he looked up, he saw Aria's dark eyes dancing with mischief, her slightly round-ish face flushed with a hint of pink, hair mussed up in several different direction and in that singular moment, one overriding thought dominated his brain.
She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
He wanted to shove it away, desperately clawing at the thought's outer edges in feeble attempts to cram it into his mental waste basket, but couldn't. It was immovable, fixed in it's position. Before he could try to discipline his body from acting on the thought, he moved forward, their bodies about a foot apart.
"There's something on your cheek." He muttered softly, brushing away streaks of dirt and flecks of green that came from the forest floor. The hand that had reached up to clear it away hovering for a couple of seconds, knuckle of his index finger brushing her jaw as it dropped to his side.
"Ari..." You've become the most important person in my life. Whenever you enter the room, my heart skips like a child on the playground, it jumps at knowing you'll be next to me. Through everything we've gone through, I've realized that I can't live without you, that I won't live without your warmth, your humor, your passion, your dedication. I want you by my side for as long as we exist.
Instead of those particular words, all he could muster was:
"You still look good." He managed to choke out, turning his body back towards the base.
"So...so let's head back, right? We can play that game Manso made for us..." His hands clenched into fists, fingernails whitening before he spun around to face her again.
"You're really important to me." He proclaimed, hand rubbing his neck.
"I mean, really, really important to me." He added, drawing a few inches closer.
"And I...I just wanted you to know that." Swallowing hard, he cursed inwardly at his probably terribly awkwardness.
"Sorry, I just...I just wanted you to know. You're really, really important to me."
THERE ARE OTHER WORDS THAN IMPORTANT!!!
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El Taco Taco
The Elvenqueen