72,393 years ago...  

Beginning of Story

In all his years, Den has never found a pastime he enjoys quite as much as reading. Considering that he literally has all the time in any world to do so, the fact that Den can even find anything to read, which hasn't already read, is a sort of miracle.

On this particular morning, Den is engrossing himself in one of those rare books he hasn't yet read, and enjoying it immensely.

Or would be, if Yesmine hadn't taken it upon herself to distract him.

Why she continues to try and use cake as a distraction when Den has made his dislike of the spongy substance perfectly clear, he'll never understand.

"I don't understand why you don't like cake," Yesmine says, waving the strawberry slice in her hand near his nose. Den snorts, ignoring the sickly sweet smell. She tries to put it in his mouth. Den leans his head away, eyes focused on the page of the book, which rests on her thighs since she's sitting sideways on his lap.

Yesmine pouts.

Den smirks faintly and turns the page.

Giving up--finally--Yesmine puts the piece of cake in her own mouth instead.

The early morning sunlight--filtering through the canopy above them, since they're on the upper level of the treehouse, curled into a chair near the carved railings--illuminates the elegant script on the pages. Not that Den needs the light, since he can see in the dark just fine.

Yesmine sits there for a moment, pouting, as Den enjoys the silence and feels amused by her stubbornness. One would think that after nearly a century, she'd have learned that he is not going to eat cake.

And that she can't make him do anything he doesn't want to do.

After several minutes, Yesmine picks up another piece of the cake. Den watches her from the corner of one eye as he turns the page. She has a thoughtful look on her face, and it's never good when she starts getting thoughtful.

Yesmine swirls a finger through the cream frosting, then swipes that finger along Den's neck, just beneath his ear. He arches a brow but doesn't give her the satisfaction of looking up from his book.

Undeterred, she starts licking the frosting off his neck, very slowly. Den's lips twitch, and he really isn't focusing on the words on the page anymore, but he still doesn't look up or react, even as she begins kissing the skin beneath his ear--which is, thankfully, covered by the iron guards he never removes.

There might come a day when he lets her touch his ears, but he's not ready for that just yet. Someday.

"Yesmine," he rumbles, amusement in his tone. "What are you doing?"

She smiles against his skin. "Enjoying cake."

Den sighs. "I'm not cake."

"No, but you taste good enough to be," laughing softly.

"I'm insulted," Den says, poking her thigh. "Cake doesn't taste good."

Yesmine sits up and looks him in the eyes--or tries to. She ends up having to tilt her head upside down and get in the way of his book to be at the correct angle.

"Cake is my favorite food," she tells him austerely.

Den smirks. "No accounting for taste on your part, then."

Yesmine huffs. "Rude!"

Den pats her thigh in mock sympathy.

"So what, you are saying my taste is horrible then?"

"Yes," Den agrees, turning the page.

"I like you," she points out.

"Exactly."

Yesmine sighs, deflating. "There's just no winning with you, is there?"

"No," Den agrees, lifting his eyes to smirk directly at her.

Yesmine smacks the back of his head. "The talking thing. We talked about that."

"So we did," Den agrees, amused.

Yesmine scoffs, annoyed. Den reaches up to tug on a strand of her unruly red hair. "You're adorable when you're annoyed," he tells her, still smirking.

She glares at him. "So you keep doing it on purpose?"

Den winks. "Shh. Don't spoil it."

Yesmine huffs again. "Well, I don't feel adorable when I'm annoyed. I feel annoyed."

"I don't see a problem with that," Den tells her. She jerks her knee, trying to kick his book away. Den watches it fly over the railing with a sad expression, then opens a portal beneath it. It falls into his hand, and he tsks at Yesmine.

"And that accomplished what, my dear?"

"It made me feel better," she snaps, crossing her arms petulantly.

Den chuckles, smirking. "I could make you feel better."

Yesmine arches a brow in challenge. "Oh?"

Den opens two portals, and a quick exchange has Yesmine seated in the chair--with Den straddling her. He smirks as she blinks up at him.

"You still haven't learned," he says, tsking.

"I'm the teacher, not the student," she responds.

Den's mouth is on her neck. "I suppose that makes us very naughty then," he says, nipping her skin. She's not breathing, which he finds intensely amusing, and her hands slide into his hair with a sound of agreement.

Den smirks to himself. The cake is forgotten, and she doesn't seem to remember who was trying to seduce who.

Success.

He plays with skin of her neck for several minutes, enjoying the taste of her, before sitting back. Yesmine makes a sound of protest.

Den tsks. "Let's go somewhere fun," he says, devilry in his tone.

Yesmine frowns at him. "We were doing something fun."

He arches a brow. "More fun."

She arches a brow in return. "More fun?" She echoes, disbelieving.

Den nods. "Yes."

"Talking. Clarifying. We were working on that," she says, sounding a little frustrated now. She tugs on a strand of his hair.

Den wonders if she's realized that they stopped needing to work on those things at least three decades ago, and he's just teasing her now.

He nods slowly. "We were."

Yesmine sighs heavily.

"Fun," Den repeats, hopping backwards off of her and the chair. He holds out a hand to her, grinning faintly.

Yesmine eyes his hand for a moment with a narrowed gaze, then sighs--giving up at last--and takes it. "Fine."

He pulls her into his chest with a grin, and they fall through a portal.

Den isn't entirely sure where he wants to take her, only that it's been a few months since they went anywhere and there are still a hundred million sights he wants to show her.

He lets the portal have free reign, and it drops them in one of his favorite places--the Azayi star system. He hasn't been here in ages, but it's the perfect time of day for a visit. The sun is just setting above the tall, fang-like mountains in the distance, haloing the meteor's valley plain in light. The sun that gives this space-rock light is several millions of miles away, rotating a larger, darker star. Days on Azayi therefore last for several years, with nights doubling that span of time.

Around them, the large meteor spreads in craggy grayish rock formations, but the substance isn't quite rock. The closest mineral Den has ever found to matching it is mirror-glass, but this metal is living and secretes a bioluminescent liquid that moves around the valley in rivulets that sometimes twist and rise like snakes. Den doesn't know if they're very low level lifeforms or if they're only cognizant in a way he can't access, but he's seen them eat the large, draconian birds that live within the meteor's core on occasion.

Yesmine looks around in awe, and Den chuckles. "It hasn't even started yet," he says, amused. The metal reflects the light from its core, so above them there's little but a grayish sky--which Den knows isn't actually a sky at all, but the last reflection of daylight. Once the sun is gone, they'll be standing in open space. Literally.

He's already formed a protective bubble around himself and Yesmine, or else they'd both be floating from the lack of gravity and choking on the lack of air.

She looks at him curiously. "What hasn't started?"

"You'll see," Den says, smiling at her. He hears her heart skip a beat, which it does almost every time he gives her a genuine smile. He ruffles her hair, amused.

Yesmine tries to frown, but the expression can't quite form on her face.

Den grins and looks up, watching as the gray begins to drain from the sky until it's black, an expanse of nothing above them. Then, the bioluminescent rivers begin to glow, blue light filling the world, illuminating Yesmine's upturned face. She blinks, looking around in wonder as the rivers dance across the now black rock.

Their glow fades quickly, though not because they're dimming.

Rather, the world above is brightening. Den turns his eyes upward again, watching as stars appear in the blackness, the void of space opening before them in the absence of sunlight and sky.

Millions of stars. Trillions of stars. They spread from the meteor in a river of blue and white and purple, like someone sprayed a fog of color above them and Den can see each individual molecule of the substance.

Yesmine looks up again and the awed expression returns to her face, stronger than it was before. The stars glimmer in her eyes, soft lights across her skin.

Den is struck by how much he wants to kiss her.

Instead, he turns his gaze back to the sky. After a moment, Yesmine leans her head against his shoulder, and without thinking, Den wraps both arms around her, tucking her into his chest in front of him. The stars wheel above them, more and more becoming visible as the sun continues to move behind its dark star in the distance.

"It's...it's beautiful," Yesmine says, sounding as awed as she looks.

Her eyes are on the stars, and she's facing away from him, her back to his front. Den leans his chin on her shoulder and he isn't looking at the stars when he says, "Yes."

She leans into him, and he folds his arms across her chest, and they stand there watching the stars for a very, very long time.