Your Life In Paris (Ray x Male Reader)

Arrival

You awake to the swaying of the ship and the light footsteps of the few people who were awake. The room is illuminated by a oil-lamp, which was probably lit by Ray. You reach out a hand and feel around the other side of your bed. But you feel nothing but empty sheets, which were still slightly warm from Ray sleeping there. He must have waken up already, you guess. He's probably with Emma and Norman somewhere on the deck. You let out a tired, grumpy moan as you realize you must have slept in. In your mind, sleeping in meant you were late for all the conversation and fun that the others were having right now. 

"Hi." You hear Ray's voice greeting you from a corner in the room. "Glad to see you're up." You look in the direction of the voice and see that Ray's sitting on a chair, reading a book. 

"Oh. Hi Ray." You sit up and yawn as you rub your sleepy eyes. "Were you waiting for me to wake up?" As you ask the question, you feel touched that he stayed in the room by himself just to wait for you. 

"Not really." He admits. Okay, you're not touched anymore. "I just couldn't sleep."

"Isn't it morning?" You ask, raising an eyebrow. 

"I don't even know anymore. The timezone change has me thrown off. All I know is that it's dark outside." 

Then Ray's gaze shifts to the floor, severing the eye contact between you two. 
"There's something I wanted to ask, also..." He mumbles. You can tell something's off since he's twiddling his thumbs and not making eye contact. He's silent for a bit, and you realize he must be waiting for a prompt. 

"Go on." You prompt him.

He hesitates, but then speaks. "Was last night real?" He asks, his blushing face illuminated by the flickering candle. You don't have he slightest idea of what he's talking about. You search your memory for what he might mean, but come up empty handed. Due to this, you;re about to tell him 'Probably not'. Before you can get the words out, your eyes widen as you remember what happened. 

He kissed you. 

He kissed you and you loved it!

"Yes! That was real." You shout. "It's one of the realest things I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing." You blush after those words escaped your mouth. You're a little embarrassed that you got worked up over it. But who wouldn't? After all, such a passionate memory would light a fire inside anyone, right? 

"Honestly, I'm glad to hear that." Ray grins. "I was worried you'd think it was a mistake." He lets out a sigh of relief which causes his hair to wave gently. 

"But I shouldn't have been so forward." He adds. "I was just a bit nervous that if I didn't do something before we got to Paris, we might have drifted apart." He walks over to the bed and sits down on it's edge, his back facing you. His hands are folded in his lap and he's looking down at the ground. 

"I'm glad you did it. Besides, we can slow down if you want." You comfort him as you put your hand on his shoulder. "And you don't have to worry! We'll stick together." 

Without turning his head and without speaking a word, Ray put his hand on yours. 

"But we'd still need to figure out how to survive in a new country." 

You totally agree with him. You can't just rely on each other; people say love is all you need. But those people probably never had to winder where their next meal is coming from. 

"I actually have an idea. It's risky. So I'll discuss it with the others." You tell Ray. 

"Alright then. Let's go find them." He stands up from the bed and stretches as he lets out a big yawn. 

"They're probably still sleeping." You warn him. 

"Doesn't matter. We'll wake them." 

"Oh how fun."

Ray grabs the oil-lamp and opens then proceeds to the door as you follow him. He opens it and it creaks slightly as he does so. 

"Hi, Ray! Hi, [Y/N]!" Norman said. Him and Emma stood on the other side of the door. You jump back, startled.  Ray is unflinching, though. 

"We came to get you," Emma explains. "We're at Rouem's river, almost at Paris. Norman says that's where we're heading." 

"Oh! Paris is nice." You beam. 

The four of you walk up to the deck, the flickering lamp casting an orange light on the floor and walls. You climb the stairs leading up to the deck and head to the edge so you can look out at the scenery while you talk. 

"So," Ray started, leaning against the walls of the deck. "[Y/N] said he had an idea on how to survive in this new county." 

You blush a bit, the more you think about it the worse the idea seems. 

"Oh, that's great!" Emma cheers. "What is it?"

"Well, it's not the best-" You trill in nervous doubt. 

"Spit it out." Ray prods. 

"Gambling!" The word escapes your mouth.

"What?" Ray cries. "That's too risky. We'd be better off getting a job or something!"

"Well, [Y/N] might be on to something, actually." Norman chimes in. "We don't know enough french to get a job. And if we play our cards right (literally), we could make good money off of it." 

"It's too risky!" Ray protests. "And where would we even get starting money in the first place?" 

"It was just an idea. I can see both sides, really." You shrug. 

Just then, the boat hits a rock! The sudden halt of the ship's velocity causes the four of you to be thrown overboard. It all happened so fast you didn't know what was happening until you were in the water. 

"Huh." You say, still processing everything. "That was unexpected."

"[Y/N]," Emma called, fear was in her voice. "I don't think Ray or Norman can swim! We gotta help them!" She dives under water, presumably looking for Ray and Norman. 

You follow suit, worried about Ray. You don't want anything bad to happen to him. The water hurts your eyes, but you keep them open, searching. Finally, you see Ray. His hair is floating upwards and he's struggling to get to the surface. Without hesitating, you swim towards him and  pull him up. At the same time, Emma emerges with Norman. 

"Uh- thanks." Says Ray as you swim to the nearest shore. Which only seems to be around half a kilometre away. He's a bit embarrassed that he had to be saved by someone else, but obviously thankful. 

Emma got to the shore first, Norman with her. You and Ray were not far behind. The shore was a sandy beach, and it was empty due to it still being night in Paris. You are Ray take off your soaking shirts, but Norman and Emma keep theirs on. 

"Thank you so much." Ray says to you as he coughs water. You want to kiss him so badly, but Emma and Norman are here. So instead, you just wrap your arms around him. The warm feeling of the half-naked Ray in your arms is wonderful. He rapped his arms around you too. Emma and Norman don't think much of it, thankfully. 

"We're here," You whisper into his ear. "This is Paris." 

"This might not be so bad." He grins. You feel his hands crawling tower down your back.