Rebels At Their Finest (Block B)

13: Well Done

River stood in her bathroom with her hands held under the water of her sink's faucet. She, however, was staring at herself in the mirror. Her hair, which she'd pulled back in a fishtail braid, was now a complete mess. The right side of her face was streaked with light blue paint, but the paint was trailed all over her. Every place Akito's fingers had lingered for more than a second had light blue fingerprints. Her neck, her chin, her arms, her waist. Her lips were swollen and a her clothes were rumpled.

And still, River couldn't hide the smile on her face. Every time she moved to wipe one of the prints Akito had left, she'd be reminded of how it ended up there, and would blush, giggle, and get incredibly bashful. They'd only made out, and somehow, she was crazed over it.

She reached to wipe the prints on her neck, and was reminded of how, after she'd kissed him first, he hadn't let her stop.

The bathroom door opened and Akito stuck his head in. HIs eyes landed on her, and he watched as she wiped his fingerprints from her neck. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Cleaning up the mess you made," She answered with a sigh, trying to pretend she wasn't just fantasizing.

He laughed and moved into the bathroom, walking behind her and pulling her hair from her braid. "Here," He said, pulling her hair into a loose tail and then reaching for the washcloth River was using. "You're  missing all of them," He said, wiping at the marks on the back of neck. "I finished painting, so everything should be ready for when she comes home." He laughed. "Not that she'd be back anytime soon, since it's five in the morning."

"Are you kidding me?" River asked, staring at Akito in the mirror. "It feels... so much earlier."

He shook his head. "We wasted a lot of time," His eyes flicked up, locking with hers in the mirror before he tilted his head and placed a kiss on her neck. "I'm glad just one of us had paint on their hands, otherwise this would be exhausting work." He said, lifting the back of her shirt and wiping just above her waistband. "Since I shared, I think it's your turn."

"What are you talking about?"

He snickered, his fingers tracing the black marr on River's lower back. "What's the story behind these," His breath tickled the back of her neck as he lifted her shirt higher. "Courage, dream and happiness?"

She sighed and turned to face him. "I know it's dumb, but when I was sixteen, I was convinced that putting the words on my back would give me the courage to pursue my dreams and find my own happiness." She said, shaking her head. "It was dumb. What was dumber was getting strength tattooed on my spine, because that hurt like a bitch."

Akito laughed, his hands grabbing her waist. "I think it's cute. It's kind of like this book I read, where these people would tattoo this weird language on their skin to give themselves powers and things like that." He kissed her nose. "That's it? Just those four words?"

River shook her head. "I have two more. One was lost bet, and the other was trying to look tough." She laughed. "They're dumb as hell."

"No tattoo is dumb," Akito said, shaking his head. "I mean, as long as it means something to you. Do you think Kyu Ree ever looks at all her stars and thinks 'Damn, I wish I was never so poetic'?" River laughed. "I'm so serious."

River pushed him away. "Right. Well, let's see how well you did." He followed behind her as she moved from the bathroom towards Kyu Ree's bedroom. "I'm going to be really bummed if somehow everything was painted orange." Akito laughed and River opened the door.

She was stunned. He had finished everything. All four walls were painted perfectly, but where River had thought he was putting random paint streaks was a mural damask pattern. It was a single design, just one giant piece of the print, done to absolute perfection. "I, uh, even incorporated stars." River opened her mouth to ask how the hell he'd done that, when there were no stars anywhere, and he pointed up.