He meant everything to her. Three years later and she'd still do anything to keep him safe, sacrifice everything to protect him- even if that meant keeping him at an arm's length.
She was the one person who truly knew him. The one person he'd choos...
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— — —
Water crashed into the shore, teal waves calm and placid in the distance. Small gusts of wind blew in the air, but it was still warm with sunlight brightly hitting the beach. In other words, it was peaceful. There was hardly any sound other than the echo of birds in the air or the tide of the ocean. It was absolutely beautiful— more so heaven on earth than anything else.
It was home.
Kai lifted his head as a breeze blew through him, eyes closed in the reticence. Everything about District 4 was calming. The way he'd grown up here, the way the water felt on his skin, the sand between his toes. It was just home.
Gentle hands suddenly touched his shoulders as Johanna came up behind him. "You're happy?"
"I'm home." He pointed out, wrapping his arm around her and pressing a kiss to her hairline. "I never thought I'd be back here, never thought I'd step foot in this place again. And now I'm here. I'm..." He trailed off, breath falling from his lips.
"You're home." She echoed, light eyes pinned on the water in front of them.
"What do you think? I told you I'd take you someday. And now that you're here, what do you think?" Kai asked, glancing down at her.
"I think I finally understand why you would sit out here for hours," She paused, a wistful undertone to her voice. "Why you would want to paint this— I get it now. It's beautiful."
"And hey, I've gotten better, haven't I?"
"Oh, you've definitely improved since my self portrait." Johanna retorted.
Kai chuckled, hope radiating from his once forlorn gaze. "I know a lot of it's gone, but I think we could be happy here. I think we could rebuild and life could just be. We could just be."
Johanna turned to him, fully locking onto his ebony eyes. "I would love to just be with you, Fish Boy." She remarked, bringing both hands up behind his neck.
"You wanna go see the rest of it or are you still gunning for my spear collection?" Kai mused, grin tugging at his lips.
"Spear collection. 100%." She answered, smile encasing her face.
Kai shook his head, dark eyes pinned on her and only her. "What am I gonna do with you, Jo?"
"Just be, remember?"
When his lips brushed hers, it was soft and full of yearning. Gentle and full of certainty. District 4 wasn't his home. No, she was home. Everything about her, he just craved. When he was with her, he didn't want to leave. When she was away from him, he got this ache in his chest— as if being apart was pure agony. And the thought of her being in pain or even remotely unhappy made him want to do anything—literally anything—to protect her.
