𝕮𝖔𝖇𝖎𝖊 𝕾𝖒𝖚𝖑𝖉𝖊𝖗𝖘 𝕴𝖒𝖆𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖊𝖘

Succumb | D.P.

[Unlabeled]
Inspired by Seven Spires' 'Succumb'

The air had a certain thickness that night, one of those sultry, restless feelings that hung in the atmosphere and made everything feel more alive. The humidity clung to you; it was sweet, sticky, filled with the scents of the city—cinnamon drifting from a bakery down the block, mingling with the faint musk of sweat from a hot day, and the familiar, lingering hint of rum from the dive bar where you first locked eyes with her.

Dex Parios. You hadn't been looking for anything that night—not an escape, not a thrill, not a person who would turn your world upside down. You had wandered into the bar to quiet your thoughts, to nurse a drink and shake off the heavy blanket of loneliness that seemed to cover every corner of this stranger town. But then you'd seen her, perched at the far end of the bar, staring down at her half-empty glass like it held some kind of answer.

Her eyes met yours, and in that fleeting moment, you felt something shift inside of you. It wasn't recognition, but it wasn't the first encounter of a stranger either. It was deeper than that—a kind of knowing that went beyond the mind, reaching somewhere just beneath the surface of your heart. You couldn't explain it, only that you felt a pull, magnetic and undeniable, drawing you toward her like she was meant to be there, like you were meant to find her.

She had smiled then, a wry curve of her lips that sent a shiver up your spine, as if she could see right through you. Before you could even decide what to do next, she was already closing the distance between you, weaving through the crowd with an effortless kind of grace. When she slid onto the barstool beside you, her scent—warm, heady, intoxicating—enveloped you, and her voice, when she spoke, was a low murmur edged with dry humor. She said something about the bartender's questionable taste in music, or maybe it was about the sad state of affairs that brought two people alone to a bar on a Thursday night. You could barely hear it over the sudden rush of blood in your ears, over the pounding beat of your own heart.

The words flowed easily between you after that, as if you were picking up a conversation that had merely been paused for a few lifetimes. She was charming in a way that caught you off guard—sharp-witted, with a glint in her eye that made you want to keep her attention just a little longer, to say something clever enough to earn another one of her crooked smiles. She leaned in close when she spoke, like she was sharing secrets meant just for you. The room felt warmer, your skin tingling with the promise of something unspoken.

After a while, you'd both wandered out into the night, the city unfolding around you like a labyrinth of narrow streets and glimmering lights. You meandered through back alleys and took detours without any real destination, the laughter between you melting the walls you had built around your heart. With each shared look, each moment her fingers brushed against yours, you felt a thread tightening between you, pulling you closer to a fate that seemed to have been written long ago.

You could still remember the exact moment you knew you were going to kiss her. It had happened as if it were preordained, in the hush of an empty street where the neon glow of a diner sign cast the world in soft pink and blue. Dex had stopped, her back leaning against a lamppost, and she was watching you with that same knowing look, her lips just barely curving upward, as if daring you to close the distance. And so you did—stepping into her space, your hand reaching out to cradle her cheek, your breath catching just as you pressed your lips to hers.

The kiss was electric at first, and then it was warm, slow, pulling you under like a rising tide. Her mouth tasted faintly of rum, and the city seemed to hold its breath around you as if bearing witness to the moment. You thought you could feel the world tilt on its axis, feel the stars shift in the sky as if aligning just for you. There, wrapped up in her, in the scents of cinnamon and night air, it felt like you were discovering something precious that had been waiting for you all along.