Nebula Oneshots

O5. -- We Made It

In which Mark and Adhara take comfort in the fact that they're alive with each other. [AFTER THE LAST BOOK, I'M GUESSING THEY'VE KISSED BY NOW OR SOMETHING, ALSO COMMENT OTHER COUPLES THAT I SHOULD DO THIS FOR, TOO]

pairing: Mark Akagi and Adhara Wren

warning/s: it made my heart hurt happily while writing this so

word count: 1119

—•—

Mark had woken up, his head pounding with a familiar ache he'd come to get used to over the many years of being a demigod. White lights, sheets, a familiar beeping noise and a white curtain had signified that he was in the infirmary. But the one thing that brought a smile to his face was the fact that he was alive.

Beaten up, bruised, scarred, and everything in between, but he was alive.

He started laughing, quietly at first, before bursting out in laughter with a huge grin plastered on his face. He laughed for who knows how long, until he noticed the petite figure stirring awake next to him. He recognized the sleek, black hair, the plump lips he'd always wanted to kiss, the dark lashes that always seemed to curl upwards with or without makeup, the deep red shirt that didn't have any Camp Half Blood logo because she'd always complained about orange not being her colour. Adhara Wren.

She blinked once, twice, three times, before her eyes had adjusted to the light, and they widened as soon as they met with Mark's own gaze. They stayed there for a few seconds, before Adhara did something that seemed oddly familiar.

She had slapped him across the face.

Mark remembered the first time she'd ever done this. It was when everyone else had left for college, and Mark decided to stay back at camp since he just got back and he wasn't ready to leave. He remembered fainting, and waking up next to her, probably thinking something along the lines of Who's this pretty girl standing next to me, holding a mysterious cup of whatever and looking incredibly angry? or OW.

The slap had really taken a toll on Mark compared to last time, since unlike before, he had a killer headache. Realization washed over Adhara's face soon enough, and she enveloped him in a tight hug while muttering apologies in his ear.

He breathed in her scent, mustering up as much strength to be able to hug her back. He was here, alive, holding the girl he had fallen for as close to him as possible. Thank the gods, both his arms were free. One had ran down her soft, raven hair while the other was wrapped around her waist and snaked upwards to her mid-chest. They stayed there for a while, just taking in the fact that he was alive and with the girl he loved, until he felt his arm heat up from getting sore and they pulled away.

Adhara had glossy eyes when she looked back at him, her lip quivering at the bloody sight of him. His head was probably a mess, and Mark had just realized the shooting pain in his stomach. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"Is my bedhead that ugly?" Mark tried, a weak grin evident on his face. Adhara looked at him for a second before laughing hard, a tear escaping her eye. But Mark knew it wasn't because of the joke. She was happy that he was alive, too.

"You look like a raccoon," Adhara teased back, her voice cracking from being overwhelmed with so many different emotions. 

"I think raccoons are definitely the trend right now," Mark replied, his wide smile growing even more. Adhara laughed quieter this time, turning serious after a few moments.

"You're alive," she whispered after a while.

"I know," he whispered back, and Mark realized that he was tearing up, too. 

Adhara's eyes stung once more, and a few tears escaped. She cried out of joy, hugging him tightly once more. It felt so good to have each other, to be with each other, and know that everything's going to be okay because they had each other and that thought alone brought another tear to Mark's eye. He was alive 'cause they won, and since they won, they were going to be okay.

"We're going to be okay," Mark murmured, repeating the thoughts in his head and bringing his lips to her temple. The act was gentle and caring, as if he didn't want to push harder because he was scared that she would drift away. Mark wondered if she wasn't going to like what he did and pull away, but she stayed. She stayed like she always did when he finally earned her trust.

After a long while, a longer while than before, they pulled out of their gentle hug, though they still stayed close to each other. Their faces were inches apart, they shared the same air that the other breathed out. Mark's eyes drifted from her own loving, purple eyes to her soft lips, to and fro, back and forth. 

"Can I?" He asked ever so quietly, bringing a hand to the side of her cheek. Adhara blushed, smiling at the question because she knew. Mark felt her heated cheeks, and thought that there was nothing more beautiful than this moment.

He was wrong.

Because when his lips had finally met hers, after years of waiting to be able to kiss her, he had found that this was the absolute most beautiful moment in his life. Her lips were everything Mark expected and so much more, soft, gentle, sweet, it made Mark want more. They kissed and kissed, until their lungs were gasping for air and so were they, and as much as they hated to pull away from the sweetest moment in their life, they wanted to breathe and live longer so they were able to share more of these sweet moments. So, reluctantly, they pulled apart slightly, only enough so they were able to breathe, but their lips still grazed one another's and they could still hear the other's heavy breathing. Mark's lips were now tinted red from Adhara's. She smiled wide at that, a small laugh escaping her messed up, plump lips. His heart was beating erratically at this point. Mark heard the beeping noise intensify, and he felt his own cheeks heat up when a panic stricken nurse who must've heard the fast beeping walked into him and Adhara's moment. The nurse understood the situation and shut the curtain closed once more, and the two laughed so loud that everyone could hear.

He was alive, with her, and nothing was greater than that fact.

(Other than the idea of him saying I love you to her as he held her hands, with the most beautiful white dress she wore, of course.)