An American In London: S4

11. Unconditional Love

[Marius POV]

I wake up from the warm light reflecting off the white bedroom walls and pouring into my room with its yellow good morning call. I tiredly rub the sand from my eyes as I sit up and stretch my arms above my head, peeking over to the empty sheets. 

"Hamie?" 

My brain calls out to the person I love the most once. Groaning as I hop out of bed with a small bounce, quickly slipping on my long fuzzy gray bathrobe and red slippers. Walking out of the bedroom and tying the bow around my slim waist, the smell of something sweet and delicious slaps me in the face and I can hear Nikko's tiny footsteps with his little nails clicking on the hardwood. 

"Sit...come on I know you can do it. Sit!"

 At the sound of Hamie's soothing voice, my heart floods with relief and I walk down the stairs into the kitchen. I rub the blur in my eyes and look up to see this gorgeous shirtless man in my kitchen standing at my stove and cooking something that smelled delicious. Nikko finally sits when Hamie pulls off a small piece of bacon and runs off with it. 

"Good morning Hamie," I sigh lovingly and he tilts his head to see me.

 "Hey, you're finally up. I was surprised since you're usually up long before me but I figured you had a long night so I didn't want to bother you," he explains as he wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me close to him.

 "Well, half of last night involved you so I'm surprised you're not exhausted. You did..." I trace this small scratch on his collarbone that leads to a large bite mark on his shoulder, already bruised and slightly purple, "...So much, I'm sorry sweetheart, I can't believe I did that," I gently kiss the small bruise and he presses his forehead to the top of my head. 

"Mmm, I don't mind. It's kind of cute," he says as he kisses my forehead.

"But my back would appreciate it if you could start trimming your nails, just saying." He adds with a small chuckle and combs his fingers through my messy hair. 

"Anything for you Hamie," I answer with a small yawn and he caresses my puffy cheek.

 "Mari-ah, anata wa totemo Nani kōkī," He says I'm the most beautiful man in the world in my native language which makes my heart flutter. Just the fact he's trying to learn Alohowa even though everyone here speaks English as a second language is incredible and he's made such progress. 

"Aww, thank you, is the food ready?" I self consciously sideswipe his comment. I never believed him when he said I was good looking anyway. He takes a small fork and flips a slice of french toast onto a small plate and hands it to me. 

"Why don't you believe me whenever I tell you that you're beautiful?" He reads my mind as I sit on the kitchen counter. Not wanting to leave his side while he puts down another slice and hands me the fork.

 "I believe you," I try to shrug it off but he gives me that look with his sweet brown eyes that can read me faster than an x-ray machine.

 "It's just..." I slowly fork a small piece of french toast into my mouth, it was absolutely delicious. 

"Mmm Hamie! I didn't know you could cook too." I point out as I try to avoid the question.

 "You never asked, now finish your sentence." He narrows his eyes like darts and I slowly put the plate down. 

"I don't know. Ever since France, I've just been thinking since I'm the only person you've ever been attracted to what if...You only think I'm good looking because I'm the first. I know it sounds confusing but..." he flips the toast in the air using just the skillet and watch in awe. 

"No I get it. You think that just because I haven't had experience when it comes to loving any person other than you that I don't know what true beauty is. But that's simply not true. Mari, I currently live in one of the oldest surviving cities in the world. When you're working at the hospital, I spend my free time at ancient museums just to spend hours staring at gorgeous works of art which is only someone else's interpretation of beauty. When I stared at the works of Vincent van Gogh, which artist from all over the world for hundreds of years have traveled far and wide to see, It wasn't his art that I found beautiful. It was the person standing next to me. This brave young man who walked into my life stole my heart in a single glance, held all the beauty I had been searching for my entire life. There was more beauty in his genius than I ever imagined possible." Hamie says without pausing or looking at me and takes another piece of toast off the skillet. 

I could tell it came from the heart and he never planned to say this to me beforehand, it was just a random fact he tossed at my face and slapped me with so hard I could feel tears running down my cheeks. 

Years of abuse from another man was erased in that single moment in time.

 "It was always you, I ne-" He stops once he sees me and turns off the stove while I cover my face in the sleeves of my bathrobe. 

"Mari!? Did I say something? Hey, don't cry, I hate seeing you so upset," he coos and I can feel him now standing in front of me with his hands wrapped around my unmoving head. He pulls me into a tight hug and I try to stop the tears from spilling over but they always do.

 "I'm not upset, these are tears of...I dunno. For once I feel like I'm actually good enough for you." I explain before looking into his eyes and kissing him. His sweet syrup tasting lips pressed against mine and I felt a hunger for him unlike any other. 

 The tiniest whimper breaks our kiss and I look down to see Nikko clawing at Hamie's leg for attention. 

"Buddy, I'm trying to have a moment here with your other father, do you mind?" I chuckle as Hamie chastises our son. 

"Mmm come here baby," I gently curl my fingers in Hamie's hair and pull him back to me. 

"Ow!" He pulls back again and looks down to see Nikko had bit the toe of his slipper and had started to run off with it. 

"Nikko!" He runs after him and I shrug, going back to my delicious french toast. 

********

If you could talk to one in real life would you pick Mari or Hamie?

#TeamHamari