#Sorry I drew their heads kinda big so they're blocking the words

[leronboi]

I've been wanting to draw on this template but for some reasons, I struggle soo hard on drawing them in the squares. But I was able to get some doodles that look good and also did a lil extra and drew tiny versions of them.

[chironshorseass]

Slow kisses for the kiss based stories 😽

so ummm this was kinda influenced by That first patrochilles kiss in tsoa…but make it ruegard:)

read on ao3

Silena thinks that catching the sun in her hands is all she wants to do for the rest of her life. She's learned to find peace in the strawberry fields, laying on the blanket Drew had made for her and listening to Clarisse talk. Catching the sun here feels easier than anywhere else in the world.

“I mean, I guess I like him?” Clarisse is saying, sitting instead of resting and staring at the big blue sky. “We’ve known each other for a long time.”

“Then tell him how you feel, ” Silena says simply.

She doesn't care, if she were honest. Maybe she's just a bad friend, but she doesn't particularly care about Chris Rodriguez. She's more preoccupied with watching a lone strand of Clarisse’s hair fly golden in the sun, like a banner. She’s more preoccupied with watching the softness to her eyes, the way Silena is the only one who gets to see her like this.

“Hey,” Silena hears her say. “You listening?”

“Huh? Oh. Sorry, Chris. Right.”

Clarisse’s silhouette over her blocks out the rays; her smile here is clear as the summer sky after the rains of spring. “S’okay. If you don't want to talk about it right now, then we don't talk about it.”

“No, but...you like him. And you want to know my opinion, daughter of Aphrodite and all. I take that seriously.”

Clarisse’s smile grows into something she’s learned. Disbelief. “Really.”

“Uh-huh, really.”

Her arm accommodates itself so she can rest her head on her hand, body leaning into Clarisse. She hits her friend’s leg with her foot, urging her to speak.

“Fine, fine.” Clarisse rolls her eyes. “If you want to hear me talk...”

“Always.”

It takes a couple of seconds for Clarisse to regain her words. “I...I don't know. Because I keep asking myself: do I actually like him like him? Or am I just rushing things?”

“Love flows at its own pace, I guess. But if you want to tell him how you feel, then...” Her eyes flicker down, boring into a lone, dwindling string of yarn. She forces the words out of her, loosens her tongue for Clarisse’s sake. “Then tell him how you feel. I'm sure he likes you.”

Their gazes meet again. She's closer than Silena had initially thought.

“And if I don't?” she asks.

“If you don't what?”

They're speaking in hushed tones, as if the strawberries and the clouds and the wind were listening.

“If I don't tell Chris. How I feel.”

“But that's...not what you want. That's why you asked for my help.”

It's a fleeting moment, but she swears that Clarisse glances once, at her lips. She then rests her chin on her hands, their faces inches apart.

“And what if I just want to be with you?” The edge of her lip quirks up, and Silena is reminded once again that no one will ever be gifted this version of her. “You’re not so bad, you know. For a daughter of Aphrodite.”

“Then be with me.”

“Okay.”

She's not so sure, when they first broke the barrier of ice. She's not sure why she ever decided to flash her a smile, on her first day of camp. Maybe it was because she had a feeling that beneath that scowl and rigidness and that coldness, there was a warmth she longed, that no one else possessed. No one except Clarisse.

She isn't sure who is the first to move closer, either. One second, they are catching the sunlight, and the next they are catching their breath.

At least Silena knows this: she is the first to close the distance entirely. It is too tempting, perhaps, to have her this close to her heart and not do anything about it.

First their lips brush, like cloth against skin. Then they share that sunlight, breathing it in instead, lips moving against the other as if it's the last life source on Earth. The kiss turns languid, sweet, slow as the clouds above them.

Love flows at its own pace.

Except she wants it forever. She wants to decide.

Clarisse tucks Silena’s curls behind her ear, the ones that had fallen on her cheek like dead leaves. She’s too busy being alive to care. Clarisse thumbs the skin next to her upper lip, silently asking her for better access. Silena concedes, but not without a smile breaking through, not without her cupping Clarisse’s cheek, urging her closer.

Close to my heart.

They share the taste of strawberries that they’d eaten before, pulling away every few seconds to breathe, then come back. Then breathe. And again and again. Just as the tide always returns to shore. She’s sure the kisses could last forever. The sun could stay high in the clouds and no one would ever bother them. No thoughts expect for Clarisse’s mouth on hers and the feeling of falling petals and her heart bursting through.

Until Clarisse finally pulls away. Her forehead rests against her own. Silena’s fingers rest on her neck; she can feel her pulse, thundering on with galloping strength.

“I think it’s late. Camp activities probably started by now.”

“Oh. Yeah, okay.”

She gets the silent message. So she gathers her basket and her blanket and stands up on shaking legs.

It’s like a dream. The world had carried on, and here she stands, watching it unfold after the breaking of her and Clarisse’s bubble.

They’re at the end of the pathway, leaving the strawberry fields, when Clarisse properly looks at her.

“Until next time, girlie.”

She smiles in return, watching her trudge away.

The sun slips from her hands. She isn’t sure of anything, now that she thinks about it.