First Memory
Jul. 13th, 2019 08:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nyanderenekoWord Count: 2,829
Summary: Cyrus plans a surprise for his and Nova’s anniversary, and the two end up taking a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
*Author’s Note*: Happy Octopath release day anniversary!! Holy moly another anniversary…it feels like the one with Saruhiko and Ren was like last week 💦💦 but anyway! I technically started selfshipping with Cyrus a little bit before the game came out (my obsession was unstoppable gilsefjlesj) but considering today is like our “official” anniversary and the closest thing to a bday he has and everything…I just decided to wrap all the celebration up into this one fic and call it a day lol. I feel like it’s been a while since I gave my magic man some proper love and attention anyway, so…I hope this fic did him some justice. And I look forward to another year with him and my amazing OT fam! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy. PS – the song he plays is this piano version of his theme, which I absolutely adore it makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside.
"It’s our anniversary.”
The comment caught him off guard, and he gave a lighthearted chuckle in response. “Don’t worry, I didn’t forget.”
The ring in his voice when he spoke was surprisingly stirring. She couldn’t keep a hint of incredulity from seeping into her expression. It wasn’t necessarily that she’d expected him to forget, but rather that she’d assumed the occasion probably wasn’t that important to him. Perhaps that was too pessimistic a position to take, but she wouldn’t have resented him for it. She understood that his priorities were generally different than most, which was part of what made her love him so much. Despite her lack of confidence in his recollection regarding the event, she found her heart fluttering more passionately than usual in response to his earnest affirmation.
“There’s actually something I’d like to show you this evening,” he continued, snapping her out of her dreamy musings. “I hope you don’t have any other plans?”
“Of course not,” she reassured, placing a hand on his arm. “I’d be delighted to join you. It’s not like I’m in the habit of spending my evenings elsewhere.”
“Well, I promise tonight will prove more notable than most.”
Now she wasn’t sure how she was going to get through the day, weighed down by the excruciating hours that stretched between her and the mysterious affair he’d arranged. She was impressed that he’d made the effort to organize things ahead of time, but again, she knew that was a shrewd mindset to have. Cyrus didn’t make a habit of disappointing her, even before they’d come to terms with the more intimate parameters of their relationship. As oblivious and inept as he could be, he’d been undeniably genuine in his actions and affections from the very beginning; he’d even conducted some of them without realizing the significance himself.
Outside of her misplaced doubt, she was left to agonizingly ponder the nature of his plans. He didn’t offer her any hints or give her the opportunity to infer anything from his statements. He did a fairly good job of keeping his lips sealed frustratingly tight all day, and her failure to glean any meaningful information certainly wasn’t due to a lack of effort. He was irritatingly steadfast in his dedication to secrecy, and for once she actually wished he’d been in the mood to wax poetic about the subject for hours on end. But the anticipation was part of the fun; at least that was how he perceived it, and he knew that despite her persistence, part of her must have felt the same.
Nova breathed a sigh of relief when twilight finally approached. Work hadn’t served as a very suitable distraction for her, although she admittedly hadn’t tried very hard to take advantage of it. She found him waiting outside the designated meeting spot he’d given her this morning, a little taken aback that he’d managed to show up before her. It seemed he was outdoing her in every way today, and she wasn’t sure if she found that more relieving or concerning. The last thing she wanted to do was be the one letting him down, after all.
“You’re a little late,” he greeted, and her expression promptly plummeted. “Wait, what’s that look for? I was just teasing you.”
“You went out of your way to do all of this for us…something I don’t even understand the full scope of yet. The least I can do is—”
“You’re already doing it,” he reassured, petting her head to the tip of one of her ears. “You showed up, and as on time as you need to be. I can’t help finding it a tad amusing that I got to be the early one for once…this is probably the last time it’s going to happen, so I need to ensure I make the most of it.”
She shook her head and playfully nudged his side. “Fine, I’ll let you have it, then. Now, I’m dying to know what you have to show me.”
His mouth curved into the most radiant grin she’d ever seen beam on his face, and the brilliance of it took her breath away. His brilliance, a magnificence the likes of which she’d never encountered even a trace of anywhere else in the world. And she would know, considering she’d traveled the realm with that brilliance by her side, an ever-present example she was constantly using for comparison. Part of her wanted to reach up and cradle that precious face, a canvas of his love she made sure to return in her own expressions as often as possible.
She was lucky she still got to see it, and every day at that…every day for a whole year she’d been granted the gracious gift of his presence. Going to sleep and waking up by his side, sharing her thoughts and feelings and experiences with him like he was a simple extension of her. If this was a dream, she wanted to do everything in her power to prevent herself from waking up. The threat of having this happiness snatched away from her was practically nonexistent, but the fact that even the thinnest chance existed at all was enough to inspire her to take whatever measures necessary to preserve and protect it at all costs. To love and cherish him and give their relationship her all. It wasn’t like she had anyone else she wanted to give all of her affection and loyalty to, and she was sure that wasn’t likely to change any time soon.
“What made you pick this place?” she asked innocently as they strolled towards the entrance together.
“Well, you remember where we are, don’t you?”
She inspected their surroundings with a simple glance. “Yes, of course. This is the place we first met.”
“I know, but I also know you prefer less crowded spaces,” he explained. “And I wanted us to have the place to ourselves, so it wasn’t just a formality of your comfort. Although, for the record, I don’t consider that just another minor formality.”
“Always too nice for your own good,” she murmured, taking in the eerily empty interior.
Well, the deed was done, so she figured they might as well make the most of it. It wouldn’t be very polite to turn his generous offer down, especially for an occasion like this. They shared dinner and simple small talk for the first hour or so, and Nova fought to keep her nerves from inspiring her to consume too much alcohol. Eventually, her eyes came to rest on the lone piano sitting in the windowed alcove that was more familiar to her than she expected it to be. Cyrus seemed to follow her gaze, squeezing her hand across the table before standing and leading her over to it.
“What if I told you this has to do with my first memory of this place?” Nova asked, tracing a finger down the instrument’s smooth, shiny edge.
“I’d want to know more,” he admitted, taking a seat at the bench and guiding her to join him. “If you don’t mind enlightening me.”
“This is the place I first saw you,” she began, running a hand across the keys his fingers had danced over so delicately that day. “When Tressa and I first arrived, it was like a street fair in here. That’s typical of establishments like this. Of course, like you mentioned before, I wasn’t the most comfortable bobbing and weaving through a bunch of strangers just to reach the bar, or a table, or even the exit. But this is one of the places visitors can get the best impression of what a city’s going to be like, if you ask me. Maybe that’s a slightly naïve assumption, but it’s served me well enough in the past.
“Anyway, I managed to pick the sound of the piano out of all the other noise…it was so beautiful. Lively and exuberant, a perfect accompaniment to the festivities, but there was something else about it that captured my attention. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and eventually I fought my way through the crowd just to see what all the commotion was about. There was a rabble of people gathered around, which only piqued my interest further. I barely managed to shove my way through without getting squished or suffocated…and when I surfaced on the other side, I couldn’t believe what I saw.”
He chuckled softly, and rather than reacting in embarrassment as she usually would, Nova simply scooted closer and rested her head against his shoulder. “There you were, looking as peaceful and graceful as always. You were the most beautiful person I’d ever seen…well, I suppose you still are. I was so captivated by you I didn’t know what to do, but considering the crowd I couldn’t stay long. Everything was hot and stuffy and people were pushing and shoving…it was so loud and there was so much jostling, I didn’t know if I was going to make it out in one piece. My emotions being all confusing and riled up only made it worse, so I just slipped out as quickly as I could.
“I thought I was safe when I finally made it outside. I could still hear your playing drifting down the street, and part of me wanted to fight my way back in just to get another glimpse. But another part of me knew I’d be better off just forgetting the whole thing. Tressa and I were only supposed to stay one night, and there was no point in getting my feelings all tangled up in some stranger that would surely fade from my memory in no time. I took comfort in that thought, reminded myself that I didn’t need to worry about feeling the way I did when those feelings weren’t going to stay anyway. And then…you kind of ruined all of that by showing up, oh so innocently catching me off guard and asking me about my appearance. I couldn’t believe I was seeing you there, standing right in front of me.”
“I couldn’t believe I was seeing you, either,” he confessed, idly plunking out a nonsensical melody as he continued. “I mean, someone like you. Someone who’d achieved a seemingly successful physical transformation to such a notable and stable degree, at least in the eyes of magical scholars. I wanted to know how you’d done it more than anything. And I think there was probably something more, even if I wasn’t aware of it. There was something more most of the time we traveled together, I was just too caught up in my own flawed interpretation of things to notice. When you showed up in my office the next day to tell me you wanted to take me up on my offer, that you actually had one of your own that involved me accompanying you on your ambitious adventure, my heart was close to jumping out of my chest. I assumed it was just a natural reaction to the exhilaration of your proposal, but looking back…it was just as much excitement at the prospect of getting to spend more time with you, to get to know you, simply because it was you.”
She nuzzled her face against his shoulder, face burning even brighter than before. “That’s so embarrassing to hear, you know?”
“How do you think it feels to admit it?” he countered, and she peeked up just enough to see a glowing scarlet hue tinting his features. “But I’m happy that I can. I’m happy that I was granted the opportunity to spend time with you and get to know you. I’m happy that I was able to come to terms with my feelings, that you fortunately happened to feel the same way…and now we both get to sit here, side by side, rather than separated by an isolating barrier of unfamiliarity. I’ve seen and experienced so much with you, but I think I’ve learned more from you than anything. You’ve expanded my world much further than I ever imagined possible, exposed me to things that would have been forever out of my reach otherwise.”
“You’re being so eloquent and charming,” she noted, closing her eyes. “Why don’t you let the keys do some talking for a bit? Not that I mind hearing your voice, but…I just want to hear you play a little.”
He nodded and adjusted his posture before following her request. She’d heard his playing so many times before, from piano to violin to other instruments she couldn’t recall at the moment. She’d heard him play this song specifically, the song that’d colored the air and tingled in her ears the night they met. It was a song she’d instinctively hummed in that Woodlands’ forest over a year ago, when she and Cyrus had danced down the lakeshore under the pale moonlight. A song he’d play or hum when she asked him to perform for her, when she just wanted to hear something reassuring, something soothing, something lovely. Everything he played fit that criteria, but this one just happened to invoke that much more nostalgia and hold that much more significance in her mind.
It was just the two of them, alone in this hall that was usually bustling with the energy and enthusiasm of the city. She could imagine the atmosphere from the night they’d met; it smothered her chest and overwhelmed her heart. But here, now, there was nothing to bother or bury her. She supposed it could be said that her emotions were always like that whether she wanted them to be or not, but she didn’t mind the sensations they evoked in her. She didn’t mind soaking in the sincere, tender love that her heart traded with his. She listened to the feather light notes that fluttered through the air and the floor that creaked beneath them at the tiniest shift of movement. She felt Cyrus’s warmth and the sway of his torso as his hands moved across the keys, commanding the instrument with his whole body as he did with almost every other task he undertook.
“Thank you for giving me the chance to know you, and even more than that, to love you,” Nova spoke up after he’d finished a few songs, her heart growing lighter as her lids grew heavier. “Thank you for loving me…for staying by my side. For being here and doing all you do for me. Putting up with me, enduring the highs and lows no matter the trajectory, or the outcome. Thank you for being my partner and giving me the chance to be yours.”
“You don’t need to thank me for any of that,” he replied, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and hugging her close. “It’s a fair trade. We both get to do all of those things for each other. And it’s something I want to do, that I want to keep doing.”
She nodded, taking one of his hands and caressing it before peppering it with a few gentle kisses. “I feel the same way. Thank you for making this year the best it could be, and even better. I promise to keep doing my best for you…and for myself.”
Summary: Cyrus plans a surprise for his and Nova’s anniversary, and the two end up taking a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
*Author’s Note*: Happy Octopath release day anniversary!! Holy moly another anniversary…it feels like the one with Saruhiko and Ren was like last week 💦💦 but anyway! I technically started selfshipping with Cyrus a little bit before the game came out (my obsession was unstoppable gilsefjlesj) but considering today is like our “official” anniversary and the closest thing to a bday he has and everything…I just decided to wrap all the celebration up into this one fic and call it a day lol. I feel like it’s been a while since I gave my magic man some proper love and attention anyway, so…I hope this fic did him some justice. And I look forward to another year with him and my amazing OT fam! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy. PS – the song he plays is this piano version of his theme, which I absolutely adore it makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside.
_____
"It’s our anniversary.”
The comment caught him off guard, and he gave a lighthearted chuckle in response. “Don’t worry, I didn’t forget.”
The ring in his voice when he spoke was surprisingly stirring. She couldn’t keep a hint of incredulity from seeping into her expression. It wasn’t necessarily that she’d expected him to forget, but rather that she’d assumed the occasion probably wasn’t that important to him. Perhaps that was too pessimistic a position to take, but she wouldn’t have resented him for it. She understood that his priorities were generally different than most, which was part of what made her love him so much. Despite her lack of confidence in his recollection regarding the event, she found her heart fluttering more passionately than usual in response to his earnest affirmation.
“There’s actually something I’d like to show you this evening,” he continued, snapping her out of her dreamy musings. “I hope you don’t have any other plans?”
“Of course not,” she reassured, placing a hand on his arm. “I’d be delighted to join you. It’s not like I’m in the habit of spending my evenings elsewhere.”
“Well, I promise tonight will prove more notable than most.”
Now she wasn’t sure how she was going to get through the day, weighed down by the excruciating hours that stretched between her and the mysterious affair he’d arranged. She was impressed that he’d made the effort to organize things ahead of time, but again, she knew that was a shrewd mindset to have. Cyrus didn’t make a habit of disappointing her, even before they’d come to terms with the more intimate parameters of their relationship. As oblivious and inept as he could be, he’d been undeniably genuine in his actions and affections from the very beginning; he’d even conducted some of them without realizing the significance himself.
Outside of her misplaced doubt, she was left to agonizingly ponder the nature of his plans. He didn’t offer her any hints or give her the opportunity to infer anything from his statements. He did a fairly good job of keeping his lips sealed frustratingly tight all day, and her failure to glean any meaningful information certainly wasn’t due to a lack of effort. He was irritatingly steadfast in his dedication to secrecy, and for once she actually wished he’d been in the mood to wax poetic about the subject for hours on end. But the anticipation was part of the fun; at least that was how he perceived it, and he knew that despite her persistence, part of her must have felt the same.
Nova breathed a sigh of relief when twilight finally approached. Work hadn’t served as a very suitable distraction for her, although she admittedly hadn’t tried very hard to take advantage of it. She found him waiting outside the designated meeting spot he’d given her this morning, a little taken aback that he’d managed to show up before her. It seemed he was outdoing her in every way today, and she wasn’t sure if she found that more relieving or concerning. The last thing she wanted to do was be the one letting him down, after all.
“You’re a little late,” he greeted, and her expression promptly plummeted. “Wait, what’s that look for? I was just teasing you.”
“You went out of your way to do all of this for us…something I don’t even understand the full scope of yet. The least I can do is—”
“You’re already doing it,” he reassured, petting her head to the tip of one of her ears. “You showed up, and as on time as you need to be. I can’t help finding it a tad amusing that I got to be the early one for once…this is probably the last time it’s going to happen, so I need to ensure I make the most of it.”
She shook her head and playfully nudged his side. “Fine, I’ll let you have it, then. Now, I’m dying to know what you have to show me.”
His mouth curved into the most radiant grin she’d ever seen beam on his face, and the brilliance of it took her breath away. His brilliance, a magnificence the likes of which she’d never encountered even a trace of anywhere else in the world. And she would know, considering she’d traveled the realm with that brilliance by her side, an ever-present example she was constantly using for comparison. Part of her wanted to reach up and cradle that precious face, a canvas of his love she made sure to return in her own expressions as often as possible.
She was lucky she still got to see it, and every day at that…every day for a whole year she’d been granted the gracious gift of his presence. Going to sleep and waking up by his side, sharing her thoughts and feelings and experiences with him like he was a simple extension of her. If this was a dream, she wanted to do everything in her power to prevent herself from waking up. The threat of having this happiness snatched away from her was practically nonexistent, but the fact that even the thinnest chance existed at all was enough to inspire her to take whatever measures necessary to preserve and protect it at all costs. To love and cherish him and give their relationship her all. It wasn’t like she had anyone else she wanted to give all of her affection and loyalty to, and she was sure that wasn’t likely to change any time soon.
“What made you pick this place?” she asked innocently as they strolled towards the entrance together.
“Well, you remember where we are, don’t you?”
She inspected their surroundings with a simple glance. “Yes, of course. This is the place we first met.”
He smiled softly. “Don’t you think that earns it at least some measure of importance in regard to our relationship?”
“Yeah, I’d say so,” she answered with an air of reservation, moving closer to hug his arm. “It’s just been a while since I’ve been here. I guess I’m a little surprised, especially after all that’s happened. It’s dizzying to think about how much has changed.”
“For the better, I hope.” He paused his stride before they went in, taking another look around. “I remember how scared you looked during our first conversation, even though you were the one that dragged me out of the way.”
She jabbed him in the side again, concealing her flushed face. “I can’t believe that’s the first thing you choose to remember about that night.”
“Well, what’s your first memory?”
She shook her head and finally pulled him inside, opening her mouth to respond when what she observed replaced the words that’d been on her tongue. “There’s no one here? That’s baffling, to say the least.”
“I expect not, since I rented the whole place for
the evening.”
“I know, but I also know you prefer less crowded spaces,” he explained. “And I wanted us to have the place to ourselves, so it wasn’t just a formality of your comfort. Although, for the record, I don’t consider that just another minor formality.”
“Always too nice for your own good,” she murmured, taking in the eerily empty interior.
Well, the deed was done, so she figured they might as well make the most of it. It wouldn’t be very polite to turn his generous offer down, especially for an occasion like this. They shared dinner and simple small talk for the first hour or so, and Nova fought to keep her nerves from inspiring her to consume too much alcohol. Eventually, her eyes came to rest on the lone piano sitting in the windowed alcove that was more familiar to her than she expected it to be. Cyrus seemed to follow her gaze, squeezing her hand across the table before standing and leading her over to it.
“What if I told you this has to do with my first memory of this place?” Nova asked, tracing a finger down the instrument’s smooth, shiny edge.
“I’d want to know more,” he admitted, taking a seat at the bench and guiding her to join him. “If you don’t mind enlightening me.”
“This is the place I first saw you,” she began, running a hand across the keys his fingers had danced over so delicately that day. “When Tressa and I first arrived, it was like a street fair in here. That’s typical of establishments like this. Of course, like you mentioned before, I wasn’t the most comfortable bobbing and weaving through a bunch of strangers just to reach the bar, or a table, or even the exit. But this is one of the places visitors can get the best impression of what a city’s going to be like, if you ask me. Maybe that’s a slightly naïve assumption, but it’s served me well enough in the past.
“Anyway, I managed to pick the sound of the piano out of all the other noise…it was so beautiful. Lively and exuberant, a perfect accompaniment to the festivities, but there was something else about it that captured my attention. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and eventually I fought my way through the crowd just to see what all the commotion was about. There was a rabble of people gathered around, which only piqued my interest further. I barely managed to shove my way through without getting squished or suffocated…and when I surfaced on the other side, I couldn’t believe what I saw.”
He chuckled softly, and rather than reacting in embarrassment as she usually would, Nova simply scooted closer and rested her head against his shoulder. “There you were, looking as peaceful and graceful as always. You were the most beautiful person I’d ever seen…well, I suppose you still are. I was so captivated by you I didn’t know what to do, but considering the crowd I couldn’t stay long. Everything was hot and stuffy and people were pushing and shoving…it was so loud and there was so much jostling, I didn’t know if I was going to make it out in one piece. My emotions being all confusing and riled up only made it worse, so I just slipped out as quickly as I could.
“I thought I was safe when I finally made it outside. I could still hear your playing drifting down the street, and part of me wanted to fight my way back in just to get another glimpse. But another part of me knew I’d be better off just forgetting the whole thing. Tressa and I were only supposed to stay one night, and there was no point in getting my feelings all tangled up in some stranger that would surely fade from my memory in no time. I took comfort in that thought, reminded myself that I didn’t need to worry about feeling the way I did when those feelings weren’t going to stay anyway. And then…you kind of ruined all of that by showing up, oh so innocently catching me off guard and asking me about my appearance. I couldn’t believe I was seeing you there, standing right in front of me.”
“I couldn’t believe I was seeing you, either,” he confessed, idly plunking out a nonsensical melody as he continued. “I mean, someone like you. Someone who’d achieved a seemingly successful physical transformation to such a notable and stable degree, at least in the eyes of magical scholars. I wanted to know how you’d done it more than anything. And I think there was probably something more, even if I wasn’t aware of it. There was something more most of the time we traveled together, I was just too caught up in my own flawed interpretation of things to notice. When you showed up in my office the next day to tell me you wanted to take me up on my offer, that you actually had one of your own that involved me accompanying you on your ambitious adventure, my heart was close to jumping out of my chest. I assumed it was just a natural reaction to the exhilaration of your proposal, but looking back…it was just as much excitement at the prospect of getting to spend more time with you, to get to know you, simply because it was you.”
She nuzzled her face against his shoulder, face burning even brighter than before. “That’s so embarrassing to hear, you know?”
“How do you think it feels to admit it?” he countered, and she peeked up just enough to see a glowing scarlet hue tinting his features. “But I’m happy that I can. I’m happy that I was granted the opportunity to spend time with you and get to know you. I’m happy that I was able to come to terms with my feelings, that you fortunately happened to feel the same way…and now we both get to sit here, side by side, rather than separated by an isolating barrier of unfamiliarity. I’ve seen and experienced so much with you, but I think I’ve learned more from you than anything. You’ve expanded my world much further than I ever imagined possible, exposed me to things that would have been forever out of my reach otherwise.”
“You’re being so eloquent and charming,” she noted, closing her eyes. “Why don’t you let the keys do some talking for a bit? Not that I mind hearing your voice, but…I just want to hear you play a little.”
He nodded and adjusted his posture before following her request. She’d heard his playing so many times before, from piano to violin to other instruments she couldn’t recall at the moment. She’d heard him play this song specifically, the song that’d colored the air and tingled in her ears the night they met. It was a song she’d instinctively hummed in that Woodlands’ forest over a year ago, when she and Cyrus had danced down the lakeshore under the pale moonlight. A song he’d play or hum when she asked him to perform for her, when she just wanted to hear something reassuring, something soothing, something lovely. Everything he played fit that criteria, but this one just happened to invoke that much more nostalgia and hold that much more significance in her mind.
It was just the two of them, alone in this hall that was usually bustling with the energy and enthusiasm of the city. She could imagine the atmosphere from the night they’d met; it smothered her chest and overwhelmed her heart. But here, now, there was nothing to bother or bury her. She supposed it could be said that her emotions were always like that whether she wanted them to be or not, but she didn’t mind the sensations they evoked in her. She didn’t mind soaking in the sincere, tender love that her heart traded with his. She listened to the feather light notes that fluttered through the air and the floor that creaked beneath them at the tiniest shift of movement. She felt Cyrus’s warmth and the sway of his torso as his hands moved across the keys, commanding the instrument with his whole body as he did with almost every other task he undertook.
“Thank you for giving me the chance to know you, and even more than that, to love you,” Nova spoke up after he’d finished a few songs, her heart growing lighter as her lids grew heavier. “Thank you for loving me…for staying by my side. For being here and doing all you do for me. Putting up with me, enduring the highs and lows no matter the trajectory, or the outcome. Thank you for being my partner and giving me the chance to be yours.”
“You don’t need to thank me for any of that,” he replied, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and hugging her close. “It’s a fair trade. We both get to do all of those things for each other. And it’s something I want to do, that I want to keep doing.”
She nodded, taking one of his hands and caressing it before peppering it with a few gentle kisses. “I feel the same way. Thank you for making this year the best it could be, and even better. I promise to keep doing my best for you…and for myself.”
“And I pledge the same,” he said with a smile, pressing a kiss to the tips of her ears and the peak of her forehead. “Are you ready to head home?”
Fingers twisting in his sleeve, she clung to him even tighter than before. “I’m ready to go anywhere, as long as it’s with you.”