Luke was a lot happier in Inmarcesible. He looked a lot happier, too, he knew. It was just easier to wake up in the mornings and look in the mirror knowing he was going to see his friends and Julie. He never planned to let them go.Three months into life in the kingdom flew by, and he spent them all surrounded by people he loved.
He called his parents a couple of times a week, always catching them up, and always avoiding his mom's questions of a marriage proposal. He would laugh nervously and tell her it'd be a while before they got to that point. He just knew for a fact Julie was it for him, and he made sure Julie knew.
"There's no one else but you for me, you know that right?" Luke whispered in her ear one night on her balcony. He stood behind her and pulled her back into his chest by the waist. Julie turned her head to the side, Luke pressing his lips on her cheek. He could feel her face move into a smile.
"Is that so?" Julie said to him. She spun into his arms, looking up to give him one of those flirty grins that were only for him. He could stare at her face all day. He put his fingers on her chin to tilt her head up and leaned into to give her a small kiss.
"I swear it," he said to her. "On everything."
Luke had gone to the castle one late afternoon for dinner with Julie and her family. He still couldn't believe Carlos was an inch taller than him, and it made Julie burst out laughing when they first noticed. Of course, she didn't think it was too funny when she saw how small she seemed in a photo between them.
They ate in the smaller dining table in the kitchen where the chairs had dahlias carved in. Luke became more familiar with the room as he ate there with them, the King making it rule to ditch shop talk. He felt like a part of their family. Eating in the same room where Julie's mom did, where she built a space for her family to forget about the glamour on the outside.
"You know," Ray said to Luke. He had a small grin on his face as if he didn't know if he should say what he wanted to say. Julie and Carlos watched him carefully, raising their eyebrow in the same form. They both scoffed when Luke pointed out similarities between each other. "I didn't want you to be her knight for this exact reason."
Luke looked down at his hand on the table and noticed that Julie was playing with the watch around his wrist. Her hand froze when she realized her dad was watching her, too. Julie pulled it away.
"I'm not mad about it," Ray laughed when he noticed how Julie folded her hands together, away from Luke. She was not one for PDA. Luke assumed it was a combination of a princess thing and a personality thing. But her hands always found their way to him, and it was a game he liked to play where he timed how long it took for her to notice it just wasn't them two alone. She always got flustered and if it was bad in front of their friends, it was worse in front of her dad.
Carlos asked, "Were you mad before?"
"I had bigger things to worry about," Ray said. "But sometimes when I had time, it did weigh heavy on my head that my teenage daughter was being followed by a teenage boy all the time. Just a dad thing. Nothing more."
"Wow," Carlos said. He looked at Julie and smiled before telling their dad, "You must've felt horrendous when they were alone in the safe house." The king laughed, almost nervous, as Julie leaned over to pinch Carlos' nose.
"You're terrible," Julie told her brother as he laughed at her.
-
Luke and Julie went to their spot off the cliff. It was night, but it was a full moon. They were sharing a blanket between them, Luke wrapping his arms around Julie and leaning his head on her shoulder. It was their default way to be.
"You must think I'm ugly because of how much you make me hold you like this," Luke said to her. He pressed a kiss on her neck, and he felt the vibrations from her laugh for a moment.
"I just feel warmer," she told him as he placed another kiss on the corner of her jaw.
"The things I do for you," Luke mumbled, holding her closer. He could never hold her close enough.
"You enjoy it."
"I do. And the stars and the moon are nice, so I guess it's a win."
"They do look rather radiant." Luke smiled. Her eloquent speaking. It was becoming more prominent as she went to more meetings involving the kingdom. Even Luke was picking up things from her, and he caught himself as he said certain phrases at his new job. He always thought that them dating would have Julie turn into a mini him, but while she stole his heart, he stole her royal family lingo. Practice for the future. "Hey, Luke."
"Hm?" She turned to look at him, moonlight hitting both of their skin. He waited for her to respond, and she took a moment to fix the collar of his blue button up. When she was satisfied, she placed one of her hands over his heart and the other on the back of his neck. "What's wrong" he asked her as she studied his face. She was searching for something. A moment maybe. The right words. He knew her face when she was thinking, and she had it on.
"Nothing's wrong," she said honestly. He leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the forehead, and her mouth formed a small smile. He wondered if she felt the same flutter of the heart any time their skin touched. He wasn't sure he'd ever be able to go a day without it from that point forward.
"Then?"
"I just wanted to tell you that I love you," she finally said. Luke stared at her. Stunned and not knowing what to say. The Princess had reverted him back into his body of The Silent Knight. Her chuckle is what warped him back in front of her and the full moon.
"I love you, too, Julie." She beamed, avoiding his eyes as he tried to pull his off her face. But how could he look away when everything so special and dear to him was right there? He didn't need anything else in the world. He just didn't.
She burried her face in his chest, making Luke smile bigger than ever before as he hugged her. He was almost glad she was too flustered to look at him because she'd make fun of him. They were on the same boat of being overwhelmed by their feelings for the other for once. Despite all those years apart, those feelings were never meant to fade. They were just there, waiting to one day resurface and grow stronger. To start off where they left off.
"Well, you definitely can not leave now," she said. He could barely hear her, but it was just enough for him. He was fluent in Princess Julie.
"Never planned to." Luke played with a few of her curls as she adjusted her face on his chest, resting the side of her face over where his heart rested. She often did that. She liked to listen to it she told him once. To listen to how it beat for her. She wasn't wrong.
She asked him, more audibly, "Are fine with the idea of being king some day?" Luke curled a strand of her hair around his ring finger and undid it as he thought for a moment.
"I've never really thought about it."
"Really?" She sounded surprised.
"Yeah. I don't really see you as The Princess. You're just Julie. My Julie." He knew that corny line would get her, and she snorted. She looked up to meet his eyes, the moon bouncing off her brown ones.
"You're annoying," she told him. A dimple on her cheek made an appearance. He gave it a quick kiss.
"And you still chose to fall in love with me knowing that," he smiled at her. She rolled her eyes, but her smirk never faltered. He leaned in to give her a peck on the lips.
"I am serious, though. It's something you should think about before you know." She made a hand gesture at herself.
"Falling in love any further?"
"Yeah," she said, almost shrugging. Luke pulled the blanket tighter around them. It caught her off guard, but it didn't take long before she sunk back into his arms. They fit together.
"You're it for me, Julie. Can't imagine my life without you in it. I'm staying here with everyone and especially with you." He kissed the top of her head. "And I guess being king might be cool if it means you get to be my wife." His mom would scream at him if she found out he said those words to her and didn't propose. But that wouldn't be for a bit longer. They had time. They could take it day by day and take a moment to remember it all.
Julie pulled away from him to tell him, "And to think I wanted nothing to do with you when I first met you."
"I was very persuasive with my words." Julie laughed. She reached over to brush hair out of his forehead. It wasn't bothering him, but she liked to do little edits on him. He knew they were just excuses to touch him. She had been doing it since they were younger, and some things never changed.
"You hardly spoke," she reminded him.
"You were kind of scary, and I was scared."
"I was not scary," Julie retorted. "I was just angry at everything."
"Maybe just a little bit scary," Luke teased her. Julie clicked her tongue but in that moment, Luke leaned down to kiss her. He felt her smile against his lips, and he got those feelings of eternity in his chest again. His soulmate. He would never get sick of the feeling.
"When did you start to like me?" Julie asked him. Luke thought back to his earliest moments of Julie. It did not take him long back them to realize he was really in for it when it came for her. A smile like hers was unforgettable and haunting like a ghost. It followed him everywhere even when she never smiled at him. Tiptoeing just for a chance to glance at it. Telling her she hadn't smiled in a while in hopes that he could make her do it again. She was heaven on earth.
"The first time I heard you play the piano," he said. "When you smiled. I knew I was in trouble."
"That early on?" she asked him. She watched him attentively as he brushed back her hair.
"Yeah," he said. "Your smile has always been my favorite thing about you." Julie struggled to keep her eyes on Luke before puttting her forehead against his chest again, and he laughed at her. "Why are you being so shy?" he asked her.
"I don't know," Julie murmured. She sounded embarrassed. She was always the one with the upper hand and somehow, Luke was the making her stumble over her own feelings. "I'm not used to this yet."
"That's why we're taking it day by day," he said as he held her. She was probably still thinking about what he said.
"Is that why you would never stop talking about Nick to me? You were jealous?" Luke was the one whose face started to get red now, and he moved his gaze away from her.
"Maybe. Maybe not. I will neither confirm nor deny those allegations." Julie chuckled, reaching a hand over behind his neck to play with his hair.
"I mean. I kind of figured you had a thing for me around then."
Luke's eyes went back to hers, raising an eyebrow at her. "You knew I liked you?"
"I wasn't sure about it, but I had a feeling. You weren't the best at hiding it, you know? Always asking about Nick. Always staring at me."
"That was my job. To look at you."
"But you would look at me like that. Like nobody else ever has."
"Now I'm the one that's embarrassed," Luke mumbled to her, turning his head away. It might have been long ago, but with her, he still felt like a teenager with a crush all over again. She continued playing with his hair, her other hand wrapped around him and resting on his back. She had a hold on his shirt. A hold on him. He asked, "What about you, Princess? When did you start to crave a forbidden romance with your knight?" He couldn't help but watch her face after those words.
"Oh shut up," Julie laughed into the creases of his clothes as she rested her head on his chest again. She stayed silent, Luke taking a moment to look up at the full moon and the area surrounding them. It was home. "When they started that petition to have Nick as my knight. I realized I wouldn't want anyone else but you following me around all day. Seeing you get all obsessed with the necklace and pretending you didn't have a crush on me confirmed it. That day with the frogs. I think about it all the time."
"I wasn't obsessed." Luke sneered, but he knew she was right. He fell hard and fast for her, and a romance with her was the last thing that he should have indulged in at the time. But she made everything better even when he was just there to make her life worse. He felt so lucky to have been forgiven by her and to be able to love her. Even if it meant going to the frog pond every once in a while and holding one for a picture to amuse her. Anything to see that smile.
Julie put her pointer finger and thumb close together as she said, "Just a little bit obsessed." Luke thought she was cute, so he let her have it.
"Okay just a little bit." Julie put both her hands on Luke's face and pulled him down closer to her face to kiss him, Luke letting himself feel everything in the moment. The taste of her lipstick that was somehow still there. The smell of her perfume mixing with his cologne out in the crisp air. The feeling of her fingers holding his face. The sound of crows in the distance.
He opened his eyes when she parted from the kiss, and he could not imagine seeing anyone else in her place as long as he lived. That was his whole heart right there, standing with a timid smile and a blanket that was half falling off her. He loved her.
"I love you," he told her as if it were an out of breath confession. She didn't seem thrown off like had had been. It was a thing now. To say I love you. He couldn't wait to see what more things would happen in their relationship.
"I love you, too." He fixed the blanket, wrapping it around them. It would be easier to suggest they go inside, but seeing her under the night sky, so bright and happy was his favorite thing in the world. He never wanted to leave. She asked him, "What do you want to do tomorrow? Bird watch or go to the villages? I heard they're starting school next week. We can see what they need."
"Anything you want," he said to her. He placed a kiss on the bridge of her nose, Julie scrunching it up in glee. "I'll follow you wherever you go."
-
A/N: Aaaand that's a wrap everybody ;-; <3
This is a very bittersweet moment for me as this is the longest fic I have ever written, and it's been a crazy few months. I could've had a baby probably within the time I took to write this lmao. My life has gone through a lot of changes and my one constant has been this fic I could always come back to.
I cross published this on Ao3, but I really wanted to thank you guys here on Wattpad for your immense support. I do not think I would have had the motivation to complete this story if it wasn't for you guys. You guys consistently voted and commented. Writing fanfics is fun but it's even more fun when people are reading them. I will really miss you all ;-; <3
I have a few stories up my sleeve, but until then, see you all later and take care !!!
xoxo
Star
p.s. What were your favorite/most memorable parts in this fic? I'd love to talk about them before we all part ways! <3