Tenderly: A TFLC Short

Aether and Mathieu’s Apartment
Atlanta, GA
United States of America

March 2017 

“And Mack—and Mack won the bet,” Aether laughed. “He won the bet against Peters. You’d think someone like him has a lower alcohol tolerance, but he’s able to hold his own pretty well. It was either that, or he was trying not to fall all over the floor. But God, it was so fucking funny, I have pictures—I have pictures of Peters giving up after his seventh shot.” Mathieu couldn’t help but smile as she told the story of the squad’s latest shenanigans; apparently a few nights ago, Peters and Mack had a bet to see which one had better alcohol tolerance. It ended up with Peters hunched over the toilet and Mack trying not to drunk dial his former conquests, but Mack won fair and square while the American protested in the middle of throwing up. It was an amusing tale, he had to admit, Mathieu could barely keep his eyes off her at all.

Aether continued her story, talking about how she and Tadashi had to make sure the other two would be able to somehow sober up in an hour. He listened, he really was; Aether was talking about how Mack weighed like almost nothing. Mathie just couldn’t help but keep his eyes on Aether, smiling quite fondly himself as he took in the sight of her.

Both of them were in sleeping attire; there was Mathieu with a shirt on and sweatpants while Aether had her hair tied up and face clear of makeup. She had on the kimono-style robe that he had gotten her the prior Christmas, and underneath she was merely wearing a romper designed for rest. She was smiling, almost grinning while she told him what happened after (apparently the two had wanted fast food as it was ‘worthy drunk food’, in their words) and as much as he wanted to listen, he could help but focus on her. Aether took the nearby wine glass and sipped before sighing happily, meeting his eyes and stopping her story to flash him a relaxed grin. “Are you still listening?” She teased, setting the glass back down and leaning in to playfully grab at the front of his shirt.

Mathieu had the decency, at least, to look a little embarrassed. Plastering a small smile on his lips, he admitted, “I’m listening, chérie.”

“It didn’t look like you were for a moment there.”

“Did it? My apologies.” Taking advantage of the moment, he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips, making her laugh into his mouth before kissing him back. Her hands let go of his shirt and she pulled her arms around him, unable to stop smiling into his mouth. Mathieu nearly wanted to laugh as well; Aether tasted of wine and some sweets they had eaten for dessert. The two pulled away from each other eventually with pinker cheeks and mildly panting breaths, Mathieu leaning his forehead against hers. “You know what, chérie?”

“Hmm? What is it, liebe?”

“I feel like doing something with you.” His hands went to her waist and he rubbed circles lazily, making her shiver, “Something nice. Have any ideas for me?”

“The way you’re touching my waist makes a lot of ideas come to mind,” she told him rather cheekily. He laughed at that and held her by the waist instead, Aether grinning as she pressed her lips to his again. They stayed that away until pulling away again, Mathieu this time raising a hand to gently run his fingers through her hair. “Unless you’d like to do something else?”

“We can do your suggestion later. Hold on for a moment?” She nodded and he pulled his phone from the pocket of his sweatpants, tapping at the screen and swiping before mumbling to himself and setting his phone down on the glass coffee table; a song she wasn’t familiar with started to play. Aether was a little confused; she was about to ask what he wanted to do before he pulled her up by the arms, led her to the middle of the room where there was more space. “Do you know how to dance?” The question took Aether by surprise; he saw her eyes widen for a moment before she laughed warmly into the air, nodding.

“I do. Had to learn back in the orphanage and took dancing as a class back in college. I think I know what to do,” she told him. He chuckled and kissed her forehead before taking her left hand in his own; Aether rested her right on his shoulder while his right rested on her back. “Left or right?”

“My right.” She nodded and they started to move slowly, Mathieu unable to stop himself from smiling upon seeing the red gather in her cheeks. “There,” he told her, “you’re not too shabby. Maybe we can dance together come another gala of Jin-ho’s.”

“I’d like that.” He squeezed her hand and she squeezed back, their grip on each other eventually tightening. She laced their fingers together and Mathieu looked at her, seeing nothing but warmth and happiness in her eyes.

The two of them kept at it; they kept dancing, moving to the music without exchanging much. Words weren’t needed, not really—both of them were content watching the other. Mathieu watched as Aether smiled and as she blushed, while Aether watched as Mathieu regarded her with an adoring expression that only she got to see. They didn’t hear that the song eventually ended; Aether recognized it immediately and he saw her eyes light up with familiarity. “Know this?”

“It’s on my playlist.” They kept dancing, moving to the music before she asked, “You know how to spin me around?”

“Of course I do. Drop your right hand,” he told her, and when she did, so did he; his other hand lifted and allowed her to spin before he took her back into his arms. It was seamless, nearly perfect; Aether beamed and he pulled her close, this time looping his arms around her wait. She, in turn, wrapped hers around his shoulders. “Beautiful,” he murmured, giving her a quiet kiss as he said so.

The two of them kept dancing. They danced for God-knows-how-long, dancing and gazing at each other and unable to keep away. Both didn’t know for how long they had been doing so—only when the song switched to another did they realize how immersed they were into the other.

Aether couldn’t put her finger on it until she heard Mathieu humming, and only then did the song come to mind. “Is this—?”

“It is,” he confirmed quietly. They kept moving, kept dancing; only this time, they were speaking. He still held her tightly and she still kept her arms around him. “La Vie En Rose. It…it means a lot to me,” he admitted. She nodded, remembering; the morning after she had sang it to him, Mathieu had told her what significance the song held to him. It made her ache a little bit when she remembered; Mathieu explained that it was something his mother used to sing to him when he was younger. “When I couldn’t sleep,” he told over breakfast, “she’d make me sleep my eyes and would sing this without fail. She sang it so much that I got to memorize it in French.”

“And your mother’s…”

A pained look passed over his face. “…she isn’t here anymore, Aether. Hasn’t been for the past eight, nine years.”

“Is this the French version?”

“It is. Edith Piaf’s version was the best, but there are also some others which come close to being pretty good. Like yours,” he said with a small smile. She blushed at that and he asked next, “I’m not—I’m not mad, by the way. About that. About the singing. It really did mean a lot to me.” Aether nodded and Mathieu pressed his lips to her forehead, both of them continuing to dance with one another while the song went on. Eventually she heard him hum it along and she nudged him with a brighter smile. Mathieu blinked for a moment before muttering something under his breath—je suis désolé, maman—and started to sing it the way his mother had to him all those years before.

And Aether listened. She listened as his low, quiet voice sang the lyrics with ease; he was right, he had memorized the song. Mathieu closed his eyes while singing, swinging her around a bit more and falling in sync to the song being played on his phone. “Et dès que je t'aperçois, alors je sens en moi…mon cœur qui bat.” He ended just as the song did, and both of them stood in the middle of the room, unable to say anything. Mathieu ran his fingers through her hair, unable to say anything until managing to look at her, hand then moving to tilt her chin up towards him. “Aether,” he breathed. “Aether.”

“Yes, liebe?” No other words were exchanged when he leaned in to kiss her, and this time, Aether kissed back as much as she could. She knotted her fingers and he held her tightly, so, so tightly until he pulled away to whisper a short I love you.

Aether whispered it back to his lips upon kissing him once again.