Te Amo

"Liebling?" Eli's voice echoed around the house, over the wood crackling in the fire place. She had unlocked the door to a surprisingly quiet home. The lights were on, though her girlfriend was nowhere in sight. The music box on the piano was playing the same tune, the one she had winded up for Nozomi before she left for another country. It had been another arduous month being away from her girlfriend and she was eager to see the sight of her beloved.

"Ma chéri?" She tried again. There was a sound of metal clanging, before a panting Nozomi made her way out of the kitchen at the other end of the corridor, her usual gentle smile on her face.

"Welcome home! And what was that…?" Nozomi chuckled, patting the powder off her apron.

"Hmm… I'm not telling you!" The blonde dropped her backpack on the ground, before hastily making her way to her girlfriend, engulfing her in a much needed hug. "Tu me manques… I missed you so much Nozomi…"

"W-wait! Elicchi! I'm covered in flour now!" Nozomi squirmed within the embrace, trying to push Eli off, the Eli that was intent on getting at least a snuggle before they broke apart. The flour on her arms coated Eli's black dress pants in patches of white, the chocolate on her cheeks was smeared on Eli's nose.

"No, I'm not letting you go, my flower girl," Eli laughed, kissing the chocolate away. "Say it again!"

"Say what?" Green eyes were looking back questioningly; Nozomi finally giving up on the futile struggle and opting to cup Eli's cheek with both her hands.

"I missed my name on your lips," came the reply, the expectant grin on Eli's face was making it difficult for her.

"Elicchi…?" She tried, a little hesitant.

"Oh god, tu me plais!" Her lips were captured in the next moment in a gentle kiss, Eli's soft lips had tasted like chocolate. The grin was plastered on Eli's face as soon as they broke apart to breathe and Nozomi chuckled at the chocolate that was still on Eli's nose.

"What's up with all the French?" Nozomi said with a simper, wiping Eli's nose with her sleeves. The smile on Eli's face broadened, before rubbing her nose after Nozomi was done with it.

"Grandmother told me girls like French? Something about ma petite amie would like it…?" Eli admitted, albeit a little abashedly.

"My little- what?"

Eli's hand reached for her cheeks, tucking Nozomi's purple hair behind her ears, her thumb lingering ever so slightly in a tiny caress. "Oh so you do know French! I thought I would impress you with it…"

"Not if you come back home speaking three different languages. Honestly Elicchi!" She gave Eli a smack on the shoulders before pushing Eli away and turning her back against her.

"I'm hurt! Mi querida," And she was embraced in another hug from behind, this time even tighter than before.

"No!"

"Mio cara, ti amo…" Her hair was brushed away, and there were little kisses peppered on her exposed neck.

"Elicchi… You know I don't understand a word of it."

The last kiss stayed a moment longer, before Eli whispered. "It's okay. I just need to show you how much I love you then." And Nozomi couldn't help the blush that was rapidly rising, turning her face into a tint of pink.

"Aşkım, canım? seni seviyorum," Eli tried again when there was no response other than the faint breathing that was coming from her girlfriend.

"Elicchi, no…" Nozomi sighed, before giving up and returning Eli a kiss of her own. "Sometimes I wonder how I even fell for you."

"I love you," came the immediate reply, the grin on Eli's face was replaced with a small smile and a earnest look in the eyes, the blue orbs shimmering with emotions. Nozomi gave a little gasp, finally the response Eli was looking for.

The embarrassed smile on Nozomi's face was worth all the travelling that she had done in the past months. Maybe Grandmother was right.

She really needed to tell Nozomi that she love her more frequently.

They settled down on the couch afterwards, after some clean-up was done, with both of them void of baking ingredients. Eli took out her camera in eager, excitedly patting the side of the couch motioning for Nozomi to come sit by her side.

"Photos from Philippines?"

"Hmm! Look at this! They eat this food called the Balut? It's a developing duck embryo that is boiled and eaten in the shell?" Nozomi ducked away from the screen hastily as soon as Eli completed the sentence. "Elicchi!"

There was a cackle of laughter and a look of amusement as Eli chuckled. "Aren't you glad that you missed out on this?"

"But I want to spend every moment with you, I'm sorry you had to go alone," Nozomi replied, inching closer to Eli now that the hideous photo was gone. Eli leaned forward, giving her a kiss on her nose. "We can go again next time!"

The next few moments were spent as they scrolled through Eli's camera filled with pictures of random nature sceneries, of beaches and volcanos.

"I can't believe they named this place Chocolate Hills! There was absolutely not even an ounce of chocolate there… I was majorly disappointed," Eli cried as she swiped to the photo of a rolling terrain of haycock hills.

"Oh Elicchi…" Nozomi ruffled the soft blond tresses, sometimes Eli still acted like a child whenever chocolate was mentioned.

Once they were done browsing, their photo album was taken out from Nozomi's room and Eli carefully slotted in the newest additions to the memoirs of their travel (she didn't print out the picture of the balut though). Eli lapsed into her translator jargon as they flipped through their travels in Europe, excitedly telling her about how Spanish, Portuguese and Italin stemmed from Latin.

"Spanish and French share similar words, cuz they're romantic languages, romantic because they originate from a language spoken by the Romans." Eli ranted on as they went over the pictures of them in Mont Blanc, of them in Pantheon and outside the Colosseum.

Nozomi giggled, "You do know that you tell me this every other day? You're getting naggy Elicchi. Besides, whatever you said sounds romantic to me."

"Nozomi!" The translator's face lit up, unused to being the one getting teased.

The sky outside was rapidly turning into a dark shade of pink and indigo, the sunset's fading orange glows were no more. Eli stopped flipping at a last page, her gaze lingering on photo that they had taken together while in Spain, the backlight of the orange sun was shining on the Montserrat, painting the land in medallion and a touch of flaxen.

"This sunset is beautiful," Nozomi commented, noticing Eli's gaze staring at the outside sky next.

"It is beautiful because I'm with you," Eli smiled, "Eres primera amor, and you will always be the only one I love."

She was graced with yet another blush in reply, the shade of pink on Nozomi's cheeks was even more alluring than the setting sun, making her seem even more resplendent.

"A-Are you hungry Elicchi?" Nozomi slammed the album shut, looking away from the intense blue gaze that was upon her.

"Hmm… Just a little."

"Wait here!" Nozomi leaped up from her seat beside Eli, promptly making her way to the kitchen. There was a sound of a switch and all of a sudden Eli found herself immersed in darkness, with only a sliver of light shining from outside the windows.

"N-Nozomi? You know I'm bad with the dark…" There was a sound of door sliding, before Nozomi finally emerged, chocolate cake in tow.

The tiny orange flame on the candle seemed even more luminous as the last shred of light faded into the onyx sky and Eli stood rooted, transfixed as she watched her girlfriend walked towards her.

"Maligayang kaarawan?" Nozomi grinned as Eli stood still, speechless and mouth agape.

"Huh…? N-Nozomi?"

"Honestly did you not learn anything when you come back?" Nozomi leaned in, catching a kiss before she pulled back to a Eli that was in twice as much shock.

"с днем рождения Elicchi… Oh and also je t'aime."

The photo album landed on the floor with a loud thump, before Eli finally roused from her reverie. "Oh Nozomi I forgot it was my birthday… and I see someone has been using my dictionnaire?"

"Maybe?" Nozomi chuckled, "Turn on the lights Elicchi!"

Eli reached out for the light switch blindly, slapping it on, her gaze not leaving her girlfriend all the while. As the lights flooded the living room, the words came into view, the white cream on the chocolate cake spelling out ¿Te casarías conmigo?, complete with a sapphire ring on top.

"Oh my god," Eli almost screamed, because how dare Nozomi proposed to her first. "Nozomi I was supposed to be the one doing this. I-I am- What do I do now?" The translator took a step back, flailing her arms in mild panic, it was a little too much to take in and she was certainly feeling overwhelmed.

"Embrasse-moi," The cake was left on the top of the piano alongside the little music box, Nozomi took another step closer to Eli, as they backed into the walls. "And say yes?"

The flush on Eli's face darkened, the cake was forgotten as she melted into another soft kiss, and green encompassed her entire being.

"Yes, I will."

A/N: Some phrases used in the fic are included below (rough translations) basically I had Eli saying I love you in a lot of languages because languages. I'm really sorry to native speakers if there was any translation mistake or if I used it inappropriately! I had a lot of help from all my friends for all these thank you guys so much!

I love you:
seni seviyorum - Turkish
te amo - Spanish
ti amo –Italian
tu me plais - French

Darling/my dear/my love:
liebling - german
Aşkım, canım - turkish
Mi querida - spanish
ma chéri – french
Mia cara - italian

Also:

Tu me manques - I missed you - french
Tú eres mi primer amo - you're my first love – Spanish
¿Te casarías conmigo? – will you marry me - spanish
Embrasse-moi - Kiss me
Maligayang kaarawan - Happy birthday - Tagalog
с днем рождения - Happy birthday - Russian