endless love

before they found out aion just wanted garlic for his ramen, they invaded lady darudayu's castle and looted it when she wasn't home. her weapon's treasurey was amazing, and even between the two of them, rom and yaiba had a hard time taking everything back to rom's ship. the most cumbersome thing of all was a long decorative sword, dripping with feathers and star-shaped jewels. it was massive, but its splendor excited rom in much the same way insects excited mischievous boys. he was even tempted to keep the thing for himself.

the night before they made port back in the dark kingdom, rom left the ship to yaiba in favor of sating a nagging curiosity. he took the grand sword to his room, held it, and even unsheathed it. while its weight left rom with a distinct feeling of rightness in his hands, overall it was beautiful (if not a bit gaudy) but impractical. rom left it on his bed before stepping out.

he reported his findings to yaiba, whose only knowledge of the sword was the general knowledge that all of lady darudayu's weapons were magic, before attending to his duties as captain. rom was tired by the time he'd returned to his quarters.

when rom entered his room, he was greeted by a stranger lounging in his bed. it was a fox spirit; he wore a junihitoe of airy fabrics, decorated with stars, its rainbow of colors matching his thick tail. despite his beauty and elegance, there was nothing about him that appeared helpless or confused.

the fox spirit smiled slowly, little stars twinkling to life around him. rom could tell the spirit was capable of greater magic than this, but he couldn't help but find the way he was being looked at far more discomforting than the prospect of fighting off a potential cursed weapon.

i. Elle comes rushing into the apartment one day, Rollo at her heels, her hands cupped and raised. Her is face glowing with delight.

"Glasses Guy!" she calls out as she rushes into the kitchen. Julius sets down the cookbook he was pretending to be reading and understanding in favor of looking down at the girl.

"What'vet you got there, Elle?" he asks with amusement. When Elle stops in front of him, she stands on the tips of her toes and stretches her hands up.

Julius is a patient man who is an expert in concealing his thoughts and emotions, so it's easy for him to fight off a grimace.

"I found a lizard at the park! Rollo and I were digging tunnels, and he suddenly popped out!" she declared. She retracts her hands to hold the lizard, long and smooth and brown, close to her. "Isn't he cute?"

No, Julius thinks, it is not cute at all, in any capacity, and he wants it out of the apartment for countless reasons. Maybe Rollo agrees, he thinks to himself, because the plump little cat is eying Elle's hands warily.

Despite his upset, Julius smiles before stooping down to Elle's level, waiting for the inevitable.

"He is a cute little guy," Julius begins with a chiding smile, staring down at the awkward little beast.

Elle is positively beaming when she asks, "Can I keep him?"

No, Julius thinks. No, she may not. He's about to tell her as such, as gently as possible of course, but Elle is beaming, grinning wide and adoringly and expectantly-- charmingly in that way only little girls are capable of.

He sighs in resignation. "You're asking the wrong guy. Ludger's the real man of the house here, right?"

"Well, Ludger is a better dad," Elle muses in contemplation, brow raised. As if remembering she needed to curry favor with Julius as well, she pales, recoiling slightly. "Not that you're a bad dad or anything! I'm just saying Ludger's better since he feeds us and does our laundry and--"

Julius cuts her off with a chuckle, unsure of whether it was meant to be despairing or amused. Elle doesn't contemplate it either, is distracted by a large gloved hand ruffling her hat.

"It's alright, Elle. Just be sure to ask Dad of the Year before you go naming your little friend, okay?"

Elle nods spiritedly, grinning. "Thanks, Glasses Guy! You're the best!"

Rollo makes a noise that sounds like a cross between a chirp and a rumble.

ii. Ludger grimaces when Elle holds the lizard, who is currently curled into a little circle not unlike a miniature wingless ouroboros. Julius supposes it's a bit overdramatic to compare a tiny bush-dwelling lizard who was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time to a demon, but. Well. He wants it out.

"Can we keep him, Ludger?" Elle asks, eyes glimmering once again. "Glasses Guy said we could if you said yes."

"Did he, now?" Ludger asks slowly, sparing Julius a qucik, cold glance. Julius can only silently raise his hands in a disarming gesture.

He knows throwing Elle under the bus to cover his throwing Ludger under the bus won't go too well; he'd rather not sleep on the couch tonight.

"Yup!" she chirps, her smile unwavering as Ludger watches her.

"Lizards aren't like cats, Elle," Ludger tries. "Especially not cats like Rollo. He won't be able to follow you everywhere, and you'll have to feed him crickets."

"That's right," Julius adds with a nod. "And you can't just dump the crickets into his terrarium, or they'll gang up on him and eat him."

At that comment, Rollo lets off a meow that sounds concerningly curious as he plops onto his bottom to watch his family's exchange.

Elle looks taken back, and for a moment Julius is confident she'll let her new friend go, but she puffs up her chest and nods in determination.

"I'll do it! That's what friends are for, right? Feeding each other bugs and stuff!"

Julius glances up at Ludger momentarily, only to find him sending a withering gaze his way. Julius is just as lost as he is.

Their stare-down is interrupted by Rollo chattering again. He's looking right at Elle's hands once more, his tail twitching back and forth.

Elle notices this and gives another nod. "See? Even Rollo likes him? Please, can we keep him? Please? Pleeease?"

Julius knows Ludger and he love to spoil Elle rotten; he can count the number of times he's refused her on one hand. But this-- this is a bit much. He can tell Ludger feels the same way with how he's staring at Elle with mounting fondness, sighing in thought.

Julius gets it out of the way and caves first.

"I don't see why not," he says with false amusement. "As long as you promise to take good care of him, and won't complain when you need to keep his lamp on all night."

"Julius--" Ludger begins stiffly, frowning in that cute way that makes Julius want to spoil him.

At this moment, Julius realizes how weak he's become. He lends it to everything his family has gone through to reach the point where their biggest problem is whether their daughter can keep a germ-ridden animal as a pet.

Elle is too busy cheering and bouncing in place to mind the impending lover's spat. "Yay!"

Julius averts his gaze down to Elle, taking in the sight of her happy face as she gives the lizard a few fond strokes.

"You're the best dads ever! Thanks Ludger, thanks Glasses Guy!"

Ludger and Julius are both at a loss for a few moments. Thankfully Elle breaks the tension by scampering out of the apartment with her new friend.

"I've gotta think of a name for you! I'll make Ludger take us to the pet store to get you a cool house--"

She voice trails off in the distance as she no doubt heads for the park. Rollo follows her with long, careful steps. iii. "You know we can't let Elle keep that lizard, right?" Ludger asks softly, his annoyance having subsided.

"I know," Julius says with a shake of his head. "If it came from a pet store that'd be one thing, but a wild lizard is..."

"Yeah," Ludger finishes. He almost looks sad.

Julius returns Ludger's sad smile with a chiding one of his own, before running a hand through his brother's hair, a soothing gesture.

"I'll break the news to her, okay?"

Ludger looks placated, but is quick to give Julius a flat look.

"Make sure you tell her the *truth* when you do."

Julius laughs before stealing a quick kiss from Ludger's mouth in the hopes of turning his frown into a neutral expression at the very least. A smile might be too lofty at the moment.

"It's a promise. It's my duty as the second best dad ever, right?"

Ludger finally graces him with a loving smile. "Right."

iv. Julius is spared the dirty work, but at a great cost it seems.

Elle runs into the apartment, expression despaired and on the verge of tears.

"Glasses Guy!" Elle nearly shouts. "Glasses Guy!"

When Elle stops before him, Julius stoops down to her level and puts a reassuring hand on her hat. "What's wrong Elle? Did you get hurt?"

Elle shakes her head, and swipes at her eyes with the back of her hand. "It's my lizard!"

Maybe it took care of business on her, or skittered away when she wasn't looking, Julius hoped inwardly.

"What about him?"

Elle sniffles hard, giving a frowny pout, tears welling out of her control.

"Rollo ate him! He ate him!" she says, loud and indignant and horrified.

Julius can't say he isn't horrified, though he only shows it with a few blinks of his eyes.

"I see," he says, tone even and still shocked.

Elle sniffles and nods. "How could he do that? I thought he liked him..."

"Well, Elle, cats are natural predators," Julius begins. "He could only fight his instincts for so long before they took over."

Elle grumbles in no doubt begrudging understanding.

"But still..."

Julius can only pull the girl into his arms, giving her a strong and sturdy hug.

"I know, Elle. I'm sorry. I'm sure he was a great friend until the end."

v. As penance for once again worming his way out of refusing Elle, Ludger makes Julius give Rollo a bath to get the blood off of him.