BLEED

And before long, it's all of Vanth's favorites and then some on the table. Their table was large enough to hold the grandest bouquet, but of course, they chose to sit side by side each other.

"So like you to presume the worst, Sebastian Everest Amaros." Ismene replies coolly. "I only had a brief conversation with your spouse regarding his divinity."

She looks up at him, her eyes cold. "I even defended you to him."

"I do not need you defending me," he answers, "You are nothing." Sebastian huffs out a sigh.

You could never hurt me, my Dove."

Until they slip shut, Vanth burying himself into his arms and holding him tight.

"I want you happy," he whispers against Vanth's hair. "Whatever that looks like, I want that for you." He wanted Vanth to do what made him happy. He wants to see Vanth filled with smiles and laughter.

He pulls away, but only to get a good look at Vanth's face. "I do not wish to see you cry. It destroys my very soul." He runs a thumb along his cheek.

Teal eyes flick upwards from his cards to gold. Especially those he had no clue as to what they're capable of. His patience needed the work out anyway.

"I do not mind trying a game of pool with you. I believe it will be fun to watch your movements," he admits as he deals his own card.

That changed a lot of things. In truth, Adolin was more than just relieved - he was happy. Even if this conversation never reached Vanth's ears, who didn't even know everything that had happened between the two of them, Adolin genuinely believed things would become simpler from now on.

"Good. I am pleased to hear it," he gestures to the treats, "let us enjoy the night. It is still young, after all." And with that, he hails for another few drinks and more food for Adolin.

If I have to die again, then so be it - he thought, unpleasant as the idea was. He would die and come back again, and die again if necessary. That was simply what was right and fair, whether Sebastian liked it or not, after all.

The absence of anger or any kind of attack was a welcome surprise.

Raising an eyebrow as he listened, Adolin parted his lips in surprise before a smile slowly spread across his face.

"Actually, you're quite right” - he said, finally allowing himself to lower his guard again.

Even so, hearing all of that was so unexpected that it left him speechless for a moment.

"I'm glad to hear that" - he admitted before letting out a long, heavy sigh, his shoulders finally relaxing. "Phew... I really am."

"Vanth is unlike me," he starts. "He does not befriend just to befriend. He does not pick the people he keeps close out of whim or for any ulterior motives." Vanth was genuine. He kept the people he chose close for the reason of trusting them enough to welcome them into his space.

"If he's chosen you to be near, it is not my place to sever that." He looks to Adolin with expectation. "I trust that you will treat him kindly and gently." And keep him out of harm's way.

"Yeah, I noticed that" - Adolin agrees. "He throws his whole soul into everything he does. That's... captivating."

Adolin wasn't stupid. He knew there was far more to Vanth than he could even begin to imagine. He'd barely scratched the surface, and yet he still felt confident saying all of that. That was what made Vanth so special, and—

His thoughts come to an abrupt halt, pulled back to Sebastian as he hears those next words. The explanation sends a cold shiver down his spine, and his expression grows more serious.

"I appreciate you trying. I really do" - he says. This time, though, he can't stop himself from asking. "But why? After telling me so firmly that you don't want to change..."

It wasn't a complaint.

"Either way, I think I should make something clear too. I never meant to come between the two of you, or anything like that. Vanth made it very clear what he could offer me..." - Adolin pauses for a moment.

"The first stage of learning to change is by admitting that you don't want to change." If it were for Vanth, he'd do anything. He did say just that.

"You do not need to go anywhere as long as Vanth welcomes your presence and wishes to keep you close. I will not get in between the two of you."

Oh how he wished his protégé possessed the same common sense and foresight. Such folly could only lead to personal doom and disaster.

Alas, the heartstrings of a broken child were easily strung, of a broken man who had truly nothing left to lose and who cared little for his own personal well-being. 

Ah, but all the sympathy he could gather for him shattered in an instant, his hands clenching up, brows furrowed in anger.

"You misunderstand me," he says. "Much like your friend, here, mm?" And he smiles. "Do you not notice the emotions you feel when you go down your memory lane? The expressions you wear as you connect with what little I shared with you?" So quick to anger. So quick to be on high alert.

"You look the most lovely when you are around my companion. That is all I meant by it. "

"And I hope to see that expression you share with Morpheus, when it is just you and me. Perhaps one day, yes?"

He turns to look at Anubis, his back now facing Noir. He smirks, "You were about to take your leave, but Morpheus and I will be leaving first. If you'll excuse us," he walks right past the jackal, and Morpheus follows suit.

No one ever accomplished anything by being content with who they were, Shallan.The words from an old conversation drift back into his mind, and just thinking of Shallan makes something in Adolin's chest sink. Storms, how he wished she were here with him. We accomplish great things by reaching toward who we could become. As long as it's who you want to become.

His thoughts wander for only a moment, but he doesn't miss the shift in Sebastian's expression. Curiosity flickers across his face, and Adolin waits. When the answer finally comes, he lets out a quiet chuckle through his nose. "Can't argue with that. It's probably very endearing"- just talking about it is enough to make him smile.

When the question is turned back on him, that smile only widens, and he answers with complete honesty. "Don't kill me for saying this, but Vanth's authenticity is contagious."

Ah, for such a thing to happen between him and his love, and for Vanth to have such an affection for him that he is trying to rewrite the wrong he caused him. If that was not love, then Sebastian wouldn't know what was.

"You can always expect Vanth to give you his all." He didn't hide behind a mask. When you really looked at him, he was so plain to see. He was kind, soft, good-natured, and attentive.

...

But Anubis took the word before Noir could. “Exactly that is disgraceful. To take something that is neither yours nor yours to claim. But I assume talking to someone like you about integrity is a waste of words and breath.” The animosity the jackal felt was audible in every word spoken, not giving an ounce of sympathy to the demon in man’s skin. To take the name of his friend and disgrace it in that manner felt akin to blasphemy.

And the god did not care about the sob story he spew in order to make himself appear within reason, approachable, relatable even. Frankly, he considered this all to be a waste of time. How Noir could deem an insulting meeting like this as important was beyond him. Lest he forgot that mortals are flawed, and that it was his duty to guide him towards the path of righteousness he was destined to be on. He was about to turn to his friend as say that they were done here, ready to vanish from this conversation without a trace and never give Sebastian the time of day again. But to his demise, Noir was a flawed human.

Sebastian’s words struck something within the detective, who suddenly remembered his own time living as a child, a defenseless being that was thrown at the mercy of people who neither cared for him nor wanted him. Unwanted. Abandoned. Yes, it was hard to imagine him as just a kid for he was sure that the man lived multiple lifetimes already.

It's funny. Anubis was talking about disgrace, talking about integrity, and such when he created his own being. Noir was a dead man walking. Created by the very being who felt it unnatural to be among the dead and walk it. Was that not just as disgraceful?

The hellhound looks up, head tilting as he gathers the emotions behind those words, and quite frankly, Sebastian gives a surprised look, though it's short-lived

"It was part of my lesson as the next line on the throne," he says, matter-of-fact. Having friends, having anything that was deemed a distraction were removed promptly. It was why Ismene no longer stayed with them. He remembers the day she was removed. His only friend at the time.

"Fair enough" - Adolin agreed, reaching for one of the appetizers and taking a bite. It was delicious, though milder than he was used to, like nearly everything he'd tasted in Spirale. "Still… that's a dangerous way to love someone" - he ventured. They were being honest with each other, weren't they? "When you're willing to go all the way to Damnation itself for one person, things can get… messy." He shrugged lightly. "Not that I wouldn't do the same for the people I care about."

Adolin couldn't help remembering Vanth's desperation to find Sebastian inside that storming laboratory. And now Sebastian's words made it clear he would have done exactly the same. Somehow, that kind of devotion was both beautiful and worrying.

To think he'd come to a realization while here, seated with Adolin.

What does he do that always makes you smile?

The first thing that comes to his mind is when Vanth does something. Whether that was his first piercings on a client or him running up to him with some ridiculous item asking for it to turn into a hedgehog. Or simply them just hunting together. Vanth always made him smile.

Except....

Sebastian didn't smile when Vanth stood there with those eyes burning with tears he tried so hard to hold back. In the end, Sebastian knows the pactbearer cried. He cried alone, and Sebastian didn't smile then.

That soft smile that lingered on his face falters a bit, and he uses this time to take a sip from his drink. He holds it there, looks at Adolin silently, and then, when he removes his cup, he answers him,

"When he does anything that he enjoys doing. That is when he makes me smile the most.

But he left the comment open with no response, not feeling particularly suited to flirt back, especially with someone he felt nothing good would come out of. And that laugh of his…that haunting, mocking, laugh…

“He is deserving of attention and care, and are creatures like him not here to be spoiled and dotted on? Are you neglecting your duties as a responsible pet owner, Everest?” Of course he knew this not to be true. The way Morpheus moved around him told him that the hellhound was missing on nothing. And he appreciated the subtle affection given back by the canine. Unlike his own companion.

Anubis was visibly startled when being addressed directly by the demon king, but the intense staring did not subdue because of it. Instead, he kept his eyes locked on the other, carefully moving up from behind Noir, paws tapping gentle and silent. “He may carry a divine name, but he is no kin of mine.” As he still kept his distance, Anubis stood close to Noir on the opposite side of Morpheus, not offering him a single glance. “What a disgrace to name him after a god and burden him with this responsibility. You truly are a demon who knows no shame.”

"It may be bold to say, but I did choose the names for my hounds for that reason." Each name carried a strength in it that his three hellhounds carried within them.

He decides to then add a little bit of vulnerability, if only to strike where it may hurt.

What could he say? Sebastian was being… pleasant, strange as that concept was. Was it just an attempt to make Adolin lower his guard? Somehow, Adolin didn't think so. If Sebastian had wanted to kill him, he wouldn't have needed all these theatrics.

Even so, that look unsettled him. It wasn't an easy gaze to hold, but the prince met it anyway.

"Oh, I will?" - Adolin echoed the words, curiosity plain in his voice. And, a second later, he's unable to hide the flicker of surprise that crossed his face at such a straightforward answer.

Letting out a thoughtful hum, he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms, quietly turning the revelation over in his mind.

"So what made it change?" - there was no judgment in the question.

Sebastian finishes his glass and hails for another, and when that one is delivered, he yet touches it.

"I do not know. One day, I thought to myself that I could not let anything happen to him. It is my duty, of course, as king hell to watch over my subjects; however, I recognized the feeling I carried for him to be different."

However, that quickly vanished when he shot Sebastian a piercing glare with that shameless comment. The fucking audacity of this guy! “What? Your happy fairy tale marriage not going well currently?”

"You look lovely."

Flirting came as easy as breathing for Sebastian. He was shameless.

Morpheus would like some more pets, and it's evident in how he bumps his nose against Noir's hand for attention. There's no sound coming from the hellhound, but he does show his body language in other ways! His long tail wags, and a paw is brought up as he continues to nuzzle his nose into Noir's hand.