✨️ Sparkle ✨️

Hermes chuckled a bit looking at her while he gently pulled her into his embrace, looking down at her lovingly leaning in to steal a kiss while taking another and then another. "And if I eat your cooking and its something I recognize....I'll tell you all about it while making more memories with you." He said kissing her again.

“this isn’t true because the ex-friendship that traumatized me ended explosively after they were mad at me and never told me why” that’s not good. they shouldn’t be doing that

“i don’t think this is true because my current friend group is constantly icing me out until i figure out what ive done to upset them and properly apologized without being told” hey thats not good. they should not be doing that

Then he heard the other explain. Edward put one finger into the magic sphere and gave the device a gentle twirl setting it spinning. “I understand a bit more now. You’re like…. Uh…. Tatoo teenage crime fighters from Beverly Hills.” He said trying to remember a comparison he’d encountered. “Also this definitely isn’t Angel grove.”

As his device lazily spun Edward sighed. “I’ve been probing it. And…. I only claim to agree with you that it’s functionally alien in design. I’m so far as it’s not responding to any of my magical probes in any way that makes sense to me.” He paused. “Oh, I’m Edward. You are?” He asked as he offered a hand. “I know it’s weird outside right now, but no reason to completely reject manors. If that was the case…”. He looked at the window shades for a moment and said nothing.

"That sounds good enough to me. So what is going on out there? When did this start?"

A pause.

He laughed as the consideration amused him. ❝ Am I strange? ❞ The other way around seemed more accurate, but he never has been here judging his friends. Maybe sometimes confused by their actions, maybe something scared by the demon sleeping inside Rena-chan, maybe taking off catch guard by sudden change inside Rika-chan like now … but he wasn’t different. He pretended simply it was something so behind him there was no need to recollect it. ❝ Nightmares, it’s is? ❞ He understood already it was about something traumatic, but cannot push her to say it aloud, to confirm it. It would be understandable if it was accumulated pain. All his friends have it, in same manner that he has. Her situation was further tragic than how he eventually ends up in middle of Hinamizawa. That suspended sentence drifting in the atmosphere increased established confusion in his mind.

It was still ending the same?

The little smile remained upon her lips, but it had changed. Not quite the one she had been wearing before. There was something softer in it now, almost fragile in a way that she would never willingly allow most people to see.

Keiichi was strange.

She had already known that, but perhaps she had underestimated just how strange he could be.

He had managed to stumble around the edges of the truth without ever actually touching it. He didn't know about the countless worlds. He didn't know about the years that had stretched far beyond what any human should have endured. He didn't know about the mornings she had awakened expecting to die again, or the nights where sleep itself had become something she dreaded and yet...

He understood the smile.

"Keiichi-kun..."

Her voice was quieter than before.

She looked away for a moment, violet eyes lowering as she considered his words. He spoke as though the answer were simple. Find the source. Change the atmosphere. Pick something else. If the game was unfair, then change the rules.

If only it were that easy.

If only she could simply walk away from the board.

"Nipah..." The familiar little laugh escaped her, though this time it carried something almost bittersweet. "You really are strange, Keiichi-kun."

She lifted her eyes toward him again.

"If everyone simply accepted that things could never change, then nothing ever would. Everyone would just keep doing the same things, suffering the same things, and eventually convince themselves that this was how the world was supposed to be."

Her fingers curled lightly against her dress.

"That sounds terribly boring, doesn't it?"

For someone like Rika, the word *boring* had always been an inadequate description. It was closer to despair. To being trapped in a world where every desperate attempt to escape only led back to the same ending.

Her gaze drifted past him.

"You said that if it were a game, I would have already changed it." A tiny smile returned. "Maybe you're right."

She couldn't tell him how much those words mattered.

How many times she had tried.

How many times she had failed.

How many times she had convinced herself that there was no point in trying again.

Yet Keiichi stood there, completely unaware of the weight of what he had just said, promising that he would remain determined to give her a reason to smile.

It was almost unfair in how he made it sound so easy.

Rika reached up and gently poked his nose again.

"Then you should be careful about making promises like that, Keiichi-kun." Her expression became faintly mischievous. "Because Rika has a very long memory."

She giggled.

"If you promise always to give me a reason to smile, then I might start expecting you to keep that promise." For just a second, something painfully sincere slipped through the playful expression.

"Even when I'm tired or scared or don’t know exactly how to say it, what is on my mind.” She looked at him directly. "Will you still try?"

Well, she was only 4’9 and Loid was about 6’2. Any attempts to hug him would be her hanging off of him.

“Papa! Thank you!”

More time practicing meant more chances of earning a stella from a good performance, and more time with Arven!

I need to make sure I work even harder so I can give the best performance! And so I can see Arven more…

She wanted to keep being the daughter needed for the mission, but having this bit of normalcy when practicing with him felt like a treat. An amazing indulgence, and her comfort from all the lies and secrets around her.

Yet, she still had to lie and keep secrets.

It almost felt like she shouldn’t be with someone as open and honest as him.

Her arms went around his neck, her feet leaving the floor almost immediately.

“Papa! Thank you!”

He caught her automatically.

One arm secured around her back while his other hand steadied her, and for a moment he simply stared at the small, bright face beside his shoulder.

She was happy. Genuinely happy.

That should have been reassuring; instead, some small, inconvenient part of his mind lingered on something he wished was not real, but the signs all point to it.

Hana had a crush.

For some reason, that thought was considerably more difficult to process than infiltrating a foreign intelligence network.

His expression softened despite himself.

“Alright, alright,” he murmured, gently lowering her back onto her feet. “You're going to make me regret agreeing if you keep celebrating like this.”

He gave her hair an affectionate pat.

“Just remember what we agreed upon. You work hard, you take your responsibilities seriously, and you keep me informed. If something changes,” he said instead, “you can tell me. Even if you think I won't like hearing it.”

A gentle smile.

“I mean it,” he continued. “You don't have to figure everything out by yourself.”

Whatever complications came later, they could face them when they arrived.

For once, he had no carefully constructed response waiting behind his teeth.

No one's loved you like I have.

The words should have been simple. They should have been something he could acknowledge with a polite smile, perhaps a dry remark to deflect the sentiment and keep the conversation from becoming too intimate.

His gaze lingered upon their joined hands.

Loved.

Not tolerated. Not admired for his usefulness. Not respected because of what he could accomplish. Not valued because Twilight could infiltrate a country, dismantle an organization, manipulate a room, or complete an impossible mission without leaving a trace.

Loved.

For him.

Loid swallowed quietly.

"You make it sound so simple."

There was the faintest trace of amusement in his voice, but it lacked its usual practiced polish. His thumb moved almost absentmindedly over the back of her hand.

"Kind. Intelligent. Dense..." He glanced toward her, one eyebrow lifting. "I suppose I can accept the first two." A small smile appeared. "But the last one is rather cruel."

"You know..." His gaze dropped again, his voice becoming quieter. "For most of my life, I've tried very hard not to become attached to anyone."

He paused.

"Attachments create vulnerabilities. People become weaknesses. Weaknesses get exploited." Like Yor...

A deep sadness washes over her, and yet he shakes his head. There was no need to dwell on it at the moment.

"And yet somehow, you've become the one thing I don't want to protect myself from."

His hand turned beneath hers, allowing their fingers to intertwine properly.

"I don't know what I did to deserve someone like you, Dez." A quiet breath escaped him. "Perhaps I never will."

He squeezed her hand. "Maybe some things are worth simply accepting."

He looked toward the window again, watching the scenery pass. There was something almost boyish in the faint excitement that had returned to his expression.

Lips quiver into a smirk as the shorter man tilts his neck upward - just enough to catch a proper glimpse of the other. He'd heard of Larry; admittedly, he spent an ungodly amount of time researching every gym leader in the circuit - for reasons.

❝ I get that you're from the seventies or whatever, but that doesn't mean your fashion sense has to be that dated, too. There's a shop here in Lumiose - Masterpiece - I have connections. Bet you'd step outside catchin' glimpses from everyone if you let me pick out an outfit for ya from there. ❞

He stepped forward a bit, not too much, but enough to where the other's cologne was undeniable.

❝ Call it an advance, because I'll be asking for some favors from you before long. ❞

Lowering his voice, careful so onlookers can't eavesdrop.

A pause.

“Do I look that old?”

His gaze dropped briefly to the other man’s clothes before returning to his face. Larry adjusted his tie with the same quiet, habitual motion he might have made before stepping into a meeting.

“Regardless, I’m not particularly interested in being noticed.”

That much was true. The less attention directed his way, the better. Though he supposed the suggestion about Masterpiece wasn't entirely without merit. His current wardrobe was functional, comfortable enough and professional. There was no particular reason to change it simply because someone else thought he ought to. Then came the mention of favors.

Larry’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

“Ah.”

He had suspected as much.

The flattering comments, the offer to acquire him an outfit, the convenient connections. It wasn't charity. It was an investment. Larry could respect that. He just preferred investments with clearly stated terms.

“As for mutually benefiting one another…” He folded his arms. “You're being rather direct.”

Not offended. If anything, there was the faintest hint of amusement beneath his tired expression.

“I suppose I appreciate that.”

Larry glanced around them briefly, making sure no one was close enough to be listening before looking back.

“If you're asking for something, you should probably tell me what it is before I agree to anything, and if you're offering clothing in exchange for unspecified favors, I would recommend establishing the terms before I accept the advance.”

Larry was more than aware of this man before him; he’d encountered people like him before.

“Otherwise, I'm liable to assume you're trying to buy me.” A small sigh escaped him. “Which would be inconvenient.”

Then, almost as an afterthought, his eyes flicked toward the other man again.

“Although…I suppose there's no harm in seeing what this Masterpiece place has to offer.” He paused. “Within reason.”

"Thank you, safety is something I am still becoming accustomed to."

For so long they had lived without it...

"Well Damion and I will help you," she whispers with a smile.

"We don't tend to socialize much, but it will be nice to have someone else in the apartment to talk to."

Not socializing much was an understatement. They did not leave the apartment, period.

She sets her cup down carefully, considering the question.

"Paint me?" A small smile touches her lips. "Of course. If you'd like to."

Ru glances down at herself, then back toward Nat, almost amused by the idea. "I've never been much of a model before. I suspect I'm rather terrible at sitting still."

She gives a quiet little laugh before relaxing back into her seat. "I'd like to see what you see."

Her gaze lingers on Nat for another moment, catching the lingering nervousness in her posture. Ru doesn't reach for her again this time, giving her the space to decide what she is comfortable with.

He didn’t know what it was like, to be loved. He stopped to knowing the feeling a long time ago, inside a period where he should have felt that sentiment again and again, and received less than remnant of those emotions when it was coming from others. Oh, there is his Kurusu-san sort of way, but it was kind of sweet affections that created inside of him a rejection, something strange, something bitter, a conflict, because he was the one manipulating regardless amount of his honestly in same time. Even to himself, facing directly his feelings towards Soma would mean he would take, no matter what, a risk about exposing himself, to search to exposing something more than just a harmless mask, to been much sincere with his own heart. For sex, he was able to control it, as much he probably had so much buried memories the recollections within another perspective will hit him hard. For these little precious moments locked within his brain, it would be remembrances of missed margin in which he could have showed himself inside another light, to embracing fully what has been offered to him. Right now, to have delayed so much the moment, to put that inside a gentleness pretending of acceptance, in which he refused the mask to fall no matter what, pulling him inside a disastrous state he didn’t want to be perceived. He could have emotionally die, seconds prior. His own interest about whatever outside world could have fated into complete obscurity and never coming back. He could have lost himself completely … It could have been last hurt exposed to his heart for finishing him off entirely --- forever broken, fated to remaining eternally bitter …

Tears, no matter how he was doing an effort to remaining dignified, tempted more and more his eyes to fall over inside an uncontrollable manner, no matter how he was searching to holding them back. Hearing his love saved his soul somehow, but sensing his love inside that current situation, in which he received the emotional support he needed within a selfish action, transformed altogether the experience and the comfort he was receiving. There was a mocking smile able to been exposed when he was getting reassured about been pathetic. It wasn’t the kind of weakness he was letting anyone see. He would have let himself, inside the world of appearances, be shattered apart within the shadows at the second he would need to stop pretending, and not requesting something in return … It was a trust he wasn’t sorry about, wasn’t feeling hurt by it, for feeling thankful instead, but didn’t want indelicate words searching last barrier of appearances right now.  

Even now, he has been scared of one-sided love.

“I do not mind if the night is long,” Soma says, kissing him again and pulling them closer. “Being able to spend time with you… exploring your body, becoming closer? Doesn't sound bad to me.”

He giggles softly, the sound warm and almost teasing, before gently caressing Akechi’s cheek. His fingers brush a few stray strands of hair back from his face, lingering there as though he simply wants to memorize the feeling of having him this close.

“I love you so much, my Prince.”

There is no hesitation in the words. No uncertainty.

Soma looks at him as though nothing else in the world is worth looking at.

“I will always be in your life. I will rescue you whenever you need it, because I know…” His smile softens. “I can trust you as well. To rescue me.”

His thumb brushes gently beneath Akechi’s eye.

“I think that's what makes this different, you know?”

He lets out a quiet breath, resting his forehead against Akechi’s.

“I'm not promising that I'll always know what to do. I won't. I'll make mistakes. I'll probably say something stupid at the worst possible time.” A small laugh escapes him. “But I won't run away from you.”

His arms tighten around him.

“Not when things get ugly. Not when you're angry with me. Not when you're frightened, and definitely not when you decide you don't deserve to be loved.”

Soma's expression grows softer.

“Because I know you.” He presses another gentle kiss to his forehead. “And I know that underneath all that pride, all those sharp words and that clever little smile…” His fingers brush through Akechi's hair again. “You're someone who wants to be held, too.”

For a moment, Soma simply stays there, holding him.

“So let me.” His voice is barely above a whisper.

“Let me be there when you need someone and when I'm the one who needs saving…” He smiles at him. “Don't you dare hesitate to come find me.”

He closes his eyes, content simply to remain beside him.

“That's what loving someone means to me.” A quiet pause. “Not just being there when everything is beautiful.”

His arms tighten once more.