#implied pining

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“Pajarita! Pajarita, Vy~!”

Vy slowly blinked at the sound of the nickname, blearily raising her head from the tablet sitting on her lap as sandaled feet made their entrance into her personal space with a happy jump.

“La pajarita, there you are!” Quetzalcoatl was as bright as always when getting up into Vy’s face with her usual toothy grin, and Vy blinked again. “Are you — oh, pajarita, you’re working again!”

“Why… wouldn’t I be?” Vy eventually croaked out as an answer, doing nothing but blink as Quetzalcoatl pouted at her. “Isn’t that… how I’ve always been?”

“That doesn’t make it a good thing, pajarita!” Quetz answered with a disapproving huff, glaring down at the device like it was a new target for lucha practice. “You need breaks! Where is that green Archer of yours, he needs to be here to scold you—”

“Mi corazon, it’s good to see you, but uh… I don’t think glaring at Vy’s tablet is going to help anything,” Rex quietly interrupted with a face, eyebrow twitching a bit past his bangs as he crossed his arms over his Winter Chaldean uniform. He must’ve walked up to the scene as soon as he noticed his future wife. “As much as I understand the feeling.”

Vy couldn’t help but sigh, pressing the sleep button on the tablet to put to the side. “I still say work is important. And I was just studying team formations for the next Lostbelt.”

“Work doesn’t mean anything if it ends up exhausting you, pajarita!” The last thing Vy expected was for Quetzalcoatl to take her face in her hands, cupping both her cheeks with her warm palms to squeeze as she looked closer. “I see the dark eyebags on your face, pajarita, you are not fooling this Onee-san that easily!”

“Vy…” Rex said in a low voice past Quetzalcoatl’s shoulder. “How much sleep have you been getting?”

“That’s from the occasional nightmares, not the work, Quetz-san…” Vy tried not to drawl as Quetzalcoatl rubbed the pad of her thumbs over the edges of her eyes to take out the residual dust, blinking slowly as to not interrupt the Rider’s fretting. “And Rex, I’ve been getting my daily naps and haven’t taken an all-nighter yet.”

“That still doesn’t make me feel all that better,” Rex deadpanned with a face. “Did you get to your breaks today, Vy?”

Vy took a deep breath to think about it before gently shaking her head, resting her hands in the lap of her skirt. “…If I said ‘yes’, I’d be lying, aye. And I don’t want to do that to either of you.”

Quetz proceeded to let out a worried noise from the back of her throat, the sound coming out like a cross between a squeal and a pterodactyl roar before she cupped Vy’s cheeks again, shaking her head. “We’re going to provide you a break then, pajarita! We need a date!”

“Eh? What date?”

“Wait, mi corazon,” Rex’s frown dropped for a bewildered look as he glanced at his fiancé with a light pink flush to his cheeks, probably from both the close proximity and surprise, “What date do you have in mind?”

“Get the green Archer here and you’ll see, mi amor!”

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“…I sometimes wonder how you fell in love with her,” Robin Hood drawled, absently chewing on a stalk of mint as he rested his chin in the palm of his right hand, sitting against a bench in Da Vinci’s workshop. Playing out in front of him was something like a scene from the movies, where Quetzalcoatl was acting like a mother bringing her younger daughter in Vy to the store to buy new clothes. The fact that both Da Vincis were watching from the sidelines of their shared workshop in interest added credence to that analogy, more so with Medea pulling different outfits out of thin air all at once with her magic. “But then I see things like this and understand a bit better.”

“Note that the solar goddess is powerful and can’t be underestimated, Robin,” Rex said sagely from his seat next to the Archer, looking on with a wry smile. “And mi corazon was insistent on this.”

As expected, Quetzalcoatl was humming while rocking back and forth on her sandals in anticipation. “Pajarita, have you ever bought clothes on your own before?”

“N-No, normally Mom would’ve bought them for me…” Vy still struggled with holding the blouse Medea offered her, hiding her blushing cheeks with the collar of the shirt. “I-I always went with simple cheap stuff until now…”

Mom? Rex and Robin unintentionally thought in unison. Cheap?!

“Hm. It’s about time we correct that now, dear,” Medea said while clicking her tongue, waving her hand to create a long, ruffle-filled skirt. “We have some time to rest before the next Lostbelt is located, so we might as well give a girl like you some better clothes to wear, shouldn’t we?”

“M-Medea-san, I’m fineeeeeee…”

“No ‘Medea-san’ me in that cute voice, Vy,” Medea continued with a huff, pushing at Vy’s shoulders while Quetz grinned like it was her birthday. “Just get to the dressing room and try these on, okay?”

“Muuuuuu…”

“Now I don’t know whether or not I should go in and save her,” Robin muttered around his stick of mint. “She looks like she’s never had this done for her before.”

“Vy?” Rex called out with a raised hand, catching her just before she could hide herself behind a curtain to change. “How often did you go out on your own before Chaldea?”

“Um,” Vy said slowly, clearly caught off-guard as her ears reddened past her hair. She then proceeded to duck her head and hide her lips with the dressing room curtain. “…Barely? Not much at all?” As if becoming aware of all the eyes in the room on her, Vy flushed, squeaking out, “Usually helped out in the house more than out?”

That’s kinda sad, Vy… was most certainly thought by one of the participants in the room.

Quetz proceeded to let out a very concerned squeal, jumping back and forth on her sandals in protest. “Pajarita, we are so having a girls’ day together later! You need more attention!”

“Please include me in those girls’ days too,” Medea added with a huff, hands on her hips. “Vy’s clothing is something I would want to keep coordinating.” With a feigned roll of her eyes, the Caster proceeded to tug at the dressing room curtain Vy was holding onto, shaking her head. “But enough of that. You need to change, Master. This session won’t go anywhere if you keep hiding behind that curtain.”

“Muuuuu…” said Vy from behind the curtain in question, her cheeks reddening enough to match the drapery.

“Don’t ‘Muuuuu’ me, Master.” Still, in spite of the retort, a small smile adorned Medea’s lips as she finished with a final, “Just go get dressed.”

“O-Okay…”

Rex decided to give Vy a break by looking away from the crowd of women, glancing at his fellow male companion instead. “So…”

“Hm?” Robin grunted around his stalk of mint, his eye still pointed towards the group of women in question.

Rex considered his options, anxiously scratching at the back of his head. “I noticed you and Vy seem to be getting closer lately, Robin… anything going to come out of that?”

The last thing Rex expected was for Robin to nearly spit out his stalk of mint in what was apparently a double-take, giving him a wide-eyed look past the fringe of ginger hair covering part of his face for about a second. Robin blinked once, then twice, before closing his eye and lowering his head. “...I have no idea of what you’re talking about, Rex.”

“This coming from one of the many Servants who saw me considering proposing to mi corazon?” Rex retorted dryly, the smallest bit of confidence surging through his veins with the comment. “Hard to believe there isn’t anything happening between you two with how often Vy runs up to you when you come around.”

Even with that point said, Robin was unfazed, replacing the stalk of mint in his mouth to absently chew around. “I’ve been with the little sparrow for a long time. Hard not to answer her call when she needs me.”

“I don’t think that’s all that’s going down, Robin, and that’s coming from the almost-married-man.”

Despite the good cheer, Robin wasn’t convinced. If anything, from Rex’s perspective, it was as if Robin had proceeded to wilt at the words, his shoulders slumping past the No Face May King as he rested his arms against his knees. “…Okay then,” Robin sighed past the mint in his mouth, “what am I supposed to say, Rex?”

Rex’s own quiet “Huh?” was quickly drowned out by the happy squealing of Medea and Quetz from afar, but he still stared at Robin as the Archer kept his head down.

Robin raised one hand to start counting down fingers. “I wasn’t able to be there for you or the little sparrow when the Foreign God bleached the world,” his thumb went down first, “could barely support you when you attacked the Russian and Scandinavian Lostbelts,” then followed by his pointer finger. With a sigh, Robin then folded both his middle and ring fingers, adding in a sullen voice, “Can’t forget the Chinese Lostbelt and how that fox bitch replicated my poison to get to Vy when you weren’t looking, not to mention the new Director.” Finally, his pinky finger fell with a quieter conclusion of, “Let’s not forget I couldn’t stop the Mages’ Association from Unsummoning everyone and leaving you and Vy alone.”

“Robin,” Rex interrupted with a raised hand, his smile dropping with the gesture, “you know all those things aren’t your fault. Mi corazon felt the same way as you, and I know I never blamed her. Why would I blame you?”

“It would’ve been easier if you did,” was the last thing Rex expected to hear Robin to say, and Rex stared at him in shock as Archer proceeded to lower his hand. “Not every Heroic Spirit can be as strong as your wife, and the Crypters keep proving that with their bullshit.” The mint stalk in Robin’s mouth proceeded to crack at the stem, probably from the intense amount of chewing that happened as Robin turned his head away. “…How can I be there for the little sparrow when I couldn’t even save her when she needed me? What kind of hero am I for her then, when I couldn’t even cure the poison that hurt her? Poison that bitch made based off of my Yew Bow?”

For once that entire day, Rex felt no words come to him. His throat was too tight for any to even try to come out.

Robin still kept his head down, not even looking at the spectacle playing out in front of him as he slowly removed the bent mint stalk from his mouth. “How ‘big’ am I, really, when I can’t even be a real man for a little girl who’s still looking for a hero, Rex? What makes you think the little sparrow could ever love me?”

Before Rex could answer, he felt his heart race at the sound of another’s voice.

“Mi amor! Mi amor, come over here! Bring Robin with you!”

“Coming, mi corazon!” came out of Rex’s lips as naturally as breathing, a stark contrast to the awkward silence that had settled between the two men before, and Robin tensed once Rex elbowed him. “Enough of that, Robin, my future wife’s calling!”

“F-For what is she calling us for—” was all Robin got to say before Rex was elbowing him again to stand up, and both men proceeded to rush over to the center of Da Vinci’s workshop.

“Um,” Vy said quietly, for once not hidden behind a curtain as her face turned a dark pink in contrast to Quetz’s bright smile. It was obvious she was fidgeting in the soft sun-like yellow one-piece dress that Medea had apparently made in the time the men were talking. With the hem of the dress going to knee-height, showing just enough skin along with the soft white sandals, it was as if Vy was dressed for a day outside in a spring pasture with friends. The additional green ribbon belt merely accentuated Vy’s figure as she tilted her head at Robin and Rex past Quetz and Medea’s shoulders, unintentionally batting her eyelashes at a certain Archer in particular. “I-I was told you two had to make the final verdict?” Placing one arm behind her back, Rex could see Vy nervously tug at the green ribbon, tightening the bow that kept the waist part of the dress together, her voice pitching upwards with her little bit of, “H-How does it look?”

“I kept telling her that she looks good in it, mi corazon!” Quetz said with a huff, reaching over with one muscular arm to push Vy out of her shadow and into their field of view, much to Vy’s audible anxious noises (something along the lines of “Muuuu!”). Behind Vy, Rex could see Medea and both Da Vincis nod sagely with their arms crossed over their chests. Quetzalcoatl continued to pout over Vy’s head as she pushed the Master forward into view, hands on her shoulders in an almost-haughty way. “But pajarita remains unconvinced! You two say something to convince her!”

“I mean,” Rex started awkwardly, giving Robin the side-eye with a wry grin, “you do look good, Vy. Right, Robin?”

Funnily enough, compared to earlier, it was as if the light had come back into Robin’s eye because his cheeks started turning a light pink to match his sparrow of a Master, his gaze darting around to look at everything but Vy’s face. “C-Can’t say anything else but that, little sparrow.” It was telling to hear Robin’s voice soften with warmth as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Yellow and green look great on you.”

With her hair down and light in her own eyes from the workshop, Vy stared up at Robin for a second before smiling. “Th-Thankie, Big Robin. I asked Medea-san for the green because I thought of you!”

Rex did not miss how Medea and Quetz exchanged a quiet high five behind Vy’s back once Robin turned red.

Who says you’re not a real man with a reaction like that, Robin?