Chapter Text
The day of the date had finally come. Stelle felt a nervousness like it was herself in Mydei’s position. Phainon and her had assisted him in choosing the gifts and what to do for a date. After a lot of deliberation, Mydei decided he was simply going to cook her some Aidonia dishes. It was simple and something he knew how to do.
Stelle wanted to do something because staying put was killing her. She needed to know how it was going. That’s when her phone vibrated in her pocket.
“Partner, let’s meet at the corridor just outside the Garden of Life.”
“Is that where Mydei and Castorice are meeting?”
“Yes. We can spy on them from a corner… I mean, we can just be there talking, no ulterior motives whatsoever to be exactly at that location, at that precise moment.”
“Yes. Let’s be sneaky in our private chat that no one else can read.”
“Right. Meet me there in 10?”
“Sure.”
He was almost late, so he sprinted when he saw that she was there already, waiting for him.
“Here, Stelle. Let’s just leisurely hang out behind this pillar.”
Spying on people from behind a pillar. How very cartoonish. It was so stupid that it actually sounded like it could work. That’s what she was thinking until she realized how very, very close he was to her. She could feel the heat emanating from his body, their elbows touching slightly. It certainly wasn’t the first time she was this close to him, they had sparred many times before, but whenever they got this close in their spars it meant someone had won the fight and they would either start again or call it a day, breaking apart almost immediately. Right now, she could smell his sweat and the soap he had used, his hair still moist from the bath he had obviously taken after sending her the message to meet him here. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t feel anything right now. The thought that Phainon was the most handsome man she knew wasn’t something that just occurred to her, it was there probably since day one. Sure, she knew other handsome men, like Mydei himself but he was a different kind of handsome. Mydei was about muscles and presence and hotness, she wouldn’t dare deny it, but Phainon… she couldn’t define it. He had simply started to do something to her at an uncertain moment in the recent past. Something she could not explain and which there was nothing she could do about, so she chose to just act like it didn’t matter. She folded that something, sealed it and kept it tucked away in her brain, not daring letting it get anywhere near her heart. Or so she thought. Perhaps it had been in her heart all along. Sometimes that something used March’s voice to speak to her in the most inopportune moments. She would always shush it and stash it away again. Maybe someday she’d learn what to do with it.
But being here this close… Stelle felt that something breaking free and starting to unfold on its own. She asked herself if she was in a situation like in one of those movies March had insisted they watch, so Stelle could get a hang of the world she was living in, the romantic comedies in which the main characters were not the ones being matchmade but the ones matchmaking. When they started to understand their own feelings towards each other while trying to help others show theirs. Stelle remembered at least three movies like that. But romantic comedies had only taught her that in order to be happy with someone you had to go through a lot of misunderstandings first. It seemed tiresome.
She looked at Phainon one more time, his eyes were glued to the couple in front of them. That finally made her remember the reason she was here. She felt bad about not paying attention to their friend’s attempt at happiness. She followed Phainon’s gaze and saw when Mydei tried to hold Castorice’s hand, who pulled away, horrified. From this distance, she couldn’t hear the words exchanged, but she could imagine Castorice was warning him death was not a game while he just stared at her. Her pulling one hand away from Mydei wasn’t going to stop him, though, so he just grabbed her other hand with his other hand. Time seemed to stop while both Phainon and Stelle gasped hushedly. Mydei was bravely holding on to Castorice. He seemed to be struggling but still there, resisting. That was good, right? That meant they could have a future, that they could be together if he could hold on to her and not instantly die from her curse. It had to mean they were meant for each other.
After a few words, some smiles and maybe a couple of tears, she wasn’t sure, Stelle saw them turning and coming in their direction. She thought nothing of it, but as soon as she heard Phainon say “Sorry, Partner”, she felt his weight pushing her into some bushes.
She landed on the grass with a muffled thud, the air almost completely knocked out of her lungs, Phainon’s big frame cradling her smaller one. The tips of his fringe tickled her forehead and she caught herself staring at his blue eyes, completely forgetting how she ended up where she was but finding it anything but unpleasant.
“Didn’t mean to hurt you. Sorry...” Phainon said after a few moments, when he decided it was safe to speak without being overheard, moving to sit on the grass beside her. “I couldn’t let Cas see us. I mean, Mydei certainly knew we were here, but Cas would probably be embarrassed by knowing we were watching them, it would ruin the moment.”
Stelle nodded in agreement while inspecting a scratch a branch had made in her forearm, using this as an excuse to keep her eyes away from him and her brain busy. Phainon was assessing if they could leave.
While sitting there, feeling her arm sting a bit, Stelle wondered that maybe the kind of story she was taking part in wasn't a romantic comedy, but one of those romances with unexpected sad endings. After Mydei had taken the coreflame of Strife, the only one left that seemed fitting for Phainon was probably the most important one, the one that meant the most responsibility: Worldbearing. He would take everyone’s memories into Era Nova. She would stay by his side until then, no doubt about that, but she couldn’t follow him there. He would start a new world while she would just go back to her old one, to the train, to her friends, to probably never see him again. She didn’t know if he could even remember her after Amphoreus was made anew. She felt a sadness unlike any other before, not for something that died but for something that would never be.
Phainon had decided they could leave their hiding place, but one look at Stelle and he noticed how her mood had changed, how she looked a bit lost and saddened. He watched her for a few moments before breaking the silence.
“Stelle?” he asked softly, “You thinking hard over there?”
“Sorry, lost myself for a minute.” It wasn’t a lie.
He tilted his head like a puppy and Stelle felt her heart bounce in her ribcage. The look he gave her awakened something in her. The desire to hug him, to hold him near was overwhelming. And she would be the one barking and biting if anyone as much as looked at him funny.
‘Would you look at that…’ March’s voice made itself present again. Stelle did not protest or shush it this time.
Without breaking eye contact Phainon then took something he had tucked away in a pocket. In the hand he offered her was a box, red and heart-shaped. She looked at the box, then at him.
“Someone threw it away, so I got it for you.” A mischievous grin formed on his lips as he said the words. “Just kidding. Mydei asked me to buy some chocolates to go with the other gifts since he wanted to cover all his options.” He continued, a dreamy look on his face. “I thought that, maybe… I could get one for you. I told him to pick the one he liked most. He went for the boring square one. So Fate wanted you to have this one.”
She moved automatically, taking the chocolate box he was offering her.
“So, now you have my heart. Take good care of it.”
Stelle was stunned silent. She could not make it if he meant it as a joke or seriously. The whimsical smile he had said it was a joke, but his eyes were fierce and bright, like he had never meant something more seriously before.
Unsure of what to do, she just did the easiest, most obvious thing. She opened the box and took a piece. She unwrapped the chocolate, put it in her mouth and chewed it meticulously, without looking at him, all sound around her muted by her ringing ears. When she finally managed to look at him, he was staring, a now devious grin on his lips.
“You want one?” She asked, mouth half full, feeling this was probably the only thing safe to say.
“Maybe. But I think you took the one I wanted, so I might have to go a roundabout way to taste it.”
She didn’t even have time to understand his cheesy line before his lips were on hers. The kiss was clumsy, after all they were in public, in an uncomfortable position, their knees clashing while sitting on the ground, but, what really mattered was that it was warm and sweeter than the chocolate itself. When he was about to break it, she pulled him back in by his choker. He lost balance and they fell back onto the grass. Stelle just smiled into his lips, throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him even closer. Now that she finally understood what the thing that kept speaking to her was, she accepted it and was eager to oblige it.
Maybe tomorrow was going to be a sad story of separation and longing, but she realized today could be nice and happy. When was tomorrow coming? She didn’t know. But she was going to savor today while it lasted.