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I.
Leo’s heart dropped when he first saw him.
Cerulean eyes flickering under the sunlight, nothing but passion lit inside. His light ash hair gently brushed, a little messy yet it enhanced his beauty. Jaw clenching whenever he couldn't reach a note, his teeth gritted before he tried again. An arrogant face, yet Leo knew something humble lived within him.
He was like a painting. Like the kind of painting Itsuki Shu would babble about to him because apparently, they're the only ones who truly appreciate fine arts in this school. Leo wondered, how could someone look astonishing from the side?
A mere glance at the boy gave Leo a thousand inspirations, he believed he could write ten songs in just one minute.
And his voice. God, his voice. Breathtaking, stunning, a little hoarse and rough on the edges, and might be out of tune, but Leo knew it could match even an angel’s melody if well trained.
“Wahahaha!” He barged in. He couldn’t stop himself. He had to talk to him. “You have a pretty face, but your voice is way outta tune! It’s hilarious!”
Leo grinned widely. “But your voice is pretty, so I’m sure it’ll get better with a few training!”
“I love it!”
II.
Love was something Leo could say easily.
He loved the world. He loved his parents. He loved Ruka, his most beloved, adorable, lovely little sister. He loved the guys who asked him for songs, even if they didn't return his love.
But with Sena, the love felt different.
It made him restless, and he occupied Leo’s mind everytime they’re apart. Like when he was about to sleep, or when he woke up, or when they separated after practice.
He wanted to be with him almost all the time; holding hands, arms around each other, and maybe a small action of skin brushing against one another.
What made it different? Leo didn’t know.
When did he start feeling this way? The answer couldn’t be found.
Leo remembered how it started, though. It was what he still loved about him after all.
At first, it was how Sena’s eyes reminded him of the ocean. Sapphire hiding behind the long eyelashes, reflecting the world like how the sea reflects the moon.
Beautifully.
And then he saw the tender gaze Sena gave to Little John, albeit complaining a little when he saw the cat. And Leo witnessed him smiling softly at the song he just wrote, a perfectly sculptured face forming a wonderfully bloomed smile.
Ethereal.
He was comfortable around him, safe and sound, he slowly felt like home.
Eternal.
Abruptly, Leo scooted closer. “You remind me of the moon, Sena!”
“Hah? Your name is the one with the moon in it, though?”
“But your beauty,” Leo blurted out. “And your smile, and you. They remind me of the moon.”
And he thought to himself. “I’d like to make his dreams come true, if it means I can see him smiling like this all the time.”
III.
The thing Leo had forgotten, was that Sena is a human, and not the moon.
Despite his graceful stance; the way he did a pirouette, his twirls, his spins, his careful taps and steps, Sena was not a butterfly.
Although he gave him the fondest, most tender smile anyone in the world can give, Sena too, was a human.
Even if he would fight the whole universe for him, Sena was not his to begin with.
“Smile for me already!”
How did things become this way?
“Even though I was just being used as a tool by an idiot composer who wouldn’t acknowledge me as human….”
He knew.
“Even though you believed in me, even though you loved me!”
Sena too, like him, was a human.
“Leo-kun!”
Yet terrified by the idea of his beloved muse breaking apart, Leo chose to run away.
How did their youth shatter like this?
IV.
Like their youth, Leo shattered in a way he had never imagined.
Maybe it was all the pain that holed up inside, or the fear of being useless, or forgotten.
Or perhaps, it was the guilt that was slowly building itself inside of him.
They would never forgive him. No, they wouldn’t. Not the guys whose dreams he broke by forcing them to sing the songs he wrote. Not the victims he pierced with his sword, bled and left alone.
Not Sena, definitely not Sena; the one whose smile he wished to preserve, yet he abandoned him in the middle.
Would he ever forgive him? Leo deserted him. He tried to help him, but he turned him away. Rejected him. Gave him another reason to exit his life.
For someone like him, someone who had hurt everyone, someone who closed the door for even his sister and parents, the king who failed to protect his one and only knight.
Was there any reason left to stay?
V.
Leo didn’t expect this.
He expected coming back to an empty place, or at least to a cold embrace, or at the very, very least, to silence.
Had not sparked in his imagination, even just a little, that he would be welcomed triumphantly, like a king who won at war.
And it had never occurred to him that his loyal knight would say, “Welcome back, Ou-sama.”
In which he replied, “Yeah. I’m home, Sena.”
To begin again, this time without any greed nor fear.
VI.
“Sena,” Teary eyed, he looked at him. “Tell me one last thing.”
”Am I smiling?”
With tinted cheeks and droplets falling, he intertwined their fingers. “Yes, you are.”
“And if you’re smiling,” He smiled. “Then I am too.”
To the new era, this time with joy and trust.