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Chapter Text

     It was a surprisingly slow day in the Dark Cacao kingdom, with the snow surrounding the dark, intimidating citadel falling quite softly, for the region was quite far from winter; however, the signs of its impending roughness gradually approached closer. Affogato had made leaps of progress with his plans in securing the throne, from gaining many of the locals’ trust to eventually having an altar in his possession used to curse the residents behind the walls, including the citadel’s lonely, aloof king, with a thick haze of incense. Everything was falling in place, and all he needed was a catalyst to reach the throne.

     Of course, there were drawbacks to his plans. The First Watcher became increasingly suspicious of his motives every passing day, yet Affogato didn’t pay much mind, or better yet, didn’t have much time to care. After all, she would be taken care of in due time, and Affogato had to prioritize the present if he wanted to live luxuriously in the future.

     Speaking of which, although today was passing fairly slowly with a lighter workload, to Affogato’s dismay, he had to attend by the king’s side to briefly greet another person, some historian curious of the kingdom’s past. Normally, partly through Affogato’s influence, Dark Cacao would refuse others from entering the citadel, including guests, in preparation to protect the area from the surrounding Licorice Sea. However, Affogato managed to coax the sad, old man to allow this scholar to enter the kingdom for a few days to use this opportunity to his own advantage. Perhaps if the poor historian saw the state of the kingdom with its lonesome, neglectful king, even people far from this region could be up in arms over the matter. With the Dark Cacao kingdom’s reputation sunk deeply, Affogato could find a chance to secure the throne. Unfortunately, the king decided to schedule this event on a slow day where Affogato could have taken time to relax or even boost his own reputation. No matter, it was too late to dwell on that now, Affogato thought as he made his way to the throne room with a sly grin.

     There on the throne, that seat which Affogato was working day and night for, sat the undeserving Dark Cacao. He looked about as dormant as his kingdom, his unreadable eyes slowly opening and tracking Affogato in his view. Was there ever a time the king felt prideful? Or was this gloomy appearance simply a part of his nature? Affogato neither knew or cared, only concerning himself with getting Dark Cacao out of his way. For now, he did his job as the king’s right hand and stood to his right. The silence was loud and awkward, with the king staring ahead sternly and cautiously although his guest had yet to arrive. As Affogato glanced at the other, Cacao glared back, causing Affogato to immediately look away, acting as though he wasn’t staring at him. He could have sworn he heard a cricket chirping somewhere. Cacao kept his glare momentarily before the doors to the throne room opened again.

     “Your Majesty, Sir Eclair has arrived,” The Second Watcher spoke at the doorway with a bow. At least it wasn’t the First, Affogato thought with relief.

     The Watcher stepped out of the way and let this “Sir Eclair” arrive. Before Affogato had time to fully grasp the situation, the historian had slowly walked in and caught his eyes. Affogato could barely register the conversation that Eclair and Dark Cacao were having, instead inspecting him with his gaze.

     To say this scholar dressed quite nice would be an understatement; he most definitely dressed lavishly, showing off his high class. His outfit consisted of shades of green and off-white, a stark contrast to the attire of most of the Cacaonians, yet it seemed fitting against the purple and dark brown ambience. His hat seemed coated with an expensive syrup, matcha perhaps, adorned with whipped cream feathers of high quality. He wore these cute, puffy velvet sleeves that were embroidered with gold, wrapped with a small white cloak. Both made his upper body appear slightly wider, yet his corset accentuated the curve of his torso, thus also making him appear smaller. His hair was long and silky, seeming to have the utmost care and attention paid to it, reaching the floor yet remaining intact. Eclair had on a single monocle, likely used to assist with his occupation of research and analysis. They were definitely dealing with someone who took their field most seriously. Yet, out of all of those things, nothing came close to being as compelling as his smile and his deep, olive eyes. Of course, his expression seemed formal, yet there were times where he would take small glimpses around the room as he conversed before the king, small breaks of Eclair’s front where instead of a polite smile, there appeared a subtle grin seeping of eagerness through the gaps of his collar. You could see it in his eyes as well; ironically, for someone with bitter colored eyes, every few glances he took would result in twinkles of sweetness trickling from his sight. He couldn’t contain his excitement. His mannerisms also made him completely different from the Cacaonians, seeing how fidgety he became over his determination. Typically, almost everyone in the kingdom Affogato knew would be strict and bitter, so seeing this person filled to the brim with sweetness and boundless curiosity intrigued him in more ways than one. Granted, the Cacao kingdom didn’t trust hospitality and sweetness, which was ironic, since Affogato indulged in those often and planned on ruling in this fashion. Oh, how he hoped his future subjects would be as sweet sounding as the one in front of him.

     As Affogato continued staring at the other from afar, Eclair eventually took notice and in response gave him eye contact back and a small smile momentarily, continuing to speak with the king. Dark Cacao, however, was no fool, and did not miss this moment. He took this as an opportunity to introduce Eclair to his right hand.

     “I see you’ve noticed my advisor Affogato. He shall guide you with what you seek during your stay.”

     Affogato slightly jumped at the mention of his name. Ah right, focus on the present! He was quite surprised to not be informed of him helping the scholar. Although normally he would’ve resented doing any more work at this point, something about being near this person made this less of a heavy task. Affogato bowed in Eclair’s direction, something he was tired of doing, before leaving the king’s side and approaching the other. He reached out his hand, signaling a handshake between the two.

     “It is quite the honor to meet you, Sir Eclair,” Affogato politely spoke with a small smile, seemingly different from his usual grins.

     “Oh, the pleasure is all mine sir,” Eclair responded, staring directly back at those mysterious white eyes.

     As they shook hands, Affogato took note of how Eclair’s hand felt. Even though he was wearing gloves, he could tell that Eclair’s hands were fairly soft, yet callused on his fingers. He must be diligent when it comes to writing. With the closeness between the two, Affogato was able to take in Eclair’s features better. While Eclair smiled, there appeared small dimples that could only be seen if one was close enough, since they were slightly covered by his collar. Speaking of his smile, there was something quite radiating about it, leaving a lingering sense of warmth in Affogato as he turned away to face the king again. Quite ironic, considering the cold that always infested these walls.

     “Shall we make our leave now, your Highness?” Affogato asked as he contemplated this warmth.

     “Of course. I expect you to return by nightfall to fulfill the rest of your duties, do I make myself clear?”

     “Yes, your Highness,” Affogato said as he bowed, Eclair bowing beside respectfully.

     The two then left the throne room, with Affogato leading the way. His intrigue led him wanting to speak with the scholar of matters aside from what he was tasked, but he needed to be patient. There would be more than enough time to discuss these things in the coming days anyways. And good things come to those who wait.

Chapter Text

     The walk outside of the citadel was completely awkward, with the silence bearing heavily between the two. Eclair was walking beside Affogato now, yet he appeared anxious. It seemed as though the strictness of the kingdom was definitely getting to him, especially since he just spoke with its king and kept having those breaks of his polite front. He looked afraid of completely loosening up in a place such as this, Affogato noticed, observing Eclair with a few glances every once in a while as the two strolled outside alone in one of the citadel’s courtyards. Through his glances, he noticed Eclair’s attire once again and realized that although he had a fashion sense, perhaps he wasn’t dressed properly enough for the occasion, seeing as it still snowed in the kingdom regardless of its slight warmth. He even saw the other shiver from time to time without the other’s knowledge, realizing that perhaps this could be a way for them to begin a conversation. As a result, Affogato slowed a bit before speaking.

     “Pardon my intrusion, Sir Eclair, but are you not cold?”

     “C-Cold? Whatever could you mean?” Eclair let out a small chuckle before the wind picked up a bit, causing him to shiver again. He could only sigh afterwards.

     “Alright, I may have gotten too ecstatic and accidentally forgot how cold it gets even before winter,” Eclair closed his eyes with an apologetic smile before speaking again, “You’d think I’d keep the weather in mind, seeing as part of my studies includes learning of its quality in the past and comparing it with the present.”

     “Humor me for a moment, how does one forget the rigid cold that this kingdom is best known for?” Affogato asked, slightly surprised yet amused.

     “I’m not quite sure, you see. I tend to forget many other things whenever I’m caught up in the moment. One time I was so invested in writing on a relic I was observing in a forest that I forgot about potential cake monsters that could chase me. Oh, you should have seen me! I had to outrun them, quill in hand, still jotting down as much as I could.”

     Eclair was becoming less stiff than before, giggling a bit from his story. Affogato too chuckled at the idea of the poor scholar being disrupted by cake monsters. What a pitiful sight, indeed! Another breeze had picked up between the amused pair, causing Eclair to yelp and start shivering again. Oh right, he was cold. 

     “Hmm…” Affogato paused and pondered for a few moments. 

     They could just go out beyond the walls and get Eclair proper attire from the nearest tribe. Unfortunately, that would take too much time, the last thing any of them would want. Perhaps they could ask within the walls for something of the like. That option also had to be thrown away, since the kingdom barely had time to prepare much accommodations for Eclair due to more focus on preparing for the upcoming winter. Besides, it’s not often the king receives guests anyways, and he was practically under Affogato’s curse, so he probably never considered providing the appropriate clothing. What could be a quick solution that wouldn’t disrupt the rest of their day? Affogato thought for a few more minutes before slightly jumping with the solution with a smile, as if a lightbulb formed on his head.

     “What if…” Affogato began, removing his large fur boa. “You wore this for the time being?”

     Eclair could only look in surprise before immediately saying “Oh, I simply couldn’t! What if you went cold?”

     “Sir, I’m partly made of coffee, you see. I will be fine, my body is used to far colder temperatures anyways,” Affogato responded with a pleased hum. The fact that a complete stranger was concerned about him even without being cursed made him overjoyed inside.

     “Well, I suppose I could take up on your offer…for a little while at least,” Eclair stated as turned away to his surroundings and fidgeted with his hair in an attempt to distract himself. Surely he wasn't embarrassed by the whole ordeal, was he? Affogato decided not to pry any further on it.

     “Ah, I’ll just need you to stay still then,” Affogato said before approaching the other. 

     He very slowly and delicately wrapped the large boa around Eclair in a way that would make it more like a heavy coat. Eclair stared back at the other with wide eyes only to relax at the warmth. It was difficult to deny that it stopped him from feeling cold, not to mention it came with a mix of pleasant scents. There was the slightly overbearing smell of coffee beans, but it was immediately diluted with a sweet smell, vanilla beans perhaps? Not only that, but there were notes of spruce wood along with hints of something not as natural. Was it perfume by any chance? Eclair wasn’t sure yet paid no mind as he closed his eyes and slowly zoned out with his face slightly flushed, forgetting why he was visiting in the first place.

     Affogato could only let out a small chuckle at the sight until he realized he still had his hands on the other. Flinching away at the realization with a bit of heat on his face, he composed himself and attempted to snap Eclair out of fur boa heaven.

     “Ahem," Affogato cleared his throat. "Anyways, what exactly did you want to know about first? I’ll try to help to the best of my ability.”

     Eclair slightly jumped out of surprise, no longer lost in bliss. Goodness, he was so out of it today. Indeed, there was one thing he wanted to first learn and record above all else.

     “Well, I did want to learn more about the story of the twin dragons. I’ve been more invested in dragons in general recently.”

     “Hm, that old tale? I thought the story was already clear enough. The two dragons fought until our King stopped their quarrel with a singular strike of his sword for the sake of peace.”

     “Well yes, there is that entire story, but there has to be more to it. For instance, why were the dragons fighting anyways? And how powerful was King Dark Cacao to have stopped it?  He wielded the legendary Grapejam Chocoblade, did he not? It intrigues me enough to speak to him myself on the matter, yet something felt quite off about him when I briefly spoke with him.”

     “Ah,” Affogato may have underestimated the other’s wit. Eclair seemed to be catching onto bits of his plans, albeit very slowly. He quickly came up with something on the spot with some truth to it to seem convincing.

     “As much as I’d like to assist you in the matter, the King’s blade and soul jam are fairly touchy subjects for him. Trust me, I've tried to ask him some passing questions on the topic myself, yet he chose to see it as a threat. Perhaps you said something to throw him off?”

     Eclair flinched at the thought only to sigh, “I suppose. Pardon me for saying this, but I imagined him as at least a bit more prideful, yet he seems rather…brooding...Could this have had to do with the Princ-”

     “I wouldn’t speak further on this matter if I were you. That’s far more rough of a subject,” Affogato quickly yet calmly interrupted.

     Eclair was definitely bold for a historian, Affogato came to realize. He slightly pitied the lonesome king; how upsetting these questions would be if Eclair asked them directly to him instead of Affogato. Although he wanted to use the historian to his advantage, Affogato would need to inform Eclair on the kingdom’s current conditions and secrets somewhere more private, lest anyone notices, including that First Watcher. That was why he was very quick to interrupt the other. However, he currently needed to mend the awkward tension after his sudden disruption.

     “My apologies...Say, was there anything else you had planned for this trip? I may not be able to tell you of the kingdom’s sensitive topics, but we do have plenty of other rich parts of history!” Affogato said, his eyes closed with a grin to lighten up the mood as he patted the other’s shoulder.

     “Well…I suppose we can start with this courtyard if it has any history. I’d like to know more about its layout, it’s definitely eye-catching!”

     As Eclair said this, his eyes flitted around the area, occasionally going back to Affogato, and began twinkling at its beauty. He had on a big grin as he took out a quill and scroll from his dress pocket. There was that smile again and the small warmth it radiated onto Affogato. The lack of Eclair’s previous composure caused Affogato to loosen up quite a bit as well with a giggle.

     “Well, I can surely tell you about the layout's historical value and much more! Where would you like to start, Sir?”

     “Oh, just call me Eclair! There’s no point in keeping the formalities at this point as much as I’d like to.”

     “If you say so, Eclair,” Affogato said with a soft smile. Was it genuine or just a front? He himself didn’t know. Regardless, just “Eclair” had a nice ring to it. “Where shall we begin?”

Chapter Text

     The tour, for the most part, went by rather smoothly. Affogato, the ever so generous tour guide, managed to show Eclair much of the Citadel’s interior and some of its exterior just on his first day here. They also managed to have a lot of small talk in the meantime. Affogato learned that Eclair was definitely the adventurous type when it came to finding relics, beaming each time whenever he spotted an object with such potential as they strolled inside the Citadel. 

     “Affogato, look!”

     “Where am I supposed to be looking?”

     “Right there on the ground,” Eclair pointed with a wide grin. Affogato squinted confusedly at what appeared to be a small tuft of fur.

     “I don’t understand, it just appears to be a bit of fur...”

     And then Eclair would explain the object’s significance with that smile of his. The two would do this repeatedly: Eclair would find a random object, Affogato would initially be confused by its significance and ask about it, Eclair would surprisingly provide an answer that made his excitement understandable, and then he’d either write about the object or collect it, depending on how valuable of an item it was. 

     Oddly enough, it never got old, considering that each observation Eclair made would always be unpredictable regardless of how much Affogato wrapped his head around them, which was initially why he inquired of the other’s observations. However as the day progressed, Affogato started asking about each object Eclair inspected just to see his cheerful expression as he eagerly responded.

     That smile .

     He still didn’t know why it left him in such a warm daze, but he wanted to indulge in it more and more. It felt like a rich dessert, meant to be savored slowly yet acquired with increasing demand, all for him. It was such a delight whenever Affogato would explain a feature of the Citadel and see Eclair so happy and attentive, clinging onto the fur boa he was borrowing and shaking ecstatically before jotting down the details. Affogato didn’t know why he enjoyed this sight. Perhaps for now, he could only go with his initial assumption when first seeing Eclair: that this enjoyment was a result of the poor kingdom and its residents lacking such a cheerful mood. They had such a boring, gloomy ambience ill befitting of their future king. If Affogato wanted to rule and finally gain his well-deserved spot in life, he needed more entertaining subjects like Eclair. Although it wouldn’t be easy, he could always just cast away the naysayers and keep those most devoted and happy close to him. 

     Yes, he could envision it now, the Citadel being a place of indulgence and festivities. No more stinginess either, if all goes well. Anyone who did not want to partake in his vision will be properly dealt with. Affogato would have let out a cold chuckle had he been alone, but he still had to hold his front, which was fine by him. He would have the last laugh in due time, after all. For now, he kept gazing at the one before him.

     The two were strolling outside the Citadel when the sun eventually began to set, which meant the two had to part their ways for now, Affogato to his duties and Eclair to the guest quarters.

     “I must thank you again for accompanying me on such short notice and being so hospitable, Affogato,” Eclair started with a bow, taking off the boa and offering it back to its owner.

     “Oh, you flatter me so,” Affogato said, bowing back with one of his signature grins. “If you need any further assistance, I’ll be happy to help.”

     As Affogato took back the fur boa from Eclair, both of their hands lightly grazed against each other’s. Although this was something not worth noting in a typical setting, Affogato remembered it and the awkwardness that resulted from it. The two looked at one another with a tension of uncertainty as Affogato wrapped the boa around himself once more. He cleared his throat before speaking up; he at least wanted them to leave on a good note.

     “I must attend to the rest of my duties now, lest I desire a swift scolding,” Affogato muttered the last part so no one could hear. “Do you need any help finding the guest quarters?”

     “O-Oh…No, that won’t be necessary! I must leave as well to further analyze what we saw today,” Eclair swiftly bowed again, shoulders tensed up a bit. “I hope to see you again. Farewell!”

     Eclair ended up quickly heading back inside in the left direction. Well, so much for trying to ease the situation. Affogato sighed, yet this was not his typical sigh of sorrow or boredom. He was left standing there for a few moments with a soft smile and later a light blush as he realized a few new scents were now prominent in his boa. There was a dash of almond butter along with the sweet, sweet smell of vanilla shampoo. Both scents left Affogato in a daze, and without realizing it, he snuggled into his boa with closed eyes to further pursue the smell.

     He might have to ask Eclair about his hair-care routine.

     Unfortunately, Affogato’s few moments of bliss were short-lived, as he noticed the sky getting darker. Oh dear, he couldn’t afford to be late! He rushed in the direction opposite of where Eclair left in order to attend to his highness, hoping that he would still make it on time.

     Affogato grumbled quietly as he left the throne room. That king got on his nerves more than he was willing to admit. Granted, it could’ve been worse had he not made it to the throne room in time, but even so his night tasks drained him. He had to attend a meeting regarding preparations for the winter and had to be prominent in the discussion in order for the others to trust him more. Surprisingly, it was far more exhausting than that tour, yet he had to keep telling himself that it would be all worth it in the end. This was, however, not his only task for the night. He had another duty, a more personal one that was dire to his needs. Regardless of if he was exhausted or not, if Affogato did not commit to this task daily, his entire plan would fall apart.

     He drifted silently along the empty corridors, save for the occasional guard that could never raise suspicions over him due to his higher status and the remedies he provided. He was like a phantom in the dark, leaving not a single trace behind; if there was nowhere else to fit in, nowhere else to go, he could always rely on the cold embrace of the night to guide his hand and waltz with him. He approached what appeared to be a dead end, blocked by a shelf with scrolls, the only light nearby being that of the faint moon seeping through the foggy windows. Affogato glanced behind his shoulder before placing his staff to the side only to slowly and gently push the shelf and the wall behind it, leading into a hidden stairway deep underground. He then picked up his slow pace, grabbing his staff and rushing inside the stairway before pulling the hidden door closed again. Affogato sighed with relief before going deep into the stairwell, staff lit in hand, hoping that nobody would be around by the time he’d come back up.

     The deeper the stairs went, the more one could hear faint whispers and chants, as if the place itself was haunted. However, this was familiar to Affogato, feeling like music to his ears. At the end of the stairs stood an altar lined with talismans and tassels, dimly lit with a few purple lanterns surrounding it. In front of it sat a few empty platters and a bowl with nearly dimmed incense sticks, their ashes resting inside of the bowl. Directly next to the bowl resided a candle, filled with a cursed purple flame. Affogato cleared his throat before carefully placing food onto the platters, some meals and snacks that he snuck out of the kingdom’s pantry before the meeting. He then slowly stepped back, the altar’s faint chanting growing stronger, as he relit the incense sticks using the purple flame. It would be a while before Affogato had to replace them. He then placed his staff down beside him before kneeling onto the ground, clasping his hands together, and closing his eyes, the smell of incense heavy in the air.

     Now, to everyone else, Affogato was but a mere shaman, his spot as the king’s advisor being increasingly supported due to the spiritual help he provided towards the locals and the trust he had built between them as a result. He was said to know of countless remedies and ways to create fortune among the people. However, what most did not know of were these specific rituals, ones to strengthen the haze of incense throughout the kingdom and to take the fortune of the gods for himself, so that he could successfully make those around him bend to his will and finally have a land that he could call home. All he wanted was a place to fit in, and if he couldn’t find one, then he would make one. He would even carve out his own blood if he needed to, all for the sake of living the life he wanted.

     As Affogato silently muttered his prayers to strengthen his haze around the Citadel, he contemplated who his next victim would be. He already had the king and some of his subordinates in his grasp. Perhaps he could try the First Watcher? Unfortunately, she was harder to crack than most, seeing as all of his previous attempts to curse her failed. Perhaps instead of wasting his energy, he could gain the favor of other subordinates to exile her and save her downfall for last. Affogato could only relish that day whenever it comes.

     Maybe he could instead curse that scholar he gave a tour to. Eclair did surprisingly suspect Dark Cacao’s odd change in mood. Having someone so curious near him was a reckless move, but it did seem Affogato’s excuse worked on the other. Besides, it was too soon to say if he should curse the other or not; maybe he wouldn’t even need to influence Eclair’s opinion on the kingdom with his ritual. 

     The smell of Eclair’s hair was still faint on Affogato’s boa as he sighed into it. Something deep in his heart also seemed to prevent him from including Eclair in his prayers, something he was still puzzled by. Perhaps interacting more with the scholar could help him learn what this feeling was.

     Eventually, Affogato did find a few locals to mention in his prayers before opening his eyes and standing up, taking his staff back into his grasp. The faint whispers were quite loud now, creating a slight breeze against some of the tassels that hung above the altar along with the open doors of its display. Suddenly, with a quick tap of his staff, most of the chants sharply disappeared, their breeze promptly stopping with them, leaving one or two spare voices.

     May Fortuna stay by his side and strike luck in his favor.

Chapter Text

     Fortuna was, to say the least, definitely not in his favor the coming morning. 

     As he accompanied the king’s side for his usual duties, Affogato found out that he wasn’t to guide the scholar again for the rest of his visit, which came as a shock since he was initially told to accompany Eclair throughout his stay. This was a last-minute decision made by Dark Cacao himself, seeing as having a royal advisor gone for too long would not be ideal for him. Instead, Eclair was to be guided by a different person in each region further beyond the Citadel. Today, he planned on visiting several of the watchtowers surrounding the kingdom, meaning…

     “That damned First Watcher!” Affogato gritted under his teeth once excused, sliding the door to his quarters with a loud thud.

     As it turns out, Caramel Arrow would be in charge of helping Eclair for the day. 

     Of all people, why her?! 

     Not only can Affogato not relay secret information of the kingdom’s tension towards the historian anymore, but now Caramel Arrow could tell the other of her suspicions of the advisor, causing Eclair to distrust him and hurt the advisor in more ways than one. What made things worse was the fact that he still didn’t know how he specifically felt towards Eclair. It wasn’t anything malicious, surprisingly, yet he couldn’t wrap his head around what it could be. Although sometimes these emotions came and went, he still had a fairly positive impression of Eclair. Affogato thought that interacting with him more could at least help with his inquiry, but that wasn’t going so well, now was it? He could only continue to groan in frustration and perhaps a hint of jealousy, slamming his fist against a wall.

     Maybe he wasn’t focused enough while praying. The individuals he wanted to affect with his incense seemed to just barely tolerate him more as well, an unusual result. However, this could only mean that this might be a bigger issue than Affogato initially expected. It was very rare for the shaman to get distracted during these rituals. 

     What could have happened? 

     Was it his anger from his nightly duties as advisor yesterday? No, no, he would always be in a bitter mood after those. Could he have thought too much about his next victims? That couldn’t possibly be it either, there were nights where Affogato had pondered for longer while praying. He continued to grumble as he thought; regardless of what it was, he’d have to do what he could to make sure this didn’t happen again.

     For now, he couldn’t dwell too long over something so trivial; he still had other errands to fulfill and meetings to attend to. Affogato sighed seethingly before leaving his room, pushing this predicament to the back of his mind as he went. It was going to be a rough afternoon.

     Begrudgingly, Affogato attended to his duties, doing them to the best of his ability, and afterwards visited his altar, making sure to maintain his focus while reciting his prayers this time. Now, he could finally retire for the night and rest. Affogato walked sluggishly into his bathroom connected to his quarters, removed his makeup, and restyled his braids into a bun. With a brief yawn, he went back into his room and changed into more appropriate bed-wear, a simple white robe, putting extreme care into folding and putting away the layers of his usual outfit. Grabbing his staff, Affogato glanced at his bedding, which was located on the floor. Though he had woken up a few times with sore sides from his rest—he tossed and turned on their sides in his sleep, which wasn’t ideal to do on a sleeping mat—currently the shaman wanted nothing more than to drop directly onto his bed and pass out in the softness of his sheets and the sleeping mat. Yet, he didn't consider himself as the reckless type, being especially meticulous in their night-time routines.

     Before directly going to bed, Affogato placed his staff directly next to his sleeping mat in case of intruders. He then snuggled inside his blankets and sighed before closing his eyes, eager to get some well-deserved rest.

     ...

     He couldn’t sleep.

     Affogato tossed and turned stressfully. Every time he tried to drift off or at least relax, he ended up thinking about his frustrations that he initially kept in the back of his mind. 

     It simply wasn’t fair! His plans to create more tension throughout the kingdom failed before they even began, and he had to act fine about it?! It didn’t help that he genuinely looked forward to talking with Eclair again; the repetition of his kingdom duties and assisting the locals made Affogato approach the days with disgust that he always masked. At least with the historian, there was some enjoyment to his day. But now that might be ruined due to Caramel Arrow. Who knows what she could have told Eclair about him?

     This left Affogato agonizingly curious. He had to know the details of what happened today. Granted, he tried reassuring himself that maybe the First Watcher didn’t ruin his plans. Perhaps he had a chance to ruin the kingdom with this catalyst. Maybe he could even have Eclair by his side as an ally, a friend, possibly something much more!

     Wait, what?!

     Affogato dismissed that last part, he just needed Eclair for his plans, right? But how could he do that? He was ordered to not accompany the other for the rest of his stay at the kingdom. Granted, this order did only pertain to the tour. Affogato sat up and pondered for a few more minutes before slightly jumping with an epiphany:

     The guest quarters!

     Yes, Affogato might not be able to see Eclair during the day, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t visit the historian during the night. Besides, Affogato didn’t need to worry about sneaking by, since he was well adjusted to attending to his secrets in the dark veil of the night. He could go into Eclair’s quarters, assuming he was still awake since he last said something about analyzing his findings, and talk to him. Then, Affogato could weave his plan into action and come up with some excuse in the event that Eclair met him with distrust.

     Jumping up from his bed with his staff, Affogato began to set off to the guest quarters, which were not too far away, with an unusual eagerness. His plan was not a lost cause after all! However, part of him felt in his heart to go regardless of his personal tasks. Something about Eclair just struck Affogato in some way, and he was going to get to the bottom of it.

     It was easy to spot which guest room belonged to Eclair, seeing as nobody else was visiting, and there was only one room with a faint light peeking out from its sliding door. Affogato’s assumption was correct, the other was awake. He approached the door silently and gulped nervously before tapping against it and clearing his throat. A few minutes passed before Eclair’s door slowly slipped open, revealing the individual behind it.

     The historian looked fairly different from when Affogato last saw him. For one, he didn’t have on his hat or intricate outfit he wore upon arrival. Instead, he wore a long, simple lavender robe, likely given to him as the kingdom’s guest. His long hair was delicately styled into a braid rather than put into his typical low ponytail,  but even then it appeared more loosened than before, a strand of hair slowly spilling down in front of his face. Eclair wasn’t wearing his monocle at the moment; it seemed he was about to go to sleep. Affogato had just begun to notice the other’s long, fluttering lashes before he realized that Eclair’s face was a lot more prominent now that it wasn’t covered by the collar of his shoulder-length cloak. To top it all off, the cool colored light coming from the scholar’s room softly glowed onto him.

     Lavender made him appear so ethereal.

     Affogato was stuck in place for what felt like an eternity—this was definitely harder than he thought. Luckily, it seemed as though Eclair, too, was in such a state. Eyes flitted and bore into each other’s gaze, astoundment appeared on their faces, as both were entranced by the sight of one another for but a few moments. There was something quite tender about the two sharing a brief moment like this. It made Affogato nearly forget everything: his plans, his hatred, and his envy, instead focusing on his fast beating heart and the blood rushing to his face towards the one before him. Or, perhaps Affogato was more nervous than he expected coming here, uncertain of what was to come.

     Eventually, Eclair was the one to break the silence, fleetingly looking away and clearing his throat before nervously smiling at the other.

     “A-Affogato? What brings you here?”

     That much more exposed smile—one that faintly showed the individual’s dimples, warming the coolness in the air—was enough to bring Affogato stumbling with his words and avoiding eye-contact, although internally he chalked it up to a fear of having interrupted the other.

     “My apologies! I...must have...delayed you,” Affogato frantically composed himself, “...from a good night’s rest! I shall see myself out!”

     He turned momentarily but was quickly stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

     “Wait!” 

     It seemed Eclair had similar ideas of wanting to speak to the other again. 

     “I...probably wouldn’t sleep anyways now that I’m intrigued,” Eclair whispered as he slowly took his hand away, “Please, come inside, and do tell me what’s on your mind.”

     Affogato let out a built up sigh as he followed the other. Thankfully, he came up with an excuse on the way to the guest quarters. He would never admit, however, that he nearly forgot it back when the two were gazing at each other.

     “Let’s just say that...there was a lot more I wanted to speak to you about, and I...thoroughly enjoyed our talk yesterday.” As he spoke, Affogato managed to relax a little, continuing with his signature grin while Eclair had his back turned, “I felt quite disappointed after abruptly finding out that I wouldn’t accompany you for the rest of your time here, and as a result, I decided to pay a visit tonight.”

     “So, you too were left with intrigue?” Eclair looked back at the other with his eyes twinkling in excitement.

     That broke Affogato’s composure in a flash. What was wrong with him today?! It wasn’t nearly this bad yesterday.

     “I suppose...you could say that...”

     “Ooh! Maybe I can show you what I’ve analyzed from our observations so far!” Eclair went on and kneeled at the end of his bed behind a low table, which was littered with scrolls and trinkets, some familiar to Affogato and some completely new. He was then gestured to place his staff nearby and sit across from the historian in order to inspect the findings more closely.

     Although the royal advisor—one who spoke so confidently and affirmatively in meetings, one with such vigor to communicate with a monarch as terrifying as Dark Cacao yet belittle him with the same tongue—was still a bit tense around Eclair, he still couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle from time to time as he listened attentively. A lot of the strong emotions Affogato felt had simmered down somewhat by then, but that didn’t mean he disliked the one sitting across from him.

     It was going to be a long night, yet it was something that Affogato looked forward to.

Chapter Text

     “A museum? You really own one?”

     The night may have still been fairly young, but the historian and the royal advisor were both deep into their musings, to the point where they started learning small things about each other. Eclair’s museum just happened to be mentioned in passing while the scholar was explaining a particular find.

     “Why yes, of course I do! I need somewhere to fit mine and other peoples’ findings after all,” Eclair said matter-of-factly.

     “You mean like donations?”

     “Oh, they’re more than donations to me. You should see what some people have given to me to display. One of my donors recently sent me the bones of a dragon’s skeleton. A dragon for goodness sake!” Eclair sure didn’t exaggerate when he said he was recently interested in dragons. 

     “Although it’s been long dead,” Eclair continued, “it looks so large and fearsome. Sometimes, I fear it could come to life at any moment! To me though, being able to see and display things like that is part of why I enjoy my job so much!”

     “It is quite rare for me to see someone as passionate about their work as you. Your determination is commendable, I’d say,” Affogato smiled. 

     Now, there was truth to this statement; Affogato did sort of respect Eclair’s devotion over his job due to how he himself would barely see anyone in the kingdom that did to the same extent. Besides, there was something intriguing about how the scholar would gush over his findings. Yet, Affogato still came here with specific intentions in mind: to know what Eclair and Caramel Arrow spoke about, and if that meant buttering up Eclair every now and then for the other’s trust, then so be it. Besides, it felt oddly nice to simply compliment the other, a stark contrast to how empty Affogato’s compliments were towards everyone else, which was why he felt beckoned to spoil the other with his words now and then.

     Affogato peered at the table with Eclair’s findings once again. Most of the objects he acquired in his first day here sat over multiple scrolls, yet there were a few new materials unrecognizable to the shaman.

     A potential key to the answer I seek?

     “I see you’ve been staring quite a while at my potential relics. Did you have any questions?” Eclair was staring at the other, his eyes suddenly feeling like a weight over Affogato.

     “Oh! Well, I just happened to notice a few new ones. Did you happen to find these today?”

     “Quite the observant one, aren’t you?” Eclair smiled warmly before continuing, his statement still lingering in Affogato’s mind. It gave him a slightly fuzzy feeling for some reason, yet it was not by any means unwelcome.

     “Yes, I did happen to find some items to add to my collection. The First Watcher was kind enough to help me with some of the larger items, so now I have a banner or two along with much more. Still, I do hope I can acquire more items of importance during the rest of my stay!”

     And that fuzziness immediately disappeared. When Affogato accompanied Eclair on his first day, they didn’t find a lot of materials to work with, which paled in comparison to what the scholar seemed to find with Caramel Arrow. This left Affogato feeling quite bitter for some reason unknown to him, causing him to utter without thinking.

     “Well, I can do better than that .”

     “Hm, what was that?”

     “Oh, uhm-” he quickly realized what he said and cleared his throat, “I might be able to help better with that,” a quick recomposure with a nervous chuckle, “If you’d like, I could acquire all the finest relics…just for you. I could deliver them to you each night if you’d like,” Affogato smirked.

     “You would do that? Just for me?” Eclair looked with eager intrigue.

     “But of course, treating guests with what they would like is my specialty after all,” Affogato winked.

     Eclair gasped rather dramatically before slamming both of his hands onto the table while leaning over it, his eyes twinkling with such delight, “You’re far too kind! I must give you something in return!”

     It was all going according to plan, gaining Eclair’s favor to have him tell the other everything he needed to know—such a simple job indeed. The scholar was getting increasingly easier to read as well, even under the veil of emotions Affogato felt towards him clouding his mind half the time when near the other. Yet, there was a feeling crawling in his gut, an unpleasant emotion in comparison to the many others he felt around Eclair. 

     Using people for his own benefit was something that Affogato was accustomed to, which put him under the assumption that he had no more room in his heart to care about the consequences of betraying another person’s trust. However, for the historian, the idea of those repercussions resurfaced in what Affogato could only see as the venom of all emotions: guilt. At first, it feels like a slight itch that one could walk off, but if one isn’t careful it could snowball into an avalanche of despair. If he didn’t want to get to that point, he’d have to avoid getting too attached to the one sitting in front of him, even though the other’s happiness felt like the sweetest medicine.

     Affogato sighed before putting up his act again, “There’s no need. Your satisfaction is enough of a gift in return for me.”

     “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!!” Eclair giddily held the other’s hands, rapidly shaking them multiple times.

     Without his gloves, Affogato could feel the warmth and coarseness of Eclair’s hands, yet as much as he wanted to give in to what felt like an unusual bliss, he snapped back when Eclair let go, remembering the possible guilt he could feel.

     This was going to be harder than he thought.

     Why is this happening?! Affogato thought frantically, his teeth gritting behind a closed mouth. You barely even know this person, and you most likely will never see him again. I must focus. Forget what just happened. Just talk with him each night. Just find the cracks in him.

     Just use him while you can.

     Affogato paused as he collected his thoughts before talking again. “You’re quite welcome. Speaking of the First Watcher, did she happen to say anything about me?”

     By now, Eclair had settled down a bit and began pondering before responding.

     “Hmm…I don’t believe so, although her expression seemed to indicate a bit of disgust when I mentioned you accompanying me yesterday. Is there an issue between you two?”

     “Oh,” Affogato thought for a moment, “Let’s just say things aren’t the best between us and keep it at that…”

     “I see…” Now it was Eclair’s turn to pause. “The local watchers that I did manage to speak to seem to see you in a much kinder light, so I figured that was a possibility.”

     “Do they?”

     “Why, yes! I’ve heard of your medicinal skills and the concoctions that you’d make for people, including the kingdom’s warriors. I’m so happy to have met someone so hospitable to everyone here!”

     “You flatter me so, Eclair,” Affogato responded with closed eyelids and a hand on his own cheek.

     “Well, I mean it!” Eclair exclaimed with a determined smile. “People like you should be remembered in history as heroes. I’ve already written quite a bit about you, would you like to see?”

     He thought about me enough to write about me? Affogato thought. How amusing.

     “That would be lovely.”

     And so, the two spent the rest of the night reading through what Eclair wrote about Affogato, from complimentary observations from the first day to what other people had to say on him. It was all so overwhelmingly positive that even after Affogato bid the other farewell for the night, he couldn’t stop thinking about it on his walk back to his quarters. As soon as he entered his room, he immediately placed his staff down and rushed to the bathroom, staring at himself in the mirror.

     He looked exhausted as usual, yet this tiredness felt like the type that one would get from going out and having fun the entire day. His face still felt oddly warm, his cheeks dusted with blush, and his bun looked rather loosened. Even more surprising were his initially piercing eyes, said to be the source of his intimidation, having much rounder pupils than usual.

     For one that wanted to focus on his goals, he looked like quite the distracted mess, and quite frankly, he was. At that moment, it occurred to Affogato that he never discussed the rising tensions in the kingdom with Eclair, which was an essential catalyst to his plans to lower the kingdom’s reputation and rightfully take the throne in the midst of havoc.

     Quickly, Affogato splashed his face with cold water several times and sighed. As much as he was frustrated over briefly forgetting his major plan and identifying his feelings towards Eclair that caused this—or perhaps denying—he was completely drained for the night. He walked slowly and sluggishly, gently flopped on the floor where his pillow was, and just as quickly wrapped himself in his blanket before closing his eyes and immediately falling asleep.

     There was always next time.

     A silhouette of lavender embraces an inquisitive fool in their temporary quarters, arms sinking into the other’s back in a welcoming display of warmth. The one filled with intrigue sighs happily in the figure’s grasp while the other places its face against his neck, rubbing circles on their back, its breath feeling like a grating, cold breeze. The curious one’s breath hitches as they receive cold kisses against their skin, slowly gaining goosebumps from the sensation. Eventually, the silhouette pulls away, licking their own mouth away. Due to their curiosity getting the better of him, the dunce asks:

     “Where is your mouth?”

     “What was that?”

     “Where is your mind?”

     “Why not see for yourself?”

     The shadow of a person opens a mouth that suddenly exists with a grin, revealing bare, white teeth, before slowly twisting its head upside down, brittle cracks being heard from its neck with each twist it makes.

     The fool, too late to take back their inquiry, gulps as the silhouette roughly grabs their throat and opens its mouth, excessively pouring out many more teeth from it.

     “You cannot understand me in a way that matters.”

     Eclair woke up with a gasp and a start, quickly sitting up as he caught his breath. The low flame of a light in his room seemed to have dimmed while faint sunlight poured out from a frosted window.

     It was a cloudy morning.

     The historian, rather than get up for the third day of his tour, stayed seated and pondered for a few moments.

     Who…was that? Why were we so…

     Eclair’s face gradually heated up the more he thought

     Intimate?!

     He then felt a bit nauseous when he remembered that pale purple figure vomiting out teeth and stared at his robe of the same shade.

     Maybe lavender wasn’t his color after all.

     Eclair likely had a book discussing dreams in his home. After all, many historical figures had life-altering dreams, and he had to know the meaning of each one. However, as much as he wanted to further analyze his own, the most he could do for now was think about it on a surface level. Yet, one phrase echoed in his mind, one that he couldn’t stop thinking about no matter how hard he tried:

     You cannot understand me in a way that matters.

Chapter Text

     Many, many days had passed after that initial night between the two. Each day, whenever Affogato was free from his duties, be it through breaks or completing early, he would set off in search of materials that he was sure Eclair would like. Due to gaining the trust of most of the locals in the nation, he managed to gather clothing and daily items that the people of different villages used. On the other hand, because of his status, Affogato managed to acquire other items that the average Cacaonian couldn’t, from spare weapons of the Watchers and guards to extra medicinal scrolls and paintings stored in the kingdom.

     Now, Eclair had initially planned to stay in the kingdom for a few days, but due to the amount of potential relics he received from the other, those arrangements changed from days to weeks. Thankfully, his museum was in proper hands, so he didn't need to worry so much.

     Each time twilight hit, Affogato would visit the historian, who he would find always with a large grin plastered across his face among seeing the other’s findings, or even simply by seeing him. Affogato would provide him with what he found along with information he had gathered on them, sending more and more each time he visited. Afterwards, the two would converse all throughout the night, talking about each other’s days, their findings, and just more about them.

     Affogato would be lying if he claimed this wasn’t enjoyable. Helping out the historian, at this point whom he considered a friend, and speaking with him every night made him feel less mentally drained from his other work, giving him something to be genuinely excited for during these difficult times of planning to take the throne for himself. Each night, not only he but Eclair too would become increasingly invested on what the other would say about one thing or another. 

     Unfortunately, due to staying up most nights out of this investment, physically speaking, Affogato became exhausted, which came as a surprise since he was partly made up of coffee. He had no clue how Eclair managed to remain energetic every time he visited. Perhaps he was just really passionate about his relics, yet a part of Affogato hoped that the other felt excited speaking to him in general. One night, Eclair was analyzing one of the items Affogato found: a hair clip, when Affogato, too tired to think, nearly passed out on the guest room’s table but caught himself before hitting his face against it. Eclair happened to notice this, seeing as he sat across from him, and placed a hand on the other’s wrist before speaking, hints of worry apparent in his voice:

     “Oh dear, I should have realized how tired you’d be from all of this. Relic-gathering does take a lot of energy.” Eclair had gotten progressively touchier lately, Affogato noticed, occasionally resting his warm hands on the other’s hands, wrists, or shoulders when speaking to him and keeping them lingering afterwards. Affogato only assumed that this meant the two were getting more familiar and casual as acquaintances, nothing more. This is what friends did after all, right?

     Affogato cleared his throat and stared at the warm hand on his wrist as he spoke, “I should be fine, just need a night or two of good rest.”

     “Perhaps we could finish early so that you could head out to rest.”

     A yawn, “I think I’d pass out if I left for my quarters…I rest a little too well in the dark when I get like this.”

     “Huh…Maybe I can escort you to your room.”

     “You might risk being questioned if a guard sees you wandering these halls at night…especially if both of us are seen.”

     “Hmm…” Eclair pondered for a few moments before coming up with a solution, “I got it! While I work on these findings, you can rest in my bed. I’m not using it, after all.”

     If that didn’t wake up Affogato, he didn’t know what did.

     M-Me?! Sleeping in… As he thought more, his face slightly flushed.

     “Oh, n-no, I simply couldn’t! It would be rude of me to sleep in a space meant for a guest,” Affogato attempted to say in his signature tone.

     “Is it rude if I’m giving you permission? Besides, I think your kingdom will see you falling asleep during your duties as more impolite. So please, get some rest.”

     How could he say no?

     “Alright, if you say so…” Affogato stood up and approached the bed, “I’m only doing this since you insisted so much.”

     Eclair chuckled in response, “Thank you. When do your duties start? I’d like to know so I can wake you up in time!”

     “Around eight in the morning. You might want to wake me up an hour beforehand,” Affogato said as he tucked himself into Eclair’s bed. 

     Eclair’s bed…

     “Will you have time to rest?”

     “Well, I was thinking of researching for the rest of the night and sleeping during midday.”

     “Oh…” Affogato let out a tired chuckle. “I don’t believe I can stop your dedication then.”

     “Right you are.” Another soft smile.

     Affogato could speak no more, for the lovely scent of almond butter and vanilla shampoo that was subtle in his borrowed boa was much stronger in Eclair’s bed, lulling him to close his eyes, preparing him for a night of comfort. Before Affogato fell asleep that night, he heard Eclair whisper:

     “Goodnight, Affo.”

     Affo…what an interesting nickname…

     Another issue that Affogato faced due to his focus being mostly on Eclair was the fact that he either kept forgetting his big plan: to tell the other of the kingdom’s tensions and throw its reputation to the dust, or he simply couldn’t find a way to tell him, like that night he slept in Eclair’s bed. What didn’t help was that the day of Eclair’s departure was inevitably approaching; there were only so many times he could delay it before testing the King's patience, and as such this arrangement was final. Affogato only had three nights, including this one, to execute his plan, so he made sure that he would remember it as soon as possible, regardless of how much Eclair’s company distracted him. That night, Affogato strolled to Eclair’s guest quarters with some new finds, making extra sure that nobody saw him; even with the loophole he came up with when he first visited the other, Affogato truly didn’t know what the king would say if he found out he stayed with the kingdom’s temporary guest each night and didn’t want to risk that idea coming to fruition.

     As usual, Eclair greeted him with an excited, yet contained, whisper and escorted his friend inside his quarters. This time, however, Affogato felt a sneaking suspicion as he walked inside: that someone might have been close by. Unfortunately, he had made the mistake of being less careful this time on the way to the other’s room, not considering as much the possibility of there being any guards patrolling around. Surprisingly, however, he decided to push those feelings aside for the night due to how much of a comforting presence Eclair brought him.

     Whenever he was around Eclair, Affogato felt as though he could let his guard down for at least two, maybe even three, minutes. At this point, he chose to give up on finding out why this was the case, why he felt the way he did around Eclair; he had nothing leading him to an answer, and perhaps some things were better left unsolved. Affogato simply went on with his plans to get close to Eclair for his own advantage, and if there were little things that he enjoyed with this—Eclair’s smile, the way he spoke about his work with such devotion and dedication, learning about his life, the slight touches he would leave behind, the sound of his laugh, his care and enjoyment towards the other, the now familiar smell of vanilla and almonds trailing along with him, beckoning Affogato to pursue it—he would let them flow and pass through himself. It was easy to allow the presence of such things to happen and eventually forget about them, right?

     He wasn’t so sure of the last part yet.

     The two spoke to each other as they typically did, now with Affogato sitting directly next to Eclair rather than across from him. He told himself it was for the sake of reading and studying the scholar’s expressions and gestures better. Besides, Eclair didn’t seem to mind for the most part; however, lately he had appeared slightly tense from time to time, twiddling with a few strands of his hair and sometimes avoiding eye contact whenever Affogato would gaze at him. About an hour or two into their discussion, a sudden tapping came from the door of Eclair’s quarters, causing the both of them to flinch, completely frozen in their tracks. None of them knew what to do for the few moments that they had. Affogato’s mind was racing with uncertainty, his eyes darting to the door and then back to Eclair.

     The one time I dismiss my suspicions…How will I get out of this?! What do I do?!

     It seemed that Eclair noticed Affogato’s state of panic; it had become easier over time to note when the other was speaking professionally or genuinely, and his panic was most certainly genuine. Quickly, he devised a plan: there was a thick, wooden wardrobe across from them, meant for guests to keep their clothing in but used more for decoration, a perfect hiding place. He placed a hand on Affogato’s shoulder, gesturing him to look at the other, and pointed at the closet, whispering as quietly as possible:

     “You hide. I’ll handle this.” Eclair then spoke a bit louder so as to not seem suspicious to whoever was behind the door, “I’ll only be a minute! I just need to adjust a few scrolls!”

     Affogato didn’t need to be told twice. He swiftly approached the wardrobe and opened its door hastily yet quietly, hoping and praying that by Fortuna it wouldn’t creak. Luckily, no noise seemed to come out, so he quickly dived into the closet, closing the door as he went. After Eclair made sure the wardrobe didn’t look used, he got up to answer the door.

     Fortunately, Affogato was able to peer through a crack between both doors in the darkness to see what was happening. Not to mention, the walls of the wardrobe were so thick that it wouldn’t be so easy to hear someone inside of it. Even then, for the sake of his safety, Affogato remained quiet and continued peeking through the crack.

     Meanwhile, Eclair slid his door open and slightly jumped when he saw one of the guards on patrol standing across from him. Curious as to why they were there, the scholar spoke up first with a slight bow.

     “My apologies for taking so long…What seems to be the issue?”

     The guard cleared their throat before responding, “Forgive me sir, but there seemed to be a lot of noise coming from this room, and it sounded rather suspicious. I simply want you to clarify what all that noise was.”

     “O-Oh, well…” Eclair pondered his next choice of words and quickly came up with an excuse. “Analyzing relics can get quite loud; some of them are made of metal and are much more prone to noise. Not to mention, I think out loud especially during my analyses. It helps keep me on trac-”

     As Eclair droned on and on to the guard, Affogato couldn’t help but silently giggle to himself, seeing the other’s plan in action: Eclair was attempting to bore the guard into eventually leaving. It was pretty genius of the historian, Affogato had to admit, yet a thread of pity lingered in him. Surely something had to have happened for Eclair to see his words as a tool to bore others. Regardless of what it was, Affogato felt the urge to keep looking.

     “Then I nearly forgot the details of that entire battle, but thankfully I wrote it down somewhere. And that’s why I always speak of my thoughts while analy-”

     “I see,” the guard interrupted. “My apologies for disturbing you. I shall be on my way then.”

     As they bowed, signaling their departure, something settled near Eclair’s bed caught the guard’s eye, causing them to blurt out with a cautious tone.

     “Wait, why is the the royal advisor’s staff in your possession?”

     Dammit! Affogato immediately face-palmed, panicking again.

     He forgot to grab his staff on the way to the wardrobe. There was no way Eclair could have noticed either; he just barely checked the closet before immediately answering the door. How Eclair was going to get them out of this predicament was beyond him.

     As Affogato was frantically thinking about what could possibly happen, sweat beading on his forehead, Eclair was quickly looking for an excuse again.

     “W-Well, about that…” The last thing Eclair could do was seem tense; that could make him seem more suspicious after all. So, he cleared his throat and spoke without thinking, hoping that whatever he’d say would make sense.

     “He gave it to me.”

     Affogato face-palmed again. 

     Now, everyone in the kingdom except for Eclair knew how protective he was towards his staff. It was the source of his powers and spells after all. The last thing Affogato wanted was for it to fall into the wrong hands.

     “He gave it to you?” the guard said with an amused chuckle. “His Majesty’s right hand clings to his staff like a serpent with fangs! How could he hand it over to a stranger like you?”

     “Well I…simply asked to borrow it…for analysis.” Suddenly, the perfect question formed in Eclair’s mind, “Have any of you considered just asking to see it? Perhaps that could be why he clings to it.”

     There was a long silence after, with Eclair waiting for the guard to respond, and in turn, the guard being completely speechless—perhaps he struck a nerve. However, there was a third silence, a very different one: Affogato kneeling against one of the doors trying his best not to burst in laughter. He was resisting the urge so much that he had to bite the inside of his cheeks while covering his mouth with a palm, twitching and dying to laugh so hard.

     It was true! Nobody ever just asked to observe his staff. Many people in the kingdom would inquire about the staff itself, sometimes attempting to touch it while asking about it, and that caused Affogato to be so protective over it. How utterly foolish of them all; perhaps they should take such a stranger’s advice! If this excuse actually worked, how hilarious it would be! Affogato looked back into the crack of the doors once he heard the guard speak again.

     “Well, actually, I don’t believe I’ve seen anyone do that…” they paused again before swiftly turning away. “I shall take my leave. Remember to return it…” 

     As they walked away, they spoke quietly to themself, “Who knows what he’d do if you’d forget…”

     Eclair slowly slid the door to his room shut and sighed as he remained in that spot for a few more moments before loudly whispering.

     “You can come out now.”

     Affogato slowly opened the door of the wardrobe and tumbled out on his knees—he must have been kneeling still. Eclair turned around and peered at Affogato crawling to grab his staff and slowly, very slowly, standing up afterwards, looking back at him. It was silent for a few moments, Affogato’s body twitching and covering his mouth again until Eclair broke the silence with a small chuckle, part of him expecting what was about to happen.

     “Pfft-”

     He couldn’t hold it in much longer.

     Affogato dropped to the floor, roaring with laughter. It worked! It actually worked!

     “Oh, what a riot!! ‘I simply asked to borrow it’?!” Affogato pounded the desk with a fist as he teared up from laughing so much. “How did you make that even work?! I can’t-”

     Eclair too was laughing as he approached the other, “I-I don’t know! I’m just as surprised!!” He knelt down near the other, who was still a giggly mess, and gleefully placed a hand on his shoulder. “Still, we must be careful. Who knows if they’re still near-”

     Another tap, this time far more aggressive, immediately shut the two up. Affogato, eyes widened with alarm, grabbed his staff and made a run for the wardrobe again, only to realize too late that taking his staff wasn’t the best idea.

     The guard didn’t take much time to wait for Eclair to open the door this time, quickly and roughly sliding it open themselves. Eclair, on the other hand, was petrified in place for a few moments until he immediately shot up.

     “I heard multiple voices in here! Do you take me for a fool?”

     “Pardon me, but wh-whatever are you talking about?” Eclair was trying not to appear as intimidated as possible to steer himself from suspicion while simultaneously coming up with a plan to drive the guard out. 

     Meanwhile, Affogato was dreading inevitably getting caught. The guard would eventually notice the disappearance of his staff, and he’d have to reveal himself. Sure, he could talk down against the guard, his higher authority permitted him to do so. However, he knew that the news would go to the king, and if he had to face consequences, his reputation could go under. His Majesty’s royal advisor, dilly-dallying with the kingdom’s guest, rather than taking winter preparations seriously and being attentive during meetings. What a terrible image for someone like him! He looked through the door crack once again, hoping that Eclair had something up his sleeve.

     “I heard laughter! There's definitely someone else in here.” They scanned the room, looking for possible clues on where this “someone” could be.

     What do I do what do I do- Eclair, on the other hand, was frantically brainstorming on what excuse he could create on the spot. Quickly glancing at the wardrobe without the guard noticing, he took a deep breath. He’d get nowhere if he thought like this. 

     Think…perhaps I could use history to aid me… Eclair closed his eyes and rapidly yet carefully began thinking of anything relating to Cacaonian history to help him. If he couldn’t find an excuse with the present, the past must be of help.

     After scanning for a while, the guard unfortunately noticed the disappearance of Affogato’s staff, “The royal advisor’s staff is gone! Just what are you up to?!”

     Oh dear, if Affogato had to witness one more moment of this, he’d faint.

     There was a silence; Eclair, now calm, still appeared deep in thought. Suddenly his eyes opened.

     I got it!

     “Hey, I’m talking to you!” The guard scolded, roughly grabbing the scholar’s shoulders.

     Eclair, now completely composed despite this, spoke up with a hint of sternness, “Goodness, can’t I think for a moment?!”

     “Huh?” The guard let go of the other, allowing Eclair to step back.

     “I don’t believe I’ve seen you at all before, so I was wondering why you just showed up so abruptly…”

     What the hell is he talking about?! Oh, Affogato was really in it now.

     “Don’t try playing dumb with me! I came here before because I heard voices coming from your quarters, and then I see you have His Majest-oh forget it, Affogato’s staff with you!”

     The disrespect?! Affogato made sure to get a good look at the guard, already plotting their demise.

     “Why would I have his staff? I was only with him once my entire stay” Eclair said as he feigned ignorance.

     “I don’t know! You said you asked for it! And then I hear two voices laughing directly after I leave. Is this some kind of sick joke?!”

     “Well, I can assure you I’ve been alone this whole time without a staff. I don’t remember laughing one bit either…” Suddenly, Eclair gasped with a touch of dramatism. “Could it be?!”

     “Could it be what?”

     “Oh, goodness, how did I not notice?! Laughter that wasn’t there? Possible apparitions of me and the royal advisor’s staff?”

     “You’ve lost me-”

     “How do you not know?! Any Cacaonian knows of the Warriors of Unrest!”

     It suddenly clicked for the guard, but they still didn’t trust the scholar, so they waited for him to continue.

     Eclair then spoke with a low whisper, “There are many legends of the Warriors of Unrest, but the most well-known one is the eeriest.” A shiver for effect. “They say that most Cacaonian Warriors and Watchers are buried by their comrades and have their names inscribed on the Altar of The Fallen, but what of those who were forgotten?”

     “That’s but a m-myth.” The guard seemed to tense up a bit, “The Dark Cacao Kingdom never forgets its Warriors.”

     “Regardless of the nation, there will always be people forgotten in history. That is one of the main lessons I’ve learned through my work.” Eclair said immediately. “Now, where was I? Those who are lost in battle, never buried or honored, are lost in their anguish and cannot move on to calm solemnity. As a result, they wander the land furiously and lash out towards anyone they see. Some even exist within these corridors, and oh, who’d know what they’d do to you if you were lost with them. So it makes sense: you saw neither a staff nor me, but the work of an anguished spirit, and a rather powerful one at that to be able to manipulate the entire room like this.”

     At this point, the guard was trembling with fear. Affogato was confused by where this was going initially, but upon realizing Eclair’s trick, he couldn’t help but smile. It seemed that guard's demise would happen much sooner than he thought. Affogato sighed with relief, knowing that he would be safe.

     Unfortunately, he sighed a bit too loud. So much for a thick closet.

     “Wh-What was that?!”

     “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Perhaps this spirit is selective and is only affecting you.”

     “H-How are you so c-calm?! It could be anywhere in here!”

     “Oh!” Eclair chuckled. “Well, a part of learning history is to learn of past and present beliefs of the paranormal, so I find it rather intriguing instead.”

     Affogato pondered in the meantime. Hmm, it’s quite unfair that only he gets to have enjoyment out of this… a mischievous smirk formed on his lips. Let me find an opening.

     “Why oh why must I be affected by this spirit?!”

     “You were likely the first person that caught its eye.” Eclair placed his hands on both of their shoulders before speaking with a smile. “Therefore, since it’s selective, you are now its target. And, oh, you could only pray to die once it catches you, for when it does, all that will echo within you are the screams OF THE DEAD!”

     With a snap of a finger, the flame in Eclair’s room was completely blown out, leaving everything in darkness, followed by a piercing, blood-curdling scream of agony, courtesy of Affogato.

     The guard, screaming back out of fright, ran as fast as they could from the room, nearly tripping as eventually, they were completely out of sight and earshot.

     After a few moments, Eclair very quietly slid his door closed and tip toed towards the wardrobe, silently opening the door. Affogato was standing up now, remaining at the other end of the closet. Eclair entered the wardrobe and closed its door as he approached the other, who was holding in another laugh. Slowly, he gently placed his hands on Affogato’s shoulders and deeply sighed of relief before looking into his eyes, biting the inside of his cheeks.

     A few seconds passed, the tension between the two rising.

     A few more seconds passed.

     None of the two could hold themselves back much longer.

     They both screeched in booming laughter for what felt like minutes, no hours, and were eventually rolling on the floor, absorbing each other’s joy. At times, it would quiet down again before one of the two would let out a giggle, causing them both to fall apart again, laughing and shrieking in amusement.

     As Affogato wiped his tears of amusement for the last time, he watched Eclair still stuck in his fit of laughter. Although it was pitch-black in the room, Affogato could imagine where the other’s smile was etched, where his dimples were, where his eyelids would squeeze from his smile, and where he was laughing. All of these details made him realize something: the last time he felt this much enjoyment in his life was when he was a child, yet this felt remarkably different.

     Suddenly, all his memories of him and Eclair flooded in his mind. From the first day they met and he offered his boa; how cute the scholar looked! And from there, Affogato felt the urge to continue meeting him, under the assumption that he had plans. Yet, that wasn’t completely true, was it? Even if he completed all of his goals for his plans involving the historian, deep down inside, Affogato knew that he’d still head to the same guest quarters every night, relics in hand, and offer all of the best ones to Eclair, just to see him smile, just to see him gush about them, just to spend time with him after each draining day of his duties.

     Eclair was the light of his life at the end of the tunnel. Everything Affogato did, he did with the motive of being able to go to the scholar to drop his charade for once and let himself loose.

     To the other, he wasn’t Affogato: the royal advisor, secretary, and shaman. He was a person. He was himself, and there were no expectations put for being himself.

     Now, as he continued gazing at the other still chuckling, he knew why he couldn’t focus as much when he prayed, why he kept forgetting his plans around the other, why Eclair’s smile weakened him sometimes.

     Perhaps he always knew, but regardless he would attempt to ignore when his heartbeat quickened its pace as he would walk into the guest quarters each night, when his pupils would slightly enlarge as he spoke with the other.

     He loved spending time with Eclair.

     No.

     He loved Eclair.

     With this realization, he now noticed his fast-beating heart and how shaky his breaths were. Was this possibly from laughing too much?

     Oh, there was no point in denying it anymore! He was in love!

     Love, a whole poison of its own, was what Affogato felt, but why did such a thing feel so good ? 

     He’d probably never know.

     At this point, Eclair had stopped laughing and noticed the other being awfully quiet. He slowly sat up and opened the wardrobe door, allowing the faint light of the night sky to peek through.

     “Affo, are you alright?”

     Now that he could see the other slightly better, Affogato noticed a faint twinkle of Eclair’s tears from laughing too much. Without realizing it, he graced a hand onto Eclair’s cheek, not just to wipe his tears, but also out of desire to touch his face. In response, Eclair closed his eyes and leaned into the touch, letting out a sigh.

     “Your face is so soft…”

     “Mm…” A small hum.

     Affogato noticed how tenderly he spoke with the other. Most people would see the advisor as bitter-sounding, only using words of sweetness during meetings or when influencing others. Yet this time, it was different. There was no hint of malice in his voice to drive Eclair away or honey-laced words to keep him by his side.

     He was simply speaking from the heart.

     Eclair flitted his eyes open and leaned closer to the other. Affogato’s heart fluttered, curiosity lingering within him for what could happen next. Ever the touchy one, Eclair gently placed a warm hand on the other’s face, and without noticing, stroked it with his thumb. Meanwhile, another hand lingered on Affogato’s shoulder as a soft chuckle left Eclair.

     “So is yours…”

     The one closest to Affogato proceeded to wrap both of his arms around the other into a soft, tender embrace, nestling his head onto his shoulder. Affogato didn’t know if this was out of friendliness or something else, but he didn’t care. All he could do was turn his head and place his face against Eclair’s hair, relishing the vanilla almond scent, which was the strongest it had ever been, while sighing into such a welcoming touch. He could feel Eclair’s arms rub up and down along his back and his eyelashes flutter his eyes closed.

     “I’m glad I could keep you safe…” Eclair whispered quietly.

     Affogato, in turn, placed his arms around the other, keeping him in his embrace, and closed his eyes as well.

     “Me too…”

Chapter Text

     A day had passed since the two dealt with the guard. During the time between these two nights, Affogato was sure to hear about sudden rumors about the haunted guest room, but surprisingly did not. It seemed the guard was too afraid of saying anything and stayed quiet about that night, which made sense. Who was willing to believe them?

     “You’re quite the storyteller, you know?” Affogato said with a small chuckle.

     The two were settled at Eclair’s desk as per usual, but not before some banter about Eclair’s sleep schedule, with Affogato suggesting he should rest but Eclair being too stubborn to go to bed for the sake of reanalyzing relics. Finally, after going back and forth for a few minutes, they settled with Eclair sitting next to Affogato and resting his head on his shoulder, tiredly but eagerly reading a medicinal scroll, as if this was always normal of him to do.

     “Hm?” Eclair gazed up at the other, a warm smile reaching his exhausted eyes.

     For some reason, Affogato didn’t feel as anxious with his feelings when the other nestled into his shoulder in such a manner. In fact, he didn’t seem to feel as much intimacy by these actions as he did when seeing Eclair’s smile or the way he spoke so passionately about his relics. Even so, there was a sense of warmth and comfort that was exerted by such a gesture that made Affogato forget himself briefly.

     Looking back at the other, Affogato spoke again, “The way you told that myth last night even had me shivering for a moment. You have quite the way with words.”

     They hadn’t spoken of the situation since that night. Instead, they were both too focused on the soft embrace they had with each other, which lingered the next day, and with helping Eclair start packing some of his materials. He’d be leaving soon, after all.

     “Is that how you see it?” Eclair said with a slight surprise only to look away with his head drifting from the other's shoulder, making his expression unreadable.

     “Did I say something wrong?”

     “Oh, no no no!” Raising his head up, Eclair looked back at the other while waving his hands away.

     “I’ve simply just…never heard someone describe me talking in such a way.”

     “Oh?” Affogato said with slight amusement. “Well, why not enlighten me for a bit? What do others think of how you speak?”

     Eclair paused a bit, staring down at the scroll left at the table with a now distant expression, a stark contrast to how Affogato seemed. It was quiet, save for the crackling of the fire that was now re-lit and a slight breeze outside.

     “They’re not the most pleasant…of thoughts.”

     Affogato’s expression changed at the sight of this, appearing more serious. He waited for Eclair to continue before saying anything.

     “It’s nothing too terrible, really.” A gaze facing the other and a sad smile that Affogato knew to read at this point. “Just a lack of appeal.”

     Eclair looked down again with a sigh, rolling up the medicinal scroll from the desk. The purple light of the flame would occasionally flicker on him, emphasizing the solemn yet sad expression that he attempted to hide.

     “Many of my students fall asleep during my lectures, and sometimes I’m too invested in what I’m teaching to even notice. Frankly, I would be fine if it were simply that; you know how tired students can get, but even people in my field and my museum tourists see my words as a bore, even though I enjoy describing everything in precise detail. I can barely articulate myself in a casual context either without…rambling about history, so I try to keep to myself and remain formal and punctual when I must, but it seems I’ll always find it difficult. Everyday, I tell myself that I’ll be concise and to the point, maybe I’ll even hope to be appealing with my words—you saw how I tried with the guard—but rarely does that ever work. I can’t help myself; I’ve always had a fascination for history and relics.” 

     From the mention of this, Eclair’s smile briefly had a hint of happiness to it, which left as quickly as it came, before he spoke again:

     “Most of the time, I stay in my museum to tend to the relics and not have to deal with the pres-...my present…Unfortunately, I can’t help but…feel-” Eclair paused before he reluctantly spat out his emotions.

     “I can’t help but feel isolated. I don’t feel like other people because I-…shut in my true self and act all dignified to at least gain some respect…and…other people don’t feel like me because of their boredom towards my passion. I-It hurts.”

     It was completely silent after that. By now, Eclair was hugging his knees and was looking straight, his breath slightly shaky as if he had finished running a mile. Affogato could just barely see the gloom in the other’s eyes from where he sat, now fairly distant from the other, but he could read it perfectly. He took this time to process Eclair’s words.

     Isolated…

     If there was anyone most familiar with that word, it would be none other than Affogato. He never found a place where he truly belonged; his entire birth dictated his lack of identity compared to the other coffee villagers, and his ideal lifestyle was very different from the lifestyle of the average Cacaonian, hence why he planned to overthrow the king in the first place. If he couldn’t conform with society, then he would form the perfect kingdom that would place him at the center. This, however, was where he and Eclair diverged from their similarities.

     Seemingly, Eclair cared a lot about how he was seen by others and combatted his lack of fitting in by trying to conceal a majority of his true self physically and mentally. Of course, that’s not to say Affogato never tried that before; many people in the kingdom trusted him and had a misleading view on how he truly was, save for the few against him. However, on the contrary, he wasn’t concealing himself to primarily be part of a society but rather to eventually gain an upper hand and live a life where he didn’t need to belong and could do anything he pleased without judgment.

     “I’m…sorry. I feel like I’ve said too much. I-” Eclair couldn’t find the words to continue speaking, so he simply sighed again, hugging his legs tighter.

     Regardless of this major difference, Affogato couldn’t help but frown at the sight of Eclair. The poor thing looked just how he described himself: isolated, not feeling like the others.

     “I-It hurts.”

     Come to think of it, did Eclair ever mention any other friends he had? It seemed he only spoke about a few colleagues in passing but didn’t necessarily sound as fond talking about them as he did when speaking about history or relics. With this thought in mind, the more Affogato tried thinking about what he knew about the other, the more he came to a realization:

     He didn’t truly know a lot about Eclair. In fact, it seemed this was the first time Eclair revealed a thing about himself, not his relics, not people he admired or colleagues, not even his knowledge of history, but himself as an individual.

     It felt wrong.

     Oddly enough, seeing Eclair like this, having nowhere to go, feeling the need to hide himself, couldn’t help but consistently remind Affogato of his own past: how he had to climb his way to the top, tooth and nail. As he continued comparing himself with the one huddled before him, a feeling rose within him, one that neither felt pleasant like the love he had felt the other day, nor felt all too familiar like loneliness or guilt. Instead, it was one that provoked Affogato to help the one person he suddenly had room in his heart to care about, regardless of how little he knew of the individual.

     Was this sympathy?

     Did he, Affogato, one who chose not to attach himself to others for his own goals, really stoop so low that he felt the urge to care for someone that wasn’t himself, simply because he saw himself in them?

     He didn’t have time to think of an answer as this unusual pity filled his being. Affogato couldn’t just leave the other; Eclair would be in ruins, and Affogato didn’t want to obtain guilt in the process. He needed to help Eclair, and he needed to help him now.

     Affogato sat closer to the other as he heard Eclair mutter something under his breath, stuck in his own mind, forgetting the other was there:

     “I’m just fussing over things that should barely affect me…”

     “Eclair.”

     “I feel so ungrateful. I have everything I could ever want…artifacts, relics, most of history at my disposal…so why?”

     “Eclair…”

     “Why must I be subject to this pain? Why does being alone hurt me?”

     “Eclair!”

     Eclair snapped out of his melancholic trance with a flinch and turned to face Affogato, who appeared quite worried, something he’d never admit was uncommon for him. Meanwhile, without much thought but with a lot of care, Affogato gently placed his hands onto the other’s face, cupping both of his cheeks, and saw a tear or two had strung from Eclair’s eyes.

     Oh how his heart longed for him to kiss those tears away, to embrace the other so close that they could feel each other’s hearts beating as one, to be the warmth in Eclair’s cold, harsh life! How Affogato wanted to tell Eclair that he didn’t have to be lonely, that he was right there to care about and love him, and how he understood his pain! Oh how Affogato yearned for people like them to be understood!

     Yet, Affogato’s mind directed him to wipe those tears away with his thumbs instead. His gaze bore into the other’s tired, olive eyes; neither of them could look away from each other. This tension caused Eclair’s cheeks to warm up a bit. Eventually, Affogato spoke again with a whisper:

     “You poor thing…”

     Usually, a sentence like this would be said by Affogato in a bitter, sarcastic sense, but this time, just for the one whose face he held tenderly, did he mean it in the most genuine way possible. Even Affogato was surprised at how he sounded as he said it, his hands slowly moving from Eclair’s smooth face down to the hands that huddled his knees to unwrap and grasp them tightly. 

     In response, Eclair could only look down. He couldn’t bear to see the other’s face; he feared pity too much. When nobody cared to be in Eclair’s presence, he was emptily pitied instead only for others to move on from him. He yearned for just anyone to know his pain, so that at least he wasn’t being sympathized for the sake of empathy.

     Affogato could only feel awkward from this gesture, unsure of whether what he would say would help, but it seemed that Eclair could use the other’s words right now.

     With one of his hands gently placed on Eclair’s head, stroking it slowly, tenderly, Affogato spoke:

     “I understand.”

     “D-Do…you?” Eclair slowly looked up at the other, expecting to see only a brief hint of worry on Affogato’s face now that he was being comforted.

     “Of course.”

     Affogato’s expression of genuine sympathy, as if he had a similar experience, still remained, to Eclair’s surprise. It seemed that Affogato wasn’t aware of how he appeared, or didn’t care, placing his focus solely onto the one before him. It made Eclair feel moved as he continued to stare. He wanted to believe that the other did care about him to a degree unlike the rest. He wanted someone to be there for him and speak and laugh with him as Affogato did.

     He wanted someone he could call a friend.

     A few more tears fell from Eclair's eyes before he rushed onto Affogato into a mournful embrace, wrapping his arms tightly around the other’s back with his fingers digging desperately for Affogato's care, burrowing his face back into his shoulder. Affogato was left surprised for a moment but just as quickly reciprocated, wrapping one of his arms around the other and stroking his hair with the same hand as before. As Eclair seeked comfort from him, Affogato spoke:

     “You’ve been wronged by everyone for simply being your own person…I’d say you shouldn’t care what others think about you.”

     “I-I know but-” Eclair’s voice was quite shaky. “I can’t h-help it…I still feel so alone and look to myself as the reason.”

     “Listen to me, Eclair,” Affogato said in a gentle tone, moving his face towards the top of the other’s head like the night before. “If people do not like you, that is their own issue. It isn’t your fault at all…maybe from being yourself, you’ll eventually find other people who’re interested in what you have to say.”

     Affogato felt like he wasn’t just speaking to Eclair anymore but also to his past self. For a good portion of his life, he had to reassure himself time and time again that perhaps regardless of his identity, there could be someone out there that was willing to accept him. In his case, however, he couldn’t keep telling himself this and not expect results, which was part of his motives for having a kingdom of his own. Perhaps for someone like Eclair, though, this advice could help.

     “L-Like you?” Eclair stuttered.

     That’s right, Eclair felt vulnerable enough around Affogato because he happened to show interest towards his passion and stayed with him thus far. Not to mention, the two let out glimpses of their true selves without backing away during Eclair’s stay.

     “Of course,” Affogato whispered with a hidden smile, “I’ll always be intrigued by your passion for your work…I’ll admit, I don’t just listen to you just to learn about history, but…” a pause, cheeks dusted lightly, “I enjoy seeing you so attached to it. I can’t help but want to know more about you,” Affogato couldn’t help blurting out. He was willing to say anything from his heart to console the other.

     “That’s…nice to hear. I wouldn’t mind knowing more about you too…”

     It was quiet again for a few moments, save for the sound of Eclair sighing shakily in Affogato’s embrace and Affogato stroking his hair. The two were alone, one still not knowing of the other’s loneliness, but at this moment, they were together. The rest of the world and its nuisances did not reach the two. It was an unusual experience for someone such as the royal advisor, but he cherished it nonetheless. Finally, Eclair drifted from the embrace and wiped his own tears, gazing at the other.

     “I’d like to apologize for…getting all worked up like that. I don’t know what came over me…”

     “No need. I was the one who got curious and asked about such a sensitive topic.”

     As he heard Affogato speak, Eclair picked up the now rolled up medicinal scroll and packed it away in one of several bags and suitcases he had opened. Affogato, in turn, observed the other placing the items. After a few moments, he spoke up again:

     “Do you need any help packing? Pardon me if this sounds rude, but the pace of one person is rather slow at such a scale of relics.”

     “Oh, there’s no need!” Eclair turned to face Affogato with a small smile.

     “But I insist! You see-”

     “Oh no no no, you wouldn’t pack it right. No offense.” Eclair interrupted, “I go by a very specific system to ensure all of my relics stay in perfect condition and remain perfectly organized when I get home!”

     “Is that why you arrived with all of these cases?” Affogato said with a small grumble, but not one of irritation.

     “Why, is there an issue?” Eclair said quite sternly with hints of eagerness in his voice.

     “Well, no. I just think you could use the extra hel-”

     “Noo! No! Believe me, I’m fine. I even planned out two nights of packing in total in case something like this were to happen!” A small grin formed on Eclair’s face. It seemed he was doing better already.

     “Why, we have a heart to heart, and then you turn around and get all stubborn?!” Affogato said with a harmless, light-hearted tone.

     “Yes.” Eclair turned around, looking through another case.

     Talk about blunt , Affogato thought with amusement.

     “Oh well, I guess there’s no convincing you, is there?” Affogato stood up and walked around, inspecting several of the cases and how they were organized. “I’ll just act as your entertainment so you won’t pass out on me.”

     “Of course,” Eclair said, half-listening, “By the way, I’d prefer if we spoke about something else now…”

     “Hm?”

     “I…Part of me doesn’t want to think about what just happened, so…” Eclair’s voice drifted.

     “I see.” Affogato said, sitting down. He pondered in silence for a few moments before coming up with a topic to talk about.

     “That guard seemed quite intimidating, didn’t they?”

     “You’re lucky you didn’t have to talk to them!” Eclair looked back at the other. “I was so afraid that I wanted to run and hide too. I know now not to anger the Cacaonian guards!” A chuckle.

     “Well, they are known not to be treated so lightly!” Affogato giggled a bit too. Suddenly, he came to a realization:

     The plan! Now’s my chance!

     He had the perfect transition, the perfect opportunity to tell Eclair of the rising tensions of the kingdom and make its reputation falter once and for all. This was what he was working towards the whole time, his catalyst to overthrow the king and start a new era of the Dark Cacao kingdom catering to him! And yet, part of him was stopping himself. After sharing such a personal moment with Eclair, twice now, it would be terrible to just use him for his plans. If Affogato was still the way he was before meeting Eclair, he would have done it much sooner. Instead, guilt panged within him. He felt that he loved Eclair too much to do something like this, something so cruel, yet unbeknownst to the other. That feeling again, love, was already proving to be a great poison, and for Affogato’s love, a bewitchment. However, even with all his feelings, he convinced himself that he had no choice, that Affogato made it this far. Why would he turn back now?

     Reluctantly, Affogato continued, “Even so…lately they’ve been more cautious.”

     “Hmm? How so?”

     “Well, it could be due to winter preparations, or perhaps something more…” Affogato said with a pondering expression.

     Eclair had placed a relic down and directed his attention fully at the other from across the room.

     “I’m listening.”

     “Erm, well…” Affogato looked slightly abashed as he spoke, “This is more of a theory I have but-”

     “Well, say it! It might be important!” Eclair, ever prepared, had taken out a notepad and a quill from who knows where, anticipating what the other had to say.

     “Alright, alright,” Affogato chuckled, “I simply think they’ve also been more cautious due to…certain events currently occurring in the kingdom.”

     “Oh?”

     “Lately, there have been tensions rising in this region, particularly with the throne. To summarize, our king has been making quite stubborn decisions and is mainly focused on keeping the wall reinforced for the winter. Many citizens have started to doubt His Majesty, and I fear that if he isn’t careful, he won’t be secure on the throne for much longer. It doesn’t help that his only son had gotten cursed only a short while ago from what I know. The poor thing needs a break.” Affogato said in a pitiful yet solemn tone, hoping that it sounded genuine, “I think that’s why many of the guards, watchers, and the rest of the warriors have been more wary these days. Perhaps knowing how unstable the king’s position is, they could be trying to give the kingdom some strength and stability.”

     “I see…” Eclair said, writing a few sentences down, “How do you feel about Dark Cacao Cookie?”

     Affogato anticipated a question like this. He responded quite eloquently, “Only as a royal advisor must feel. Otherwise, I wouldn't be in such a position.” However, he did not prepare himself for the next question.

     “What will you do?”

     “Pardon?”

     “What will you do?” Eclair stopped writing, “Your position grants you many strengths, and you seem to have a strong relationship with the locals. What will you do to ease this tension?”

     Ah.

     He nearly forgot Eclair still saw him in a similar light as other people, only much closer. In truth, Affogato had no plans to ease the tension. The whole point of this plan was so he could raise them. He could only look down and sigh.

     “I don’t believe I have an answer for that yet. It just goes to show how complicated our situation is.”

     “Well,” Eclair started, closing his notepad, “If you do not have an answer, then I don’t believe I could write much down to help.”

     “What?” Affogato said, attempting to hold his surprise.

     “I’m sorry, Affogato…I’m already very aware of the issues surrounding this kingdom at the moment, I and other scholars in fact. They’ve occurred for so long that most of these tensions you’ve stated have likely been written down already.”

     “How did you-”

     “Historians have their ways. Anyways, there hasn’t been anything new or revolutionary in a historical sense that has happened here so far, but many of us are aware that something could happen. Unfortunately, more and more people have been losing interest over what could happen. I actually came here mainly to learn more about the region’s heritage, to shed a bit of positivity in a time of great turmoil, but I was also curious of how this turmoil changed. I was hoping you’d have an answer, but for now I can’t write what’s already known. I apologize deeply, I wish there was more I could do.”

     A brief silence followed before Affogato spoke, having thought of what Eclair said.

     “If you’d like, I could try to find an answer to your question. Just because I don’t have one in mind right now does not mean I can’t think about it.”

     “Don’t stress yourself too much just because I have one night left. You can think it over even after.”

     “What do you mean?”

     “W-Well…” Eclair looked away shyly, “I was thinking about writing to you after I leave…I have a few pigeons and-”

     “I would love that.” a warm smile reached Affogato’s face.

     After that, the topic of that conversation weakened, and after some talking and packing, Affogato eventually had to leave for his own beauty sleep.

     “Be sure to get some rest yourself, Eclair!”

     “Oh, don’t worry, I’ll be sure to rest!”

     Affogato sighed before sliding Eclair’s door shut. 

     He’s definitely not sleeping tonight , he thought. 

     As Affogato snuck back to his quarters with a yawn, he couldn’t help but think of his conversation with Eclair on the state of the kingdom despite his exhaustion.

     What was he going to do?

Chapter Text

     By the time Affogato reached his room to rest, he was utterly exhausted and couldn’t manage any thoughts aside from the events of that night. It warmed his heart, comforting Eclair the way he did, being there by his side, bantering with him as though they’ve known each other their whole lives and not merely for a short span of time. It almost felt as though he was already dreaming, or perhaps living a dream that he never realized he wanted until recently. The warmth in his heart from this was enough to allow Affogato, snuggled in his sheets, to close his eyes and fall into slumber with peace and tranquility.

     He almost forgot who he was.

     A faint amount of sunlight poured generously over Affogato’s face, slowly waking him up but not without stirring about in his sheets first, grumbling as he drifted away from his slumber, wanting to sleep in for a few more minutes. Eventually, after giving up on this pursuit under the assumption that he likely had duties to attend to for the day, Affogato sat up and briefly stretched with a loud yawn before staring at the perpetrator of his awakening: a foggy, matte window to his side.

     Affogato was able to somewhat tell that today would be a warmer day than usual, with the window being slightly dewy from the sunlight’s reflection. He found the light quite strange as he stared into the pale yellow light that the window absorbed; more often than not, the kingdom would be fairly cloudy even in the warmer seasons, meaning sunlight was quite rare, with melting at that. Come to think of it, it was rare for the sun to appear as often as it did during the past few days. Perhaps it was a sign of change or maybe even luck, but for Affogato, he did not think of such meanings as he usually did.

     Sitting down and staring emptily, Affogato’s thoughts felt like a mixed clutter. Part of him wanted to collect them all, to remember and reflect. but another part of him wanted to continue staring in silence at the window, inspecting the few drops of water settling onto it alongside its corners of frost.

     As his routine usually goes, he chose the latter. So there Affogato sat, mindlessly sitting and staring in place, barely any thoughts approaching his mind. The whole event felt like a brief pause, as though time itself along with Affogato’s responsibilities no longer existed. Yet, no matter how much at peace he felt in such a moment, something in the back of Affogato’s mind bothered him, and he couldn’t seem to ignore it without thinking of the events that took place the night before, this time with a rested mind.

     One by one, memories of the night before started appearing in Affogato’s mind: Eclair resting his head on his shoulder, Eclair’s silent yet shaky sobs, and the warmth Eclair gave as he allowed himself to be so vulnerable around Affogato. He then couldn’t help but think of what he did in response, Affogato feeling the other’s soft face as he wiped his tears, Affogato tenderly speaking words of reassurance, Affogato allowing Eclair to be vulnerable enough to embrace him, and Affogato allowing himself to pity Eclair of all people, but all for what? That was what ultimately bothered him: though he felt close to the historian at that point, Affogato failed to use Eclair to his advantage for his plan to display the kingdom in a terrible light, which took him a while to set into motion in the first place. Instead, he pitied and spent lots of time and attention towards a person that he knew he should have seen as weak and not worth his time.

     Yet he didn’t.

     Looking further back, Affogato then began thinking of the past few nights. How foolish and lax he had been acting, even for his standards! Time and time again he delayed his plans because he was so distracted by someone he only knew quite briefly, even going so far as to fool around and seemingly fall for him. Affogato was supposed to have Eclair wrapped around his finger, not the other way around! Yet, it felt as though he of all people was cornered, stuck between pursuing his feelings of genuine joy and love further or focusing on what he thought he wanted most in his life using anyone below him to get there.

     Affogato squinted at the palms of his hands as he continued to reflect on the past few days.

     And he chose to comply with Eclair, someone he should have seen in his eyes as “below him”, to come up with a way to “ease the tension” of the kingdom, when he was trying to make it worse? It seemed loving someone was worse than he thought if it changed a person to such a degree. Affogato couldn’t help but grumble as he stood up and headed for the bathroom. 

     “What will you do?”

     He thought back to Eclair’s question, splashing his face with water and looking back at the bathroom mirror’s cold reflection before him, one he wasn’t sure he could say belonged to him anymore. It seemed even thinking about the historian made his pupils enlarge, making Affogato appear less and less like one to pull the strings on people and more and more like the type of weakling that he couldn’t even spare to acknowledge. The more he saw himself like this, the more it left a nauseating feeling in his gut, not just because of this feeling of weakness but also the possibilities of what would become of this, or more importantly, what would become of him. 

     Looking at himself this way for too long, Affogato scoffed before turning away from the mirror with a grimace, drying his face and walking back to his room to retrieve his staff. He no longer wanted to see this sentimental part of him; it plagued him, love plagued him. Sitting back onto his bedding, Affogato observed the intricacies of his staff, pondering a few more minutes about his situation. Suddenly, with a smirk, he thought of a way to change the tides and place everything into his favor.

     What will I do?

     Standing up again while stifling a yawn, Affogato twirled his staff again and tapped it onto the ground with a stern clack. He couldn’t help himself from snickering.

     What I should have done a long time ago.

     For the day being warmer than usual, the night was sure cold in comparison. Affogato shivered just a bit as he wandered through the empty corridors once again to perform his nightly ritual. Although today felt draining and boring to the shaman as usual, he felt a new sense of vigor as he once again allowed the chilling yet familiar embrace of the night to guide him to that same dead end as before, its shelf seemingly untouched to others except Affogato. Eager to execute his new plan, yet still remaining careful, Affogato checked behind him while placing his staff to the side before pushing the shelf, and furthermore the wall, open. Picking up his staff again, Affogato quickly went through the secret doorway exclusively known to him and just as quickly closed the door behind him. He had no time to sigh of relief due to his hastiness to set his plan into motion. So, lighting up his staff, Affogato began to go deep into the stairwell behind the entrance at a faster pace than he usually did, once again hearing more and more of those faint whispers and murmurs.

     Back in the morning, Affogato devised a plan that would no longer keep him cornered, torn with his emotions, but would now give him the upper hand that he originally should have had. He would put Eclair under a spell, one that would influence the other to do Affogato’s bidding, and as a result, create tension in the kingdom that Affogato oh-so desired. With Eclair under his bidding, Affogato could make the historian write whatever he desired, even if it was false information about the kingdom for the sake of making its image look worse. Perhaps such misinformation could be effective towards the people of the nation if he could convince them well enough. Then, with all the tension surrounding the throne and whether or not the king is still worthy to rule, Affogato could swoop in, convincing the people that there must be a new era of ruling and that he would be willing to take such a heavy responsibility. Just the thought of it made him grin widely, like a child receiving lots of candy. At that final point, he wouldn’t even have to move as much as a finger to overthrow Dark Cacao! 

     Affogato couldn’t help but giggle just a bit at this plan as he continued down the stairs; his mind must have been impeccable for him to come up with something at such short notice. However, there were some things that he had to make sure of. With the nightly rituals that Affogato performed, the spells that he would cast onto people did not reach their full potential, instead acting as a target. What Affogato had to do for the spell placed onto his victims to completely work was to find them physically and fully activate the spell with his staff. In order to ensure that Eclair was under his spell, Affogato decided that he would pay a visit to the other directly after his ritual and find a place outdoors where they could truly be alone together, seeing as he didn’t want a repeat of the guard visiting the two, and see to it that the spell worked without any interruptions.

     It was all going to plan so far, Affogato hearing the whispers by his altar getting louder. He managed to acquire much more food from the kingdom’s pantry than usual and even brought several incense sticks to replace the old ones in the bowl by the altar, just so he could make this work with the highest possible chance. Letting his mind wander a bit, Affogato placed the food on the altar’s platters and stepped back to change the incense, using the candle next to the bowl to light them the way he always did. It was the same song and dance, Affogato hearing more murmurs and feeling a breeze pick up against the altar and the noise it made, smelling the fresh scent of the new incense sticks. Now, all he had to do was kneel before the altar, speak his prayers, and then he could flawlessly execute his plans. Placing his staff down once again, Affogato let out a small grin and kneeled beside it, facing the altar as he always did, clasping his hands and closing his eyes, thinking of his ambitions just for a bit before he was ready to cast his spell with his prayers. Soon, he would tarnish the kingdom’s name, soon he would put that wretched king into ruins, soon he would take over and become ki-

     “I understand.”

     “D-Do…you?” 

     Affogato snapped from his thoughts with a gasp, opening his eyes to complete darkness in the room, with even the previous whispers and breeze being shunned slightly. It seemed that the cursed flame that he lit onto the candle beside the incense bowl went out. Even so, rather than focusing on that, with a shaky breath Affogato slowly looked down onto his palms that now opened on his lap in the darkness, reflecting on what he said to Eclair the previous night.

     “What am I doing?”

     Of all his years in his life, Affogato felt that Eclair was the first person that he had more than an ounce of care for, yet he turns around and does this? In the case of the self he knew before meeting Eclair, he knew he would have done it immediately without hesitation, but at this point, was that self even him? Who...even was he? Was he Affogato the ambitious shaman, ready to betray anyone to get to the top, distancing himself from people in the process, or was he Affogato with no strings attached, allowing himself to love and be loved? Was any of this, doing anything to get to the top without remorse, even what Affogato truly wanted? But of course, it should have been; he didn't work his way up to where he was now without a will, a longing, to do so. So, why did he want to stop now, when he was so close to attaining what he envisioned for such a painfully long time?

     “I can’t help but want to know more about you.”

     “That’s…nice to hear. I wouldn’t mind knowing more about you too…”

     He then realized he was now facing an emotional consequence of attempting to use the one person he loved in such a vile manner: guilt. 

     Affogato felt guilty and could only fix it by either desensitizing himself to such guilt to continue pursuing his destiny, or relieve both himself and the other of the pain by not using Eclair.

     “You flatter me so, Eclair.”

     “Well, I mean it! People like you should be remembered in history as heroes.”

     “Some hero I am…” Affogato grumbled, his hands gripping the floor at this point, with a few tears nearly approaching his eyes. It frustrated him, feeling the need to do any of this, digging himself into a hole that he knew would be difficult to leave out of guilt yet still proceeding with it. He wasn’t sure he had the heart to commit to such a plan anymore, even if he’d beat himself up later depending on what he did from here.

     Unfortunately, he did not have time to dwell too much in his frustrations, for the voices by the altar began with several piercing screeches, shaking the room with their noise, and the wind picked up, sending a shiver of alarm down Affogato’s spine. Right, he had to re-ignite the candle and hurry with the ritual, or else who knows what could happen!

     Frantically, Affogato scrambled back up, lighting up his staff and rushing to the candle to relight it. He then immediately sat back down on his knees with his staff; he had to think of what to do, and he had to think fast or else he could ruin the entire ritual much more.

     It was clear that Affogato was cornered once again; although he now had a plan that would allow him a mere chance at having a catalyst to overthrow the king, in exchange he needed to use the one person who moved his heart compellingly, regardless of how many times he had denied this in the past. Either that, or he could cast his prayers onto other people and leave Eclair be, which would only delay Affogato in finding a way to the throne. Even if he decided now that he should use Eclair, Affogato realized that there could be some drawbacks aside from the one he already felt. There was a chance that Eclair would try staying in the kingdom to remain devoted to Affogato, which would arouse a lot of suspicion towards him, seeing as this was the final night Eclair was staying here for. There was no way Eclair could just change his mind without others noticing.

     The wind sent another sharp breeze against the altar’s doors and tassels. and another set of screeches could be heard, shaking the room once again, this time even harder. Affogato was nearly out of time, so he had to do what he would usually do: clasp his hands together, close his eyes, then pray, even if he was panicked. With his quick, frantic whispers, the voices and the breeze from the altar eventually simmered down to a consistent intensity. Finally, Affogato was able to stand up and tap his staff against the floor, so that everything would sharply quiet down once and for all.

     He hoped he wouldn't regret the decision he made.

     With a sigh of relief, Affogato managed to sneak back into his room. He still had plans to visit Eclair that night, which was unfortunate since he looked and felt like a mess after that stressful ritual. Affogato decided not to change into his sleepwear, instead keeping on what he usually wore on-duty. Going into the bathroom and viewing his reflection, he noticed the mess that his face of makeup became. Just how much did he cry? When did he even cry? He didn’t want to think too long about that, removing his makeup with a wet rag and reapplying it again. Affogato didn’t want to appear upset to Eclair, after all. Finally, he let his hair out of his typical bun and combed it out before setting off to the guest quarters where Eclair resided.

     At that point, Affogato visiting the other was such a routine that Eclair expected him to tap the door and would always answer such tapping with Affogato in mind. So, it was no surprise that by the time Eclair finished packing all of his new finds, he heard that familiar tapping sound against the door. Knowing who it was, Eclair eagerly slid the door open, ready to spend his final night at the kingdom with the one before him.

     Affogato looked different than how Eclair usually saw him; Eclair hadn’t seen the other with makeup on or the outfit he typically wore in such a long time, not to mention he never saw his hair let out. It looked rather soft to the touch, smelling of vanilla and another strong scent that Eclair could only once again assume was perfume. There was something about Affogato’s hair, all pooled out like that perhaps, making Eclair not turn his eyes away from him. Yet, Affogato’s appearance, however much different he seemed on a positive note, seemed to contrast that of his expression. Affogato usually had a signature smile to him, but there was none of that this time, instead having his brows furrowed and a frown approaching his lips, already a worrisome sign. Affogato’s eyes seemed to not reach the one staring at him, instead highlighted more by his dark circles than his purple eyeshadow. 

     He looked elegantly exhausted.

     To Eclair, it definitely seemed as though Affogato didn’t want to address what happened to have him look the way he did, so instead of immediately confronting this issue directly, Eclair decided that perhaps distracting him from whatever was on his mind could comfort him.

     Little did he know that he was the one on Affogato’s mind.

     “Oh, it’s so good to see you again, Affogato!” Eclair said with a grin, “Come inside!”

     “Well, I couldn’t miss your last day here, could I?” Affogato tried responding in a witty tone, slowly regaining his composure.

     The two were then seated on the floor across from each other on the now empty table.

     “Goodness, I don’t believe we have any relics to talk about tonight!” Eclair said with a small giggle to follow.

     “Well about that…” Affogato let out a small smirk, albeit not as easily as he usually did, before speaking again, “To my knowledge, I believe I have one final relic for you.”

     “Oh dear,” Eclair let out a slight frown. “I might not be able to pack it in with the others this late. I just finished packing and everything!”

     “Oh, I don’t believe you’ll even need to pack it,” Affogato chuckled airily, slowly grazing his hands against his shoulder to locate his fur boa.

     “Affogato…”

     Eclair saw as the one sitting across from him slowly and meticulously took the boa off from his shoulders with both hands, offering it to him. Somehow, although this moment felt similar to the first time Affogato gave Eclair his boa, there was a different, much more pleasant air to it. For one, it seemed several emotions, such as joy, reached Affogato’s eyes doing this, something Eclair noticed wasn’t as prominent the first time. 

     “A memento of our meeting,” Affogato quietly spoke, a now softer smile replacing his smirk, “You can do as you please with it: put it on display in your museum you spoke of, use it for your research, anything. All I ask is for you to keep it.”

     Holding back his initial excitement, which could be seen shimmering on his eyes, Eclair couldn’t help but hesitate a moment to think. Looking at the boa Affogato was offering to him for a few moments, several questions graced his mind.

     “You’re…really giving this to me? What will you wear to keep warm then?”

     Only then did Eclair decide to open his hands, showing that he wasn’t against the idea of keeping it but was just concerned.

     “I could always find a new one to wear,” As Affogato gave Eclair the boa along with his ownership of it, he noticed how he grazed his hands against the other’s, similar to when Eclair returned it on his first day at the kingdom. This time, however, both of their hands lingered close together, Affogato’s fingertips shakily touching the back of Eclair’s hands. 

     Ever since the events of that day, everything felt wrong for Affogato, from visiting or talking with Eclair to even so much as thinking of the other. Touching Eclair’s hands felt like touching hot coals; a small, yet agitated voice at the back of his mind screamed at him, demanding him to avoid them, knowing how he’d regret touching them, approaching them, and yet Affogato couldn’t bear to let his hands go, thus the shakiness. It got oddly quiet, aside from a small sigh that Affogato let out.

     Eclair noticed this, drifting his hands away from the other’s to wrap the boa around both of his shoulders. Unfortunately, this caused Affogato to slowly drop his hands onto the table, his smile no longer reaching his eyes. Such an expression stung Eclair, so he tried easing the tension by slowly having his own hands reach the other’s.

     “May I?” a whisper heard only between the two.

     No! Don’t let him...

     Affogato gulped before nodding, allowing Eclair to hold up the other's hands and lock both of theirs together. Eclair couldn’t help but gaze at the other with a worried expression and decided to speak again, this time addressing his observations.

     “Are you…doing alright? You haven’t been acting like yourself today, and you looked exhausted coming in.”

     As if he knows who I am.

     “You’re quite blunt when you want to be, you know?” Affogato sighed again, his eyes meeting the other’s.

     “I’m simply concerned, is all,” Eclair looked away, as if in realization, “Oh no, this wasn’t because of how I acted last night, was it?”

     “No, no!” Affogato shook his head, grasping Eclair's hands tighter, “It’s just…”

     If he said the full truth, that he contemplated using Eclair for his own gain, the two would both be left in heartbreak under the impression that they could have had a genuine friendship for once in their lives. So, Affogato settled with a murmured half-truth despite the back of his mind trying to force him away from speaking.

     “I’m…going to miss you.”

     Fortunately, he didn’t need to repeat himself, since to his surprise, Eclair responded with an air of pity.

     “I see…is that why you appear so distressed?”

     “Perhaps so.”

     It became awkwardly quiet for a while, with Eclair inspecting Affogato’s hands and their slight roughness. Both had a lot that they could have said in such a moment, but none of them could find the right words to say them, so they were both stuck, lost in thought against such a loud silence.

     “You know…I’ll miss you too.” Eclair finally whispered, breaking the silence, “I did say I’d try writing, but it’s just not the same as being with you…right now.”

     Affogato stayed quiet, which allowed for Eclair to observe the other closely again. It seemed that the other heard what he said, for his expression appeared comforted to a degree. However, looking at the other’s surroundings, Eclair flinched in surprise over something he should have noticed from the beginning.

     “Your staff…you didn’t bring it with you?”

     That’s right. As he was getting ready before visiting Eclair, Affogato decided to leave it in his room.

     Affogato looked back at the other, “Oh, about that…” a sigh, “I didn’t feel there was much of a need for it tonight.”

     “But didn’t that guard say something about you clinging onto it? I’ve never seen you without it before.”

     “That is but a rumor,” Affogato crossed his arms and looked away with a small humph! “Don’t tell me you believed such a thing!”

     “Sounds like you’re in better spirits already,” Eclair chuckled lightheartedly. At this point, he knew when to sense the other’s sarcastic gestures or comments. “So then, why didn’t you think you needed it tonight?”

     “Hmm…well, I didn’t think we’d be spending the night here only,” Affogato smiled again, no longer dwelling as much in his sadness, “See, I had plans for us tonight.”

     Eclair let out a light gasp before speaking excitedly, “You mean you’re taking me somewhere?”

     “Well, of course. I couldn’t just have us spend your final night without doing anything special.”

     “Where are we going then?” Eclair stood up quickly with an air of eagerness, reinforcing the boa on his shoulders. In turn, Affogato stood slowly and chuckled.

     “Ever the eager one, aren’t you? It wouldn’t be special if I told you right now,” Affogato walked next to him, “You’ll simply have to follow me to find out.”

     So the two left Eclair's quarters and passed by the dark corridors of the kingdom in silence. In order to not lose sight of the other, Affogato decided to have Eclair hold his hand, this time feeling much more confident in such a decision than before. There wasn’t much conversation that could be made during this time, considering the fact that there could still be guards on the loose, so they both continued to slip into the twilight, with the twists and turns of the corridors in such an atmosphere feeling like their own personal dance. Eventually, the two reached what appeared to be a large back door of the place. Although Eclair could barely see, Affogato faced him and put a finger on his own mouth before slowly and gently pulling it open, motioning Eclair afterwards to follow. Once Eclair left the door, Affogato slowly pushed it closed with a bit of force.

     Even though the night was clear, wind still followed it, causing Eclair to shiver and hold the boa closer to himself. Affogato wasn’t as cold as the other due to the coffee in him, so he stayed close by the other while the two walked along a path following the door, its sides lined by rows of bamboo. Only then did Eclair decide to speak up, albeit in a fairly loud whisper.

     “How did you even know where to go the whole time, let alone in the dark?!”

     “I have my ways in knowing the ins and outs of this kingdom.”

     “So it’s a secret?”

     Affogato giggled and turned to Eclair before responding, “Why, of course. It wouldn’t exactly be interesting or special if I told everyone, wouldn’t it?”

     “I…suppose not,” Eclair said with lighthearted defeat before continuing with ambition in his voice, “Then perhaps one day I’ll find out about the inner workings of the kingdom myself without having to step foot in it!”

     “Is that a challenge? Nobody knows of its inner workings better than I do,” Affogato stopped with a smirk, now completely facing Eclair.

     “No,” Eclair smiled back before continuing.

     “It’s a promise.”

     A good majority of the walk afterwards was fairly quiet, the two eventually drifting from the path they were walking in and heading further into the forest. It seemed that wherever they were going, Affogato had left marks on trees in order to recall where to go. As the two further ascended up a hill, Eclair couldn’t help but feel slightly cautious about this whole ordeal.

     “We’re quite far away from where we left, you know? Just where are you taking us?”

     “Hmm, I won’t say exactly yet, but,” Affogato glanced back towards the other, “It’s a perfect place for sightseeing.”

     “Are you sure it’s safe out here? I’ve heard that many creatures show up outside even behind the kingdom's walls, especially at night.”

     Affogato turned around again, placing a hand on Eclair’s shoulder, whispering to him ever so sweetly.

     “You don’t think I’ve taken measures against that?”

     “Well…” Eclair looked away and murmured, “You don’t exactly seem the type to do such a thing.”

     This caused Affogato to click his tongue in slight offense, although Eclair wasn’t completely wrong. Seeing this, however, Eclair looked back at him and spoke apologetically with a frown.

     “Oh, dear! I didn’t mean that in any rude way! I was just surprised that you managed to find time to do all of this, is all…since you said that one time that you spent most of the day on your duties,” Eclair looked away again, out of some sort of nervousness, “You have my respect for that…”

     Affogato couldn’t help but feel pity stirring in him again, thinking for a few moments before speaking again.

     “My apologies…I must have misinterpreted you then.”

     “No, no! I simply should have elaborated. I thought we were bantering like we usually do.”

     A chuckle came from Affogato as he clasped Eclair’s hands in his.

     “Well, it seems we’re going nowhere blaming ourselves. Why don’t we just continue walking? We’re nearly there.”

     Eclair let out a small smile and quietly nodded, indicating his agreement on the matter.

     Finally, after a few more minutes of walking, they reached a clearing at the top of the hill they were ascending, which revealed what appeared to be an abandoned, cylindrical building, likely a watchtower. Eclair couldn’t contain his excitement, rushing to the tower and inspecting its material, immediately bombarding the other with questions.

     “Amazing! How did you come to find this?! It’s so remarkable!”

     “I knew you would enjoy it,” a hidden, soft smile, “I happened to stumble upon it during a stroll one night when I couldn’t sleep.”

     “Ooh! Tell me more!”

     “After I went here the first time, I could only assume that this tower was made to be temporary, far before the kingdom’s walls were built, since it’s far behind them. It seems…different looking than how our watchtowers look now.” Affogato felt prideful as he spoke, hoping that Eclair was impressed.

     “It sure does! I’ve never seen such architecture on a Cacaonian watchtower before, but you’re right. It was definitely made to be temporary, seeing as the material is not as stable as the towers now, but it could still manage being used for a time. Honestly, I’m surprised it’s lasted this long if it was made before the walls!”

     “Yes, though it was unfortunate that it no longer provided a use, but through my time with it, I’ve found it to be quite the spot for stargazing.”

     “Stargazing?!” Eclair looked back at Affogato with a large grin, warm enough to melt his heart and dust his cheeks with blush.

     “W-Well yes, I suppose…” Affogato coughed and looked away. The other was too breathtaking at moments like these.

     Eclair, after a small squeal, then rushed, no, practically jumped onto Affogato into a tight embrace, his face directly next to the person's he embraced.

     “Oh, thank you, thank you! You don’t know how much this fills me with joy!”

     This left Affogato speechless, the embrace and all, but hearing those words caused him to let out a grin as well, eager to show the one he cherished more of the place.

     “We should get going then! You haven’t even seen the view it has.”

     “Right! Wait, are you positive it’s still stable?”

     “But of course! Just because it was temporary doesn’t mean it’d last a short time.”

     As the two went inside the tower and up its steps, Eclair inspected as much as he could, even though he didn’t bring any writing materials. Eventually, the two reached the tower’s highest floor, which had several benches behind each window opening. Although the abandoned tower, against Affogato’s liking, was dusty in some areas, even after previous attempts of trying to dust the place out of it, there was something oddly comforting about being there with Eclair, something he appreciated, something that made him fall in love with him over and over again. Meanwhile, Eclair, ever the bold one, swept away some of the remaining dust on a bench facing a large window opening to the sky and sat on it, motioning the other to do the same. Affogato sat next to the other, leaving a small space between them, watching the stars with him.

     The watchtower definitely had a great view, feeling far more private and endearing than if the two simply stayed outside and looked at the sky. However, it was still quite chilly, especially for Eclair since he simply wore his sleepwear and the boa, which only subsided back when the two walked up the hill because Affogato stayed very close to him, keeping him slightly warm. A small breeze picked up in the tower, causing Eclair to shiver from time to time, which distracted him as much as he wanted to enjoy this moment. Affogato turned around from the window after hearing Eclair’s teeth chattering, suddenly remembering the space between them.

     “Oh, no…I should have known you’d have gotten cold.”

     “I-It’s nothing, really! I simply forgot to wear something warmer for the occasion…”

     “Eclair, I never told you we were going outside.”

     “Oh, right!” Eclair realized, “I guess we were both forgetful in the moment then.”

     There was a pause at this epiphany, only for both Affogato and Eclair to laugh to themselves about it for a few moments. Unfortunately, this was cut off by Eclair shivering again, causing Affogato to lean closer to the other before whispering to him.

     “Here, let me warm you up…”

     Saying this, Affogato was ready to embrace him from the side, only for Eclair to stop him.

     “Wait, Affo.”

     “Hm?” Affogato slightly drifted away before speaking, “Is something the matter?”

     “No, no. It’s just…are you not cold yourself?” Saying this, Eclair removed one side of the boa from his shoulders.

     “Well, clearly not as much as you,” Affogato saw the one before him unwrapping the boa and spoke up again, “What are you doing?”

     “Making sure you’re comfortable as well,” Eclair responded, opening his arms with another shiver, “I want you to enjoy this night as much as you have allowed me…”

     Seeing this struck Affogato speechless for a few moments over just how much Eclair too cared about him. With enough vigor, no longer focusing on the back of his mind, Affogato leaned awfully close to the other, placing a hand on Eclair’s cheek, observing his face. They stayed like that for a few moments, Eclair gazing back with intrigue and a possible speck of desire over what the other would do next. Affogato simply smiled warmly at him.

     “Never change, Eclair.”

     He moved his head onto the other’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around him in such a warm embrace, allowing Eclair, now not as cold, to wrap the boa around the both of them and bring Affogato closer to him with his own arms. Affogato let out a large exhale that he didn’t realize he was holding in, relaxing his own shoulders as Eclair ran his hands up and down his back. It was quiet, aside from the occasional sweep of the wind and the slow sound of the two breathing, together as one. The embrace, the ambience, being so close to someone who he cherished heavily, all of this allowed Affogato to once again forget everything that burdened him so, closing his eyes and letting out a soft hum, further relaxing and leaning into Eclair.

     After a day so intense, he really needed this.

     They stayed that way for a long, long time, Eclair gazing out into the sky and occasionally back at Affogato, while Affogato would gaze out ahead from time to time with half-lidded eyes or keep his eyes closed, his head still snuggled into Eclair’s shoulder and his own shoulder wearing the boa with the other.

     “Affo, look! An aurora!” Eclair eagerly whispered while pointing out, causing the one keeping him warm to open his eyes slightly.

     He was right, there was one, and goodness was it beautiful, with its green streaks tinged with violet waving along the sky. Yet, Affogato did not look at it for too long, instead gazing up at the one he continued to snuggle with and how excited Eclair looked, staring at the view and whispering to him of his knowledge all at the same time.

     “I’ve heard they’re quite rare due to the cloudiness of the kingdom. Ohh, I’m so happy we were able to see it!”

     “I’m happy to have spent time with you like this…” a murmur.

     “What was that?” Eclair turned around and looked at him.

     “Oh, nothing…I think I’m just feeling sleepy,” Affogato yawned, closing his eyes again.

     The aurora waved around the sky for several more minutes before slowly disappearing without a trace. At that point, Eclair stopped looking at the sky and had his full attention focused on the one who accompanied him. On the other hand, Affogato appeared to have fallen asleep due to the comfort of snuggling into Eclair, his breathing quite slow and his grip on the other slightly loosened, which the other just happened to notice. Eclair smiled warmly at the sight, moving one of his hands up to stroke Affogato’s hair that he enjoyed seeing pool around him. As he felt Affogato’s soft hair, Eclair couldn’t help but sigh.

     If only you knew how much you’ve moved my heart…

     I’ll miss you so much, Affogato.

     Affogato slowly stirred awake from the touch, eyelids clearly heavy from both physical and mental exhaustion. Usually, he’d be irritated upon being awoken from his beauty sleep, but with the one he rested on, it was different.

     “Mn…Eclair?” A faint whisper.

     Eclair stared back at Affogato fighting the urge to fall asleep again, making sure not to whisper too loud.

     “We should head back…it wouldn’t be ideal for us to rest here.”

     “Too tired to walk…” Affogato responded tiredly, his eyes closing again.

     Eclair thought for a moment. If the two stayed in the tower for the night, he risked eventually getting cold, even with the heat of Affogato’s body. Not only that, but the kingdom would have to look for them afterwards. There was also no way for only one of them to go back as much as Affogato seemed fine alone; if Eclair went back, he’d surely get lost regardless of the marked trees and freeze as a result, but Affogato was too tired to go back, and Eclair would still freeze in the tower. Also, Eclair simply couldn’t stand the idea of leaving Affogato alone. It seemed more that Eclair was wasting time pondering between these options while knowing what needed to be done, but eventually, he mustered up the courage to tap Affogato slightly awake and spoke again.

     “I’ll carry you back.”

     That was enough to shoot Affogato’s eyes open regardless of how tired he was.

     “What?!”

     “Think about it, I’ll be able to keep warm if I hold you, and you can try telling me the directions back.”

     “Hmm…” Affogato yawned as he pondered for a bit before speaking again, “I’d definitely go crazy if I had to constantly wake up and point out directions, and we could get lost if I made a tired mistake. But…” a sleepy smile, “I prepared a spell for this just in case.”

     With a tired snap of a finger, one of Affogato’s hands began to contort on its own as if it were controlled by a puppeteer, moving to point in a specific direction. The veins of that hand glowed light purple, and the whole thing made Eclair flinch.

     “And how would er-…this…help us?”

     “I’m bonded to my staff,” another yawn as his eyes closed, his glowing hand still pointing, “If I happen to lose it, I can use this spell to find it, hence why I left it in my room…”

     “That’s…really clever! You’re quite the prepared one!” Eclair exclaimed in fascination. "But...couldn't you have left it in my room then?"

     "I don't trust those guest quarters," Affogato grumbled.

     “If you say so. One last question..." Eclair said with intrigue, "What if you start sleep-talking? I’ve heard you mumble in your sleep plenty of times when you’d sleep in my room for the night, you know.”

     That was enough to open Affogato’s eyes again in surprise, with the fear that he could’ve said anything about Eclair when he was asleep.

     “Did I ever say anything weird?”

     “No, not really. You’d mostly mumble out words or incoherent phrases.”

     Affogato sighed with relief and relaxed before responding.

     “I think we should be fine…If I recall, I only sleep-talk when I’m deep in sleep.”

     “Then it’s settled,” Eclair stood, rewrapping his boa around himself, facing his back towards the other, “I’ll carry you on my back!”

     Affogato, slowly but surely, crawled onto Eclair’s back as the other carried his legs. One of his hands wrapped around Eclair’s torso while the other hand contorted and pointed to the direction his staff was in. As he buried his face onto Eclair’s shoulder again, Affogato whispered.

     “Are you sure you’ll be able to carry me back?”

     “Why, I might not be a warrior, but I’m only unathletic when it comes to running! I have enough arm strength to carry large tomes with the gravity of my spells, so we should be fine. Honestly, I’m more concerned about your hand hurting.”

     “It won’t. The healing magic in my veins should constantly prevent that.”

     “I see…let’s proceed then!”

     The two then went down the tower and the hill, all the way back to the path they left and the exact entrance in the kingdom they initially proceeded from. During that time, Affogato laid fast asleep oddly comfortably on his former boa atop Eclair. Fortunately, since the two were now descending the hill instead of ascending, Eclair was able to manage as he carried Affogato on his back, inspecting the other’s spell-cast hand as it contorted to a new direction.

     Eugh, does it always have to move like that? Eclair thought as he flinched. Why doesn’t it just point normally?!

     Eventually, after Eclair slowly pushed the back door to the kingdom open, the two managed to sneak through the dark corridors again. The healing magic in Affogato’s hand gave a soft glow and allowed Eclair to see just enough light to spot walls and turns. Although Affogato said he only sleep-talked when deep in sleep, Eclair was still worried of that happening, so he silently picked up the pace. With Affogato on his back, Eclair made the same twists and turns that the two left from, hoping that nobody would be around to catch them, which thankfully did not occur. Finally, the two approached Affogato’s door, which Eclair, to his distaste, found out by Affogato’s hand sharply contorting to the direction of it. With a much quicker pace, Eclair slid the door open, went into the room, slid the door closed, and gently placed Affogato onto his bedding. He didn’t realize how exhausted he was, bending over to catch his breath as he saw Affogato open his eyes slightly and yawn.

     “Are we here?”

     “Yes-” Eclair was still catching his breath, “Where’s hah- your staff?”

     Just barely rested, Affogato managed to open his eyes for a bit, slowly standing up to locate his staff inside a dresser closet, taking it out with the hand he applied the spell onto and dispelling it as a result. He then yawned and stretched, still rather tired since he spoke in irritation.

     “Ugh, I need to remove my makeup.”

     “May I come with you? You might fall asleep in the bathroom.”

     “Hm? I suppose so…” Affogato said as he proceeded into the bathroom, with Eclair following him.

     Eclair ended up being right; Affogato sat there for a few moments, staring at the wet rag on the bathroom counter that he didn’t realize was already used, constantly closing his eyes and then flinching himself awake.

     “Here, let me…”

     Turning the other to face him, Eclair crouched to Affogato’s level and attempted to clean the used rag to the best of his ability before placing it on parts of Affogato’s face to remove his makeup. Thankfully, since Affogato’s eyes were closed, Eclair managed to gently apply the wet rag on his eyelids, attentively removing his eyeshadow. After that, Eclair wiped away much of Affogato’s other makeup with care as he opened his eyes again slightly.

     “Eclair…” he whispered.

     “Hm?” Eclair answered, his attention still focused on cleaning the other’s face.

     “You know you can stop now…”

     “There’s still some areas I need to clean,” Eclair said, recleaning the rag before rubbing it on Affogato’s face again. It was silent for a few moments, this time with Affogato looking at Eclair’s focused expression. There did seem to be bags under Eclair’s eyes along with other signs of exhaustion.

     “Are you not tired?” Affogato muttered in a voice quiet enough for only the two of them to hear.

     “Not as tired as you. I can manage for a bit longer.”

     Another few moments of silence passed before Affogato thought further of a question that lingered in his mind during this time.

     “Eclair…”

     “Hm?” At this point, Eclair was finished removing the other’s makeup, placing the used rag back onto the counter with a hand still lingering on Affogato’s cheek.

     “All of this…why did you do it…for me?”

     “What do you mean?”

     “Offering to keep me warm when you were cold,” Affogato tiredly pondered, “Carrying me and helping me prepare to sleep…when you need the rest more than me…This was supposed to be your special night, not mine…”

     “Well…” Eclair looked away for a moment, removing his hand before continuing.

     “I don’t think I could tell you the complete truth…but I’ll just say this: I feel like I needed to repay you with my thanks somehow.”

     “Eclair, that was a gift…You didn’t need to repay it.” It felt odd for Affogato of all people to say this, seeing as he typically enjoyed being paid or repaid generously one way or another. In fact, he never was the type to inquire as to why someone would go out of their way to help or treat him. Yet, with Eclair, this was the one time he wanted to make someone feel special without gaining something in return. This was one of the few times he did something out of the love in his heart.

     “Affogato, it wasn’t just the gift,” Eclair gazed back at him, “It was for all of the nights you spent by my side. I’ve never been treated so kindly as when I met you.”

     “That’s-” Affogato couldn’t continue his thoughts, for Eclair held his head around his arms into an embrace, whispering on top of it.

     “Thank you…”

     This embrace was fairly brief in comparison to the one they had at the watchtower, but it was one that Affogato would have engraved in the back of his mind for the rest of his life. Words couldn’t even begin to describe how much his heart longed for the other at this moment, longed to confess his love for Eclair, but he knew it wouldn’t work out how he wanted. Eclair would be far far away by the next day or so, too far for Affogato to handle even now, when he still had to call Eclair a friend. So, the most he could do in this moment was sigh and close his eyes into Eclair's arms once again.

     After such a compelling embrace, Eclair stood up, quietly guiding a beyond tired and mentally cluttered Affogato with his hand back into his bedding. He even went so far as to lie the other down and tuck him in. Meanwhile, Affogato looked with heavy eyelids as the one sitting nearby slowly brought himself to speak.

     “I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay here for long…I have to get back to my own quarters.”

     “Do you know where they are?”

     Eclair smiled before responding, “No.”

     A long pause occurred before the historian murmured, “At least, not from here…”

     “I don’t believe I can help you,” Affogato said with a yawn, “You should know by now that I’m terrible with directions when I’m tired.”

     “If only I knew of that spell before. I feel like I should have known it due to my occupation…What else can I do then?”

     It was then that Affogato tiredly blurted out one of his desires. He didn’t know why he said it; perhaps it was out of yearning, perhaps it was to spend every last minute with Eclair, perhaps he didn’t think when saying. Regardless, he said it, and Eclair heard him.

     “Stay…”

     “Pardon?”

     “Stay…and rest here…I can recall your quarters earlier than they’ll start looking for you…”

     “But, what if we wake up too late?” Something about Eclair’s response reassured something inside Affogato: the fact that Eclair wasn’t actually opposed to staying for the night. Granted, this wasn’t the first time one of them slept in the other’s room, but there was still something that comforted Affogato about this ordeal.

     “We won’t…You woke me up like I asked the last time.”

     “Yes, but we’ll both be asleep this time.”

     “Please, trust me.”

     How could Eclair say no?

     “Alright, but I’ll sit by you so I won’t sleep too deeply. One of us has to at least wake up.”

     “What’s that supposed to mean?” Even with his exhaustion, Affogato squinted in a lighthearted fashion at the other. Eclair could only chuckle at the sight.

     “Nothing.”

     With time, Affogato snuggled further into his sheets and let his exhaustion drown him in slumber as the other remained seated next to his bedding. Eclair watched him fall asleep and turned his head once he did, staring into the purple flame near the corner of the room keeping them warm.

     It seems everyone has these flames in their quarters…perhaps there’s a spell preventing them from spreading and burning.

     He turned his head back at Affogato, sighing again. Though he definitely needed to sleep, Eclair couldn’t find himself to do so. For one, sitting the way he did was uncomfortable, and he couldn’t observe Affogato if he laid down from where he sat either. Another issue was the fact that Eclair’s mind roamed, pondering so many things at once.

     It felt as though the two were both hiding secrets from each other, with Eclair hiding his own feelings of love towards the other, worrying that he only felt that way due to finally having someone he could call a friend, while it seemed that something was bothering Affogato that was more than just missing Eclair. With the way that he came into Eclair’s room, looking exhausted, even for someone made of coffee, felt worrisome.

     Unfortunately, Eclair’s thoughts cut short when he noticed the room getting darker and darker, until it became pitch black. He gasped although this process wasn’t exactly that fast, looking back at where the now dead flame was.

     Dammit!

     He looked back to where Affogato could have possibly been, contemplating whether to wake him up on the matter or not. It already seemed bad enough that Affogato struggled with his sleep that night, and Eclair didn’t want to contribute to that anymore than he did. However, if he didn’t wake him up, the warmth of the room had a chance to die down, and Eclair wasn’t the one under the sheets. Fortunately, it seemed that Affogato, to his own dismay, opened his eyes due to the unnerving amount of darkness.

     “Ugh, who put out the fire?!”

     Eclair was quick to whisper, “I’m not sure. It seemed to go out on its own.”

     “Why are you still awake?! Anyways, I was sure it would last the night!”

     “What should we do then?”

     “We can’t do anything. I overestimated the fire’s ability and didn’t get extra firewood, when I should have!”

     “You should try going back to sleep…I’m sorry you keep getting interrupted repeatedly like this.” Eclair frowned, whispering with genuine worry.

     “What about you?”

     “Pardon?”

     “The warmth of the fire will eventually leave too…you won’t be able to rest in the cold.”

     “I’ll be alright. It can’t be worse than it was outside.”

     “No, you won’t!” Affogato responded in a grouchy yet well-meaning tone. Eclair heard him shifting away and unwrapping a part of his blankets.

     “What are you doing?”

     “Making space for you! Refuse all you like, but I could not let you freeze, let alone be held responsible over a frozen guest.”

     Eclair stared at the direction where the other was, thinking. Affogato was right; if Eclair suffered from the cold, he’d have no choice but to take responsibility. Not to mention that if he was this concerned, then Eclair would have to take his word on just how bad a lack of flame can get.

     “I suppose I’ll take up on your offer then…”

     “You better! You sound utterly exhausted anyways. Get some rest.”

     “I will, I will,” Eclair replied with a chuckle, moving into the space Affogato made for him, feeling the warmth of the sheets now encompassing the two.

     It appeared that although they both were laying on the floor, there was not much room to work with in terms of the length of the sheets. As a result, the two remained close together, hand in hand, in the comfort of each other.

     Everything was so warm. 

     Affogato fell asleep quickly after that, while Eclair gazed at his silhouette, his feelings for the other stronger than ever. Though, he still couldn’t help but let his mind wander.

     The rag that Affogato barely attempted to use was already used, but he had a full face of makeup when he visited Eclair. Could it have been to refresh his face after having makeup on the entire day? Eclair didn’t know if he could completely believe that, seeing as on their first day together, his makeup remained completely intact. So, then why did he feel the need to clean it? It seemed to have something to do with Affogato’s tired, melancholic expression when Eclair first saw him at night. Also, Affogato told Eclair the night before to get some rest, which should have meant that Affogato himself was well-rested. He did enjoy his beauty sleep, after all. So then, why did he appear so exhausted, regardless of him reapplying makeup? In fact, why was he so exhausted compared to Eclair that night, especially considering that he was composed of coffee? Just like how he thought before the flame went out, something told Eclair that it was more than simply just missing the other. Just what happened to Affogato that day? Out of worry, Eclair leaned closer to his sleeping body. He then couldn’t help but think of that dream he had several days before. The only person he could think of who was as close to him as that silhouette in his dream was none other than Affogato. Eclair, however, still didn’t know what it all meant. Should he stay away from Affogato? Or should he remain by his side, physically or not, and make a full decision when he found out about the dream’s meaning.

     “Mn…”

     Eclair snapped out of his thoughts at the sound with a light gasp.

     “The snow…so fluffy…”

     It seemed that Affogato was doing fine now at the very least, mumbling deep in his slumber. Eclair sighed with relief, listening to the other sleep-talk. It felt comforting, distracting him, putting all those bothersome thoughts to rest. Only then did he realize how tired he was.

     With Affogato’s nearly incoherent murmuring, Eclair managed to close his eyes and follow nothing but his voice, and eventually, he too drowned into slumber from his exhaustion.

     Despite all his inquiries, at least he was sure to remember the time he spent here.

Chapter Text

     “What…is the meaning of this?” Furrowed eyebrows spoke with a pinch of the nose bridge.

     “I-I beg your pardon, my Lieg-”

     “You heard me the first time,” that same somber voice, with what little heart and demand remained, quietly echoed throughout the throne room.

     She couldn’t tell anyone what happened last night, even someone who held more authority than him. 

     There Affogato stood with Eclair nearby, across Dark Cacao’s throne in extreme intimidation. It wasn’t unusual for the royal advisor of all people to still be daunted by the King—it wasn’t always easy to be in His Majesty’s good graces—but coupled with these past few events and on the topic of the historian, something this time especially churned within her. All Affogato could do was nervously shift and think back to earlier in the morning.

     “Affogato!”

     Swift and light steps rushed through the corridors of the kingdom as Caramel Arrow’s teeth gritted. The day was already off to a fairly rough start, beginning with having to abandon her duties for the time being and having to look for the lost historian with several other watchers and guards. The scholar was apparently nowhere to be found in his guest quarters when one of the guards was assigned to wake them up. Now, this was something the first watcher could manage to look into just fine; however, her issues arose when she heard the royal advisor had also not been seen the entire morning. Affogato apparently neither showed up to the daily meetings held early—she always showed up with that unforgettably sly grin of his, Caramel Arrow noticed—nor were they seen lurking in the corridors or with his disciples. Something definitely wasn’t right.

     The first watcher always had her eyes on the shaman; although Caramel Arrow worked up to her rank way after the other did, it was always eerily suspicious how Affogato made it that far and how the king almost always took the time to listen to him despite her words proving to be detrimental at times. On the other hand, Caramel Arrow barely knew the historian that settled in the kingdom for what seemed to be weeks now. Sure, they spoke from time to time, Eclair always inquiring about one thing or another, but the watcher was mostly too busy at work to talk otherwise. Despite this, she treated Eclair as anyone else in the kingdom: someone to protect. Over the course of Eclair’s stay, Caramel Arrow had taken notice of how close the scholar and the royal advisor stayed together, but she couldn’t argue that something was suspicious of it at all, save for her gut-instinct. Maybe Affogato was swaying Eclair to do her bidding, or he was scheming something more nefarious, but she’d never know, and that was usually the case all the time with or without Eclair.

     That was usually the case, until now of course.

     Caramel Arrow continued to shout Affogato’s name, running faster and faster to the advisor’s quarters. The other watchers had agreed to focus on looking for Eclair, while the first watcher would also focus on Affogato, having a bone to pick with him. Eventually, she reached the shaman’s quarters—this was the first place she thought to look—sliding open the door and very quickly noticing Affogato’s silent, sleeping figure from across the room. This made her puzzled for a brief moment of course—did the royal advisor actually just sleep in and nothing more? She couldn’t think on this further, instead opting to shout the other’s name.

     “Affogato!”

     The shaman jolted awake from the noise only to slightly flinch at the first watcher across from her. Oh was he in trouble, one could easily tell from Caramel Arrow’s expression. Not to mention, Affogato was so exhausted from the previous night that she was never able to wake Eclair up in time and slept in instead. Speaking of, the shaman had the urge to glance to the side at the historian’s sleeping figure. Could Caramel Arrow even see Eclair? So far, that didn’t seem like the case, considering her sharp stare being focused on her solely. All this tension made Affogato want to cringe out of embarrassment so badly, but they could never give the watcher such satisfaction. Instead, she had opted for a bitter expression, acting unknowing to the other, hoping that Eclair couldn’t be seen. Who knows what anyone would interpret the two being in the same bed to be.

     “Ergh-” Affogato softly groaned and rubbed her eyes before continuing, trying not to speak so loud so as not to disrupt Eclair, “Can’t anyone get a proper rest behind these walls?”

     “That’s easy for you to say,” Caramel Arrow lowered the harshness in her tone. Perhaps Affogato wasn’t actually scheming anything like she thought, at least for the time being. Still, sleeping in showed a lack of principle in the kingdom along with the risk of one’s duties not being completed for the day. Thus, she still spoke with a slight tinge of a scold.

     “Sleeping in while the rest of us have been preparing for the winter?” the first watcher said, rolling her eyes as she spoke, “Slacking off more and more during meetings despite knowing all too well how treacherous the winter gets?”

     “Yes, yes,” Affogato yawned, fanning a hand away, “You don’t ever waste a second telling me the same song and dance. Shouldn’t you be using your time more wisely, in…hm…,” a feigned pause, “Let’s see…watching over the kingdom?”

     “Well, I would if I wasn’t ordered to look for you and that historian you’ve been spending time with!” Caramel Arrow groaned before continuing, “Could you at least tell me where you think she is? You’ve been acting more ridiculous than usual ever since they’ve been staying here, so I’m willing to guess you have an idea on where he ran off to.”

     Caramel Arrow wasn’t usually the type to let out something so snarky, but it was beyond her control at this point. It was clear that Affogato had been slacking off repeatedly over a long period of time, and in such a position everyone had to face the consequences, including the first watcher herself. Regardless, if anything were to wake the royal advisor up, it’d be such snarkiness.

     “That’s-!” Affogato couldn’t utter another word over her cheeks heating up, his calm demeanor shattered into an expression of frustration.

     “Do you really take anyone in here for fools? I demand that you tell me of her possible whereabouts!”

     “Y-You…You’re acting bold for someone who should know her place!” Affogato stared at the other furiously, scrambling to find his staff with one hand. Noticing this, Caramel Arrow quickly reached for her own bow but didn’t completely take it out, her gut-instinct gradually being more confirmed.

     All of this tension had immediately stopped with a soft yawn.

     Eclair had slowly raised her head and opened his eyes, unknowing to the argument occurring beforehand, now being visible to the first watcher. Practically half asleep, they gazed at Affogato, not knowing that Caramel Arrow was there before whispering ever so gently.

     “Mn…is it morning already?”

     Both Caramel Arrow and Affogato had very visible expressions of shock, both of their faces immediately cracking from the remnants of their collected demeanors. The first watcher had shakily put her bow back while Affogato slowly turned her head to Eclair, who snuggled back into the sheets with a chuckle.

     “My my, you look like you’ve seen a ghost! Am I that surprising to look at in the morning?”

     To say the first watcher was surprised about this entire ordeal would be an absurd understatement. In fact, one could say she cringed at the idea of the other two being questioned on the awkward yet brisk walk to the throne room. Seeing such an idea manifest was arguably worse; Caramel Arrow had no clue how Dark Cacao would even react to such news as she directed to him with a tinge of unease that his royal advisor, his right hand, was caught sleeping, literally, next to a guest who likely caused Affogato to neglect her duties. The first watcher could only feel left in a bit of suspense as she stood by Dark Cacao’s throne, watching everything unfurl.

     It became so eerily quiet after Dark Cacao repeated himself, with Affogato clearly appearing to panic, trying to focus on what they could possibly say without looking like a complete fool trying.

     It appeared so unlike her.

     Usually, he’d quickly find the words to carry themself with and cause no suspicion, no eyes fleeting towards him, even with the King. However, in the current situation, it had been as though that mirage, that shell, was slowly tearing apart, piece by piece. There was no way around explaining things, regardless of what Affogato says, what excuse she attempts to spit out, Eclair would have to be in the picture. There was no reason for those two to stay together after the first day, so there had to be a reason they were caught together the way they did. Knowing all this along with the historian being right beside her, Affogato was, for one of the first few times, afraid of saying the wrong thing, not just to the King but to Eclair.

     Eclair, standing behind Affogato, was also nearly just as speechless as the royal advisor. However, she was still in her senses, observing the sight unraveling before him. It didn’t seem as though Dark Cacao was exactly angry, more so than he was disappointed. This confused the historian as to why then Affogato was stuck like this, not knowing that the advisor couldn’t bring himself to speak for Eclair’s sake. Eclair then looked at the first watcher, wondering if she knew what was going on with the other, but it seemed that the gaze Caramel Arrow returned was just as confused, if not more. The historian couldn’t help but ponder if she should say something. Affogato was going to receive consequences whether they liked it or not, but the least Eclair could do was help alleviate their severity. After all, Affogato allowed the other to stay in her room and sleep by her. Surely, there had to be a way to explain things without needing to explore all the details, such as their discussion on the kingdom falling, or that time Eclair confided in Affogato, or how close they were together last night. 

     “Refuse all you like, but I could not let you freeze, let alone be held responsible over a frozen guest.”

     Eclair’s cheeks slightly heated up at that last part. However, before shaking off those thoughts, an epiphany arose. There might just have been a way to explain things after all.

     “Your Highness,” the historian bowed to Dark Cacao as she placed a hand on Affogato’s shoulder in an attempt to console her, “I believe I would be better equipped to explain everything.”

     “Oh?” 

     The King cocked his head to the side, appearing more like a parent hearing their child confess they did something wrong, “In that case, I suppose I’m open to hearing any reasoning at this point, seeing as the one next to you can’t seem to muster up one,” a sharp sigh, “Explain to me then, what were you doing sleeping with my advisor when she has duties to follow?”

     “I-It wasn’t for the reasons you’re thinking, just to first clarify,” Eclair tried not to stammer as much hearing those words before continuing.

     “Affogato here has been helping me obtain relics and items worthy of inspecting for archival purposes,” Eclair started a bit nervously but cleared their throat and carried on, “The first watcher herself could also attest to assisting me, as was her duty, along with several other locals.”

     “Apologies if I speak out of turn, but she speaks the truth, your Highness,” Caramel Arrow murmured in response.

     Dark Cacao could only let out a soft grunt before speaking again, “Yes, I do recall that. However, Affogato was told not to assist you after your first day in the kingdom because of their own responsibilities in the royal court.”

     “For that, I apologize on behalf of him. Affogato had agreed to meet with me each night so that I could gain more insight on the items I have obtained,” Eclair spoke a bit more quietly, “I had assumed that of all the people I had met with, Affogato seemed to have a more passive, informational role and less of an active role to protect the kingdom, hence why I kept meeting with him specifically…I realize now that that’s far from the truth.”

     Eclair was, in part, telling the truth but sprinkling in a few lies of her own. It wasn’t often for the historian to lie like this, quite the opposite actually, but there was something about Affogato that brought it out of him from when it came to convincing that guard one night that they saw a ghost to even now, saying that Affogato happened to agree with them to analyze relics, as though Eclair brought up the offer herself. However, this was all from Affogato’s accord, and Eclair never did know why she appeared at his room that first night they really got to talking, aside from discussing relics. Regardless, it was better to place most of the blame on someone who was about to leave the kingdom as opposed to someone who played a large role in the kingdom.

     “Your reasoning seems sufficient, however…” Dark Cacao narrowed his eyes, attempting to unravel any possible lies, “That doesn’t exactly explain why you both were in Affogato’s room. If that’s truly what you both were doing, I would imagine this would take place in the guest quarters.”

     “Th-That’s-” Eclair was about to continue before Affogato interrupted, slightly calmed from the historian’s touch.

     “I had a-asked Eclair to meet me at my quarters for a parting gift,” another half-truth, half-lie, this time coming from an expert, “But it was far too late at night when she arrived, and he did not seem to know the way back to his quarters, as it was dim, so I let him stay in mine.”

     Eclair continued off of Affogato’s words, “Yes, I recall being late due to me still finishing packing my relics. Not to mention, Affogato's quarters ran out of firewood, and as such we had to rely on...one another...for w-warmth.”

     “My liege, I do apologize for not being up to your standards lately when it comes to my duties, but at the same time I had felt it was part of my responsibility to help our guest and make them feel at ease. I promise that with Eclair’s departure that I will be able to work just as well if not more proficient than before.” Affogato was gradually returning to his initial demeanor, something that the first watcher never forgot as she witnessed everything.

     Dark Cacao sighed again as he continued thinking, fanning his hand away at the two, “Save your chatter...”

     Everything seemed to make sense, the details seemed to correlate with each other. Yet, something didn’t seem right. Dark Cacao didn’t want to assume anything, but it seemed that the two became far closer than they were letting him on. At the same time though, it didn’t seem as though there was anything sinister behind what had transpired. It was natural for the King to assume the worst; as the walls physically protected everyone, he had to protect his citizens within the walls from each other. Because of this, he spoke his final official say on this matter.

     “Affogato, this has been the first time I’ve seen you stumble in your duties this much. Although I entrust you in not making the same mistake again, seeing as that historian of yours is leaving—not to mention it was I who had arranged for him to arrive and extended her stay from a few days to a few weeks—I will let you and our guest go.”

     Both Affogato and Eclair sighed in relief before Dark Cacao interjected them.

     “However, you will be assigned a guard for the next few months that will ensure that you complete your tasks before winterfall, and you will not be permitted to have any rainbow-bear jellies in that period either. Surely, this will teach you to have stronger resolve and focus more on what’s at stake.”

     “Wh-Wha-” Before Affogato could retaliate, Eclair frantically put a hand to her mouth before talking in his place, “W-We’re willing to accept those terms!”

     “Don’t think you’re off the hook, scholar,” the King was quick with his words, “You will no longer be allowed to stay here during this time period either, even if you choose to travel here again. I realize now that my court cannot and must not face…distractions… like this, especially when winter is soon to approach.”

     Now it was Eclair’s turn to nearly retaliate before Affogato muffled the other’s mouth, talking in her place.

     “Fine, fine, we’ll accept it! Just…one more question…” Affogato’s voice became nearly nervous again as they let go of Eclair’s mouth, “Would it be permissible for me to accompany our guest as they leave?”

     Another disappointed sigh came from Cacao before he begrudgingly replied, “I suppose you may…your punishment isn't exactly in effect until the guest leaves, but I still expect you to pick up the pace today.”

     Affogato almost showed his relief at that response but remembered why they were at the throne room in the first place, instead bowing down and thanking the King before leaving the room as quickly as possible with Eclair, trying not to show too much joy with being by the historian while also trying not to show too much resentment with her punishment.

     The throne room became extremely quiet after that, with Dark Cacao and Caramel Arrow remaining. The first watcher was, for the most part, speechless. She truly didn’t know what to think; was the King seeing what she was seeing? Thankfully, her inquiries were confirmed when Dark Cacao spoke after a long silence.

     “Those two…” a small murmur, “They appear to be very…close…”

     “My Liege, if I may speak,” Caramel Arrow replied after the King nodded with permission, “Could that have been why you were more…merciful this time?”

     “I…”

     “My apologies, I believe I’ve spoken out of turn!”

     “No, no, you’re alright, it’s just…” Dark Cacao pondered for a moment before speaking, “Yes, my advisors’ duties are one of the most important, especially when we must be prepared for another harsh winter, so to see him be this lax concerns me.”

     Another long pause.

     “Not to mention, that story those two gave, dare I say, sounded flawed. Affogato could have very well guided our guest back to his quarters, but she didn't,” Dark Cacao briefly, sternly spoke, “They're taking us to be fools here.”

     “That's-”

     “However, I cannot punish someone harshly for liking or loving another,” a somber sigh, “My heart may be chilled to stone, but I just cannot bring myself to take my warriors’ hearts away simply out of my own turmoil. After all, that isn’t the Cacaonian way…”

     The King at this point had more of a softened tone to his voice, less disappointed and more reflecting, before another moment of silence lingered. 

     Caramel Arrow then spoke, choosing her words carefully, so as to not hurt the King.

     “Do you…still miss him?”

     Silence again. Dark Cacao could only let out a long sigh.

     “I…can’t say…”

     His voice nearly cracked, so very easily, “I-I suppose I feel…the same way any parent would…”

     The first watcher couldn’t see the King’s expression from where she stood below him, yet she could tell that Dark Cacao was still not ready to discuss the full details on such a touchy subject, instead opting for a more diplomatic response. Caramel Arrow was one of the only few who could speak to the King on this matter, seeing as she was there the day it all happened, but even then she knew she had to tread carefully, keeping silent and dropping the subject entirely.

     One more period of silence passed before Dark Cacao could bring himself to speak again.

     “You should go…someone needs to make sure that advisor isn’t fooling around again.”

     “I shall take my leave then, your Highness,” Caramel Arrow stood in front of the King and bowed down, noticing the hints of grief in his eyes before turning and exiting the throne room, leaving Dark Cacao in uncertainty.

     The afternoon shone rather brightly when it was almost time for the historian to leave. All of her belongings were safely put inside a large hot air balloon. He wouldn’t make it back to Parfaedia for a while due to such a distance from the kingdom, but thankfully these balloons were state of the art so that she’d likely make it within half a day or so at least.

     It was rather difficult for the advisor to talk to Eclair for a bit at that point, several watchers were at the premises, Caramel Arrow included, double, triple-checking that they had placed everything the historian needed on the balloon. Not to mention, Eclair was busy assisting the others, making sure certain luggage went to specific areas of the balloon. It wasn’t like they could talk much before either, seeing as both needed time to process what had occurred earlier in the throne room. Affogato now had her makeup on again and his hair tied perfectly, seeing as they found time to get ready. Nobody could even tell they were on the verge of losing it earlier or even currently, seeing as the advisor longed to speak to the other one last time. Eclair, on the other hand, dressed in his initial clothing she came to the kingdom with, only now wearing the fur boa Affogato gave to them for warmth.

     As the watchers completed their task of preparing the balloon, there was a moment in which they all had their backs turned and were out of earshot, ensuring that the balloon’s burner was working extra hot, considering the cold environment. Eclair was looking up at the sight from a distance, waiting to confirm with the watchers that everything was running smoothly.

     Now’s my chance!

     A warm hand had approached the historian’s, making her look down from the balloon and notice it. Seeing that it belonged to the royal advisor, Eclair closed his own hand around it with a warm and happy smile. Such a smile lovingly warmed Affogato, no longer appearing like the prim and proper advisor just for a moment. She leaned close to the scholar’s ear, ever so quickly yet quietly whispering something so foreign of her to say:

     “Thank you…for helping me back there,” a pause, “I admit I…panicked…I just didn't want to say anything that risked hurting you. I-I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

     Eclair then smiled again and whispered back, “It's alright, no need to thank me. I just thought after these past few weeks that you didn’t deserve anything harsh.”

     “So, are you saying I deserved any other punishment regardless?” Thus began Affogato’s banter again.

     “Well, someone’s in a good mood,” Eclair chuckled, “To be fair, I can’t exactly visit for a while either, so the punishment isn’t entirely on you.”

     “You’ll still write though, right?” Affogato spoke slightly louder now, seeing as they were no longer discussing secrets, “His Highness didn’t say anything regarding that.”

     “Of course I will,” Eclair circled his thumb inside Affogato’s hand, “At least, I’ll try to. You know that I’ll miss our talks.”

     “Sir Eclair!” the first watcher shouted from above, “Would this temperature be good enough for your trip?”

     “Coming!” Eclair quickly left to look as Affogato was left alone again, without the other’s hand to hold.

     She too was going to miss Eclair. It wasn’t something Affogato expected to feel at all when the two first met. It had been one of the first times he was able to relax his mind and forget about scheming. Eclair was sweet, much too sweet, and what a shame it was having a sweet tooth towards people like her. Not only that, but it had been the first time that Affogato looked forward to the spring for reasons other than the weather. Perhaps the two could meet again after the punishment was over—Affogato felt way too warm and fuzzy inside to care about what her consequences entailed. Overall, he felt somber over having to say goodbye, but happy for the time they spent.

     The balloon was now completely ready, with the several watchers crowded around the large, weighted bags keeping it in place while Eclair was getting ready to leave, with the shaman standing further back. However, there was one thought repeating in the back of Affogato’s mind at this point, something she would have shunned away if it was the first day Eclair visited.

     I want to feel her touch, just one last time.

     As the thought repeated over and over in his mind, Affogato cared less about the fact that the watchers could see everything, he didn't even acknowledge them at that point. She had to say goodbye properly, or else she’d never forgive herself! So, he simply shouted:

     “Eclair!”

     Eclair turned back mid-way into the balloon, wondering what the other was yelling about, before being met abruptly with a tight embrace from the other. The historian along with all of the watchers were taken by surprise. Affogato didn’t care, of course, and continued talking.

     “I’m going to miss you so, so much…” his grasp got tighter, not wanting to let go, trying her best not to tear up. So many emotions stirred within Affogato at once.

     The historian, with a face speckled in heat, looked around at everyone’s surprised expressions, but decided that focusing on someone she cared a lot about was more important, slowly wrapping his arms around the other in return.

     “M-Me too…I don’t think I’ll ever forget the time we spent together,” Eclair said with a smile.

     The two remained in an embrace until Affogato felt ready to drift away from it. Thankfully, she didn’t end up tearing up—he didn’t want to show any more vulnerability than he already had. Before standing back again, Affogato spoke what would be her final words for a while to the scholar:

     “Goodbye…Eclair…”

     “As with you, Affogato…”

     Eclair had fully walked into the balloon and closed its small door before turning to the watchers, confirming she was ready to leave. The watchers then cut the ropes of each weighted bag, allowing for the historian to finally take flight. As the balloon drifted upwards and away, Eclair waved to the royal advisor for one final time, with Affogato immediately waving back.

     As soon as the historian was out of sight, the watchers began to leave and head on out for their other tasks. Affogato sighed and looked down at the slightly thin layer of snow on the ground before beginning to turn away, unsure of what would happen to his reputation after doing something so reckless. As she began walking away, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the first watcher standing nearby, giving the advisor a sidelong, suspicious gaze. This, of course, jolted the shaman immediately, prompting him to speak.

     “What?!”

     “Oh, nothing,” Caramel Arrow turned away and continued, “Just surprised, that's all.”

     “Wh-” Affogato was almost too flabbergasted to respond.

     "What is that supposed to mean?!”