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"Yuma, what is a compliment?"
Yuma puts away the comic book he's been reading and sits up in his hammock, causing it to rock slightly. Astral is hovering right next to him with the characteristic, inquisitive and mildly puzzled expression that accompanies every of his nature-of-the-human-world questions — most of his expression look identical or at least similar, but Yuma has somehow learned to tell them apart and that's usually enough determine what Astral is considering at the moment. Right now, it's definitely another of their weird explanation session. Yuma stretches, preparing himself for a long and probably also quite tedious talk, but he doesn't really mind — it's always sort of nice to chat with Astral and somehow asking and answering these questions were pretty much the closest they ever got to friend-like talks.
"A compliment," he begins carefully, piecing the definition together with some difficulty, "is a nice thing about someone that you tell them. You can compliment a lot of things in any person, like looks or character or skill, but you have to be honest about what you're saying."
"Honest?" Astral echoes. He has already learned the notion of lying and telling the truth, but apparently they still seem rather intangible to him.
"You just don't say something you don't mean," Yuma makes a vague gesture as it's really hard to explain otherwise, "because that's a fake compliment. And that's much worse than saying nothing. So I could say, for example, that your dueling strategies are super sharp, Astral, and that you're very smart — and that would be a compliment."
"Of course they are," the spirit frowns, "I already knew that."
"Uh, I know you know!" Yuma protests with something between resignation and indignation — he's more or less gotten used to Astral's strange mindset, but it's still unnerving at times. "It's more about the fact that I said it out loud and I want you to know that I also think that way. Though sometimes it's both, when they're more, like, personal."
"You're not making any sense," Astral observes with perfect composure.
"You're a great friend," Yuma concedes, getting a bit red on the face — most of such abstract concepts are best explained through real-life examples, but this one was sort of embarrassing, no matter how much he tried to convince himself otherwise, "and I think you're really cool. That was a personal compliment, I guess."
"So it's based on admitting a thought about me that you wouldn't normally say, but that is meant to make me feel... appreciated," Astral concludes — on point, as always. "Is that why you're, hm, blushing, was it?"
"Shut up," Yuma aims a not very serious blow at the spirit and misses anyway. Sometimes, especially now, he regrets teaching Astral new words. "But that's the basic gist, I think. Now you try it."
Astral is silent for a moment, changing his position to levitating cross-legged right in front of Yuma, and stares at him intently — so intently that it makes the boy uneasy, although he's well aware of the way the spirit tends to meticulously observe anything or anyone he aims to analyze until he gets the desired conclusion.
"Your eyes are..." Astral finally breaks the silence, though he speaks slower than usual as if he's still not quite sure what he wants to say, "pretty. I like the color of your eyes."
He floats a bit to the side and nods, seemingly content with himself.
"H-hey, that's not what I meant," Yuma is far less content, scrambling back in his hammock. "Not a very good choice."
"Why not?" Astral blinks, surprised. He puts up his palm and starts counting on the fingers, "It had a clearly positive overtone, it referred to one of your characteristics, it was genuine—"
"Alright, alright, I get it already!" Yuma raises his hands defensively — it's tough to argue against Astral's absolute logic. "I mean, some compliments, if you word them like that, sound more, uh, like, romantic? Best avoid looks-related ones when talking to your pals, that's it."
"Romantic?" Astral repeats, cocking his head to the side.
"Something that only people who are a couple do," Yuma simplifies quickly — not a topic he'd like to get to deep into, but there's no way out when Astral's curiosity gets involved.
"A couple," the spirit repeats again — a thing he always does with words he doesn't quite understand, but Yuma is pretty sure he explained that one some time ago, or at least skimmed over it. "But isn't that what we are?"
"What?" Yuma is too surprised to say anything else so he just stares at Astral, mouth wide open in disbelief. "Hell, no, where'd you even get that from?"
"We live in one house, spend a lot of time together, talk about things you don't let your other friends into..." the spirit enumerates attentively, but now he's clearly searching for a flaw in his reasoning instead of trying to prove his point. "You're right, something's missing. It was your friend's book, by the way."
It's a very crucial "something", Yuma notes involuntarily and he can't but think about it for a second too long — but that's definitely not a topic he'd like to address right now, so he quickly pushes it to the back of his head, silently hoping it won't trouble him later.
"I see," he sighs, putting a hand over his face. Astral's invisibility has effects that can't be predicted, let alone accounted for — still, just what kind of book could Tori have been reading? "It's not a good idea to base your knowledge on that. And don't jump to conclusions either."
"You're strangely touchy today," Astral complains and Yuma can't be sure whether he's more mocking or serious. "Anyway, I still don't see anything wrong in my compliment."
"It's a matter of intuition," Yuma cuts off, though he knows Astral hates that sort of explanations. "You just don't say stuff like that to other guys."
"That's illogical," the spirit shifts in the air, "why should me acknowledging that you've got a pleasing eye color depend on your gender?"
"Because reasons," Yuma sticks out his tongue to end the conversation he's unwilling to continue. "Try something else instead of being sour about it."
"Huh," Astral huffs, displeased — as always when his skills of any sort are questioned — but he lets the topic drop. "Fine, I'll move on the second kind."
For another moment, he focuses intently. Then he eyes Yuma once more with a curious glance and gleams a bit brighter than usual — it's hard to tell whether it's a sign of concentration, a different sort of emotion or something else entirely, or at least Yuma hasn't determined that yet.
"Looking at you convinces me that life is worth living," he confesses.
"Is that a joke?" Yuma deadpans.
"No."
"Oh," he smiles, although he doesn't quite understand the implications of that statement — but he can feel it's surely a good thing, especially coming from Astral, who rarely ever addresses his thoughts on their relationship, "thanks!"
"Why are you thanking me?" Astral asks with genuine confusion, but seems almost eager to change the subject.
"You should always thank people when they pay you a compliment," Yuma elaborates on the crucial point he failed to mention beforehand.
"Noted," Astral replies matter-of-factly, doubtlessly making another observation in his head. "Then should I thank you for what you've said as well?"
"The two compliments I told you?" Yuma laughs, as he already almost forgot about these. "I improvised, but it's not that I didn't mean them right? So, sure, that would be nice."
It's good to be a bit more open with Astral about what he thinks and although Yuma has never had a particular problem with that, it's always so much easier with a pretext.
"Thank you, Yuma," Astral says ceremonially and gleams a bit brighter again.