Chapter Text
I.
March 7th is the first to notice the change. It's to be expected of course, considering she's always with Dan Heng and Caelus as the second member of their newly minted trailblazing troupe.
It started after Caelus had recovered from the attack of the Doomsday Beast in Herta Space Station - Dan Heng's uncanny focus on the amber-eyed Stellaron vessel. Or rather, Dan Heng's focus not just on Caelus, but on keeping him safe.
At first, she chucked it to Dan Heng just being his usual, protective self. After all, he acted the same way towards her and the rest of the Express crew. But as time passed and they spent countless hours trailblazing through Jarilo-VI, it became evident that Dan Heng's protectiveness over Caelus evolved into something else. Or perhaps it came from something deeper than just being overly protective in the first place.
March doesn't really care about the specifics, she just thinks it's too cute to see Dan Heng flustered over the things Caelus would do that he thought would put the gray-haired trailblazer in danger. From going through trash cans (it is kinda dangerous, considering all the icky things in there...ugh!), to entertaining Sampo's ideas (which almost always ends up with them in hot water, metaphorically speaking, so she gets Dan Heng on this one), or just generally cozying up to a geomarrow heater because Belobog is just too freaking cold (Dan Heng offered Caelus his jacket countless times, reasoning out that the cold never bothered him anyway).
(And she had sneakily took photos as proof, just in case Dan Heng denies it in the near future when she teases him about it.)
March understands though. There's something about Caelus that just draws you in. It may be his earnestness, the genuine care for people he shows no matter if he's only known them for a day. Or perhaps his resiliency, and his choice to look forward and live his life on his own terms instead of trying to look back and figure out most of what he can't remember. It may even be the sassiness, his quick wit shining through barbs or funny one liners in conversations. Whatever it is, she just knows Caelus has ensnared all of Dan Heng's attention - and perhaps, even his heart.
The latter was most evident during their final battle with the supreme guardian, Cocolia - that harrowing minute they thought they've lost Caelus. She remembers the urgency in Dan Heng's movements, the way he rushed towards their gray-haired friend to try to get to him on time. His anguished shout when he realized he was too late. The way his eyes glowed, literally, and the sudden shift in atmospheric pressure that followed. March didn't know exactly what she saw - just that something in Dan Heng, something powerful, foreign and feral, was almost unleashed when that frozen lance pierced through Caelus. If the Stellaron vessel hadn't miraculously come back to life thanks in part to the Aeon of Preservation, March knows for certain Dan Heng would have ended that fight all on his own.
His silent worry over Caelus, and the way he wouldn't let their gray-haired friend out of his sight for even just a second after, bordered on ridiculous. She had to coax Dan Heng into getting some rest once they were back in the Goethe hotel, reasoning out that Caelus absolutely needed it too, after that (near) death experience. That had made Dan Heng relent - March surprisingly acting as the voice of reason that one time.
It hadn't improved since then - Dan Heng's protectiveness. In fact, it seems to worsen as time goes, if that is even possible.
Worse, Caelus is too dense to realize what's up, nor does he realize he also indulges the black-haired boy's excessive attentiveness, practically encouraging it by his mere acceptance of it as Dan Heng being Dan Heng. And to be honest, the golden-eyed boy seems to reciprocate, acting almost the same way when it comes to Dan Heng's safety too.
March 7th rolls her eyes as Dan Heng lets out a sigh for the umpteenth time. They're lounging in one of the Astral Express' long couches, March going through the recent batch of photos she had taken with her camera, Dan Heng seated beside her, a book in hand. He's evidently too distracted to actually be reading anymore, but he keeps up the pretense anyway.
"Just send him a message already, if you're so worried about him. I'm sure he's not in trouble, or he'd have sent us a message begging for us to get him out of whatever mess he's in." March playfully nudges Dan Heng with her shoulder.
Dan Heng hesitates, but takes out his nondescript, still in default state mobile phone anyway (seriously, what kind of psycho wouldn't even personalize their phone cover?), pauses midway into typing a message, a look of serious consideration on his face. "I don't want to sound too overbearing, and I don't want him to assume I think he's incapable of taking care of himself."
March, long suffering, simply snatches his phone away. Dan Heng's more surprised than anything, unable to react until she'd finished sending a message.
"March!"
A minute passes, March finally handing back his phone with a smirk when it pings with the familiar sound of a message being received. Dan Heng's expression brightens for a second before he schools it back to the well-practiced veneer of immovable, stoic, Cold Dragon Young.
Dan Heng: How are you? I'm thinking of taking a break from the archives.
Caelus: Hey! I'm good, thanks for asking. Wanna help me with some errands? Just doing some stuff for a bunch of researchers at the space station, but these will be done quicker if there were more hands to help.
Caelus: [cute Pom-Pom emoji]
Dan Heng doesn't hesitate sending his reply then (March sees it as she's looking over his shoulders).
Dan Heng: Ok. Be there in 30, meet me at the docking bay.
March snickers when Dan Heng immediately stands up and tells her he's going to help Caelus with something on Herta Space Station. Her black-haired companion raises a brow at her, but March simply laughs a bit more as she shoos him away.
"Yeah, yeah, go on then. Can't keep Caelus waiting, you know how he is when he gets antsy."
She pretends not to see that fond yet exasperated smile on Dan Heng's face as the other leaves.
March wonders idly when Dan Heng will realize Caelus has him wrapped around his little finger. Or when Caelus will realize just how much power he holds over their black-haired companion.
Both boys are oblivious about their feelings for each other. The situation is honestly just so absurd, stupidly adorable, and entertaining; March 7th can't help but root for them. They may be both foolish, but they were her foolish boys afterall.