Work Text:
The light in the hallway that spreads through the crack in Gepard’s door is barely enough to illuminate his face, and yet somehow it’s just enough for his sister to see in.
“Hey, lil’ bro,” she smiles, pushing open the door and moving to sit next to him. She ruffles his golden blond hair— the same as hers. “You don’t sulk in the dark unless something’s bothering you. Did she break up with you?”
He shakes his head, yanking away from her touch. “I wish she did.”
Serval seems confused at this. “You wish? What do you mean, Geppie?”
He can’t keep this to himself anymore. It’s eating him alive from the inside, like acid corroding metal. “I don’t love her. I don’t think I ever did.”
“Hah… the hell brought all this on, huh?” Her tone remains light, but her eyes are dark with worry. She reaches over to light the lamp. “D’you guys fight, or something?”
“The relationship is just fine, Serval. It’s exactly what it needs to be.”
“Then why are you in here being moody?”
“I told you.” He’s almost snapping at her now. “I don’t love her.”
“Gepard…” It’s a rare occasion that his sister uses his name. “Is this… is there someone else?”
He’s almost too embarrassed to say anything. “Yes, of course there’s someone else. There always was someone else. But I can’t have them. I can’t have them now, and I never will have them.”
She looks at him with the most concern that he’s ever seen her show. “I think I know what you’re talking about. Is this person… a he?”
He turns away. He can’t let her see him cry. It’s a ridiculous thing to even cry over, he reasons, and yet the waterworks flow.
“Oh, Geppie…” She wraps him up in her arms— deceptively strong for a rockstar. “Geppie, I know you think I don’t understand. But I promise you I do.”
“How? How could you understand, Serval?” He pushes away from her, staring straight into her eyes. “You’re perfectly fine living your life. You’re not the one who’s expected to find someone and pass on the Landau name. You’re a rockstar who pisses off to who knows where doing who knows what, and you expect me to think you understand?”
She smiles sadly. “That’s what you think of me now, huh?”
He doesn’t respond.
“You probably don’t remember, since you were only thirteen or so,” she begins, bringing her hair over her shoulder and braiding a strand, “but once upon a time Mom and Dad had hopes for me, too. They paired me with this absolutely ridiculous asshole and insisted I date him.”
“Tch. Did you listen?”
“Of course not,” she smirks. “I already had my eyes set on someone. But, just like you’re thinking, I thought I couldn’t have them. She was this beautiful blonde girl who I was close friends with. We’d talk all the time about the things we were making— we were even roommates, for Aeons’ sake. I beat the hell outta myself trying to stop thinking about her and I tried to force myself to like the guy Mom and Dad picked out for me. But, as matters like this do, it naturally didn’t work out. She sat down next to me one night and said, ‘Serval, I have to tell you something. I like girls. Does that weird you out?’”
Gepard looks at her incredulously. There’s no way this story is real, but… he’s kind of intrigued. “What did you say?”
“I managed to stammer out ‘no, not at all!’ and then… she hugged me. After that moment, I realized something.”
“Which was?”
“Heh, a lot more guys like guys and girls like girls than you realize. Suddenly, I didn’t feel like I had to force myself to like a guy I didn’t anymore, just because I was expected to. Eventually, I confessed to my roommate that I had a crush on her, and it turned out that she liked me back.”
This was definitely a work of fantasy. Serval? Dating somebody? No way. “…Well, what happened afterwards?”
“Uh… things… went places… and… um. That’s not your business. Long story short, we dated for a while, until… we fell out, and she left the school.”
“Gross.”
“Come on, I was sixteen! Can you blame me?! She had really nice… ahem. Anyways— do you understand now?”
“I understand that you definitely made up a story to make me feel better.”
Serval wraps her arm round his neck and rubs her fist into his hair. “Oh yeah? Think I’m lying? Next time you’re in Qlipoth Fort, go bust into the Supreme Guardian’s office and ask her herself!”
“You… the… the Supreme Guardian?”
“Yes! Yes, I made out with the Supreme Guardian! More than once! But that’s not the point, stupid—“ she whacks him now. “I’m trying to tell you to stop trying to force yourself into something you don’t want, just because other people do want you to do it. Break up with her. Go chase that weird purple hair dude you told me about.”
Gepard lights up red. “That is— That is most certainly not who I was talking about.”
“It—It most certainly is,” she mocks him. “Now stop pouting and get to bed, or I’ll knock you out myself.”
“Fine.” He doesn’t want to admit it (because Aeons know that she’d never shut up about it) but… maybe he does appreciate his sister’s advice. Maybe just a little.
She pauses a moment before leaving his room. Tilting her head, she smiles. “Goodnight, Gepard. Sleep well.”
The light flickers out. As he settles back into his pillows, he answers— before he can even stop himself. “Goodnight, Sis.”