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Ayumu faced a new predicament; something that moon was used to in many different scenarios, but now moon felt as if moon had hit a brick wall and unable to progress. Before, moon’s issues were nothing but worries about if moon survived the day or not. Now with this group of people moon magically found moonself in, moon’s problems became more and more confusing to grasp.
Emotions were the hardest things for Ayumu to grasp. To put it more accurately, emotions were easy to come by for moon, but very hard to understand. Fear, pain, and attentiveness came to moon naturally, always there for moon whenever Ayumu needed to escape from a situation moon knew moon couldn’t get out of.
But now, so strangely, whenever Ayumu found moonself in the company of the odd and frankly weird Vyomi, moon felt something odd within their mind in chest that became more and more difficult to throw away. The feeling drove moon crazy, leeching from moon’s mind in the night and plaguing moon in the day.
The feeling… moon couldn’t quite explain it. Comfort? Yes, Vyomi felt comfortable to moon, for some unknown reason. Vyomi was a menace, always pestering moon and bothering Ayumu to the point threats that held no water were thrown around. Sure, it entertained moon a little, but still. Vyomi just didn’t know when to quit.
Then why did moon feel warm inside whenever Vyomi entered moon’s space and talk to moon? Why did Ayumu feel the need to gravitate to them and the others, much like the Sun would pull the planets in to orbit? Ayumu hadn’t even known Vyomi for that long, and in the grand scheme of their life, not even a blink of an eye has passed.
Ayumu never liked talking to others about topics such as these, fearing that showing weaknesses would get moon taken advantage of and hurt. But the need to know drove moon insane, moon needed to know why moon felt so strongly towards Vyomi of all people. Maybe Ayumu could take down moon’s mask for once and ask that terrifying question.
Much to moon’s luck (and also dismay), moon got moon’s chance the moment Ayumu set moon’s mind to asking Vyomi.
The others were not around and Ayumu could hardly remember as to where they were off to. Something about Femi joining Caeli with investigating ome kind of lead they had on the timeline’s crazy doctor… Ayumu hadn’t quite been listening to know.
Still, moon knew that Vyomi would be hanging around someplace near. Either that or they went to sneak off after the others, as the three of them seemed nearly inseparable. Strange that Vyomi elected to stay behind this time, Ayumu thought that they hated the sight of the other two being too far away.
Ayumu refused to go, naturally. The introverted side of moon desperately needed some time away from the others after being thrust onto them without another say. While moon believed moon did enjoy their company, moon still needed some time away. Besides, Ayumu wasn’t some dog that followed others around without a second thought.
But now moon found moonself wandering around like a lost dog to find the other that elected to stay behind. How stupid of Ayumu, maybe asking the target of these feelings wasn’t the best idea. What if Vyomi thought it strange and didn’t want to be around moon anymore.
“Vyomi?”
Before Ayumu had to even give more second thoughts about moon’s decision, Vyomi arrived into view and the words fell out of Ayumu’s mouth before moon could do anything. Really? When had moon gotten so impulsive?
Vyomi had themselves sitting in a chair, doing their best to braid something between their fingers. It looked green and stiff, with multiple bright colors at the end and before Ayumu could ask the question, moon found it to be flower crowns. How childish. But still, sweet.
“Yep?” Vyomi perked up and looked over to Ayumu with a bright smile on their face. They leaned back on the chair’s legs as they swung around to greet moon. In the same action, they shoved the stalks out of sight.
“Are you busy?” An obvious answer awaited that question.
“Nah, I’m just passing the time away. No peeking though!”
As if her legs had springs in them, they jumped to their feet and half-walked, half-skipped away from the table they once were at. For the time being, their band of unlikely individuals set up a temporary residence within a hotel. So now they all made the most of their stay.
“You’re not being discrete at all.” A smile began to pull at the puppet’s lips at the thought of being able to dangle sacred information above Vyomi’s head. Nothing malicious-- not entirely-- but it just felt right. “I know you’re making flo--”
A hand flew up to moon’s mouth and made moon shut up immediately. Ayumu glared daggers of offense towards Vyomi as they gave their own grin in return, tilting their head to the side.
“Secrets! Don’t ask again unless you know what’s good for ya!”
“Right.” Ayumu spoke without opening moon’s mouth as moon shoved Vyomi’s hand away a second after. As moon opened moon’s mouth again, a feeling of something akin to anxiety began to settle in. Hesitation took over for a second, but moon finally spoke. “Can I ask another question then?”
Vyomi’s expression faltered for a moment at Ayumu’ words before perking up again. “Yessir! Why so serious though? You’re acting as if your grandpa just died! But yeah, what’s up, Smurf?”
It felt odd coming forward about something like this, and Ayumu felt moonself hesitate again. Showing vulnerability never boded well for moon, and what if this question came out the wrong way? Would Vyomi be weirded out? Emotions were weird.
“What is love?”
“Baby don’t hurt me.”
An innocent question to the stupidest response ever. But Ayumu had to give Vyomi credit, the same thing popped into moon’s own head. Oh well, time to reexplain.
“Please can you take this seriously? What is love to you?”
Vyomi tapped their hand on their chin, a more evil smirk replacing the grin from before. “Why are ya asking? Found a special someone~?”
It felt as if Ayumu had been doused in cold water. Quickly, moon shook moon’s head, beside moonself with a look of disgust. “Are you serious? I just want to know.”
Maybe asking Vyomi about this really was a bad idea. Ayumu sure felt like it was. Maybe if moon had asked Femi, then she would give a better response with all of these pointless questions and teasing. Found someone, as if. Ayumu wouldn’t know but they certainly were opposed to that idea.
“Alright, alright.” Vyomi said dejectedly, crossing their own arms and their eyes arching to the sky. “Well! Love is something you feel for another person! You can’t stop thinking about them, they dominate your mind…” A dreamy expression fell over their face as they saw something Ayumu couldn’t. “They speak to you and butterflies erupt in your stomach, you feel like you can fly!”
Ayumu stared at Vyomi, trying to piece what they said to moon’s own feelings. Butterflies? The concept seemed foreign to them. It had to do with moon’s stomach… though moon didn’t feel like that at all whenever moon spoke to Vyomi. It couldn’t be right.
But non stop thought did line up… but the same could be said for everyone else. The group that Ayumu now stayed with did take over moon’s thoughts, though moon just thought it to be the change of companionship.
“Anything else?” they asked. Maybe what they felt wasn’t love afterall. This certainly didn’t sound like it. “That doesn’t sound right.”
“Well, silly, there are other types of love! Shame you haven’t fallen head over heels for someone. But! There’s other types, sure! They don’t have to be romantic or any of that stuff, sometimes you just care about someone!”
Ayumu perked up, listening. Yes, moon certainly didn’t have any romantic or odd feelings towards Vyomi. To moon, it felt gross to even think about. It felt so much different than wanting to give a kiss.
“Take for example my views to Caeli!” Vyomi gave a sheepish laugh. “I care about him a lot. He’s always there for me, ready to protect me, and I feel the same for him! Though I think it’s bleh to like him in any way other than seeing him as a… wow, now I’m embarrassed to say… part of a family.”
They instantly straightened up and waved their hand to the side dismissively. “I love him dearly, yeah! I want to protect him with my life and make sure no harm comes to him. It’s a familial love, ya know? It’s a deep caring and devotion to people, a level of trust that you can’t get with anyone else.”
As Vyomi spoke, Ayumu found moon’s ball-jointed fingers wringing moon’s hands. Anxiety and something moon could only chock up to nervousness began to well in moon’s chest, nearly zoning out Vyomi’s words.
That was it. That was the explanation. Ayumu had been right, it was love, and with each word Vyomi gave, it made more and more sense to moon. God, moon loved Vyomi as a family. No wonder Vyomi felt comfortable and like home to moon. Vyomi felt like a sister.
How stupid. Ayumu really felt like this with no time passing at all and already their trust for Vyomi ran so deep. Moon never knew a family and felt it so odd that Vyomi, who just entered moon’s life, would become that important to moon so soon. Moon didn’t even think it was possible for anyone.
“Oh.” Ayumu had no idea what to say as they stared at the ground. Moon actually thought of Vyomi as a sister… A sister? Or maybe an aunt? Mom? No, those two sounded weird. Sister felt the nicest on moon’s mind. It felt right.
“So! Did I help your curiosity? Hehe!”
“Yeah.” Ayumu hesitated as the moment caught up with them. Sister! Moon thought of them as a sister! The feeling felt so odd, it terrified them, but still, it felt comfortable.
“That’s good!” Vyomi reached forward and messed up Ayumu’s hear before taking a step back to go back to their work.
“I think I love you.”
In an instant, Vyomi paused and they stared ahead, uncomprehending. With their eyes blown wide, they finally glanced over to Ayumu as more anxiety began to rise in moon’s chest. Was this not a good thing to say? Did Vyomi think moon meant it romantically? Were emotions like these not meant to be said, even if it was expressing care to someone moon saw as family?
Ayumu didn’t understand. Why were emotions and thoughts so weird?
“Familial love, I mean,” moon hastily corrected. Then moon paused a moment later. “Are you crying?”
“Huh?” Vyomi gave a jump as they broke out of their trance. They raised a gloved hand and wiped the palm against their cheek, taking it away to find tear tracks. A huff of laughter escaped from them as a smile crept back onto their face. “I’m sorry-- I wasn’t expecting that. I didn’t know you thought that way.”
“Was it the wrong thing to say?” Ayumu asked, now all pretenses of putting on a brave face falling away. Did moon make the wrong move?
“No!” Vyomi hastily shook their head, and before Ayumu knew it, they swept moon up into a hug. “No! You didn’t! It’s okay, I love you too.”
Now it was Ayumu’s turn to freeze, and moon paused out of shock. Vyomi cared about moon that way too? Moon never thought it possible… not after the life that moon had. People actually caring about moon? The thought felt alien. It felt wrong. How was moon capable of being loved?
Slowly, Ayumu finally hugged Vyomi back, resting moon’s head on Vyomi’s shoulder as the other rocked the two back and forth slowly.
“Hey, remember when we were compared to being twins?” Vyomi asked.
“Yeah?”
“If we introduce ourselves as such, no one would be the wiser! And we get to confuse Caeli and Femi when they come back.”
“Huh. I like that.”