Chapter Text
"Wow, Caelus! Your face is super red!"
Caelus looks up, finding March staring at him from across the room. Her iridescent eyes travel downward to look at the phone in his hand, which contains the cause of his current predicament.
"Mind telling me what's up?" She gets up from her seat and makes her way towards him, eyes twinkling with curiosity.
He hands his phone to her, his other hand covering his face in embarrassment. "Just... see for yourself..."
March eagerly receives the phone, finger swiping as she scrolls through the messaging app. Her eyes go wider and wider, and her face goes redder and redder as she scrolls. Once she reaches the most recent message, she squeals loudly which earned a disapproving glare from Pom Pom who's currently cleaning the floor of the Parlor Car.
"These compliments are out of this world! And I can't believe you actually went and exchanged compliments with him! These lines of yours are just as, if not more flowery than his! You guys kept at it for a while, too!" March is blushing brightly, looking at him with disbelief. "So... you just realized how embarrassing these lines are NOW? You're really something else, you know that?"
"I don't know what came over me," Caelus buries his face in his hands, utterly embarrassed. "I think the spirit of Beauty is possessing me. Or..." he looks up at March, concerned, "maybe Argenti's condition is contagious?!"
He hears Dan Heng sigh further down the Parlor Car, intensifying the color on Caelus' face. He internally cringes, like come on, give him a break! As if he's not embarrassed enough!
"I don't think it was the spirit of Beauty and I don't think Argenti has some kind of contagious disease. You're just too... impressionable," his dark-haired companion shrugs, eyes still on the clipboard in his hand.
"Also, you have a tendency to not think before you speak," he adds, casually fiddling with a pen in his other hand.
Caelus can only groan in response. Dan Heng is right and it makes him even more embarrassed.
"Did you guys receive compliments from him, too?" He asks, trying to steer the conversation away from his less than stellar social aptitude.
"Yup! It got embarrassing so I told him to stop, though, and he actually did! I told him I'll check out his podcast if I have the time, 'cuz it does sound interesting," March pulls out her phone and shows him the screen, which currently shows Argenti's exchange with her.
Caelus wonders if the Knight really sends these kinds of texts to everyone in his contact list...
"I did receive some, but I told him that the chats are limited to matters about the Data Bank. He apologized and stopped complimenting me."
How very Cold-Dragon-Young, Caelus thought.
"... But then he started sending compliments for the Archive and the Data Bank instead..." Dan Heng sighs. "I redirected him to the Data Bank visitor log and he hasn't bothered me since."
Caelus laughs. Argenti did compliment their potted plant, so it's not shocking that he'd compliment their Archive and Data Bank as if they are sentient...
Wait a minute... what if what he thinks are inanimate objects aren't actually inanimate? What if the Data Bank and the Express' Archives are actually alive?! The strange plant at the Space Station can talk to him, after all...
Caelus shoves the thought to the back of his mind. Maybe he'll save it for later to ask Argenti.
Argenti...
The thought of the red-haired Knight of Beauty and receiving another batch of compliments makes his face grow hot again. He groans in exasperation.
Dan Heng places his pen and clipboard on the table and walks up to his companions, giving Caelus his full attention.
"What's troubling you?" he stands next to March, crossing his arms.
"I don't know," Caelus sighs, "I get so worked up over Argenti and his compliments, I can't think straight."
Dan Heng hums thoughtfully, "If you're feeling overwhelmed, maybe you should ask him to stop sending you compliments."
Caelus stays quiet for a bit.
"I don't want him to stop complimenting me."
Dan Heng and March raises their eyebrows.
"And I like complimenting him. It makes him happy and in turn, makes me happy, too!"
March turns to Dan Heng. Dan Heng turns to March.
"But it also makes me feel..." Caelus clutches his chest, "really hot? And it's bothering me because I can't stop thinking about him. What should I do?" Caelus looks up at his companions pleadingly.
"Excuse us for a moment." Dan Heng pats March's shoulder and they briskly make their way to the corner of the Parlor Car. They look like they're discussing something. Caelus can only guess what they're talking about, but it looks intense, looking at how March flails her arms and Dan Heng paces back and forth.
After a few system minutes, his two companions return to his side. They both take a seat next to him.
"Caelus," Dan Heng starts, "we think you have a crush on Argenti."
Caelus blinks. "A what?"
"A crush. It's, uh..." Dan Heng trails off, pulling out his phone and types something in. He shows the screen to him, showing a dictionary entry.
"An intense but brief infatuation for someone."
"Infatuation? So does that mean I love Argenti?" Caelus frowns, eyebrows knitted. "I don't feel like love is the correct word for this..."
"We don't think it can be called love just yet. Remember, crushes are brief," Dan Heng continues, pocketing his phone.
"Who knows, maybe it will develop into something more!" March pipes up. "Maybe you'll become lovers, maybe you'll just be really good buddies! Either way, it'll be fine, I promise! Just... enjoy it while it lasts, I guess?"
Enjoy? This... overwhelmingly warm feeling? Caelus can't say he likes the feeling, like his heart will jump out of his chest, or his stomach is filled with a bunch of tiny Wubbaboos. This feels like sickness.
Oh, he muses, is this why there's a thing called lovesickness?
"Argenti's a really... quirky guy, but he's nice and understanding! " March adds, handing the phone back to him. "Also, he got along with you particularly well back when the whole thing with the insects happened, compared to anyone else on the express! I think you guys are in the same wavelength, y'know? Whatever happens, I believe that you two will still be on great terms together!"
Now that she mentions it, they both did get along quite swimmingly, didn't they? How Argenti specifically asked him for a duel, and how he asked to speak privately with him about his plans first before informing others... really gives the impression that the Knight holds Caelus in higher regard...
He shakes the thought off before it gets to his head (especially his cheeks), and eyes the messages again, internally cringing at his compliments to the Knight of Beauty. How the hell did he type all these with a straight face?!
As if saving him from spiraling, his phone chimes, showing a message notification.
It's Argenti.
Okay, nevermind, the spiraling is back with a vengeance.
He swallows thickly and opens the message, heart pounding in anticipation.
He reads the message.
... And immediately drops his phone in shock.
"Caelus?! Your face is even redder than before! What-"
He can't bring himself to say a word. He covers his face with one hand, while shakily pointing the other to his phone which currently lies pitifully on the floor.
March crouches down and takes it. Her eyes instantly widen as she reads the message that's displayed on screen.
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Argenti
I swear to the rose
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Argenti
"Caelus, I think I've fallen in love with you."
Her loud shriek is rewarded with a smack by Pom Pom, who ran across the Parlor car in the speed of light.
His phone drops for the second time.