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"What're you even doing?" A gravelly voice flowed into Bettel's ears, causing the jester hop and let out a squeak. Phantom, who had been sleeping in front of him, woke up and scurried away at the noise.
Ruze looked down at Bettel, one of his brows raised. He crossed his arms, chuckling at the reaction that he caused.
"How could you scare me like that, you... you brute!" Bettel whined, turning around to look up at Ruze with a pout. His hand came up to Ruze's chest, poking him repeatedly. Like it was going to do anything. "I almost got to pet Phantom when he was calm..."
To Ruze, Bettel looked like a pathetic dog. A sad, wet dog. A little voice in his head was urging him to something, to try and get another cute reaction out of Bettel. "You'll get your chance another day, clown." The name had Bettel opening his mouth to retort, though he got quickly shut up when Ruze softly pat his head.
Red painted the jester's cheeks, and he leaned into Ruze's touch instinctively. This was... different. Bettel didn't know why Ruze's touch made him so content.
Sadly, Ruze felt red crawl onto his own cheeks, and he looked away. Bettel's expression made him happy.
The sound of floorboards creaking snapped them both out of this dazed trance, quiet snickering making them look back. Octavio and Hakka had a camera, and the pair were smirking.
"Hey- What the fuck!?" Ruze's voice cracked embarrassingly, and his eyes were wide open. "The two of you had better delete that picture!"
The pair started to run away, being quickly chased by Ruze. Bettel was just left stunned, unsure what to do or think. Had that really just happened? Why wasn't he still annoyed at Ruze for scaring Phantom? The brute hadn't done anything redeeming. Maybe Bettel needed to think on some things.