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“There’s some nice looking yellow ones over there.” Stelle said to Phainon, who was browsing through some purple shirts.
Stelle and March had taken the newest Astral Express Crew member shopping for some new clothes. He didn’t have any other than the ones he actualized in and was having to make do with what Dan Heng and Mr. Yang could spare. Sunday’s wardrobe had been ruled out because he didn’t have anything that would fit. Not that Stelle would’ve minded seeing Phainon in Sunday’s smaller, so tighter, shirts and pants. She shuddered remembering that she had let that slip while talking to her friends, Phainon included. March teased her daily about that.
“Don’t encourage him.” March whined. “This wasn't Aglaea being mean, these colors really don’t go well together.”
“Why? He likes them. Let him do what he wants.”
“You’re too far gone, you know.”
Stelle shot a look at March that clearly said “He’s right over there, he’s gonna hear you.”
“I’ll try these on. Don’t go far, I want your opinion.” Phainon said, going towards the dressing rooms.
The girls followed him. While they waited March was just looking around, browsing through some socks while Stelle just stared at nothing.
Soon enough Phainon appeared in a dark blue shirt and some pale jeans.
The colors really brought out the shine in his eyes and the sharpness of his features. The sun etched on his neck more pronounced against the dark color.
“You look really nice.” March said.
“Yeah.” That was all Stelle could muster. The store felt a bit stuffy all of a sudden.
“You don’t like it.” Phainon said, talking to her.
“What? No, I do. It’s… nice.”
He frowned.
“I’ll try the other ones.” He said, turning back to the dressing room.
After a few minutes of silence, March spoke.
“You should tell him how you feel, Stelle. Really.”
“No.” Stelle was resolute in her answer.
“Why not?”
“I don’t wanna burden him.”
“Come on. You didn’t want to burden him during the Flame-Chase, then at The Eternal Page and now you are still using that as an excuse to run away from your feelings.” March replied, a little annoyed.
“March. I… I want him to choose what to do. I want him to choose to Traiblaze but I also want him to be free to choose to stay if he ever finds a tiny village somewhere. I can’t… tie him to me. I don’t have that right. Yes, I want him, badly, but what I want the most is for him to be happy.”
“What about this one?”
Stelle turned, startled. He hadn’t heard that, had he?
“It’s nice as well.” She said, now too worried that he might have heard their conversation to actually have an opinion. March just nodded approvingly.
“I’ll change back.”
After a while Phainon reappeared in his old clothes.
“I think I won’t take any of these.” He said.
“Why?” Both girls said in unison.
“Well, Stelle didn’t seem to like them.” He said simply.
“Hey! No, I did like them.” She sighed. “Phainon, please. Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? You look perfect wearing anything. You might as well look perfect wearing nothing.”
“Pfft.”
Hearing March’s suppressed laugh was what made Stelle realize what she had just said.
“What I meant was, you’re so hot, clothes don't change that... Wait, no, I mean… Hm.” Every word made it worse, so she just shut up.
She was never going to hear the end of it.
“Thank you very much, Partner.” Phainon replied, a different light in his eyes.
March just grinned and seemed to take pity on her. “Look. Those dresses seem really cute. I wanna see them.” She said, hurrying towards some clothes rack.
Stelle started to follow her friend, resigned that this was just a respite, March was going to tease her until one of them dropped dead. Then she felt Phainon’s hand on her shoulder. She stopped to look at him while he leaned in closer.
“I think you should definitely tie me... to you, of course.” He said, his voice low, his breath hot in her ear.
She gulped. She was sure the whole store could hear her heart beating wildly.
“Come. Let’s go see those dresses.” He said with a devilish grin, holding out his hand for her to take. “It would make me happy to see how great they would look on you. But seeing you in nothing at all would be… even better. Verily so.”
Is it even possible for someone to forget how to breathe?