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"So D3r, who do you like?"
"Hrm?" D3rlord3 hums, raising up an eyebrow. He looks up from his book, eyeing Avery's pleading face with suspicion.
"Oh come on, you said you would give some hints last time! Dude, I'm going to die of curiosity," Avery whines, shaking D3rlord3 by the shoulders. His armour plates rattle from the force, the clanking drowning out Avery's complaints. "You said that—" They throw up air quotes. " 'Maybe one day after we get away from The King, I'll tell you about it'!"
"Really, did I?" D3rlord3 chuckles, sliding Avery's hands off. "Alright, alright. I'll answer some questions…" He narrows his eyes. "…At my own discretion."
Their eyes crinkle. "Deal."
With a thump, D3rlord3 shuts his book. The air forced out from that motion does little to cool his warming face. Perhaps it is a good thing that the shadows of his visor cover up his features, hiding the faint blush that has begin to blossom along his cheeks. "Go on," he sighs.
For a while, Avery hrms and erms, eyebrows furrowing together in deep thought. Thinking for so long, that D3rlord3 is half certain that they've fallen asleep. At last, they snap their fingers together. "Got it! First question: What do you like about them?"
"Rather straightforward of a question."
Their eyes widen, immediately throwing up their hands in a placating manner as their voice jump in several pitches. "Waitwait— you don't have to answer this if you—"
"I'll answer it. Just a side comment," D3rlord3 replies. Closing his eyes, he does not answer for a moment, carefully crafting a response in his head. Removing anything too obvious (…not that they would catch the reference, their density when it comes to romantic affairs could honestly form a black hole), or whatever that can be misinterpreted and snowball into a misunderstanding. Avery drums their fingers on the book he had set down. On the fifth drum, he opens his eyes.
"What I like about them is… their kindness. Never giving up on helping me— even when I was being…" He throws a cautious look at Avery's befuddled face. "Difficult to deal with. Staying by my side even in the face of danger, and going the extra mile to make sure I feel safe. And their humour. It's nice… to have something to break the tension, and cheer me up on a bad day."
"Woah. So poetic."
"That's all the hints you'll get for this question."
"Pfftt— gatekeeper," Avery scoffs in response. "Anyways, second question: what do they look like?"
He stiffens, and gives them a deadpan stare. "I don't think… I can answer that."
Avery deflates a bit. "But," he starts again. They shoot back up, leaning forward as their head tilts just slightly to the right. (Cute.) "What I will say is that they remind me of spring."
"Spring??"
"Yes."
"Any… hints? Elaboration?"
"Hrm. No."
They scowl, and D3rlord3 could see remnants of their braincells scrambling and frying themselves just to decipher the cryptic message. A snicker escapes past his lips, as they squint at him, attempting to pry out any information from his body language.
"Ughhhh. Fine, fine. Moving on," Avery groans, leaning back while further burying their hands into their face. "Do I know this person?"
"Hrm. Can't answer that."
"Ohh, so I do know this person!" A faint lilt of pride leaks into their voice, celebrating their (frankly too early) victory.
He clears his throat. "Or not. I've never confirmed either of the answers."
"Why else would you be so… weird about it?"
The corners of his mouth curl up. "To mess with you."
They roll their eyes aggressively, half tempted to kick D3rlord3 off the hill. But the weather is far too nice to do such a cruel act, and the picnic is far too enjoyable to ruin. What's more cruel is him dancing around the answer, dangling hints right in front of Avery who, unfortunately, can't catch to save their life. They settle for smacking their back of their hand against his shoulder instead.
He barks a laugh.
"Fine, fine. You're a proper dickhead. Fourth question: What's your favourite feature of theirs?"
He hums in response, the blush underneath his helmet growing deeper. "Probably their touchiness. I wasn't used to it at the start, but I've grown accustomed to it over time. It is… comforting to have a warm physical presence."
"Hrmm, so someone touchy… I see!" Avery mutters, and D3rlord3 could feel the regret of even entertaining this conversation begin to settle in his bones. "Fifth: How long have you known them for?"
"Can't say. It'll be too obvious."
Avery clasps their hands together. "Pleaseeee?" they beg, tears welling up in their eyes.
Unamused (No, actually. He is amused by the responses.), D3rlord3 shakes his head. "No. Next question."
"Ugh. Sixth: How did you meet them?"
D3rlord3 sighs. "Once again, too obvious. Though, I will say it's not a 'meet cute' moment."
"Soooooo, 'meet ugly'?" Avery snorts, in an awfully cheery tone.
"… Not wrong."
"Ha! Tough, sounds like a skill issue to me— Hey! You— " D3rlord3 flicks Avery's forehead.
They rub their forehead, glaring daggers right back at him. "— Okokok! Moving on, seventh: What's their favourite colour?"
D3rlord3 blinks in surprise. "Favourite colour? How would knowing that even help you?"
"I'm just going to hunt down everyone you know and question them on their favourite colours! Hahaha— just joking!" They melt slightly under D3rlord3's vicious glare. "Just kidding! I'm just curious!"
Huffing in exasperation, a strange sense of pity pulls at his heartstrings. Perhaps he'll just entertain this silly question for a bit. "For them… most colours except yellow. Green is their favourite."
"Huh… awfully similar to mine. Never knew there were so many people that liked green as well!"
D3rlord3 stares at them, in a mix of surprise, exasperation, then a sense of acceptance — that he likes a moron. Awfully, horrifically, romantically dense, far beyond what he had expected of Avery. "…Sure. Whatever makes you happy."
"Okay? What was that mean to mean?"
"Nothing," he sighs for the umpteenth time, while bawling his eyes out on the inside at the sluggish rate of Avery picking up hints. Maybe— maybe he needs to be way more straightforward. An answer that will ram into their face at full force, with absolutely no space left for misunderstanding or flying over their head.
"What's yours then? Like, I already know you like red, but you know— it'll be cute if you two were matching favourite colours."
His mouth dries. Realising that he needs to play this extremely carefully. No— he's treating it like a game of 5D chess, while Avery is merely playing Tic Tac Toe. Rolling over the words in his mouth, he mulls over the proper response. Surely, this time Avery would get the hint.
"Not wrong. It is red. But…" Avery leans in closer. "Recently, I found myself… drawn to green. It reminds me of them." D3rlord3's voice drops to a murmur, his heart beginning to skip once, then twice, then breaking into a full sprint while roaring over hurdles. Go figures. "Between you and me, green wasn't even a colour I liked in the first place. Until one evening, I saw them— laughing and giggling with me in the sunset.. And I haven't seen green the same since."
"Woah, that's so sweet. Shouldn't you be telling them this… instead of me?"
D3rlord3 resists the urge to strangle them. Instead, he leans further into them. Avery flinches, their cheeks turning a lovely shade of forest green. Almost coincidentally, the setting sun dips into the horizon right behind Avery's head, the light streaking through their translucent body, in flecks of gold and pools of verdant green. The sun's glow forms a gentle halo around their head— a wreath that adorns his beauty like a painting. His throat closes up.
D3rlord3 heartbeat is so, so loud in his ears, almost deafening him as the blood rushes through his head like a dam broken.
Cautiously, he brings a hand up to Avery's cheek, cupping it gingerly. Avery does not move away.
"Do you know why it's my favourite colour?"
Avery visibly swallows, unable to tear their eyes away from his face. "No?" they reply at least, an answer so soft, so quiet, that no one else in the world except D3rlord3 could hear it. And that is exactly how he wants it— he leans in even closer, their hastened breath tickling his nose.
"My favourite colour is you, Avery."
A tick passes by. A flash of confusion, then shock, then recognition, before a smile finally blooms on their face. A small, airy oh floats out of their mouth, immediately drifting away as the wind blows against them. So sweet and gentle, that it makes his heart ache. D3rlord3 can't help but smile in return.
They clasp a hand over his, squeezing it tightly, as they finally bridge the space between both their lips with a sigh.