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"Tch… here." Verkis scoffed, throwing a white and yellow object at Javier lazily. "Press the middle button and you'll be able to return here right away." He says, watching as Javier inspected it in his hands curiously. It almost glinted as much as the gold around Verkis's velvet sofa did, as he slumped back over and shut his eyes. "I've been busy making this crap, so I haven't gotten much sleep lately. Do you know how much that means to me?"
"Pardon…?"
Verkis opened his eyes and stared at Javier's stumped expression for a second. He moved his arm over his face annoyingly and rolled onto his side.
"Oh, don't give me that look. I figured you'd show up anyway, so hurry up and go." He said, flapping his hand at Javier as a way to shoo him.
"…" The knight looked at the button once more then back at the dragon, bowing his head in appreciation. "Thank you, merciful dragon king!"
Soon after, he was off. A blazing light burst throughout the Earth's atmosphere, and Javier was back in Seoul again after so long. This place really hadn't changed from his last visit, still confusing to him as the buildings remained high-tech and modernized in contrast to Lorasia's infrastructure.
He wasted no time in rushing through the busy streets, trying to ignore the loud and bright characteristics of the city or perhaps just bumping into random pedestrians. Thankfully, his senses as a swordmaster had died down as he remembered that mana did not exist in Suho's world.
Javier occasionally turned around if he spotted someone who looked remotely similar to the appearance of Lloyd Frontera, but all of his efforts were futile—he led himself to an alleyway where he slumped against a closed garage door, staring at the button with a sorrowfull look on his face.
I wish… I had known more about you, Kim Suho.
His mouth trembled, clenching his teeth together. There were tears that began to bubble down his dirtied cheeks as his head hung low.
I don't even know what you look like.
If it were you, Kim Suho, you would've known…
He choked on his sobs.
What to do…
—
Amidst the crowd of people was Suho, staring out at the illumination below with a melancholy expression. There he stood, on the top of Seoul, watching as cars sped through the roads and the lights in windows blinked on and off like fireflies. Giyeong turned to him.
"Been a while since you've seen this, huh?" He says, his face smug and his hands in his pockets. "After all you've been through."
"Yeah…"
The guy clicks his tongue, patting Suho on the back.
"You know, I wouldn't be surprised if that dude came here to be your knight in shining armor," He laughs. "I mean, with all that's possible in the world you spoke of, I almost expect it."
"I'm certain he wouldn't come. Besides, I went through the gate of reincarnation—"
"Yeah, yeah," He interrupts. "Didn't you tell me that you took him on a date to Korea—"
"Not a date."
"Well, you did bring him here for your construction project, right? You needed that Kiosk thing."
"It's the Kiaora. We used it for the Aotearoa."
"Yup, that thing. Sorry, I'm no good with your crazy fantasy terminology."
Giyeong shifts his weight on another foot, looking out at the city like Suho.
"What I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't give up, Suho." His face contorts into a familiar beast-like smile, something that Suho learned to do as Lloyd. "Hell, you may be in a different world, but you seemed pretty damn happy talking about it. You achieved something I couldn't even dream of as a low-life…"
"…"
"You can't just accept your fate now, considering how far you've come back there. If there's a possibility, why not believe in it?"
Suho's face changed for a moment, no longer exhibiting an absence of emotions.
He's right, but it's still so hard… Is it right for me to be Lloyd?
"Whatever you're thinking man, you need to shut it down, okay? You're making me gain wrinkles." Giyeong scoffs, patting him on the back again just a little harder than earlier. "You've got a crazy amount of perseverance, anyway. Haven't seen you in ages, but I can tell that even as Suho, even as Lloyd, you had the strength to keep going. Am I right?"
Suho chuckled.
All those times his senior barked at him to build a house in the army, all those times he watched as no one took accountability for unsafe equipment at the construction site. All those times, where he hadn't anyone left, was Suho who worked his ass off to get where he was now.
Even in that book, Knight of Blood and Iron. As Lloyd, he had still found a way, despite fails and disencouragement. Sketchy contracts, obstacles in his path. The future he saw from the ending spoilers, Hellkaros's wrath. That time, too, when he thought he was entirely alone, the Heart of Winter eating away at his soul.
"Yeah." Suho replies, looking up at the night sky that had an absence of stars. It reminded him of the beautiful galaxies he'd see in Lorasia, where light pollution wasn't prominent enough to make an impact on the sky.
When he looked back at all the people surrounding the area, his eyes grazed upon a particularly strange and frantic individual that was running around in search of something. He wore a cap on his head, but Suho could clearly see the silver hair that rode his shoulders. There was no other individual in the world—in any world—that possessed hair that gorgeous and shining. He knew it too well.
His eyes widened as the man stopped, almost like it was fate, to stare at him as he stared back.
Giyeong smiled.
"Ja…" The sound left Suho's lips almost instantaneously. "Javier?"
—
In a burst of light, Suho tumbled out onto the dirt clumsily alongside Javier—who just happened to land perfectly and elegantly as he always was. Damn protagonist.
He rubbed his forehead which seemed to be pounding from the ride back to Lorasia, picking himself up and looking around.
Suho was standing in the exact spot where he first came to this world, but rather than being Lloyd, facedown into the ground with a frozen jaw, he was himself. He still had his work-calloused hands, his broad shoulders. His hair was still the same black color as it was, his face familiar.
He was no longer in Lorasia as Lloyd, but as Suho Kim. It felt strange to him.
As he was assessing himself, Javier stepped closer and knelt once more with his head bowed. After a few seconds of silence, he looked up and grabbed Suho's hand gently in his own.
"Master Suho," He said, voice calm. "I am grateful for your return. The kingdom of Magentano has been awaiting you for a very long time."
"How did you find me?"
"I asked the Jewel of Truth."
"Oh. Hahaha."
"Verkis assisted me."
"That lazy bastard of a dragon?" Suho laughed, wondering what exactly Javier did to get Verkis to actually get off his ass and do something.
"He said he lost sleep over you." Javier paused. "Well, not over you, but over saving you."
"I guess I'm in for an earful, then?"
"Very much so."
The two were still for a bit, staring at each other. This was awkward.
"I have something to confess," Javier broke the silence. "Master Suho." He brought the man's hand up to his now bowed forehead and closed his eyes.
"…G-Go on, what is it?" Suho exclaimed, feeling flustered by what his knight was doing. Heat rose to his face and pinked his cheeks. It seemed a little out of character for Javier, but then again, this was no longer anything near the plot of Knight of Blood and Iron. His eyes led him to Javier's ears, which were visibly a darker shade than Suho's own cheeks, and he felt a pang at his heart. Was this just embarrassment on both sides? What on earth was Javier about to tell him?
"I deeply apologize for not being able to protect you, back during the battle against Hellkaros…"
Oh, so that's what it was.
Javier softly rested his hand against his cheek, letting Suho feel the strange warmth that emanated from the skin of his knight.
Or maybe not?!
"You don't need to apologize, Javier. I was… already aware of how it would end." He says, trying to disguise his shaky voice.
"Did the Jewel of Truth tell you that? The duty to sacrifice yourself?"
Suho's eyes widened as he thought back to the time he and Javier had quarrelled over the message that he received from the Aoteraroa, one that required a death from either Javier or Suho to end the "two protagonist" ordeal. He remembered witnessing his companion's own sacrifice, holding what was left of the man that drifted away in the air with tears in his eyes. It was then that Suho decided that he would carry out this plan.
"…In a way, yes."
"I see." Javier looked down. "I will not pry the answer out of you anymore."
The knight brought Suho's hand back down once more, lightly pressing his lips to it's back. Suho flinched instantly, confused as to what was going on.
"What are you doing?" He gulped. "You do know, Javier, that you look an awful lot like you're courting someone…" Suho could clearly see the look upon Javier's face, the man staring up at him with such longing, gentle eyes—
What?! What in the world is wrong with him?!
"That is what I am doing, Master Suho." Javier calmly replied, letting Suho's hand go and watching as the man's face burst into flames. He looked less like a potato and more like it's brother with a similar name. Of course, with as red and hot as Suho's face was right now, he had no doubt that he was shining like a freshly picked and ripe tomato.
"I-Is it April Fools?" Suho stammered out, his feelings mixing between a state of panic and something else that he didn't quite know what to name. "Or, hey, pinch me."
"This isn't a dream… I said what I said." Javier only made it worse.
"I know that, dumbass! Let me be delusional for once!"
Suho winced at his own thoughts, contemplating actually being in a romantic relationship with this guy. Why in the world would he even think of feeling attracted to Suho in that way?! Honestly, it was more like he was attracted to him solely because of his knightly duties. But… they had gotten close, and he couldn't particularly brush off Javier's determination to find him in Korea, a world so unknown to him without Suho by his side.
He felt the urge to tug through his hair aggressively. Suho was without a doubt, conflicted.
"Kim Suho, I—"
"Gah! I don't want to hear it! If you're going to confess to me, don't make it like a cringy Youtube video!"
"…You…tube?"
"Forget it…"
Javier watched as Suho sighed and looked away, his face now more worried than red.
"What troubles you? We are friends—" He paused, thinking back to Suho's outburst before Hellkaros's battle, and bit his lip. "You told me that I was the one you trusted the most."
Suho turned back to him.
"…I know, I did. I just… I don't understand myself, Javier." He weakly muttered. "There are many things I want to tell you, but there are many things keeping me back from it."
Javier lowered his head, staring at the ground still in a kneeling stance. He placed his hand over his chest as if he was making a vow to Suho.
"I'm sorry."
"…H-Huh? Why?"
"I professed my feelings to you and it made you uncomfortable. I just do not want to lose you again, Master Suho."
"It's not that I'm uncomfortable by you, or… what you said," He coughed. "I just don't get why. Why do you like me, Javier? You love Lloyd Frontera, the one who made all of those construction achievements. The one who commands all those summons, demons, the dead—"
"…"
"You don't love the shell of a nobody that I am now." Suho said, raising his arms and looking down upon himself and his appearance.
"That's what you told me the last time we were in Seoul—I know it isn't true. You are someone who battles his responsibilities and works towards a solution in your own way that benefits everyone whether you want it or not." Javier stood up now, staring at Suho intensely. He reached out for Suho's face, brushing some of his jet black hair away from his eyes and cupping his cheek kindly. His ears were flushed and his face pink, but he continued nonetheless despite the embarrassment. "I love the version of you that I have seen all along, the one in your heart. No matter what facade you put on, between Lloyd Frontera and Kim Suho, I will still see you as the man who stood by my side these years and changed our lives inexplicably."
Suho's breath hitched. That awakened something in him. A gust of wind blew through the two of them as the morning sun rose higher above the horizon, the air smelling like dew and new beginnings. Perhaps he was coming to a realization.
"I…"
Javier chuckled for a moment as he turned to walk up the hilly path that surrounded Seoul. Suho, in Lloyd's body, was kneeling down on the dirt with tears in his eyes.
"Looks like I was worried for nothing." His knight says. "Whether you're in Seoul or Lorasia, you're the same person in my eyes."
Suho's mouth trembled.
"Whether you create a mess with that ugly and scary face or cry with an afraid expression, you're still someone who sees his responsibilities through and through."
He understood now. Suho, wiping his tears and beginning to get up on his feet, yelled out to Javier enthusiastically.
"Hey, Javier!"
He sped up behind the knight, catching up to him.
"I'm the one who should be leading us in the front!"
And with that, Javier smiled warmly.
"You really don't mind me? No matter how selfish and greedy I can be, pushing others for my own advantages?" Suho asked Javier, after snapping out of his memories. The man before him was still holding his face lovingly, not looking away even if the situation was quite awkward. They were two grown men yet got easily bashful over childish-like romance like this.
"You do have your own devilish charm, I suppose."
Suho laughed.
"Right, of course."
"…Then, Master Suho," Javier gulped. "What… is your response to my profession?" He honestly looked much more nervous than he would when fighting a formidable foe.
Suho patted his shoulder, the color in his face returning, plastering a triumphant smile on his face that looked oddly like something Lloyd would show off.
"When one is dating—er—courting, it is customary to remove the formalities, dear Javier. Don't even think about your knightly duties, because as of today you're no longer—"
Suddenly, Javier drew him into a tight hug, nestling his face into the crook of Suho's shoulder. This was extremely out of character! Again!
"J-Javier?!"
"I'm glad," He says in return. "…Suho."
The man huffed a sigh, wrapping his arms (albeit hesitantly and awkwardly) around Javier's back as his knight—well, now boyfriend if you could even call it that—cradled his head in a sweet manner.
"You can still call me Lloyd, y'know…" Suho replies, realizing that as they came out of the hug, he was reverting back to the appearance that the two of them knew well. "Speak of the devil."
"Can't say I missed this ugly face," Javier chuckles.
"Excuse me! That is no way to speak to your partner, you brat!"
Javier's hands moved from Suho's head to his waist now, holding him closely in front of him which made the other queasy.
"So you accept my confession?"
"Is it not obvious? Ugh, yeah, I guess I love you, Javier."
It was probably a future mistake that Suho, now weak to Javier's pleading, gave him what he wanted. A grin creeped up on Javier's face as he pulled him closer now—what was this guy scheming…
"You guess?"
He leaned in to kiss him, but was unfortunately stopped by Suho's hand.
"Mmph."
"Hold your horses, now! We ought to announce my return to the count and countess before we do anything, you hungry beast. And… to Her Majesty the queen as well."
Javier hated that Suho was right.
"Fine."
The silver-haired man grabbed Suho's (or, well, Lloyd's) hands with his free hand, intertwining their fingers and bringing it up for another kiss. He planted his lips on each finger, despite how corny it was in Suho's mind. When Javier stopped holding his hands, he flipped Suho's fingers over individually gently like he was counting the amount of times that they had slipped away from his grasp.
"I won't like it if you let your fingertips fall short of mine again, Suho."
Agh.
"Okay, okay, bastard."