"Understand?" Noah's beautiful honey-colored eyes curved, watching Levi with a pure and clean gaze of a little sheep, utterly oblivious to their impending fate of getting eaten clean, with not even bones remaining.
Levi repeatedly nodded, "I understand!"
Noah eyed Levi, confirmed that the other was no longer feeling down, and then nodded satisfied, "As long as you understand. Every problem has a solution. Don't let people who don't even know you pin nonsense adjectives to you."
Levi kept nodding. Nodding, crossing his legs, nodding, and then nodding while swallowing his saliva.
Finally, his itching fingers couldn't help but once again entangle themselves in his baby's fluffy hair. Noah very docilely allowed him to caress as he pleased. At this point, he had already gotten used to it; he even instinctively lowered his head to grant easier access.
Just as Levi was thinking of how he could turn this situation into something that would allow him to "nibble" at his darling's delicious "tofu" even more, the doorbell interrupted his indecent thoughts. Tsk!
Fynn made his appearance once again, following the butler into the dining room. He was visibly more dispirited than he had been this morning. His face was a bit wan, his eyes a bit bloodshot. Unlike Noah and Levi, who had gotten the entire afternoon of rest, Fynn had spent it working.
Since he had only been ruffled and not injured, he refused his superior's suggestions of taking the rest of the day off. What rest? He had a case to solve!
Yet, when all was said and done, it was impossible for Fynn to not be impacted by nearly losing a good friend and a person whom he had liked for a while now. He, too, was all kinds of upset, unsettled, worried, pained, and furious. He, too, wanted to be by Noah's side when the other woke up.
But it was neither his place to do so nor would that help his friend in any way. What Noah needed was to rest and recover in a safe and comfortable environment while being cared for by his family. He had no right to squeeze himself into this most intimate circle. The best thing he could do now to help Noah was to continue his investigation so that the bastards who harmed them would pay dearly as soon as possible.
Noticing the lack of utensils at the table, the butler shared a glance with his young master and then discretely moved to set up enough utensils for the newcomer. Meanwhile, Fynn marched into the dining room.
And then tripped on his feet due to the powerful yet entirely inappropriate intents he felt.
Holy fuck!! What nightmare did he just enter?!?
The last time he felt this nauseous was when he visited a famous honeymoon spot! And it's worth noting that at the time, there had been over two dozen newlyweds in the vicinity! In contrast, now there were two and let alone newlyweds, they weren't even a couple! Yet the air was so overwhelmingly sweet he wanted to turn around and march right out from where he came from!
Unfortunately, he had tripped right into a puddle of water. Apparently, Cordia mommy had been busy over-watering the plants here as well.
What followed next was, as expected, Fynn slipping comically and nearly faceplanting into the nearby hanging pot. He desperately hugged the pot, which was surprisingly sturdy enough to handle the weight of a grown man, and tried to regain his balance.
Only after several slips did he manage to steady his footing and dazedly look towards the two giant puffs of sugary intent.
When Fynn had entered the room, Levi's various mixed intents, which could be summarized with "My world is my baby. Love, love, love my baby 'properly' ❤" got splashed with cold water and replaced with an intent to kick out this shining light bulb by the name of Fynn. After Fynn tripped and collided with the plant, Levi let out an involuntary snort. 'This embarrassment still dares to compete against me for my baby?'
On the other hand, Noah was initially radiating an intense dedication towards this "good brother", intending to take good care of him, comfort him, and make him happy. No inappropriate intents, perfectly clean and pure, nothing wrong with it, right?
Wrong! Fynn recognized the flavor of this intent!! This was clearly lovingly pampering your significant other, ok?!? Unreasonably spoiling them into the heavens, alright!?! Platonic my ass, how could dedication of this magnitude have nothing to do with love?!
Fynn swallowed hard. Oh boy… He could confidently bet an arm and a leg that this marriage between the Cordia family's daughter and Astar Levi won't be happening.
What marriage? With how obsessed Astar Levi was with Cordia Aris, if he had to blow up the entire planet to live a happy life with his darling, he'd do it! His unfortunate soon-to-be ex-fiancée could threaten him with suicide, and he still wouldn't spare her a glance!
And the worst thing about it all was that "his darling", this sheep, was willing to follow him all on his own, without even realizing what he was getting into!! He very dedicatedly trotted over, affectionately wiggling his little cotton tail, unaware he would be eaten clean!
Fynn's heart bled, and he felt acid rise from his stomach into his throat. What kind of absurd development was this?? Little Aris had so many different pursuers, himself included, yet the one who'd end up plucking him was this scoundrel of a brother-in-law?!
Oh, and Fynn had no doubt that this was surely where this absurd plot was heading! The only thing that could stop it was if Levi kicked the bucket.
How could fate be this nonsensical?!
Fynn looked towards Levi, his emotions complicated. The man might look normal right now, but Fynn's memories of the Levi of back then were too vivid in his mind to be ignored.
No, not the Levi who had destroyed the entire station, but the Levi who had woken up to find his little brother-in-law not breathing.
The state Astar Levi had been in then… he hadn't just seen it, he had felt it.
Felt the kinds of intents he never wished to feel again in his life.
Fynn wasn't an Empathizer; he couldn't feel the emotions of others. But humans didn't need a special power to be able to empathize with others. Understanding the other was enough.
And other than an Empathizer, who could understand others better than an Intenter?
The pain of nearly losing your loved one, how would Fynn be unable to understand when their loved one was even the same person?
Yet even though he too felt horrible, he even had to advise others against separating his own love rival from his target of affection. Hah, this kind of misery… one could only understand it once they experienced it on their own skin.
But what choice did he have? When he clearly felt that Astar Levi had been reduced to pure instinct that would attack anyone who'd attempt to separate them. When he knew that Astar Levi could not be reasoned with. That he would sooner die than let go.