(Leo)
***
I slept lightly, waking up to the staring of dreamy eyes that were illuminated by the sunlight to the point of translucency. I was mesmerized by the illusion of a sunset they presented to me, but I didn't acknowledge that.
"Good morning," Sinclair whispered to me, their face bright with a smile. The petals still swaddled them, making the fairy seem fragile in that cradle.
I grinned back. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?"
They nodded, and I could see that their dark circles had faded. (Seeing as how they finally had gotten some rest, I was internally relieved and felt less guilty about pushing them away last night.)
"Yes. Thank you again. I was worried something could go wrong, what with all the magic remnants that could have hung around."
"Mhm," I said. "I don't blame you." I paused, trying not to make my words sound forced even if the emotions were genuine. "I'm glad I had someone to talk to before I went to sleep. There's not much of a nightlife here—as you would expect."
They sat up and chuckled. "Clearly."
"You headed to the castle?"
With another nod, they moved to stand beside my bed. Tan dust was kicked from the ground, and it covered their feet in a thin sheet.
"Yes. I was asked to spread the word to both kingdoms about the reunification of the Galaxy Kingdom before the evening."
"Why so fast?" I asked, moving to sit up on my bed. "It's land and space. It stays there until—you know—forever pretty much if nobody touches it."
A noise similar to a snort came from them. "I said the same thing. He has some crazy idealistic vision of it being done around the time the sun sets so that everyone in Mirai can hold hands and cheer or something."
"Not surprising. He'd turn an earthquake into a public spectacle if people played into it."
"Absolutely." Sinclair looked off the edge of the meadow. "I need to start early if I don't want to cause any other problems for this place."
"I think you should take your time," I responded, wanting them to stay with me for a little longer. I stood up. "He should know he's done you wrong."
Sinclair shook their head. "I know, I know, but I'm still the royal messenger. And things still have to get done… Look at it this way: If I get this done quickly for him, the ceremony won't be delayed. Then, we'll have more time together afterwards since I won't have much to do quite yet." They took one hand, rubbed my hair, and let the palm drag down to cover my jaw and cheek.
I closed my eyes and leaned into it, nodding. It had been many years since I did something so tender with someone.
"Then, I'll expect you here tonight as we've decided already." The touch felt nice as I said that, calming my nerves about having to undo the magic later.
I placed my hand on top of theirs and opened my eyes. I inhaled their sweet scent. "You can see this place basked in the moonlight finally."
Their grin grew bigger, and their eyes sparkled in a flurry of colors.
"Great," they said. "I'll come back to you this evening."
***
"Did you two do what I think you did?" I shouted when I had the misfortune of opening Koharu's bedroom door to her and her girlfriend lying naked (probably) under the covers.
With a cursory look, it was obvious the former had a few risqué marks on her neck. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to come to check on them in the Sun Kingdom, but I figured I was doing the castle staff a favor to risk the chance.
I snickered at the couple; they were madly in love but lacked common sense. It was about time they did something of the sort after all their touchiness, but that didn't mean I wanted to see it!
The younger scratched her head, sat up with a blanket over her chest, and stared at me blankly. I was distracted by her carefree actions, and I did not notice when Ophelia popped up, face infinitely scarlet at being caught. She thought it was a good idea to throw a pillow at me, which I stopped midair and tossed back so that it smacked her in the face and compressed her nose.
Entirely unfazed by the projectile, she simply hugged it to her chest before tossing it off to the side.
"Koko, I thought you locked the door last night," she said, subtly glaring at me.
Koharu rubbed at her eyes.
"Me, too. Eh." She shrugged, almost knocking the blanket off her. (Flinching, I wasn't looking forward to seeing under it if she let go.) "Father doesn't ever come in here, anyway."
"I do!" I whined.
Koharu—unamused—responded, "You would have unlocked the door regardless."
I couldn't contest that.
Deciding to shift the focus of the conversation, I pouted. "You two aren't sick of each other after being together every hour of every day?"
"Not really," Ophelia replied. "Right, baby?" she continued as she held her girlfriend's chin.
Koharu nodded, and they both smiled while looking each other intensely in the eyes, placing their foreheads together.
At that point, I burst out laughing. They were ridiculous, holy shit. Geez, what did I have to do to get half of that with Sinclair? (Actually, I didn't want to confront myself with that question before noon.)
"Neither of you are living this one down, especially you, Fifi. Just wait until your parents—"
"Can you at least wait until I'm not too tired to walk?" Koharu blurted out, and I was about ready to ram my head into a wall (in good nature, of course). "She made me—"
Ophelia—cheeks reddening—covered her mouth so that she would shut up. I could not understand how Ophelia could be so bashful and forward at the same time, but her girlfriend was even more so of the latter. Maybe that was why Ophelia seemed so shy sometimes.
"You don't need to go on," Ophelia told Koharu as the princess laughed so that her snaggletooth was prominent.
She whispered something in Ophelia's ear, and her face appeared shocked as she pushed Koharu away in a haste.
Shocked at how little they cared about what day it was, I blinked at them.
"There's the reunification ceremony tonight. I hope you both are prepared." Amidst the banter and provocations, I reminded them that they had other duties before they could completely rest.
Apparently, saying that earlier would have been the panacea to the whole awkwardness of the situation.
"What?" Ophelia almost dropped her piece of the blanket while she shouted.
As a reflex, I nearly turned my head away. I knew where to draw the line on stripping people of their dignity.
"It was announced at last night's party. Did you not even listen?" I asked her, progressively getting more irritated. "Don't tell me you were—"
"It's about time my parents made up," Koharu said to cut me off. "I just need to clean the sheets and—"
"Koharu!" Ophelia and I scolded together.
For once, we agreed on something; however, she was clearly flustered, whereas I was just trying to spare my hearing and mock the two.
"Yes?" Koharu said while scratching her ear and leaning over to rest her head on Ophelia's shoulder.
Ophelia shook her aggressively until the princess' face appeared more awake.
"We have to go to a fucking ceremony that we didn't hear about because we left early, baby. Can you wake up already?"
Ophelia was already freaking out, while Koharu could not be bothered to give a flying fuck about it.
My fingertips were inches away from rubbing my temples. "Make sure the two of you are put together enough to appear in public. I'll leave for now so that the two of you can get some clothes on. Just… look reasonable for later."
Ophelia, resting her weight on one arm, gave me an urgent thumbs-up, and Koharu nodded lazily.
"See you later. I need to get my shit together," Ophelia told me, waving me off as she hastily felt around for something to wear to exit her thin cocoon of sheets.
With a quick gesture, I started to walk out the door. I then heard Koharu speak, which made me turn around.
"I want to do it again tonight after the ceremony," she said.
She looked Ophelia in her darkened eyes while dragging a hand down her torso. Koharu gripped her jaw so hard that I would have been surprised if there *weren't* marks left.
There was then the loud noise of a smack as Ophelia whacked Koharu with another pillow.
"This isn't the time, Koko!" Ophelia said before she started moving from under the covers to retrieve the clothes from the floor of the room.
My eyes widened, nearly twitching, and I stormed away from the absolute mess I created behind me.
They were insufferable! Geez!
How could two kids who were barely in their twenties have gotten their emotions sorted out better than Sinclair and me? It flabbergasted and frustrated me to think about! Damn honeymoon phase!
Ridiculous! I was glad I'd be able to be with Sinclair during the ceremony rather than those crazy lovebirds!