As George and Leige walked to the car, Leige secretly inspected his new brother.
With short, brown hair and golden eyes, not to mention his built figure, he could be considered the polar opposite to Leige.
Especially his figure. Leige looked down at his body and sulked secretly.
As he was reincarnated, he could have at least got to experience an actually good body!! What were these twiggy arms?!!! And this porcelain skin?!!!!! And this simply frail body?!!!
Life wasn't fair.
Leige continued to console himself as he quite naturally entered the car by himself, even shutting the door.
George paused. His younger brother was now sitting quite contentedly in the passenger seat, looking as though he was thinking about something quite serious, considering his furrowed eyebrows.
He couldn't help but feel it was a bit cute, how Leige seemed to be waiting patiently for George to get in and drive.
...George scolded himself. His mind was too flexible!!!
The one time his brother didn't pester him to open the door for him and instead got in without any insults, he immediately thought Leige was cute.
Shaking his head, George got in and started the car, taking a quick peek at Leige before driving.
There was definitely something off about his brother today.
Yes, his hair was not gelled back with the absolutely horrendous substance that smelled horribly and dripped from loose strands of hair that simply would not comply no matter how much product was put on, but there was something further than that.
Rather than Leige's usual posture, today Leige was slouched down, instead of his chest sticking out and his nose pointing up.
His eyes also seemed to be more downturned, calmer.
Also, the usual frown on his face that George constantly itched to turn up because it would definitely cause wrinkles in the long term was gone, replaced by a neutral slight tilt of the lips George never knew was possible for Leige's face.
Overall, although the body was definitely Leige's, everything else was completely different.
George narrowed his eyes and took another peek at Leige, this time suspiciously. Was there some kind of magic that swapped out souls?
"Leige." George's calm voice interrupted Leige's thoughts and he looked up. "What's your favourite food?"
"Fish." Leige replied immediately, before stopping. Hold on. Yes, in his past life, his favourite food was fish, especially grilled fish, but this was not his body.
Moreover, why had George asked this question? Was he suspecting something?
....Why couldn't he just have a dumb brother....
However, as he looked at George again, George's eyebrows seemed to be less furrowed, and his body had once again relaxed a little, although his posture was perfect, even in a car.
"Grilled fish." George stated, a little more reassured that this was still Leige. After all, at breakfast Leige always ate the fish with gusto and then the vegetables with an obvious distaste.
His taste hadn't changed since he was a child.
Leige paused.
"Yes. Grilled fish." his tone was a little strange, and it was unclear what Leige was thinking at that very moment.
After a while of driving in silence, Leige spoke again.
"George?"
"Yes?" George replied immediately.
"I'm sorry." the car swerved dangerously and entered a little spot on the road where it was okay to stop.
George whipped his head around to Leige.
"You're what?" his eyes were wide, and his mouth was a little agape.
Leige had taken the initiative to apologise. George was clearly someone who cared about Leige, and the current Leige had a feeling there was a lot more to this reincarnation than he would have hoped.
It could've just been a coincidence that this Leige and the past Leige had the same favourite food, but he felt as though it was more than that.
He had also not taken his assistant's words lightly. In case his and the past Leige's souls were entwined, and yes, he believed in souls in this world although he was a scientist because magic existed in this world, he would have to take the initiative to right Leige's wrongs.
...He was such a good person.
Leige couldn't help complimenting himself before turning back to the matter at hand.
"I'm sorry," there was nothing haughty and arrogant about Leige as he spoke, although he hesitated a bit as he tried to continue, "for being so..."
As someone who had never had to apologise for being a constant dick, Leige wasn't quite sure how to word his apology.
Fortunately, without having to continue, he was nearly suffocated in a hug by two strong arms that pulled him to a flat, hard chest.
....Was this a death hug?
Leige almost couldn't breathe.
Was this payback?
Did George want to kill him with this sign of affection?
Did he forget how pitiful this body was?
However, as always, Leige adapted to the situation like a pro. Although it was a little uncomfortable in the car, Leige did not forget to take note of how comfortable George's chest would be to sleep on.
George, the initiator of the hug, gripped his younger brother as though if he didn't, Leige would fly away.
To be honest, the only reason George never fully hated his brother was because he had never done anything truly despicable.
Yes, he often skipped school and bullied students and constantly embarrassed the rest of the family with his arrogance with no talents to back up his pride and how he was obsessed with the prince to the point he tried to break into George's classroom to see him...
George viewed it more as a child who had never grown up, and he knew it was his father's fault for raising him and giving him whatever he wanted.
However, since Leige always had an aura that made people dislike him, it just amplified George's feelings.
Once that aura was gone, George only felt his brother to be very annoying.
But he had apologised!!!
Never in Leige's life had he apologised before. Never!!
But his first apology was to him!!
To him!!
Leige waited patiently as George was thinking about something, coming to enjoy the rather comforting hug that reminded him no matter if he had reincarnated or not, he could still feel things, and he was still alive, somehow.
After a while, George broke off, smoothing Leige's hair.
"Let's go to school."
"Alright." Leige opened the car door on his side and waited for George so they could walk in together.
George took another glance at his now placid brother and couldn't help testing if it was really true, stroking Leige's hair.
Leige really didn't retort!! Moreover, he seemed to lean into the touch!
George's excitement levels were bursting through the roof, his love for Leige slowly returning, a feeling like a dam was beginning to leak to the other side.
A dam that had developed after childhood, and after their mother died and Leige became the brat he was now.
"I'll see you later." George couldn't contain his smile anymore, slightly giddy, a feeling he hadn't felt since childhood.
A promise was held in those words, and Leige couldn't help but smile too.
"Sure."
George looked completely like normal to everyone else, with a natural smile that gave him a mature look that made people want to approach him and golden eyes that shone bright in the morning sun, but Victor could tell something was different as soon as he entered the classroom.
George went straight to his seat next to Victor, smiling good-naturedly at everyone who had greeted him.
"Why are you so happy today?" the two were best friends as some might put it. Having grown up together, with George as his 'playmate', Victor could confidently say that he knew George better than he knew himself.
They got along very well, with Victor being able to talk to George about any problems he had and likewise the other way round, both clearly caring about each other.
Therefore, the bounce in George's steps were noticed by the eagle-eyed Victor.
George turned to look at him with a smile that was so brilliant it nearly blinded him.
George chuckled, only saying, "Secret."
Victor stared at George, still taken aback by the smile. When was the last time George had smiled like that?
Not to mention, George was rarely playful, as he preferred to be more mature. Victor had never told George, but he secretly missed the days when they were both children and were constantly giggling without much care for the people around them.
Something really, really good must have happened.
Of course George didn't really want to keep Leige a secret, in fact, he just wanted to show off Leige to the whole world.
...Did he switch up on his feelings too soon?
"Okay okay, I'll tell you..." Victor waited patiently, the corners of his lips tilted almost imperceptibly upwards as he waited for George to finish. "Leige apologised to me this morning!!"
Victor's expression turned to stone.
...Leige? The brat he itched to take down in a battle because of how many times George had been upset because of him?
Victor narrowed his eyes.
Was this another plot Leige was planning? To get close to his brother for the sole purpose of finding another way to harass Victor?
George hummed, quite obviously elated.
"He's really quite cute, you know. His hair isn't in that weird thing anymore and there's no gel dripping onto the car seat. Actually, I would have been more suspicious of the apology if Leige hadn't been so different today. I think it was actually sincere!"
George continued to ramble on about his little brother, the most animated Victor had seen him in a long time.
Victor sighed subtly, feeling conflicted.
Although he trusted George, he couldn't help but feel it was near impossible that Leige, that brat, would actually change in such a short period of time since the last time he saw him.
However, George's smile was infectious, and Leige, no matter how hard he tried to plot, was ultimately harmless, so Victor decided to simply sit back and indulge in George's rare behaviour, for now.