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[ nothing wrong with dots, dextera thinks. even if he couldn’t pick out any shapes, he’d appreciate the vision overhead.

he rests his hands on his chest now, having pointed out his single new constellation, and re-settles in guren’s lap—but then he’s looking expectantly upward, and maybe... he wants guren to try anyway.

just make one up. for him. ]

What?

[Of all the times, now is when he chooses to tsun with the most resistance. A constellation... Something silly from his imagination that they can both see any time they look up at the night sky. It's not a bad thing at all, and he's going to get to it, but he's stalling for one hesitant reason or another.

He looks back up at the sky after making a face at Dextera, a small frown in place. It's going to take him a while...]

[ dextera doesn’t mind the resistance now—in fact, he seems oddly comfortable with it, like he knows guren is going to do it anyway. smug little shit!

but it’s hard not to feel happy and confident, laid across guren’s lap as he is, looking between guren’s little frown and the sky they’re both watching. it doesn’t matter what he finds in the stars, as long as it’s something dextera can see, too.

after all, a circle is a stupid constellation but it’s his now. ]

[Guren sighs like it's a big problem, but he's focused on the stars, now. He's trying to find something nice. Something that won't be dark or depressing, something to look up to and find nice. But he doesn't want something stupid like an ice cream cone, which is the first thing he actually finds, so it takes time.

Eventually, he points up.]

See that star? It looks a little brighter to me. Anyway, just follow around it... [He traces out from it, connecting stars and coming back, forming petals to a flower. A cherry blossom, specifically... Like the decoration on his uniform, if Dextera has a good memory of something like that.]

I guess it looks a little like a bloomed cherry blossom.

[ he guesses it looks a little like one... what a roundabout answer, but dextera is honestly content enough that he tried not to laugh or make fun of it.

instead, he tries to trace out the same shape that guren did, moving slower and more uncertainly, but when he finishes he thinks he understands what the shape is supposed to be.

he’s never seen a cherry blossom, but he can connect the shape now to the mysterious flower pin on guren’s poor uniform. ]

...

[ he nods. it does look like that, doesn’t it? ]

You made me do that for that lackluster reaction?

[WHAT WAS HE EXPECTING... But gosh, okay, now they have a circle and a cherry blossom in the sky. This is a little like a date, and he's not oblivious to that, but he's refusing to point it out, and thank god there's no one here right now who'd really risk teasing him. For the most part.]

What was yours, anyway? A sun? [It was a circle and yet he wants to believe it has meaning...]

[ dextera has never been on a date, so he has no idea how much this resembles one. gazing up at the night sky, resting in guren's lap... it just feels nice and natural. if you think it's a date, that's on you, guren!! ]

...

[ give him a second to think about that, because he hadn't actually applied any meaning to the circle he drew out. in a strange twist of fate, guren put more effort into discovering a constellation than dextera had, and now he needs to quickly come up with a retroactive meaning for his circle.

after a pause, he nods again. yeah, it was a sun. ]

[It wasn't a sun, was it. Guren's lips twitch into a smirk, and his response is to reach and pinch at Dextera's nose a little. Don't lie to him!! But, maybe it's a sun now. It's a quick pinch, at least, and he's letting go right after.

For the record, he's never been on a date either, even if Mahiru would beg to differ. He's just saying, if anyone sees them, they'd get the wrong idea!!!]

You're so full of it.

...!

[ dextera squeezes his eyes closed when guren pinches his nose as if that will protect him from guren's wrath, but it's gone before it can hurt anyway. he probably deserved that, for being a liar—though he's thinking much the same. it can be a sun now, if they want it to be. that's fine. ]

Hah... [ a mix of a laugh and a sigh, and he touches his nose where guren pinched him. is this friendship? ]

[A sun is better, anyway! At least, Guren thinks so. Dextera is a little like a sun himself, with his warm and soothing nature. But he won't say that aloud. Anyway, nose pinching is definitely friendship.]

That's what you get. [The nose pinch!! But he smiles to himself, and looks away when he does, back up at the stars. Not that it hides his face, with Dextera's position, but whatever.

He likes the stars. He could probably sit here and think all night, even if his leg is kind of falling asleep like this. He won't move, he won't say a word about it. He'll just enjoy this moment.]

...

[ dextera has no idea the gay turn guren's thoughts have taken, but it's fine. all of this is fine, isn't it? guren has shown him a sight that he can't ever remember seeing, and they've even come up with two new constellations that didn't exist before they found them.

it's pleasant. he's happy, and he'll take a little longer to bask in that happiness. it's only once his neck starts to feel uncomfortable that he thinks to move, and he forces himself to sit up—and shakes out the stiffness, like a wet dog. he rolls his shoulders, and glances back over one to look at guren. does he want to go? to stay? the night is still young, dextera thinks, since sunset was only a little while ago. ]

[As soon as his leg is free, he stretches both of them out, and his arms, as well. Hmm, it really hasn't been that long at all, for how they tend to spend time together. He doesn't have all that much to do immediately. He can sort out the defense force teams later, and he's trying to pace himself and remember to take his time.

He'd gotten a little too close to dangerous things during the shadow event.]

How's Leliel doing? [They can go see the chicken.]

[ dextera’s expression immediately brightens, because guren has remembered her name. he’s the only one dextera has been able to tell, since it hasn’t come up with anyone else just yet—but that’s fine, because he did name her with guren in the room.

he nods quickly, excited to report (?) that she’s just fine, and he happily stands. ]

[As he moves to his feet, he quickly discovers one of his legs is definitely asleep, but he taps his foot against the ground a few times and that seems good enough.]

Let's go visit her. [He'll visit a chicken... She's a cute chicken.]

[ she’s the cutest chicken? she takes after her father in many ways.

dextera doesn’t notice that guren’s leg is asleep or he might feel bad about it, but guren is too good at hiding it! what a talent he is.

he stops, however, before he gets into the house—in the brief time they’ve spent away from the front of his home, it’s changed, ever so slightly. what was previously bare, somewhat unkempt rocks and grass, has now become a small plot of bright blue tulips.

they poke up through the ground as vibrant and sturdy as if they’ve always been there, tended to by an expert gardener, and of course dextera stops to examine them. ]

...?

[Guren places his hand on Dextera's shoulder just so he can lean closer himself, taking a look at the flowers. Okay, he's very observant, but those... He thinks back to just moments ago, walking past this, entering the door...]

Those weren't there when I walked in before. [He's pretty sure they weren't there when they walked out, either.]

Tulips...? Are either of your roommates growing any?

[ dextera hasn’t even seen these in the gardens in flavo. he spends a lot of time there, but this color doesn’t seem familiar in the least. on top of not growing tulips in the first place, they’re odd because of the absolute novelty of them!

but he isn’t complaining. he shakes his head in response to guren’s question, and then he’s moving closer, gently taking one of the flowers—just curling it closer, as impossibly delicate as if he were dealing with ice or glass or something crystal and fragile.

he’s a little awestruck by the shade of them. ]

[They're beautiful. Guren thinks so, staring at them and letting his hand slip away from Dextera as the other reaches to touch them. Tulips out of nowhere... Guren glances back to the side of the house where they'd been, wondering. It appeared like a reward would...?

He looks back down at Dextera, touched by his appreciation of all things like this.]

They're yours now, then. [Who else would they be for?] That's a rare color, too. It suits you.

[ dextera doesn’t make the connection to a quest reward, since the last reward he got was a bunch of knives and certainly not something as pleasant as flowers. he also hasn’t even done anything.

but he’ll take it. they’re pretty, and he’s glad to have something to admire so close to his home—however they got here, he’s glad. ]

...

[ he blushes, a little, when guren says that the color suits him, but then he’s moving just enough to make room for guren to sit down next to him.

they found them together, didn’t they? so that means they belong to the two of them. ]

[To be honest, he hasn't even seen the quests yet. He doesn't know if it is a quest reward, since he also doesn't know what they've done, but he's gotten knives, and he's gotten a magic quill, and what else does this mean?

Dextera's little implied invitation is cute, though, and Guren sighs as he obliges him. Blue is still Guren's favorite color... even if his first thought goes to a fainter shade, something too close to grey or purple. But anyway, Dextera is definitely a Blue, and colors like this suit him. They don't suit Guren at all.

When he thinks of tulips, he always thinks of basic colors like red or yellow. Sure, they come in a variety of colors, like white, pink, or even purple— but like this, with where his mind goes, it's like even these flowers are telling Dextera to look forward to a blue sky, little by little.]

You really like them, don't you?

[ dextera is surprised to be asked about it, like he didn’t expect guren to notice how much he likes the flowers. he hasn’t even seen all the time he’s spent in the gardens, with ryoji, filling the days he doesn’t spend with guren in the still-unfamiliar nature.

his expression softens, as he strokes his finger across one of the delicate petals. he doesn’t want to bruise it, when their supply may be limited—but he doesn’t want to leave it alone either. he doesn’t want to stop touching this flower that was gifted to him by some force beyond his understanding.

he nods, lowering himself enough to smell the tulips—something he hasn’t really gotten the chance to do with any of the things they’ve planted or found.

he’s truly happy. ]

[It's more of seeing Dextera happy, so it's not a problem at all. Guren is quiet as he watches him, something in his chest warmed by the sight. He has nothing helpful to add, he thinks, and so he just settles where he is, content to watch him like this.

They're beautiful flowers, and it's been a long time since he's bothered with looking at flowers himself, with the state of the world as it is, but there's no need for someone like him to reach out and touch them, or smell them, or anything cute like that.

He hums, instead, like he gets it, his hands resting back in his own lap.]

[ how can he get it when he isn’t interacting with them at all? dextera won’t force him, though—it’s enough that he’s sitting here, that they’re together, and when he sits back again, he takes a deep breath of the crisp night air that guren dragged him out here to see.

leliel can wait a moment! dextera slides his hand in his jacket, seeking out the notebook that izuku gifted him. it’s been through a lot, and some of the pages are irreparably water damaged, but he can still write on other pieces.

he flips to something clean, and writes a message here even though his laptop is just inside. ]

It’s my first time.

[ ...seeing tulips, that is. ]

[Oh! He has a notebook! That's nice and handy. Guren's a little curious how he can read it, though. Dextera can write in Japanese...?? Or, there's something more magic about this place. He's more inclined to believe the latter.]

I guess that makes sense, considering your world. I don't know if I've ever seen blue tulips before, either. [He's lived too weird of a life for this, anyway.] But I've seen tulips...

[So, it's not as much of a shock!] You've been taking care of plants in your free time, right? So you can take care of these just fine?

[ izuku gave it to him! he doesn’t realize yet that text has been restored to the town, but even if he did, he probably wouldn’t want to give up on this little notebook just yet. it was a gift from a friend, and he wants to treasure that.

he nods. ]

But I don’t know anything about plants. [ that bodes well! but then he’s pausing, thinking about how that comes across, and he adds something to make it look less threatening. ] I’ve been learning. It’ll be OK.

[ he hums a short, confident sound to himself, and his first thought after that is that he wants to show ryoji. it’s going to break his sweet little heart to find his friend is a statue! ]

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