sunsetking | Inbox

Yeah, your husband did just now, as part of some stupid game.

[Perhaps it is a good thing Azul had the good sense to text rather than call, because there is a very good chance that his words would have sounded a lot more venomous... not that it would take a genius to figure out that Azul might be a little peeved right now...]

If it was stupid, then why acknowledge it?

[Whether he means the game or the truth bit is up to Azul.]

If Khalid-san was just saying that as a lie for the purpose of the game, I might have actually been a little offended on your behalf. But otherwise I wouldn't have said anything about it worth acknowledging. But since it's apparently the truth, now I'm wondering why either of you didn't feel like mentioning it at all in the entire month that has passed since Ghoul's Moon. Where's your pride in showing off your mate, Leona-san?

[Oh. He can practically hear the vitriol in those words without actually hearing Azul. It has his lips curving up.

Really, is the octopus hoping to provoke him?]

There’s a greater pride in the knowledge and fact that I get to keep my mate all to myself without having people hound me about it.

[Does Azul really want to go down this route? The octopus had practically spurned his help last time they encountered, after all. Leona can be petty when he wants to be and he has a knack of making things worse.]

[Apparently, Azul does want to keep arguing about this, since he doesn't leave this be.]

Is that what you think it is I'm doing right now? "Hounding you about it"? ... Is that all you see me as? Just some kind of nuisance?

[There's a beat, and then he's disgusted with himself for having even typed those words, seeing the weakness in them as he adds further as if to try to drive those sentences out of sight on his screen.]

I know that you're a private person, but this is seriously not the kind of thing you just decide on a whim and then don't tell anyone about until it happens to come up in a stupid game a whole month after the fact. In fact, have either of you even thought about what you're going to do if this world decides to send us back to Twisted Wonderland? Or if it sends Khalid-san back to his own world without warning?

After these months together, you should know better, Azul.

[He releases a low sigh.]

Of course we’ve considered that. You think we haven’t discussed it at some point?

[Well, that is at least a little relief that Leona hasn't just completely forgotten about that kind of concern and did not in fact go into this as blindly as Azul might have initially thought he had. Still...]

Apparently, it seems I don't know better, otherwise we wouldn't even be talking about this, would we? So please, by all means, spell it out for this poor unfortunate soul, Your Majesty. Tell me why I shouldn't feel offended right now that I wasn't considered good enough for you to even consider telling me about having gotten married until now, and I had to find out through some insipid game instead.

Because I forgot.

[And knowing Leona, it’s more than likely the truth. It’s not exactly something he’ll outright admit unless asked or someone brings it up.]

Don’t talk as if this was meant to personally target you.

Excuse me?

[You wanna try running that past him again Leona?]

I'm not saying that I think this was personally targeted toward me, that's ridiculous. I just think that this was incredibly thoughtless of you, even more so than usual of things you might "forget" to tell someone about.

I can give you very extensive details of how that night went if you’re still high strung about it.

[Azul, it’s one thing to be miffed. It’s another to start fixating on this.]

But otherwise, we both forgot until recently since it didn’t exactly change much else in our relationship.

[If it weren’t for the fact they’ve recently got their rings, Leona would’ve forgotten about it to some extent. But he’s not mentioning that to Azul.]

I am not being "high strung" about this!

[yes you are, Azul, who are you even trying to convince otherwise, Leona or yourself--]

You don't even get it, do you? I'm not angry that you got married, Leona-san, I'm angry that both of you are apparently so wrapped up in each other that it's like you've forgotten about other people, including your so-called "friends" that would have wanted to offer congratulations or the like at the very least.

[he almost wants to scoff at that.]

Ain't you ever heard of the honeymoon phase? And even if you're that angry about us not telling you guys for a whole month, you're reacting a little too strongly about this.

A honeymoon phase that lasts for an entire month? One that makes you that forgetful to mention to someone where you were at all in that entire time?

[Then again, Azul could have messaged Leona himself sooner to check up on him... but he hadn't. That whole affair in the gardens had been so awkward that Azul had thought that perhaps it would be better to leave Leona alone for a little bit. And then the next thing he knew, a whole month had somehow already passed...]

Communication goes both ways. If I recall, you hadn't wanted to do anything with me when I found you in the gardens. Should I have expected you'd be thrilled by the news shortly after?

[Don't make him pin the blame, Azul. It won't be pretty for either of them.]

[Unfortunately, Leona makes a very good point: Azul would probably be just as pissed somehow by the news even if Leona had told him so much sooner. So for a moment, Azul struggles for a bit, trying to think of how to respond to this.]

I didn't message you sooner after that gala because I was trying to avoid the very thing you accused me of earlier, of hounding you about something you wouldn't want to talk about. But I didn't think that I wouldn't be hearing from you at all for a whole month, and it being because of something that feels like the kind of news I do think is worth telling people about a lot sooner than either of you did.

Again. You had a whole month to reach out to me, too.

Would it be so difficult to believe I hadn't wanted to reach out first considering how you've practically batted me away when I attempted to help you?

[If this had been a verbal conversation, Azul probably would have been audibly struggling for a second with his response to that.]

That's different.

[Is it though? Is it really?]

Besides, what happened at the gala... it had nothing to do with you back there, so there was no reason for you to feel obligated to help.

[A lie he can get away with telling, because it's not like Leona had actually heard Azul talking to himself before walking up on him having the stupidest pity party imaginable, right--]

Yeah? Even with the way you were beginning to hyperventilate back there?

[He's not going to mention him overhearing everything.]

[Azul is typing...

Azul is typing...

... Azul is still fucking typing until finally settling on--]

Why do you even care? Like I said, it had nothing to do with you.

Isn't it natural for friends to care about one another?

[What.

... What?]

You actually think that we are friends?

[It might be hard to tell what tone Azul is asking this with because of being text rather than voice, but given how fast he replied rather than the pause like before, it seems that Azul is in fact paying very close attention now...]

Here I thought we've made strides from where we were before. Seems like I was wrong.

[Well, that reaction is pretty telling.]

[there's a long, long pause

and then

Leona's phone starts ringing, Azul's name on the caller ID, and should he choose to answer...]

... Do you actually mean that? That you consider me a friend here?

[His voice is quiet, and somehow manages to not convey any particular emotion just yet.

Apparently Azul wants to actually hear Leona say it. Can't be satisfied with just seeing the words being vaguely implied in text.]

[Hm, he was half expecting Azul to call. Despite all his bravado, Azul can be rather easy to read.]

I don't say words I don't mean.

[Does he really need to hear Leona say it?]

I know.

[He knows. He knows that, and yet...]

But can you... just humor me this one time, and actually say it anyway?

(no subject)

sunsetking - 2026-01-01 22:43 (UTC) - Expand