LAND HOOOOOOO

Sera hesitantly plays with Nameless’s long white fur as they stand in the elevator, jumping back when he turns to look at her but he sticks his tongue out at her again. A quiet giggle escapes from her mouth, gaining the confidence to place her hand back on his side.

In contrast, Korrin steals quick glances at the creature taking up half the elevator but the looks aren’t lost on him. When Korrin least expects it, he turns to meet the stare, blowing a fast burst of air in his face.

Korrin jumps back, smacking against Luna’s arm who then stumbled over into Shand like dominos, and Nameless laughs at the look on all their faces, especially the way Shand has to halfway catch Luna and the unintentional redness on both of their faces at the sudden close contact.

Luna shoots him a glare but it only amuses him more, still he turns back to Sera happily, enjoying her rhythmic petting.

The elevator sings at the top floor of the high rise, the group steps off, a couple of them still recovering from Nameless’s forced interaction.

“So, where-?”

As Luna goes to ask for a direction to turn, she heard a voice to the right, a voice she remembers from long, long ago, not from her world but another and a relationship built in Nameless’s play place.

“I’m telling you, this is your son’s doing and you know it.”

A tall, porcelain woman stands in one of the many doorways looking back into the room she came from. She’s tall and young, just as mature and beautiful as Luna remembers, white hair glowing like a heavenly cloud in the sunlight from the window down the hall.

The woman doesn’t seem to have physically aged a day since they had all last met, but something about the way she carries herself is older and wiser, like she’s lived a lifetime of experiences. She has.

Most notably are the long rabbit ears that add to her height. One turns towards the group, hearing them walk off the elevator and then her ruby eyes turn to greet them.

She seems just as surprised as they are to see each other.

“Luna? And Shand- Of course. I knew it had to be you.”

Firm hands rest on her hips as she stares down at them but there’s little time for scolding, Luna has already crossed the distance and has pulled the woman in a hug.

Luna is smaller than even the other woman, the rabbit easily half a head taller if not more.

“Trita!”

Trita blinks in surprise at the embrace and it seems to hit her in this moment how real all of this is, how she and everything around her are all physical and not a dream. A kind smile takes her face, returning the embrace, one arm locked around the other woman, free hand resting on the back of her head.

“It’s good to see you, too.”

There’s this dawning motherly softness on Trita’s face, one that seems out of place given what they remember of her, a softness that is only explained by the very young nearly identical set of children peering out the door at the scene.

“Who is that?”

Korrin looks to Shand quickly, expecting more answers from him than Luna at this point given how she flings herself emotionally onto every new person.



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Shand is still a little shocked by the heat that rushes into his cheeks when Luna falls into him and he has to wrap his arms around her to keep her from going down and taking him with her.

It's not like they've never touched before, or like close contact is something they're not used to. But for whatever reason, some thing are just strange today and unlike normal, there's not a lot of time to process why before they have to move on to the next thing.

And the next thing smacks them all in the face, much like Nameless's tail, quickly and forcefully.

Luna is hanging onto Trita's neck and Shand thinks he can probably see a few joyful tears exchanged between the two.

He turns to Korrin, opens his mouth like he's about to explain, and then turns again to tilt his head before he turns back.

"You know, a lot of things about mine and Luna's lives seemed much more normal and simple before I️ had to try to explain them."

He scratches the back of his head and wrinkles his nose playfully at the twins who are watching them with caution from behind the door down the hall.

"That's Trita. So, a while back, we all were in this... business venture together that made us all much more like family. Some of us figuratively, some of us literally."

Like that's his cue, Dolan sticks his head out from around the door frame now, looking suspiciously like the small children beneath him with his wide eyes, trying to locate the voice he's heard.

Almost before Shand is even fully off the elevator, Dolan is over to him, crossing the distance in just a few long strides.

There are no words between them, but there is a strange expression on Dolan's face, still so youthful and eyes still that bright, clear, piercing blue.

It's almost like relief, like the flooding of something strong and calming over his face as he wraps his long arms around Shand and pulls him to his chest so tightly that Shand has his face buried in his father's shoulder in the next moment as the two just hold each other close. Dolan lets his hand rest on the top of Shand's head, ruffling his hair like he's little again.

It's hard for Shand to believe that it's been thousands of years since he's seen his father. All that time, and the smell of him still triggers memories from his youngest childhood, feelings of the deepest security.

Dolan is clapping him on the back and pulling away from him, holding him out at arm's length to look at him, and the sideways grin on his face is like looking into a mirror for Shand.

His father's eyes are gleaming, but he's trying to play it off and pretend like he's not moved as much as he is. Shand's lips twitch because it won't be the first time he's kept a secret like this.

It's definitely strange for the others, he guesses, to see him and his father interacting like this. Around other people, they'd always had harder, more calloused, tougher interactions and had more or less existed in a state of typical annoyance and disdain.

They'd both always been a little too good at the act. Shand guesses he probably got that, his need to cover up how much he cares, from Dolan, who'd become quite good at it himself. The tight hugs, the affection, any indicator that they might actually enjoy each other's presence, it's always been something they'd kept to themselves, although this situation doesn't exactly allow for that.

"God, are you okay, you alright? Did you seriously make all this, bring us all back? What the hell were you thinking."

Dolan's first words don't exactly match his actions, and Shand wants to laugh out loud at Dolan's feeble attempts at a cover up. Maybe being dead has made him a little rusty.

"I️ don't know, Pops, I️ was just thinking maybe things were starting to get too quiet around here."

Shand does laugh now, squeezing at the back of Dolan's arm once to give his father some time to finish collecting himself.

"Well, they're all in there."

Dolan points back to the door he'd come out of, sniffing nonchalantly like maybe he's just catching a cold or something.

Shand turns back to Luna now, arching his eyebrow like an invitation.

"Ladies first?"

The twins latch onto their father’s arms when he returns to the door, not letting him have any peace even when he’s trying to enjoy a moment with his son. To be fair, they don’t know Shand, don’t know his connection to their father.

“Hey, calm down.”

Trita pulls away from Luna, scooping one of the children up in her arms to at least somewhat help Dolan. The little girl in her arms has a rich dark silver hair, not quite as deep of a color as Dolan’s but definitely much darker than Trita’s, and dazzling blue eyes, a small set of black-tipped rabbit ears playfully perked on the top of her head.

“Remember when we were talking about your big brother? This is him.”

The little girl looks over at Shand with wide eyes, eyes that look so very much like Dolan’s own.

“Sand?”

“Shand.”

Trita corrects gently, pressing her face against the child’s cheek which apparently tickles because the girl erupts into giggles, squirming in her mother’s grasp.

The second little girl pulls on her mother’s shirt, hands reaching up in a silent demand to be held like her sister.

“Mommy, I wanna meet him, too!”

Neither Dolan nor Trita have it in them to correct the fair white-haired girl, tell her she could just turn around and say hello. She shifts the girl in her arms to one hip, picking up the other with a bit of a huff, resting them both against her sides.

When places side-by-side, the resemblance of this child to Trita is impossible to miss, red eyes the same exact hue, only thing not present are the ears.

“See, over there. That’s Shand.”

Both girls stare in the direction their mother nods her head, flipping her long ears towards the man in question for good measure. Their eyes are bright and mesmerizing. Trita has never looked prouder.

Luna elbows Shand’s side to urge him forward to meet the two girls that seem utterly captivated with him, smiling warmly at him as she turns away.

“I’ll meet you inside?”

She loops her arms with Sera and Korrin, leading them past the happy family into the room to see who else Shand has brought back to their world, Nameless ducking by close in their heels.


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The happiness welling in Shand's chest turns cold for a moment, watching Luna move with Sera and Korrin and Nameless, following Dolan into the room where everyone is waiting for them.

Well, not everyone. There's almost a relief of knowing he won't have to see her face when she scans the room for Lunath and doesn't find him, but there's also a guilt associated with copping out of it.

But she doesn't wait for his answer, only smiles at him and leaves him to this sweet and personal and important moment.

And that's what he needs to focus on, too.

Shand moves toward Trita, letting go of everything but how precious this time is, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek.

The last time they'd really spent time around each other, he'd been a drug and alcohol addled jerk who hadn't been able to stop self destruction and imploding to save his, or anyone's, life.

But the look on her face now is so happy, proud in a strange and almost concealed way, as she looks at him. And he knows she can actually, finally see him. Just like he can see her, so much the same in so many of the most important ways. She's got these two small children on each hip, swaying to keep them happy and calm, and even though the actions and the softness is different than what he remembers, it's so undeniably her.

"I'm pretty pumped to finally be meeting this dynamic duo."

Shand turns his attention to the twins now, clinging to their mother's shirt and gazing up at him with shy but curious eyes. He can barely stand how much they resemble their parents, and no one would be able to deny for a moment who they belong to.

"So all that awful irritating noise, and the insufferable PDA and the intolerable pining looks across the bar all hours of the day were all actually for a pretty good cause, huh?"

He teases her with a smug grin, reaching out his hand to shake with the first little girl, the one with Dolan's eyes, who has one ear flopping over into her line of sight like she's trying to hide her face behind it. He offers his other hand to the girl on Trita's other hip, with hair so light and white and fluffy that he's not convinced that it's not a wig actually made from Trita's hair.

It feels strange to have this, to be meeting two people who share a father with him. In some ways, though, it's not as new as he had expected it to feel. Even though they hadn't genetically shared a father, he and Lunath had shared Dolan in every other, more important way, and once again the reality of not having him here stings.

"So, tell me all about these little angels, and we can join the others?"

“Well, I could, but I think they’re old enough to answer on their own.”

Trita looks back and forth between them with a patient smile, and they both react differently to the statement.

Her human mini-me smiles brightly, looking at Shand quickly, her eyes so wide in excitement that he can see himself reflected in the different shades of red.

The other one shakes her head, tucking her face away against her mother’s neck, dark hair mixing with Trita’s white wisps.

“My name is Opal! That’s my sister Althea! We’re both...”

The cheery girl pauses, holding a hand in front of her own face, wiggling her fingers, trying to count them without much idea as to watch she’s actually doing.

“Four! But we’re gonna be five soon.”

Her fingers don’t match the number she says and Trita shakes while trying to hold in a laugh, pressing a quick kiss into her white hair.

“Yeah, you know, I never really wanted this life but your father had to ruin that for me, thankfully.”

Opal squirms, rather bravely reaching for Shand to hold her, not at all caring that she just met him. Trita doesn’t even wait to see if Shand is okay with it, happily handing off the child to lessen the load on her hips, trusting he knows what he’s doing.

Althea watches the interaction, face hidden in her mom’s hair.

“You have daddy’s hair!”

Opal points at Shand’s dark hair with wonder, like she’s never seen the color on anyone but Dolan before, which is amazing considering the odd color of her own hair.

Trita rolls her eyes at her own child, leading the group back into the room. Dolan sits on the back of the couch, so she joins him, leaning beside him, Althea still tucked away but she does perk up now that she’s in the comforting presence of both her parents.

Luna has quickly made her way over to a group, speaking excitedly with the ever mild-tempered Ploy and Eidolon, finally near a woman that’s roughly around her height, even if Eidolon does tower over both of them.

Axel skirts over to the conversation with a warm smile and Luna grabs him in a tear-filled hug, the group laughing at how animated she’s being.

Even Lance is there, rushing over and picking her up from behind, hoisting her to sit on his shoulder, bouncing in place and she has to duck slightly to make sure her head doesn’t hit the ceiling but she seems genuinely happy regardless.

Ploy scolds Lance but he easily ignores her, getting lost in long purple curls.

Nameless lies in a corner, allowing Sera to sit on him like a chair, much like Luna does, but Korrin is staying as far from the fox as possible while still being able to keep an eye on his sister.

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The second that Opal is in his arms, Shand feels like everything freezes. His arms, his face, his heart, his lungs.

Everything just stops. The little girl, of course, doesn't. She reaches up and pats his hair tenderly while she admires it and keeps talking mostly to herself, clearly the much more outgoing of the two.

But for Shand, everything is slow and heavy. The weight of her little body in his arms jolts his mind, like he's been shocked with something strong. Instead of the little face that looks so much like Trita, he sees Enna now. Those bright, inquisitive eyes, that coppery, untamable hair.

The flower crowns, the dirt-smudged hands that always wanted to pat his cheeks. How she hung on every word he said, and he on hers. How she'd take finger-paints and add to his tattoos, filling some in and starting some new ones, replicating those ones up and down her little arms, too.

He can tell that Opal is curious like her, too. Friendly to a fault, confident and brash. No sense of danger or consequences, always ready to try something new and exciting.

He smiles at the little girl in his arms and she blows a puff of air up into his hair to make it poof for a moment. God, he misses his little girl.

After the frozenness dissipates and all he's left with is a cold, hollow ache, Shand's body seems to remember what to do like it had been only yesterday that Enna had been this age, had been with him safe in his arms, nothing in heaven or earth able to hurt her or take her from him. Safe in the arms of her daddy.

Shand grips at Opal around her tummy in retribution for the puff of air, tickling her until she's shrieking with joy and Trita is begging for quiet and mumbling about raising three four year olds now.

He watches her eyes, intently listening to her talk and tell him all about their life, her favorite colors, the reason she'd decided to wear this dress today, and how she likes to play with her mommy's ears just like Daddy does.

"I️ don't have any ears, but I️ wish I️ did."

Opal is frowning with her arms folded, and Shand sees a potential temper tantrum on the rise.

"You know what you could have if you wanted, though."

He rolls one sleeve up a little bit so that she can see the intricate curling tribal designs mixed with knots and mythological looking creatures and symbols and runes. He can almost see them colored in bright pink, orange, lime green.

Opal gasps and covers her little mouth with her hands and starts rocking back and forth and squirming like she's going to jump out of his arms in excitement.

"I️ want them I️ want them!"

"Let's go in this room and I️ can find what I️ need to give you ones just like this, okay?"

Trita shoots him a look, and Shand waves her off with a smile.

"Just markers. Non toxic, washable. Probably even organic. Biodegradable. Whatever. No worries, Momma."

Shand lets Opal down when they enter, and the little girl runs immediately over to Nameless, like she doesn't even know what fear is.

Looking around, Shand can see Luna laughing and hugging and even crying a bit. Lance is quite preoccupied with her, and Shand shoots him a quick but playful look of warning and they share a wordless moment across the room.

Dolan sits on the couch, and near him are the rest of Shand's family. Kvanne sits beside Dolan on the couch and rises when he sees Shand, gives him a quick, forceful embrace, clapping him on the cheek.

Aoife and Thrandr are both squeezed into one large leather chair probably meant for one person, but that's never stopped them before. When she sees him, Aoife pops up and runs for him, hugging him around the neck and Shand can't help but spin around with her for a moment, caught up in the excitement.

"That'll be twice you brought me back from the dead."

She says quietly to him with a playful smile, but her eyes are knowing and sincere and there is a gratefulness in them that makes Shand smile softly.

"That's my job in this family, right? Save face and raise the dead. I'm a two-trick pony."

Thrandr joins them, grabbing Shand by the forearm before pulling him into a hug.

"I️ like your place."

He surveys the large room, the one of many on this floor making up the suite, but he looks out the window too, signaling that he means this world that Shand's brought them back to.

Aleric is on the sofa now talking to Dolan, and when he makes eye contact with Shand, he just smiles at him for a few long moments, the two sharing their reunion wordlessly.

Shand scans the room and it looks so full- it's full of people hugging and laughing and making all kinds of noise. It's full of an impossible kind of joy that wouldn't be able to occur anywhere else, any kind of way.

In that way, his heart is pretty full. But despite how many people are in the room, and how deep the joy of it is seeping into him, the knowledge of the ones who are so painfully and obviously absent cuts just as deeply and he can tell that it hasn't yet totally sunk in for Luna.

Nameless nudges the little girl with his snout, easily entertaining her and allowing her to tangle her small hand in his fur. Althea looks over at her sister with a small motion, a quiet request escaping her lips.

Trita smiles and sets her down carefully, but the girl pauses, looking around at all the people unsure of what to do. Dolan nods his head over to Nameless and gives her the encouragement she needs to toddle her way over to Opal, running her fingers through the fur on his neck.

His tail flicks a little, but not impatiently, he actually seems to be enjoying the attention from the twins and from Sera who leans against him, unintentionally becoming quite the ladies' man... Fox.

"No, stop that."

Ploy sighs, watching Lance parade around with Luna like an idiot, her head repeatedly getting dangerously close to the ceiling.

"It's fine! You people always worry too much."

A sly smirk pulls his lips. He nearly throws her off his shoulder but catches her in a bridal carry, laughing all the while at the terrified expression that fades into a happy blushing laugh.

"You're going to kill her and then where will we all be? Up a creek trapped on a raft with an angry god."

Eidolon watches the scene with a smile, far less irritated by it all that Ploy is.

Luna seems oblivious to the missing people, perfectly content to fawn over the ones here in the room with them in this moment.

That doesn't mean she doesn't notice, actually it's the first thing she picked up on when she walked in the door.

No Dakara to greet her and play with her hair, no Enna to meet and gush over for the first time, no Lunath to embrace with an awkward but loving gaze.

They're not here.

But there has to be a reason, right? And she's not about to ruin reuniting with all of these different people, call Shand out right here in a crowd of his loved ones for something she's not even sure he had power over to begin with.

She knows better than that, has more control over herself than that.

Shand stands near Trita and Dolan and he's very clearly looking at how Lance is holding her. The protective attention makes her face feel warm and her heart beat a little faster, but she can't control it before Lance leans down and whispers to her, low enough to make sure no one can hear.

"Giving our little pirate-wannabe the'ol googly-eyes? I thought you had more class than that."

He winks at her embarrassed shock, only giving a hearty laugh when she averts her eyes in a pout, shoving his face away.

She's not really upset. It's good to hear his voice and feel his laugh. It's good to see all of them and she would endure any teasing for the next century if it meant keeping them all here like this.

Now that he's in the room with the rest of them, Shand feels like he needs to distract himself. All of his loved ones are here, of course, but Dolan and Trita have each other and the girls. Kvanne and Aoife and Thrandr are chatting it up, excited to be back in each others' company, and Aleric is staying glued to Dolan's side just like Althea is to Opal's.

And Shand loves that he gets to stand back and watch everyone he cares about buzz with the excitement of seeing each other again, something they had never expected or seen coming.

But he knows in this moment, if Dakara and Enna were here, he'd be the one buzzing in excitement with them. They'd be in their own corner, their own family, hanging on each other and unable to let go, just like Dolan and Trita are.

It's another reason why he's casting an especially protective eye Luna's way, as Lance makes a fool of himself all over her. It's just been the two of them, Shand and Luna, for hundreds of years. It's not that he's protective or possessive, but a switch in his mind had flipped a long time ago apparently, and the sight of Luna with someone else, especially Lance, especially the way he's touching her, makes something in his stomach hitch and a jealousy burn in his chest.

He scans across the room and sees Korrin, looking even more the odd man out than Shand does. Hands in his pockets, Shand joins him near where Nameless is earning oohs and ahhh from the twins and Sera by changing forms from oversized fox, to fox spirit, and back again.

"So you're not gonna do anything about that?"

Shand nudges Korrin, glancing pointedly over at Luna and Lance.

"Although, if you've gotta choose between Nameless and Lance in terms of safety..."

Shand shrugs as he realizes he actually has no good conclusion to that toss up.

"Well, I️ guess maybe the middle is a good place to be."

Korrin arches an eyebrow at Shand, confused as to why he decided to come over and speak with him when Shand clearly knows every person in this room and could talk with any of them.

His brown eyes follow Shand's gaze to Luna and Lance who spin around like two idiots, joking about something absolutely ridiculous.

"What's there to do?"

The nonchalant shrug he gives Shand definitely isn't helping Shand process his own protective jealousy, but Korrin seems to be enjoying the sight of the foolish twirling.

"She looks like she likes him."

His words are honest and the two really do seem happy. Lance has finally set Luna down and is pulling her along into some sort of happy folk dance and, thanks to her many years of dancing with Shand, she easily follows along even though she doesn't know the specific steps.

Lance's gray eyes flick up to Shand, offering a quick wink, flashing a mischievous grin. The look Shand shoots him only makes his smile grow but he does spin the two of them so Shand can no longer see his face or read his lips as he continues to speak with Luna.

"Actually, if I had to make any comment, it looks like the real probablem is you don't like him and he knows it."

Korrin laughs to himself, watching Shand's shoulders hunch forward in growing irritation.

"Or, at the very least, he knows how to annoy you and seems to find some joy in that. But, if Luna is happy then I'm not going to stop her from dancing with whoever. Besides, I don't know any of you people so, as you figured out early on, I have no clue what her relationship to any of you is. For all I know, those two were lovers in another life."

Opal shrieks with laughter when a small Nameless lands weightlessly on her shoulders, but he's still just as big as the child is. Althea quickly grab's the fox's face in her hands, eyes wide in fascination at his constant shape-shifting.

Korrin watches the twins, smiling a little to himself as he does.

"This is one weird group you've assembled."

Shand starts mentally unpacking all of Korrin's comments long before he stops talking, rolling them around in his head as he watches Luna and Lance continue to frolic around.

She looks like she likes him? Lovers in another life?

No, neither of those are okay.

Shand's not sure how he could go from calmly and nonchalantly watching the happiness spread all around him to...whatever this feeling is that's consuming him hungrily right now, but it sure did happen fast.

"Yeah, well, you're stuck with us now."

Shand mutters to Korrin as he moves, not really intending to. But once he's in motion, it's like his legs move themselves and he's on a mission.

When he gets over to where Lance and Luna are spinning around in circles and dancing even without any real clear-cut steps, Shand makes a well-timed swing of his arms, hooking Luna around her waist and literally picking her up to remove her from Lance's grasp.

He stands there for a moment, holding her literally in mid-air, noting to himself how drastic his actions had been even for him, but shrugging it off and deciding it's too late in his thousands of years of existence to regret being drastic now.

Their height difference is comically obvious with the way he's holding her, but Luna is getting visibly upset and somewhat indignant about his removal of her from her dance partner.

From the look on Lance's face, knowing that he's gotten to Shand is just as enjoyable as the dancing, so he hasn't lost out in a major way.

Shand turns away from Lance as Luna wriggles out of his grasp, and he can feel fire radiating off her before she even starts to speak.

"Were you hoping to cause a scene?"

Luna quietly hisses, trying to ignore the several pairs of eyes that watch the two of them after having witnessed the theatrics Shand displayed.

Lance snickers behind Shand and there's a similar sound from the other side of the room where Nameless is, both responses sharing that same entertained knowing, annoying, tone.

Trita arches an eyebrow and glances at Dolan to her side, finding that behavior odd even for Shand and hoping her husband can shed some light on what just happened. Though, there is a sneaking suspicion growing in her.

Korrin frowns, seeming more concerned by Shand's actions than he had ever been watching Luna and Lance dance together.

All eyes are on them.

There is a deep red color across Luna's entire face, embarrassed by the collective attention, by the gazes and laughs. Above all, something forms a lump in her throat at how easily he stormed over and physically picked her up from the situation he didn't like.

It's definitely not the first time he's overrated before, but something about the action was far different this time. The protectiveness felt like it came from a completely different place than usual.

Something is off today and she's hoping it's just all the excitement because, if not, she may be getting sick. The last time she was ill, she was sick for nearly two weeks because her body can't break fevers. Shand nearly had a heart attack after day two.

The stand close and she's now realizing it's too close and any argument she has is temporarily lost as she takes a half step back so she isn't having to stare straight up to look at him.

It had seemed like the best and only course of action at the time, but as the seconds go by, between the look Luna's giving him and the looks and noises they're getting from everyone else in the room, Shand is starting to feel like he's flown off the cuff again and done something reckless.

Except, if it was just that, it wouldn't be anything new. Reckless is Shand's middle name. This wasn't exactly reckless. He doesn't know how to describe the feeling, or really the initial impetus behind striding over and physically removing her from Lance's presence. Now that he thinks about it, maybe it had been a bit of a douche move.

He can feel all their eyes on him and Luna now, and above all he can feel Nameless's hot stare. What's the problem? Shouldn't Nameless be glad and thankful that Shand has taken over as Luna's overprotective guardian for all of eternity? Or is it just like back in their speakeasy days, when Nameless was ready to give everyone a free pass but Shand?

There is a heat creeping into his cheeks that he doesn't like, that makes him feel even more uncomfortable than before, which he had deemed impossible in that moment.

She's looking up at him now a little demandingly, and they both know they're off kilter today in a way that's not going to get brushed under the rug.

His stomach is turning itself into knots for no apparent reason and he's so confused with what is going on that he decides he just can't take the stares anymore.

Without saying anything to Luna, he ducks his head sheepishly and sidesteps her, hands shoved back down in his pockets as he leaves the room entirely.

On the couch next to Trita, Dolan alternates between watching Shand go and watching Luna's reaction to him. Once everyone has gotten over the events and has more or less returned to talking amongst themselves, Dolan leans over and kisses Trita on top of the head before standing and following Shand out of the room.

“Well, what an unpleasant man he still is.”

Lance laughs at the scene but his eyes remain locked on the back of Luna’s head, eyebrow arched and he’s doing everything he can to hide the pleased smirk threatening to overtake is expression.

“Would you like to pick up where he left us off?”

But Luna hesitates to respond, a confused frown staying pointed at the door.

What was wrong with dancing? And it’s not like Lance is some big major threat, the two men are friends.

At least they seem to be, their relationship was always confusing.

But Shand seemed against it for some reason and it only causes conflict in her mind. She’s free to do as she pleases, she’s her own person, but would it be wrong to dance knowing it had made him upset? Wouldn’t that be dancing to spite him?

She’s never been overly concerned about his pettier qualms before but, then again, no qualm has been quite as seemingly undeserved at this and that almost makes it sting more. What did she do wrong? She can’t fix anything if she doesn’t know what happened?

“... No, better not. Who knows what he’ll do next time.”

It’s easy to laugh it off for the sake of keeping peace but that doesn’t mean she’s still not thinking about it, and that much is still written on her face. Lance can clearly see it but has no time to comment before he’s interrupted.

“Fengari, that wasn’t nice.”

Nameless appears around her shoulders from thin air, leaving the girls on the other side of the room with increasing confusion. His tail rests softly near her face.

She missed this. She didn’t even realize how much she missed him perching on her shoulder until this moment and years of memories come flooding back. His weight has always been a steady reassurance, even in the moments he was belittling her, because it was constant, the most consistent thing she had every had in her life back then.

Now she has someone else who has been a bigger steady guide, which is not something she ever thought she’d say, but here she is in a world of Shand’s design.

For her.

“What do you mean?”

One thing she knows for certain: She doesn’t like the fox’s tone. It’s smug, like he’s planning something far beyond them, or maybe that he’s watching something he’s been planning finally start to play out how he wanted.

“He was just worried about you, you didn’t need to snap. Most people don’t like to see their person dancing with someone else, yeah? I know I wouldn’t be happy.”

It’s not even like he said something overly teasing and testing the nature of her relationship with Shand but how he says it heavily implies it and her face beams bright at the suggestion.

“Wait-“

“Hey, girls look!”

Nameless calls to the twins who have taken up searching for him, only noticing him when he calls for them.

“She has purple hair.”

The young faces light up and they storm over as if it’s the first time they’ve seen her hair, jumping up and down excitedly around her legs, pulling on her shirt.

“Can we play with your hair? It looks like a flower!”

Opal reaches up quickly, innocently demanding to touch the long curls, though they could definitely reach them on their own. Her hair is below her hips now, longer than it’s been since she was their age, but they seem well-mannered and patient for her response, though that could just be because of Trita’s steady eye on them, making sure they play nice.

She sighs out her remaining frustration as she drops to her knees, a full six inches of hair sprawling on the floor around her and, with the way they squeal, she can tell the girls know this is permission,

Althea begins working on a sloppy braid on the side of her head but Opal seems more content to duck into her hair and hide like it’s a cape or curtain to a hidden world.

“Sorry. To be fair, though, your hair is a unique color even for our world and that’s saying something.”

Trita smiles apologetically but is happy for a moment of peace as Luna seems to happily occupy the girls’ minds.

When had her hair grown this long? She’s lost track of the last time she cut it. Not trimmed it, but actually cut it.

She remembers the time she chopped it to her shoulders and how Shand had fussed over it for weeks until he gave up on the idea that he could make it grow faster. It wasn’t even that short but it was apparently a crime against him for it to not be cascading waves. She hasn’t cut it since.

Why, though? Why does it matter what he prefers? It’s her hair. Who is she trying to impress by letting it grow incredibly long?

Her face flushed as the answers sits at the tip of her tongue but she refuses to think it.

Nameless leaps over to rest on Lance’s shoulder and the two exchange quick winks.

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Shand shuffles down the hallway and gets in the elevator without even thinking. He just waits for the doors to close, doesn't even press a button, and it takes him down to the main floor, where he keeps his head down and simply walks out of the building.

Emotions have always been Shand's weakest point. He's gotten so good at reading others, comforting them and glossing over hard things in a way to make them feel understood and relieved, but after all this time, he still can't seem to ever do that for himself.

Of course, that process would start with being able to identify what his own feelings even are. He can't even do that.

Outside, the wind is gusting around him and there are some dense, gray storm clouds starting to accumulate out over the ocean, blowing slowly in toward the mainland.

He thinks that, of all people, he should have learned to get a grip on his emotions by now, particularly when they have the ability to bring on natural disasters without his permission.

He's walking down the sidewalk without much purpose now, one hand still shoved down in his pocket and the other absentmindedly moving up to pull the pearl from under his shirt and hold it in his hand, letting its glow warm his palm.

He feels a hand on his shoulder pull him gently to a stop, and he turns to see Dolan standing behind him, giving him an amused look like his son hadn't just done an awful thing.

"What's that face for."

Shand knows his voice sounds like a child still, but he also knows Dolan's come to expect it.

And he does. Dolan laughs and shakes his head at his son, folding his arms and coming beside him, walking down the pavement together.

"So what exactly is it that the two of you have been doing here for...however many years?"

There's a silly mischief in his father's eyes that Shand knows fill his own eyes more often than not. It's more annoying to look into it than to project it onto someone else.

"What is that supposed to mean? Me and Luna? We've been...."

He shrugs. What have they been doing, really?

"Making stuff. And keeping stuff running. And doing stuff."

"That's a lot of stuff."

Dolan nods his head like he's agreeing, when in actually he's definitely mocking Shand.

"What do you think we've been doing?"

Shand asks in an offended tone, rubbing the smoothness of the pearl between his fingers.

"Not sharing each other with others, I️ think that much is clear."

Shand stops and Dolan takes a few steps ahead of him before stopping too and turning.

"What's wrong with me?"

Shand blurts out, letting the pearl fall back into his shirt so he can rub at his neck, his forehead.

Dolan stays silent for a moment, mouth twitching, playing at a smile without ever fully breaking into one.

"I️ don't know, son. You'll have to think on that one for a while."

Trita watches Luna as the little girls play and dance through and around her long purple hair, tapping her finger against the back of the couch, so much so that Aleric turns to look back at her with an arched eyebrow, feeling the constant tapping.

There's something there on Luna's face that Trita can see, something that intrigues her.

"Nameless."

The fox looks over from Lance's shoulder curiously.

"It's what I think it is, isn't it?"

The grin Nameless wears in response answers her question without him saying a word.

"Who can say?"

Right.

"Hey, how did you get your hair this color?"

Althea holds the braid she had been working on, showing it to Luna with all the pride and happiness on her tiny face, to which Luna can only smile and nods like the messiness of it is art.

"Would you believe me if I told you it's because I ate my vegetables?"

Opal gasps, peeking out from safe within the locks, eyes wide.

"Is that why Mommy and Daddy tell us to eat the gross stuff?"

Trita sighs, smiling at the three. The twins are definitely Dolan's girls, no doubt about that... So he can handle being the one who has to debunk the little white lie they're buying into by the second.

She pushes off the couch, striding her way over.

"Alright, Luna and Mommy are going to go on a walk. Stay here with everyone else."

They whine but let Luna go and the two women head for the hall, not going for the elevator but choosing to keep straight down the corridor.

"You know, I almost considered Luna for Althea's name because it seemed to fit."

"But you didn't go with it?"

Luna watches as Trita looks ahead, a smile still on her face, a smile that hasn't left since they all ran back into each other.

"No, because the name felt too much like it only belonged to you. I couldn't bring myself to do it. Sure that sounds like a cop out, but it's true."

A touched blush colors Luna's face, but she doesn't mind this one. She's honored by the gesture and it's okay to show this emotion. This is one she understands.

Quiet only settles for a short second, Trita interrupting it to make sure no more than one beat passes, moving on like what she's about to say is the most casual thing.

"So, you and Shand, then? How long?"

Luna's breath hitches and she steps away from Trita as they walk, shoulder hitting the wall in a rare lapse of grace.

"What are you talking about?"

Trita only winks, but that does little to calm Luna down.

"No, seriously, what are you talking about? Trita? Trita. Shand and I don't like each other like that."

In an instant, Trita turns herself towards Luna, holding a finger to her mouth frantically, but it's too late.

The damage has been done.

Two tiny gasps can be heard from around the corner.

"You didn't have to say it like that. Children hear everything."

Opal peers around the corner, a wide smile on her face, but Althea seems more confused than anything.

"Oh-Oh, oh no! Oh no, no, no, no... Hang on, you didn't hear that."

The girls giggle and run off back towards the room, ignoring Luna's desperate pleas.

"I'll go try to cut them off."

Trita pats Luna's shoulder as she passes, jogging down the hall after them, calling their names in a fruitless effort to get them to stop so she can easily catch up.

Dolan keeps giving Shand this strange look, amused and sympathetic and smug. But Shand's not willing to offer any more incriminating information, despite the way that Dolan's face says he probably already knows more than even Shand does.

"Why don't you try to figure that out back there with the rest of us...you know, all the people you haven't seen for hundreds of years?"

"Thousands."

Shand corrects with an eye roll. But he nonetheless follows Dolan back down the sidewalk, into the hotel, up to the top floor, and down that same hall.

When they walk back into the room, Shand makes a point to not look at anyone there, who is probably watching him pointedly make his return, and not look at the floor to make his awkwardness that much more obvious.

That doesn't leave many options, so he just stares at the back of Dolan's head and flops down on the long couch beside Aleric. Trita is chasing the twins around, scooping them up close to her as if she's trying to rein in some kind of destructive virus.

Opal is looking at Shand over Trita's shoulder, reaching for him in exasperation when Trita tries to calm her down. It's clear that a temper tantrum is on the rise.

Shand stands up to go and offer to take her, but Nameless is over by him in an instant in his larger form, paw on Shand's chest to keep him sitting down.

He's gotten pretty used to being treated like a god instead of a schoolchild around here, but only a short amount of time back in Nameless's presence, and he's almost come to anticipate this kind of thing again.

"So, how are you enjoying not being dead?"

He askes the fox, spreading his arms out across the back of the sofa and crossing one ankle over the other knee.

Dolan laps around the room back over to Trita, who is trying to contain both the twins and is visibly struggling. Opal and Althea both are kicking and throwing all their body weight into their efforts to be free.

Dolan takes Opal up in his arms and shoots her a playfully disapproving look, promises her under his breath that he'll give her some candy if she'll be good. She settles down quickly and wraps both her little arms around his neck in a calm display of affection.

Trita huffs at him and he smiles proudly.

"So, what did you dig up?"

He asks her expectantly. Clearly, not much has changed since their glory days at the speakeasy except for jumping across several worlds, assimilating into multiple different cultures, getting married, and having twins. Eh, it could have been worse.

"Well..."

Althea seems to calm down when Trita is only fussing with her, happier now that she has her mother's full attention rather than divided between her and her sister.

Trita shoots a playfully dirty look at Opal like she's a traitor but easily preoccupies herself with rocking Althea to and fro.

"I think it's not hard to tell."

Her red eyes flick to the doorway of the room where Luna now stands with wide eyes, watching the family on the other side of the space like they're ticking time bombs, the messy braid Althea gave her having completely come undone during her mad dash to see if Trita had contained the girls.

"Some people may have heard some person get a little too defensive and figured out what was going on so now we're walking around with secret destroying monsters on our hips."

She pokes Althea's nose and then Opal's for good measure, holding the shushing motion over her lips again and they both seem frustrated by the request, Opal more so than her quieter sister.

Nameless sits right in front of Shand, his large form completely taking up his view of the rest of the room.

"It's enjoyable. I get to see the end result of my thousand year long plan play out. Although..."

He grins, tail slowly wagging behind him, watching Shand with that same amused curiosity he had all those years ago when they first met, but there's a new gentler warmth behind his eyes that wasn't there before.

Clearly, he's still planning something, as always, but whatever he's planning makes him happy and he's truly and genuinely excited to see it play out.

"The plan isn't completely finished yet, is it? Still waiting on the final outcome."

"Well I️ mean, I️ have been considering building an addition. Adding an extra continent or two. I️ could squeeze a couple in, granted, it would be tight. But who knows, we'll see."

Shand shrugs at Nameless, uncomfortable under the knowing stare that he had gotten so used to so many years ago. How had he ever been able to deal with this before? How had he found it in himself to not care?

Over Nameless's shoulder, he can just barely see Luna eying Trita and the twins. Her hair is bound up in a messy braid, her dark hair spilling out of it and although it was done up by four year olds, something about it is still elegant, flattering. And the way she sits there on the floor, looking over her shoulders, neck arched, she looks like something an artist might carve into marble.

Shand blinks a few times before he looks away, unsure of where that thought had come from, face starting to feel that strange heat again. Maybe he's coming down with whatever fiery powers Luna has. Perhaps after all these years, they're working toward becoming the same person. Well, if it means he doesn't have to wear that huge parka around, he'll take it.

Dolan catches Shand's prolonged glance at Luna and turns around to Trita with a smug grin.

"This is ridiculous. They're how many hundreds of years old?"

Shand stays there on the couch a bit longer, watching everyone mingle excitedly and talking alternately to everyone, catching up and getting reacquainted with everything that he'd missed. Before long, several hours had passed and despite having slept later than normal that morning, he's feeling exhausted.

He's not sure about everyone else, but he thinks perhaps that being raised from the dead is probably a little tiring too.

So in a calm moment when everyone else has someone to talk to, he stands and stretches, angling his shoulders back and looking around to make sure no one's heard his joints crack. He turns to Aleric and lets his hand fall on his shoulder one more time.

"I️ think I'm going to head out and rest a bit.. this whole floor has a ton of bedrooms, so unless you guys think of somewhere else you'd be more comfortable, I️ was thinking everyone could stay here? I️'m just down the street, we hang out pretty much on the top of the really out of place looking building at the end of this road. I'll be there if anyone needs me."

Aleric nods, and Shand slips out mostly unnoticed, heading back to the rooftop terrace.

Nameless hops up onto the couch in Shand's spot, claiming it as his own, slipping into easy conversation with those around him.

Trita leans against Dolan, resting her head on his shoulder, listening to their daughters ramble back and forth to each other, smirking as she watches Shand leave then watches Luna stare off after him, clearly trying to decide if she should go, too.

"You'd think after creating and maintaining a world, they wouldn't act like children anymore."

Lance walks over to where Luna sits and taps her on the shoulder, leaning down to smile at her.

It's not a smirk, there's no mischief in his eyes, he's just looking at her with an understanding gaze, even if she doesn't know what he's being understanding about.

"You should follow him, yeah?"

Her brow knits and she silently shakes her head, not in refusal but more to tell him she doesn't understand what he's getting at.

"Well, you both seem a little off right now so you could probably use some sleep, but I think you still owe him an apology for snapping earlier?"

His words are patient but they cause her to frown.

He's right, the two of them have been acting unusual today, so maybe all they really do need is sleep, but is Shand going to be mad seeing her trail along after him like a lost puppy? As Lance said, she did snap at him and the two haven't really spoken or acknowledge each other since.

Maybe that's just because they've been busy with everything else? That seems like a logical explanation.

Is she over thinking all of this?

No, Lance is right: She needs to sleep. Her head is spinning and she's felt like she's had a fever all day. If it gets worse, she'll be bedridden for weeks again and she's not sure Shand could handle that.

"Okay."

Luna stands, bowing her head goodbye to everyone then she slips out down the elevator after him.

She can't really see Shand with the headstart he's taken, but she can see when people stop to stare or greet their god walking among them so she knows roughly where he is, or where he's been.

People start doing the same, smiling warmly at her, calling for her from across the street just to wave, which she, of course, takes time to acknowledge and return affectionately, never allowing one person attempting to gain her attention to go ignored.

For the first time, it feels like her love for these people is in her way, putting more distance between the two of them each time she stops, but she knows where he's going.

Shand is walking with intentionality, his own delicate way of saying walking fast. Over the years, he and Luna have playfully bickered countless times about how he should walk more slowly so she can keep up with him, because it's true that Shand is tall, and it's even more true that at least half of him is legs.

He chuckles to himself, remembering he and Dakara's nicknames for each other back in that other world. Lips, Legs. Strange how a place so contrived, so made up to fit a specific purpose and run out like an experiment from start to finish, could mirror real life so seamlessly. Sometimes, he misses it. Well, the good parts of it.

He's come right up on the opera house now, and normally he and Luna would walk around to the back of the building and climb, race up to the top. He's too tired for that today, his joints are too stiff and his head feels too heavy. He goes in through the front doors instead, grabbing his parka from the coat closet in the foyer before taking the elevator to the top.

This has always been his favorite place in the world he's made. Partly because he can see everything from up here- the night sky and the sunrise and the settlements and the forest and the ocean. But also because it's his and Luna's home here. Their sanctuary, the ultimate center of their paradise.

He doesn't take much time to survey the sights today, but just eases stiffly back onto the couch like an old man. Well, he supposes technically he is an old man. But he'll wake up good as new tomorrow.

He closes his eyes with the intention of drifting off, but his mind won't shut off. The wind whips his hair around his face and he pulls the fur hood halfway down his face as he tries to quiet all the thoughts that won't let him be.

All the ways today has been so, so off. It started out so well, with so much promise and excitement. And yet, it hadn't turned out how he'd been planning it at all. Obviously he didn't regret bringing their loved ones back- that had been the highlight of all of this despite anything that had backfired on him.

But ever since his dreaming late this morning, things had gone sideways on him. You'd think a god would be able to control simple things like that, like his emotions, like understanding his emotions and not reacting to unknown impulses like a child.

But apparently, this god is still a child. He groans to himself and rolls over on the couch so that his face is wedged between the back and seat cushions, shielded from the wind.

So he doesn't see when Luna makes her way onto the roof after him.

Luna catches sight of him climbing the stairs rather than scaling the cliff, deciding that's probably the best way for her to reach the rooftop at this point, too.

The ascent is dull and boring, nothing like all the times they race. She knows he lets her win and maybe that should bother her, but it doesn't. She could easily beat him on her own and that's something they both know, but the fact he still lets her reach the top first, still smiles and laughs every time she stares down waiting for him to reach her, brings an indescribable warmth to her heart and face.

She pauses at the top of the stairs, looking out over the roof, a sudden realization stopping her where she stands.

The heat in her face, the blushing, the averting her eyes... This isn't new. None of this is new. She's been dancing around him like a school girl for... How long now? Long enough in their centuries together that she's been able to turn a blind eye to her own actions.

Her heels click to sound her approach, moving forward again, shoving that thought deep in the back of her mind, as far as she can. He lies there huddled against the cold she knows he hates so much but lives in for her comfort and the sight threatens to undo the work she just did with surprising speed but she manages to catch it.

Pivoting, she turns and sits down beside him, her back against his like she's done so many times before, happily providing heat to make the chill less miserable. She taps her foot to a song in her head, looking out over the horizon like she does every time they sit here in the comfort of their own space, away from all creation.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier."

She whispers, allowing the wind to carry her voice as it pleases, Lance's suggestion to apologize coming back to mind as she leans back against him, frowning down at her lap now.

When's the last time they had to childishly apologize to each other? It's been a few decades at least, and she feels embarrassed caving like she is, especially when she's not even sure what she did to begin with to make him pull her from Lance.

But she's willing to admit her own wrong in the situation: She shouldn't have yelled and called him out in front of everyone, especially after he had just brought them all back.

Shand doesn't even hear Luna, doesn't even notice her until she sits behind him, backs touching. The immediate warmth that spreads over him quiets his chill, makes his muscles relax where they had before been tense with shivering.

Every time she touches him, is near him, he relaxes. He remembers back when they had first started out here, it had surprised him. That her touch, her voice, her presence was enough to calm and soothe him. It's something he's come to expect now, but it's no less miraculous.

When he feels her there, he turns his head slightly so he can see her, pulling the furry hood out of his face with one finger. Something about her face says anxiety, the tight frown, the wrinkled brows. And she's apologizing to him?

His sleep-addled mind had almost forgotten about the fiasco with Lance. Almost.

He sighs in frustration with himself, rubs his eyes sleepily.

"No, Luna, it's fine. You didn't do anything wrong."

He makes himself sit up for this, pulling himself up using the back of the sofa. He huddles next to Luna now, keeping the sides of their bodies touching.

"I'm sorry I️ flew off the handle like I️ did."

Shand looks around, letting his eyes rest everywhere but Luna's face as he blows into his hands for warmth.

"After all this time, I️ completely forgot how much Lance can get under my skin."

Shand tries to make a laugh come out to qualify it as a joke, to lighten the mood and make the strange, tense awkwardness between them fade a bit, but he can't seem to make himself laugh.

What is going on with him today? Maybe this strangeness between the two of them, the way they've been off today- maybe it's all just him. Maybe the reanimations, the way he'd done them last night, had changed things.

Maybe they'd taken something out of him. Made him more childish and at the same time less? He can't really see anything wrong with how she'd acted today. Is he kidding himself? When does Luna do anything wrong. She responds to everything perfectly, gracefully, selflessly and Shand's the one who falls short, tripping through life literally and figuratively.

He huffs out a grated, frustrated exhale at himself.

"I'm a mess today. I️ don't know what's going on. I️ didn't really see today going this way, and whatever it is, it's clearly my fault. I'm sorry."

It feels like that day all over again, that day that he'd brought her back from the dead, that they'd fought together in his head for what seemed like years, and then tumbled out and nearly immediately had started fighting.

Such a conflict of emotions. Joy, anger, despair, togetherness. He can't imagine his life without her now. What kind of monster would he be without her?

“How is this clearly your fault?”

She laughs at his logic, chancing a glance at him beside her.

His dark hair shines in the sunlight and frames his tanned face. He’s nowhere near as tan as he had once been, back when she first met him, and she realized a lot of that is her fault. He built a world of constant cold to keep her cool and it hurts to see it do this to him, to see him have to huddle up and skin paler than before.

That said, he’s still much darker than she is, though that doesn’t take much, really.

Luna leans her head down towards his shoulder, smiling a little to herself at how different the two of them are.

But then she realizes what she’s doing.

Was she about to rest her head on him?

She snaps up straight, moving to poke the back of his hand instead like that’s what she had been planning on doing all along. It’s not like they’ve never sat close or been overly affectionate before, but given her recent thought and revelation, everything she does is now under her own careful scrutiny.

But why do small gestures like this have to feel so natural when she’s around him?

“I think we both seem a little off. All the excitement probably just got to us.”

A smooth, easy, believable lie, for both herself and for him.

She cant possibly have fallen for him, she doesn’t even know what that means or feels like. Romantic love at it’s purest and truest is still just a concept, there’s no way she’s stumbled upon it without knowing.

The more she thinks about it, the more exhausted she gets and the more her own lie makes sense.

“I think maybe we should go to the beach tomorrow. You look like you need some warm sunshine.”

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The way that Luna goes to lean into him, and then self corrects, isn't lost on Shand. He watches her closely, the way he always does, often more secretly than not.

Something about the motion sets his lips twitching. And then it dawns on him.

Everything that's happened today, the ways they've been weird with each other, the times he's caught her staring at him and then looking away bashfully. How she'd gotten upset in reaction to what he'd done earlier with the others. How she's even suggesting something now just for him, something she knows makes him happy.

His mind goes blank for a minute as his eyes widen a bit. Has he really been here in his role as acting god for so long that he's forgotten what a crush looks like? He'd spent the majority of his normal life with women, and sometimes men, falling all over him, gaging their reactions, priding himself on being a skilled reader of human emotion and desire and often an equally skilled manipulator of it.

And here this is, staring him in the face, and he'd confused it for him being tired. What the hell is wrong with him?

Another thought invades his dumfounded head and makes his heart freeze for a second. All the ways he'd behaved toward her today, responded right back to her. The strange heat in his face that he'd actually confused for... Luna's powers rubbing off on him?

He's actually the biggest idiot to ever live. How did he not see this coming? Panic is grabbing at all his facial features, keeping his expression completely blank, preventing him from smiling or laughing or joking to play the moment off. He likes Luna. He likes likes Luna.

All this time he's spent vehemently pushing men away from her? Trying to keep her safe and guarded and as untouched as possible? And now he's the one fawning over her.

No no no. That's not how this is going to work. He can't let it. He can't let himself feel like this. This will ruin everything.

He clears his throat forcefully, trying so hard to remember what it even was that she'd just finished saying to him. Suddenly the proximity to her seems nearly sinful. His heart is beating out of control.

"Uh, no, that's okay. If... I️ mean, you should go. Yeah, you- you should go, and I️ can just stay here. By myself. I'll sleep. Yeah, sleep. Sleep is good."

He clears his throat again, like there's something beyond stuck in there and he wants to shove his hand in his mouth to keep himself from making anymore noise.

Did he just... Deny her offer?

He’s never done that before.

“Oh...”

Luna isn’t even attempting to hide the hurt in her voice caused by the sting of his rejection at the offer.

She doesn’t even like the beach and he knows that. It’s too hot and makes her blood boil even more than it already does, only ever going because she knows he likes it. He gives so much to her and deals with so many things he can’t stand, like the constant cold, that taking trips to the beach is the least she can do.

And don’t even get her started on the joy she feels just watching him run straight at the ocean, falling into the waves, how he laughs when they knock him over but doesn’t let them stop him as he swims past them.

Or the way he calls her out to join him and the only reason she can is because of him in the first place. She’s become a strong swimmer over the years, still nowhere near as much of a fish as he is, but she’s managed to master it to the point she can keep up with him on days he’s not feeling like a show off.

What’s the point if he’s not there?

“I guess I can.”

She removes her hand from poking at his, quickly placing it on her own lap, embarrassed she even brought up the idea and now irritated and embarrassed she’s sitting so close to him.

It was a dumb idea.

Or was it? They usually do things like this all the time? How was she supposed to know the idea was repulsive today after thousands of years of jumping at the thought?

Without even thinking, she scoots a few inches away. She’s the one constantly on fire but it feels like she’s the one that’s been burned.

Of course she doesn’t move far enough away to take her heat from him, but enough to put some distance, touching no longer feeling like it’s allowed, and that could be her own pride talking, but that knowledge doesn’t stop her.

The silence that follows is painfully tense and awkward.

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