dappledleaves | meme for pocky /high school AU meme

[Sinclair's smile widens and he shuffles a little so he's pressed a little more to Oria's side]

Mm. I know. [Oria doesn't need the support to chase after what he wants but]

The same goes for you too.

[ He'll always be here for Oria too]

[ Oria is convinced that if there's anything he shouldn't be doing, it's dating Sinclair despite his feelings. He's his precious childhood friend and has known him for a while, but he doesn't want to take advantage of the emotional vulnerability that possibly came with the passing of Sinclair's parents. The mutual family love between them isn't something that can be replaced. He wonders if that pain is still raw inside him.

However, he can keep supporting Sinclair for as long as he can until he can't, and he doesn't see that happening anytime soon. He'd drop a date to go to Sinclair in a time of need—hell, he'd drop most things for Sinclair. There aren't many things or people that rank higher than him on the priority list, after all. And that's why he's very vehement about the idea of them dating when suggested by other people, but won't stop things such as handholding because he's still selfish and wants at least this much instead of completely maintaining his distance. He knows this is his own fault, but he won't stop.

Perhaps the reason why his last date broke up with him was that they could somehow tell that Oria always had feelings for someone else even though they were right there with them. A disservice. Disrespectful. Oria knows. He does it anyway, having no other way to deal with these feelings otherwise in this complicated mess that he made himself.

This is the only reason why it turns into pining, because otherwise, Oria would usually just tell the other person himself if he had feelings for them. Alas. ]

On our next break, maybe we can go to a planetarium.

[ ... ]

Beatrice should come too if she comes back around that time. She'll be leaving again, won't she?

Edited 2023-12-06 15:17 (UTC)

[ When had Sinclair fallen in love? He knows it must have happened before his parents passed but it was only some time after that he knew what it was. When he looked over at Oria and realised oh. When he realised that matter what happened he wanted Oria happy. Safe. Loved.

And he finds himself falling in love all over again when Oria does small things like this; like he wants to see Sinclair smile.

It's definitely overwhelming.

But he doesn't know how to say it more honestly than he already has and he doesn't want to make it awkward or weird in case...

Well, he's seen Oria with plenty of dates. He gets it. But it's why he ignores the attempts of his classmates to set him up out of well meaning pity? Something like that. He knows his own feelings well. And until he worked up the courage to do something about them, he'd keep them to himself.

Sinclair nods, wondering at his own sense of disappointment when Oria adds Beatrice to the mix - he loves his sister and yet. Hm.]

Mm. She'll be off again, this time to France. She'll be busy for awhile. But a planetarium sounds fun.

Our schedules are so hard to match! I bet it'll get worse when we get into uni.

[ He sighs, but still finds himself smiling at Sinclair. ]

We can still go, since I know you'll look forward to it a lot.

Don't remind me. [He gives a tiny huff, then a playful poke] I do. Beatrice will just have to find her way to one another time.

At our next break then! Look forward to it. Your mind is gonna be blown.

[ Oria seems pretty sure of himself about this at the very least.

They're still holding hands while lying down on their backs on top of a building under the stars. When Oria pauses to look at Sinclair admiring them, he looks right at home. ]

I'm definitely looking forward to it.

[ Sinclair is happy to keep studying the stars like this, admiring how they glitter across the sky. He likes the reminder how much there is out there; their world can feel too confining sometimes]

[ Oria is quiet, pondering as he looks mindlessly at the stars. He lets himself stew in his thoughts for a while. After some time, Oria squeezes Sinclair's hand. ]

Ready to go back? If the legends scare you some more, you can always sneak into my bed~

[ He's definitely joking, but he definitely would do it anyway if Sinclair just woke up in the middle of the night and all. ]

[ Sinclair shoots Oria a pouty look even as he squeezes his hand in turn.
. Time to go back]

I wasn't scared of that--

[ Just the actual ghost? thing he swears he saw but Oria will never believe now]

Shh.

[ Does he believe him? Probably. This is much more fun though.

Oria laughs and leads the way back down. It's much easier than climbing up with gravity assisting them. He jumps at some point while going down, kicking off a wall and lands on his feet. Whew. ]

Show off.

[ Sinclair says fondly, with no small amount of admiration as he climbs his way down a little more carefully, jumping off the ladders only when he knows the distance is safe enough for him to land ]

[ Oria holds his hand out again. ]

Let's go back.

[ We can fastforward to the next event, which I do not have any but I think you do?? ]

[ The next event is dinner at Attica! Saturday passes quickly and Sinclair spends his time catching up with Beatrice over dog therapy, feeling much more buoyed and happy when she returns him to school, with reminders about dinner on Sunday.

"Make sure to dress well!"

It's a famous place, but not very formal, clearly chosen for its atmosphere and food (delicious) over the supposed prestige. It's wildly popular though, and the wait list is fairly long.

So it's a good thing Beatrice managed to secure them a private area for dinner, greeting Oria with fondness and warmth--only to let them both know she had been pulled away for an emergency meeting with her clients in Germany, so they should just enjoy themselves and the small festival nearby, and not worry about the tab. It's all been covered and paid for.

It's such a whirlwind of events that Sinclair is left spluttering and blushing when Beatrice whispers something to him--]

Beatrice-!

[ Sinclair hisses but it's too late. She's gone with a giggle and he's a little mortified, sinking under the table a little. Why is his sister like this?]

[ Oria also did some research on this particular restaurant in the time between because he was curious about it. He also looked up the small festival, since it happened to be in the area, wondering if Sinclair would have liked to go.

...

He really didn't even have to do anything. Oria holds in his laughter as he watches Beatrice pull the strings and telling her that they should really catch up some time when she's not in any more emergency meetings.

That said... ]

What did she say? Hm?

[ Sinclair looks at Oria, turns even brighter red if possible and shakes his head]

N-nothing. She's just teasing me for no reason...

[ With that reaction, he has an idea, but he feels a little wry. Don't worry, Beatrice... he would have gone for it if he thought he should. But he doesn't think he should. Not at all. ]

Siblings have rights to tease each other, so I think it's fair.

[ Says the one who always teases the oldest. ]

It seems to be reversed for you and your sisters though.

[ He's seen the reverse teasing even though Oria is the youngest. Beatrice being the oldest meant she was practically untouchable for teasing though... Sinclair couldn't imagine doing it himself]

Iri is hard to tease, but Aria? She's prime teasing bait. I'd put her as comic relief if I had to categorize people as story roles.

[ The artistic Severine child... her life is hard /s ]

You should take it easier on her...

[Sinclair feels a little bit bad for her. He glances up when the waiter comes in with the food - Beatrice had been meticulous in picking out their favorites]

No way—

[ Food. Oria looks over at the waiter, who puts down their food. Upon looking at his own plate, his eyes look like they're going to sparkle. ]

Ohhhh my god, this looks so good!

[ And he cuts it, digging his knife into it without hesitation and eats. ]

It really does...

[Sinclair brightens too. All his favourites, done in a different way but...He'll dig in happily too]

[ Oria savors the taste since Beatrice prepared all this for them, so he might as well take his time. ]

Do you wanna go after this? To the nearby event.

Mm. It sounds like fun.

[ And selfishly he wants as much of Oria's time to himself when they can get it.]

There's suppose to be some performances, aren't there?

Juggling objects on fire? Something like that.

[ There are plenty more performances, of course. Oria eats some more food. He's eating like a normal person. Amazing. He knows the other events, but he won't mention them to see if Sinclair points out any one that he particularly wants to see. ]

There was suppose to be a sword dancing performance too, wasn't there? I'd like to see that too.

[It seemed exciting. And there were game stalls but. Oria eating like a normal person isn't exactly new to Sinclair but it still fascinates him more than his usual pace. Wow... The food is good though. They should take their time]

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