"..."
As the golden eyes looking at him seemed to slowly regain their senses, Hugo gently lowered the back of Leonardo's head he’d been supporting and slowly pulled his hand away. As his head touched the soft blades of grass, Leonardo took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut once before opening them.
Hugo, still firmly gripping his arm with his right hand, straightened his upper body by planting his idle left hand beside Leonardo’s head, keeping both knees on the ground. He separated their bodies, which had been in unnecessarily close contact.
In that state, he caught his breath and stared down at Leonardo, furrowing his brows as he asked,
"Why are you running away?"
Leonardo, who had been blankly looking up at Hugo while lying there, lifted his chin a little to confirm his situation—pinned under him again—and sighed. Then he relaxed his neck and flopped back down, lowering his eyes and letting out a small laugh as he said,
"Because you're chasing me like you're going to kill me."
"...When did I ever chase you like I was going to kill you? And if you hadn’t run away, none of this would have happened."
"So it’s my fault again?"
As Hugo immediately shot back, Leonardo’s eyebrows twitched and his brow gradually wrinkled. At that displeased expression, Hugo opened his mouth with a sigh.
"That's not what I—."
At that moment, Leonardo pulled his pelvis and legs out from between Hugo’s by bracing on the ground and levering himself up, then kicked Hugo hard in the abdomen with his right foot. He twisted his body and sprang up in one swift motion.
Hugo, hit directly in the solar plexus, couldn’t finish his words and grimaced in a flash of pain. He lost his grip on Leonardo’s arm, but immediately snatched the spiteful ankle still near his abdomen.
Leonardo, yanked back down and sprawled on the ground, tried to bolt at once, planting his other foot and driving off. Even Hugo, clinging to his ankle, was lifted by that tremendous force.
When he still couldn’t break free because of the heavy hand locking on, Leonardo seemed to decide it wouldn’t work and tried to kick Hugo’s shoulder with his left foot again.
This time, though, Hugo precisely blocked the flying foot and grabbed both of Leonardo’s legs, leaving him helpless, floating in midair. As his struggling intensified and he found himself at a disadvantage, Hugo braced against the flailing legs with both arms and «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» said urgently,
"You’ll get hurt, Leonardo. Stay still!"
"Let go! You won’t let go?"
As the rough tussle continued, Hugo seemed to have no intention of giving him a chance to escape, and drew a stream of water up from the ground.
At the sight, Leonardo bit his lip hard, thinking it was unfair. They’d barely been using magic, by tacit agreement, trying not to seriously hurt each other.
Soon, the streams of water crawled up Leonardo’s body, wrapping around him like ropes and yanking him down by force.
Seeing him unable to move an inch, his arms, legs, and torso bound together, Hugo let out a sigh of relief and released his ankles for the briefest moment. Leonardo didn’t disappoint him, bursting into flames all over his body, kicking off the water and breaking free.
The blazing fire seemed to reclaim its freedom magnificently, but that sharp momentum didn’t last long.
Because Hugo’s arms caught him from behind in a tight embrace.
"...!"
Leonardo, who had only registered that his body wouldn’t move for a split second, realized he’d been trapped in Hugo’s arms only after the thick, heavy scent washed over him.
He gasped at the solid chest pressing to his back and the desperate breath near his ear.
His body froze completely, stopping right there. The same went for his eyes and the expression that had widened in surprise. With the suddenness of it, his heartbeat began to thud abnormally loud.
It felt like being swallowed by something huge, and at the same time an indescribable warmth and tension mingled and flooded through his whole body.
As the body that had been thrashing wildly only moments ago went quiet as if doused with water, Hugo finally let out a small sigh and whispered into his ear like a threat, holding him fast,
"Stay put."
A light breeze slipped by, gently ruffling their hair as if to calm them both. Only the occasional birdsong echoing through the forest reminded them that time was still passing.
After staying like that for a while, Hugo found it odd that Leonardo wasn’t moving at all and peeked at his side profile from behind. Even so, he tightened his arms. He suspected that this little head might be plotting to run again.
Though he wasn’t small, Leonardo was slender without much bulk, so his shoulders fit entirely in Hugo’s embrace. As those thick, solid arms cinched tighter, squeezing his shoulders as if to crush them, a thin moan slipped from the lips that had been silent.
"Ah—."
Eventually, Leonardo slowly turned his head and looked at Hugo from the corner of his eye while being held. He furrowed his brows slightly, put on the most pitiful expression he could manage, and said,
"Ah... it hurts."
"..."
"My... shoulder..."
The moment he heard “shoulder,” Hugo flinched, remembering the scar on Leonardo’s left shoulder, and loosened his grip. He’d been so focused on holding him that he’d forgotten how sensitive Leonardo was about that spot.
Worried he might have hurt him, without knowing how bad it was, Hugo immediately searched Leonardo’s face. But as the restraint eased, the pitiful, lovely look vanished without a trace.
Leonardo’s expression flipped in an instant. He shoved Hugo’s chest hard and slipped free in the blink of an eye.
'It’s a fake, you bastard.'
Hugo, caught off guard, staggered back two steps from the force and could only stare at the retreating gold in stunned silence.
Leonardo shook him off, shot upward, and landed atop a tall tree in one breath. Using the thick branch in front of him as a foothold, he prepared to leap away.
But the moment his foot touched the branch, he turned his head, puzzled that he no longer felt Hugo’s energy chasing him from behind.
Agrizendro wasn’t moving from where he’d been shoved. He simply stood there, quietly looking up at him from below, as if staring at a place he couldn’t reach.
Hugo felt a strange emptiness in his chest where Leonardo had pushed him away. He wondered if it was from the ferocity of those hands and kicks, or from being burned by the heat Leonardo had thrown off in that brief, tight hold. His chest and solar plexus ached.
It was viciously cunning to lull him with a face made to enchant people and then shove him away without mercy. Sure, it was his own fault for falling for it, but who could have withstood that?
He also thought it might still be too early for Leonardo to respond to his waiting. He couldn’t place where this sense of futility even came from. Hugo just stood there, eyes half-lidded with resignation, letting out a small sigh.
The tension in his brows and forehead slowly softened, and there was no longer any will to chase Leonardo in those eyes. He didn’t look angry or resentful. Yet his eyes, steeped in the setting red sun, somehow looked very sad and bitter, making it hard to look away.
Unable to tear his gaze from him, Leonardo suddenly found he couldn’t leave. Even though nothing was holding him back, those slightly sunken, shadowed eyes were full of disappointment, and the pity in that gaze clung to his ankles and wouldn’t let go.
He even seemed hurt. It couldn’t be, but that was how it looked.
Instead of tension, a strange mood settled between them. The warm, damp haze of late afternoon pouring down only deepened it, making even emotions feel soft and wet.
That unnameable feeling was close to yearning, and it only added to their confusion.
Perched in the heart of the blazing sunset, Leonardo looked down at Hugo for a long while without flying away.
As their eye contact stretched on, Hugo unconsciously extended his hand again, slowly.
If Leonardo had meant to leave, he’d already be gone. Hugo couldn’t understand that capricious mind that had climbed up there just to stare down at him, but he still wanted to cling to the faintest hope.
Spreading his fingertips toward Leonardo, he conveyed two words with eyes drenched in sorrow and sunset, hoping again that Leonardo would return,
"Come here."
At the voice carried on the wind, Leonardo’s eyebrows twitched.
Staring at that face as the words reached him, it felt like being dragged back into agony.
He had to go lure the others right now, not waste time like this. Since running into them earlier, he hadn’t sensed the 1st Battalion members tailing him at all after he fell here.
He’d stalled for quite a while already, but he couldn’t relax until Kenis brought Alec back. When Kenis returned, he needed to hide for a bit and get their stories straight. So he had no intention of joining Hugo now. He shouldn’t.
That’s right. He clearly shouldn’t, but...
"..."
Leonardo bit down hard on his lip. His fine brows drew together deeply, and a small sigh slipped out.
...Honestly, beyond all that, he’d wanted that person to go through hardships the way he had. To be scolded, to feel guilty, to endure that waiting without understanding what it meant. He’d wanted their positions reversed—wanted him to understand, even a little.
But looking at him now, Leonardo wasn’t sure that was truly what he’d wanted anymore.
He lifted his head to the sky and scrubbed a hand over his face, pushing his hair back. Then he inhaled and let out a long breath.
But his choking heart hardly eased.
In the end, he turned the body that had been ready to bolt the other way back toward Hugo. Squatting lower, gripping the tree with one hand, he looked down at him and thought,
'You’re really a fool, Leonardo.'
Even now, seeing that right arm still reaching for him, he worried it might hurt, since it had been injured before—making him feel no different from a fool himself.
And seeing that face, always upright and neat, now worn and haggard, he found himself deluding that maybe Hugo had waited for him a little—making him an even bigger fool.
When he thought about where to go back to on this peninsula, only that person below his feet came to mind, and the absurdity of it stung.
He was still living a tiring life, and maybe that was just his nature, because even now he couldn’t escape Hugo.
After mocking himself like that, Leonardo slowly straightened his bent knees and set his jaw, standing firm on the branch.
The fog around him cleared. The small sounds that had been breaking through now and then died away. All that remained in front of his eyes was Hugo, and he was too tired to pay attention to anything else, too drained to try. He pinned that excuse to his choice.
He stepped off the tree and descended slowly toward Hugo.
The shadow over Hugo’s darkened face faded little by little, and this time he extended both arms toward Leonardo. As if earnestly waiting for him to come all the way down, he opened them wide, ready to embrace him.
Their rumpled clothes and hair, made a mess from rolling around together in the dirt, projected the time they’d spent like something vividly real.
Maybe looking a little broken like that made it easier for walls to fall.
In a world washed in red and blue, as the brightest light approached him, Hugo had a brief, ecstatic delusion—one that Leonardo was returning not for subjugation, but simply because of him.
So he unconsciously slid both hands to Leonardo’s waist as he neared the ground. Startled inside by how much thinner it felt than he’d expected, he carefully lowered him until his feet touched down, hiding it.
The distance between them was so close he could count Leonardo’s eyelashes. Leonardo took a step back, but Hugo’s hands were still on his waist, so he couldn’t go far.
Even without words, a lot passed between their deep gazes. Still wanting to say it plainly, Leonardo opened his mouth, looking into those calm blue eyes.
"You didn’t catch me."
"..."
"I let myself be caught."
The clear golden eyes still held a faint edge.
Hugo’s eyelids flickered. His lips parted, then closed again.
Dropping his gaze for a moment, he saw his hands on Leonardo’s waist and their feet standing close enough to touch.
A small laugh slipped through his teeth as he stared. What he thought and what he meant to say were clearly different, but in the end, the fact remained that Leonardo had come to him on his own, and that made him laugh anyway.
His neat lips still curved in a thin arc. With that gentle smile lingering, he spoke as he blinked slowly,
"Okay."
As the coldness in his face softened, vitality returned to his handsome features. Leonardo, who had been looking at him with practiced nonchalance, had his gaze snagged in an instant. And as he went blank for a beat, he realized too late that Hugo’s right hand was drifting toward his cheek.
The touch was cautious, but no longer hesitant the way it had been when he couldn’t reach him before. When that large hand finally cupped his cheek, Leonardo stared between Hugo’s face and his hand, slightly startled.
Watching those rapidly shifting golden eyes, Hugo asked calmly,
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
For a moment, Leonardo’s widened eyes fixed on him. His lips twitched, but no words came. As Hugo’s hand brushed his cheek and temple right after asking, Leonardo’s attention, caught by the sensation, went even more blank.
"..."
He really did have a gift for leaving people speechless.
Numb with it, Leonardo looked up at this man—bigger than him in so many ways—unable to find his voice.
Ever since the Imperial Road, he’d known Hugo was oddly soft with him. So he hadn’t been as afraid of him as everyone else was, and he’d acted more playful, more willful, certain Hugo wouldn’t truly do anything.
But with what Hugo had just said, Leonardo realized a fatal mistake he’d made.
Not pulling away from the touch, he lowered his eyes, looking back on the days that had passed, and barely steadied his tilting mind beneath Hugo’s hand.
If holding Hugo’s hand before had felt clear and bracing, now it felt strangely warm, and the difference unsettled him. He found himself being pulled toward that warmth without meaning to.
Hugo kept caressing his cheek, his gaze and fingertips lingering where the old wound had healed and vanished. The feel of those long fingers sweeping past his lashes, tickling him, was soft and yet oddly stimulating.
Under that touch, Leonardo finally furrowed his brows and lowered his head.
'...It’s annoying.'
His inner voice still scolded him for not being more heartless.
As the head he’d been stroking dipped without warning, Hugo paused, looking at him with worried eyes.
Feeling the touch stiffen because of him, that gentleness he couldn’t shove away felt almost spiteful. Leonardo couldn’t lift his head for a while.
Seeing his heart weaken from a single action and a single word, it seemed the soft one wasn’t only Hugo...
But he was the same.
