“I became best friends with the Prism leaders and that helped me cope a lot, but it still hurts,” he said, pressing his palms into his eyes to soak up the tears. “One moment please.”

“Take your time,” Banlue whispered.

He turned to the side and continued dabbing his face, giving him enough of a gap to look at Banlue and Rei. Rei’s brows were knitted with crossed arms, staring off to the ground. Banlue on the other hand, patiently watched him and the corners of his lips would lift whenever Reoni glanced at him.

He swept off the rest of the gloss in his eyes. “Okay, I’m good now…”
“What happened to Silas after you graduated?” Banlue questioned.

“He moved away somewhere, and when I peeked at his social media a few times, he was doing the same stuff. He mostly posted about the luxuries he owned.” 

“And do you think he was in charge of the business?” he asked, checking off the possibilities in his head.
Reoni shrugged, grasping his knees. “I don’t know if he was at the top, but he took all of the profit I made until my contract with Sailand.”

Rei aligned his body to point at Reoni again, taking out his phone and swiping around on it. “You don’t think you have any bad blood with anyone else though?”

“Yeah… I’ve had bad customers, but not anyone who would want to kidnap me.” He tried to make it a joke, but instead it saddened him further.

“I don’t see Silas here, but maybe you’ll recognize him or his friends.” 

Rei passed his phone to Reoni, where a photo of men with lime green jackets huddled together, flashing gang gestures and attempting to look as intimidating as they could. Reoni pinched to zoom in on the faces, biting on his lip as he tried to remember any of them.

“I don’t see him either… You knew Silas?” he asked, returning his phone.

“I didn’t know him.” Rei stuffed his phone back in his jacket. “He always tried to strike deals with our gang. I always hated his guts, and I still do. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was connected to this,” he hissed.

Banlue clasped his hands. “Well, why don’t we take a little breather? I saw a waffle stand at the fountain. Treats are on me!”

Reoni’s ears perked up, lifting his head. “Really?” His eyes practically sparkled. “Thank you!”

“Mhm! Do you have a flavor in mind?”

“Chocolate with strawberries on top, please,” he prolonged, cupping his hands together. 

“You got it!” Banlue jumped up, turning to Rei. “Do you want anything?”

Rei waved his hand. He was back to staring at the left again. “I’m good.”

He raised one leg, taking a big step forward. “Okay, I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he said. Reoni watched him skip past tree roots to get to the park trail in a hurry, and when he was out of sight, he looked to Rei whose body was dormant as his thoughts raced.

“Is… something wrong?” he hesitantly spoke up, afraid of disrupting his concentration.

He jerked his head up from the hand he was resting on, blankly eyeing Reoni for a moment until he broke away. “I wanted to be the one to call your outfit cute first,” his mushy voice muttered from his pouty lips.

He tipped his head to one side. Was that really what he was thinking about the whole time? “You still can. It doesn’t make it less of a compliment.”

“Are you sure?” He stood up.

“There’s no point in saying it now. I already know.” Reoni started chuckling after his comment, but manifested into a gasp when Rei swayed on top of him. He was pinned to the bench, a tree keeping him from falling backwards, and with no room left to breathe fresh air. 

Reoni broke out into a heavy tint of red all over his cheeks. His mouth quivered for some words, but he wasn’t even sure of how he felt. He stared into Rei’s bladed irises seeping through the tips of his feathered bangs, their sienna glow burning with assertion. Yet even despite his sudden aggression, he didn’t lay a hand on him. 

His face leaned in close enough that the indented lines of his lips distracted Reoni when he was speaking. “I’ve thought you were cute ever since I met you,” he whispered. 

He shied his chin away to pull himself away from Rei’s eyes. The heat clouding between both of them tossed his thoughts all around in his head. Although he shared similar feelings, Rei was burdening an intense passion for his attraction. It wasn’t quite normal. He had to of thought something dumb about him. 

“I-I don’t do services anymore,” Reoni fumbled through what ended up being the wrong choice of words.

“That’s not what I need.” He buried merely all of the space left between them. His pawning eyes sharpened on Reoni. “Look at me,” he commanded.

He gulped, scraping his fists on the bench as he clenched them further. Did Rei even realize how close they were? 

He shut his eyes as he waved his head back up to face Rei, but all he ended up doing was slam his head on the trunk of the tree. He yapped and smothered his forehead into his knees, holding it where the pain throbbed from. Rei suddenly snapped into a bouncy laugh and released his stationary arms to tend to Reoni’s hair, plucking curls that were pulled on the bark into their correct places again. 

While he fixed the strands of hair, he wore a bright grin as he replayed the moment in his head. “That was my fault. I’m sorry,” he said with another added laugh.

Reoni withdrew his hands away from his head slowly and eyed Rei from above. His clumsiness was enough to turn off whatever switch had been triggered just a moment ago. He giggled shortly after too. “It’s okay. The pain’s starting to go away now,” he told him.

“Is it? That’s good.” They locked eyes again. Though now they were a more comfortable distance apart with their height gap, the silence grew intimate as both of them wandered around each other’s face. Rei’s hand fell on Reoni’s head subconsciously, stroking his thumb along his scalp. That was until he was then, too, hit behind the head.