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[At least the grass makes for a softer landing than the gym floor.

He rolls off quickly onto his back next to her, uttering a short victorious chuckle. Revenge complete once again. Then he stares up at the dimming twilight through the overhead branches, his face relaxing into something a little more distantly neutral.]

[ It does, and she is grateful for the cushioning. She wheezes a few times after he's off of her, just for show, but a few seconds later, her fingers brush his again. There's a question in the touch, though she doesn't voice it aloud: is this okay? do you not want to do this? ]

...Are you going to be all right?

Yeah, I was lying about my legs being soft.

[Har dee har har. No, he gets what she means. Without thinking too hard about it, he spreads his fingers a little and lifts them, in case she's looking to link their hands together or anything. Now that the innocent touches have begun, it's surprisingly easy to just keep them going.]

I'm fine. Really. Weird as this all is, I'll take it over everything that was going on back home.

[ Ah, good. When he moves his hand, Peony does in fact lace their fingers together, squeezing. She's careful about it, as gentle as she can be, chewing quietly on her lower lip as she listens. ]

...Me too.

[ She says it like a confession, but not one she's embarrassed about. ]

I don't know that I deserve it, but if I have the chance, then I don't want to let it go.

You deserve it a hell of a lot more than I do. But here we both are.

[He closes his eyes, sighing softly. It really is a good thing, for the most part, but he can't help but feel a little troubled anyway.]

Still... You were the one always going on about making memories back in high school, remember...? So it's weird that you have happy ones I'm in but I wasn't there for. And whatever I've experienced here with Luna isn't with- [Bird Luna] -Icarus, and... ugh, I feel like my brain will cave in on itself if I try to figure this shit out.

You deserve it more than I do.

[ Her voice is gentle but firm; that is in fact a fight she is willing to have, if it comes to that. Though after that she falls silent for a few moments, obviously mulling something over. ]

But here we are, and we're still living. We can stay where we are, looking back, or we can move forward, and I want to move forward. I want to be happy, and I want the people I love to be happy. I think we could do that here -- all of us. Can't we try?

[She can fight him on it all she wants, but that won't change the fact that it's his fault all of them were thrown into such an unhappy world to begin with. Other than that though, she is right. She's not the only one in recent times to remind him it's time to let go of the past and move forward.

Eyes to the Future. Always.]

Why waste my time on trying? [Ah, he could have phrased that a little better. Sounds too defeatist when he's trying to be the opposite.] --I'm playing to win. I'm going to see it through to the end.

[ He's not the only one responsible there! But while she has some idea that he has this guilt, she doesn't have precise confirmation, so for now she lets it slide, squeezing his hand again. It's no different than holding Maera's hand like this. ]

I hope you're including happiness for yourself in that end.

Yeah, yeah...! I haven't forgotten your lecturing on how I could stand to be a little more selfish.

[He tugs her hand a little. Come closer.]

I can't let dog-me have all the happiness to himself.

--ah--

[ Well, she doesn't really need much encouragement at all. When he tugs at her hand, she rolls herself closer to him. She isn't cuddling, exactly, but there's less than a handsbreadth between their bodies now. Congratulations you have your own tiny warm space heater. ]

You'd better not! Both of you should be happy. I wanna do whatever I can to help with that.

[He's a bit of a living furnace himself, so at least there's some equal exchange going on there.]

As long as you're sticking around, that's good enough for me.

[You'd think that after his little wilderness adventure with Eiji, Mal'd never want to lay on the cold hard ground again. But it's much warmer now, and there's a safe and familiar presence at his side, and the grass is soft and smells so fresh... Peony said to quit worrying about the past but this does feel so nostalgic. Just napping in the sun on school grounds or down by the riverbank. He's s relaxed it feels like he could fall asleep now.]

...This is kinda nice.

As long as you want me around, I'm here.

[ You know what, why not. She scoots juuust a little closer, until her arm is now actually pressed up against his. There's nothing about this that's nostalgic for her (she never napped on campus), but it's comforting, and he's also familiar and beloved. Everything might be strange and in the air, complicated in ways she'd never imagined, but she thinks she might be actually, truly happy.

She tilts her head to smile at him. ]

You shouldn't sleep outside, though. What if you catch a cold?

[Uh, what even was the point of going to Hope's Peak if not to be able to get away with fucking off from class to take a nap? Come on, Peony, get on the ball.

But anyway. There will be no naps to be had here. He cracks an eye open to sulk at her a little.]

I'm awake! Besides, there's no way I'd get sick on a night like this.

That's not how it works, silly.

[ She nudges him just a little with her elbow, wrinkling her nose playfully. ]

Just because it's pretty out doesn't mean you can just will illness away! You have to be careful with yourself.

[How the hell can she be so sure about how anything "works" here, especially after today?

He props himself up on his elbow so he can turn semi-sideways and stare at her, his expression totally blank.]

I've never done anything reckless or dangerous, ever.

[And he immediately bites the inside of his cheek because there's no way he'll keep a straight face otherwise.]

Ah~ I see, I see. Never at all, of course not.

[ Since he's pretending to be serious, she does the same, opening her eyes wide and pursing her lips as she nods. Yessir, whatever you say, sir, she totally believes you. ]

You're the most cautious man I've ever known.

[Oh no her bullshit game is TOO STRONG. He dug himself his own grave, here.
Don't look at him like that, it makes this way too hard...!]

That's right. Out-cautioned only by you.

I'm the most careful person you'll ever meet.

[ She bites the inside of her own cheek when she says that, because that actually hits a little too close to real and unpleasant memories and fantasies she's had about that one day in the rain, years ago.

But this is just playing, and for that, she can keep it up. ]

You know me, I always think things through at least four times.

[There's a bit of a choked sound in the back of his throat for a second there, but he catches it in time to not let it throw him off his game too much. His eyebrows raise a little.]

That's your appeal. Being boring and playing by all the rules.

I've always done what's expected of me. In more ways than one.

[ Society expected her, as a woman, to find a man to be romantically involved with, and that had happened.

Twice.

Hm. ]

[Any hidden meaning to that is lost on him FOR NOW, but... Oh boy. They're skirting some potentially unpleasant territory now. But he doesn't want to back down, either. Now that they're in this deep.]

It's good to be in the presence of a fellow upstanding citizen, who is completely normal, and has no deviant tastes.

Ah -- about that.

[ Deviant tastes, huh? She's happy with how things developed, but she has no illusions that most people would approve or even understand why.

And she's not sure where Mallory fits in that. ]

I've maybe got a few.

[Okay, now he's listening. He turns a little more with a smug little grin on his face.]

Oh, really?

[Go onnn... He half-expects this to be the lead-in to some joke to keep up with the rest of this silly little game, like maybe she'll reveal that she likes holding hands. But gasp, here they are now doing just that, how scandalous.]

[ There is a whole spectrum of possibility here.

She could go for the innocent joke of handholding (it's not like Japanese society was ever particularly keen on any sort of PDA, even something innocuous as that). And it's not untrue; she definitely likes how it feels to be grounded like this.

And on the far end, there are a couple of truly filthy things she could suggest. Some of them are about Maera, which would be doubly (ha) awkward to even insinuate to Mallory.

And then somewhere in between... ]

It, it's true... are you sure you wanna hear this sorta thing?

[It's not too late to back down, he reminds himself. There are probably some things that shouldn't be shared even between best friends. She could unleash something that'll change his entire perspective and it'll be really awkward to have that image in his mind.

But! She's probably bluffing. Even Peony can't be that shameless. Or else she's going to make up something completely crazy. Which he can probably think of a counter to.]

Go ahead. It's my turn to know all your dirty little secrets.

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