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 Posted: Sun May 18, 2025 5:24 pm
He knew he didn’t have to keep apologizing, but sometimes he felt like he needed to reiterate that he was sorry, and that he was trying. It sucked. All of it. He didn’t want to throw around excuses for his behavior. They weren’t excuses! Just… maybe some insight. He didn’t like how it made him, and he didn’t like that he ended up hurting people he cared about.
“Yeah, I mean… thanks for giving me a chance,” he shrugged again, but cautioned a glance up at Yvoire. At his face! If his eyes lingered on his legs a little in the process of looking up, well… that was fine. Right?
He knew Yvoire had lost his dad, most likely to the Negaverse in one capacity or another. Reims knew he was hurting, and he didn’t want him to feel like he was losing someone he cared about again. Maybe it was easier to not care.
He’d never stopped liking being around Yvoire, even if it was awkward now. He didn’t like seeing him disappointed or scared or angry. The locker hadn’t been what he’d expected, but in many ways it was better. And if they were going to try to make up for lost time and figuring things out, then--
“You know… I’ve never really taken the chance to look at my outfit,” he casually shrugged, and took a step closer to Yvoire and the mirror. He reached up and took off his hat, and after a few moments of inspecting it, he tossed it onto the bed with Yvoire’s.
“I hope you don’t mind if I take off all my clothes, too,” he suggested, and maybe it was with a little bit of a huff. Like he didn’t now know that Yvoire had been stripping on purpose. So off came the cape, but he did so in a way that he was purposefully taking time to look at it.
Oh… oh, and now he could see exactly what Yvoire could see in the mirror. He must have seen him looking at him very clearly.
Reims’ ears burned again, and he scowled as he turned back to face Yvoire, leveling him with an embarrassed look.
“If you don’t want me looking, you could put some clothes back on, you know.”
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Posted: Sun May 18, 2025 5:24 pm
“I haven’t taken off all my clothes,” Yvoire countered. “There’s still the vest. And the thing around my waist. I think this stuff’s attached to it,” he continued, giving the sheer fabric around his hips a swish. Now that some of the seriousness was bleeding out, Yvoire recovered quickly.
Reims made it easy to tease, especially now that Yvoire knew there was something to tease him for.
“I could take it off, so it’s just the shirt and… I can’t really call them shorts anymore, can I?” Yvoire frowned contemplatively, turning to get another look at himself in the mirror. Beside him, Reims looked much more debonair. “Panties, maybe, but that sounds kind of sleazy. I don’t actually mind them. They’re easy to move in.”
Reims’ clothes were dark and sophisticated in comparison, but they suited him. Yvoire hadn’t been able to appreciate what few similarities there were between them while he’d been angry, but they stood out now—the sparkles; the gloves; the beading; the red on the soles of their shoes. Maybe they were common features on Knights of Ganymede. Maybe it had something to do with their pasts. Maybe it was nothing more than a random fluke of the universe.
Yvoire liked to think there was a deeper meaning, that it connected them—like the bridge leading from one Wonder to the next.
“Anyway, I wouldn’t have taken anything off if I didn’t want you looking,” he said, more daring than he felt inside, where something squirmed nervously. “Maybe I like being looked at. When the person looking actually likes what they see.”
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Posted: Sun May 18, 2025 5:25 pm
“Yeah, well!!” Reims sputtered and took an awkward step back, bumping into the frame of the bed. His ears were still dark but his cheeks flushed a bit again.
“I knew you were doing it on purpose!” he scoffed now that he had confirmation of Yvoire actually doing it on purpose. It wasn’t his fault that Yvoire had nice legs! Or that his outfit showed them off!
Just for that, Reims unhooked the strings of beads from his jacket, slid it from his shoulders, and tossed it onto the bed with a little more enthusiasm than was necessary. He still had his jacket and everything under that, but stopped so he could frown petulantly at Yvoire.
“You really don’t mind?” he finally asked, because he just wanted to be sure. He didn’t want Yvoire to suddenly be mad at him for being a creep. Especially with his shorts or whatever they were, covering enough, but not exactly very conservative.
“I mean, I’m not trying to… stare or anything. I mean, maybe a little, but--” He couldn’t help it if he liked what he saw!
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Posted: Sun May 18, 2025 5:25 pm
“You don’t hear me complaining, do you?” Yvoire challenged him.
He wondered if it should bother him, and what it said about his feeling that it didn’t. He was still getting over the breach of trust, or… whatever they were going to term Reims confessing his identity. (Betrayal seemed far too serious, even if it had felt that way at the time.) Yvoire didn’t know to what extent his feelings should still be hurt, or if they should at all, or if it was okay that having the opportunity to tease Reims made him feel a little better. Maybe it helped that he understood now what Reims had been trying to say before about his twisty insides and his heart.
It didn’t fix anything. Not really. But it gave them something to build from.
“Fair warning: now that I know, I’ll probably keep teasing you,” Yvoire said, meeting Reims’ eyes in the mirror. His mouth twitched into a small smile. “Like friendly revenge. Sorry, but you make it easy. And it’s better than being awkward and sad all the time, right?”
It was like the locker situation. Yvoire had something to prove, and right now he wanted to prove—over and over again—that Reims liked looking at him.
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Posted: Sun May 18, 2025 5:26 pm
Reims clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, and purposefully looked away from Yvoire. He didn’t have to look at him! He could just avoid looking at his nice legs and backside! He could ignore everything about him and just--
Suffer? Knowing that Yvoire liked being looked at?
Okay, maybe he could take a peek. Which he did. And which made his face flush, so he looked away again.
“Well! Just remember how you said you’re not complaining! Don’t we have work to do? We’re supposed to be cleaning up! We’re going to get nothing done like this!” he huffed and dramatically threw his hands into the air as if indicating all of the cleaning up they were supposed to be doing.
“Just… I don’t know! Go and… do something that requires you to lean over or something!” For absolutely no reason other than picking things up. Obviously.
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Posted: Sun May 18, 2025 5:26 pm
Yvoire snorted, then giggled quietly.
His eyes were brighter, his smile a little easier. It wasn’t exactly the way things had been before, but it was a little more like it. Less tense. Less difficult. Yvoire could look at Reims and see him as both Reims and Riker, and he was beginning to be okay with that.
It wasn’t perfect. Maybe it never would be. But it was something. It was a way forward. It didn’t have to be without a few pitfalls or mistakes along the way. They just had to be willing to work through it, even if it took time, even if it wasn’t easy.
Yvoire left the mirror with a flounce and crossed the room with an exaggerated swing of the hips.
If he happened to enjoy himself a little too much, who could blame him?
Fin!
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