Non Ducor, Duco 〈 Mikayuu 〉

❌37- Lovestruck❌

"So... how about that second date?" Yuu asked me quietly one Saturday morning over a makeshift breakfast at his apartment. Apparently he owned very little to cook with, much like myself. Unlike me- his reasoning was understandable. Kimizuki and Shinoa were constantly thieving him of his own food.

"Today?" I asked, daring a glance to my phone. Only nine forty-five?  I had assumed we'd slept in. Yuu nodded wordlessly.

"Persephone told me that she was stealing your jobs for today," Cynthia chirped from my phone. "So you're free. And I'm certain that without you, Yuu's got his job in the bag."

I turned to him expectantly.

"Of course it would be easy," he sighed exasperatedly, gesturing with his hands wildly around in the air. "I'm the Green fucking Ghost."

  "And I'm the Blue Beast."

  "Meaning...?"

"You will help me get revenge on Sombra for taking money from me."

"And if I don't?" He asked, cocking a head to his shoulder.

"You will, pet," I murmured, chin resting on my folded hands until our noses were almost touching. I was grinning to the ear, his lips mirroring the same. "I guarantee it."

"Oh, get a room at least," Cynthia commented crossly. "Wait, you technically have. Carry on, then."

"Not any more, you insufferable wretch," I spat with no rude intent behind my words, glaring down at my phone.

"Does she do that often?" Yuu asked with a laugh.

"Neither of us can really tell you," I sighed.

"My boy Mikaela here never got action after he created me, is what he meant to say," she chided.

"Cynthia, Hyacinth, off." My deadpanned voice drawled.

"So do they just... stay deactivated until you turn them back on?" Yuu asked a few moments later as I was putting on my shoes.

"Oh, no. Cynthia activates herself and then Hyacinth. But I get a few moments of silence."

"She seems very... human. Isn't that odd to you?" He asked, beginning to allow the questions on my program that I knew he kept in his mind.

"Not exactly. You see, I created her to... be my friend. But a sentient program is easier said than done, and my inspiration for her took person files from the person. Things I never dared to know and still don't. Her actions are entirely that of the person I based her on. How she would think, act and speak in these situations. Her physical appearance as well."

"What does she look like?" He asked.

"You must know it better than I do. Hyacinth was the one to code it."

"Okay, yes, that's true, but I like how you describe things." I heard him admit such beneath his breath, mumbling and bashful.

I laughed, taking his hand in mine. We left after he hauled me to my feet.

Then I began to speak.

First of Cynthia and Hyacinth's physical appearances- one previously integrated, the other my own.

"Let's see... she looks kind of like me. Her eyes are a lot more cloudy, as if she were dazed. And wide. So, so wide. It was almost like she was trying to peer through the screen when I first saw herb. Cynthia's skin is porcelain white, from what I could tell. And her hair is a duller shade of blonde than mine, and cropped just below her chin and always full. She seemed to always have her brows arched when she was observing me, mouth agape. Almost as if she were mesmerized by the concept of seeing me clearly. Which I know isn't true. She sees everything."

But, I found myself soon straying away from Cynthia.

I spoke with Yuu about useless things. Of my past relationships he didn't know of.

"Oh, wow. Cynthia was telling the truth when she said that. Cecil was the first person you were with for nine year," Yuu said with a laugh, doing the math on his hands. It was at that moment I noticed the bastard had led me to the beach. How long had we truly been talking? It took an hour and a half to get there...

"Your shoes," Yuu kindly pointed out, his own bare feet partially submerged in the sand.

"Oh," I said without much emotion, staring down at my shoes now being infiltrated by sand picked up by the wind. "Right."

I remember it was cold that day. Yuu had gotten assaulted by my scarf in the wind, and was very dramatic (jokingly, of course) about the whole situation.

But I remember learning about his mother. The woman that he was here for. The sole reason he was able to work with me in the shadows. His love for her was much like mine for my late mother, but developed to a level mine was unable to reach.

I do not remember telling him about Cecil, though he insists I most certainly did, when our feet were soaked by seawater.

He told me that I had explained the depth of how little I knew of love. That yes, the chances that I had fallen in love with Yuu before recognizing my small affections for Cecil were extremely high.

He told me that I had apologized. I apologized so many times that he had to physically stop me from going on.

So there we stood, the cold waves washing at our ankles and drenching our pants. Wind rustled our hair, his hands planted on my cheeks. There was a fierce look in his eyes, mouth moving to words I am just now recalling.

"You are not your mistakes, Mika," he had said. His voice was so quiet despite his stern demeanor that I had barely heard it over the roaring wind.

No, I am not my mistakes, I had thought. But I am what I have failed to do. My mother is dead proof of that.

The mood had lightened past then. I listened to Yuu talk about his childhood animatedly, my hand tightly in his. I had found a perfect seashell and demanded Yuu get it for me, causing him to laugh and tell me to do it myself jokingly. Of course he said that while hiking up his pants to grab it.

"You don't like the beach?" Yuu asked as we walked across the shore, wet sand sticking to my skin.

"No, unfortunately," I sighed. "But that was before. I envied all those people  enjoying themselves with friends and family. If you couldn't tell, it's only been me for quite some time."

"But now you have me," he pointed out with a smug grin that told me he knew precisely how correct he was.

"Yes," I said, smiling. A true and genuine smile. I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, his sweater brushing against my wrist.

"I have you."