[ They’re just passing the reassurances back and forth right now. Or maybe it’s less reassurance, more confirmation? Hearing our love does more than make Clear’s circuits race, it makes his cheeks flush with pleasure and tuck his face even closer into Aoba’s hair.

Aoba’s answers to things are never uninteresting. He might not know the real answer but he always tells Clear what he honestly thinks, and it’s always thought-provoking.

His hand drifts to stillness, arm wrapping over Aoba again just to hold it. It is a good moment, and if fate—or chance—is kind, it won’t end any time soon. ]

That’s a beautiful way to look at it, Aoba-san. I might even like that better than what I was wondering about.

Toue had plans for us, and with as powerful as he was…isn’t it amazing that we were able to do what we did? It wasn’t easy, or without pain, but…we’re here now. What if this was fate?

[ Aoba’s way of looking at it may really be the better one, though Clear asks the question anyway. If this is fate, then so was all the suffering, and that’s…not a happy thought. But if that was the price that had to be paid for escaping fate? Maybe that’s a more palatable way to think of it….]