Work Text:
"So it's official then."
"Mm-hm."
"We're dating." Shadow grinned, his head tipped toward Vio's. Their hands were clasped between the two of them, fingers laced together.
Vio leaned towards him in return, pressing their foreheads together. "Who do you think will be the first to notice?"
"Hmm. My money's on Blue."
"Really?" A raised eyebrow. "Red is generally the one of us with the most emotional intelligence."
"Yeah, but Blue can be annoyingly perceptive. It was a pain back when we were on opposite sides."
"I suppose I can see that. But not Green?"
"Hah! Oh, no, definitely not Green."
They went out to breakfast still holding hands. As usual, the others were already up: Blue wolfing down a plate of scrambled eggs after his morning run, Green pouring himself a cup of tea, and Red setting out a tray of breakfast rolls — the latest of his fire-magic baking experiments. From the warm, honey-sweet smell, the experiment must have been deliciously successful.
As they approached the table, Shadow briefly considered trying to perch on the edge of Vio's chair, or even sprawling across his lap. His heart beat to the tune of we're dating now. But... it would give the game away all at once. With only a slight pang of regret, he instead hooked his foot around the leg of one of the two remaining chairs, dragging it closer to the other so they could sit side-by-side with their hands still clasped under the table. None of the others seemed to have noticed yet, and Shadow was not about to let go if he didn't have to. It was a little awkward to cut open and butter one of the rolls right-handed, but it was worth it.
"These are very good, Red," Vio said politely, while Shadow was still struggling. He at least had his left hand free.
"Thanks!" Red beamed. "I think I've just about got the temperature and timing right, now. Arcy gave me some tips on kneading it, too." Then he looked at Shadow, his smile turning amused. "Would you... like a hand with that?"
"Nah, I got it," Shadow said. Which was true. He just also had butter on his nose, and no real idea how that had happened. He glanced sideways at Red, though. Had he caught on?
But no, Red had turned to Blue and started talking about plans to visit the Castle Town market that morning.
Shadow caught Vio's eye. Vio shrugged, and wordlessly held out the plate of scrambled eggs to Shadow. He took some — that at least was easy enough to manage one-handed — but the food didn't have his full attention. Giddy energy hummed under his skin, from his heart down his arm to where his fingers were still threaded through Vio's. His foot bounced under the table, restless. He didn't want to ruin the game, but with every passing minute that the other three remained hopelessly oblivious, he just wanted to blurt it out.
He glanced at Vio again. Vio tilted his head to the side. Shadow tugged gently on his hand. Vio nodded minutely, and together they lifted their joined hands up onto the table between them.
No one reacted — but then, none of them were looking their way yet. Shadow did his best to act casual and focus on his food.
A few bites later, Blue said "hey you two," and Shadow looked up so sharply he almost knocked over his water glass.
"Yes?"
"Do you need anything from the market?"
"Oh."
"I suppose I'm running a little low on pen ink," Vio put in. "There's a stationery shop just across the street from the cafe."
"Right." Blue nodded, and turned back to Red.
Vio raised an eyebrow. Shadow threw his head back dramatically, flopping over to the side to gaze despairingly at Vio. The corner of Vio's mouth twitched in a smile, and—
And stars, Shadow couldn't keep this up.
He stood up abruptly, the legs of his chair screeching across the floor. The other three jumped and looked around at the noise. When Shadow was sure he had their attention, he swooped down and pressed a kiss to the corner of Vio's mouth, right where that grin had been. Vio exhaled an amused little puff of breath that fluttered against Shadow's cheek and sent up an answering flutter in his chest. For a moment he drifted in the joy of it, nuzzling his face against Vio's. Then he pulled himself away, standing up straight and looking around at the other three like a magician waiting for the gasps of amazement.
Green and Red looked slightly puzzled. Blue just rolled his eyes and turned away again.
"Anyway, if we stop at the post office first, we can—"
"Oh come on, are none of you going to react?" Shadow burst out.
Silence. Blank looks.
"Did you... get a haircut?" Red offered tentatively.
Shadow made an incoherent noise of frustration between his teeth.
"As of this morning," Vio said, finally laying it out plainly, "Shadow and I are officially dating."
More blank looks.
"But... that can't be right," Green said, brow furrowing. "You've been dating a lot longer than that."
Shadow's incoherent frustration turned to shocked sputtering. But Red and Blue were nodding in agreement.
"I always assumed you eloped at the Fire Temple," Red said, head tilted thoughtfully. "It seemed very romantic and sweet. I mean, evil too. But sweet."
He said it so casually, like he hadn't just reached between Shadow's ribs and plucked out a fragile, glowing daydream. Face burning, Shadow sunk back into his chair.
"We didn't," Vio said, eyes low, voice level in that way that meant it was taking effort. His fingers squeezed Shadow's, his thumb brushing along the side of Shadow's hand. "I couldn't. Not while I was lying to him."
Shadow squeezed Vio's hand in return, inching closer to him.
"But you've had a lot of time on the same side since then," Green pointed out. "And you've always been..."
"Disgustingly sappy?" suggested Blue.
"... more visibly affectionate with each other than you are with anyone else," Green finished with more diplomacy. "Come to think of it, we probably didn't need to get an extra armchair for Shadow when we furnished this place. I mean when was the last time you two weren't..." He trailed off, laughter in his eyes as he looked at them, Shadow half on Vio's chair instead of his own, pressed together from shoulder to knee.
"Well, it's nice to have an extra for guests," Red put in.
Green nodded. "That's true."
"But seriously, guys, you aren't subtle!" Red said. "I once saw Shadow walk right into a door frame because he was too busy staring at Vio to look where he was going."
Shadow slumped further down in his chair. He had thought — he had hoped — no one had witnessed that. He hadn't even noticed it in time to use his powers to phase through it.
"I've seen you wearing each other's shirts, too," Green added.
Vio blinked. "What? When?"
"Dear goddesses, you didn't realize?" Green sounded near-breathless with incredulity.
"Remember that noblelady who couldn't take a hint and kept trying to flirt with Vio?" Red said. "I thought Shadow was going to set her hair on fire with his glare alone."
Shadow scowled, ears folding back at the mention of that incident. "She was making him uncomfortable."
"And of course, there was the way Vio threw himself into getting Shadow back..."
"Green," Vio began, his voice low. "Don't say that like you wouldn't do the same for any of—"
"You've been sleeping in Shadow's room for over a month," Blue cut in.
Everyone went silent.
Shadow bristled at the abrupt change of subject. So what if they'd discovered that sleeping within arm's reach of each other kept the nightmares — the fire, the broken glass — at bay? He was about to snarl that it was pretty rich of Blue to comment, when he knew Blue still had panic attacks if his blankets got wrapped around him too tightly, and besides, what did that have to do with—
A strangled noise from Vio stopped him short, and when Shadow turned to look he saw pink creeping over Vio's cheeks. "It's not what you're implying," Vio said.
Wha—?
Oh.
Well.
Shadow felt his own face warm. His and Vio's mutual lack of interest in that was also none of Blue's business.
Blue put up a hand. "I really don't want details. I'm just saying, you can't really act all shocked that we assumed."
Suddenly Red sat up straighter in his chair. "Wait, if you guys didn't elope, that means—" his eyes went wide and sparkly "—I could still help plan your wedding!"
This was too much. They had said what they wanted to say, and now Shadow very much needed to not be in this room anymore. He stood, pulling Vio up with him. "Okay well me 'n Vio are gonna go flying with Skirrsa today bye," he said, all in a single breath.
Shadow would not admit to fleeing. But he left the room quickly, Vio right beside him.
"I've just realized something," Vio said, voice sounding grim.
"What?"
"Green figured it out before we did."
Shadow turned to look at him in horror, and then — he couldn't help it — he broke into laughter. The corner of Vio's mouth twitched again, and then they were both laughing, tripping into each other as they hurried away, still hand-in-hand.