Chapter Text
“Yes, I will stop by the city hall for the lunchtime.” Twilight cleared his throat, feeling the teasing gaze from his older colleague.
“For your mission, of course.” the man continued, he adored Twilight and poking fun at him from time to time was his way of showing affection. The younger agent heaved a sigh before taking his leave. Sylvia had long disassociated herself from this exchange, checking her messages instead.
“I feel like he is quite jealous of his wife nowadays.”
Sylvia merely smiled, “Well, at this point I just let him be.”
—
“You look so nice today, Yor” her co-worker Harvey said upon seeing her at the kitchen to get some tea.
“Thank you!” she smiled, If a guy thinks my look is good for today, Loid will most likely think the same!” she thought to herself.
She sat down to do some paperwork, quickly got over with some tasks, her teacup was now empty. Staring outside the window, she stretched just as Millie beamed from the other side of the office.
“You have a special visitor, Yor!”
Not only Yor herself, but also the entire room turned their heads to see the visitor, a tall and handsome blonde man.
“Loid!” Yor exclaimed, her husband was having a hard time deciphering her tone.
“What a nice surprise for me!” she gave him a warm hug, hoping it didn’t look too awkward. They really should have practiced these stuff beforehand.
“I thought I’d pick you up from your workplace and say hi to everyone. The receptionists were kind enough to allow me in.”
“Indeed, that’s a nice surprise! You look gorgeous today, and your husband came over to see you. To be fair, I forgot you’re even married since I don’t see you with your ring.” Harvey enthusiastically said. Yor’s cheeks immediately flushed, Loid’s hands formed into fists.
Yor couldn’t look at anyone in the eye, so she looked at her hands instead. “I… My hands are a little sensitive sometimes, so I just end up not wearing a ring.”
“I’d reckon your husband suffers from the same problem.” he replied back.
Putting up his professionalism had never been this difficult recently for Twilight.
“Maybe it is. However, I don’t think we need to explain this to other people.” He cleared his throat before continuing. “Indeed, I would agree if there was a concern about Yor here. As her husband, I care about her wellbeing and it makes me happy to see others do the same. This happens to be a topic between wife and husband, we never go further ahead without discussions.”
“I don’t know, I would think about my image. Not wearing rings could arise questions.” the younger guy smiled.
“Yor’s questions are the only valid ones to me. I am glad that her co-workers are thinking of her wellbeing, though.” Loid grabbed Yor’s hard and locked their fingers together.
When Yor could finally look up, she saw Millie staring at the couple in awe.
Harvey had to bite back a smile. “I can rattle the mighty Twilight by just talking nonsense to his girl. Great job, Daybreak.” He thought to himself proudly.
Their walk to the cafe nearby was rather silent, with Yor trying to break it by her remarks about the workload and Anya here and there. Loid didn’t want to ruin their lunch date that they planned to look more like a real couple. “This guy appeared out of nowhere and managed to bring the whole mood down” he thought to himself.
They ordered from the menu and Yor once again broke the silence “Are you okay, Loid? Do you not like this place? Or is there something bothering you?”
“No, maybe I am just tired.” he responded in a dismissive tone that nobody other than Yor and perhaps the Handler would be able to catch.
“If something is a burden, you can always share it with me. You know that, right?”
She reached out to grab his hand for reassurance. Loid felt his heart palpitating, not quite certain where it stood on the scale. Was it a pleasant feeling upon a special person’s physical touch, or was it pure horror upon realization of his own feelings? The lines between that seemed to have blurred over time, just like the lines between his professional work and the facade family did.
“I know that, thank you Yor. Same goes for you.” he said with a faint smile, grabbing her hand back and giving it a squeeze. The waiter was bringing them some appetizers before the main dishes.
“I did share my concerns with you, though. Surrounding the very same topic, even.” She replied, taking a piece of bread with her free hand.
“Oh, shit.” Loid murmured in Westalian.
Yor looked up with a soft grin on her face, the expression she wore however, was unreadable.
“I haven’t heard anyone use that word in real life for years. Which movie did you pick it up from?”
This was how Loid realized he accidentally slipped into his first language. That had never happened before in all of these years of his spy career. Countless of missions, getting caught up between international crises, getting a little too close to death, his rookie years… None of them caught him off guard like this strange feeling today did.
He chuckled upon the question, feeling the sweat drops forming on his forehead.
“To be frank, I don’t remember. Probably something I picked up from my youth.”
Lying was an unavoidable part of his job, but recently he found himself feeling guilty over the pinkest of lies he told Yor, even those for her own good. He wasn’t completely lying though, he did learn Westalian when he was very young— as his first language.
Amidst his thoughts, the waiter brought them their dishes. Yor took a few sips of her soup before continuing,
“You can’t run away from what I said, though.”
For some reason he felt angry upon hearing that, none of this was Yor’s fault and she was right. She came clear to him with her concerns but he didn’t do that, he was hiding behind excuses. Being aware of this fact was probably what angered him, Yor was unintentionally making him aware of that. Instead, he played it naive.
“I don’t know what you’re getting at” He grabbed a slice of bread from the box on the table.
“Loid… I am not naive.” Yor stated in a more stoic tone than usual, her eyes were narrowed. “You were unhappy because of Harvey’s behaviors, I think everyone there could see that.”
Loid sighed, thinking about how he indeed let his guard down around a bunch of civilians, because a guy was trying to humiliate him in front of his fake wife.
“If you’re giving me the cold shoulder for that, I will have to remind you my visit to the hospital. How everyone was flocking around you, how she and other secretaries were looking at you—“
“Yor please, we already talked about this—”
Yor sighed, “Please, Loid… If you have the right to be upset, then so do I. That’s what normal couples like us do.” She put the irony in her voice and Loid caught that, feeling a pang of sadness in his chest.
Rest of the meal went almost entirely silent.
Yor’s presence was Loid’s weakness as much as it was his source of safety. He started wondering if this was the first time another person made him feel safe since losing his mother in the war, but he already knew the answer.
—
A week later
It made sense. It made perfect sense that he bought them rings as a married couple. That’s why the handler couldn’t do much apart from sighing and groaning while saying they’re not made of money.
“Well, one of her co-workers remarked that we aren’t wearing rings so it’s for the best that we don’t draw any attention.”
Twilight triumphantly placed the receipt on her desk, taking his leave back to the hospital. The rings weren’t the only things he bought from the jewelry store. There was one more thing he had bought with his own money, rather than spending from WISE’s budget— in all his years as a spy, this was a first. Despite dedicating himself to the missions beyond his limits, he somehow preferred to spend the money straight from the WISE budget. His personal feelings would never get in the way, neither the money he earned with his efforts. He admitted it was a bit stingy, but it also helped him remember all of his missions were for a greater cause. He worked for his country, towards the main purpose of not allowing any child endure what he did.
But this time, this one time he decided to do it differently. He admitted to himself that his personal feelings, his personal ego got in the way of rational thinking. Getting wedding rings was necessary, but solidifying his place needed more than that. Of course, it was beyond what money could buy; but still, showing his appreciation with a nicely picked gift would at least be a nice gesture. It would be something nobody pointed out before. This was also beneficiary for his mission, of course.
It wasn’t anything he hadn’t done in his life as a spy.