"Aeolus," Angler says firmly, eventually looking away from me. "I told you no girls in here with the door closed."

We can both tell it isn't what he was going to say, not warranting anywhere close to the emotion he had walking up to the door, but I stay dead silent. 

"Okay, I'll open the door," Aeolus says, standing up and moving towards it. Angler takes care of it for him, pushing it until it clicks, a magnet connecting to the wall. 

"Keep it open," he says gruffly, and walks away. Aeolus turns to look at me. 

"Sorry about him," he says apologetically, and I just nod. 

"It's okay."

There is a silence, but I can't tell if it's awkward or simply quiet. 

Aeolus takes his place beside me, but the moment is different and whatever mood there may have been is long gone. 

I wonder if Pearl has been here. I wonder if she got the same talking-to from his father, if that time Aeolus remembered to leave the door open. 

I decide that shouldn't bother me. Aeolus is my friend, and obviously, he's allowed to have other friends. 

"Is he always like that?" I ask, a small part of me now interested, wanting to uncover the secrets the mayor laid in front of me. 

Could I tell him what she told me? Or would that accuse me of treason, too? How would he react?

I decide not to tell him, and to instead stay the vault of secrets I am slowly becoming. 

"Yeah, I guess so." Aeolus runs a hand through his hair, mussing it up. I follow his movement with my eyes for a long moment before looking away, pretending I am interested in his vast collection of books. 

"You read a lot?" he asks, apparently believing my inaudible excuse. 

I nod, leaning back against the wall. "Sorta. Enough, I guess. I'm assuming you read a lot?"

He laughs, as if I am funny. "Sorta. Enough, I guess."

I give him a look. "Don't copy me, airhead."

"Don't copy me, airhead," he responds with a mischievous grin, and he has brought back the optimistic mood, with a magic only Aeolus can possess. 

I throw Daphlus at him, but he throws the bear right back. I feign offense, my jaw dropping in mock surprise.

"Really, Aeolus? You'd go so far as to throw my daughter at me? Some friend!"

His smile fades slightly, but it returns quickly, with just as much vigor. "Your daughter? What, are you secretly a bear now, Daph?"

It's the first time he's used the nickname, but it feels so casual I barely notice. 

"Well, maybe I am! There's so much about me you don't know." I hug Daphlus to my chest, smiling at him. 

We both know that this is true, but I pretend it means things more like my favorite color, and less like government secrets I could be hanged for spreading. 

"Maybe I'd like to learn," he teases, snatching Daphlus away from me, hugging the bear himself. 

"Oh, stealing my daughter, huh? What, are you gonna ask for shared custody now?"

He grins. "If you offered it to me, I wouldn't say no."

I make a show of considering. "Fine, Daphlus is half yours--her name already is, anyways."

He flashes me a sweet smile. "See, Daphne? Sharing is caring."

I flop back against the wall, mirroring his expression. "Fine, fine."

There is a moment where we both hesitate, holding back words we want to say. 

I know what mine are. I have no idea about his. 

But mine are safe, and sweet, and I have been wanting to say them for a long time, so I do.

"You're my favorite best friend, airhead."

"Aww, your favorite? Did I finally beat out Loony?"

"Oh, no contest."

He glances towards the door, but doesn't get up. "Careful, she might hear."

I frown. "Is she home?"

"No, I... guess not," he says slowly, mimicking my frown. "She's not home much, lately. She used to never go out."

"She hasn't visited me, either," I say, and he must be able to hear the hint of worry in my voice, because his hand lands on my shoulder, shaking me gently. 

"She's fine, don't worry. She's not missing or anything, just here less often--always comes back, of course. Maybe she's just made some new friends."

I think of that girl from the market, Altalune's friend Pearl, and my frown deepens. Would all of her friends react that way to meeting me? Is she the only one of her age group who would find me interesting, see me as a person to befriend?

No, of course not, because here is Aeolus, whose brother died saving my life, who I killed by proxy, who is still my friend. My best one, actually. 

"I do have a question for you, though," Aeolus says, and all of a sudden he is fiddling with his fingers and my curiosity is peaked.

"Yeah? Go ahead."

He hesitates, and my suspension grows to the point where I'm actually starting to get annoyed with him. 

He gives me a slight smile, some odd expression in those teal-blue eyes.

"What are we?"

I frown, processing for a long moment."What do you mean? We're friends, aren't we?"

"Well, yeah, but... don't you think there's potential here? What if we could be more?"

I take a deep breath, and look down into my lap. The world is not spinning, my life has not flipped upside down because a boy actually likes me. 

Well--if he's really saying what I think he's saying, although honestly, I can't see how he could mean anything else. 

Do I want this?

I remember Terra. 

I wanted it, then. I wanted her. 

But I was desperate. I thought I was going to die, and soon. I thought that she may have been my last hope at experiencing love. I thought, for a little bit, that she loved me back. 

She didn't, though. She didn't because love does not happen that quickly. It builds over weeks and weeks and maybe months and months and there is no exact moment when you feel it transform from 'like' into 'love,' but eventually, it happens. 

I am not in love. But I can imagine being in love. I can imagine taking it slow, nothing like the whirlwind romance, if it could even be called a romance, that me and Terra had. 

I did not love her. I miss her dearly, but that doesn't mean I loved her.

I don't love Aeolus, either. But I think I could, with time. 

I look up, and meet his gaze, his teal eyes. 

"I think we could."

His face lights up, eyes crinkling with a smile. "You agree?"

"Of course I do," I say, happy because he is happy. 

He takes a deep breath. We are so close, his shoulder touching mine, that I can almost feel the rise and fall of his chest. "Then I have something to ask you, Daphne Amphitrite."

"Okay," I agree, with a smile. 

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Yes," I say.

Yes. 

I am his girlfriend. He is my boyfriend. It is an entirely new concept to me, and yet with him, it is so incredibly familiar it just feels normal, like everything is as it should be. 

His arms wrap around me and pull me closer towards him, eliciting a surprised giggle. He buries his face in the crook of my neck, and in response I breathe in the scent of his blond hair, his sweet shampoo. 

Aeolus Theodoros, Daphne Amphitrite. 

Who knew?