(Author's note)
This is part 2 of Returning the Favour, which is chapter one if you wanna go and check it out. This was requested by Alexis4daw but I decided to change things up a bit.

(Silver's pov)
It was just another regular boring day. Silver was sat alone in his guild, listening to rats scurrying through the sewers that he had always called home. Most people would've been disgusted, but he found it comforting to know that at least one thing would never change. This was how he spent most of his time. At first, he thought of nothing but his love: Bri. Her beautiful pink hair, that flowed gracefully down to her waist, and that little twinkle she got in her eyes whenever she got to arrest somebody. However, months had now passed since he had last saw her. His hope had been slowly slipping away from him, aswell as his feelings for her. There was no doubt that she would always have a place in his heart, for she was his first true love. Yet, as he sat there in the darkness of his guild hall, watching a pair of rats fight over a piece of bread, something felt wrong.

He gently held the necklace Bri had given him in his hands. It made sense that he should be thinking of her and only her. So why was somone else filling is thoughts? Why was somone else making him smile softly to himself? Why was he longing to be in somone else's embrace? These were the questions that had been racing around inside his head for months. On this day, he finally decided to stop fooling himself; Bri was never going to fall for him the way he had fallen for her. The most they would ever be was close friends and he would always treasure that. With a heavy heart, he admitted to himself that he no longer loved her the way he used to. His heart belonged to somone new. Rising from the stool he had been sat on, Silver headed away from the bar and up onto the streets of Atlantide. He then began the journey to Divinus Magia.

(Mario's pov)
He had been keeping a watchful eye on his guild leader for quite some time now. Ever since Brandon had gone missing,  Ritchie just hadn't been the same. There were no more early training days and despite how much he hated them, it felt weird without them. The most unsettling change of all was the lack of dodge the lightning bolt. Before the day of The Grand Magic Games, that form of punishment had occurred on the daily. It was what made Ritchie stand out from any other guild leaders. Mario had previously wished for death over this exercise, but now he just wanted everything to go back to normal. Now, instead of forcing his guild to train or have a healthy diet of glowing bread, Ritchie spent all his days at the bar. He had clearly lost all hope and was drinking to cope with the pain.

Until recently, Mario had never truly understood the sheer power of the connection between the twins. He had always brushed it off as them being close. He knew now that they depended on eachother; they were quite literally connected. Their magic had always glued them together, so once it had snapped it must've been really traumatic for the both of them.

In the past month or so, it seemed that Ritchie's mental health had been improving. Whilst he still drank way more than he should, he had actually returned to completing some of his duties as a guild leader. The members themselves were still left to do their own thing, but he had started to once again do paperwork and leave the bar sometimes. Mario was sure that he wasn't the only one who had noticed and after speaking with David and Lucas, his suspicions were confirmed. All three of them were curious about the sudden change in their guild leader's mood.

On this particular day, Mario was strolling back from the training grounds, having just completed a sparring match with Kit, and he noticed a strange figure walking in from the docks. He stopped, hiding behind some bushes for cover, so that he could get a closer look. It was just Silver. Well that was certainly a relief. Wait what was he doing here? The last time he had seen him, was when he was comforting Ritchie in the guild hall. Maybe he came to check up on him again? Mario decided it was best to follow the guild leader and find out.

(Silver's pov)
Shortly after arriving on the island, Silver made his way to the guild hall, where he had expected to find his drunk friend. Shockingly, as he swung open the door to the building, he saw that there was no one inside. This was very strange. He began to worry about where Ritchie could possibly be. For the next hour, he searched all over Divinus Magia, before finally realising his stupidity. He never checked the old guild hall. The room itself was empty too, but he could hear the rustling of paper from the floor above. Sprinting up the stairs, he made it to the office and slammed the door open.

Papers were sent flying everywhere, before calming lowering to the ground. Silver felt himself go bright red from embarrassment. Looking up, he was met with a frustrated Ritchie, who was glaring at him.
"What the hell was that for?!!!!!" he screamed, as his usually mesmerising blue eyes now pierced into the thief's soul.
"Sorry...I was worried about you that's all. Honestly, i was shocked when i didn't find you at the bar."
The blue haired guild leader let out a soft sigh, gesturing for him to sit down at the desk.
"I'm perfectly fine. In fact, I've been drinking less and working more lately."
"That's good to hear...."
He spotted Ritchie staring at him with curiosity shining in his eyes, yet also he could've sworn there was a hint of concern.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing...."
This was simply met with the other shaking his head and sighing once more.
"Trust me, I of all people can see past somone saying 'I'm fine' or 'nothing's wrong'. Please just tell me what's wrong. You were there for me when I needed you the most, so I'm here for you now." he spoke in a soothing voice, with a warm and loving smile.

Silver found himself at a loss for words. All he could focus on was Ritchie's face. That comforting smile, with those rosy red cheeks, that made him seem so full of life, easily lighting up a whole room. He could easily brighten up the sky after a miserable storm. He could easily turn the worst day of his life into the best one. All of these things Ritchie could do without any effort and possibly without even realising. He was always so confident, inspiring everyone around him, whether it be his guild members or complete strangers. It was truly heartbreaking that so many people still judged him for his past; simply thinking about it made Silver tremble with anger. How could anyone want to hurt such an amazing person? He clenched his fists and suddenly saw somone snapping their fingers right infront of his face.

(Ritchie's pov)
Silver had been staring at him for several minutes now, though he himself was returning the stare with pure admiration. Whilst many found the guild leader's bear hat to be weird, Ritchie found it adorable, but hated that he could barely see his beautiful black hair beneath it. He spotted Fred in his hand. That wasn't at all surprising. It was quite cute how he always carried it around with him wherever he went. Although he rarely had the honour to hear him laugh or see him smile, whenever Ritchie did see that grin, he always felt complete. Despite how childish Silver could seem, he knew the right time to be serious and the right time to have some fun. He always seemed to know how to handle a situation. Suddenly, Ritchie realised how long the two had been staring into eachother's eyes.

Snapping his fingers infront of the other guild leader's face, he saw his brown eyes widen slightly before returning to normal.
"Sorry I guess I zoned out there."
"It's fine we both did. Anyways what brings you to my island?"
He noticed Silver turn bright red once again, bringing about one question to his mind. Does he like me? Almost as quickly as these thoughts flooded his mind, he pushed them away. However, it wouldn't hurt to ask. Well, hopefully he was right about that.
"Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Sure"
"Do you like me?"
All of a sudden, Silver abruptly stood up from his chair, racing for the door, but Ritchie was much faster than him. Blocking the exit, he let the other catch his breath before asking the question once more.
"Well? Do you like me?"
"Yes I do."

He had no idea how to respond to this. What was he supposed to do? Before this, he'd never been aware of anyone returning feelings for him. After all, he was an ex murderer, with extreme anger issues and a drinking problem. Why would anyone be attracted to a mess like that?
"Y-you're lying..."
"No I'm not!" the anger in Silver's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, leading to the two of them making eye contact. Both pairs of eyes held a certain amount of sadness and fear within them, as if waiting for the other to break or back out of the situation.
"I like you too"
He had no control over these words; it felt like they came from a whole other person.

The next thing he new, a pair of lips softly pressed onto his own. For a moment, he merely stood there in shock, blinking whilst unable to process what was happening. Then he realised that Silver was kissing him. Wrapping his arms around the other's waist, he pulled him in close, deepening the kiss.

(Mario's pov)
This was a weird conversation to be watching. He looked on in confusion, as the two guild leaders stared at eachother, with blank expressions on their faces. They began to speak, before he saw Silver launch himself across the room, only to be blocked off by Ritchie. Mario was so confused. What he saw next made him fall over in shock.

His mouth was left hanging open, as he watched the two people he was spying on kiss. The dragon slayer was waiting for his guild leader to shove the other away from him, but he did the opposite, by pulling him closer. Well that was definitely not what I was expecting. He turned away as the kiss became more passionate. Smirking to himself, he was happy that Ritchie had found  somone special. Now he was off to go scream into a pillow about seeing it all happen.

(Author's note)
Hope you all enjoyed! I'm writing another oneshot right now and I'm super excited about it, hopefully I can get it out in a few days. Hint- it has something to do with the twins and their counterparts. Okie bai for nowwwww