#You Found Me When No-One Else Was Looking (Zero/Niles & Leo | katyastrophes)

[sorcerous-dusk-prince]

"Why, I would recommend myself, Milord~" Zero's got to tease

"And I would accept," Leo replied, the ghost of a smile at the corners of his mouth, and just a hint of mischief in his eyes. A bit of pink also made itself known across his high cheekbones, as he mused in turn, "It's not as if you're already my beloved, or anything of the sort." While he resisted the urge to roll his eyes, gentle, fond exasperation colored his tone just a bit.

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[sorcerous-dusk-prince]

@katyastrophes continued from here

Leo resisted the urge to close his eyes and reach up to pinch the bridge of his nose. The migraine he could feel coming on had nothing to do with Zero, or this conversation, but that didn’t stop it from existing or hurting. “Not here.” Though a bit short, which he blamed on the pain, the words were murmured and held only tiredness. Trusting his lover to read him better than any save his older siblings, the blond moved past the taller man, allowing his shoulder and the back of his hand to brush against Zero’s own as he did so. It was a small gesture, more unspoken than anything, and meant to convey that he wasn’t upset with the archer or anything of the sort. But this conversation was delicate in nature, and Leo knew himself to be rightfully paranoid about the rest of the Castle beyond his own carefully warded rooms.

Many secrets had been divulged to his beloved there over the years, so it was both practical and sentimental in the same breath. As for the issue at hand, Camilla and Elise had put together the pieces (ones the dark mage had only been vaguely aware of) a short while before now, but had only managed to get him to agree to let Elise examine him today. Apparently while disturbed sleep, frequent headaches/migraines, nausea, exhaustion, and increased moodiness could be a number of other things, when he’d mentioned that he’d started feeling achy as well recently -- getting him to admit that it was mostly in his chest was like pulling teeth -- had nearly assured it for the two women. Then Elise had actually examined him, both with and without magic, to confirm the hypothesis one way or the other.

When she had firmly and in no uncertain terms given him the answer, he had nearly fainted. Even hearing the lock clicking shut, and the wards sending a hum through his awareness as they settled, didn’t quite make it feel entirely real. But the look he had learned to agonize over seeing in Zero’s blue eye, the wonder if this were finally the moment where Leo too would tire of and discard him, made realization settle decidedly within him. The Prince didn’t quite know how he felt, yet, but that could be discerned later. Reaching out, he took his soulmate’s hands in his own, and prayed that the Gods delay the creeping pain he could feel behind his temples; at least until they had talked about it.

“I once asked you to make new memories with me,” the blond began, for once not knowing what he was going to say until he said it. “It might -- not only be us, making those memories.” That said, while subterfuge was a talent of himself and his older siblings, the three were about as subtle as a hammer in anything else... so of course he shook his head and started again. “What I mean to say is, Elise and Camilla confirmed why I haven’t been feeling well.” While they’d all taken Corrin’s disappearance badly, and then the subsequent decision to side with Hoshido even worse, this had been different. So, so very different. “Put simply,” this time, he deliberately continued without thinking it through, authentic instead of calculated, “I am with child.”

That they were Zero’s wasn’t even a question.

[sorcerous-dusk-prince]

‘ i take the parts that i remember and stitch them back together ’ - Zero

Reaching out and up, Leo cupped the side of Zero's face, thumb gently caressing his right cheek, gaze locked with the archer's own. The small smile the blond offered was equally gentle, brown eyes warm. "I know you only recall fleeting moments of your past... but is it trivial or fanciful to hope that you remember the future we'll have together, in full?" It was one of the things Nohr's youngest prince wished for the most dearly, with a fervor he couldn't have put into words even if he had tried.

After all, the war was over -- he dared to hope, now.

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