Tinder!

[temperedinpride]

!!

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[temperedinpride]

Then when I sleep beside you. So you will not wake alone.

[auguryofinnocence]

...That would be wonderful.

[temperedinpride]

Naturally.

[He does sit up more, taking Vergil's hands in his to kiss them.]

Now, perhaps your heart will be eased a bit from the doubts that shadow it?

[auguryofinnocence]

Mm, it...does feel foolish to worry about anything after that. I already knew that. But it is calming.

[temperedinpride]

I did promise you I would soothe your worries, bit by bit. It is all right you know, to still have insecurities. Just know I will outlast all of them.

[auguryofinnocence]

...I know. I don't want them and you shouldn't have to put up with them. But I do know.

[temperedinpride]

I do not mind them Vergil. You put up with my own problems. My own fears and foibles.

I want you to be content and happy and unafraid, naturally, but it is not as if I do not accept the things that make you doubt yourself. All of you, you love and your demonic tendencies, the parts of you that are the most considerate and kind along with the fears and the callousness, is there any part of you I do not love?

[auguryofinnocence]

[He laughs a little, despite blushing.]

I don't know is there? You love even callousness?

[temperedinpride]

Indeed. Though I may also yell at you if you are ever too callous. Quite the contradiction isn't it? I am hopelessly in love with you.

[auguryofinnocence]

No I think that is just right, you should yell at me if I am unbearable. If you are so hopeless though, i can only be smug...

[temperedinpride]

As you should be. I'm a hard man to win so thoroughly.

[auguryofinnocence]

Oh, I know it better than anyone.

[temperedinpride]

[He laughs softly.]

Did I give you a rough time, Vergil?

[Trading but also he knows Vergil suffered.]

[auguryofinnocence]

Well there was an awful lot of pining...

[temperedinpride]

Did you feel like a Victorian romantic heroine or should we try again?

[auguryofinnocence]

Oh I wouldn't say romantic heroine, but perhaps adjacent - Sibyl Vane? Wasting away, my innocence and heart ruined by a cruel, seductive, unageing man with no intent to keep me... Blond, too.

[temperedinpride]

My, did I never tell you of the portrait that gives me eternal youth?

But seductive? Really?

[auguryofinnocence]

[He laughs. Thanks for always reading the books he shoves at you, it's sweet.]

Why not seductive? You can be. Even if only selectively.

[temperedinpride]

[He likes getting into Vergil's interests!]

I just never considered myself such. Certainly I could be if I wished, but I wonder if you are not biased.

But I'll accept that bias. If you find me seductive, all the better.

[auguryofinnocence]

Well I suppose you have to be with someone like me. ...And it doesn't have much at all to do with the pining.

Or rough time, I will concede.

[temperedinpride]

"Someone like you"? You are quite sensual when you have a mind to be. Seductive, was it? I would say so. And a terribly active flirt.

[He turns Vergil's hands in his to kiss his palms.]

You would tell me if you still felt rejected or uncertain, yes? If I left you feeling you had to pine for me.

[auguryofinnocence]

[Well he could say a few things about being called sensual, seductive, and flirtatious, but that's distracting. He doesn't try to get out of Lahabrea's grip, but he does move a hand to Lahabrea's cheek after it's been kissed.]

Don't start thinking I spent long at all feeling rejected. You explained yourself quickly, it wasn't ongoing. I should have had more uncertainty and pining really, but I felt certain we were on the same page. Had I considered the reason why I could never feel as if I had expressed my love properly, maybe I would have realised it was deeper. Than I thought it to be, and than yours.

And now - perhaps I worry at times whether I still have it wrong. That there is still another layer I have no understanding of and am unable to recognise, yet am experiencing, that isn't there for you. I don't feel that there is, but then, I wouldn't know, that is the point.

Or I will worry and pine uselessly with doubts and insecurities or jealousy as you know me to do. But none of this is your doing.

[temperedinpride]

[He huffs a little.]

Perhaps you will discover new layers to your feelings, but what of it? Love grows and changes. Mine is by no means shallow. And if there is some part of being in love that mysteriously surfaces beyond your current understanding, it will not necessarily be a bad development. If there are points we diverge on, what matters is love, consideration.

I will not let you feel unloved.

[auguryofinnocence]

...I know. It is a foolish thing to fear or care about. But I...hate always feeling as if it is of greater importance to me than others, that I am more invested in everything. I want to be the same. Even.

[temperedinpride]

[He rests his head on his hand, thoughtful.]

I would not wish to have you feel you are foolish for your worries Vergil. Nor that I dismiss them.

What might I do, to make you feel as if we are even in investment?