Ira and Darcy ate dinner by candlelight on a night of an undeterminable time later. The atmosphere was dark and cloudy, with the only light being soft candlesticks. Ira didn’t know what the big deal was, but he’d come home after several hours at an arcade to find the dining room outfitted like a scene from a romantic movie.
He’d sat down straight away, of course.
The food had been delicious. Darcy had even baked them a super soft chocolate cake for dessert and Ira had moaned as he’d eaten it, utterly delighted at the softness of it. It nearly melted on his tongue, and the layer of melted chocolate that covered it was the icing on the cake.
“Good?” Darcy asked as he watched Ira eat, his eyes so soft Ira wondered if the man could even see anything like that. Like, were his eyes actually working?
“The best,” Ira answered. He took another bite and his eyes fluttered as enjoyment stole over him. He ignored the looks Darcy was sending him, determined not to be interrupted. The cake was magnificent and he would not be made to ignore it.
Darcy smiled at him, “I’m glad.”
Ira ignored whatever that was about. Honestly, Darcy should stop with that doubting thing; Ira loved everything Darcy made. He had a hard time even imagining not liking something the man baked. Maybe not love it, sure, but he would still enjoy it. And if worse came to worse and it tasted truly horrible, well, he’d just turn off his ability to taste things and it’d be fine.
The cake was gone soon enough and Ira was left staring forlornly down at the empty plate. He frowned and stuck his finger on it, licking up the traces of the cake it caught. Darcy made a weird groaning noise and when Ira looked up at him, the man only waved at him.
Humans were weird.
He rolled his eyes and went back to licking up the rest of the cake’s remnants. When the plate was truly clean and no more cake could be found on it, he slumped back against the chair and pushed the plate away.
Darcy was done with his meal as well, and was now just staring at Ira. It should make Ira uncomfortable, that intense stare. It certainly would make him pissed if anyone else did it. It was the kind of stare that he couldn’t read, after all. It nearly felt like a mockery, like the human was having fun at the fact that he couldn’t decipher it.
Not that he necessarily wanted to decipher it, but still. It should bug him. It did when his Hosts had given him similar looks in the past, looks that said he was missing something obvious and was lesser for it.
Ira was never lesser than anybody.
The train his thoughts had taken without his permission annoyed him and he scowled, standing up and walking over to the wall. He stared out of the window at the forest just outside the manor, the picturesque nature not really calming him down but at least taking his mind off of it.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Vaguely,” Darcy shrugged, the movement way too lighthearted for something so serious. “I dream about it sometimes; more so now that I’ve met you.”
“I’m starting to get annoyed that I don’t feel the extreme urge to kill humans like I did there,” Ira said, aware as he spoke that he sounded stupid.
“There is no such thing as remaining the same forever. Every second we live leaves a mark on us; every choice we make redefines us. Trying to stop yourself from changing is foolishness and accepting that the you in ten years won’t remember the you that lives now is how we survive. Maybe you won’t know you’re doing it,” Darcy smiled at Ira when he glanced at him, “but that doesn’t stop it from happening.”
Ira lowered his gaze to his feet. He furrowed his eyebrows, unsure how to respond to that. He wasn’t aware that he had changed, but he supposed it made sense. He’d lived for so long, after all, change was to be expected.
And he… hadn’t totally missed it, he supposed. He’d noticed that it was no longer as fun to watch his Hosts make idiots of themselves and self-destruct even though that was the job he’d gladly signed up for, but he couldn’t really see the correlation there.
He didn’t care to look for it, either.
What was even the point? So he had no idea what the fuck his Host was doing, big deal. If it wasn’t interesting, it wasn’t interesting. Besides, there had been nothing in his job instructions that said he needed to keep a close watch. That was just something he’d done for fun. So if it was no longer fun… he’d just stop and there would be no repercussions.
Trying to scrunch up some of that old enjoyment he used to feel when his Host’s died, he checked in on his current Host (whatever her name was). Ira watched for the barest bit of a second before he realized that it really offered no entertainment at all.
It wasn’t fun.
So he wouldn’t do that again.
Turning around, he leaned his body against the windowpane. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Darcy, taking in the softness in his face, the languid frame of his body, the way he was standing so Ira was within hand-holding range.
This was an insane, ridiculous man and Ira actually kind of liked him. He actually enjoyed being in his presence, actually liked playing games with him and actually really enjoyed eating his pastries and he actually loved sleeping together with the man. Darcy was an enigma and Ira didn’t want to solve it as much as embrace it.
It was rare, that he didn’t know things. He was ancient by any human standard, and his databank was full of knowledge from worlds’ already dead and forgotten. The answers he didn’t know could be found easily enough, and he was so used to it he barely to put in any effort.
If he wanted to, he could figure Darcy out. He could find the answer to how Darcy always managed to pop out in his mission worlds. He could discovered how the man tracked him and remembered him (vague as it was), why he kept insisting he loved Ira. Ira could figure out everything.
But he didn’t feel the need to.
Taking a quick step forward, Ira pressed a kiss to Darcy’s cheek. He smiled at the expression this left on Darcy’s face, the way Darcy’s eyes widened and the gentle smile that then bloomed in its wake. It made his whole body seem softer and less threatening, when he smiled like that.
Ira had practiced smiling lately, because he didn’t know how to do it on purpose. Now that he was paying attention to it, sometimes he caught himself smiling while playing a particularly enjoyable game, but that didn’t make it any easier to do it on purpose. It honestly just looked kind of weird in the mirror, and made him wonder if he even had that ability at all.
Darcy still seemed receptive to his smiles, though. When Ira smiled at him, he looked starstruck like he’d been attacked. It made Ira’s stomach feel gooey, made his heart squeeze in his chest. That he could make Darcy look like that; that he could turn that smiling attack back on him in a brilliant counterattack strategy made him feel glorious.
Obviously, it was well worth it to keep practicing. Just think how much weaker Darcy would become to his smiles the better Ira got at it.
With the food gone, there was no reason to stay in this excessively romantic dining hall. Thus, Ira left it, veering left to go to the pool. Night had already started falling, and he thought that it would be fun to take a swim under the moonlight.
Darcy didn’t follow — the man had too much work to do. By the pool, Ira quickly changed into his swimming trunks and then dived into the deep part. A gigantic splash echoed throughout the room as he plunged deep below the icy depths, his eyes closing as he flew through the air.
Ira spent hours in the pool, amusing himself by diving to the bottom and sitting down on the floor until he had to come back up for air. He swam from end to end, dropped colorful rings that sank right to the bottom and dived for them, swam on his back and stared thoughtfully out the large windows at the stars dotting the night sky.
When his skin was so pruny that he couldn’t help but take a picture just so had could show it to his Boss, Ira finally left the water. He climbed up the latter and settled down on the soft bath towel.
Leaning back on his hands, he continued to look out the windows. The view was truly breathtaking — the kind he couldn’t possibly grow tired of. He hoped that he would end up somewhere with just as nice a view on his next mission. Ideally, he would be able to move to a place with a nicer view if he needed to.
The words Missed Failed blazed across his vision and Ira clicked his tongue harshly. He checked the time and wondered how long he’d be able to hold off until he had to go. Not long, he suspected. But at least it wasn’t the abrupt end of missions that succeeded.
Standing up, he swept the bathrobe around himself (apparently, it wasn’t a bath towel he’d been sitting) and left the pool without drying off. It wasn’t like it’d serve a purpose, this body would be dead soon.
He attempted to whistle as he walked through the hallways, but it wasn’t a skill this body possessed. He forgave it though, knowing no body could be perfect.
Darcy was in his home office.
Ira stalked right through the door, leaving it open behind himself. He walked up to the huge desk and crossed his arms, staring at the man with a frown. After a second, Darcy looked up and smiled, “Do you need anything?”
“I’m leaving,” Ira said. He didn’t know of a way to frame it delicately.
Darcy reared back as if struck. His eyes widened and he quickly stood up from the chair. “Wha— now?”
Ira thought about it. He could delay it for a bit, maybe half an hour or so. Enough time to get in one last bit of cake — he was sure Darcy had mentioned that it was more of the cake they’d had for dessert. “Pretty much,” Ira said.
Darcy stalked around the table and swept Ira into a fierce hug. He burrowed his face into the space between Ira’s shoulder and his neck, breathing so loudly Ira could hear it even with subpar human hearing. Ira placed his hands on the man’s back and hugged him tightly in return, feeling Darcy shudder against him.
“Will you try to stop me?” Ira asked, curious.
“No,” Darcy muttered into his skin. “No, you don’t like that.”
Ira rose an eyebrow. He didn’t say anything, but a small ball of warmth formed in his stomach and stretched out its thread throughout his whole body. No, he didn’t like it when somebody tried to take his freedom from him. It wasn’t fun. Entertaining watching them fail, yes, but the act itself didn’t endear them to him.
He squeezed Darcy tighter and soon enough they went to the kitchen hand in hand. When Ira had eaten as much as his stomach could withstand, he snapped the strings connecting his soul to this body, and then he was gone.
—
A/N: End of Arc 7.
Sorry for the late update, I got my first covid vaccination shot and my arm did not agree with it.
I both like and dislike how slow the romance is going. It’s a nice change of pace compared to the other world-hopping transmigration novels though.
Sometimes I feel divided too, but it’s undeniable that it’s a great story and that its different air is interesting.
Thanks for the chapter ☺ I always feel so bad feel Silas when Ira needs to leave, he always gets left behind 😢
i wonder what happens to his body after he leaves… like after he dies
Ah, I got the shot on Saturday..my arm stayed sore for two days lol
Hope it gets better for you as well c:
congrats on the shot! and i’m basically fine now, thankfully
I’m surprised Ira doesn’t realize how romantic he is when he thinks he would eat everything Darcy does and even if it was bad he would just turn off his taste buds and eat it anyway!!! I was shocked!!!!!!
Anyway, no matter how many times I read it, watching them break up always makes me sad.
Hang on… didn’t it say in the first arc that he could stay in a world up to a year after a failed mission? Up until now it’s been like he chose not to stay despite growing attachment because he refused to allow it any power over him… but now that he’s acknowledging the attachment and allowing himself to be vulnerable it’s suddenly only about an hour before he has to leave…?
i forgot ╮(︶︿︶)╭ when this happens it’s the newest rule that applies, old ones will be fixed in revision when the first draft is completed.