Of Love and Death.

The Present Chapter 18: And the Winner is...Pt.3

Valt turned around, sucking in air. In and out and in and out. Again and again, until he could breathe normally. Think normally. He wasn't dead. No dagger had dug into him. No ice, freezing his blood in his veins. He was alive. Inside of his chest, Valt could hear his heart. Beating and beating and beating. He could twitch his fingers, blink his eyes, he could jump and he could run and he could smile!

It had happened. Valt and Shu had won. They were alive! Alive! Sound faded back in, for just a few moments. The whole crowd. Cheering all at once. Maybe they knew. Maybe they'd picked up on the air, on the stakes. But Valt knew they hadn't. And that was fine. He'd gotten to give them an amazing battle. It hadn't been his goal. It hadn't been what he was working towards. It never was. But Valt didn't mind making people happy. He didn't mind their cheers of joy.

Looking upwards, Valt saw his friends and his family. Xander, clapping and smiling. Free, just mildly content. No emotion other than satisfaction on his face. That was fine. Valt's mom, Toko and Nika. All cheering. Lui, looking as annoyed as ever. Even Gingka and Benkei. The former with relief painted all over his face. The latter was patting himself on his back.

Honcho and Nightfell. The pair of them looked absolutely ecstatic. Valt couldn't make out the details from there, but they were both standing up. That had to be good, right? And Wakiya. Wakiya was crying and crying and crying. But he would be okay. The Five as well. Triumph, an emotion shared by all of them.

Smiling, Valt closed his eyes for a moment. Soaked it all in. The cheers, his friends' emotions. Everyone's thoughts. It was peaceful. So, so peaceful. Loud, but peaceful. But Valt turned around. Opened his eyes. And the sounds of the crowd faded away. They weren't important at this moment. It was the beautiful man standing mere meters away that was important.

How? How was Valt supposed to describe Shu in this moment? Shining? Gleaming? The light fell over top of him like a cloak and like a crown. Every crystalline hair on Shu's head gleamed like pure honey. The lights of the stadium, the spotlights that shined on the sun. They surrounded him and welcomed him.

It was Shu that Valt was looking at. With cherry red eyes and a gentle, gentle smile. Always the worst at smiling for pictures. It was adorable. Creepy and disturbing, but in a way Valt liked. An imperfection that made him so much better. But sometimes. Sometimes when the sun hit just right on Shu's face. When he was so happy. A soft smile, one that had haunted Valt's dreams when he was a kid and didn't know why he got so red in the face thinking of Shu.

But more than anything, anything, it was Shu. Just Shu. All of the little moments. Sitting together as the sun set. Their first battles together. When Valt had walked over after he won the International Blader's Cup. And saw his friend, his best friend in truth, saw Shu behind those red eyes for the first time in months. How Valt had wanted to cry. Sitting next to each other in the stadiums.

Before that. Before all that, before any of that. Meeting each other. Feeling inclined to hate the other, but confusion. Confusion more than anything. Why Mind had felt a connection to this strange sun in front of him. Something that drew them together. Kicks in the stomach. Pranks that made everything better in the end.

How Shu was someone Valt could rely on. How he was kind to everyone. But snarky too. Never in a mean way. Blunt and funny. The blue-haired blader hadn't realized it, but he'd started walking towards the love of his life. Now they stood next to each other. Smiling giant smiles. The rest of the stadium was gone, and yet Valt was aware of it. He knew they were there, what this would mean.

Then, Shu took a step forward, closing any gap that remained. They stood so, so close. Valt could see every wrinkle in his boyfriend's jacket. How his hair fell around his face. That scar he always covered up. Shame, but pride at the same time. A weakness that he showed only when he won, only when he conquered his fears.