Thank You... (JoQueen)

The softness he expressed for her

While he and Rose had been on their way to the village, they met this boy named Jack. Honestly, he was weird. He kept talking about wanting to become a phantom thief (What was the difference between that and a robber again?) and had even told them all about some of the stories he had experienced while living under the roof of the legendary Phantom thief, Silver Heart.

Rose took all of his stories gladly, filled with joy at the prospect of talking with another kid her age. He had been bored until he started talking about certain rivals he had.

"Queen and Spade are also training to become phantom thieves. That makes them my rivals and there's no way I'd ever let either of them beat me!"

Rose smiled while holding the reins and looking forward. He himself looked at Jack who had now started a rant on how both of them were such 'annoying' and 'lame' kids.

"-and then there's Queen who has been having a lot of trouble with our training lately. Sometimes I just want to tell her to quit training because of how frequently she gets hurt."

He couldn't help but chuckle at that. Jack turned his head to glare at him.

"What's so funny?"

Cyan gave him an apologetic gaze. He didn't mean to offend him. He was just...surprised.

"Sorry, I was just thinking of how worried you must be."

He rushed to pat Jack on the back as he started choking and he knew that Rose was also worried.

"Jack, are you-"

"I'm not worried about her!"

Cyan had his eyes blow wide, surprised of the kid with silver hair right in front of him.

What?

"That insufferable girl is just always getting hurt and it's a pain to see her fail all the time! She's just too young and-!"

They passed a clearing full of marigolds and Cyan couldn't help but watch Jack as stared at the clearing and how his eyes suddenly turned soft.

He wanted to turn away.

He felt like he was intruding into something private, something sacred.

But he couldn't.

"-and I just...don't like to see her cry." He muttered, gaze still looking softly at the vibrant marigolds that were getting smaller and smaller as they passed.

...

Ah.

So that's what it was.

He was...

This kid was...

He wasn't in love, but-

Cyan looked at the last of the marigolds that were in view.

-he was certainly feeling something.

That's why Cyan would eventually understand the pain he went through.

I know this was lame, but I'm proud of this lame work 😌 I am not sorry for the cringe (I am, actually)