measure of heart , renheng 【✔】

1.

It's yet another night spent in the Data Bank of the Astral Express, but Dan Heng has a little bit of trouble staying on task.

When your past reincarnation's lover turned nameless mara-struck immortal turned pursuer across the galaxy turned half-bad half-good kinda bad guy turned someone is sitting right next to you, it's only right to be a little awkward. Not to mention if said someone was close enough to see every little thing you were doing.

Dan Heng relents, almost agonising at how he could sense his own boredom in the atmosphere. He decides to ask, voice impossibly loud in the silent room, "Is something wrong?"

Blade says nothing in return, offering only an incoherent grumble as his gaze hardens. He stares a hole into the computer screen in front of Dan Heng. He looks back too, recalling that the contents don't seem to be all that interesting.

Blade had entered the Data Bank knowing that he was here. That was of his own choice, and Dan Heng believes everything else should be too.

He blinked, eyelashes fluttering, "...You can leave if you want to. I won't force you to stay."

"No." The other answers almost immediately. "I'll stay."

Dan Heng isn't sure what to say so he says nothing, but he respects his decision.

A moment passes easily in silence. Dan Heng updates a few of the entries in the Data Bank while trying (and failing) to ignore the glances that Blade stole of him along the way. And when he's finally finished a good portion of the logs, he checks up on Blade to see him fully rest his head against the wall.

He watches him close his eyes as he takes a breath in and out. Blade seems to want for a short moment of reprieve, as he's sure to have grown bored of this.

But Blade merely lets his thoughts catch up to him. He had no idea that he would even get this far, but here he was. Seeing Dan Heng, merely for him, is an entirely new experience that he isn't exactly against. Like now, where he's reading under the ambient teal light and sitting comfortably on the floor, long hair draping down his back with luminescent horns and fabrics splayed out from below him, it was impossible to imagine someone else in his position.

Perhaps the casual manner of things was much more easy to deal with. Less turbulent. The absence of scrutiny helps. Truth of the matter is, this is only ever possible with Dan Heng, and that's a fact he has to accept.

It's quiet, in near-stasis. It's all new, but as with all things, it only takes time. And he has plenty of it.

His mind wanders, body at a stand-still. He thinks about many things, most in passing and never dwelling- of times long lost, of moments forgotten, of worlds glazed over. He is a man who lives in the present, and a mere remnant of the past. Slowly, he begins to realise that the same went for the person beside him too.

Dan Heng stares. He admires, and can't help but think that Blade looks peaceful. It's a stark contrast to how he remembered him; his manic moments, crazed laughter, and repeated spiels, but he can't blame him. Mara was a constant invader in his life, his veins, and his senses.

They'd had been through a lot. It was a crazy journey. A confusing path. A diverging crossroads only to meet again - like there was something invisible that kept them tethered, no matter the circumstance nor distance. They're here, together, at yet another point in the road. It's where the scenery slowly begins to flourish, the hubris clears and a fervent wish is finally realised; a world of flowers growing high, leaving all the bitterness and strife behind.

This could be a chance, one that'll never come again. So he reaches out. He tries.

"...Are you tired?" He finds it in him to ask tentatively.