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the Twins
The last thing either of them expected was to be interrupted, especially in the relative safety, quiet, constraints of their very own home. Where, usually visitors waited for one of them, typically Erd, to get the door before entering. Two sets of eyes snapped towards the wooden door as it burst open, however, revealing a cyan and white figure that simply strolled right in, and Erd didn’t miss the way his brother jumped and jerked away from his painting easel, his twin’s nerves alight and burning that particular morning.
Erd stood, a clamber of messy, clumsy movement as he moved away from his work desk, trying to intercept Bel before she can storm in and… And do what?
By now, Ard has shied away from the whirlwind of movement, his eyes narrowed and expression twisted with the urge to hide at the sudden intrusion of their ‘safe space’, and Erd casts his brother a nervous, fleeting glance as he steps nimbly through his mess of projects to the center of the room, mouth parting to speak up and greet Bel properly… Before she promptly crumples to the floor in a fit of melodramatic confusion that neither twin properly understands.
There is a moment where Erd thinks she’s hurt and panics. “Um, Bel?” The question is wrought with confusion and concern, but then the words come, professing romantic trouble of all things, and Erd stops. He is dumbfounded, gobsmacked, blinking with wide, incredulous, comedic turquoise eyes as Bel continues to speak, lamenting her worries and concerns and casting them into the air like snowflakes that they are powerless to catch.
Ard watches the scene unfold with a look that could murder, irritated and bothered at the interruption as he stands from his spot at the easel and moves to the furthest wall of the room, just below the window. Erd lets him go, knowing intimately the way his brother’s nerves and panic race, his post-traumatic stress triggering at sudden movements, loud sounds, and unexpected visitors. Forcing a smile to hopefully let him know he was alright, that they were alright, Erd reaches through their mental bond and soothes his brother’s ire with an invisible caress.
Focusing entirely on their surprise guest, Erd blinks and then lowers himself so that he is resting next to Bel’s crumpled form.
“Well. If it’s relationship advice you’re wanting, Bel, you’ve come to the right place! I happen to be what they call ’a professional’.” Erd’s boast is accompanied by a broad, eager smile, and he ignores the way that Ard snorts in disbelief from his spot beneath the window. “Oh! We’re good! Busy! There’s a merchant in Denocte that wants to buy some of my schematics! Can you believe that? They also want to buy Ard’s paintings but he won’t sell them....”
The elder twin shot a furrowed, mock-glare in his brother’s direction and Ard only arches a single brow, his expression nonplussed, before Erd directs his stare back to Below Zero. “Anyway, so. Boy trouble, you say? Tell me more, start at the beginning. Do I know him? Do we know him?” Then, the boy’s expression darkens with sudden severity, his eyes narrowing with an expression that typically would only be found upon Ard’s grievous maw. “Did he hurt you?”
