He brushes past the awkwardness for a moment, âLook, let me get the trivial out of the way, because thereâs a lot to unpack with that.â His blush deepened a bit. âA-anyway, that does seem manageable. Iâve never designed a house before, but itâs something I can do, at least. Better than just sitting around feeling sorry for myself. If I have any memory of this conversation if and when I return to Aselia, Iâll try to take that advice.â He sighs. âYou never stop being smart, like that, do you?â He looks away a moment.
âA-anyway, back to what I said. It slipped out and Iâm so sorry for that. Iâm just⊠so used to being able to tease and, well, flirt, I guess, that for a moment I forgot you were with someone else and I just got much too comfortable with you too quickly. We have years of damage to our relationship, however youâd like to classify it. But I definitely owe you an explanation for that. Look, Iâve liked you, a lot, for the longest time. Even from our early days at Sybak. And not all those feelings were platonic. Which made it especially difficult for me to lose you the way I did. And even more painful learning youâre with someone else here. What Iâm getting at is I guess Iâm a bit jealous, but thatâs not really why that inappropriate comment came out.â Heâs really not articulating well, and heâs yammering. He rarely ever trips on words, but Aster always knows how to set him off balance. âLook, I⊠When you were gone, Emil came into existence, as Iâm sure you know. And for the longest time, I struggled with my feelings toward him. Not only because he looked like you, but because he behaved a bit like I used to. Part of me hated him, for looking so much like you and for acting so much like one of the worst versions of me. But I was also very drawn to that. I fell in love with him, even though I promised myself I wouldnât. I couldnât have any distractions from my goal and I couldnât bear the thought of falling for a âreplacement.â But it happened anyway. I guess Iâll just fall for basically anyone thatâs kind to me. Goddess, he believed in me so much, for a while I could do no wrong in his eyes and as much as that pissed me off because we should have been enemies the moment he allied himself with Ratatosk, it really touched me. To be admired unconditionally. I hadnât felt that since youâd left. You teased me all the time about how amazing I was and I know I acted like I hated it but it meant so much to me.â Richter removes his glasses and rubs his eyes.
âUgh, sorry. This is becoming all about me and Iâm meandering down tangent lane when I should be getting to the point.â He puts his glasses back on and tries to look Aster in the eye. âLook. You were the first person I ever considered a life with. You made me laugh. Always looked out for my best interest. You were smart and kind. You treated me far better than I deserved, which was also leaps and bounds above how anyone else treated me. And I loved that. And when I fell in love with you, I fell in love with all of you. Your smile, your voice, your body, your eyes, your thoughts, your jokes, your dreams. And ever since I lost you Iâve been trying to recapture that feeling with other people because I was so starved of it in your absence. And until I learned who Emil really was, I loved him. And Iâm ashamed to say but⊠in the years of knowing Ratatosk from his lessons and company in the Ginnungagap⊠Iâve begun to fall in love with that too. And it certainly doesnât help that you described him as âyou but buff and hot and dorky.â because⊠Like⊠Iâm already crushing an unhealthy amount on both you and Emil and now Ratatosk, as gruff as he can still be back home, and it just makes me want to know him more if heâs going to be a buff and dorky guy because that sounds incredibly cute and, like, you all have similar bodies and I hate myself.â He pants a bit, having spit out that last wandering sentence pretty quickly. He was bright red in the face and despite his best attempts to look Aster in the eyes it was painfully obvious he was looking elsewhere most of the time.
âUgh⊠Itâs disingenuous to love more than one person at a time, isnât it? Especially when they all have similar forms. I must sound like a freak. I must sound shallow and awful. I overstepped a boundary, talking about you and Ratatosk like youâre pieces of meat when youâre both dating each other, and thatâs unacceptable. My brain honestly thought âHaha, funny joke because theyâre both hot! And Aster agrees! Say joke! It is funny!â but it wasnât at all. It was stupid and lewd and I canât apologize enough. You mean so much more to me than that and I just jeopardized everything for a laugh and Iâm so fucking sorry.â He buried his head in his hands. âIâll leave if you want me to.â He mumbled.
Granted, Aster just felt like it would be something he would do in his shoes. Then again, He wouldnât have tried to jeopardize the world in the way Richter did. It wasnât a testament to how little Richter meant to him, simply that it wouldnât have solved anything for Aster to do that. Most likely he would have either died too or walked away having failed and the destruction of man kindd would have occurred thanks to them. So it was better that he died and Richter didnât. Even if it meant coming back meant great deals of pain. Aster wrung hiss hands slightly. âJust.. seems logical to do.. something to pass the time at the very least for an analytical mind.â Was all he replied with. Really, because he didnât feel smart in that way. After all, he wouldnât have ever fallen into such an issue requiring such a question to be posed for himself. Even if he did have an answer.
Internally that was... a lot. Almost too much. âI think thatâs unfair to Emil and Ratatosk.â His mouth was dry saying those words. While he often teased Ratatosk for being a buff version of himself and the fact he was attracted to Ratatosk. Looks played a very little role for him. âThey look like me but carry themselves extremely different than I. Itâs only very few things weâre a able to mimic. Ratatosk has a specific set of facial expression Iâve never carried on myself before, and the patterns in which heâll use them are very different.. Emilâs the same way. Yet attraction to my body... and then who they are as a person... Had Emil been possibly my twin, it would be a lot worse... it probably is just as bad considering weâre not twins. Emil deserves to be treated more than just my reflection who so happens to reflect a moment similar to you.â He sighed.
âI mean, if youâre simply attracted to anyone who shares just an ounce of kindness to you.. then are you sure youâre not just feeling devotion or loyalty to the people who give you kindness? Instead of actual love? Because Loveâs a bit more complex than feeling admired, kindness and attention given. You pick up their nuances, their quirks and... well essentially what makes them tick. You stated Emil being like the worst version of you , and Iâm sure you mean the fact heâs quite timid, stutters a lot, and was abused like you.. but how does that make him the worst version of you? Wouldnât have setting ablaze to Palmacosta, regardless if it wasnât your attention, outlined that being timid and easily pushed around is the least worst thing that someone could do? Iâm not saying Emil didnât have the aptitude to follow down similar path but itâs like demonizing very minor traits and blowing it up to be pretty vastly bad. Iâve heard about Emilâs want for Revenge for witnessing what he thought were his parents death.. and while you could say thatâs like you willing to get revenge against a summon spirit... I donât think Emil would have ever ended up completely throwing the world into chaos like you did... After all, he wasnât rushing to go against a summon spirit. And it seemed he even disagreed with what the Vanguard was about. He still carried those traits of kindness largely so with him despite his feelings and emotions. Plus.. You showed him kindness first. Didnât you recognize that Emilâs actions could have been similar to what you were giving me for showing you kindness and helping you? Because Iâm sure you admired me unconditionally despite how many times Iâve almost caused chaos in the labs.â
Aster scratched his head not sure where to go from there. âI guess what Iâm saying is.. I think you should go over what you really feel for the three of us. Especially since weâre similar in appearance. Though.. you probably shouldnât date until you are over me or something like that. Because.. yeah itâs pretty disingenuous. It hurts to know thatâs the first thing you would say when I talk about my boyfriend in a joking matter like that... Itâd be harrowing for someone else if you were with them and slipped and.. I donât know uttered my name instead of theirs. Not saying you would but.. If youâre still that hung up on me, whoâs to say you wouldnât. Just.. Richter, your a good friend to me.. but you never once made aware of your feelings for me. So excuse me for being taken aback by all this. Itâs the first Iâm actually hearing of it from.. well... you. I know the others who were here were keen on getting very close to me in wanting a relationship... but.. well.. Iâve already told you how those all usually divulged. Reality is too good to be true so I must be a concoction of the imagination regardless of my scar and intellect of things only I would know.â Which was still on his chest. It was nice to have that moment feeling like this Richter really was the Richter he knew that learned but.. it was with the added fact of feelings Aster couldnât digest in a single day. Did his eyes burn slightly. Yeah.. mostly because it was hard to be let down yet again.