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Ace of hearts | Lyney

genre : growing up together, hurt no comfort, angst.

synopsis: sometimes the lines of being a performer and your friend blurred; it was dangerous to get caught up in an act. as he has said, anything could happen in a single minute.

You knew Lyney like no other.

If there was one person in Fontaine you could call your best friends, it had to be the magic twins Lyney and Lynette. Ever since you were young and heard a group of magicians of similar age as you were performing in the streets, you had never once missed a performance.

Your parents were merchants and you lived in the safe confines of the Court of Fontaine, so they had no trouble leaving you most of the time alone at home when you were a little older. That was when you started to spend more time befriending the mysterious magician duos that would perform almost every week.

The first time you attempted to befriend the two, you could see they were wary from the way Lyney would tell you they had to leave and go home early (and then finding him in a different spot of the Court, still performing), or the way Lynette completely ends a conversation with you before you even started by saying her “talking mode" is off.

Though all that never hindered you from wanting to be their friends. You had no others in Fontaine, and when your parents were out you were alone. You’d join and watch the trials, but you never understood whatever the Chief Judge was saying. Or how it worked. Your young mind found nothing intriguing except the twins and their performances - you couldn’t give up!

They begin to notice how you frequent their magic shows, how you took a genuine interest in them. It took a lot of time and appearances at their street shows (shows that you had to find yourself, since they never seem to post a notice of their performing) - but after a few months, the oldest twin, Lyney, began to warm up to you.

He called you to stay once after a performance, it was late at night, and they must have appreciated your dedication because right he they had asked if you were interested in joining them for a dinner at Hotel Debord (one that they had mentioned their father would pay for - how could you reject a free meal?) so without hesitation, you agreed.

And that's how you and Lyney became friends.

It took you a while to warm up to Lynette, but she seemed to be nicer to you after Lyney decided to befriend you. When you were reminiscing of your younger days in the future, Lynette tells you that she had started to trust and befriend you the day her brother called you to stay. Because anyone Lyney trusts, Lynette trusts.

When they were not performing, the three of you would be hanging around the Court of Fontaine, enjoying strolls or desserts or playing together like the kids you were. You lacked a childhood of playing due to the lack of children your age, and you could tell they did too from the way they had to ask you how to play certain games that even you - with no experience - knew how to play. As though they had to mature faster than other kids.

Years went by faster than you had realized and you had gotten closer and grew up together alongside the twins, your friendship never once fading. You had shared dreams, fears and traded secrets. Though despite everything, you had never learned their origins or how their tricks worked.

Whenever they had a bigger performance at the streets with a larger audience, you would be dubbed Lyney’s second assistant, but beyond helping with his props and help misleading the audience you never really knew how their magic was performed. It was the one thing Lyney and Lyentte never told you, though they weren’t against you finding out.

“Is this your card?” Lyney asks with a sly smile one day when the two of you were on the sandy beach by the Court, looking beyond the ocean at the setting sun. You don't remember how you ended up there, all you remember was curiously chasing after a seelie when it left the Court, and Lynette taking a rain check from joining to eat some dessert. Leaving the two of you to chase after it alone only to lose track of it once you were out.

Now you sit on the sand, looking up at sixteen year old Lyney who shows you a six of hearts with the confidence of someone who has never been wrong. You shake your head and snicker.

“Nope,”

Lyney’s shoulders sagged, “No way, you’re lying!” he takes off his hat and places his hand on his head, pouting, “I've got no cards left, this has to be it,” he mutters, shaking his hat to show it was empty.

“Or maybe…” he places a hand on his chin and looks at you, placing his hat on your head. You laugh as it falls over your face, “you stole it!”

“How does that even work?” you rolled your eyes, lifting his hat so it doesn’t cover your eyes. Only, when you did, a card slips out and falls onto your lap. The queen of spades. Your card.

“That's how it works,” Lyney answers your question with a snap of his fingers and a smirk, as if he solved a mystery and caught you lying, “you thief, trying to ruin my magic,”

“Drop the act already,” you laugh. He definitely got you good, “okay, that was impressive. You have to tell me how that worked, I don't think I can figure that one out even if I watch it over and over again!”

Lyney places a hand over his heart, “Drop the act? What act?” he gasps, mock offended. You shake your head and sigh, causing Lyney to laugh.

“You are a good thief, you’ve stolen more than my cards,” he says, his tone sounding softer. From the years you’ve been friends, there were moments when Lyney showed he was more than just what he showed. Lyney acted like he had a brave face but sometimes, in the night when you were alone, he would show you a softer, more gentle side of him.

But this time it was different. He sounded as if he was showing you something. He was trying to tell you something, without actually telling you anything.

This was the first time you’ve properly looked at Lyney. He takes a seat beside you on the sandy ground, giving you a gentle smile and you feel your cheeks heat up. You see the way his pale hair falls over his eyes, the way his hands skillfully played with the queen of spades, the gleam in his magenta eyes. Was this feeling...?

Lyney’s hand comes up to push his hat on your head back down to cover your eyes. You yelp, and seeing you struggle makes him laugh.

“And as for the trick,” he switches the topic, as smooth as the way he does magic, “You’ll figure it out,” he winks.

You take off his hat and look into it with a frown. It was empty, you reach into it to find any secret compartment, there was none.

“Don't pout,” Lyney teased, “you’re just not looking at the right places,"

He takes his hat back from you gently, your fingers brushing. You had touched multiple times, being friends since you were practically children. But the contact lit something up inside of you, it made your stomach churn with butterflies.

Before you could ponder over what that meant, Lyney’s hand reached into his hat, “Aha,” he grinned, before taking out a rainbow rose.

“A thank you,” he smiled, handing the flower to you which you accept with an impressed smile, “for being my lovely assistant,”

“Don't you mean the audience?” you ask, ignoring the way you blushed, hoping it was almost dark enough he wouldn't see. The sun had begin to set.

“You're too special to be the audience,” he winks, “my assistant is more personal,”

When the stars come out and you part ways after he walks you home like the gentleman he is, you can’t help but stare at the rainbow rose placed by your bedside in a vase when you try to sleep. Pondering over the emotions stirring up inside of you as you think about him.

.

It wasn't as easy to ignore it as you thought it would have been.

When you woke up the next day you’d hope you snapped out of it. You never acknowledged your feelings because saying it would make it real. Because if you confirmed what it was you could never take it back again.

But staring at the rose, you feel heat creep onto your cheeks. You try to ignore it, to avoid thinking about it, but it only makes it worse.

The way your fingers brushed, the way he denied you as his audience but more of his assistant, the way he looks at you gently and teases you. The way he could have been with his sister or anywhere spending his time any other way but he chose to be with you instead, watching the sunset by the beach.

Recalling the interactions you’ve had in the past, a few made you wonder if you’ve always felt like this towards him.

The three of you had once gotten into trouble with the gardes, running around and knocking a perfume vendor’s stand and breaking her bottles. It had been entirely your fault for running without looking, but Lyney had stepped between you and the garde, taking full responsibility. He had done a solo magic show for a week straight to pay off the damages just for you, and you had admired him for that.

You begin to think admiration was not the right word for it.

Recalling, you remember one day where you had been too sick to watch their performance and Lyney personally came over to your house with soup and a few props to entertain you. When he had learned you lived alone due to your parents being merchants, he began to come over more frequently after that. Often with Lynette or Freminet to keep you company. Freminet was someone new to you - but you both immediately bonded after he found out you too were interested in the ocean.

(In the future, Lynette tells you Lyney had searched for you everywhere. That he had asked almost, if not all the vendors and gardes at the Court if they knew where you lived. The information made your heart flutter - it never even hit you that Lyney never know where you lived)

Still, growing up you managed to keep your emotions all to yourself. Never giving a name to it, or acknowledging it. You and Lyney were close and there was no reason to avoid him. So you continue as you normally do. A trio. And more occasionally, a duo. Just you and Lyney.

.

It wasn't until a couple years later, after you grow up and out of the age where you develop crushes easily, and your feelings for Lyney were still there that you finally pay it any mind.

You have seen Lyney grow up as a person. From being a mere street magician when you were younger, to a person with a purpose. Under the stars one night, he shares a speck of his past with you. A purpose he had. He shares with you a prophecy you’ve once heard from your parents when you were younger, one you thought was merely a legend. He tells you with the conviction of someone who really believes it, and something about the way he tells you makes you believe it too.

You help him fulfill his purpose by supporting him. And in return he supports you, as he always did when you were younger.

You begin to take up a job as an editor in The Steambird as you grew, and that way you were able to help Lyney and Lynette by sneaking advertisements of their performance and discreetly spreading more information about the prophecy and where to seek help for relocation. You were a team, and the more time passed, the more the purpose became yours as well.

Your lives became busier and busier. The twins still performed, but lately they went out of the Court to do archons knows what. They’d tell you when they would leave, but returning was something of a gamble. Sometimes they don't return for days, sometimes weeks. And since you never knew where they went, it was difficult to send letters.

And just like that you were alone again. Though you were able to keep yourself busy with your job as the editor and sometimes Charlotte invited you to help her interview people or watch court proceedings, there was a hole in your heart that was hard to fill by anyone other than the two magicians. Hard to fill by anyone other than Lyney.

.

“Good work today!” Charlotte beams, “See you tomorrow!”

“See you,” you smile at the chirpy cryo user, clocking out for the day. It was an especially tiring one today, as it always was whenever a court proceeding takes place. Compiling and correcting Charlotte’s draft was a pain, they were written the same way she talks - all over the place, rapid and often assumptions instead of facts and truth. Sometimes you wonder if you were selling newspapers or scandal sheets.

You arrive home, the same quiet place you’ve lived for the rest of your life. You greet a photo of your parents by the door. They were a rare sight these days, but once you were older they had begun sending letters, including in them souvenirs from their trip.

You take your mail inside to see if they sent anything else and after sifting through bills and advertisements, your eyes meet a stark red envelope, a card stamp in the corner.

Lyney

You open the envelope and was greeted with a letter, written neatly on a piece of parchment. It smelled of cold snow and ink, wherever he had written it from, it was most likely not Fontaine.

To my lovely assistant, It has been a while, were you surprised by the letter? Haha, I can already imagine your face and what you’ll say. “My, magician Lyney is truly the best at surprising me, what a great magician he is!”. Save your flattery for when we meet, I know you have a lot. I will be returning in a week’s time, and I have something i would like to share with you. Oh, you must be very curious now. Please don't let me cause you to stay up all night wondering. Let us rendezvous by the sea when I return. On the sand where you once stole something from me, at the same hour when I had caught you being a thief. I can't wait to see you again, my heart. Sincerely yours, Lyney.

You fold the letter in your hands as your heart begins to race. An ace of hearts falls from the envelope and into your lap, as if knowing you had finished the letter. You pick it up.

My heart.

There was no way you could deny it any longer.

.

You never had experience with having an… affection towards someone. So you told Charlotte, which was, in hindsight, probably a bad idea. Though surprisingly (and, lucky for you) she had crossed her heart and swore on all the archons that she wouldn’t tell anyone. She laughed when you called it affection, calling it a crush. The word made you cringe, not in a bad way, but in a realization that that really is what it was. There is no way to deny it now.

“Rendezvous at the sea?” she exclaimed excitedly when the two of you were having lunch out together. “and he made a reference to when you were there together in your younger years? Oh my archons this is too much!” she places a hand over her heart, definitely enjoying the romantic drama between you two.

“He just has something to tell me, maybe he wants to share his journeys,” you tell her, not letting her fuel your delusions though you’d be lying if you said it wasn't working. Charlotte was looking too much into it, you tell yourself.

“But he has never sent you a letter before, right?” she says, putting her fork down, engrossed in dissecting the letter with you, “you always had to find out they were back by bumping into them by chance, or when Lyney would stop by at the Steambird for you - oh I see the whole picture now!”

“Charlotte…”

At your worried tone, Charlotte gives you a sympathetic smile, “Sorry, I got excited,” she says sheepishly, “You can choose to ignore what I say, but it doesn’t erase the fact that he asked you to meet him at the beach by sunset. Take what you want from that, but at face value it already sounds like a date,”

You look down at your dessert. You remember that day vividly, the day you had begun to see Lyney form your best friend to… something else. The day you began to feel these emotions, the emotions you’d only have towards Lyney.

The way your stomach churns with butterflies and how you feel electricity when your fingers brush. How you began to appreciate every moment with him as you grew and how the time he was away only made your heart long to be close again.

You couldn't deny it, you liked him. He had caught your attention when you were younger, and he still never failed to till this day.

Turning up to look back at Charlotte, you notice a street vendor selling flowers. One catches your eye immediately, a bouquet of rainbow roses.

“Ooh! Are you planning on getting him something?” Charlotte notices your gaze and follows it to see - “Flowers! What a romantic you are!”

“Don't you think its too much?” you say nervously. What if you were getting it all wrong? What was Lyney going to say to you that required you to meet at such a place?

If Lyney knew his letter was making you antsy and nervous like this, he’d never let you live it down. You could already see his smile and hear his teasing remarks, even when he wasn't there. What an effect he had on you.

“Nonsense,” Charlotte grins, “even if you’re not seeing it romantically, there’s no harm in giving him flowers as a welcome back present! Oh, you should get the rainbow rose,”

“Rainbow rose?” you ask, wondering if she knew about the flower Lyney had given you.

Charlotte gave you a cheeky grin, “Rainbow roses are often used in performance to convey romance,” she says, swooning “If Lyney knew that, he’d take the subtle hint and might find out you reciprocate his feelings! And if not- well, they’re pretty flowers anyway,”

“Wait, what?”

That made you freeze. You replay her words in your mind - rainbow roses are often used in performances to convey romance.

Your mind recalls back to years ago, when you were covered in sand and Lyney’s hat blinded you. When he accused you of being a thief for stealing his card. And stealing more than that.

The card and letter comes into your mind. The ace of hearts. My heart, he addressed you.

The rainbow rose that you had kept, pressed in between pages of a book so you could preserve it forever. The rainbow rose he had given you that day. When you realized you liked him, but never cared to act on it.

“I'll get him a rainbow rose,” you tell Charlotte, and she cheers in triumph. That was the end of your talk about the magician, and for once, you feel as though you weren't scared.

.

You knew if Lyney were to confess to you, you'd accept it in a heartbeat. Now that you had connected the dots and was a little more confident, it was your turn to take him by surprise. To be one step ahead of him.

The following week came faster than you’d hope. Nights were spent practicing what you’d tell the magician when you meet him again. You had carefully taken care of the rainbow rose bouquet you bought for him, cutting the stems and watering it daily.

When the day comes, you leave your house when the sun begins to set, bouquet in hand. A reminder of the magician, and his past attempts to give you hints.

The sun casts a gentle glow at the magnificent structures of the Court of Fontaine. Vendors and noise starting to hush, being drowned out by the rushing water that gave a soft orange glow as your feet hit the sandy beach just outside, where you had started to develop feelings for the man who was there now.

Lyney stares beyond the ocean, looking the same as when he left. He must have sensed your presence, because he turns around the moment you arrive.

He calls your name gently. He looked as if he wanted to say something else, probably tease you, or ask if his letter really did hinder your sleep, but one sight of you made the words die on his tongue. His sly grin melted into a gentle smile.

“Lyney,” you smile when you see him. It had been a long while. Despite practicing what you’d say and do, the sight of him being there made your mind completely void. You outstretched your hands to give him the bouquet, and he takes it gently. His hands over yours when he takes it, examining the flowers with a soft smile.

“I knew you’d be impressed by my letter, but I didn’t know it was to this extent,” he finally takes them, gentle and precise hands caressing the petals of the rainbow rose. Seeing him now, you notice a lot of differences between him years ago. He was taller, his features more sharp, but there was still a gentle air around him. Lyney laughs, the sound making your heartbeat pick up, light and airy. “What's the occasion? I thought I was the one with the news,”

“I know what you’re going to tell me already,” you say, and a look of shock passes over Lyney, before he masks it. Finally, it was your turn to turn the tables and surprise the magician.

“Word travels fast then,” he grins, “so, what do you think?”

You take a deep breath and face the waters. Lyney tilts his head, as if he was suspicious of your actions, but before he speaks up, you cut him off.

“I like you, Lyney,” you say quietly. “I’ve liked you for a long time,”

His smile falls.

Fuck

“Oh,” he attempts to hide his surprise, “You must’ve gotten the wrong word then,” he says, as if to soften the blow. Which does the complete opposite; wrong - that's what he used to describe your words.

When you don't speak, Lyney purses his lips, “I’m performing at the Opera Epiclese in a few days, and I had wanted you to be my assistant.” he says, voice now sounding softer. You don't know if you were looking too into it, but his flirty tone was now gone. Replaced with something foreign - something you’ve never heard him use. It was devoid of anything. When Lyney spoke, you could never mistake what he was trying to convey. His tone was always clear - that's what you needed when becoming a performer, after all. To mislead your audience.

Mislead. How foolish you were to think you were any different than an audience of his.

Now he speaks with nothing, monotone, but kind.

You feel your heart clench painfully in your chest. So what was all of that? You wanted to ask him. You wanted to take back your words. You burned with embarrassment. So what was it that I had stolen besides your cards all those years ago? Why would you call me your heart? Why did you lead me on?

But you couldn’t. Instead you bite your lip and nod. It was never Lyney’s fault. He had always acted like that even when he was performing, what a fool you were to assume you we’re different, just because you had known him for almost all your life.

He takes a deep breath, "You mean a lot to me, please-" he says, trying to reach out, but you step back. Of course, Lyney would leave after that. He was too nice, above everything, he was your best friend. And you were his best friend. Nothing else; never had been. You look up and a look of hurt flashes in his eyes. All your years being together, you had never once fought. Disagreements sure, but avoiding him like this?

You can see the pain in his eyes, and it reminded you that despite having Lynette, he too was a lonely child in Fontaine. If the tables were turned, you’d also be hurt if he reacted this way. But you couldn't control your emotions, not after everything you had believed.

Its not fair, you wanted to say, that you can look so hurt when you’ve given me hope.

But maybe there was no hope to begin with. Perhaps the things you had assumed were hints had just been Lyney’s way of talking.

Stupid.

“I-I’ll be there,” you say, looking away from him to avoid the stab of guilt his pained eyes gave you, “I’m sorry,”

You make your way back, calling a lift to head up before he could catch up with you. And if you had went to meet him at Romaritime Harbor a few days later before his performance and saw him talking to a blonde haired outlander with the same smile he had given you before, and a familiar flower on her dress, he never would have known that you turned back around.

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