Chapter Text
"And that's all, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all for coming to Lyney and Lynette's magic show!" His voice is full of flamboyancy and bravado—never failing to live up to his title.
Oh, the Great Magician.
You thought to yourself. You were hidden right behind the curtain, peeking out just enough to catch a view of that enigmatic figure. The audience's cheers mixed with children shouting for encores were deafeningly loud; yet they didn't drown out your thoughts.
Lyney turned towards you ever so slightly as if hearing your thoughts. His lavender eyes met yours, his expression unreadable. Well—not like it was ever truly readable. I shouldn't pry into him... You shake yourself out of your thoughts and offer him an awkward smile.
The magician smiles back.
-+-
"He was still... interesting, to say the least," (AN: referring to Wriothesley) Lyney remarked. He was perched on a plush stool infront of his vanity, painting his eyelashes.
You couldn't help the chuckle that escaped at those words. "By the way, how are you?"
Lyney paused and stared at your reflection in the mirror for a moment, unsure of how to respond, "On a scale of one to ten... probably four," He resumed his makeup session a little too nonchalantly.
"Really? C'mon..."
"You're lucky I was honest and didn't say 10," Lyney replied.
"I know..." You trailed off. You knew you were fortunate enough that Lyney didn't lie, and you hated that fact. Some part of you wished that he would just... open up to you.
Lyney smiled at you and set down the mascara brush, "We can hangout again tomorrow. Sweet nightmares," He said the last word teasingly.
"Thanks, Lyney," You rolled your eyes.
The spruce door shut behind the magician with a soft thud, leaving you alone to your thoughts and the chirping of the crickets outside.
You knew that Lyney was hiding a good chunk of his life from you probably not to concern you. But, in truth, you were both hiding secrets from eachother. And for you, it was your crush on Lyney over the past few months.
Lyney would send you flowers and roses basically daily. Admittedly, you treasured them and stuffed them all into well-kept vases. And Lyney was probably aware of that, as he smirked whenever he asked you where you'd kept them.
Sometimes, he'd also show you magic tricks. Lyney would tell you to guess which card had disappeared. You would try to guess an answer, and Lyney would simply chuckle at you and tell you to try again. If you tried to ask for the real answer, the magician would pout and say that it would be too boring. Of course he would do that. You thought.
Deep down, you knew that you couldn't be with Lyney due to his... problematic ties. But you were too absorbed in your crush to care.
-+-
The morning casted a warm glow over the too-well-organized room, and the sun snuck around the curtains; it peeked at the shelves, stuffed with various trinkets, and slipped over the bedsheets and through the thin crack of the door. Lyney said that the trinkets were 'very precious memorabilia', and that you should 'never touch them under any circumstance'. But those trinkets in question appeared to be gears and repair parts for a certain mechanical penguin.
You rolled onto your left in the plush bed. You had had trouble sleeping, having been kept up by your thoughts of Lyney. Not to say that your sleep schedule was better before, no—quite the opposite in fact.
"Wake up, sleepyhead," Lyney's infuriatingly smooth voice shook you out of your daze, "You look cute when you're asleep."
You blinked. Lyney was sitting on the bed, overlooking you. How long had he been there? Had he been watching you stare into the distance like you'd been possessed by a poltergeist?
"Oh- um- h-hi Lyney! I-I have an alarm clock, y'know—didn't have to slither onto my bed and watch me sleep creepily!" You stuttered, your face flushing as red as a tomato.
"Aww, but I'm so much better than an alarm clock. Just compare in terms of good looks~" Lyney winked. He was unfortunately correct.
You wanted to smack him to the next galaxy—lovingly.
You glared at him with what energy you had left to keep yourself from laughing.
"Okay, okay! I'll stop teasing you. Be down for breakfast." Lyney 'relented'. He hopped off the bed, making sure to flash that smug grin at you as he disappeared through the door.
You couldn't hold back your smile as you rolled onto your right. However, something scraped against your ear... Curious, you reached for it.
A piece of crumpled paper. Whatever! Must've forgotten to throw it away in the trash while you were sneezing two days ago!
Despite the extremely possible explanation of there being two-day-old-snot inside, you unfolded the paper and trusted your gut feelings. Ah, how stubbo-
I'll admit... I've grown to like you over these weeks. Meet me in the gardens by noon ~ Your favorite (and the best!) magician