Azure: 19

Navy: 18

It was a strange feeling, being scrutinized so openly by the child he had seen telling off his cat when he was 15. Strange to see how much Navy had changed in the three years since then.

And strange how much of a pull he was feeling towards this glowering boy.

Saying his name out loud must have snapped some pieces together in Navy's head, because the boy's expression suddenly darkened, and his fist clamped tighter onto Azure's shirt.

"This is all your fault, you prissy little child! If it weren't for you, the world wouldn't be devolving into chaos. You're too lazy to run the company your father left you, is that it!? Is that why you've run away, because people are starting to get mad at you? Expecting you to actually do things!?"

The words cut into Azure more than he would have thought, and his common sense was momentarily blinded by rage as he spat out, "Well, what about you then. Your father is alive, and yet your company is still falling apart. My father is dead; you would think our company might fall apart a little. But you? You should be doing fine. What have you been doing, eh? Sitting around hoping Daddy will come save you!?"

He felt the hand clamp around his throat, and the warmth that rushed through him shot out at the sign of agression, Navy leaping back in pain and examining his hand.

"You know?" Azure said, trying to push down the stinging in his eyes, "I tried my best. What the Hell do you think I've been doing these past two weeks since my father died? Why the Hell do you think I have these big ass bags under my eyes!?"

"Because you were fu-"

"RETHORICAL QUESTION!"

Azure sighed, massaging his temples with his fingers. "Look, I can't do magic, ok? And everyone expects everything from me, but I'm just a failure. A defect. A dud. I'm dooming humanity, Navy. I should be better-"

"Hey." Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Azure looked up to see a hard but comforting expression on Navy's face. "The world hasn't done crap for you. Why do you owe it anything?"

Azure just stared at him blankly before bursting out laughing, even though Navy had no idea what he was laughing at.

"But don't you see!?" Azure asked, grabbing Navy's hand, feeling the warmth pass through their interlocked fingers and looping around their bodies. "We have magic together. This is what the world needs."

Navy just looked at him skeptically. "Is it? Because as I recall, the first three times we used this 'magic,' we melted two guys' hands off, and you pretty much did the same to me," he said, presenting his red hand.

"Oh, does it hurt?" Azure asked, grabbing the hand and examining it.

The simple act was enough to elicit the warmth that spread throughout the face of the navy-haired boy, but it was just the magic. Probably.

Forgetting the question entirely for a moment, Navy stamered, "A-a little..."

A determined look on his face, Azure grabbed Navy's uninjured hand, dragging him back towards the building he had promised himself he would never return to. Digging his heels into the concrete, Navy cautioned, "Woah, woah, woah. Are you sure...are you sure you should be going back in there?"

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Thinking for a moment, Azure put up his finger to signify an idea. A sly smirk on his face, he said, "Well, why don't we test out just what this new power can do?"

There it was again, that heat. Navy needed to kep himself together. "H-how so?" he stammered, trying futily to get his eyes off of the boy's lips, the lips he had examined so closely before... aaaaah, what was wrong with him!?

Azure shrugged. "Invisibility?"

"How will we know if it worked?" Navy asked, beyond skeptical with the idea.

Azure just looked at him like he was stupid. "We'll know if we disappear, you idiot."

Smacking himself in the forehead (which resulted in only pain from the burn on his hand), Navy groaned at his own stupidity while Azure giggled. This boy was really doing something to his mind.

"But how do we...do it?" Navy asked, avoiding eye contact, instead choosing to look at Azure's feet. He was wearing sandals. How fitting for being chased by burly security guards.

Gasping, Azure smiled, putting his hand under Navy's chin so they could meet eye to eye. "You just imagine you're in the sightline of you parents of course! You're always invisible there!"

And nothing could stop Navy from laughing in that moment. He hadn't laughed in eons. He hadn't laughed since he was eight. He hadn't laughed since his father had destroyed him. Surfacing from his bout of giggles, Navy choked out, "With all due respect, that doesn't exactly explain how it would work!"

Looking thoughtful for a moment, Azure grabbed his hands and stared into his eyes. All Navy could do was stare back into those two gaping oceans in Azure's head, focusing more on the sparkling rivlets in Azure's eyes than the magic coursing through him. "Okay, focus on that," Azure said, which only made Navy look deeper into those oceans. It was like being surrounded on all sides by nothing but ocean, water on every side, his body being pulled in every direction because he was the water, ebbing and flowing, and... "Hey! Look at that," Azure said, grinning while Navy didn't exactly know what he should be looking at. "You did it!" Azure said, and looking down, Navy found that he had indeed become invisible.

"Holy schist, that's kinda creepy," he said, but it wasn't like he could stop it. Now that he knew what being the water felt like, he couldn't just forget.

"How did you do it?" Azure asked, looking at him intently with those two oceans of his again. Or, Navy supposed, he was only looking through him, since he was invisible.

Navy shrugged, but of course Azure couldn't see that, he he just said, "I just kind of...felt myself melting into my surroundings until I became part of them." Navy watched as Azure closed his eyes, inhaled and exhaled deeply, and concentrated so hard that his whole face turned red. "Don't burst a vein though," Navy said, snickering, and watched as the boy's eyes flew open.

"'S not my fault you make it look so easy..."

Sighing, Navy pressed his hands into Azure's and started describing the scene. "Imagine that you're surrounded on all sides by water." Closing his eyes, Azure nodded, and Navy continued. "It travels from horizon to horizon, and all you can see is the water no matter which way you look. Feel yourself being pulled by the water, being dragged into it, becoming a part of it." With a flicker, Azure's entire body suddenly disappeared, and the only way Navy could tell that he was still there was because he could feel the clammy grip of Azure's hands. "Just imagine yourself becoming a chameleon I suppose, if that's any easier," he said, but as nonchalant as he sounded, he still couldn't make himself visible again.

Flickering back into view, Azure raised an eyebrow at him and asked, "You can't change back, can you?"

"N-no."

Sighing, Azure just brushed his hand along Navy's forehead, tucking a stray hair back into place. How he did that without even being able to see him, Navy had no idea. "Just get sucked out of the water."

He imagined looking up to see a giant sea serpent of some kind with a huge straw slurping him up out of the water and laughed out loud. "How does this even work!?" he asked, and Azure took his hand and started walking, rendering himself invisible once more.

"Because with enough work, your imagination can do anything," he said. "Now c'mon, I promise that it'll work! Grab your cat, and let's goooo!" Picking up both the cat carrier and his bag with one hand and still clinging onto Azure's with the other, the golden-haired boy dragged him inside the building completely oblivious to (or just ignoring) Navy's protests.

God this was so stupid.

They were going to get caught.

But Azure's hand was still in his, and that was all he could focus on.