His bed was warm and soft, and for a moment, Luciola forgot where he was. Then he tried to roll over, and realized he was effectively paralyzed; Dio's arms had wrapped around him so tightly that he could barely move. The events of last night came back to him in a rush; Dio had all but dragged him inside, waking up the entire house. His attempts to introduce himself as Luciola had not gone over well, but a fight had been averted by the timely arrival of Tatiana, Alister, and Daphne with their vanships, seeking a place to spend the night. Yes, that's right. I'm back where I belong.

Dio was waking up. His breathy mumble was the first thing Luciola heard. "Good morning…" The former Guild member yawned and rolled over, freeing him from his hold. "Luciola."

He sat up, stretching to work out the kinks in his shoulders. "Yes, my lord?"

Dio grinned. "Didn't I just tell you not to call me that anymore? Oh, I'm so glad you're here." He grabbed Luciola's arm and hauled him out of bed. "Come on; I smell Dunya making breakfast."

Out of politeness, Luciola almost said he wasn't hungry—after all, Dunya couldn't possibly have made enough food to feed the entire household plus the four new arrivals—but then his stomach grumbled loudly, and Dio giggled.

To Luciola's eyes, the kitchen was tiny and cramped. The table had been made to hold ten people, and each seat was taken. Mullin was eating standing up, while one of Dunya's siblings—Nikos, he thought—was perched on the kitchen counter. Claus and Lavie were nowhere to be seen yet, something Luciola was thankful for. Daphne had settled herself into a chair by the door. She looked up from her food as they entered. "Morning, Luciola. And you, Dio."

He grinned at her. "I know I said this last night, but thank you for bringing Luciola back to me."

She snorted. "I didn't do anything special; I was just the navigator. Luciola came here under his own power."

Dio scanned the room for a place to sit. Finding none, he leaned against the wall. Dunya saw him and sighed. "Good morning. We've got eggs and sausages; eat up."

Luciola stepped out of the doorway to allow Claus and Lavie through. Claus' eyes narrowed when he saw him, a motion Luciola returned. He doesn't like me. That's fine. I don't need his favor, only his trust.

Dio hugged him. "Good morning, Immelmann!"

Claus mumbled something incoherently, and Lavie elbowed him. "Aren't you awake yet, Claus?"

Luciola picked at the eggs Dunya gave him; they were runny and in serious need of pepper. Daphne must have helped make breakfast. As he ate, he watched the other inhabitants of the house. The Scheer siblings don't know me, and they don't care if I'm really Luciola or not. I never spoke much with Mr. Shetland, Miss Agrew or Miss Wisla; I doubt they even noticed me before. Lady Alvis… He caught her eye for a moment before she squeaked and turned back to her food. He sighed. She doesn't believe me yet. Neither do Claus or Lavie. Especially Claus.

The clicking of cutlery on porcelain and the sounds of eating were broken by Claus, who suddenly turned to Luciola with an accusing glance.

"Who are you?"

Dio stiffened. It took effort for Luciola kept his face perfectly impassive. "I told you. I am Luciola. Lord Dio will vouch for me."

Dunya quickly motioned to her siblings. "You're done eating, right? Mullin, why don't you take the kids into town for the day and do some shopping? Be back around noon." He and the younger Scheer siblings left, but Alvis remained, staring at the scene unfolding before her.

Lavie glared at Luciola. "We knew Luciola, and you're nothing like him. You come here with some girl in a second-rate vanship—"

"Hey! My vanship is perfectly airworthy."

Lavie ignored her. "—from who knows where, claiming to be Luciola…but you look nothing like him! Sure, Dio trusts you, but Dio's the person who greets people he's never met with hugs. We let you stay the night, sure, but only because you came so late. So, tell us! Who are you, and what do you want?"

Luciola realized he was starting to grind his teeth in anger. With difficulty, he forced himself to slow down and think. Think. What can I tell them that will make them realize I couldn't possibly be lying? "Claus, Lady Alvis. Do you remember the fall of the Guild? I planted explosives to damage the palace."

Claus dropped his fork. "No."

He continued. "Lady Alvis, do you remember what I gave you that day? I do; my communicator and a pilot's cap that Lord Dio had meant to give you as thanks for celebrating his birth week with him. Claus. I told you to make sure Dio got away safely." And you failed, he almost added, but checked himself.

Alvis started to sob. Crying, she leapt out of her seat and ran over to him. "L-Luciola…" To his surprise, she hugged him. "You saved my life…thank you."

Dio looked smug. "You see? I told you last night. He is Luciola. Even Alvis can see it."

Claus rose from his seat. "I guess I owe you an apology, then. But if you're Luciola, then what happened to you?"

Helped by occasional interjections from Daphne, Luciola told them everything that had happened since he had woken up in a hospital bed three months ago. When he was finished, there was silence.

Finally, Lavie spoke. "Luciola…I'm sorry I doubted you."

He nodded in acknowledgement.

Daphne stood up and began gathering up the dirty dishes. "Right. Now that that's settled, who's going to help me and Lavie with the dishes? Dunya, you can relax; we'll handle things here."

&

Later that day, Dio lay on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. I'm so bored…There's nothing to do around here. Well, I guess I could help Mullin and Immelmann expand the vanship shed…but that's too much work. Or I could help weed the garden…no, it's too boring. A commotion from the hallway caught his attention. Lavie stormed past his open door, blushing.

"Hey, Lavie. What's going on?"

She blushed even harder and refused to meet his gaze. "Well, since Daphne, Tatiana and Alister are going to share the room Alvis and I were in, I decided to move…"

"Oh? And where are you going to sleep?"

"Well…I can't stay with Dunya and Mullin, and all of Dunya's siblings are going to share a room, so…I'm going to share Claus' room. We—we have separate beds, so it's not like…"

Dio smirked as she all but fled down the hall. They're so ridiculous, both of them. She's obviously interested in him, but Immelmann wouldn't get the hint unless she beat him over the head with it. He's so clueless, it's kind of cute.

He sighed, thinking. If that's the way the rooms are going to be set up from now on, then that leaves me sharing a room with Luciola. That's nothing new; we've always shared a room and a bed, ever since we were little. But still… He felt his face heat up. That new body he inhabits is something special. Now that I think about it, he always was pretty attractive, but now… He grinned. He's different now, and I think I like it.

He crept out of the room. Luciola was working on Daphne's vanship outside, and he was sure he'd appreciate some help.

&

Luciola bent over the vanship, running his fingers across the hull. How on earth did this get to be in such bad shape? I suppose the people in the vanship bay on Exile didn't strap it down tight enough.

As he straightened, Dio came up behind him, draping his arms around his shoulders and stretching to murmur into his ear. "What are you doing, Luciola?"

His heartbeat sped up as Dio's warm breath brushed his cheek. What am I doing? It's just Dio, just the way he expresses his feelings. "Working on Miss Daphne's vanship."

He swore he could feel Dio smirk. "Would you like me to help?" One hand began lazily running up and down his bare arm. "Wow, this body is different from your old one…"

The part of Luciola's brain that controlled breathing seemed to have stopped working for a moment, and it took a few moments for him to compose himself. "Er, if you want. But I should warn you, Miss Daphne's a bit picky about her vanship."

Dio giggled. "She sounds a little bit like Lavie. Do you think they'll ever get along at all?"

Now he was caressing Luciola's back, and those warm hands were downright distracting. He had to fight to keep still. "Ah, Lord Dio…"

"Errr…Sorry to interrupt, but Dunya sent me to get Dio to help weed the garden. Luciola, can you work on that by yourself for now? I have to help Dunya's siblings move their stuff." At first glance, Daphne looked apologetic, but she was smirking slightly as she eyed the position Dio and Luciola were in.

Dio separated from him slowly. "I'll see you later, Luciola."

He nodded as they left. For a brief moment, he felt an urge to rush after Dio, but stopped himself. The garden is right behind the house, and Miss Agrew is there with him. Nothing will happen to him. He sank back against the vanship. What was that? He has always been…physically demonstrative…but he was much more forward than usual just now. Is it just because he's glad to see me back? Or is it…no. He shook his head to rid himself of a potentially mind-damaging thought. He is my lord. I should never think about him in that way.

Back to work. The hull was scratched and in need of cleaning and a fresh coat of paint, but it wasn't as bad as he'd first thought. There was a sizeable dent by the navi's seat that would have to be hammered out before he could start polishing, though. With a sigh, he reached for his tool kit.

&

Dio groaned. An infestation of dandelions had somehow sprung up next to the carrots. While they weren't exactly weeds, they were taking up valuable nutrients and had to be pulled out. Unfortunately, their roots were intertwined and extremely difficult to remove.

Alister was working next to him. Eventually, he broke the silence. "You were just on the Silvana. How is everyone?"

She smiled sadly. "Fine, now. Did you hear about what happened to the captain?"

He shook his head. "What happened?"

She shivered. "He was a prisoner of the Guild. When First Officer…I'm sorry, she's Empress Sophia now…when she gave the order to fire on the Guild ship, the captain was still inside. We…we heard his voice right before the missiles hit, but it was too late to do anything. The empress was crushed. She left the ship after that; we haven't seen her since. Wina Lightning, our top sound technician, became the new captain, and Campbell is her first officer."

"What about Lescius, the engineer? Is he alright?" I haven't seen him since Delphine took over the ship. He was a Dagobert; if she had him killed…

She frowned, thinking. "I don't see him too often, but he seemed to be in good health when I left."

His face lit up. "That's wonderful news. And the mechanics; how are they? Does Ethan still do his fire-breathing trick?"

For some reason, she blushed. "They're fine, everyone's fine. Ethan, umm…I don't know if he still does that trick. I haven't seen him much."

"Really? I would have thought you'd have plenty of reasons to go down into the hangar. Or…" He smirked. "Maybe it's just Ethan you've been avoiding." It was so obvious that he had a crush on her, but she never gave him the time of day. It must have been awkward.

She blushed harder, avoiding his gaze. "What are you saying that for? We have work to do. Lavie says these dandelions will make a good salad."

They weeded in silence from then on, although from time to time Alister was sure she heard him humming a cheerful tune.

&

That night, as Luciola changed for dinner—he had acquired a rather large grease stain on his shirt that refused to come out—Dio blew into the room with a grin. "Did you have fun working on that girl's vanship?"

Luciola, sitting on the edge of the bed, nodded. In truth, the last few hours had passed in a blur. He had been unable to stop his mind from dwelling on the feeling of Dio's hands on him to notice much of anything. Even trying to force himself to focus on his work hadn't helped.

As he began to button up his shirt, Dio grabbed his hands. "Stop."

"…Lord Dio?"

Dio grinned and moved his hands to his shoulders, pushing the shirt down. "I want to see what this new body of yours is like."

With absolutely no warning, Dio's hands began roaming lightly over Luciola's exposed chest. Luciola remained absolutely still, mind whirling. We shouldn't be doing this. His hands are so warm…Wait, we really— The younger boy's fingers brushed a sensitive spot under his ribs, and he squirmed. That—that tickles.

Dio saw this and smirked. "Oh, are you ticklish now, Luciola? Interesting." Experimentally, he ran his fingers over the same spot again and was rewarded with a breathy wheeze that might almost have been a laugh.

He stopped and stared at him. "…Luciola, was that—did you just laugh?"

Luciola shook his head resolutely. Of course not. I don't laugh; I've never laughed in my life. Besides…I cannot show such weakness in front of him.

"No, you did. I saw your face change, just for a second." Dio drew closer, until his bangs brushed Luciola's forehead. "See, right…here…" He trailed off.

Luciola seemed to have forgotten how to breathe again. He was painfully aware of his own face heating up. He's so close…I can count his eyelashes. Were they always so long? So close…I could…

"Hey, guys! Dinner's almost ready!" Lavie's yell from the kitchen broke the tension. In an instant, Dio was on the other side of the room.

"Lavie will have my head if I come to the table without washing my hands first. See you in a bit!"

Luciola stared at the closed door for a long time before putting his shirt back on.