If There was You and Me

Chapter 1: Courage is not the Absence of Fear

There were a lot of things Garry did not know about Eve, even though they were rather close to say the least.

One was the fact that she was a rich kid. He didn't like her for her money, or anything like that. So, imagine his surprise when some time within the months he'd been hanging out with her at the small café, he was invited to her house so that her parents could finally meet this guy Eve was always so chipper about meeting with. They could clearly see it in the way her eyes changed in expression from usual deadpan to shining subtly with excitement. And, there was also the fact that her every action seemed to bounce and be a bit hurried to get where they were supposed to meet up at.

In retrospect, he should have known, just by the way she dressed herself. He probably was caught staring disbelievingly at Eve a few times upon arrival at the front house… And then having to be caught and then promptly dragged inside by Eve herself since Garry was suddenly insisting that maybe he'd just be troubling her and her parents… Even though he honestly was just nervous and maybe a wee bit scared.

It wasn't like it didn't have basis either.

Imagine her parents', especially her father's, surprise when they find out that this 'Garry' their cute little princess always meets up with every Saturday was a grown man with a few years over her. Talk about her father giving him glares when Eve wasn't looking and giving him a talk about how he shouldn't become a cradle robber… GOD… That had been awkward… Especially because Garry was well aware that his relationship and thoughts of Eve did technically breach the borders of simple friendship. He wasn't sure where he stood in that regard, but Eve would be damned, apparently, if they were anything less than what they were now, although he couldn't say they were lovers.

She's a minor. It's a crime! He wanted to flail around and smack his head into a wall sometimes…

There was also the rather surprising fact that Eve had a lot of (or well, a number of close) friends. He didn't place her as the type to be very personable given her quiet, almost expressionless demeanor. He guessed a number were hanging around because she had money. But there were also some who seemed genuine—like that black haired female he met at the gallery a few months back.

That was another event he didn't really want to recall too much. It was bad enough that he had the same face as the man in the portrait. The fact that the girl remembered that he had never been around Eve before was another issue they had to deal with. It was so… odd. When he had asked Eve about how she had decided to come back for him and how she remembered, she told he she hadn't remembered. Everything in the world had been set so that nothing had seemed off in his absence. Nothing she noticed anyway. It had already been far too long for her to accurately recount and remember everything about her visit to the gallery when she had been nine.

All in all, it was a rather… eventful… three months.

Guertana's exhibit was being put to a close here in their town. Being a small museum exhibiting the works of an otherwise talented but obscure artist whose art dealt with some rather thought provoking issues of the current world, it couldn't keep up that well anymore. It was time to put something new up. And, in order to purchase more popular works, they had to sell a few pieces of art exhibited to interested parties…

One of the works was… his portrait. 'King of the Blue Labyrinth.' Previously titled 'The Forgotten Portrait.' Eve had been so upset.

Garry wasn't rich. He lived in a small apartment a ways off from the heart of town where rent was cheaper. His work managed to pay the bills and gave him a decent space to live in. It also had managed to pay his occasional need to smoke a cigarette on several occasions. But there was no way he could ever compete with the people who would bid on that piece. If Eve was upset, he was distressed. And there was probably only one way for him to fix this. He knew he was probably going to hell for doing this…

It was dark and quiet. Most of the lights in the various buildings were out. The moon barely shed it's illuminating rays on the streets and Garry stood in front of a large piece of architecture with his breath held, eyes closed to prepare for the task. He didn't really like this. At the same time, there really was no other way for him to. Absently, he glanced at his cellphone to check the time before heading towards the entrance and pausing there for a moment. Before he could so much as do anything, however, the door clicked and there was a flood of light.

"What do you need from me?"

Eve's father was an intimidating man to anyone but his daughter. He was especially hard on, and quite wary of Garry. While he was quite thankful that Eve had one more person she could trust and find companionship with, given that there were a number who would want to get close to her only for certain benefits, he couldn't really trust Garry at this point. Eve couldn't even tell him properly how she and Garry met.

Garry paused, a part of him already wanting to back out. But he needed to do this for her. Eve wouldn't say anything otherwise. "I need to ask a favor, sir. That painting at the museum that Eve is fond of. Could you please purchase it?"

The brown haired man looked confused for a moment. Part of him had expected a request of some sort. He expected that Garry needed money for something—probably a debt the purple haired man needed to pay but… this? "Why?"

Garry's heart sort of felt like stopping under his scrutinizing gaze. "Eve is… very attached to that painting. She has very fond memories with it." He explained slowly, putting some emphasis to the words. "After finding out she would never be able to freely see it anymore—especially if a private party purchases it—she was really upset. I-if it's not too much…" He stammered a bit, trailing off. He was already playing with his hands and fidgeting from nervousness. He really didn't like having to do this. "It'll be my debt to you and I'll work it off—forever if I need to. So please… Give it to her."

Eve's father was taken aback a bit. It was probably the first time he'd actually looked at this man face to face and discussed with him without anything else hindering the process—though his bias was still there. It was quite clear, with this talk however, that Garry really cared about his daughter. He felt he could relax, although there was part of him that still couldn't approve of the thought just yet. "Why are you asking me to do this and why didn't she request it herself? What's she to you?" He asked, eyes turned down towards the other man.

There was a beat of silence as the purple headed male gathered his thoughts and peered at Eve's father with light blue eyes, one covered by his long wavy bangs, "Eve's not a very outspoken girl. She'd rarely tell anyone what she wants or needs, especially if she thinks she's going to cause trouble—even if at that point, it already hurts her. So I had to, because, I don't want her to hold it in… She's… a very special existence to me." Garry let it out, admitting that much at the last sentence—probably the most he could allow without being judged for having odd tastes, to say the least.

He bit his lips, looking up and steeling his gaze and stopped himself from nervously playing with his fingers, "I hate to ask it of you. It's shameless. But this is the only thing I can do for her."

The other man paused eyes finally softening somewhat. "We'll talk again after, then. Good night, Garry." He replied before slowly turning away and back into the house where everyone else was asleep. There was a short pause and only mostly the man's silhouette could be seen against the blare of the living room light, "Thank you for caring about my daughter… You are… a very brave man." He said almost quietly before the sound of the door quietly shutting filled the still silence of the night.

A/N: Hi again guys. Hikaru is back again ^^" Sequel fic as promised… after a very very insanely long absence |D Sorry. Seriously. Anyway, standard disclaimers and stuff. I only own the idea of the story. Also, I do know that 'Eve' should actually be 'Ib.' I feel as if spelling to this way seems silly because… what parent in their right mind will name their precious baby girl something like 'Ib.' .w.? The game was originally in Japanese but it seems to be set in a different country so I'm assuming the names are English, hence, 'Eve.' And I'm rambling. I stop now. Last thing! I'm working on editing my prequel to this fic since I twitch seeing all the errors I had in there before… and run ons. I'd probably be updating this more slowly too :c

Edit: crap :F I dunno what happened at first but the contents are fixed now |D