Nokia is quite the jumper, Yuugo thinks as he sits on the EDEN bench. It's easier than sitting in the real world. The human body is too restrictive for him still. He dislikes the sounds his arms make when they move.
In EDEN, everything is silent. To a point.
He cranes his neck, watching her spin between some kids, complimenting her own balance and easily perching on her heels. She has her index finger and thumb out as she spins and she looks so happy. He swallows, overjoyed with her content and jealous of how it comes.
He's missed eight years of memories, but so have they. Stupid father. Stupid Suedou. Stupid all of them, ruining what would have been so wonderful.
He swallows these feelings (they're more for the others anyway, Nokia admits she's not very good at picking up on other people's thoughts and feelings.) and laughs out loud. She's managed to pick up a little boy and spin him now and the jubilation on both faces is adorable. He rests his head on his palm, still laughing, as she finally gets up and gets dizzy. She wobbles over to him, red hair messy and loose in its ponytails. He reaches over and tugs her scrunchies off, causing her to glower half-heartedly. She's too breathless to actually be offended.
"That was so fun!" she shouts, like it isn't obvious in her face, like she isn't still vibrating on the bench because of adrenaline.
Yuugo smiles and presses his hand over the one she has on a bouncing knee. "It looked fun. I wish I wasn't so nervous."
She starts at his touch and he can't help but think that he's killing her by proxy right now., her face is so red and smoking. "Y-Yuugo! You're making me nervous now! Not cool!"
He chuckle and it turns her face even darker and it's so easy to laugh about. Nokia always cheers him up somehow. "I'm not doing anything."
"Yes you are!" She jabs a finger at his nose. "With your cool face and your easy smile and your mask of being a smooth dude when you're really just a dork-"
Yuugo reflects that getting Nokia on a tangent is almost as easy as making dinner for Yuuko. No wonder Arata does it so often. 'You wound me," he jokes, laughing again. "I'll have you know I like being a dork."
"Of course you do," she says, patting his cheek in that patronizing but loving way she has. It's just a part of who she is, and there's no reason to complain about it.
Her legs stop wobbling after a few more minutes and she can finally stand up again. Of course she does though, bouncing like the audience of children hasn't gone away. Then she looks at the ground. "I miss them."
Yuugo smiles a little. He doesn't have to ask who. They all miss them. He barely even got to see them before they started suffering. Because of him. He chews his lip to distract himself. "Me too. We can still see them again."
"I know..." She stomps her foot. "Just, just, just, why do I haveta wait? I mean, it's bad enough nobody remembers anything except us and that that old guy decided to just rewrite the universe without giving anybody any say-so! Who the heck does that anyway?" Nokia huffed. "Arata would have done it I bet! He'd think he was so cool with godlike powers and the ability to manipulate everything! Hey, Yuugo do you think I would be cool with that sort of power? I mean, come on, look at me! I'd be fabulous at it right?"
She's leaning so close to his face by this point and as a result he can't think of an answer and just starts laughing instead. Nokia can't help it after a few seconds of intense staring and joins in.
She doesn't realize what she does to people, but sometimes it's not all bad.
A/N: Cyber Sleuth fluff! After everything else, we deserve some fluff, right?
Challenges: Manga/Game Non Flash Bingo 043 - pairing: Nokia/Yuugo, Prompts in Steps Step 2.03 - crimson, and Diversity Writing B19. Write a fic centered on a character's view of another character.