like sunshine

the queen of elves, after all, is a spirit. – luminous/mercedes.

Mercedes often called him an immature idiot on the same level as Phantom (which he disagreed with wholeheartedly) but she still liked to lean her head against him to sleep when they travelled on the road.

The strange thing – or the stranger thing, really – was that she didn't seem to be aware that she had such a habit.

He honestly didn't understand why. She didn't like him in the romantic way – one of Phantom's few spoken truths – and his shoulder couldn't have been the most comfortable thing to rest her royal head against.

Perhaps it was his inexperience with women. After Lucia, he hadn't really been around many women.

Not wanting to directly talk about it with the queen of elves, he asked Aran, the only other female member of the Heroes, for any deep educational deductions she may have had on the matter.

He received a 'don't be a sissy and just ask her why'.

And so he did.

Mercedes blinked as she registered and remembered her unconscious habit of resting her head against him. She blinked once – twice – three times before she slowly opened her mouth. "I do not know."

"You do not know," he repeated.

"Not the direct reason, no, but . . . but I would guess that I often do so because it's comfortable."

"Comfortable?" a memory from the recent past floated up in his head. "I thought you said my shoulder was too bony."

"It is," the queen said immediately. "But . . . I don't know, and I cannot explain it, but when I'm near you I feel as if I am lying in a patch of warm sunshine."

And Luminous would have been satisfied with that answer, until Phantom somehow managed to overhear it and spread rumours about the two of them, making things very, very awkward.

For the first time since he had joined the heroes, he wasn't the only one running after Phantom with the intent to kill. The Queen of the Elves had joined him, and her arrows were proving to be very helpful when chasing after the thief.

It was rather fun.

Because of what Guwaru said in the beginning of the Luminous story. Spirits like his light because it's sunshine or whatever. Well, elves are (somewhat) spirits, right?

Also, I was inspired to write this after reading Buelo's Memory Lane. Excellent story, go check it out.

For the Unusual Pairings Project. Details on profile.