She feels like their hearts are sewn together and he holds the needle.

Eva hasn't felt like this since she was fifteen, since she looked at Amalia with darkened eyes and wished for that soft skin and that winning princess smile to be hers. Since she whispered it to her in the middle of the night and since the pained faces, and the desperate touches, and the next morning the I'm sorry but we can't do this, the I just don't feel that way, the can we please still be friends. The day after that, Eva hardened her smile and hoped to Cra that she would never fall in love ever, ever again.

It's like Pinpin yanks on a stitch in her chest every time he spins gracefully, or not, with that Cra-damned sword of his. With every one of his stupid grins or Piwi-brained ideas, with every time he runs off after some great honor, he pulls the thread taut. It hurts Eva to know she's getting sucked in again and it's not even her fault.

Yet, there's something that brings her back to that tanned, chivalrous moron. Maybe her heart likes the ache of the stitches; maybe her heart just likes nestling up against another. Maybe her heart likes being able to steal some of the fire from that damned Iop and spit it back at him, making him just as vulnerable as she is.

Maybe it's the way that even if he goes to save some damsel in distress, he gives her that look that says don't worry, you're my number one girl. Maybe it's the way his chapped lips suckle the back of her neck as he wraps himself around her. Maybe it's the way that he makes her feel safe. It gets tiring to be a bodyguard for a princess, to always have to look behind you for a threat that may never come, to be the less important one while everyone looks up to the princess, and Pinpin's always willing to take that stress on his own back.

And Cra, isn't Pinpin a stupid name?

It fits the Iop-brain. He calls her Evie, sometimes, in private. She figures a dumb nickname for him is just turnabout.