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X woke up in great spirits the next morning. He hummed as he took his morning shower. The bounce in his step was undeniable as he went to get breakfast. He soon entered the cafeteria to see Iris was the only one there. She was already eating at the moment, so he left her alone so he could prepare his own meal. Iris was still there as he came back out to eat.

"Good morning," X greeted as he took a seat.

Iris jumped considerably. It was like she wasn't aware that X had entered to begin with.

"Good morning." Iris soon nodded back. In front of her was a plate with two pieces of toast, and a small cup of orange juice. X quickly noticed that she had only taken three nibbles out of her toast. The orange juice didn't even look like it had been touched.

"Not hungry?" X cautiously questioned, gesturing to her food.

"Huh?" came the first reaction. It took a look down at her food to change it to a sullen, "Oh. Not really. Something else has been on my mind."

"What's that?"

Iris's eyes trailed away from X. He followed her gaze to the centerpiece he and Axl had placed days before. The flowers were all but dead now.

Iris gently brushed a finger against the dried out petal. It fell immediately. X and Iris watched it as if the poor thing could blow away in a nonexistent wind, or sprout legs and declare it had elsewhere to be.

"They never had a chance." Iris sighed.

X observed her for a moment. She looked so… sullen. Was she seeing herself in that flower just now? X bit his lip as he thought it over, his eyes moving back to the dried out flower.

In the past few days, the flowers and fruits growing in the rooftop garden had yet to wither away. They were still alive. Maybe they could…

"We can pick more." X found himself saying out loud. "And this time, we can make sure that they're properly fed so they don't die as quickly."

Iris looked over at him. She mulled over his words with a small hum.

She then smiled. "I'd like that."

X couldn't help but smile back.

. . .

The rooftop garden was as quiet and serene as ever. Being here again gave Iris a reason to take in a deep breath. Things were alright. Things could be normal. She and X just had to take a gentle stroll around the garden to find the flowers they wanted to pick. Easy.

"What about this one?" X questioned, crouching down near a darling red flower with yellow stamen.

Iris gave it a tilt of her head. She also crouched down to get a better look at it.

"It reminds me of Zero." Iris decided.

"You know, it kinda does." X realized. The two mirrored each other in their tilted heads as they looked over the flower. X glanced over at Iris, head still titled. "Do you think we can find flowers that resemble everyone else? I guess I'd have to go with bluebells, irises with you, obviously. If you want them."

"I like irises."

"Maybe we could find something purple for Layer, something pink for Alia…"

"Axl might like something orange. Or just one big sunflower."

X grinned. "I'm sure we could do both." he told her. "Then that just leaves…."

"Aero." they both said at the same time. They looked at each other then, unsure of what to do with someone whose aura was green.

"Maybe getting flowers that resembles everyone is a bad idea." Iris shrunk.

X thought it over. Then he shook his head.

"No." he decided. "We can make it work. Every bouquet has filler to it, right? We'll find a nice looking grassy something to be filler. It wouldn't look complete without it."

Iris bit her lip, unsure. X, on the other hand, was certain with this idea.

"Come on," he beckoned as he stood up, "We've got a lot of flowers to track down."

Iris remained where she was for some time. When she finally got up, she realized how badly she just wanted to sit again. But X was on a roll now. She had to keep up. If he could keep going, so could she.

. . .

Something about Iris felt off. It was like she was hiding something from X. He tried to ignore it. It was still early in the morning after all. Maybe she just wasn't feeling awake yet? He hoped that she would perk up just a little as they went about finding flowers. But there was something in her that just wouldn't let it happen. X could feel it.

The near silence between them wasn't helping much either. Every so often one would call the other over when the perfect flower was found, but other than that there was little in way of conversation. It was another thing that was itching away at X. He had to say something, but what?

"Tell me more about your cousin, Juno."

Iris jumped. She looked over at X, confused. "Huh? Why?"

"You just seem out of it." X admitted, not sure of what else to say. "If you don't want to talk about what's wrong, maybe we can talk about something -someone- else."

Iris made a face that didn't know whether to be amused or perturbed.

"And my cousin is the one you want to bring up? Not Zero, or Alia, or Axl, or…"

"I know them." X insisted, giving a playful roll of his eyes.

"Alright." Iris agreed. "But in return you have to tell me more about your family. You have a sister, right?"

"That's right."

"Any others? Sisters, or even brothers?"

"Two brothers- both older than me."

"Oh? Your mother must have had some time with you four. Three boys! I can't even imagine."

"I never knew our mother. Sometimes I wonder if we even had one..."

"But that's silly."

"Yeah. She just wasn't there when I was little, and the others don't talk about her much."

"You know? Me and my brother don't talk about our parents much either."

"Wait- you have a brother?"

Iris giggled. It also didn't sound right to X. "Yep. He's older. Very protective of me and Juno. It's really kinda sweet if it wasn't his fatal flaw…"

. . .

The cafeteria looked much brighter after X and Iris placed the new arrangements. Even though X was sure Iris wasn't completely alright, she did brighten up a bit at seeing their handiwork. The two left each other on good terms after- Iris wanting to stay behind a bit longer. X felt pretty good as he left the cafeteria.

Seeing Alia carry a full tea set in her arms genuinely caught him off guard. She wasn't struggling or anything. She just had a full tea set in her arms. Suffice to say, it was an odd sight.

Curious, X moved closer in. Once close, sure she could see him from her peripheral, he clasped his hands behind his back as he kept pace with her.

"What are you doing today Alia?" he asked, far too innocently.

Alia gave him a hum at first, and adjusted the tea set slightly.

"I think I'm going to have a little tea test." she mused back. She craned her neck to look at him before asking, "Wanna join?"

"I probably would if I knew what a tea test was."

Alia laughed.

"Come on," she beckoned. X was dutiful to follow her back to her room. He even got the door for her like a gentleman.

"Thank you." Alia thanked in a singing tone as she entered her room. She carefully placed the tea set on the floor. X got down to his knees to help her sort everything out.

Once they were done, they had a full spread prepared for whatever teas they were going to try that day.

"Would you put water in the kettle for me?" Alia requested to X. "We can use the water from my bathroom sink. Boiling it should get rid of any weird pathogens that might be in there."

"You're very trusting of the fact." X snorted. Despite this, he got up anyway.

Alia's bathroom did not look much different than the one attached to X's bedroom. It made sense for them to be the same. He really wanted to know where she got those fancy embroidered hand towels from though. X wanted a set of his own now.

X carried the kettle back out to the bedroom to find that Alia had already warmed up the small plate the kettle would sit on. He placed it on top with care.

"Excellent." Alia nodded. X sat back down with his legs folded. "Now we just need to wait for the water to warm up. What flavor do you want to try first? I'm leaning toward the peppermint."

X hummed as he looked over the flavors Alia had found. There was the peppermint, along with regular mint. He could catch the package of some green, chai, and oolong teas. It was when he spotted the rooibos tea packet that he stopped.

Alia noticed this far quickly. She gave X a funny look before matching his gaze downward.

"Oh." she remarked, unsurprised.

X could feel his face heat up from embarrassment.

"Sorry." he apologized. "The peppermint sounds good."

"If you want to try the rooibos first-"

"No, it's fine." X insisted. "We have all day, right? We'll get to it eventually."

Alia continued to look at X.

"Alright then." she agreed.

X let out a sigh. Thankfully Alia would drop the subject there. The water was soon heated up and the duo each placed a tea packet into their cups before Alia poured the water in.

"Now, what to talk about while the tea seeps." Alia bemused. She idly held her cup, occasionally bringing it close to cool off a bit, and tilted her head from side to side as she thought of a conversation starter. "Don't suppose you got any good gossip in you?"

"Not really." X admitted. He left his cup sitting on the coaster as it cooled and seeped. "I don't think I'm that type of person."

"You don't think?"

X shrugged. It was enough for Alia. She understood by now that X was a particularly simple soul. He wouldn't have any gossip on him.

"Well," Alia then tried, "Let's make something up."

"Why?!"

"Because it's just us two, and we're not going to spread any more trouble."

X wasn't so sure about that.

Alia took her first tentative sip of her tea. The face she made indicated it wasn't strong enough for her yet.

"I think Axl's tried to kiss Aero." she rasped.

X -who had decided to take a sip of his own tea to see if it was strong enough- nearly choked.

"Alia!"

For a moment, she actually looked apologetic.

"Too close?" she guessed. "Sorry about that. Better than guessing what Zero and Iris have been up to. She's gotten a lot shyer around him, and it's not because they've been getting further apart. If anything-"

"Don't finish that sentence Alia."

"They're-"

"Alia..."

"Okay, okay." Alia relented. "I won't say it out loud. But you know it's true. You've hung out with the both of them. You know what it's like to feel like a third wheel."

X scoffed.

"We three got along fine and without a third wheel in the way, thank you." he informed her. "Whatever wheels you're imagining are just that- your imagination."

Alia took a long sip of her tea then. It still wasn't strong enough for her, but it had to be done for the effect.

"Interesting." she mused. "Very interesting, X. So, tell me. Bed, wed, or behead: Aero, Zero, and Iris."

"Alia!"

There was no sense of apology as Alia went into a bright laughter.

. . .

The rest of the tea test went by with a far less impish Alia after. The two would go on to make idle talks about their lives before- X repeated some of what he had told Iris earlier that day about his own family.

Trying the rooibos had been one of the last flavors the two decided to try before dinner. X drank it slowly, trying to figure out just what about it made it the tea of choice for Aero. Maybe he hoped that it could bring her closer to him, or vice versa.

When X and Alia parted ways for the night, X knew then that he just didn't know Aero the way he wanted to. But he was going to try anyway.