Eating or being eaten

And what else…? What else…. What else…?? Noah's eyes spun around in circles. He did an internet search on his brother-in-law while he was riding the Magcart from the hospital to the train station, but that only gave him clues on what to insult Levi on! If you wanted to compliment him… Damn it, even if you killed him, Noah couldn't come up with anything else that would be considered a compliment!! QAQ

Blackie watched his stupid host struggle so desperately to find a valid compliment, instead of just making some shit up, and felt sadistic amusement bubble up inside of him. If you wanted him to help out… heh heh… let's put it like this: life of an AI is very long and boring, why would he actively cut off his own entertainment?

Just as Noah's head was about to start letting out smoke from how hard he was trying to come up with something nice to say about this brother-in-law he knew little about… a heavenly ding interrupted the stagnating silence.

Magcart had arrived at their destination!!

Noah jumped to his feet like his butt was on fire, and somehow, he even made that action, that would be otherwise comical, look appealing.

"We've arrived. Let's go, brother-in-law! Come, come!" Noah hastened to divert the attention of his brother-in-law while repeatedly half-chanting, half-praying 'let-it-go' inside his head.

Levi had to stifle another chuckle when he saw the little guy looking like a death row prisoner who had been granted a great amnesty. Even Levi didn't have the heart to continue to bully him, so he let this topic slide.

The day is long, he'll have plenty of opportunities to "bully" the little guy later. Levi's eyes glittered in mischief, and he licked his lips as he contemplated his own bright future.

Seeing how his brother-in-law didn't continue to press on, Noah exhaled a breath of relief he didn't know he was holding. Phew! Saved by the bell!

***

To say Levi was amused would be an understatement. He had just been thinking how cat-like this little brother-in-law was when the other brought him to a seafood restaurant.

It was a famous restaurant that one needed to book months in advance. Unless you were the city lord's family. Because who in their right mind would tell their own king that they needed to get a reservation first?

They were led to a table with a beautiful view of the large wall aquarium, where they could literally pick out their next meal. Levi sat himself down, but instead of observing the fish, he naturally turned to observe his little brother-in-law.

After sitting down opposite Levi, Aris turned to look at Trey, who went to stand behind him, with questioning eyes, "What are you doing?"

"Guarding young master?" Trey responded, bewildered.

"You intend to stand there and just watch us eat?" Noah's eyes widened in mortification.

"Is that not acceptable? I can stand further away?" Trey was equally as bewildered as his charge. Aris wouldn't want him to leave the restaurant, would he? Trey didn't feel safe leaving his cute young master alone in the company of that big bad wolf!

"No! Sit down and order your food!" Noah patted the seat next to him exasperatedly.

"Young master, I'm your guard… joining you while you are dining with your guest would be inappropriate." Trey's eyes and tone were both very gentle as he patiently explained. As much as he wanted to share a meal with his crush, it really would be inappropriate. If the city lord heard of it, his job would be on the line, and this is one thing he was absolutely unwilling to pass on to someone else.

Noah's eyebrow furrowed, and his lips tightened into what the two men thought to be an adorable pout, "Perhaps. But making you just stand there while we eat would be inhumane."

Trey was stumped. What could he say to make his cute young master not feel bad about this whole situation? "No, I…"

Levi finally became alarmed with the development of the situation. If this continued any further, his lovely lunch date with his little brother-in-law would have an annoying addition to it.

He turned towards the waiter who was standing nearby and pointed to the empty table next to theirs. "Let him sit there."

He spoke with such finality that the waiter could do nothing but nod helplessly.

And so, this annoying third wheel known as Trey was deported to the table next to theirs.

"Order whatever you like. Don't be shy." Noah cajoled Trey, "Personal guard position comes with free lunch."

Since when? Trey could do nothing but dotingly smile at his little boss. Refusing his good intentions any further wouldn't be good for his little master's reputation or mood. He should just quietly accept his care and remember it in his heart.

And so, all three were finally comfortably settled in their seats and started studying the menu on the book-like device they were given. Levi quickly ordered something random and then rested his eyes again on his little brother-in-law.

The little guy seemed to be conflicted about something. His eyebrows were furrowed and his mouth pressed in a subconscious pout.

After a while of staring at Aris's troubled look, Levi couldn't help but speak up, "Is something wrong?"

His deep voice startled Noah awake from his reverie, "No, no! There are so many tasty things I can't decide what to order."

Is this even an issue? Levi's mouth involuntarily curved into a smirk. Ah, this little one was really cute.

"Just order all of them." Levi suggested good-naturedly, but Aris shook his head: "I won't be able to finish eating it all."

"So?" Levi was confused as to why that was an issue.

"Wasting food is no good." Aris motioned his head towards the beautiful blue aquarium and explained in a deathly serious tone as if talking about world peace. "Whatever we order will be freshly taken out of the aquarium. For every dish I order, another fish will die."

Levi couldn't conceal his amusement, and it ended up leaking into his words, "They are food. They will die either way. It makes no difference to them whether they end up in your stomach or someone else's."

Noah nodded his head in agreement, his facial expression still solemn "There is nothing wrong with eating or being eaten. Everything needs to eat to survive, including humans. But senseless killing is wrong. If I order too much and are unable to eat it, then the fish would have died in vain."

Levi bit his lip to prevent himself from grinning at this adorably foolish little brother-in-law. He didn't wish for Aris to misunderstand it as him making light of his beliefs. He honestly had no intention to mock Aris - he even agreed with him; it's just that Levi found him too adorable for words and had trouble restraining the desire to snicker.

Levi couldn't remember the last time he'd enjoyed himself this much. He probably never laughed so many times in such a short period of time before. His peers often told him that he was like an old man – boring, not knowing how to have fun or enjoy life. And he could do nothing but accept that they were right, he wasn't playful nor curious by nature, and his sense of humor was lacking.

It wasn't that he had something against enjoying life, it's just that he didn't know how. There were simply too few things that interested him, and even fewer things that he found enjoyable.

He had initially come to Concordia with a mindset of 'let's get it over with sooner than later', but now he thought he didn't want to get it over with at all.

All he had done so far was ride a Magcart and sit to eat a meal, yet how come he was having the time of his life doing something so… mundane? Something that should be so ordinary and uninteresting?

Could it be that he had been living life wrong this entire time? Was every day supposed to be like this? Filled with so much color?

If so, then didn't he waste 24 years of his life in vain?

Noticing how the other man turned quiet with what seemed to be understanding, Noah nodded his head satisfied, unaware of how his careless words have caused the other man to doubt his entire life.

…and how this single moment of folly would come to haunt him soon enough. (He and his big mouth! Couldn't he have just picked a fish at random?! Why turn it into a philosophical question?!)