Author's Notes:

This is going somewhere, honest. Just, you know, slowly. And I have no idea if it's getting there effectively or not.

But eh, better to be reading something that's a bit naff than not reading anything at all, right?

Right?

I was definitely sacked. Two days in a row? Not even a peep from me to explain myself? No getting around that. Definitely sacked.

This was what I thought to myself as I lay on that hotel bed, staring at the ceiling and feeling hard-done by. That I hadn’t woken up back at home with this whole episode having just been a thoroughly ridiculous dream was disappointing.

Adagio had slunk off while I was still asleep, which wasn’t a huge surprise, but what was surprising was discovering that Aria and Sonata were also nowhere to be found. I’d been left on my own.

Not one to question providence I immediately tried to see what I could do to try and affect an escape. How hard could it be?

Harder than I’d expected, sadly.

The door was locked, obviously, which was a fairly big obstacle. Again I questioned the health and safety ramifications of such a decision in a hotel room, but questioning it wasn’t making the door any less locked. Since it opened in, my odds of doing something dramatic like kicking it down were slim, too.

I looked around for other ideas. Perhaps I could call for help?

Now that was a concept. Call down to the front desk, tell them I’d locked myself in! That must happen to them a lot, I imagined. Feeling very pleased with myself I dashed to the nearest phone I could see.

The phones in all the rooms were, I discovered, disconnected. And not in any way I could reconnect, either. The lines had been actually, physically cut.

Drat.

After sitting and feeling bitterly disappointed for a minute or so I got up and kept casting around for other options. There were not many that presented themselves.

The windows all had safety bolts on them to keep them from opening too far and besides, we were a fair way up to start with. I thought I could see a drainpipe further along the wall but I wasn’t that trusting of my shimmying skills and - again - couldn’t get out there anyway.

A daring air-vent escape was sadly curtailed by the rooms vent being a generous foot wide and maybe four inches tall. I wasn’t fitting in those. So that was out.

I was really stuck. It was infuriating.

Really, I probably should have been angrier about the whole thing. I was irritated, sure, but not livid. Maybe I’m just an unnaturally calm person, mostly though I just knew that if I started screaming and swearing and breaking things I’d be left with mess and no closer to actually what I wanted. Life had taught me this much, at least.

Think. If I was sat at home watching someone in my situation in a film or whatever, what would I be screaming at them to do? What was I missing?

I didn’t know, and it made me feel stupid, which made me feel miserable.

In despair I decided to have a shower, because I smelt ripe.

It had been nagging at the edges of my senses the whole time I’d been trying to get out of the room but now after having got all worked up over it the smell was unavoidable. Sleeping and living in the same clothes for three-ish days on the trot was having predictable results.

How Adagio had tolerated having me in the bed was anyone’s guess. Hell, how she’d tolerated clinging to me most of the night was an even deeper mystery.

And oh how she had clung. Like a limpet.

So I showered and then mooched around in a towel, dripping aggressively and checking to see if anything had changed in the meantime that might allow me to escape. Nothing had. I elected to grumpily watch television.

Television was just boring at first but very quickly became actively annoying, so I turned it off again.

I sat in silence, and got very bored very quickly. Worse, I started to think, as one does in moments of quiet when there is nothing else to do.

I thought about my situation, and about how ludicrous it was. Kidnapped by a magical girl who seemed to want to just keep me around for reasons I wasn’t fully able to grasp. Adagio seemed to oscillate wildly between giving the impression she wanted me around to show off and then immediately flipping over into wanting to put me in a box so no-one else could even look at me

That’s not the sort of thing they ever prepare you for. What was I even meant to be doing? Screaming?

Maybe it’d help?

I thought more about escape. I could probably try harder. Could I, perhaps, smash a window, tie bed sheets together and shimmy down to freedom? Plausible, but doable? I wasn’t sure. And I couldn’t suppress the worry that I’d somehow be the one getting in trouble for that.

Maybe hold it back as a last resort.

Mostly though - and insistently, as a background noise - I thought about Sunset, who I missed. A lot. More than I thought I would given the circumstances. I just kind of wanted her around. Not to save me (though I’d appreciate that, obviously), but just because I missed having her around. It would have been nice to have her nearby, to know she was there.

Had she noticed I’d gone yet? Was she worried? I imagined she would be worried, which made me worried for her being worried. Did she think it was somehow her fault? Oh no, that would make her worry more! And it’d be my fault somehow! That’d be awful!

As a side note I kind of hoped that Adagio had remembered to shut my door back home when kidnapping me. Not a lot I could about it if not, but I really hoped she had.

But oh! What if she hadn’t! That would mean on the one hand just anyone could wander into my place and take my shit - which would be bad and suck - and would also mean that if Sunset just-so happened to pop around again to yell at me some more she’d find the door open and me just not there! What would she think? Oh how she’d worry!

And I was sure it’d all somehow be my fault!

It was while I was drowning in this thick and anguished mental soup that I heard the door to the room being opened and so ecstatic was I at the prospect of having someone to talk to and so of having an external voice to drown out my internal one that I leapt up, quite forgetting I was still in just a towel.

I was halfway towards the door when I realised this and how it might look but by then it was too late and the door had opened. In through it came Adagio who, seeing me, paused. I couldn’t blame her.

“Happy to see me?” She asked, eyebrow raised as she entered proper and locked the door behind her, a mid-level smirk on her face. Mid-level because she was amused, but also surprised. These distinctions are important. And mostly made up.

“Ye- I mean, yes, yeah, happy to see anyone. I was bored and lonely. You must have gone out pretty early. I thought you were relaxing, Dagi? Hope you haven’t been overdoing it. Don’t want you hurting yourself or...something...”

This was my attempt at conversational judo, trying to flip it away from me being happy to see her and instead onto her wellbeing. A cunning plan on my part and no mistake, somewhat undercut by my stumbling delivering and the fact I was, as mentioned, wearing only a towel. No-one can command a situation in a towel. And if someone can, I haven’t heard of them.

My success therefore was muted, and her smirk became more generally smile-like.

“It’s sweet that you’re worried about me but it’s okay, I wasn’t doing anything too strenuous. Trust me.”

Given the way things were that last part - that little bit about trust - was a little tricky. At the very least I believed her, which was about as good as Adagio was going to be getting from me right then.

“You’re the boss. But you’re back now, huh?” I asked. She nodded.

“I am.”

Wasn’t sure how to follow that up.

“I had a shower,” I said, without really thinking it through first. The smile once again became more of a smirk, the amused kind. I was getting good at Adagio-reading.

“I kind of guessed.”

Further awkwardness as I stood there, retucking the towel around my waist to keep it from falling down. I cleared my throat.

“I should probably put some clothes on,” I said, only to remember I had one set of clothes and they stunk to high heaven. Still, needs must. Couldn’t just carry on like this! That’d be mad.

Adagio was clearly thinking along the same lines as me but came to different conclusion, as she wrinkled her nose at the mention.

“We’ll have to get you some new ones,” she said, nodding to herself.

As much as I appreciated the gesture this wasn’t what I wanted. I did not want further largesse from Adagio. The more I received, the more it felt like she was exerting some sort of control over me. Weird, yes, but that was how I felt. Like she was putting her hand down on some sort of intangible set of scales, weighing it it against me somehow.

Maybe I’m just strange.

“Uh, it’s okay, you don’t need to do that,” I said.

The smirk vanished, replaced almost at once with a determined look I was becoming uncomfortable familiar with.

“No. I’m going to look after you.”

I could tell that further argument would be pointless and, likely, a very bad idea. Just an impression I got. I swallowed.

“Still, should really put some clothes on.”

“You’ve seen me in a towel,” she said, and I did my best to try and not immediately bring that image back to mind. Almost managed it.

“That’s different,” I said, not really knowing why and hoping I wasn’t pressed on the details. The smirk came back and I could tell she knew she had me in a box, but then she deliberately skirted around it, stepping forward and getting me to take a step back.

“Not a lot of sense in putting on dirty clothes, especially if you can help it. It’s just us here, after all. You shouldn’t worry about it, not for a bit.”

Adagio did not seem fussed and gave off a very convincing vibe of light and breezy, even as she walked me back towards the seating around the television. I tried to be breezy too, but firm.

“I feel a little exposed,” I said.

“It’s just us,” she repeated, as though this somehow made it better. It did not. If anything, it made it worse somehow. My legs bumped a sofa.

“Still…” I said again, but this was apparently Adagio’s limit.

“Sit down,” she said.

I could get dressed later, right then I just needed to sit down. Lucky the sofa was so close, really. I’d wanted a sit down anyway. It was why I’d moved backwards in the first place.

Sitting down beside me Adagio smoothed herself out and tossed back her hair, looking pleased with herself.

She’d got me again, damnit.

“Wish you’d stop doing that…” I grumbled.

“Doing what?” She asked, and I could not for the life of me tell if she was messing with me or not.

The cracks in the gem, I noticed, were starting to glow green. Faintly, but noticeably. The light that came from the cracks didn’t so much shine as leak. It wasn’t right.

Should I mention it? She had to know, surely? And if it was something worth being worried about she’d tell me? Maybe it was normal. Maybe she’d get angry if I said something because she already knew about it?

Leave it for now. Ask about something else. Try and direct attention away from the inherently awkward situation of being sat here next to her whilst half-naked. Which is totally her fault.

“Where’d the other two get to?” I asked. This seemed a pretty option for moving things along. Adagio waved a hand in a general direction that indicated ‘away’.

“Oh, they’re off at the new place. I figured it’d be a good idea to not stay in the hotel longer than we had to so I scoped a place out, acquired it. Nice, out of the way. They’re there now.”

Jesus, she worked quick. I wouldn’t even have known where to start on such a thing, let alone getting it done in a day. But then again I wasn’t magic. Still, impressive stuff. Damn, Adagio.

“Ah, well, okay then,” I said. There wasn’t a whole lot else I could add.

“But I’ve already paid up for one more night here,” Adagio said, shuffling that little bit closer.

“Uh, oh, hey, that so?”

Adagio shuffled closer still.

“Be a shame to waste it, wouldn’t it?” She asked me, leaning in.

I sat very, very still.

“Yes?”

“I thought it’d be nice to spend some more time just you and me. As friends.”

“Uh,” I said, or rather grunted in alarm as she then straddled me again.

Nope, no, not happening. Not with me in a towel. Last time caught me off guard and hadn’t seemed quite as bad as this, but this was too much for me. Too rich for my blood.

This seemed perhaps a step or two above friendly to me.

“Uh, Adagio,” I said, keeping my hands well away from her and my eyes glued to a point somewhere past the ceiling and even then I could still see the smile on her face out the corner of my eye. “Could you maybe...not sit there?”

The smile shrank to nothing.

“Oh. Oh okay,” she said, dismounting and sitting next to me again, shuffling away this time.

We sat in awkward silence a moment or two.

“So that was bad?” Adagio asked, eventually.

“It was maybe a little overly intimate,” I said, choosing my words carefully.

“Overly intimate...okay, okay. And that’s bad? I can remember that.”

She twisted in place and brought her legs up underneath her, turning to face me more fully.

“I want to learn how to be a better friend for you. I know what buttons to push in humans to get a bad reaction, but getting a good reaction is more difficult. It’s harder. But I want to be a good friend, I really do. So I’ve been studying,” she said.

This was not a normal conversation. But then, what about my life recently had been normal?

“Oh?” I asked.

“Yes. I’ve been watching people, watching friends. Watching them without interfering, seeing how they acted, feeling how they felt. It was...different...but I think I’ve learnt a lot.”

“That so?”

She nodded with enthusiasm.

“I saw some friends in a park - a guy and a girl, like you and me, yeah? - and I watched them a little, just to see what they did, how they interacted. And the girl did something like that, like what I did then. They seemed happy so I just thought...well, now I know better. I’ll remember that. Overly intimate, okay.”

I had the distinct and growing impression that Adagio wasn’t especially clear on the distinction between people who were good friends and people who were in an actual relationship. One would think she might have picked up on this during her observations and, indeed, during all her time just being around people in general, surely, but apparently not.

Perhaps those sort of fine details don’t matter to something that just enjoys the taste of when people get upset with one another? I didn’t know, I wasn’t an expert. Still kind of weird but whatever.

I did know, though, that this was probably something I’d have to nip in the bud, or at least keep an eye on. Keep the straddling to a minimum, along with whatever other behaviour Adagio might have seen and just thought was friendly…

“So…” I said, attempting to seize the conversational initiative again. “What’s the plan with this new place? What’s the plan at all? I mean, beyond revenge. You mentioned revenge rather a lot.”

I had meant this as a dig. Hopefully me pointing it out might have given her cause to pause and reflect. It did not, and seemed to pass completely over her head as she reached to take hold of one of my hands in both of hers.

“You don’t need to worry about any of that. I’m going to look after you no matter what happens, so you don’t need to worry. The new place is nice though, I know you’ll like it. It’s not going to be safe for you out there, for a bit at least, while I sort things out, so you’re going to have to stay there for a while. But that’s okay, you’ll like it.”

Whelp that sounded great. Not low-key sinister at all. I swallowed.

“Uh, okay, alright. Uh, Adagio, can I ask you something?”

“You can ask me anything,” she said, sweetly. I swallowed again, though my throat was dry.

“This is pretty serious, isn’t it? Am I ever going to be allowed to go home? Or is this it for me?”

“I know this’ll take some getting used to, but it is for the best. It’d really make it a lot easier on yourself if you stopped worrying and just let me take care of everything.”

I was getting a lot of that from Adagio. Kind of a theme, you could say. Certainly, I was picking up on the same things over and over again. She also put her hand on my leg. Really, really way too high up my leg.

“Could you - would mind - ?” I said, delicately shifting her hand down to the relatively benign territory of my knee. She removed it completely.

“Was that overly intimate as well?” She asked.

“Little bit. Not something friends do.”

“You’re saying we’re not friends?”

Whoop damage control back up.

“No, no, I’m just saying we’re not really that kind of friends. We’re friends just not, you know, like that. You know?”

Judging from her face it seemed safe to bet that no, she did not know. She looked confused.

“But this is how Sunset felt. She’s your friend, isn’t she? This is how she feels about you. I know, I felt it too. It was coming off her in waves. Angry waves, because of the jealousy, but I could still tell. That’s not friendship?”

Oh for fuck’s sake. Fuck everything. This is ridiculous. I don’t have the energy to parse any of this. I mean, I already knew I’d managed to miss super-obvious clues from Sunset - this much I’d been told already - so hearing it again wasn’t anything I needed, but now Adagio too? This is just too much. I am but one man! A tired, half-naked man!

I rested my face in my hands.

“Are you okay? Do you need a hug? Or is that too intimate?” I heard Adagio ask. I just shrugged and a moment later she was wrapped around me. By then I was beyond caring.

“I really need to talk to Sunset…” I said into my hands.

“Hmm?” Adagio asked, apparently not having heard me. Not that her having heard me would have helped or been a good thing, I felt. Peeking through my fingers I found her face close by mine. She looked concerned. Whenever Adagio was looking at me recently it was usually a toss up between possessive concern or smirking possessiveness. Neither was great.

“What’s your deal with you and Sunset anyway?” I asked her, recklessly.

“Uh-” she started, but I wasn’t finished.

“I mean, I can kind of get how you’d be annoyed with all of those guys given that they all, you know, beat you and broke your magic thingy and stuff, but you seem really hung up on Sunset and that kind of, uh, gets to me a little. She being my friend and all.”

Adagio winced when I said that last part, actually winced. And then she just hugged me tighter, resting her chin on my bare shoulder. Ugh. Probably a worrying sign how used to this I was getting.

“It’s silly…” She said.

“Maybe, maybe not, I’d still quite like to know. If you’ll tell me.”

A pause. Adagio took in a breath and then said quietly:

“Because she’ll try and take you away from me…”

Before I could respond to this Adagio broke the hug and leant back, holding me by the shoulders and beaming - actually beaming. Ear to ear smile, really overwhelming. It reached her eyes, which was usually supposed to be a good sign, but in this case just somehow made it worse. It was like she was wearing a mask.

“But! We have the whole evening together and tomorrow we can get you some clothes. And a treat! Anything you want before we get to the new place. Let’s focus on now and the future! You don’t need to worry about anything else! You don’t need to worry about anything. You’re my friend and I’m going to look after you and keep you safe and we’ll both have fun. Because you’re mine.”

I swallowed, again. Really needed a drink.

And that gem of hers was really starting to look a little worse for wear.