The emblem of the State Security Service had always been a source of power and conviction for its agents. There was a reason why the SSS decided to hang it on the wall in the interrogation room, the wall behind the interrogator that directly faced the suspect. The single eye of the eagle that glared down on the guilty often resulted in a welcomed addition of pressure and duress.

Whenever Yuri was interrogating someone, having the eye behind him was always reassuring and gave him the confidence to carry on his mission.

However, he never thought he 'd one day be on the receiving end of the eye 's pressure.

The interrogation room was completely dark save for the lone lamp casting a soft white shade of light onto the table. Loidy was seated next to him with his hands cuffed behind him to the chair, his eyes closed and his head drooping, like he was asleep, but the tension in his neck showed he was just as vigilant as Yuri was, if not more (which was highly unlikely for a civilian).

It had been two hours since their arrest. They were thrown into this room immediately after and were given the silent treatment ever since. Yuri knew what they were trying to do. Ignoring the suspect was a common and effective tactic to psychologically torture them and apply unseen pressure. The suspect was already in an unsettled state after being arrested by the secret police so to be ignored by the very people who caught them would aggravate their anxiety, filling their head with pessimistic thoughts such as:

What are they doing? What do they have in store for me? Do they already have enough evidence to prosecute me so they see no point in interrogating me? Or are they going after my allies as well? Did I accidentally let slip my contacts? Where did I slip up?

Silence at a time like this was not a blessing, but a punishment.

Yuri would like to believe such a tactic he was familiar with wouldn't work on him, but his mind was already starting to wander. Why did they arrest him? It couldn't be because he failed to catch Twilight. They knew such a slippery bastard wouldn't be caught so easily.

Plus, it was his first mission after his promotion. His boss, who had a good impression of him, had patted his back and told him not to let it get to him. Since Loidy wasn't Twilight, the real Twilight must have sniffed out their plan and alerted his accomplice while Yuri's attention was on Loidy, ergo Franklin's disappearance when agents stormed into his house only to find it empty.

So it must have been a personal reason. The boss liked him, so unless it was from a higher command, he wouldn't let something like this happen to his promising subordinate. Maybe it had something to do with that NCO who hated him? But no matter what strings he pulled, someone of his rank couldn't possibly get a superior officer arrested.

Loidy 's arrest also boggled him. Did they arrest him because they didn't believe Yuri when he said Lottie was innocent? Or was he arrested for the same reason (whatever that was) Yuri was?

Or perhaps they 'found out about Yor 's secret job?

Thorn Princess may not necessarily be an enemy of Ostania, she was still dangerous enough to be considered a threat in case she ever turned against them. Such a dangerous individual wouldn 't be allowed to live if unmasked. Considering the kinds of feats she had accomplished (according to rumors), did they fear apprehending her directly wouldn 't be successful and might even result in multiple casualties, so they decided to arrest aka kidnap her important family members to threaten her into coming willingly? Was this why not a single agent had visited him and Lottie after throwing them here? Were they out arresting Yor!?

Yuri gritted his teeth so hard the grinding sounds made Lottie look up in alarm.

'It 'll be fine. We 're innocent. They don 't have anything to hold against us, so they 'll let us go soon, ' he said with a reassuring smile, acting all grown up like he was trying to comfort a little kid.

Sure, Yuri may be seven years younger than him but Yuri was the one with more experience in this field. It made him feel oddly warm yet also guilty to be comforted like this by a civilian, by his brother-in-law who he had been so 'disrespectful and pugnacious towards just a few hours ago.

Did Loidy not blame him for his behavior earlier? He had falsely accused him and acted violently towards him and even made him '

The thought of

that

made Yuri 's face heat up.

He owed Loidy an apology, not only for

that

(though it wasn 't Yuri 's fault that the little chihuahua girl invited him to live with them and they agreed and now had to keep their hands to themselves at night in fear of Yuri hearing them doing those THINGS which resulted in Loidy being pent up) but also for the way he had been treating him. But the prospect of having to apologize to Loid Forger of all people made his stomach churn. Just because Loidy wasn 't Twilight didn 't mean Yuri approved their marriage. In fact,

because

Loidy wasn 't Twilight, he wouldn 't have the skills necessary to protect Yor better than Yuri could. Just because he was tall and handsome and considerate and could cook and was a doctor didn 't mean he could also fight and fend off villains who might try to make a move on Yor! Yuri refused to believe such a perfect man could exist!

'Wait a minute. Did Yor even need protection? As an assassin, she must have gone up against countless men who were armed to the teeth. The kind of danger she would find herself in ' Yuri didn 't think even

he

could protect her from that, let alone Loidy. And even if he wanted to offer her protection and assistance during her secret job, she wouldn 't have agreed to it.

'Leave Twilight to me. '

Yor had snarled with a nasty glint in her eyes before Yuri left the Forger 's household.

'He 's my prey. '

She had told him about how Twilight was the one who actually shot her and took that as an opportunity to slip away, so she had to be the one to take him down once and for all in a one-on-one battle. It had to do with her pride as an assassin. Yuri was against the idea of her facing Twilight on her own after knowing what that bastard did to her, but he didn 't make his disapproval known. That nasty glint in Yor 's eyes when she called Twilight her 'prey ' was enough to convince him that any dissent on his end would fall on deaf ears. And so, Yuri transferred all his resources into hunting down Franklin, who should be considerably easier to catch especially since the idiot was the kind to blabber when drunk.

If the SSS found out about her secret job, then they most likely also found out about her scuffle with Twilight. She had a lead about the spy but didn 't report it, so that alone would warrant her arrest, on top of her years of first degree murders amongst numerous other felonies. It would be reasonable to suspect her husband of being in the loop as well and '

Oh.

Yuri, being her brother, would obviously be suspicious in their eyes, too, especially since he went to arrest 'Twilight ' and returned empty-handed. They would suspect him of intentionally letting Twilight escape so his sister could get her revenge on her prey.

'Wait a minute.

They knew he suspected Loid Forger as Twilight, so if he 'intentionally let Twilight get away,' then they'd think Loidy was indeed Twilight and Yuri didn 't return empty-handed so Yor could get revenge on Twilight, they'd think both of them were conspiring with the spy and let him get away on purpose because he was Yor 's husband!

It made sense. The SSS wanted to arrest all three of them, so they first arrested the two easy ones, Yuri and Loidy, and were planning on using them as leverage to lure in Yor to minimize casualties '

Yuri felt his hands grow clammy as he imagined what Yor must be dealing with right now. How much pain and anguish she would feel to see her two closest family members being taken away right in front of her. How helpless she must be to be given no choice but to turn herself in and sentence herself to whatever torture the SSS had in mind for her. And how disappointed she must be that her own brother who was a part of the SSS couldn 't do a single thing to remedy it.

What use would he have if all he could do was sit on his ass and wait for his fellow agents to have their way with his sister? What was the point of him joining the SSS in the first place? To cleanse this country. And for whose sake? Yor.

Yor.

Everything was for Yor. His purpose, meaning in life, his entire

existence

was to protect her smile, her life, and her eternal happiness. This was the whole

point.

He didn 't become a secret police due to his loyalty for Ostania or for the citizens of this country or because his core values aligned with the SSS 's. Everything was for

Yor 's

sake.

And if he was going to do nothing and let her smile, her life, her happiness become destroyed, then he was as good as

dead.

'Someone 's coming. '

Yuri snapped his gaze towards the door behind him when Loidy mumbled under his breath.

A set of footsteps arrived at the door.

One.

The door opened and the most disgusting face entered his sight.

Yuri scowled at the sight of those downward slanted eyes narrowing in glee and thick lips curling into a smirk.

'Lieutenant Briar. ' He saluted in mock greeting, before letting his hand drop, his smirk widening. 'Oh, I guess we don 't need any more of that now, do we? Since you, my dear

Yuri,

are nothing more than a

lowlife

prisoner. '

Yuri scoffed. 'And now our little coward finally has the courage to say this to my face. Pathetic. '

He was only given a small window of opportunity to relish in the shame that flickered across the coward 's face before his hair was wrenched painfully and his vision tilted on the axis, his cheek slamming onto the cold steel of the table.

'Coward? Better than being a fucking

traitor

to your own country. ' He sneered. The posture strained Yuri's arms which were restrained behind him but he didn 't make a sound. He refused to let this bastard get any more joy out of this. 'How does it feel being on the receiving end of our violence? Consider it payback on the behalf of all the innocent suspects you 've beaten up in the past. '

'You 're calling

me

a traitor when you 're the one sympathizing with those suspects? No wonder you 've been in the SSS for ages yet barely got promoted. You don 't possess the core values this organization needs. '

'Core values? Oh, you mean beating the shit out of the innocent suspects and forcing them to admit a crime they never committed to put a stop to the violence? Yeah, no shit I don 't possess these core values. '

'So you would rather go easy on everyone and allow a guilty suspect to escape and cause war between us and Westalis? Are you ready for the tens of thousands of

innocent

casualties that would result from your decision? Are you ready to hold responsibility for that? '

The coward opened his mouth but couldn 't seem to spit out a retort.

'What? Cat got your tongue? '

That was the wrong thing to say. Yuri realized when he was punched in the gut a second later. He bit back a wince as pain came in waves from the punch

and

his ribs which had never healed right after Yor broke them that one time when she hugged him too tightly. The hand in his hair yanked him up and harshly jerked back so his neck was bent back at a painful angle.

'You think you 're so righteous, so special, when you 're just a nobody. ' He hissed, slanted eyes narrowing even further. 'Always sucking up to the boss to get in his good favors. You think others never noticed that? We all know the real reason why you climbed up the ranks so fast. Though, ' he clicked his tongue, a sick grin finding its way to his face as he gripped Yuri 's chin with his other hand, 'with a face like this, I don 't blame you for using it to your advantage. '

The way he was looking at Yuri made him feel sick to the stomach. Yuri jerked his chin away and directed a nasty glare at him.

'You don 't have the skills to measure up to me, so you 're now going after my appearance? I don 't blame you for being jealous though, since the last time I saw a face like yours, I wiped it clean after taking a shit. '

'You little '! '

He raised his fist but Yuri didn 't look away; he didn 't even look at the fist and continued glaring into those vile eyes as he steeled himself for the punch.

But it never came.

'You shouldn 't do that. '

Loidy, who had been doing a great job acting like he didn 't exist, was the last person Yuri expected to come to his rescue. Yuri could only look at him in disbelief as the older man smiled reassuringly at him.

'You 're right. I probably shouldn 't do this. ' The coward patted Yuri 's cheek in a demeaning manner before letting go of his hair. 'Can 't ruin your pretty look before you can enjoy your stay in prison. Oh wait, you won 't be going there. A traitor like you would be

executed

along with that spy we caught the other day once we 've confirmed your guilt. '

Idiot.

Yuri made sure to keep a straight face as the coward turned to Loidy.

You just gave me a valuable piece of intel. So my arrest is based on suspicion only. They don 't have proof that I 'm conspiring with Twilight. That 's why they kidnapped me so they can interrogate me to make me spill the beans. I 'm assuming the same goes for Loidy ' What about Sis, though? Do they have proof that she 's the Thorn Princess?

'I have no qualms about ruining

your

looks though. '

A harsh

smack

jerked Yuri out of his thoughts.

Loidy, along with the chair he was tied to, had crashed into the ground. A large, purple bruise was starting to take shape on his cheek. He spat out some blood that dribbled from his nose into his mouth and glared defiantly.

'What are

you

looking at? You want to try me too? ' The coward kicked him in the ribs so hard even Yuri winced when he heard the distinct crack, but Loidy didn 't react at all, and seeing that made warmth blossom in Yuri's chest as a certain weight was lifted from the back of his mind. He hadn 't met a single man who could suffer a broken bone and not scream. And yet here was Loidy who didn 't so much as

flinch

in response to that kick.

What a man!

Yuri felt like he had just gained a newfound understanding and respect for this man. Loidy wasn 't as weak as he thought, despite being a civilian. He may not be able to fight, but he had a spine, and that was far more important than physical strength. Perhaps Loidy might actually be a man worthy of his sister '

'There 's no way our adorable Yuri is Twilight, but you on the other hand ' You 're just about the right age to be him. ' The coward grabbed Loidy by his collar and lifted him off of the ground, maneuvering him and the chair he was cuffed to back into an upright position.

'I 'm not Twilight, ' Loidy said calmly as he licked some blood off of his lips. 'Yuri had already proven my innocence. '

'He did? Of course he did, since he 's in on the scheme, right? I can 't possibly trust the word of someone who 's currently a prisoner, can I? I have to see the proof for myself. ' He eyed Loidy up and down. 'According to the boss, Twilight got stabbed in the thigh ' '

Yuri gritted his teeth.

He wouldn 't!

The coward kicked Loidy 's chair so it slid back and hit the table. He then placed his hands on the table to trap Loidy, kicking his legs apart and leaning down to whisper in his ear.

'Why don 't we take off your pants and confirm your innocence? Hm? '

Loidy leaned away as much as he could and glanced at Yuri with not a hint of fear, panic, or disgust in those enthralling blue eyes. Instead, there was

concern.

Concern?

He was concerned?

At a time like this?

He was the one in a pinch, and he was concerned? And not even for himself, if the lack of tension in his body was any indication. He was concerned for someone else.

Who?

Yor? Anya?

His family?

There was a saying that a man would only show who he really was in the face of death. Loidy may not be at risk of dying any time soon, but if he was stuck in a perilous situation and his instinctive reaction was to be concerned for his family, then '

Yuri gripped the back of his chair and made sure he had a firm hold on it so when the coward reached for Loidy 's belt, he was able to rise to his feet and barrel into him, throwing his entire body into the bastard and knocking him into the wall.

'Gah! ' The coward cried lamely and struggled to untangle himself from the rifle strapped to his back. It took him five whole seconds to scramble to his feet and point his rifle at Yuri, shrieking, 'How dare you! '

'Shoot me, if you want to lose a rank. ' Yuri stared into the pitch black barrel. 'The boss had us arrested for a reason. If you want to suffer his wrath, then shoot me. '

'You think I wouldn 't!? ' He was shaking like a leaf, and Yuri was actually starting to worry he would accidentally pull the trigger.

'On second thought. You probably would. I don 't need to crack your head open to know my advice must have gone in one ear and out the other because nothing is blocking traffic. '

That was the wrong thing to say.

Yuri realized for the second time that day when the idiot pulled the trigger.

Yuri Briar. Age 20. A gifted young man they snatched from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs so he could apply his talent in counterintelligence. Advanced to the rank of First Lieutenant with peak performance after only one year of being in the State Security Service. Only blood relative was a sister seven years older than he was.

He was a hardworking officer who was rewarded with success in everything he did so it wasn 't too unusual for him to fail for the first time after his promotion. After all, no one could avoid failure for their entire life.

Hence, the Boss didn 't think much of it when Yuri reported to having failed to capture Twilight and his accomplice. He 'd like to think he knew the kid quite well. He may be a cute little puppy but he was more like a cute little Chihuahua than a cute little Maltese. The difference being: the cuteness was a facade in the former while the cuteness was authentic in the latter. The SSS needed someone like Yuri who seemed young, innocent, and harmless to lure suspects into lowering their guard before striking where it hurt.

The Boss wasn 't fooled by Yuri 's puppy-like appearance. He knew the kid had a dark and twisted personality underneath that facade. He had seen numerous times those warm, red eyes turned a ruthless, blood red in a split second as his whole demeanor changed. The kid had a true hatred for traitors and spies. Something like that couldn 't be faked.

But unfortunately, someone else didn 't seem to think so.

The Boss took a long drag of his cigar and sighed, leaning back in his chair and recalling the conversation he had with an old friend.

'You might never get a chance like this. ' His old friend, who was currently known as 'The Shopkeeper ' of Garden, had said.

'If it turns out they 're innocent, then feel free to let them go afterwards. You 're not harming anyone, and that little puppy subordinate you adore so much would still have a bright future ahead of him. Nothing will change. But if he turns out to be guilty ' Well, I 'm sure you know what to do with him if that was the case. '

'Yuri would never betray Ostania. I know that for a fact. ' He had said after a long pause. 'But I can 't say the same for this 'Loid Forger. '

'If Forger turned out to be guilty, then that would make Yuri guilty too for letting him go, wouldn 't it? ' The Shopkeeper chuckled. 'It will only take two days. Change the execution date to an earlier date without warning and then arrest them two days before so they won 't have time to make any plans. Keep them locked up under close scrutiny until past that date. If Twilight showed up to save that spy on the day of his execution while both Forger and Yuri are still imprisoned, then you would know Forger ' 'and Yuri, by association ' 'are innocent. After all, the spy has a lead on Eventide and it's the first time she's slipped up in over a decade. Westalis won't give up on such valuable intel on their most wanted traitor. For such a perilous operation, they would without a doubt assign it to their best agent, Twilight. And since you know he's coming, it'll be easier to catch him especially since he'll be in your own territory. '

That was too good of a plan to not put it into effect. He had faith in Yuri and he knew the kid would prove himself to be innocent when it was time for a conclusion to be drawn. He wasn 't sure about Forger, but he trusted Yuri 's judgment so the man would most likely turn out to be innocent as well.

He could only hope the kid would forgive him for putting him through two days of unwarranted terror. He would try his best to ensure Yuri 's stay here was as safe and '

A round of frantic knocks on the door jerked him out of his musing.

'Come in. '

An officer stumbled in without any of the poise and dignity expected of a SSS officer and spluttered, 'S-Sir, we have a problem! '

The problem, it turned out, was the exact kind of problem he had feared when he agreed to the plan.

A crowd of agents had already gathered around the interrogation room, all eager to see what the ruckus was about, and upon catching sight of him they all scampered away faster than they would during chow time.

He took a cursory glance at the room, his eyes narrowing behind the sunglasses at the bullet hole in the wall. "Take them down to their cell and then report to my office. NOW," he barked when the two agents who had been arguing in the room hesitated to act.

He purposefully avoided looking at Yuri when he turned to leave.

Loid wasn't fully convinced that Yuri no longer suspected him, and even after seeing what he did back there he still wasn't, but he did feel grateful that Yuri did what he did. The wound on his thigh may have healed but the scar was still present. So if that NCO really had stripped him and searched thoroughly, he would surely find the patch of fake skin and establish his guilt as Twilight. Loid had been counting on them being left alone since he knew what they were trying to do. He had suspected it the moment he saw the three agents on his doorstep. It didn't make sense for the spy's execution date to be changed all of a sudden, so there must be a reason behind it. And for him

and

Yuri to be arrested on the same day, two days before the spy was set to die, giving them no time to plan anything? It couldn't have been a coincidence.

Which meant this was an elaborate plan to make him reveal his identity. They would think that the mission of rescuing the spy would be given to WISE's best agent, Twilight, because he was the

only one

who could take on such a task. So if Twilight didn't show up when Loid Forger was in captivity, then that could only mean one thing.

Loid Forger was Twilight.

But if Twilight, or another spy, showed up, then that was even better. They were practically walking into the lion's den. What better place to set up a trap and gang up on the enemy than the SSS HQ, their own territory?

But this was all built upon the belief that Twilight was the

only one

who could handle this mission.

And if Loid learned anything from Eventide's betrayal, it was that no one was the

only one

capable of a task. Eventide retired, and Twilight took her place. And now with Twilight aka Loid in captivity, whose turn was it to take his place?

Loid wasn't a lone wolf working alone no more. He had a family, a

superpower

family who had his back. A daughter who could read minds, a dog who could see the future, and an amazing, beautiful, deadly assassin of a wife who would do

anything

to protect her loved ones.

'It won 't happen again, ' she vowed, reaching across the table to hold onto his hand with her eyes ablaze. 'I won 't let anything happen to you, or to the rest of my family, if I can help it. '

It still gave him chills whenever he thought about it.

Loid didn't like relying on other people because he would be entrusting success or failure to someone else, someone he wasn't sure he could trust. The only person he could trust was himself and his own abilities. But if the people he needed to rely on were his wonderful family? There was no way they couldn't manage at least

something

with all their superhuman abilities. It wasn't a question of

if

they could get him and Yuri out of their predicament; it was a question of

how.

He could only hope they could do so tactfully and without putting them into a worse situation. As long as they moved according to his plans, things should work out fine.

As he and Yuri were taken down to the cells, Loid encountered a familiar face being escorted from the other end of the hallway.

Brown hair, brown eyes, and a contagious grin which was no longer present.

There was not an inch of exposed skin unmarred and fatigue was palpable in almost every little movement he made, but his brown eyes still burned with determination.

This fanboy spy is more resilient than I thought.

Loid waited until Yuri looked over at the spy before he, too, glanced at him, making sure that he was putting on a look of surprise and fear, surprise of the young man 's physical state and fear that this was what the SSS had in store for him.

Noticing the attention, the fanboy spy looked over at them, showing no emotions or recognition in his gaze, and looked away.

Just three strangers looking at each other.

Nothing unusual.

This was the scene Loid and the fanboy spy painted for the SSS agents watching their exchange closely.

Loid didn 't know much about this young spy (it wasn 't like he knew every single spy that worked under WISE) and truth be told he was a bit apprehensive about this spy recognizing him and giving away his cover. Thankfully, his fanboy was smarter than he looked.

The scarred officer stopped to exchange a word with the warden patrolling the cells while the agent with slanted eyes threw them into their individual cell which happened to be right next to each other. Perhaps they thought it would be easier to keep an eye on them if they were near each other. From the far end of the cells came a high-pitched feminine voice yelling and crying about injustice. Loid rolled his eyes when he recognized the voice as Karen, the woman he fake-dated while being Robert.

It wasn 't hard to put the pieces together and deduce Karen was the one who led Yuri to him.

Franky is right. I should have killed her when I had the chance.

Trusting her cowardice? How ridiculous.

You 're losing touch, Twilight.

Having a family doesn 't mean you can get away with being soft.

Having a family means you need to be even more prudent if you don 't want to lose them.

'Loidy. '

Loid tuned out his inner thoughts and Karen 's screaming when Yuri called out to him from the cell to his left.

'Hm? '

He didn 't hear anything back for a while, so he sat down on the steel bed and leaned against the wall, resting his head on his interlaced fingers only to let his arms fall immediately when the movement jostled his broken ribs and sent a sharp pain throughout his chest. These cells were in nicer condition than he had expected. Despite being WISE 's number one agent, Twilight wasn 't without failures. On one of his failed missions, he had to stay in a cell after being caught and tortured.

Perhaps it was the pain messing with his head, all he could remember from that experience was the unpleasant sides of everything. The smell of piss that permeated the small, enclosed cell. The molded, stale piece of bread he was fed once a day. No bed, no blanket, only the hard, cold ground to sleep on in the middle of the Winter. And, of course, the pain wracking his body from the untreated wounds.

In comparison, the SSS cells were like rooms from a five star hotel. No foul odor, no molded food (not yet), and an uncomfortable but still an actual bed to sleep on. The only problem was the woman screaming on the far end but that wasn 't a huge issue.

Loid was taking this fairly well, but he highly doubted Yuri was the same.

A 20 year old young man who was in a position of power not even three hours ago suddenly losing everything he 's ever earned and having to be treated like this by his fellow comrades.

He could easily imagine what Yuri must be feeling right now, but he couldn 't be bothered to care. Normally, living together with someone for a prolonged period of time would have shortened the distance between them. But he was never normal and couldn 't afford to be normal after going through what he did as a kid.

During the weeks he spent living together with Yuri, he was constantly on guard and wary of the man due to him being a SSS officer and investigating Anya 's kidnapping case. Even if Yuri was just a civilian, Loid would still be vigilant so he (and the rest of his family) didn 't accidentally let slip anything that could give away the fact that their marriage was a sham. It was this vigilance he had around Yuri that made him notice their telephone being wiretapped so they also had to be careful what they said on the phone even when Yuri wasn 't in the house. Thankfully, the codenames came in handy during times like this.

The sharing of secrets brought the Forger family closer together, but Yuri was the kind of person he could never allow in on their secret. Not only because he was an enemy, but also because of the mutual animosity between them. Loid would never,

never

open his heart to this man, for the sake of his family.

'Y 'know ' ' Yuri finally spoke. 'About what happened earlier ' '

'What happened earlier? '

A brief silence.

'T-The thing you did! Y 'know, kicking that guy so he missed the shot! Why did you do that? '

'Cause I can 't let you get hurt. You 're Yor 's only living blood relative. She would be sad if you got hurt. '

'Then what about you!? That coward rounded on you

because

you said that unnecessary thing to stop him! Do you think I can 't take a punch? Huh? Is that what it is!? '

Karen was suspiciously quiet, no doubt listening in for some entertainment.

'If I can stop you from getting hurt, then why shouldn 't I? I know you don 't approve of our marriage, but I 'm still your brother-in-law so it 's my responsibility to look after you. It doesn 't matter if it 's a bullet or a punch. If I can stop it from reaching you, I

will.

Didn 't you do the same for me? Stopping that guy from 'taking off my pants? Why did

you

do that? '

That 's right. What did he do that for? He hates me, so it 's out of character for him to come to my rescue ' The only reason I can think of is that he 's still suspicious of me and thinks I 'd have the scar on my thigh, but wouldn 't it be in his favor if I get caught as Twilight? Or is he afraid he 'd get punished for letting the guilty get away? Or worse, suspected of conspiring with me and betraying his country?

'W-Well ' ' Yuri sounded at a loss for words. He took a deep breath. 'I don 't want you to get aroused again okay? It 's embarrassing for me to watch! '

That 'was

not

what Loid was expecting. Now it was his turn to be at a loss for words. 'W-What ' Why would I get aroused from that!? '

'I don 't know! You tell me! Why did you get aroused when I touched you!? '

'Cause I was pent up! But I obviously wouldn 't be thinking about

that

when I 'm arrested and interrogated for suspected espionage! '

'Well, sorry for not being a telepath and reading your mind! '

An awkward silence fell between the two, both slightly out of breath from the argument. Loid rubbed his face, forcing the heat to dissipate, and said after his breathing had evened. 'Look. I 'm really grateful for what you did. And if I had made you uncomfortable with '

that,

then I apologize and I hope you 'll forgive me. That was very disgraceful of me and I would understand if you 're furious because of that. '

' 'I 'm not furious, ' Yuri replied quietly. 'It 's just basic biology. It can 't be helped. In fact, I should be the one to 'to ' 'a-ap-apo ' apologize! ' He spat out that word like it was a glob of mucus. 'I wrongfully accused you and was violent towards you and didn 't give you a chance to explain yourself and also touched you inappropriately in front of my sister. I still don 't approve of your marriage, okay!? But Sis loves you, and you 're not '

that bad '

of a guy.

So I guess ' I can

tolerate

you, for now. '

Loid was so shocked that Yuri was actually willing to reconcile with him that he only responded after a whole, ten second pause.

"That's good enough for me. I don't expect you to accept me right away since I'm practically a stranger to you. But I hope once we get out of here, you'll give me a chance to prove myself to you. That's all I'm asking for."

If they could reconcile, if this animosity between them could dissolve into something more neutral, something more affable, then perhaps '

"You've already '"

"What was that?"

"O-One chance! I said, one chance is all you get! If it turns out letting you into my family is a mistake, I'll have you executed!"

"So you already consider me part of your family?" If Yuri was willing to tolerate Loid, then surely he could tolerate a little teasing. This was a good way to see if the animosity between them had truly disappeared.

"W-What?" Yuri spluttered.

"And here I was thinking I'm just a stranger to you. I see how it is. Like how two people can bond over shared trauma, you must have subconsciously accepted me already, haven't you?" Loid teased.

"Hey! That was just a slip up! I didn't mean it! Don't think you can fool me just as easily as you do my sister! It means

nothing

to me that you're tall and handsome and ' Hey, stop laughing! Stop it!!"

Loid continued laughing (which he regretted immediately when it caused pain in his broken ribs) while Yuri fumed.

He may not plan on including Yuri in the pretend family that had stolen his heart, but it wouldn't hurt to pretend he had.

For the sake of the mission, of course.