A Moment

“If you frown any harder, that expression’s gonna get stuck on your face.”

Claudia sighed, giving the holy knight beside her a half-heated glare. Nero smirks, as he finally manages to break away the researcher’s notorious iron-clad concentration and tunnel vision. The white-haired teen stretched from his chair, leaning back as his long legs cover nearly all of the space underneath the table.

“You know, if you’re so bored, why don’t you just read?”

“Reading in the library? That’s even worse than listening to his Holiness’ sermons.”

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll snitch on you for not doing your job?”

“To who? Kyrie?” Nero snorts as he crosses his arms. “She’s not gonna do anything, I guarantee you.” Claudia rolls her eyes as she closes the book she’s been stuck with for hours.

“She won’t but maybe sir Credo would.”

“And you don’t think he’s tried?” Finally, Claudia gives in and stands up abruptly, surprising the young man beside her. She knows she’s not winning this round, not with his stupid smug smile and his cocky stance--

“Fine. Let’s head back out to the castle.” She hears a whoop of joy and a small crash as she gathers her scattered materials from her prior research.

“For Sparda’s sake, can’t you minimize the property damage just a tiny bit?”

“Nothing broke this time, I swear!”

“Just… I don’t know, look around while I get this cleaned up.” She hears his footsteps heading towards the row of bookshelves and silently, she prays that Nero wouldn’t damage anything further.

Meanwhile, the young knight looked around the stuffy old place. He’s never really been interested in a boring enclosed space, hell, the only reason why he’d even step in it is because Claudia has to.

Nero muses a bit as he realizes how time flies. It’s been only a year since he and Claudia met on Fortuna City’s docks. He remembers Credo calling him in for a mission, to escort and protect a new researcher transferring in from outside the island. He is to act as a guide and a bodyguard for an undetermined amount of time and he recalls feeling annoyed at the prospect of watching someone doing boring work as it eats up most of his free time.

And then he finally met her.

Despite the glasses blocking most of her eyes, he distinctly remember her bright pink hues. She looked surprised and guarded so he tries to make a good impression and give her his best smile. Perhaps he made it look a tad bit cocky because the next few words she said had determined their interaction for that past year.

“So, who’s this jackass?”

‘Oh it is on.’

He chuckles as he recalls how most of their conversations went. He’d tease her, rile her up, and she would respond with something equally infuriating. He doesn’t know when exactly did the one-upping competition they had turn into something more of a friendly banter but all he knows is he enjoys her flustered face and even her teasing winning smile--

A book fell from the shelves as he was adjusting his right hand. Nero hopes that Claudia hasn’t heard it or she’d call him out on it once again. He grabs the book and opens it to a random page, not really intent on reading through it but a name catches his eye as he skims through the sentence.

“--Although it is said that names bind souls and gives power to its owner, the belief in such acts are mere superstitions and should not be a basis to condemn people with unfortunate names. ‘Claudia’, for example, should not be assumed to be skipped over simply because it means ‘Lame’--”

Nero closes the book and abruptly places it back on the shelf as he doubles over in laughter at the new information he acquired. Really, who would have thought that her name would mean something so stupid--

“Hey jackass, I’m done. We can go now.” Nero struts out of the bookshelves, his hands in his pockets and an amused smirk resting on his face. Claudia stood still, her heart jumping for a second before shaking her head and forcing down the blush that threatened to form on her face.

“So, find anything interesting?”

“Not much,” He replies before continuing, “just some dusty old book. You got everything you need, Lame-dia?”

Nero lets out a hearty laughter as Claudia yelps, tripping and almost falling over completely if the holy knight hadn’t managed to catch her on time. She stutters out an apology, red decorating her cheeks as she glared at the still laughing holy knight clutching onto her.

“What the hell was that?”

“Oh, so you get to call me jackass but I can’t call you Lame-dia?”

“I--What--How did you--”

“I found a nice book that told me what your name means. Kinda cute if I do say so myself.” He lets her go as she silently fumes at her escort.

“You’re… You are such a fucking jackass.”

“At least I’m not lame.” He grins at her as Claudia shoves all her books at his arms. They step outside the warmth of the Library and into the cold halls of the castle. Nero had no problem with it, seeing as he was wearing his winter uniform. Claudia shivered, however, as a cold wind blew from the open doors of the entrance.

“Ugh, damn. It’s freezing out here.” The brunette sniffled, thanking Sparda that the research division uniform at least provided gloves.

“That’s what you get for wearing a dress in the middle of winter.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, mister rebellious holy knight. Some of us actually have to follow the Order regulations.”

She swears she’ll burn the dress down once she is done and over with this research--

“Here.” Sighing, Nero takes off his scarf and wraps it around Claudia’s surprised form. Blue eyes stared at pink behind glasses and for a moment, everything stood still. The world paused, as one knight and one researcher gazed at one another. Then the moment was shattered as Nero retreats his hand and sheepishly scratches the back of his head.

“I-It’s not gonna help you warm up your legs… But it’ll have to do.” He begins walking forward, heart beating and face warming up but when he doesn’t hear footsteps following him, he looks back. Claudia is still frozen on the spot, face red and flustered, her hands on the red scarf around her neck.

“You coming, Lame-dia?”

“S-Slow down, you jackass!” She curses as she runs forward to catch up to her supposed escort. As her left hand continues clutching the scarf, she briefly recalls Nero’s face.

His clear blue eyes, his fond expression, his gentle teasing laughter, his soft white locks of hair…

She’s not really religious, but at that exact moment, Claudia hopes and prays inside her heart.