Eous slumped down on the couch in Wise's room with a sigh of relief.

"Yikes. Sounds like your day was busy. Wanna talk about it?" Wise was patching up a W-Engine, and if Eous recognized it correctly, it was Billy's.

"Well, not really busy, but... exhausting. That workout Miyabi offered me was way more difficult since it was out of the Hollows. Four Thanatos..."

"Ah, sounds rigorous, but I'm sure you handled it. And any findings with Grace?" He flicked down a specific lens of special glasses and continued tinkering.

"Well, that second element is pretty dangerous. I should only use it on Ethereals since it has lasting effects." He sunk into the couch and smiled.

"Ah, that's probably for the best. Ironic that Ether is pretty harmless from you in such dense amounts, though, huh?"

Eous suddenly shot up and remembered he forgot something.

"The crystals! I forgot about the crystals! Grace is gonna kill me!" Eous raced out of the room, but not before slipping his sneakers back on.

~•~

"I didn't think you'd be so eager to learn so soon." Grace answered her door in... only a tank top and underwear.

"Dress yourself and I'll be even more eager." Eous demanded, turning 180 degrees away from her.

"What...? Even in my own home I'm bound to the confinements of professionalism?" Grace placed a hand on her hip.

"I'd damn well hope so, Ms. Howard." Eous spat with a scowl.

"Ow! You don't have to be so mean, okay? I'll change, but I'm staying comfortable!" She rushed back inside, but pulled him into keep him from standing outside the door.

She skipped to her room, he assumed, and left him to observe the front room. It was far more coordinated than he expected, but it was still full of tools and appliances, looking more like a homey workshop than a high-rise flat.

"Woah, nice place. You've got a lot of gadgets." Eous spotted so many different appliances he'd never seen before. He couldn't even begin to fathom what purpose they'd serve.

"Oh, you like it? I didn't take you as a the type to be interested in stuff like this." Grace replied, muffled through the door.

"Well, Wise kinda put me on to tinkering, but all I know is Bangboos and the basics of W-Engines..." Eous took a seat on a stool by a workbench.

Grace stepped out of her room in baggy sweats and flip flops. "Oh, you've got your foot in the game. I'm impressed, darling."

Eous rubbed his nape and smiled. "I could definitely do a bit better— but, uh, I wanted to come over and show you the ability I forgot about."

"Forgot about? You've got supernatural powers and forgot one?" She teased, grabbing the desk chair by the desk she walked by and sliding it over to him.

"Come on, cut me some slack. I've got a lot to work with here." Eous chuckled and brought out his tails to wave at her.

"I could say the same, darling." Grace giggled and sat across from him, looking up at him with a smug smirk. "Now, show me what else I'm working with."

Eous' jaw dropped, slowly giving her his hand as his face grew hot.

"Warning: Heart BPM escalating above average levels. Suggestion: Take deep breaths." Fairy announced.

"Y-You've never made that announcement before— stop that!" Eous snapped his head to Fairy and snatched her by the collar.

Grace burst out laughing and nearly fell out of the chair if not for Eous using his tail to keep her chair balanced.

Eous rolled his eyes as she slowly began to pant, sinking into the chair with her hand over her chest.

"Yeah, yeah, leave me alone. I'm not used to this." Eous lightly spun her chair around with his tail, forcing her to sit up and place her feet on the floor.

"Fine, fine, but it's nice finally getting a reaction out of you. I was practically fondling you earlier and you were so composed. Why is that?"

"I don't know. It kinda just felt good?" Eous shrugged.

Grace hummed, before gesturing to his hand with a nod. "So?"

"I'm sure you remember how me and Koleda defeated that monster. The prototype became coated in Ether."

"Of course. I wish I could've researched that weird phenomenon— wait, that was you?!" Grace perked up, slinging herself into him.

Eous coughed and looked away. "Y-Yeah. I can reinforce things I think? It's new too, so I'm not sure."

Grace stood up from leaning on his body and rushed over to the kitchen he could barely make out until she opened a drawer.

She ran back over with two plastic forks.

"I'll bend one." She did just as she said and then lent him the other. "Now reinforce this."

Eous held the fork and slowly began to coat it in a blue and pink sheen. He handed it back to Grace for her to test her theory.

Sure enough, she couldn't get it to budge. Not even the prongs at the end. "You try..."

Eous took it and tried to bend it like he would a plastic one, but it still don't move. Putting far more force into it, he slowly but surely was getting it to bend, but it felt like he was trying to bend a steel rod.

"Damn, that was pretty difficult." Eous mumbled.

"If you were in a Hollow, you likely could've done that quicker. Fascinating. If it was able to embolden the prototype enough to defeat that monster, I wonder what other problems this could solve in the business." Grace slowly began to ramble about the possibility as she sat back in the desk chair.

"God, I wish we could hire you. You'd be so much fun." She whispered, lying her head against his thighs.

"Well, I've got my own business..."

"I know, and it helps far more people. I respect your profession. You take on the problems of others as if they're your own to make people happy." Grace closed her eyes and smiled.

"And money. Gotta put food on the table." He added with a chuckle.

"Oh, that reminds me! You rushed over here so late, have you had anything to eat?" She asked, rushing back over to the kitchen and in a commercial fridge.

Eous shook his head. "I can eat on the way home."

"Nonsense! You came all this way— wait, how did you get here? Koleda told me you don't have a license."

"Well, I try not to drive after a certain time of day, but yeah. I don't have a license. Took the metro." Eous replied.

"Aren't you an adult? It wouldn't take much to get your license." Grace slipped a box of leftovers into a microwave and set it to two minutes.

Eous shrugged. "I don't exactly have the most concrete identity. I lost a lot of my life in a Hollow. Belle and Wise are my foster siblings."

"...Oh." Grace rubbed her arm as she leant against the counter. "That makes sense."

"Yeah, my only identity is under a certificate of adoption. Have to keep a copy in my wallet so they can run the numbers, but having less ties to them as possible makes the Proxy biz easier to manage." He explained.

"You're really cautious. You must care a lot about them." Grace waved him over to the kitchen.

"More than anything else." He whispered as he stood across from her.

The microwave silently let out a soft beep to let her know the timer was up, so she removed the takeout box and set it down on the counter.

"Beef Lo Mein?" She offered.

Eous let his gluttony win.

"Sure." He wagged his head in disapproval of how fast he gave in.

"Can you reinforce this fork, too? Don't want it to break." Grace eagerly held up the plastic-ware. Eous chuckled and tapped the fork, coating it in the blue and pink sheen just as before.

The two wasted no time in digging in, slowly sharing the meal by the counter. The comfortable silence was something Eous didn't know he needed, something he hadn't experienced with someone he hadn't known beyond their craft.

Even Grace began to wonder, "Eous, is this who you want to be?"

"Huh?"

He looked up and saw Grace staring at his arms. "It's... hard to remember how young you are when you're in that Bangboo outfit. But that fight with that creature... it was pretty horrifying to see you get hurt like that."

Eous' gaze slowly began to distance itself from reality. Who was he?

"I'm pretty sure that scope of reality isn't what most Proxies are used to. But if I hear correctly, trouble seems to find you rather well. Are you okay with this lifestyle?"

"I don't even remember the one before it, honestly." Eous admit. "I was losing my mind in that Hollow before my siblings found me. Literally don't remember much of anything before the last 3 years. No clue who my parents are or if they're alive."

Eous frowned. "Honestly, I began working as a Proxy because I wanted to pay them back with what I was good at, and that was being in a Hollow. I can't say it's changed my life for the worse, because I got to meet people like the Cunning Hares, Belobog, and so many more. I don't regret becoming a Proxy in the slightest. I build connections with people who didn't even know they needed it, and spread a kindness I didn't know I had."

Grace wondered why he said such heartfelt things with a scowl on his face.

"But with how things are going, and what I'm becoming, I don't know if that kindness will be returned to me if... continue to change the way I am. I'm scared people won't accept me like my friends do."

A reasonable concern, Grace believed. After all, if word got out he was part Ethereal, he'd be hunted down or experimented on until his final breath.

"I'm scared that in becoming the monster needed to help people, the people won't help me when I need it. And I just... know I'll need it, Grace." He set down his fork and leaned back against the counter.

"And yet, you still want to be a Proxy?" Grace asked, looking down at the takeout to see they had likely ate enough for the rest of the night.

"Wouldn't trade it for the world." Eous smirked and gave a determined glare full of confidence.

Grace shook her head and closed the takeout. She slid the box aside and held his arm and stood in front of him with a smile.

"You're a gift to this world, Eous. Never forget that." Grace held his cheek before pushing her lips into his.

His eyes widened at the sudden intimacy, but he was quick to ease into it as Grace slipped her arm around his waist.

The two shared the kiss for several seconds longer until Grace pulled back. She needed to step back from pushing him onto the counter and wiped her mouth of any lingering saliva.

"Sorry. Guess that's also pretty unprofessional." She smiled at him and saw he was still trying to find the words.

She gave him a second, and saw all he could release was a sigh.

"Wh... What do I do with that?" He asked with an unamused leer.

"Don't... Don't think too much about it. I just really admire you, and wanted to show my appreciation. I'm sorry if I was too forward." Grace stepped further back and leant against the other counter.

"N-No, it's okay. I enjoyed it." Eous replied with a wry smile. 'I wanted to go a bit longer...'

Grace internally regret letting her greed get the better of her, but now she didn't have much to lose. "Do you want to stay the night?"

Eous once again lost the words, so Grace continued. "You know, so you don't have to make the commute again in the morning? We still have to test out the reinforcement ability."

"Oh. Yeah, sure." Eous didn't mind, since Wise and Belle were giving him a 'break' anyway.

"Alright, let's get you a change of clothes." Grace clapped her hands before dragging him to her bedroom.

'Wait, she doesn't have a couch—'

The door shut behind him.