Disclaimer: Ishinomori's, not mine

Notes: Spoilers for the end of the 2001 anime

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When they kissed, a jolt went through Albert Heinrich's body so powerful that after finding the strength to pull away, he had to lean against the wall to keep from collapsing. Several deep breaths later, he trusted himself enough to speak.

"Wh... Why did you do that?"

Jet gave him a harsh look. "Because you were leaning forward with your lips parted. Why else?"

He had, hadn't he? Out of all of his friends, the last one he expected to try to comfort him after what happened to poor Biina and her dreams of freedom was Jet, but he had been the one who to approach him first with a can of beer in each hand. He didn't say a word, just handed him a can and started drinking. Jet's sudden leaning for the taciturn confused Albert, but he was also grateful for it. After all the awkward apologies and questions, it was a relief that somebody finally understood what he needed right now was to know they were there for him, but nothing else. He was about to thank Jet for that, when he noticed that his face suddenly seemed to be much closer than before. Without thinking about it, he began to lean in towards Jet and... well...

Jet's expression brought him back to reality. Albert had known him long enough to tell when he was trying to look tough and failing. "If you didn't want to, you should've--"

"But I did."

Albert couldn't blame him for looking confused. "You have to understand that it's... been a long time. I wanted to, as much as you did, it just never occurred to me at to what we were doing exactly."

"... You're weird, you know that?"

"But you love me in spite of that, right?"

Out of all the ways Jet could have reacted to that, he hadn't been expecting laughing and kissing him again.

But he was still grateful.