Hardin looked up almost in relief at the sound of heavy, booted footsteps outside the room - not that the girls here in the castle were unpleasant, but as the only males present for much of the day were a turtle and a cat, he felt a bit out of place. Though he had to admit that he'd become a bit fond of Milo; the kitten was just too adorable and too persistantly affectionate to resist.

Unfortunately, his relief vanished when he saw the man who entered. Their eyes met, and Hardin caught his breath. Not him... not here... He looked away quickly.

Viktor didn't intend to let him get off so easily, though. "Hardin," he stated, "we need to have a talk."

Hardin thought briefly of protesting, but he wasn't foolish enough to think that this was going to end without a real confrontation. "Alone, I suppose."

"Yeah." Viktor cracked an uncertain smile. "Don't worry, I'm sober this time."

Glancing around, Hardin saw that the girls were either watching the two of them curiously or trying very hard to pretend that they were not there at all. He wondered how much they knew.

"C'mon." Hardin flinched as Viktor took his arm. The big man dropped it sheepishly, but remained persistant, quirking a thumb in the direction of the doorway. "Hallway. Now."

Once they were alone, and well out of earshot, Viktor halted and turned to Hardin. "Uhm, okay, first of all, I'm an idiot," he said bluntly. "I am a big, stupid, hulking idiot. Flik's always telling me that, and he's right. And I'm sorry, okay? You wanna punch me or something? That's fine."

"Viktor, I - no, I don't want to punch you," Hardin sighed, turning away and leaning against the stone wall on one forearm. "You might have started... that... but I went along with it willingly, and that's why I don't deserve-"

"Willingly?" Viktor interrupted incredulously. "Willingly? The entire time you were telling me to cut it out, babbling about how wrong it was, and we shouldn't be doing that!"

"But I gave in," Hardin muttered. The more he thought about it over the past two days, the more disgusted with himself he had become. "I gave in, just because it... it felt so different... so completely different... and normal, at that. Nothing in my life has been normal for years..."

"Don't think of it like that," Viktor told him. Suddenly his voice sounded more like his old self. "Not like you gave in because you were being selfish - I'm just irresistable, that's all."

Hardin turned his head to look at him in exasperated disbelief, and Viktor grinned. "Seriously! Every guy I've ever tried to get with has ended up kissing me back in the end. I mean, that's only two, but still - one hundred percent record."

In spite of himself, Hardin caught himself about to chuckle, and he shook his head. "You're terrible."

"Okay, now that you've lightened up a little and started insulting me instead of yourself," Viktor said, leaning against the wall next to him, "hear me out on this. What I did was dumb. Really dumb. I had no right to drag you into something between myself and Flik, especially when it could screw up things with you and Sydney."

"Gods," Hardin murmured, leaning his forehead against the cool stone of the wall in renewed despair, but Viktor took hold of his shoulder, turning the taller man back to face him.

"He knows already, you know."

Hardin felt a twinge of fear deep down. "...And how did that happen?"

"Well uh... I locked myself in my room for the day, but when he couldn't find you, he was pissed... started stomping around interrogating everyone... and uh, when I wouldn't come out, well... I didn't really think about the fact he can teleport."

"Oh," Hardin muttered. "I should have known he'd do that."

"Anyway, one look at my face was all it took, and he heads right back out. Later on, I hear him smashing stuff in his room..."

"Oh, gods..." Hardin's face was more concerned than frightened. "If I'd been there, I could have... gods..."

"He didn't come out today," Viktor continued. "But apparently sometime he came over here and told Flik what's going on. And boy, you better believe that anything Sydney could do to you, I'm gonna get the same from Flik," he chuckled humorlessly. "Seriously though, Hardin... he was going nuts when he found you missing. I've never seen him on a rampage like that before - I could hear him snapping at people anywhere in the house from my room - and that was before he knew what had happened... he was worried about you."

Hardin sighed, seeing where Viktor was taking this. "Viktor, that's it exactly. That was before."

"And you know what?" Viktor went on. "He didn't even look mad when he figured it out."

"No, of course not," Hardin muttered. "He wouldn't."

"Whatever," Viktor said, dismissing it entirely. "I think you should talk to him. Figure out for sure what's going on before you just write it off completely. Or are you going to punish both you and him by yourself? If you really were the one who made a big mistake, doesn't he have the right to decide how you should make it right?"

Hardin hadn't thought of it that way, and he nodded reluctantly. "...I suppose I deserve whatever I get from him. And he deserves to give it."

"I'm not so bleak as you," Viktor commented. "I think you're overreacting. You're putting yourself in the worst case scenario just so you won't get any unhappy surprises - am I right?" Not waiting for an answer, he punched Hardin lightly in the shoulder. "Go talk to him. Try to work stuff out. Me and Flik, we're going to give it a shot, and I'm the really stupid one here."

"I don't imagine I proved myself to be very smart either-"

"Nah, just easily coerced," Viktor told him with a smirk.

"...That's more true than you know," Hardin muttered. "All right, all right... I'll head back and talk to him. I owe him so much... it's the least I can do to take this like a man."

"Good. Then that's settled - no more to say." Viktor looked satisfied for a split second before his expression turned to dismay. "Of course, once I'm done talking to you, I've gotta go face Flik again. Anything else you feel like talking about? Childhood traumas, war stories? ...Knitting? Anything?"

"Hmmph." Hardin smiled, just a little. "If I'm going to face up to Sydney, it's only fair that you should do the same to Flik."

"See, you are the smart one," Viktor grumbled good-naturedly. "And I hate you."

"I... I guess I'll go say goodbye to the girls and the... others... before I leave," Hardin told him. "Viktor, thank you for... well, talking sense into me."

"Yeah, yeah, no problem," Viktor told him, turning to look out a window at the night sky beyond the castle walls as Hardin left.

"...Man. I wonder if this is the last time I'm going to see the stars, before Flik absolutely murders me..." he mused. Then, with a chuckle, he turned away and strode cheerfully down the hall to his destination. "Nah, if I had a dime for every time he's threatened my life... and he's never taken it yet. I lead a charmed life, yes I do."