"His fate is for me," he answers with a decidedly humorless smile as for what that will mean if or when the time comes to return home, "though I hope it isn't for him."
Which is truth enough - though it never stops the dull ache he feels in his chest at the thought of going home to never see Sylvain again if they were somehow able to leave with their memories intact as Viktor once told him he hoped could be possible. Or of waking up to find him gone like their other friends - and the absolute same for Hilda since even with all they both remember, there's no guarantee they're actually from the same timeline. Too many possibilities, and too many of them Claude doesn't like.
All rather morose to focus on for too long whether it's now or any other time, and ones he doesn't want to let dwell. Jesper's right when it comes to secrets; the ones he'd kept nearly cost him what he holds dear and had been a painful lesson to learn. What Claude's offered to potentially say gets immediate and genuine laughter from him.
"Is that a secret? And here I thought secrets were supposed to be something you don't already know." Easy enough to slip right back into teasing Jesper when the other man smiles that smile he's entirely too fond of - somehow even more so now after their time as gods. But that also doesn't really answer what he was asked, tempting as it is to playfully answer with Jesper's own words for real, and he takes a couple of moments to think while lightly tapping his fingers against the back of the other's hand. "Alright, how's this: what if I told you I'm actually a prince?"
Claude's also helpfully going to leave it right there with an amused smirk on his face to obscure whether he's telling the truth or not - even if he is in this particular moment.
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Which is truth enough - though it never stops the dull ache he feels in his chest at the thought of going home to never see Sylvain again if they were somehow able to leave with their memories intact as Viktor once told him he hoped could be possible. Or of waking up to find him gone like their other friends - and the absolute same for Hilda since even with all they both remember, there's no guarantee they're actually from the same timeline. Too many possibilities, and too many of them Claude doesn't like.
All rather morose to focus on for too long whether it's now or any other time, and ones he doesn't want to let dwell. Jesper's right when it comes to secrets; the ones he'd kept nearly cost him what he holds dear and had been a painful lesson to learn. What Claude's offered to potentially say gets immediate and genuine laughter from him.
"Is that a secret? And here I thought secrets were supposed to be something you don't already know." Easy enough to slip right back into teasing Jesper when the other man smiles that smile he's entirely too fond of - somehow even more so now after their time as gods. But that also doesn't really answer what he was asked, tempting as it is to playfully answer with Jesper's own words for real, and he takes a couple of moments to think while lightly tapping his fingers against the back of the other's hand. "Alright, how's this: what if I told you I'm actually a prince?"
Claude's also helpfully going to leave it right there with an amused smirk on his face to obscure whether he's telling the truth or not - even if he is in this particular moment.