Chapter Text
Fuhenyuushi did not understand what was going on, nor did he understand why he said those things, nor did he understand what that warm feeling in his upper body was. It was almost intoxicating, almost a drug, and yet all the same, not. He ran the last scenes through his head again and again, questioning why he let the boy even close to his hat let alone his skin, let alone his.. Heart..?
A nice smile? Yuushi had not heard such a compliment ever offered to him.
Hyacinth? Flowers? His hat?
What did Sethos want?
Fuhenyuushi couldn’t tell, and he wasn't about to try to. He was struggling enough with the all-too-apparent beating of his ‘heart’- really, a mechanical thing- in his chest, and the feeling something was happening that he was missing.
And that warmth, and yearning- this was the first time he’d felt it. Even obsessing over the gnosis hadn’t been the same, and that was a gnosis. This was a boy, a fucking boy with a winning smile and a calming voice and eyes that reminded Yuushi of early mornings in Sumeru’s winding jungles.
Fumbling over words and conjuring up embarrassing moments was the least of his struggle. The most prevalent thing was the emotion cast by a mortal. A mortal! Yuushi seriously couldn’t get over that. One part of him thought that he must not be mortal, for he was too ethereal, the other thought that was stupid, this was all stupid, why were there butterflies in his stomach?
Goddamnit, he couldn’t get out of talking to the desert boy, not now he was alone with him. Hell, he couldn’t even resist it either, teasing him and letting him into Yuushi’s personal space. It didn’t make sense, but it did all the same.
To summarise, Yuushi was a mess.
He strode forward faster. That made up for the lost time from wrapping his head around what was happening. Sethos knew his name. Why? Because Yuushi told him. Why? Because he didn’t want the desert-dweller calling him Hyacinth. Why? Yuushi didn’t know.
He tried to ignore the tips of his ears heating, tried to ignore everything. He’d been built with the function to blush, to show signs of being embarrassed. Once again, he didn’t know, and it felt that it was for this occasion especially, designed to betray him.
Yuushi groaned and stopped to stretch.
‘’Hm? Are you tired?’’ The joyful voice from beside him- beside him- yanked him back to reality.
‘’No.’’ Yuushi responded sharply. He was not tired, not built to be tired.
Sethos, however, yawned. ‘’Are you sure, Yuushi?? I am, at least, a little bit.’’ He murmured jauntily, exhaustion showing. ‘’Let’s stop here to rest!’’
‘’I didn’t agree to that.’’
‘’Mhm, and you’re gonna do it anyway, aren’t you?’’
Yuushi sighed. ‘’Y’know how you said the others are going to be suspicious?’’
The other man rolled his eyes. ‘’As if the reasonable ones aren’t already shoving tongues down another’s throat.’’
He gaped for a moment. Stars, that wasn’t vulgar, but it was the most vulgar thing to come out of Sethos’ mouth. Really, Yuushi thought he’d be the one to remark that. Yet, he quickly shut his mouth, and sat down.
‘’Fine.’’ He tried to make his tone sound like he was grumbling, he really did, but it came out lighter than expected and Sethos’ reaction was far from what he had hoped.
The latter had eagerly flopped down, and stared at Yuushi with an extremely expectant look that almost reminded him of Nahida, but was altogether more puppy-like.
‘’So, if you had that view of the others before, why’d you say the others would get suspicious?’’ Inwardly, and almost outwardly, Yuushi cursed himself for being so quick. That wasn’t the way to start a conversation. Yet, he was curious.
‘’Aha, that…’’
Sethos looked lost. That was new. His eyes searched for something that wasn’t there, hand instinctively going to the back of his neck as he hummed. ‘’I guess I…’’ The other winced. ‘’Man, how do I phrase this…? Umm…’’ His eyes lit up for a moment, and Yuushi found himself entranced in that gaze.
‘’I was looking for a distraction! A change in conversation.’’ Sethos exclaimed brightly.
Yuushi narrowed his eyes, flicking over the other’s lime stare. He was telling the truth.
But why? What to distract from?
‘’Oh, uh, nothing, nothing in particular.’’
Yuushi panicked for a moment, thinking Sethos had read his mind and therefore all his turmoil and thoughts and everything- but he was wrong, he realised quickly, he must’ve just said that aloud.
‘’Right.’’
A comfortable (uncomfortable, really, but he couldn’t admit that now he didn’t take comfort in it now) silence descended upon them, and all that was heard was faint chattering of animals and perhaps the people there with them.
He stood up.
‘’Sethos, we’ll do better to-’’ Yuushi winced, he didn’t particularly want to say this, ‘’talk more outside. In the open. We should keep moving.’’
Out of the corner of his eye, Sethos seemed to deflate a little, sad (at least, that was the best emotion Yuushi could describe it with), and then perk up again at the insinuation that they would talk more, just later. Yuushi offered a hand to Sethos, grumbling about the moisture in the air, as the latter hoisted himself up with the help and dusted himself off. Sethos dashed ahead, peering around corners, but always in sight.
‘’There’s three viable paths. If we call the direction we are facing north, then west, north, and north-east.’’
Yuushi raised his eyebrows. ‘’Alright, let’s go north-east.’’