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Daichi placed the basket on the ground a good distance away from where Tetsurou had drawn, and was currently sitting in the middle, his summoning circle. He made sure he wasn’t close enough to break Tetsurou’s concentration but near enough that he could study the soft curve of his back. It was a cool October day but the magic Tetsurou was expending had heated up the small summoning circle, allowing him to wear the black tank top and jeans with no shoes or socks in comfort.
Daichi sat himself down next to the basket as he felt a large presence behind him. A wolf-like creature the size of a small horse pulled itself out of the lengthening shadows. Rudy red eyes stared out at Tetsurou before his monstrous head turned towards Daichi.
“Hello Matsukawa.” Daichi greeted his familiar. Direct sunlight had always seemed to drain Matsukawa rather fast, so Daichi had purposely waited until the sun was starting to fall in the sky before setting out to find his husband. Matsukawa butted his big head against Daichi before going around to circle the area, looking for unknown danger.
It was the same reason Daichi had come out, to watch over Tetsurou, and to bring him something to eat when he finally let the spell go. Tetsurou had begun to spend more and more time trying to summon a familiar, going well into the night. Except there were nasty things that crawled in the night, nasty things that would see an unguarded wizard expending an enormous amount of energy and think he would make a good snack.
Matsukawa chased away some hobgoblins lurking in a nearby bush. They squealed and squeaked in fear as they stumbled over themselves to get away from the demonic wolf.
Matsukawa was Daichi’s familiar, had been for the past five years. It had taken Daichi only three hours sitting in a summoning circle for Matsukawa to choose him. That was how familiars worked. They weren’t just animals, though many choose to stay in an animal-like form, but intelligent magical creatures. Familiars shared their lives with their chosen witch and therefore it was a life-binding decision they made. Matsukawa wasn’t really a large wolf, he was more of a shadow creature than anything else. His shape changed day-to-day, sometimes appearing in a more canine fashion, sometimes choosing something more feline or avian. Rarely he donned his human-like form, something tall and lanky with an ever present deadpan expression and mischievous dark eyes.
Daichi had been surprised by how well suited he was to Matsukawa. How well Matsukawa fit into his and Tetsurou’s life, like he had been there all along. It had been part of the reason Tetsurou had waited for so long until he decided that it was time to get his own familiar. Their little family of three seemed perfect, they were all a little wary of adding a fourth.
Except Tetsurou had begun to the summoning at the beginning of October and the month was fast approaching it’s end. Yet no familiar had shown up. Tetsurou would never admit it but he was getting worried. They had all heard stories of witches who couldn’t find a familiar. Their hearts too dark, their souls too twisted. Daichi didn’t believe any of that nonsense about Tetsurou, not his Tetsurou with his horrible bedhead and lames jokes. The same man who made sure to close all the blinds in the morning for Matsukawa’s comfort. The same one who had slowly and carefully wooed Daichi over the course of years until Daichi realized he was deeply in love. Tetsurou could be a little provocative, especially if he was around Matsukawa’s human-shape or Tooru, but he had a big and genuine heart. A familiar would show up in their own time and when they did they would be spectacular.
So Daichi did what he could, which meant bringing a basket of food for his husband who hadn’t eaten in hours and watching the shadows for monsters. Well, monsters that didn’t include his Matsukawa.
Matsukawa looped back over to Daichi after thoroughly scaring away the hobgoblins. He circled behind Daichi before laying down, his big furry body radiating warmth. Daichi settled against him, judging by the downward tug of Tetsurou’s lips he knew they would be there for a little while yet. Daichi had worked at the shop all day and he knew Matsukawa would keep an ear out for danger, so he allowed himself to curl up against the big body behind him and close his eyes, letting the ambient sounds of the country night lull him into a light doze.
Daichi must have fallen asleep for a while considering the next time he opened his eyes it was significantly darker. Daichi wasn’t sure what woke him at first, until he saw movement near his side. Matsukawa wasn’t moving from behind him, which reassured Daichi that it was nothing dangerous. As much as Matsukawa enjoyed his pranks, he would never allow any harm to befall either Daichi or Tetsurou.
Daichi watched tiny hands touch along the top of the basket. It was a small glowing spirit that looked like a cross between a fox and a raccoon, with wide black eyes. Tiny raccoon-like hands found their way inside the basket before Matsukawa sat up straight, head tilted to the side and ears perked up as he listened to something that was out of range of Daichi’s human ears.
The small spirit, scared by Matsukawa’s sudden movement, scurried away. Daichi felt bad enough to dig into the basket and pulled out a container with plenty of salted mackerel in it. Tetsurou would be famished after his summoning spell, and disappointed if a familiar didn’t show themselves. Hence bringing his favorite food and plenty of it. Enough of it to share one fish with a harmless spirit.
Daichi tossed the fish to the spirit, who made little whistle and click noises in excitement as it scooped up the fish before pointing to the side. Daichi looked over to see Tetsurou throw himself backwards, long arms and legs thrown wide in defeat.
Matsukawa moved forward, blending into the shadows as several creatures started to ooze and crawl towards the exhausted witch, waiting for him to be at his weakest.
Daichi pulled his wand out from his boot, taking a deep breath and waiting. Matsukawa blended in perfectly with the shadows, he was a shadow creature after all, but Daichi always knew where he was. Matsukawa charged out of the shadows, chasing off the creatures on the far side. Gathering his power Daichi flicked out his hand holding the wand, light burst out the tapered end and took care of the remaining creatures.
With that taken care of, and Matsukawa making enough noise to scare away any further disturbances, Daichi tucked his wand back into his boot, letting the slightly fatter end stick out and press reassuringly against his calf. Daichi then turned to bow deeply at the spirit who had warned them. The spirit hugged the half eaten fish to his furry chest before standing on its two feet, bowing back to Daichi.
Daichi reached down to grab the basket before making his way over to his disheartened husband. Daichi looked over the circle as he walked through it, saw the meticulous care Tetsurou took in making it after the third failed attempt to summon a familiar.
“Tell me how it feels Daichi.” Tetsurou said as Daichi sat down, carefully picking up his husbands head to place it carefully in his lap.
“How what feels?” Daichi asked as he began to thread his fingers through the dark tresses on the witches frowning face. Tetsurou’s hair was longer than when they met, when they were both apprentices and fairly young. Tetsurou could pull it back into a tiny ponytail, more often than not he used a black headband to push it back when he was trying to concentrate.
“To have such a failure as a husband.” Tetsurou looked up, tried for his usual arrogant smirk but it just fell short. Daichi sighed as he pushed the wild hair away from Tetsurou’s face, so they both could see each other properly.
“You made me the only wand that has ever worked for me.” Daichi’s magic was no where near the extent of Tetsurou’s or others such as Ushijima or Tooru’s. He ran a shop for apprentices, teaching the fairly young basic control before they would go to a proper school. The work was long and difficult, Daichi loved every minute of it, but the small magic he was allowed with the help of a wand made long ago by a young boy with a cheshire cat smile sure helped when dealing with children who had too many emotions they couldn’t deal with, which led to magical disasters.
“My finest moment, it was all downhill from there.” Tetsurou said dramatically, but there was some truth in his words. Or truth as he saw it. Tetsurou made magical items, his workshop was connected to Daichi’s own apprentice shop. They lived upstairs with Matsukawa.
“So marrying Daichi or meeting me was apart of that downhill spiral?” Matsukawa’s low drawl came from above them as he finally got bored of chasing dark creatures and trotted back to them. He walked between Tetsurou’s spread legs and laid down on the man, who let out a grunt from the added weight.
“I don’t know why you two are still with me, I’m clearly-” Matsukawa’s sudden shift to a human form stopped Tetsurou. Matsukawa hardly took on a human form, he claimed it was because this form was weaker than the others but Daichi just suspected he was lazy. No one would ask a 150 kilogram beast to help with chores. Well Daichi would but only because Matsukawa is his 150 kilogram beast.
“Clearly what?” Daichi prompts, pulling lightly on Tetsurou’s black hair as Matsukawa makes himself comfortable lying mostly on top of Tetsurou. Daichi can see their combined attack was working it’s own sort of magic. Tetsurou’s stiffness was slowly leaving him, his frown not so pronounced as Matsukawa pushed his hands underneath Tetsurou’s black shirt.
“Clearly a big pushover?” Matsukawa offered, rubbing his face against Tetsurou’s chest as Daichi leant over to press a soft kiss against his lips.
“Clearly a dork?” Daichi asked with a grin as Tetsurou huffed out a laugh.
“You two stop flattering me, I’ll blush.” Tetsurou joked, but his arms came up to hug Matsukawa’s to himself at the same time as he tilted his head back. The kiss was a little awkward with Daichi leaning forward and it being upside down, but there was an old familiarity there. A warmth and comfort gained from years of knowing and loving each other.
When Daichi had first walked into Tetsurou’s old shop to pick up something for his older brother he had thought he had never met anyone as obnoxious as Tetsurou was. The same was still true, Tetsurou was infamously obnoxious when he wanted to be. But he was also one of the most soft hearted people Daichi had ever known. He cared deeply about others and as much as he might joke about it, the fact that no familiar would bond with him was really bothering him.
Daichi’s ears gave an almost painful pop from sudden expense of magic. Daichi and Matsukawa slowly released Tetsurou, who pushed himself into a sitting position, dark eyes wide with disbelief as he stared at the creature sitting within the confines of his summoning circle. The summoning circle that was still active, even if Tetsurou had stopped pouring his magic and concentration into it. Neither Daichi nor Matsukawa had disturbed any of the lines when they walked into it.
Matsukawa shifted into the spot Tetsurou left as he carefully drew closer to the large creature. Matsukawa had to scoot down quite low to be able to rest against Daichi’s chest, both his husband and his familiar enjoyed being several centimeters taller than Daichi though neither were quite as broad as him and therefore never pushed the height debacle too far. Daichi rested his chin on the top of Matsukawa’s head, his wild and curly hair tickling the skin of his neck before he moved a little so he could whisper in his familiars ear without disturbing Tetsurou and the new creature.
“Why would they show up now?” Daichi wondered. Matsukawa hummed in thought as Tetsurou kneeled before the creature. It was quite large with almost snowy white fur along most of its body which looked like that of a big cats, though it’s head was quite avian, almost like an owl. Large gun metal blue eyes stare down at Tetsurou in almost a bored fashion.
“What was different this time?” Matsukawa asked, the answer quite clear. Daichi and Matsukawa were different this time. “I have a feeling he’s been watching Tetsu for quite a while. Everyone is different when looking for their potential partner.” Matsukawa idly traced the veins along Daichi’s hand, long fingers barely touching him. “I wanted a family, it looks like he’s not too different.”
It had only taken a couple hours for Matsukawa to choose Daichi but Daichi suddenly remembered that it was when Tetsurou had stumbled into the clearing Daichi had set up his circle in that Matsukawa had appeared. Daichi had watched as Tetsurou tripped over a hidden root or rock, perhaps his own feet, and had thought with clear exasperated fondness of how much he loved Tetsurou. How he was going to marry him.
“Akaashi.” Tetsurou said the name softly, reverently. The large creature closed his eyes slowly and bowed his head. Tetsurou pressed his forehead against his new familiars.
Names were always powerful, but to familiars they were more than that. When a witch summoned their familiar for the first time they named them, and if the familiar accepted the name then they became bonded. Giving their true name to their witch was the biggest show of trust. Daichi had named Matsukawa, but he also knew his true name was Issei. Only in the most private moments did he say the name.
“Akaashi!” Tetsurou laughed happily as his new familiar drew back, blinking large eyes at him. “This is my husband and his familiar Matsukawa, you’ll be living with us now. I’m sorry about all the children, Daichi tends to collect them and Mattsun sheds over everything but they’re okay.” Tetsurou leant forward and whispered something to Akaashi that made the the pointed feathers on his head twitch slightly as he glanced over at Daichi and Matsukawa. Matsukawa laughed before pushing himself into a real seated position and not just draping himself over Daichi.
“What did he say?” Daichi asked with a frown. Tetsurou and Matsukawa shared a mischievous grin before Daichi sighed and pushed himself onto his feet to make his way over to Akaashi. “If you want to back out now I understand, they only get worse the longer you know them.” Tetsurou let out an indignant squawk as Akaashi ducked his head, a low sound emitting from him that could be laughter or just a growling stomach.
“He said I would grow to love both of you.” Akaashi’s voice was soft and deep, almost surprising. Matsukawa had waited months before revealing he could speak, not all familiars could. “I look forward to it. Please take care of me.” Akaashi bowed his head and Daichi smiled, a warm feeling filling him as he knew Akaashi would fit rather nicely into their makeshift little family.