Work Text:
Who knew that after everything was over things would be so...calm? It was almost too calm. Things were settled down; friends had moved on with their lives, married off to each other, moved away and back to their territories. Some had even gone off with each other to different territories.
Caspar hadn’t wanted to stay put though. He wanted to travel around and see everything he missed while on the run from the Empire during those five years where he kind of just floated around. Naturally, after the war had ended, he wanted to do what he had planned before the stupid war had even started.
Getting Linhardt to go along with him was just an added bonus. Not that he was going to complain though. He had mentioned it offhandedly to the other when they had a moment after the army had made its way back to Garreg Mach. They had holed themselves up in one of their rooms, he didn’t remember which one they had tumbled in to. It just kind of slipped out while they were undressing and tending to the minor injuries they still had. The look of shock on Linhardt’s face made him laugh, pulling a grin on his face as he watched his friend stumble through his words until he finally said that he would go with him on his travels.
”Someone has to keep you alive I guess.”
Caspar was startled out of his memories when he felt Linhardt flop down next to him on the bed. They had managed to find a small town that had an inn, needing a place to stay for the night while the storm raged around outside. He shifted around a bit until they both fit comfortably on the bed. It was small, big enough to fit the two of them but that was about it.
“Did ya find anything interesting?” Caspar asked, looking down at his friend who was probably five seconds away from falling asleep. But Caspar wanted to talk. Even if that’s all he did while they were on the road anyway. He liked hearing Linhardt talk. Especially when it was directed at him.
“Mm, sort of.” Linhardt mumbled, turning his head slightly to face the other so he could look up at him. “How are you not tired?”
“Huh? Do I look awake?” Caspar furrowed his brow before he reached a hand out to run his fingers through Linhardt’s hair slowly. “I’m beat honestly.”
“Then how do you have the energy to still be sitting up and talking?” Linhardt’s eyes slid shut as soon as he felt Caspar card his fingers through his hair. When the petting stopped, he peeked an eye open to look up again. “You stopped.”
“Sorry, got lost in thinking again. If you’re tired Lin go to sleep.” Caspar hummed, returning to run his fingers through the long hair. He got caught on a couple of snarls and carefully picked them apart to smooth everything back out carefully. “Did you figure out where we’re at at least?”
“No clue. The map they have downstairs seems outdated and when I asked, they kind of just rolled their eyes at me. We’ll just keep going East for now. Did you have an area you wanted to explore?”
“Nah, just trying to get an idea of where we are at to make a mental map for myself.” Caspar said quietly, watching as Linhardt got progressively more comfortable.
Almost like a cat He thought in amusement, chuckling when Linhardt started to curl up around him.
“Lay down would you?” Linhardt muttered, reaching up a limp hand to try and pull Caspar down. Not that he actually had the strength to do that. But he knew Caspar would listen to him if he asked. Of course it happened and Caspar slid down to lay beside him.
“This work?” Caspar whispered, laying flat on his back and arranged his arms so that he could still run one hand through Linhardt’s hair.
“Mm, hold on.” Linhardt replied, slowly shifting around before he laid back down. He was partially on top of Caspar now. He felt the other’s laugh against his cheek, making him smile. “Now this works.”
“Of course it does.” Caspar chuckled, wrapping his other arm around Linhardt while the other rested against the nape of his neck. “Comfy?” He got a nod in return, making him chuckle again. “You do know that the lights are still on right?”
“Shh, problem for later.”
“Lin, we kind of need to turn those off BEFORE we go to sleep though. I know you can sleep with them on but I can’t.” Caspar was trying hard not to laugh at the other’s antics. There were hands clutching at his shirt to try and keep him in place. Caspar actually thought about just getting up and carrying Linhardt around with him as he went about getting them ready to sleep for the night. “And neither of us have washed up from the day. We’re dusty from the roads and I’d like to at least wash my face before falling asleep.”
“Didn’t I tell you to be quiet?” Linhardt grumbled, moving to rest his chin against Caspar’s chest to look at him. His eyes held an amused glint to them and he could see that Caspar was holding back a wide grin. “Besides, you are comfortable. Somehow. Even with all the muscle you have.”
“If I wasn’t comfortable, then I wouldn’t be able to have you use me as a pillow like this!” Caspar said it probably a little too loudly for the atmosphere that had started up between them but he was grinning now.
“Ah, look at you being a scholar about this. I didn’t know you had that in you.”
“Hey now! I can research things just fine when I want to!”
“And yet you still haven’t figured out that I have told you to quiet down twice now.”
“I don’t see you doing anything about that either!”
They were quiet for a whole two seconds before the laughter bubbled out of both of them. Linhardt buried his face into Caspar’s neck, continuing to laugh warmly. Caspar’s arms tightened their hold around his thing waist, shoulders shaking with mirth.
“We’re something else aren’t we?” Caspar said softly, his lips pressed against Linhardt’s ear gently.
“We really are. Did you see the look we got earlier when we said we only needed one bed?” Linhardt murmured, returning to his previous sleepy state. He was wrapped up in Caspar’s arms, happy, comfortable, and tired. How could he not start to fall asleep again.
Caspar snorted, nodding slightly. “Yeah I did. I thought you were going to chew him out for a second before he finally handed you the key. Although maybe it’s because we look so gross that he was giving us that look.”
“Highly doubt that.” There was a small moment of silence before Linhardt added “Do we really look gross?”
“I mean you’ve had a smudge of dirt on your forehead for a few hours now and your robes are a bit dusty. My hair is a mess and I’m sure my clothes aren’t much better.” Caspar had started rubbing circles against Linhardt’s lower back absently, content with just holding him like this.
“You know, keep doing that and we really won’t be able to get up and clean up before sleeping.” Linhardt scolded, finally pulling his face out of the others neck to look at him.
“Thought you were too tired to do that?” Caspard teased him, smiling softly now. He didn’t stop his hands though.
“Oh I am. You’ll just have to do all the work.” Linhardt let his head drop back down with a small huff, smiling again. Was it just a thing that Caspar had about him? Making him feel so mushy like this and making him smile all the time. It was almost infuriating that he could do this to him. But maybe he was right, they should clean up before heading to bed. Groaning, he rolled off the other before yelping as Caspar pulled him back onto his chest. “Caspar!”
“Few more minutes, Lin.” Caspar murmured, burying his face into his hair. “Please? You get to use me as your pillow for longer.”
Linhardt hummed, reaching a hand up to gently card his fingers Caspar’s hair in return. “Eugh, no we really should clean up. Your hair does feel disgusting.” He sat up, ignoring Caspar’s whining protests as he pulled the other up with him. “But then when we get back, you’re going to be my pillow for the rest of the night.”
Caspar grinned, nodding happily as he followed Linhard to the washroom. It didn’t take long and thankfully they had something reminiscent of sleepire attire in their packs that they could pull on. Linhardt had already crawled back into the bed, pulling the covers back, while Caspar made sure their things were secured and the room was locked before he blew out the lamps.
When he turned around to walk to the bed, he grinned at the sight. Linhardt was obviously forcing himself to stay awake while he waited for Caspar to join him and he didn’t want to make the other wait any longer so he quickly dove into the bed.
“Caspar!” Linhardt gasped, his eyes flying wide open as the bed shook violently. “You cannot just do that!”
“Yeah yeah yeah. C’mere.” Caspar reached out and pulled Linhard on top of him, letting him settle down before he pulled the covers over them. As soon as he felt Linhardt start to fall asleep, he pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “Good night, Lin.” He didn’t get a response but he wasn’t expecting one.