Chapter Text
i.
Natori dislikes the cold. The cold season means silence, time confined to a house of polite words and chilly halls.
There’s no use looking for his jacket now, as its shreds were resting in the stomach of the catfish youkai they had just sealed at the lake.
Natori shudders as he sneezes, and tries to shrink into his cotton shirt as the evening wind nips over him. Lucky Seiji was shrugging on his black winter jacket.
Natori is surprised to suddenly find something shoved into his arms.
"What?" Natori says.
"Surely you don’t need me to show you how to wear a jacket, Shuuichi-san."
The hoodie is soft in Natori’s hands, and the gray material still warm.
"I don’t need your-" and Seiji just gives Natori a look when Natori sneezes again.
Natori wears it.
ii.
"I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that. This spot would be too dangerous for beginners like myself!"
Hidden among the tree branches, Seiji grins.
Shuuichi is learning to wear his smiles well. This is the harmless local high-schooler smile, an impression reinforced by his school shirt and the hoodie pulled over it.
The red-haired exorcist in the clearing takes up a condescending look and steps in closer to give Shuuichi a warning of some kind. Curiously, the two ayakashi servants behind the other exorcist- one weasel-like, the other a masked goat- are standing much further away from Shuuichi, nervousness visible in their posture.
Seiji’s grin widens.
Scent was usually the strongest sense for ayakashi, after all.
iii.
The robes seem heavier by the year. But even with the paper clinging over one eye, it’s not too difficult to put them on by touch.
What is difficult is remembering why today’s meeting was so important.
"If you’re late, Nanase-san will have my head," Shuuichi-san says on the other side of the screen.
Especially when there are other more…interesting things he could be attending to.
The meeting is dull, especially when two minor members of the clan start bickering over the rights to a bounty reward.
Seiji decides to amuse himself by leaning towards Shuuichi on his right, and whispering a line about robes and pine trees.
Fulfilling his expectations, Shuuichi keeps smiling, but the back of his neck tinges pink. When asked, Shuuichi makes an idle comment about the fires in the small room.
iv.
"My watch, my watch. The phone. My glasses?"
Seiji pulls them out of his right pocket, and taps Shuuichi on the head with them.
"Thanks," Shuuichi mutters, eyes still squinting sleepily, and makes a fumbling attempt to button his jacket. He’s never at his best in the morning, even if his appearance is polished as always. "Why is my first button missing?"
Seiji glances at his own watch. His usual car is half-an-hour late.
He slides towards Shuuichi to face him, places his hands on Shuuichi’s lapels, and says, “Let me check.”
Shuuichi wakes up pretty quickly after that.
Later, he accuses Seiji as the one at fault for all of Shuuichi’s unsalvageable jackets.
Seiji sees no point in denying it.