Chapter Text
You sat high up in the branches of a tree, keeping an eye on the surrounding area. The Kingdom of Science didn’t exactly have a lot of enemies at this point, but it never hurt to be cautious anyway. Besides, some of the harder labor wasn’t quite suited to you. You were more than happy to act as one of the several lookouts. So you sat there and swung your legs back and forth, softly humming one of your favorite songs to yourself, trying not to think about the fact that you would be extremely lucky to hear it played ever again. It was fine, as long as you remembered the song and sung it to yourself, it would never leave you.
It was fine, perfectly fine.
Everything was fine.
Ah, but it wasn’t really fine, was it? Your life had been turned completely upside down. You had no idea where your friends and family were, you didn’t have access to any of the comforts you were used to, and all of your favorite things were probably gone forever. You were sitting in some tree in the middle of a forest, keeping an eye out for potential dangers to protect a bunch of people you didn’t even know that well. It wasn’t fair. Not fair at all.
You felt tears welling up at the corners of your eyes, though you quickly scrubbed them away. Now wasn’t the time for self-pity, no matter how nice it would feel to allow yourself to wallow for a bit. You had a job to do, and even if the most exciting thing that could happen was spotting a bear or a lion, you needed to stay focused. But once the tears started, they just kept coming. No matter how much you internally scolded yourself, or how hard you tried to redirect your thoughts, it was like a floodgate had opened, and all the feelings you had been keeping bottled up since you had been revived came spilling out. The fact that you were even sitting there right now was a fluke-
“Hey, are you alright?”
The voice that interrupted your thoughts was accompanied by the feeling of a hat being plopped down on your head, the material oddly comforting. It slid down slightly over your eyes and you had to take a moment to push it back up. Ukyo had appeared beside you on the branch, wearing a look of concern. You hurried to try and wipe away the tears still sliding down your cheeks, embarrassed that he had seen you like this. “I’m fine-“ But before you could continue to try and save face, he leaned forward to gently brush away the stray tears that you had missed. If you hadn’t been quite so surprised, you probably would’ve blushed at the closeness.
“You don’t seem fine.”
You opened your mouth to respond, then closed it. You had about a million things you wanted to say, a million insecurities you wanted to let out, but you didn’t know where or if you should start. Ukyo had always been kind to you, ever since you had been revived by Tsukasa several months ago. It had been a shock, to be sure, and you felt like you didn’t fit in at all in his Kingdom of Might. It seemed like everyone else had some sort of purpose, some point as to why they were revived. You were just… average. No special skills, no connections. You were just you. But despite that, Ukyo had taken you under his wing, checking up on you and helping you find things to do so you could feel like you were contributing somehow. Hell, he had even taken up giving you the occasional archery lesson when there was nothing else for either of you to do.
You hunched your shoulders and looked away, feigning interest in the landscape below. “…I’ll be fine, then.”
A silence, somewhere between comfortable and awkward, stretched between the two of you. Birds chirped in the woods surrounding you, and you opted to focus on that, rather than the young man kneeling next to you. Though after a moment, Ukyo shifted so he was sitting by your side. His hat remained on your head. His foot nudged your own to get your attention, and you brought your gaze back to his face. “It’s fine if you don’t want to talk,” he said quietly. “But at least let me keep you company.”
You hummed your consent and pulled his hat back down a little further on your head, hoping that he wasn’t looking at you too closely. Now that the initial surprise had worn off, you were keenly aware of how close he was and how sweet he was being. “In any case… what are you doing out here?” you asked. “I didn’t think you had a shift for awhile yet.”
He shrugged noncommittally, and before you had the chance to follow up on your question, he pulled his bow from off of his back and handed it to you. “Here, you might as well get some practice in.”
You took the weapon from him, grateful for the distraction. Your thoughts were still racing, but having something tangible to focus on would do wonders for your mental state. You sat up straight and took practice shots; Ukyo instructing you where to aim and occasionally reaching over to adjust your grip and posture. His touch sent butterflies shooting through your veins. When had you suddenly formed a crush on him? This hadn’t happened before. And what was with him ignoring your earlier question? Surely, he wasn’t there simply because he had felt like spending time with you? You were so deep in your thoughts that you missed the next shot, startling when you watched the arrow go wildly off course to embed itself in the dirt below. Ukyo made a noise somewhere in between a laugh and a sigh and patted the top of your head. You suddenly wished you weren’t wearing his hat.
“Do you want to try again, or have you had enough for now?”
You handed the bow back to him sheepishly. “I think I’m too distracted to keep practicing. Thanks, though.”
He accepted the bow and slung it across his back once more. “Are you feeling any better, at least?”
Now it was your turn to shrug. “My thoughts are elsewhere, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Ukyo laughed, and it was probably one of the nicest sounds you had ever heard. You wished he would just keep laughing forever. When he did, inevitably, stop, he replied “then do you mind if I ask what you’re thinking about now?”
Though you hadn’t seen yourself in a mirror for well over a year, you could feel your cheeks turning bright red. You fumbled for a response that wouldn’t warrant too much suspicion or cause too much embarrassment. “…I was just thinking about how nice you are, that’s all.”
“Oh?” The look on his face had become unreadable.
“Yeah.”
This time, the silence was definitively awkward. It only lasted a moment though, and was broken when Ukyo leaned over and pressed a kiss to your cheek. If you weren’t completely red before, you most certainly were now. And if you weren’t mistaken, Ukyo’s cheeks were tinged pink as well. “I think you’re pretty nice too,” he replied as he stood up. He was getting ready to make his way back down the tree. He paused by the trunk, clearly debating if there was something else he should say, or if he should wait for you to respond. But your brain was very much broken by the turn of events, and you couldn’t think of anything to say, even if you wanted to. He turned back one last time, a hint of a dorky grin tugging on the edges of his mouth. “I’ll see you later?”
You nodded and felt a grin of your own trying to surface. “Yeah, for sure!”