Chapter Text
Kumon is the errand boy for this year’s summer festival, it seems, with the villager who had been put in charge of organizations thrusting another packet at him and telling him to deliver it to the man in charge of the shrines as soon as he could. The harsh sunlight beats down on his back and catches the glass of the villager’s spectacles, blinding him for a brief moment before he darts away with a polite “Excuse me!”.
Arriving at the cool shade of the shrine, he throws himself down on the stone after handing his package off, letting out a sigh. “Ah, Tsumugi-san, isn’t it really too hot today to be making me do this kind of stuff? Not like I’m not up for it, but I can literally see the heat,” he gestures, and the man in charge of the shrines laughs.
“Well, someone’s got to do it, right? And I’m thankful it’s you, Kumon, instead of someone who’d be much slower and much more of a slacker. Come into the main building whenever you want within the next couple minutes, and I’ll reward you for your effort, hm?” Tsumugi grins, and Kumon smiles back, electing to lie on the tiles for just a little while longer.
It’s honestly too hot to even move, he thinks, and that’s when a red-haired boy appears in his line of sight, grinning bright enough to rival the sun.
“Why’re you lying on the floor?’ he asks, and Kumon shoots up, nearly hitting his forehead against the other’s.
“Ah, sorry! I was just about to head in with Tsumugi-san, I really didn’t mean to desecrate the shrine or anything, my apologies—”
The boy flicks him on the forehead, lightly, and smiles again. “Nah, it’s whatever, I don’t really mind. Besides, all of these shrine people make too big a deal about desecration, it’s the meaning that really matters!”
Kumon blinks, a touch flustered, before pulling himself into a proper sitting position. “I mean, you’d probably know more than me, being someone who actually works here, so I’ll trust you on that. Why’re you out right now, anyways, when it’s so hot?”
Yawning, Kumon misses the way that the boy’s eyes widen and he blinks, only looking up when the boy says, “Ah, just thought I’d get a taste of summer’s heat for once, you know? You don’t get to feel the scorching sun like this every day!” Kumon shrugs, lost in the mystery of why anyone would willingly subject themselves to the heat, and dusts himself off as he stands up. “Where’re you going?”
He startles, having somehow nearly lost track of the boy in the couple seconds he’d been out of sight, and sighs. “Into the main building, Tsumugi-san’s offered me a reward because I complained too much, I think.” His eyes shift, and he sees the boy fidgeting with his shirt. “Wanna come? I think Tsumugi-san would be okay giving it to someone else, he’s just that kind of person.”
“Ah, I really shouldn’t—” the boy laughs, before Kumon grabs his arm and tugs him along. “Wait!” He’s strangely interested in this boy with red hair and ocean-bright eyes, and he figures offering a gift (even if it’s from someone else) is the best way to get to know him better.
“C’mon, it’ll be fine! Plus, you work here, I’m sure Tsumugi-san would be willing to give you something too!”
The boy smiles as he’s pulled into the main area, Kumon’s fingers tight around his wrist.
—
“Tsumugi-san, I’ve bought a friend,” Kumon calls, dragging the boy behind him. “Sorry, I know you said just for me, but he looks nice! You can spare some extra, right?” He puts on his best puppy eyes, the one that gets his older brother to cave no matter what, and looks up at Tsumugi as he pleads.
Tsumugi, for his part, is doing an excellent job at stifling his laughter at Kumon’s antics, when he looks at the boy who’d tagged along and his eyes widen.
“I—” He only manages to get a single word out before the boy darts out of Kumon’s grasp and sidles up to Tsumugi, eyes twinkling.
“Hello! I haven’t met you before, but this guy promised me a treat if I followed him, and I think you’re the one giving it out, so can you please let me have some too?” he rambles, excited, and Tsumugi pauses in shock before shaking his bangs loose lightly and shuttering his eyes.
“It’s no problem,” he says in an aside, and turns to Kumon. “Now, Kumon, your reward: I’ve just fetched the amazake, and I’ll let you have a tiny sip if you don’t tell anyone. You’re growing up, so I think you deserve a little treat, hm?”
“And him, too?” Kumon gestures, eagerly straining to see if he can catch a peek of the drink.
“Of course, I’ll indulge for you both.” Tsumugi leads them to the drink, allowing Kumon to take a sip first, and makes to take the ladle when Kumon withdraws his hand.
“Oh, sorry, you haven’t had a chance yet!” The boy takes the ladle happily, sipping a little bit more than Kumon thinks he should, and Kumon wonders whether he should say anything or not. “Eh…isn’t that a bit much?”
The boy laughs, and Kumon brightens up. “It’s alright! I’ll be fine, alcohol really isn’t too bad for—for people like me.”
Tsumugi gently takes the ladle back from them, tucking it away neatly as they chatter, and claps his hands. “While I’m glad you two are getting along, shouldn’t it be time for proper introductions? Remember your manners, Kumon.”
Kumon startles, and quickly scrambles to dip his head in a half-bow. “Oh! I’m Kumon Hyodo, like Tsumugi-san said, and I’m just helping out for tonight’s festival! I like my older brother, running, catch-ball, and pork. It’s nice to meet you!”
Nodding, the boy responds in turn: “I’m…Taichi! Um, Taichi Nanao! I hang around at the shrine a lot, and I don’t really do much else…and I like pork too, I think. I’ve never really tried any!”
“Good,” Tsumugi says. “Now, I’m sure the man who sent me this package is missing you, Kumon. Run along and see what else needs work, alright?” Taichi pouts in his peripheral, and he sighs. “Why don’t you take Taichi with you? Get him out of this shrine for once.”
“Alright!” Kumon chirps, darting away, and Taichi follows hot on his trail, shouting at him to wait up.
—
It’s much later in the afternoon when Tsumugi finally packs up and retreats to his room, to find a shadow of a man waiting for him. “You seem perturbed,” the shadow remarks, and Tsumugi just giggles.
“Eh, Taa-chan, I just want to know why Taichi’s down here,” he says, and the shadow startles, coalescing into the figure of a tall and serious-looking man.
“He’s here? Why?” he asks, and Tsumugi just shrugs.
“I thought you knew already…?” Tsumugi asks in turn, looking confused. “So he didn’t let—”
“I hope he stays safe,” the man glares, inadvertently cutting off Tsumugi’s sentence.
“Calm down, he’ll handle himself fine, I’m sure. Now, come with me and we’ll go get absolutely drunk at the festival like we used to do, then I can yell at you in the morning for not getting hangovers,” Tsumugi smiles, linking arms with the man. “Please?”
“Ah, sure,” he sighs, and steps outside. “Just don’t complain too much tomorrow.”
—
Kumon quickly realizes Taichi doesn’t run as fast as he does when he slows down and sees him still several paces behind, wheezing on his knees. “Eh, Taichi, are you okay?” he calls, back-stepping, and Taichi waves him off with a hand.
“‘M fine!” he wheezes out. “All good!”
“We can take a break if you’d like, you know! I don’t wanna accidentally make you pass out or anything…” Kumon steps nearer, and while he’s fiddling with his bag, his hand brushes against the water he’d stashed in there earlier at the shrine. “Ah! This’ll help, so drink up!”
He presses the still-somewhat cold bottle to Taichi’s forehead, delighting in the way he startles, and offers it out. “Water’ll help, especially with it being as hot as it is…”
Taichi takes the bottle hesitantly, throwing back a gulp after a moment. “You’re sure you wanna let me have this?”
“Yeah, sure! That’s what friends are for, right?” Kumon grins, tucking the bottle back into his bag.
“We’re friends already?” Taichi’s voice is wondering, a touch incredulous, and Kumon finds himself drawn to the slight hint of something he hears underneath his voice.
“Of course! We’ve gotten a drink together, and hung out together, so in my book that means we’re friends. Also, it’s a lot less boring to do this stuff with someone else, you know,” he says, wanting to coax out Taichi’s smile again.
Taichi does crack a smile at that, taking Kumon’s offered hand to haul himself up, and Kumon delights in the electricity that he imagines flows between their palms for a moment.
“Now, our next delivery is to the old man who runs the clothing store, except it’ll probably be his son who answers and his son seems mean but he’s actually very nice! Also, don’t call his son a girl, not unless you want to…” His voice fades off as they travel down the dirt path, eaten up by the cracked soil, and Kumon doesn’t remember to let go of Taichi’s hand until they’re about halfway to their destination.
—
Kumon forgets, in his delight at having made a friend, how to deal with the side district that he’d been ordered to run a package of paper down to.
It’s a dangerous place, his older brother had said, and he’d made him promise to never go in there without either him or the stupid guy with weird hair he hung around with sometimes. He’d heard too, from their mother, that there were all sorts of people and things that hung around in there, and that he was too pretty and too young to be going in there (accompanied by a pinch to the cheeks) and he should avoid it at all costs.
Well, he was halfway into the district now, and had only just started to remember why the younger kids were told to stay away from here.
The lanterns hanging from the storefronts had begun to flicker, making it increasingly hard to navigate the twilight that was fast approaching, and he marched stiff-legged as he steadfastly refused to look any direction that wasn’t his destination. “Don’t look at them,” his brother had warned. “They’ll take it as a challenge.”
The only reason, if he was being honest, that he hadn’t turned around and ran yet was walking at his side, eyes and hair as bright as always. “Ah, that painting really is pretty, isn’t it?” Taichi asks to his left, and Kumon stiffens.
“Don’t look at the storefront displays, Taichi,” he hisses out of the corner of his mouth, and links his arm with Taichi’s again. It’s a bit of a coward move, maybe, but he’d prefer looking like a coward to losing him.
“Why? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with them…”
“Taichi?” Kumon turns his head at the sound of Taichi’s voice trailing off, and his anxiety spikes higher upon seeing the burly man in their path. “Taichi—”
“What’re you two boys doing here, huh?” the man snarls, and Kumon starts shaking. He’d been warned of this by everyone, he’d gone foolishly into the side district after the sun had started to set, and now he and Taichi were going to die when nobody knew where they were. “Looking to pick a fight?”
“No, sir, we were—we were just on our way, it’ll be but a moment,” he babbles, and tugs Taichi even closer. “My sincerest apologies!”
“No, you won’t be on your way,” the man says, voice turning contemplative, and he feels Taichi tense up at his side. “That boy looks interesting. Boy, won’t you come with me, and I’ll give you a reward in return? Something to sweeten the deal?”
Kumon clutches Taichi tight, horrified. “I—I—” Taichi stutters out, eyes blown wide, and the man steps another mark closer.
“You’ve got that look about you, you know. You should really consider coming with me.” His stare is lecherous, and it fills Kumon’s body with disgust. “It’s the night of the wolf god’s festival, and I think you remind me quite a lot of a puppy, yeah? All bright eyes and sharp teeth, what a coincidence.” He shrugs, nonchalantly, and Taichi shivers. “Perhaps fate led you to me.”
Kumon feels Taichi drop from next to him and onto the dirt, and panics. “Taichi!”
When he looks down, Taichi’s kneeling on the ground, clutching his head, and tears are moistening the dirt that lies beneath them. “I—No, I can’t—I don’t want to be here—” he hears Taichi choke out, and his heart sinks.
“I can help get your friend to a safe place, kid,” the man offers, apparently unshaken by whatever’s going on, and Kumon stands up in a burst of anger.
“I’ll take care of him just fine myself, thanks,” he snaps, and puffs himself up like he used to do in the mirror to imitate his brother. “I don’t think you should be talking to us anymore.”
In the next instant, he hauls Taichi up from the ground and onto his back, and knees protesting against the added weight, begins to run far, far away.
—
He only stops after a kilometer or so, after he’s confident he’s lost the man in the turns he’s taken, and gently slides Taichi off his back before collapsing onto the ground for the second time that day.
“Taichi, you alright?” Kumon throws his question out into the cool night air, enjoying the feel of it brushing his hot cheeks. “Is everything okay?”
It’s a couple long moments before Taichi responds, propping himself up on his elbows. “Sorry, I don’t—I don’t know what happened.” Kumon flips over to look at him, but Taichi won’t meet his eyes. “Sorry.”
He flops over onto Taichi’s lap, feeling bold after escaping the weird man from the side district, and smiles. “Don’t be sorry! Friends help each other out when they need to, yeah?” It’s weird to not see Taichi smile. He doesn’t think he likes it very much.
“...Yeah,” he hears Taichi say from above him, and then feels slender fingers carding through his hair. “Hey, can I ask you a question?”
Kumon’s blissed out enough from Taichi petting his hair that he sleepily nods, smile still on his face.
“...Wanna go to the festival?”
He sits up at that, nearly bumping foreheads again. “Like—like just you and me, you mean? At the festival?”
“Yeah, sure. Why not? It’ll be fun, and there’ll be lots of stuff to do!” The sparkle in Taichi’s eyes seems to be returning as he continues, and Kumon lights up with him.
“If you wanna go, I’m okay for whatever! I just gotta let my brother know, otherwise he’ll worry, but…” He flushes, hoping the night is enough to hide just how red his face is getting. “...I do wanna go to the festival, so maybe after we head back I’ll meet you at the shrine again in an hour or so?”
He hears Taichi laugh, and relaxes. “You’re cute when you’re blushing, you know!”
He flushes even deeper. “What—How’d you see that!”
“You’re cute when you’re cool too, like when you were standing up for me earlier,” Taichi says in a softer tone, and Kumon tilts his head up a little to see Taichi’s ocean eyes staring at him. “Thanks for that too, I’ll get you something nice tonight to make up for it.”
He can’t bring himself to stare into those eyes for too long, and reluctantly drags himself off Taichi’s lap. “W—Well, I’m gonna make it expensive, ‘kay?”
They walk down the dirt road together, laughing, and Kumon thinks that Taichi’s eyes are glowing just a bit brighter in the hazy light of the twilight.