Work Text:
Jouno is walking through Yokohama proper again when he’s accosted for the second time.
“Hey, Jouno!”
He keeps walking.
“Hey, hey, come on, I know you can hear me.” Nikolai bounces up behind him, shoes squeaking obnoxiously. “Jouno, don’t leave a guy hanging-”
Jouno turns and scowls at him. “What,” he bites out, “do you want.”
Nikolai holds his hands up in surrender. “You said not to try to sneak up on you. So I wasn’t sneaking.”
Jouno’s mouth hangs open for a minute before he shakes his head and keeps walking away. As he reluctantly expected, Nikolai follows him.
After a minute or so, when he thinks Nikolai has relaxed enough, Jouno spins around, aiming a punch at the fool’s face. Unfortunately, and taking him off-guard, Nikolai takes hold of his wrist and uses his momentum to turn them further, dipping Jouno in a dance pose. He can’t see how close he is to the ground, of course, but Jouno can feel that he’s at a low enough angle that he has to hold onto Nikolai to avoid falling down. He tells him this is a serviceable and detached excuse for his arms to be around Nikolai’s neck, as if they had been dancing, but he’s still relieved when he gets his feet under him again.
It takes him a moment to regain his balance, he tells himself. That’s the only reason his hands linger.
He walks away again, and Nikolai continues following him. It takes a few paces before he stops again, sticking out a foot and standing there as Nikolai trips, although he makes an excellent recovery using his ability to land upright not too far away.
He pauses, surprised, but then laughs. “I suppose you’ll have to try harder than that to get rid of me, dear.”
“Dear?” Jouno exclaims.
Nikolai giggles bashfully. “Ah, so forward, Jouno-kun.”
Jouno growls at him again. “I am not flirting with you, I was asking what the hell you think you're doing calling me dear.”
Nikolai hums. “Alright.” Then, in yet another surprise, Jouno hears his cape rustle in a way that sounds consistent with Nikolai’s knee landing on the pavement, and from the rustle of his hair, Jouno concludes that he’s kneeling with his head bent. “I swear I won't bother you with too much unwanted attention from now on, or you can arrest me right here.”
Jouno’s hand almost strayed to his sword. Arresting one of the Decay of Angels would make him a hero… but he’d never cared much for public admiration, and Nikolai wasn't as exceptionally annoying as he’d originally thought. So he kicked Nikolai in the leg and told him to get up.
“What?” Nikolai whined. “They do call you a king, I thought it was fitting-”
Jouno turns away and keeps walking, hiding his warm face. This time, he doesn't mind terribly when Nikolai follows him.