Work Text:
Though Razor’s diet had mainly consisted of meat, his human mentor Lisa had taught him the importance of a ‘balanced’ diet.
Razor had cocked his head in confusion. “Balance like… not fall?”
Lisa shook her head. “Not that kind of balance. I mean healthy. With lots of nutrients and variety.”
“Nu…trients?” Razor didn’t understand. Meat made him feel full. Meat made him strong. Was that not good enough?
“Humans don’t just eat meat – we need to eat plants as well to be the most healthy. Do you understand?”
Razor didn’t fully understand, but he nodded anyway.
“Good boy.” Lisa ruffled his hair and went to fetch some books on diet and nutrition. She showed Razor which foods were good for foraging around Wolvendom, and gave him some seeds to grow into vegetables.
Razor still didn’t quite understand why his diet needed to be ‘balanced’, but he did notice that taking Lisa’s advice and eating a variety of foods gave him more energy. And more energy was good. More energy meant he could protect Lupical better. He even learned how to cook a human dish out of the potatoes he grew. Proud of his newfound culinary abilities, he had presented his mentors, Lisa and Diluc, with the hash browns.
So, foraging had become a regular part of his routine in Wolvendom. It felt nice, sometimes, to do something a bit different from the rest of the wolfpack. Razor didn’t think of himself as a human boy, but he wasn’t quite wolf either. Razor was just Razor. Hunting for prey felt like a wolf thing, but foraging was a Razor thing.
It was a spring afternoon, and Razor had collected quite a plentiful stock of wolfhook, as well as apples and sunsettias. He hummed happily, looking over his spoils. He had been so focused on the sweet scent of berries that he almost didn’t notice the smell of burning grass in the distance. Almost. His nose twitched and a frown knitted his brows, a sense of unease settling in his stomach. Danger. He could feel it.
Razor stashed the food in a nearby bush, careful to cover it with leaves, and bounded towards the source of the scent. His apprehension grew as he pushed past brambles and scaled rocks. As he approached, he got a waft of a more familiar scent: Dandelions and grass with a sprinkling of something cinnamon-y.
Unmistakably Bennett.
Razor continued to follow Bennett’s scent until he came across a deserted hilichurl camp. Well. Mostly deserted.
“Help!” Bennett croaked, rattling the bars of the iron cage he had found himself trapped in. “Anybody?” his voice was small. Tired. Like he had already given up on the hope of escape. He didn’t look like the Bennett that Razor was familiar with, always bursting with optimism.
“Bennett!” Razor called, bounding up to the caged boy.
Bennett’s face, which had been scrunched up with worry, finally relaxed.
“Boy, am I glad to see you, Razor.”
Razor smiled back at him, trying to find the right words. “Razor like to see Bennett too. But better if Bennett is not…”
“Stuck?” Bennett offered.
“Stuck.” Razor nodded. He hummed, prowling in circles around the cage. He tried forcing the lock open, and using his sword to lever the bars apart. Neither worked. Razor growled in frustration.
“Hey, Razor? I have an idea we can try.”
Razor looked back at Bennett with that wide-eyed attentiveness that made Bennett’s tummy flip. “G-give me your hand.” Razor took Bennett’s outstretched hand, and Bennett pressed their joined palms against the lock.
“Maybe we can use overload to blow the lock open!”
“Overload…?”
“You know when you use your electricity with my fire, and it makes a big boom!”
Razor hesitated. “Don’t want Bennett to get hurt.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll only make a small explosion this time! At least, I hope…”
Razor chewed his lip, nervous, but nodded. “Ok. I trust Bennett.”
That made Bennett beam. “Thanks, Razor. Are you ready?”
Razor nodded. On the count of three, the pair charged their elemental energy into the lock – and each other. Bennett gasped, feeling the crackle of Razor’s electro course through him.
Razor’s energy always felt different. It tingled, running up his spine. It was jagged – wild. Bennett had done reactions with Fischl too, but it wasn’t the same as when he fought alongside Razor. The small explosion between their hands had forced the shackle of the padlock upwards, and Bennett was finally freed. He threw his arms around Razor, who caught him with surprise.
“I’m so glad….”
Razor shushed Bennett by nuzzling into him.
“Bennett is ok. Razor here now.”
“Yeah…” Bennett sighed happily, pulling back. “Is your hand okay?”
Razor nodded. “Bennett smart.”
“Gah… if I was smarter I wouldn’t be there in the first place – but thank you.”
Bennett pulled off his glove and inspected it. It was scorched. “Looks like we’ll need some new gloves though.” He stuffed his glove in his pocket and did the same with Razor’s, promising his friend to find him a new one.
“We go now,” said Razor, pointing to the setting sun. “Before hilichurl come back.”
“Shoot, it’s really that late, huh…”
Razor tried to give Bennett a reassuring nod. “Bennett stay with Razor tonight.”
Bennett shifted from foot to foot. Red crept across his face. “Are you sure? I don’t want to cause any more trouble…”
“Bennett no trouble.” Razor wrinkled his nose. He didn’t particularly like fire – it burnt up the forest and scared away prey. But Bennett’s fire never went too far. It was more like it bubbled inside of him – he was always just warm. Bennett’s fire was comforting.
“I-if you’re sure then.” Bennett nodded sheepishly. Razor grabbed him by the arm, towing him back the way he had come.
Bennett didn’t seem as chatty as usual, which was concerning to Razor. One thing that wasn’t so different between wolves and humans was that when something was wrong, their behaviors would change. A wolf might become lethargic, or defensive. Maybe a Bennett went quiet.
“Bennett… ok?” Razor asked.
“H-huh?” Bennett’s head snapped up. “Oh – yeah! I’m alright, bud. Just tired.”
Razor nodded, uncertain, but satisfied with the answer for now. If Bennett wanted to talk to him, he would.
“Razor collect supplies earlier. Hid them.” Razor explained haphazardly, crouching down beside the bush where he had stashed everything.
A low growl escaped him. “Taken!”
“Oh, Razor… I’m so sorry! It’s all my fault, isn’t it?” Bennett groaned and slid down the rock side, defeated. Razor cocked his head. “Why Bennett fault?”
“It’s my bad luck again,” sighed Bennett. “I mess everything up. Not just for me, for everyone…”
“Razor- no -I … I don’t understand.” Razor did not believe in luck. Or rather, wolves had no notion of the concept – and so neither did Razor. They understood that days could be good or bad: sometimes the forest seemed to be a bountiful supply of food and shelter, while at other times it was barren. But Razor would have never considered this as some cosmic force of ‘luck’, the kind that stuck to someone like tree sap and determined their fate always. But after spending time with Bennett, Razor had started to understand what he meant by it. If something good happened, this was good luck – something that Bennett would exclaim was a rarity to him. When something bad happened - which seemed to be fairly often by Bennett’s standards - that was bad luck. But he still couldn’t fathom why that would make bad things Bennett’s fault.
Bennett hung his head in his hands. “You should leave, Razor. I’ll only cause problems. I can find my way back to Mondstadt alone, don’t worry.”
Razor crouched beside his forlorn friend. Mostly, his inability to communicate didn’t bother him. But right now he wished more than anything that he could reach out and grab the words that would make Bennett feel better.
“But… I like Bennett.” Razor pressed his hand to his chest. Bennett looked up at him through wet blond lashes. “Razor wants to… protect Bennett.”
Bennett cracked a small smile and unfolded his arms, but shook his head.
“Bennett want Razor to… leave?”
Bennett glanced at his friend and the hurt in his warm red eyes made him ache.
“N-no!” he stammered. “Of course I don’t want you to leave. I just don’t want to cause problems… I don’t want you to get hurt because of me!”
Razor pressed his palm, bare without his glove, to Bennett’s chest. Bennett felt his heart thrumming against it, and blushed.
“Bennett is Lupical,” said Razor. His eyes were burning with sincerity. It was strange, Bennett thought, that this boy who wielded electro had eyes of fire.
“But, Razor…” Bennett protested weakly.
“Please don’t go.” Razor’s hand was still pressed firmly against Bennett’s chest. “I want Bennett to stay.”
Bennett felt warm all over. No one had ever asked him to stay before. It was always him pleading with others for their time – only to end up regretting it when they inevitably got hurt and turned their anger against him.
“You really want me to stay? You’re not just saying that?”
Razor frowned, desperately searching for the words to make Bennett understand. Human emotions were so complicated. Not only Bennett’s feelings, but the emotions stirring in his own chest were impossible to decipher. Bennett was Lupical, but somehow different. He wanted to be close to Bennett in a different way to his pack. Sometimes when he thought of Bennett, he ached.
Bennett always spoke of good luck and bad luck, so Razor figured he might understand if he put it in those terms.
“To Razor, Bennett is very good luck.”
Bennett blinked. Then laughed. Bennett had a laugh like lightning. Sharp, jolting. It made Razor grin.
“I never imagined anyone would say that to me,” he said breathlessly as Razor pulled him to his feet.
“Razor doesn’t lie,” Razor said, almost stern.
“I know you don’t,” Bennett smiled back at him. His hand found Razor’s and laced their fingers together. They felt a light crackle between them, like an echo of the explosion from earlier.
“Feels nice,” said Razor. “We should…” he paused, remembering a picturebook that Lisa had shown him before. “hold hands. More.”
“We will,” Bennett promised.