Work Text:
ike never was someone to have wishes or to express them, he kept them to himself like little treasures, locked in a box deep inside his clustered mind, and never let them see the life of day.
but the very first time he felt the words of a want at the tip of his tongue, his lips sealed shut out of spite. he managed to get through life without much selfishness, why should he start now? now that he had a fulfilled life with his friends- no, family at his side.
exactly because of that.
“child, do you even know how dangerous that book is you’re holding?” he’d never heard a voice like that — raspy and layered like his clothes in sweden’s cold winters, when his mom was worried he’d catch a cold while walking to the library in town. the distortion was a perfect mirror of how it looked at him, eyes red and skeptical.
“n-no”, the boy whispered, clutching the heavy leather to his heaving chest in terror. all the candles in the building extinguished themselves the moment the thing started forming itself in front of him, all he could see was pure darkness and two red lights glaring down at him.
“well then, isn’t that… interesting.” one could tell the creature was saying those words with a smile, a wide grin even, and it made them lump inside his throat bigger and heavier. the little one swallowed, once, twice, trying to find his voice — big enough to be heard, small enough to not alert anyone around — and the hushed words of the grownups around melted into a fuzzy noise in the back of his head.
“what… what are you?”, he asked while waiting for curiosity to spare the cat for once. he never was a lucky child but he managed to avoid misfortune most of the time; as observant and patient as he was, waiting out situations and acting mindful on them always was worth the effort.
“that does matter not, my child. you have seemed to accidentally summoned me from my realm, we should try to get me back home then, how does that sound to you?” it sounded like a lie.
“no, it’s fine. don’t bother.” the ashen let out the nth sigh in the past hour and it only deepened the concerning crease between ike’s brows. the novelist knew mysta rarely asked for help — or needed it — but he never knew it was even more difficult to get him to accept it in the first place.
“mysta”, ike’s cold hand softly nudged the detective’s cheek and he hoped the sunset eyes would look at him properly, “what if i really want to bother?” the blue orbs flicked around, almost nervous, as if he didn’t know what to do or how to respond (in typical mysta-fashion).
“can you lay down with me? for a nap?” ike knew his way into the ashen’s heart way too well; how to push mysta’s buttons, softly, in a brushing way, to make him feel secure and safe because that’s what ike has always wanted for him. mysta deserved so much love, all of it even, he might say.
“okay.”
it let out a chuckle of pure amusement and the novelist pressed his lips together to a thin line. he didn’t really expect anything else but the disappointment still ate away on his pride.
“you’ve changed, ike”, it crossed the legs it stole, “i like that.” it got up from the bed, slowly and as if it had all the time in the world, and walked over to the blue-tipped one. the grin had disappeared from its rustled face and got replaced with an expression of tranquility.
“i still have all five left. you can do it, right?” ike closed his eyes as it took of his glasses, along with the chain around his neck. he opened them again to see it clean the two lenses with it’s scarf — something that has been a habit though none of them knew why and when.
“of course i can do it, my child. you know i can.” it put the chain around his nape and let the glasses rest on ike’s chest, giving the novelist a airy kiss on the forehead.
the loud chatter around left a fond smile on his lips. being around so many people usually made his lungs feel smaller and hands twitchy-er but today seemed to be too special to let his anxiety win.
“you guys really outdid yourselves with the interior design!” finana held up a tiny saltshaker in the form of a penguin, showing it the lunar dragon next to her in beaming excitement.
“petra and reimu did such a great job!”, pomu agreed, looking around with her mouth open in awe, “i can find references to all of us and they all fit together so well, i could’ve never made ‘em this subtle.” the others agreed with nods and their voices, embracing ike with a warm and comforting hug although they weren’t even his to have.
“i know, right? everything turned out so pog-looking!” it indeed did but ike was now down to three and he was sure he’d be left with one for eternity.
“hey, ike.” the novelist answered with a low hum, tired eyes still trained on the monitor in front of him.
“do you think i could take the form of one of your friends? looking like you is getting bo-” it got stopped by an eraser hitting its head.
“don’t be silly, eki. now shut up and let me work”, ike waved his hand dismissively, eyes trained on the old script copies. he just needed a bit more time and he’d have the translations down — time he didn’t have and couldn’t stop.
“ehhh… number three surely is doing a number on your mood”, it mumbled with a grin before vanishing into thin air. ike let out a small sigh before resting his head in the back of his neck, feeling the straining pain of his muscles ache for rest.
“寝ているのか？” the blue-tipped one raised his brows in surprise and turned his head to the door of his room. there was no light in the hallway and the demon’s dark shadow seemed blacker than usual.
“いいえ”, ike sat up with a tired smile before patting the free space next to him on the mattress, “you’re japanese is getting better.” vox let out a giddy smile as he closed the door and made himself comfortable next to the novelist — ike immediately felt two warm arms around his middle, making him feel like an overgrown teddy bear.
the demon’s heat was something he had to get used to; ike, someone who blossomed in the cold of spring mornings, the crystal pure snow when winter ate away every inch of life. he would choose wintry weather of warmth every day but he would never let vox be his second choice.
“ike, being selfish is not a bad thing-”
“but this is selfish!”, burning tears were pricking on the corners of his eyes and not even his glasses could save him from the blurry vision, “why would i do this anyways? it’s because- because you- you’ve been with me my entire life, eki, i can’t spend the rest of it knowing i could’ve done something for you. it’s selfish of me to want you by my side, don’t you get it?”