Work Text:
Mikado and Nikei don’t say a word, inside the bell tower, wind from the upper floor is hardly heard as they stand in baited silence. Nikei doesn’t even swallow, his throat dry.
Since arriving on the island, they hadn’t said a word to each other. Nikei kept throwing glances towards the blondes direction. Blonde.. his hair looked funny like this. It didn’t suit him, Nikei thought.
The mask over Mikado’s face blocks any emotion Nikei might have been able to pick up on. Instead, all he sees is that unnaturally outstretched red smile on the mask. Nikei finally swallows, but he doesn’t breathe. He just speaks.
“…that mask over your face is sort of eerie. Is that the point? To make people so weirded out they won’t even want to look at you?” Nikei asks the sarcastic question to break this unbearable and tense silence between them in the bell tower.
Standing in the same room, few feet apart, it felt like he had to say something to his partner.
Partner.
That word left a bad taste in his mouth. But the word “leader” made him gag, the taste of vomit boiling up at the mere idea.
They were comrades, partners, coworkers. Whatever you’d call it. Friends was not a word for it. Surely not.
“Hm? You think it’s eerie?” Mikado inquired, he just smiled at Nikei with his mask, face beneath it sheathed and unseen. “I think it’s endearing! Cute, even.” The mask stuck It’s tongue out.
“Um. Yeah. Cute, that’s certainly a word for it…” Nikei muttered insincerely, looking away. Despite Mikado’s eyes being hidden, Nikei felt like he was staring right into his heart anyways. “Hey, do you think…”
Nikei stops himself from finishing the sentence. He bites his bottom lip uncertainty, second guessing even confiding in Mikado. It’s like they were close enough to warrant that. He didn’t trust Mikado with his worries, not one bit.
“…Hm?”
“Do you.. really think this is going to work?”
Nikei confides in his leader anyway.
“My my…” Mikado mused and there was a hum at the back of his throat. He spoke with some carefree tone, seemingly unaware of the severity of the situation. “You are worried about it aren’t you?”
“Well- I mean- there is a lot at stake! Come on, don’t tease me… aren’t you even just a little worried that something is going to go wrong?” Nikei pouted a little hearing Mikado’s smile behind the mask.
“You’re awfully concerned although it has hardly even started yet… Please, don’t give it any worry. We have a plan after all.” Mikado’s reassurance sounds calm, but there’s some wicked intent behind it.
“That’s… well, yeah, I guess so…” Nikei felt that pit inside his gut unwire, strings of his anxiety threaded to Mikado’s finger. Mikado gives that string a tug, and Nikei sighs of faux relief.
“Don’t worry your adorable little head about it. Worst comes to worst, we are prepared. Isn’t that right?” Mikado chimed, tilting his head, wanting Nikei to look at him again.
Nikei grants the wizards wish, and lifts his head, hat no longer blocking his lavender eyes. “Y.. yeah. If you’re so confident… I can trust that. But if I have to take things into my own hands… I’m going to, Mikado.”
“Haha, Mr. Yomiuri!” Mikado nearly burst out into a fit of laughter, fake tears of overjoy come from his mask. “You’re so fun! That face of yours just now, you looked so determined! It was almost scary. Almost! It was too cute to be scary.”
“H-Huh?! Hey! Knock it off, you’re making fun of me aren’t you?! How was that cute?! I’m being totally serious! Hey, look at me, jerk!” Nikei whined, face going red in humiliation. His cheeks felt all hot hearing Mikado laugh right in his face.
Behind his flushed cheeks and purple eyes dilated in affixation, there was still nausea winding around Nikei’s heart. He could see some disaster inside the red pools of Mikado’s mask, a tornado forming in the distance.
In a lighthearted moment that should’ve relieved his tension, Nikei had never felt more nervous than watching Mikado giggle carelessly in front of him.
The two stood in the bell tower together, Mikado’s laughter echoed until silence rang the bell again. The door to the tower opens,
and Yuki Meade walks in, Sora at his side.