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Haar chewed on the end of his pipe as he wandered out of the Greil Mercenary fort, the sun warming his face and the breeze rustling his hair. It was a beautiful day.
The perfect day for a nap.
As he walked down the grassy hill the fort was perched on, he heard the distant sound of steel clashing and voices yelling - the training grounds, no doubt occupied by his partner along with anyone insane enough to spar with him. The war was over, but Ike hadn’t let up on his swordwork for a day.
It was true, they were still mercenaries and needed to keep fit, but the need for people like them had lessened since the world had been turned back from stone. Still, Haar mused that even if perfect peace reigned over all of Tellius, Ike would still be swinging his sword right up until he met his grave.
A small smile pulled at his mouth. Someone should tell that man to take a break once in a while. A solemn duty that he would take upon himself, he decided.
He angled his strides toward the noise until he was within sight of the flat, hard-packed ground of a forest clearing. Leaning against a tree, he pulled from his pipe as his eye lazily drifted over the combatants; Ike and Boyd in the middle, Gatrie and Mia on the side. The men were shirtless, but even Mia had stripped down to very little - sparring in the sun would take its toll otherwise, and it wasn’t like they needed to condition themselves in armour anymore.
The luxury of peace.
Haar’s eye lingered on his partner, watching him move with powerful, flowing strikes at a speed that still baffled the mind. A man as big as him, with a sword as heavy as he had, should not be able to move that quickly. Even at his peak, Haar wasn’t sure if he could’ve matched it, and he’d been hailed a prodigy back in his day. Back before the cumulative effects of battle and age had worn him down. Powerful though he still was, he was glad the worst of war was behind him.
And glad he could do things like smoke his pipe and watch his younger partner instead of sweating under the hot sun himself.
Said partner reached down to help Boyd out of the dirt after he’d lost his match, then walked to the edge of the arena to pick up his waterskin. As Gatrie and Mia entered the ring, Ike caught sight of Haar, his eyebrows raising as he chugged his water. Haar simply smiled, waiting for the man to come to him - he was in no hurry after all.
“Hey, handsome,” the older man purred as Ike approached, earning a wry smirk from his partner.
“Hey. You come to fight?” Ike asked, “Or just to stare at me?”
“Mmm …” Haar’s eye dragged appreciatively over Ike’s bare chest before coming back up again as his head tilted to the side thoughtfully. “Came to see if you wanted to take a break, have a nap. You’ve been at it all morning.” He flashed his teeth in a cheeky grin. “But I’m definitely staring too, don’t worry.”
Ike snorted. “I see.” The younger man briefly glanced over his shoulder to the training area before speaking up again. “If you want me to stop, you’ll have to fight me.”
Haar blinked slowly. “Eh?”
It was Ike’s turn to flash a cheeky grin. “You heard me.”
Frowning, Haar crinkled his brow. “That doesn’t even make sense! I’m trying to get you to stop fighting.”
Broad shoulders shrugged. “I’m not tired yet. You’ll have to wear me out.”
He was trying the innocent act, but the sparkle of mirth in his blue eyes and the tilt of his head told a different story. He knew exactly what he was doing.
Haar grumbled in the back of his throat, pipe smoke filtering out his nose as he considered his options. He could simply go nap on his own, but now Ike had teased him with a different possibility, and his favourite naps were always the ones he shared with his partner. Especially when Ike would stroke his fingers through his hair, and —
“Haar?”
He blinked. “Uh. Yeah, sorry.” He tapped out his ashes against the tree before tucking his pipe away. “Guess I’ll have to partake in your hobby before you partake in mine.”
A blue eyebrow arched with disbelief. “I don’t think that napping counts as a hobby.”
Haar stretched an arm as he began walking toward the arena.“Yeah, well, I don’t think eating counts as one either, but that’s your favourite thing to do after fighting, isn’t it?”
Ike huffed, but didn’t dispute it.
—
Haar was boneless. Ike had told him to ‘wear him out’, but quite the opposite had happened instead.
The man was invincible, and seemingly tireless. While one might think that peace time would dull the edges, Ike’s constant commitment to his craft meant he’d only gotten stronger with the proper food and rest that said peace time afforded. It was one thing to watch him, and another to actually spar with him; at times it felt like he knew what Haar was going to do before he even did it.
Haar still kept up better than he’d expected to - he’d slacked off on training ever since the war ended, and spent the majority of his free time lounging. His skills were more than enough to keep up with mercenary work without the kind of regimen his partner put himself through. But still, he’d rarely gained the upper hand, and when he had, it wasn’t for long.
He’d be impressed if he wasn’t so exhausted.
“Man,” Ike sighed as they wandered deeper into the forest. “You put up more of a fight than I expected. I really am ready to take a break.”
Haar turned a disbelieving frown toward his partner, who walked on his sighted side. “You’re kidding. I barely put a dent in you.”
“Only because you forced me to defend myself,” the younger man waved. “And, I know I can go all out with you and not hurt you. It’s great.”
Haar’s arms would disagree - they ached from absorbing the powerful blows against his poleaxe. Though, as he watched the gleam in his partner’s eyes, his internal complaints quieted.
Ike wasn’t the sort to embellish or offer praise without truth; he’d really enjoyed their match. And, if Haar was being honest with himself, he did still enjoy the thrill of a fight from time to time. It made his rest afterwards all the sweeter.
“Glad to be of service,” he smiled, stopping as they came to a peaceful spot next to a babbling brook. One of Haar’s favourite napping spots, the moss was soft, the shade thick, and the water tinkling away soothed him to sleep more times than he could count. It took all he had not to simply collapse onto the ground.
Instead, he carefully lowered himself to the base of a thick maple, getting himself comfortable as he leaned against it at just the right angle. Ike sat beside him, then scooted closer until they were pressed together.
“This is a great spot,” Ike observed, draping his forearm over Haar’s thigh and palming slowly at his knee. “I can see why you come out here so much.”
“It is,” Haar agreed before a wide yawn interrupted his next words. Shifting slightly to make himself more comfortable, he sighed contentedly and laid his hand over top of Ike’s, curling their fingers together and stroking with his thumb. “Thanks for coming out here with me.”
He felt a comfortable weight settle on his shoulder, and leaned his face to nuzzle into blue hair with a smile. “What do you think they’ll make for dinner tonight?” he asked the hair, and waited one, two, three beats.
No answer.
Either Ike was thinking so hard that Haar expected to see smoke coming out of his ears soon, or he was —
Yep, there it was. A gentle snore. He really had been tired.
Haar let out an amused huff through his nose, smiling warmly as he nuzzled fully into his hair and closed his eye, relaxing into sleep.