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Shadows wrapped around Mika, secure and safe and secret. Solitary except for that stars glimmering above him. Behind him, some distance away, Yuu-chan's squad camped around a fire made in the midst of an abandoned playground. Surprisingly enough they trusted him to take watch tonight, arguing that as family there was no reason they couldn't trust him with such a task, rather than him being the one kept watch on. It was some sort of absurd show of faith, an olive branch that Mika had no interest in.
Yet he had accepted. Not out of any growing sense of sentimentality for those humans, but for Yuu-chan's sake. Mika couldn’t deny that the night was his element, considering he was a vampire, and far more able to go long stretches without rest than any humans. Not only that, but he prided himself in knowing that he had better senses and strength than all those humans combined. Especially with the squad all wounded and tired after their escape from the human and vampire forces both. So it fell to Mika to protect them – protect Yuu-chan, as only he could.
A sound interrupts Mika's preoccupation, and he focuses immediately on it. After a moment, he is able to identify it as one of the humans stirring – not Yuu-chan, he had already memorized the soft sounds of Yuu-chan's breathing. It's one of the others.
He doesn't bother turning. Probably one of them got cold and is waking up enough to stoke the fire. It's none of Mika's concern.
At least, it isn't until the human seems to pause, and then calls out softly with no small amount of worry – “Mika-kun?”
For a moment Mika deliberates not answering, preferring to be left alone. Especially since he recognizes that human in question now – Yoichi, the boy that was strangely the most persistent and genuine about connecting with Mika after Yuu-chan. He made Mika unsettled, because at least with the Shinoa-human he had an understanding that their primary connection was Yuu-chan himself rather than any actual desire for a relationship with one another. And the other two seemed to be just going along with it all.
When the human calls out again with something that sounds like growing anxiety rather than just going back to sleep, Mika gives up on that idea.
“Here.” He replies, just loud enough to be heard from his spot atop an ancient slide. It was a good lookout point, though Mika had yet to turn around to actually keep an eye on the humans themselves.
Apparently able to spot him immediately once Mika identified himself, Yoichi sighs in relief. Mika grudgingly concedes to himself that for a human, Yoichi was rather sharp-eyed.
“So that's where you went…” Yoichi says, more to himself than anything else. Nonetheless, the statement nags at Mika.
Against his better judgement, he responds, “Did you think I'd run off after all?”
“No, that's not...” Yoichi starts, then trails off a little nervously. Mika considers his point made. As much as Yoichi says they're family, they're anything but. He's just another liar that expects Mika to betray them, distrusting him like any human would. Any human but Yuu-chan.
The thought hurts more than Mika thought it would, and he swallows it down.
Unexpectedly, there's a shuffling sound, then the sound of Yoichi approaching and climbing up the ladder of the slide to join Mika at the top of it. Despite his determination to ignore Yoichi and whatever strange ideas he had, when Mika is wrapped in a blanket he can't help but turn to blink at the other boy.
“What…?”
“I was worried you might be cold, since you're so far from the fire.” Yoichi explains, with a smile that matches the softness in his eyes.
Mika wants to rip the blanket off himself immediately, shoving it and its kindness back into Yoichi's face. He doesn't need this fake good will, or pity, or whatever it was. He doesn't need this vulnerability.
He stops himself though, because Mika can recognize that now is not the time to fight. So all he does is purse his lips and stare at Yoichi coldly.
Yoichi sits down instead of taking the hint, making himself comfortable against Mika in the tight space on the top of the slide. Rather than staring out into the shadows as Mika had been doing, he looks up to the stars.
“It's a nice night, isn't it?”
Small talk. Mika despises small talk. In his experience, it was just a means of trying to keep his attention when he wanted to give none.
Yoichi continues, fumbling somewhat over his words, “Ah… the stars never change, do they?”
More silence.
Against all of Mika's assumptions that only fuels Yoichi's determination even more, hazel eyes now gleaming in the dark.
“Do you think we'll see a shooting star? They say if you see one and make a wish, it'll come true.” He insists, and Mika can't help but sigh. What a childish notion. If that were true, the world would be a far better place than it currently was.
As if picking up on Mika's thoughts, Yoichi giggles sheepishly. Mika finds the action somewhat endearing, which also makes it frightening.
“It's a long shot, but… it'd be nice if it were true. What would you wish for, Mika-kun?”
Now knowing that Yoichi was not going to be satisfied until he got a response, Mika does his best to ignore his strong need to push Yoichi off the slide and instead raises his eyes to the the abyss above. The small lights penetrating the darkness give him a strange, hollow longing he can't entirely place.
“Nothing.”
“Eh? There has to be something...” Yoichi replies, turning to Mika and looking extremely unconvinced. Mika keeps his eyes firmly on the sky above them.
Humming thoughtfully, Yoichi considers Mika for a long moment before breaking the silence that had fell between them.
“If I were to make a wish right now… I'd wish to get to spend more time with you like this, Mika-kun.”
The proclamation is so matter-of-fact that it's distressing. Mika feels his face grow hot from some cocktail of bewilderment and anger, plus a dash of pleasure that he doesn't want to acknowledge, not now.
Feeling forced to face Yoichi and scare him off once and for all, because just what was this idiot human even thinking, saying something like that? Did he think that would actually work on Mika? He wasn't Yuu-chan, vulnerable to every kind word – Mika tears his eyes from the night sky, fangs bared, and is confronted with Yoichi staring at him openly without even a flinch.
Mika falters, and for a moment hates himself for what he has become. Which isn't rare in itself, but right now it is when he used to be the one in Yoichi's shoes. That he can identify with Yoichi, feel like he can understand where he's coming from, makes Mika's heart squeeze tight with a desire to respond to the boy properly no matter what his brain is screaming at him.
When Yoichi simply smiles back at Mika beautifically, Mika hates it all the more when his heart skips a beat. He's being naive getting his hopes up unnecessarily, because whatever Yoichi seemed to be doing simply could not be true. So instead of responding, Mika turns his eyes back up to the sky, trying to save whatever face he can.
After a moment, he has his chance.
“… ah, a shooting star.”
“Eh, where?!” Yoichi exclaims a little too loudly for Mika's taste, looking wildly up at the sky. The action is so similar to something Yuu-chan would do that Mika can't help but be a little fond of it. At least, that's how Mika justifies it to himself.
He shrugs when Yoichi ultimately slumps, having failed to find the star in time.
“You missed it.” Mika observes dryly, causing Yoichi to pout further.
“Jeez, Mika-kun… you at least made a wish, right? Not just 'nothing'?”
“I did.” Mika admits, glancing at Yoichi out of the corner of his eye.
Yoichi immediately perks up, beaming all the more for having to made some progress in conversation with the vampire, “Really? What was it?”
That was the moment Mika was waiting for. In a satisfying fit of temper, a sharp movement is all it takes for him to shove Yoichi, causing the boy to squeak and take a tumble down the slide. It is immensely gratifying to watch, and even better because Mika knows the human will only be a little bruised as a consequence – no cause to alarm Yuu-chan at all, who was all too used to rough housing.
Yoichi lands with a thump and a small whine, but nothing Mika wasn't used to when it came to dealing with petulant children. “Mika-kun, that was meaaaaan.”
“I got my wish.” Mika replies with a serenity that can only come with getting one's own way. It's so oddly immature and human and playful of him (albeit in a bullying sort of way) that Yoichi gapes in disbelief, before shaking his head and finally standing to dust himself off.
“No wonder you and Yuu-kun are such good friends,” He says brightly, scratching his cheek. Mika raises an eyebrow at that, both because Yoichi recovered much easier than expected and was not at all put off, but also because what was that meant to mean?
Yoichi doesn't answer the silent question, simply smiling up at Mika and waving slightly.
Mika gets the feeling that Yoichi may be more satisfied by what just happened than he is.
“Good night, Mika-kun. Keep warm.”
With that, Yoichi finally leaves, not waiting for a response both of them knew wouldn't come.
When Mika is certain that Yoichi has finally returned to sleep, he allows himself to tug the blanket a little tighter around himself and look up to the sky. Eventually he's rewarded with a second shooting star, and against his better judgement he allows himself to make another wish deep inside his heart.
It's a wish to share the light in the darkness with Yoichi again soon.