Work Text:
It's a mid-summer day when it gets late because of a job that wasn't particularly difficult but took most of the day due to all the waiting and scoping and the number of repetitive steps involved.
Most of these were steps that Shuuichi was adamant about doing on his own what with "You always implying I need more practice," or so he'd said to Seiji.
This had only made Seiji huff a small laugh as he'd agreed. "If you insist."
Seiji did land the finishing blow with an arrow but the fatigue of the day had understandably hit Shuuichi harder and spending the day in the heat hadn't helped.
He'd found himself nodding off as Seiji was speaking, sharing some lore about the ayakashi inhabiting these woods, and something about his voice was almost soothing.
Shuuichi's eyes flutter open and it takes him a moment to make sense of his surroundings.
He's in the woods, half-sitting half-slouching and his head is resting on Seiji's shoulder--Seiji who has made no motion to move him--and this jolts Shuuichi awake right and proper.
"Ah, you're up," Seiji chirps.
Shuuichi rubs his face with a hand. "How long was I out?"
"Oh twenty, maybe thirty minutes."
Shuuichi can feel himself going red in the face. "And you didn't wake me!?"
"Seemed like you needed the rest."
Shuuichi fumbles around for his glasses and Seiji unclips them from his own shirt-collar and hands them over. "Didn't want you to accidentally crush the lenses."
"Thanks," Shuuichi says, putting the glasses on, inexplicably, a little flustered. "What if there was trouble?"
Seiji looks at him with theatrically exaggerated scorn. "You really think you'd be in trouble on my watch?"
Shuuichi knows how Seiji means it. It's him flaunting his skill, which is nothing new, but there’s sincerity and a streak of protectiveness in it, and that's the part he doesnt know what to do with or the way it makes his chest go tight.
"Besides," Seiji adds, "if it got to be anything serious, I'd have woken you obviously."
Shuuichi gets up, brushes the grass and dirt from his clothes. "Well, it's been a long day."
Seiji hoists himself up from the ground to join him. "All in all, impressive work," he says, decisive, sounding very teacherly as if he's twice Shuuichi's age.
Shuuichi can't help but laugh. "What, no constructive criticism this time?"
"Nope. None! Get some rest."
Shuuichi shakes his head. He wants to say something, prolong the moment somehow but has no clue as to how without ruining it.
"It's weird," he teases, as they fall into stride, "you being nice."
"Very funny," Seiji says, looking at the path ahead.
Still, there's a lingering smile he wears that Shuuichi catches out of the corner of his eye.
