Work Text:
When the director calls cut for the final time for the day, Nastume is grateful.
He’s exhausted from the night before from chasing down a yokai and having to be charming and social all day on set— he’s not sure how he keeps up the act these days, it’s getting harder and harder to keep a smile on his face.
Nyanko-sensei didn’t accompany him today, which he’s glad to be free of the burden of his hunger after a long day of shooting. He’s ready to just gather all his things and quickly make a polite exit so he can collapse on the couch in the middle of his apartment, but those dreams get shattered when he turns around to see a beaming teenager, bouncing on his heels as he waves to get Natsume’s attention.
Natsume sighs, running a hand through his hair before plastering a smile on his face to approach the boy with, hoping that it would be about nothing serious.
“Natori,” Natsume calls, friendly as he can muster. “What brings you here today? Isn’t it a bit late?”
“Hi Mister Natsume!” Talking to Natori sometimes feels like Natsume is getting flash banged. “I was just bored and wanted to say hi, and I just got so caught up in all the behind the scenes processes. I’d love to be as cool as you one day and get to work on a big set like this…I didn’t realize that it had gotten so late.”
Natsume easily clocks the hesitance in those final words, knew how he used to lose track of time just to avoid being home.
It sucked, being able to see some of the worst parts of himself in such a young boy, even without all the yokai nonsense.
Natori stares, smiling in a way that comes off more like pleading than anything.
Natsume sighs again, placing a gentle hand on Natori’s shoulder.
“You hungry? I haven’t eaten since the morning.”
Natori nods his head enthusiastically, always ready to eat up any of the attention Natsume was willing to give him. And as tiring as entertaining the boy was, Natsume couldn’t exactly send him away, didn’t want to have to face the way disappointment colored Natori’s young features, failing to disguise it with a perfect smile.
“Can we get udon? I’ve been dying for some recently and haven’t gotten a chance to have any. Actually, I heard there was a new dish at-”
Natsume does allow himself to tune the kid out a bit, brain unable to really process all that’s being thrown at him. He’ll buy Natori an extra helping to make up for it.