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Takumi was avoiding him; he knew it, every person in their goddamn army knew it, and it hurt.
Leo thought they had gotten past all this.
Weren’t friends supposed to be able to communicate with each other about what was bothering them? It was all too clear that something was bothering Takumi, yet he was avoiding Leo as though the Nohrian had come down with an extremely viral form of the plague that was passed through conversation (or even eye contact!).
(Admittedly, Leo didn’t have much experience with real friends. Niles and Odin were all but paid to like him and everyone else was either interested in his status or his siblings. He had admitted this to Corrin one week into the silent treatment, only to be openly laughed at. She hadn’t meant anything cruel by it, but all the same, the damage to his pride had been done.)
By the second week, he attempted to ambush Takumi at the makeshift archery range they had set up for the night. It ended with him being teased all night after Setsuna tattled on him (and his subsequent failure) to Hinoka.
“You should have seen it,” she’d said in that lackadaisical tone that made him want to throttle some seriousness into her. “I’ve never seen Prince Takumi so high before!”
By the third week, he was angry. What right did the Hoshidan prince have to avoid him like this? ‘Two can play at that game!’ He’d thought.
His silent treatment had lasted all of four days.
The fourth week rolled by and he was lonely. He was tired of Takumi sprinting the opposite direction every time he spotted Leo on the battlefield. He was tired of Oboro and Hinata shooting him mild glares before stomping off every night at dinner to somewhere he wasn’t allowed to follow.
Most of all, he just missed Takumi. Far beyond friendship, he nurtured feelings of affection for the other prince. Before this…whatever this was... just being around Takumi left Leo’s heart fluttering like a bird.
Now, he just felt cold.
It hadn’t taken much to convince Niles to help in another ambush. For all his talk and sangfroid, Niles was always his most trusted friend. There was no way he could just ignore a heartfelt plea from his lord and friend.
Especially if it involved mischief.
Which is how Leo managed to corner Takumi outside the mess tent. The rogue had winked at his liege (which, oddly enough, caused Takumi to flush a delicate pink) before disappearing back into the tent.
“Prince Takumi.”
Silence.
“I know you’ve been avoiding me. I just want to know why.”
Still no response.
“Aren’t we comrades?”
Nothing.
“Aren’t we friends?”
That earned a wince and Leo felt a sick sense of satisfaction to finally receive some sort of response.
“Takumi, please! Just talk to me!” He wasn’t above begging if it meant getting his friend back.
“Don’t you get it? I can’t! Not after those dreams…” All the previous fire was now gone, leaving Takumi with slouched back and scorched cheeks.
‘Wait…’
“It’s not as though I could help it! You think I didn’t try?!” Takumi was getting visibly agitated again. “I-I thought maybe if I avoided you, the dreams would stop…”
“You’re not making any sense!”
“No, you’re not making any sense! What kind of mage practices their spell casting without a shirt? What kind of prince would bathe practically n-naked with fellow soldiers in a natural spring? ”
“Do you know what it’s like,” his tone became laced with melancholy, “to wake up from those dreams, having spent all night in your arms and you b-bed, knowing that none of it is real? After the first night it happened... did you know I nearly leaned across the table and kissed you in front of everyone at breakfast? I had my hands on your shoulders and everything. At the last second...I faltered and told you I was just wiping the crumbs off your collar.” Self deprecating laughter. “There wasn’t anything on your shirt, you dunce; I was trying to kiss you.”
Leo was getting desperate. Takumi was clearly upset; how was he supposed to comfort the other if he couldn’t even understand what he was saying. ‘For being such a savant,’ he mused bitterly, ‘I’m unable to understand something as simple as our neighboring tongue.’ “Takumi, please, listen to yourself!”
“It hurts, Leo. It hurts a lot.”
Enough was enough; Takumi was clearly distressed and not making any sense. Before he could talk himself out of it, Leo stepped forward and wrapped him tightly in his arms.
“Whatever I did to upset you like this, I’m sorry.”
“‘Whatever you-’ I just told you! Wait…” Takumi paused mid-rant and looked contemplative.
“...Takumi?”
“...I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” he spoke slowly, carefully, as realization sparked behind amber eyes. “I apologize, Leo. For everything. Please, forgive me?”
“You avoid me for weeks and suddenly you apologize? And I’m expected to forgive you just like that?!”
“W-well, not expected…” Leo caught his hands fidgeting towards the Fujin Yumi, ever faithfully strapped to his back. Curiously, he was still blushing radiantly, even in the dark.
As if he could ever stay mad. “Of course you’re forgiven with the condition that next time you will just tell me what’s bothering you. Is that clear?”
Takumi truly was an excellent hunter; Leo knew from the dazzling smile he received in response that he had just traipsed merrily into a trap.
“Crystal.”
After that, life continued on as normal for the most part. Except…
“I missed you today. I wonder; did you miss me, too?
Except now, Takumi would randomly interject their conversations in his foreign tongue. While Leo could appreciate the lovely way each word seemed to roll from the other prince’s tongue, it was vaguely frustrating to not know what he was saying.
Sometimes, it was something lilting. “I saw a book in that last caravan’s storage and thought of you; it was full of big words and made very little sense. Do you keep a diary, Prince Leo?”
Sometimes, it was full of ire. “I wish you’d take better care of yourself. Were you thinking of a potential counter attack at all when you charged in there on your little suicide mission?
And sometimes, there were the times when he spoke so low and with such heat it left Leo reeling.
This continued on for twice as long as the silent treatment had and left Leo wondering what sort of fiend he had created.
It was after a regular spar with Xander that Takumi approached him with a certain confident swagger in his step. He had been playing his little game for weeks and was no doubt feeling a bit smug about his victory over Leo.
“Welcome back,” he said with a warm smile and an odd growling undertone to his voice. “Did you have a good fight?”
“I suppose…” Leo side-eyed the other, wary of his tone. “About as well as the be expected.”
“That’s good.” There was a lilt to his voice now that was both teasing and worrisome. Several feet away, Nile’s head perked up slightly. Could he hear it too?
“Indeed…”
“ Is your pride wounded, Prince Leo?” He slinked closer, blushing slightly all the while.
Sigh. “You know I don’t understand what you’re saying. We all get it; you’ve bested me in linguistics.”
“I’m sure you’d best me in other things. Maybe...I even want you to.”
Neither of them noticed pointed ears perking at their conversation.
Leo gave him a baleful glare. “I think I liked it better when you were silent.”
“If it bothers you so much, why don’t you make me?”
“You know, I had another dream last night…” he said, suddenly shy and soft. “It wasn’t anything particularly perverse…”
The timid tone caught Leo’s (and someone’s else’s) ears. Takumi refused to meet his eyes.
“We were in Hoshido; it was springtime a-and the flowers were all in bloom. You looked so perfect, surrounded by the blossoms and bathed in sunlight.” He looked so wistful that Leo was struck momentarily mute. “We had been talking about diplomacy, making fun of some lord and his bloated ego demanding special economic sanctions. You were holding my hand…”
Takumi chuckled at this point, though it was hollow and mirthless.
“A few petals landed in my hair while we walked and you stopped all of a sudden. You reached up to brush them out of my hair, smiled, and told me y-you love me. You kissed m-me and then…
Something caught Takumi’s attention over Leo’s shoulder and he immediately stumbled back a few steps. “I-I’ve got to go.”
Wait. “What?”
Once he disappeared into the maze of tends, Leo felt a hand land on his shoulder. “...Sister?”
“You’ve always been unnaturally intuitive. To be completely honest, it’s a little spooky.”
Retort at the tip of his tongue, Leo turned to face Corrin when a finger was placed over his lips. “Except in this case.”
He scoffed, pulling her hand away from his face. “Why Corrin, it’s lovely to see you as well this fine evening!”
She frowned. “Did you understand a word of what he was saying?”
It was pointless to lie; Corrin had an amazing knack for spotting lies. “Not at all.”
“That’s a pity…” her tone suddenly shifted dramatically to pure mischief. “I think you two would make quite the match.”
“What?”
She smirked. “It appears, my dear brother, that Takumi longs for you. Romantically.”
Corrin positively erupted in giggles as all the blood in Leo’s blood flowed to his face.
(Niles would later make a comment about his similarity to a tomato. In return, Leo told him that he hoped Niles enjoyed bunking with Arthur. He figured the deep bags under his retainer’s eyes were sufficient payback.)
The next day...
“It must be like the Catharsis Hypothesis.”
Leo cocked an eyebrow at her. “You mean that antiquated theory that it is possible to redirect anger to another target to avoid a confrontation?”
Corrin reached out to flick his nose, a move which was neither funny nor appreciated. “Exactly, dear brother! Only, instead of anger, Takumi is venting out all sorts of feelings. By speaking in a foreign tongue, he can tell you anything and you would be unable to respond. Truly, it’s a clever trick…”
She hummed in contemplation, clearly impressed with Takumi’s tactics. Leo remained nonplussed. “So, what am I supposed to do? He won’t talk to me, at least, not in any words I can understand.”
“You always were the most brilliant of us siblings, Leo. I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”
“And if I don’t?”
Corrin just sighed and stood up. “The Leo I know wouldn’t let something as insignificant as words get in his way. Not my baby brother.”
“Corrin!” She knew he hated being called that where their troops could potentially overhear.
He knew she didn’t care. “Goodbye and good luck!”
‘Now, how to go about this…’
The next free moment he had, Leo sought out Princess Sakura’s company. She had blushed and fidgeted before loaning him primer of basic Hoshidan grammar.
What kind of girl brought homework to war? Nevertheless, Leo was extremely grateful.
Over the course of the following week, he began to familiarize himself with the graceful, linear character’s that made up Takumi’s language. It was completely unlike what he was used to reading in Nohr and couldn’t imagine what it must’ve been like learning two such drastically different languages as a child. Hoshido did not nearly give their royal family nearly the amount of credit they deserved.
Basic greetings like, “hello,” and, “how are you?” were simple enough to master, but it wasn’t until Leo reached about the halfway point that something shook him to the core.
I love you. He’d heard that before, so, so, many times. Shouted, whispered, spoken so many times in so many ways.
Takumi probably thought that his feelings were entirely one-sided. He probably thought the best he could ever hope for was to be able to speak his feelings aloud to Leo with the other being incapable of rejecting them.
Leo understood all too well the thoughts that must be going through his head; he would have likely done the exact same thing, had their situations been swapped.
They really were similar, weren’t they?
He poured over the pronunciation and spelling of that phrase until his candle burnt itself out.
No one could’ve predicted an ambush that night.
Everything had seemed so peaceful earlier than evening while their camp was prepared. Azura was singing softly to a few awestruck infantrymen on the edge of the clearing, Mozu and Kaze were toting box after box of assorted vegetables; it was almost an idyllic scene straight from one of Elise’s storybooks. Working together, laughing and smiling, it was hard to believe this ragtag bunch was fighting a war for the very fate of mankind as they knew it.
(Azura’s soft voice drifted so easily over the general din of the camp. “~In the dark, I see you with hope and despair all around~” It seemed almost prophetic in hindsight.)
They struck at midnight when the moon was high and most, if not all, were already fast asleep. The night guards (Niles and Silas, the unfortunate fools) did their best to stymie the assault, but were ultimately unsuccessful.
Leo would never forget the unholy noise Silas’s mount made as it was shot in the flank by an invisible archer. Without a second’s hesitation, he grabbed Brynhildr and dashed out the door without even putting on his armor.
That would ultimately be his gravest mistake.
Fire was everywhere. There could be no doubt the invisible army contained mages, hiding from sight and wreaking havoc. Smoke stung his eyes, making it nigh impossible to see.
A mighty snarl sounded from somewhere off to his right. ‘That’s good,’ he sighed, ‘at least Corrin can handle herself.’
(He’d always marvel the way it was so easy to compartmentalize in war; buildings were burning, people might be dyingLEO!”
Takumi was here. That’s good. Maybe it would be alright to close his eyes, just for a moment…
A smack to the face brought the world back into brilliant focus.
“Don’t close your eyes!” Takumi seemed frantic, going wide-eyed at all the blood staining Leo’s clothing. “What do I do? There are no healers nearby and you’re bleeding to death!”
‘No I’m not,’ he opened his mouth to say. Instead, he coughed wetly.
If he was trying to comfort Takumi, coughing blood into his face probably wasn’t the best way of doing that.
Takumi looked at his lips, raised a hand to wipe the blood off his face, and went ashen. “Where’s your armor? Where’s your armor?!”
“...” It hurt to breathe…
“No no no, don’t you dare! Stay with me!”
Leo tried his best, really, by his eyelids seemed far too heavy.
When Leo woke up in the medical tent two days later, he barely had time register the bandages on his chest before sunlight poured onto his bed.
Two things happened simultaneously: Leo sat up from his cot just in time for Takumi to storm over and grab his shoulder. His lovely fingers, archer’s fingers, were currently digging rather painfully into Leo’s shoulder joints. “Well, it’s nice to-”
“ Idiot, fool, stupid, moron- Is that head of yours good for nothing besides decoration? Is it just full of hot air?!” Takumi gave him a look of such profound sadness before giving him a firm shake. “What were you thinking, charging out there without your armor like a dunce?! Were you thinking-?!”
“Takumi-”
“Don’t ‘Takumi’ me, you dolt! Imbecile, addlepate - did you even consider how your family would feel if you died? How I would feel?! I love you, you ignoramus and-” Takumi went cross-eyed to glare at the finger now placed over his lips. “Don’t you dare think you can stop me like that; you deserve this-!”
“I l-love you, too.”
“What?” In his shock, Takumi slipped easily back into their shared tongue. “No you don’t.”
It hurt how naturally the denial fell from Takumi’s lips. Obviously, he was accustomed to false sentiments in the past (he had once mentioned the suspicion that people only tolerated him because of his royal status). There was a painful twinge in Leo’s heart.
A minute passed before Takumi’s face scrunched into a frown. “Wait…”
“Before you get excited,” Leo interrupted while breaking their intense eye contact, “that’s all I learned how to say. Well, that and, ‘I’d marry a tomato if I could...” He heaved a disgruntled sigh. “Corrin refused to tell me what it translated to. Somehow, I just know it’s something humiliating.”
“I lost you to a vegetable?!” It was quiet, but Leo caught the undercurrent of disbelief. “Of all the- a vegetable?!”
“You’re doing it again, love.”
That caught Takumi’s attention. “Wh-what did you just say?”
Denial would’ve been an easy way out. All he’d have to say is, “it’s a generic term of endearment, used between families and close friends; that’s all.”
Looking into bright eyes, seeing the unadulterated want reflected in them…
The answer was so very simple.
“I’ll say it again, as many times and whichever language you wish. I love you,” something a lot like pride seeped into his voice, “and I know you love me too. Don’t even try to deny it.”
Takumi rolled his eyes in faux-exasperation, but his face positively radiated joy. “I wasn’t planning on it. You forget, Prince Leo, that I’ve been saying I loved you all along. Just because you are ignorant does not make my words any less true, or the sentiment behind them any less real.”
“All the same…” he whispered, “I would like to hear it at least once in a language I can understand.”
Leo placed his palms on top of Takumi’s hands, shifting to pull them off his own shoulders and hold them. Their owner gave a disbelieving chuckle before blushing to the roots of his hair. ‘Cute, he is so cute and he’s in love with me.’
“Does your ego know no limit?” Love laced every teasing word.
A smile was his answer. “Humor me.”
“Alright, if you insist, my lord Leo.” After an overly dramatic inhale, Takumi brought Leo’s hands together between them and gave a look so intense it made Leo reel in his bed. “I love you, you boorish man, and I don’t think I could possibly be any happier than if you loved me back.”
(He could be happier, they both knew, but such inclinations had no place in such a tender moment. Later though…)
“...Even if I’m ‘Nohrian scum’?”
Takumi leaned over to place a feather light kiss to his knuckles. “Even if you are Nohrian scum, you make me feel as though my heart could take wing and sing like a songbird.”
Laughter bubbled unexpectedly from Leo’s throat. “‘T-take wing and’ - have you been borrowing Corrin’s horrible novels again? The ones you called ‘mindless drivel’?”
“Y-you - I was trying to be romantic! You know, they are hundreds, if not thousands, of women who would love to be courted with prose-!”
Completely unimpressed. “Takumi.”
A pause. “...Yes?”
“Kindly stop talking and kiss me.”
It was with great pleasure that Takumi did just that.