Chapter Text
Leo honestly believed after the war had ended that he would never have any reason to visit Hoshido again. Xander was becoming a wonderful king, fair and just. Tensions between the two kingdoms were finally beginning to die down in the wake of the two kings’ friendship. There should have been no reason for the prince to ever leave his home again.
Hoshido and Nohr were formalizing their armistice with a signed document on the anniversary of the war’s end. All royalty were to be present.
Elise had been thrilled (to put it mildly). She had given a shriek of delight before promptly dragging Effie off to help her pack. Princess Sakura could no doubt bid farewell to any plans for solitude for the next month.
Camilla, mature elder sister that she was, had simply nodded her acquiescence. Renounced title or not, she had mentioned feeling obligated after having participated in the war. Leo honestly envied her then for so many, many reasons.
When Xander had turned to lay eyes on him, Leo knew it was inevitable.
And that was how he found himself traipsing horseback through the Hoshidan countryside, occasionally being stopped by gawking farmers and curious children.
‘I don’t want to be here,’ he thought for the upteenth time.
Odin rode past, spouting some nonsense about the sky and how it beckoned forth demise or...something of the like. Honestly, Leo was hardly listening.
It had been three years. Three long years since he had last shared a laugh with his then best friend.
“What were you thinking?!”
Just remembering it made something curdle in his stomach, viscous and sour. Several tiny insect legs skittered beneath his skin and oh gods could they even get past that?
Leo missed his best friend.
Niles was definitely giving him a suspicious look at this point, but Leo couldn’t find it in himself to care. Oddly observant that he was, his retainer would’ve no doubt caught onto his off mood eventually anyways.
Tiny flowers began dotting the roadside, serving as a reminder that the caravan was well into Hoshidan territory. Dainty and delicate, they seemed to sway mockingly in the breeze. “We’d never survive in the darkness of your home,” they seemed to say, “nothing beautiful could ever come from there.”
Was it too late to turn back? There was no need for a Nohrian prince when there would already be a Nohrian king present to discuss the treaty with.
Even Odin had shifted in his saddle to give Leo the most conspicuous look over in history at this point. Both his retainers were concerned, of course they were they were his friends, but they could never know. Better to just put his best foot forward, force a smile and sally forth.
After all, what other choice did he have?
They were on the fringes of the celebration and Leo couldn’t help but remember how the crickets hummed, how the air smelt faintly of flowers in bloom, how the dozens of lights in the air seemed to individually catch in Takumi’s hair. Giddiness caused Takumi’s voice to lilt when he wasn’t busy snickering into his hand.
There were stars in the sky and stars in those bright eyes.
How had it all gone so wonderfully, fantastically wrong?
(Leo sometimes wondered if he was seeing the past through rose-colored lenses. The night couldn’t have been that idyllic, they couldn’t have been that happy. Deep down though, he knew doubt was just a coping mechanism. It was all true.)
They had been on a veranda. Neither was particularly fond of conversing with strangers or large crowds and had mutually made their way as close to freedom without actually leaving as possible.
One moment, they had been discussing something Leo read in a book recently. An idea that, “there are as many emotions as there are stars in the sky. I think it’s a metaphor of some sort.”
The next...well…
In hindsight, he shouldn’t have avoided Takumi so religiously the next day. All day, he fought a losing battle against cowardice every time he saw the other prince in the halls. One glimpse of him and Leo would turn tail and run whichever way he came, resulting in him about facing directly in Ryoma once.
Gods how he must have hurt Takumi. Ignoring him would have been kinder than this blatant rejection. He knew this, better than anyone else, he knew what he was doing. But still...
The Nohr royal family ended up returning home without Leo and Takumi speaking again. Bile sloshed through his belly and Leo spent the entire return trip in fear of vomiting.
Pride cost Leo the best friend he had ever known in his life. It seemed fitting punishment.
“Good evening, King Xander. I trust that your journey here was a safe one?”
“It was and I thank you for the hospitality, King Ryoma.”
Both elder brothers stared at each other with such solemnity before simultaneously bursting into laughter. Any and all tension instantly evaporated as the Nohrian royal family entered the courtyard of Castle Shirasagi. Seeing the two laughing together like old friends (old war buddies?) was a physical reminder of the peace shared between the two countries.
Ryoma reached over to wrap his knuckles on Xanders shoulder, laughing good naturedly and earning a few looks from the guards. They no doubt placed their king on such a high pedestal that it was a shock seeing him act human.
Camilla and Leo both followed several paces behind, watching Elise trail after their eldest brother and fidget like a puppy. Reinforcing the puppy comparison further, she let out a delighted yelp at seeing Sakura peeping through the castle door. Next to him, Camilla let out a little, “aww” at the way Elise launched herself onto the other princess and smothered her with a hug.
“Elise!” Xander chided mildly before sighing. Next to him, Ryoma guffawed.
“Sakura has hardly been able to sit still all day,” he said while wrapping an arm around Xander’s broad shoulders. “You should’ve seen her face when we told her Elise would be attending as well. She near spilled her entire breakfast into her lap!”
Xander cocked an eyebrow, as though to say ‘truly?’, before smiling and shaking his head. “Ah, I suppose it’s alright then. Pray tell, how are your other siblings faring?”
That question earned a grimace from the other king. “I informed them both this morning that you would all be arriving around this time today. Hinoka no doubt got held up at the stables. As for Takumi…”
Takumi. Leo felt a tiny wave of nausea at hearing his name. As though sensing his distress, Camilla reached over and silently took his hand. With a gentle squeeze and a smile, she nudged him into following their siblings inside the castle.
“It’s quite alright.” Ever the diplomat, Xander was. “If our families wouldn’t mind, perhaps we could take some time to rehash some of our previous discussion regarding the trade routes past Nestra?”
With Xander and Elise now both occupied (poor Princess Sakura could barely get a word in before being dragged along some hallway in her own castle), Leo and Camilla were left on their own.
They remained in comfortable silence before Leo cleared his throat. “Camilla?”
“Yes?”
“I-I...I wanted to thank you.” What an utter embarrassment; he couldn’t even say this simple sentiment without stuttering.
“Hm? Whatever for, dear brother?” She gave his hand one last squeeze before releasing it. “I’m feeling a bit tired after that trip. If it’s quite alright with you, I think I might inquire as to where we will be staying.”
“Of course. Rest well, sister.”
As she sashayed off to find an attendant for directions, Leo decided to find his retainers and explore outside a little. There would be plenty of time to scan through Hoshido’s library during their stay and his legs were honestly a bit sore from the prolonged ride.
He stepped outside just in time to see Niles stuff an apple in Odin’s mouth before shoving a piece of luggage into his arms. The rogue paused upon seeing him before blowing him a kiss. Odin, slightly cross-eyed from staring at the apple, briefly glimpsed his face before waving like an overly excitable child.
What a spectacle his retainers were and Leo could scarcely imagine it any other way.
Odin declined joining his lord in exploring the castle, choosing instead to continue unpacking and setting up his room for the night. On the other hand, Niles was all to eager to spout some suggestion about Leo wanting to spend time alone together before leaving all the work for the other retainer.
Fools. He was surrounded by fools. Leo wouldn’t have it any other way.
It was as they were passing a large courtyard that Leo saw him.
If not for his hair, Leo would not have recognized the man surrounded by what seemed like the legion he had read about in religious mythology. They swarmed and writhed like a living entity, murmuring and gasping amongst themselves, “the general’s blade work truly is something else,” and “
“To think Prince Takumi is this fierce with a blade. Can you even imagine how terrifying the king must be on the battlefield?” (Leo bit back a wince at that last statement; after all this time, people were still making unfair comparisons placing him in Ryoma’s shadow. Didn’t they realize Takumi was an extraordinary person in his own right-?)
His thoughts were derailed by a shrill whistle at his side; Niles leered as a particularly spectacular maneuver from the general - ‘Takumi,’ he corrected internally - swept the cadet off his feet and into the dirt. His sword was sent flying. The soft ‘shick’ of metal across the ground was audible over the hush that befell the crowd.
Hinata HAD once mentioned that Takumi trounced him rather quickly in a duel, but this…?
“Who’s next?”
The general - ‘Takumi, it’s him and you know it’ - turned to the rest of the cadets while still brandishing his blade.
Gone were the furs and colorful robes he wore previously; Takumi looked resplendent even in the traditional whites and blues of the Hoshidan army uniform. He blended in seamlessly, not flaunting his status as general with any garish accoutrements that some of the Nohrian military favored.
That old nausea from before returned with a vengeance. Gone was the unsure prince from before, gnashing his teeth and snarling from the shadow of his older brother. In his place was a man, facing down his fellow troops with squared shoulders and a defiant stare that broadcast confidence.
It felt as though hundreds (thousands?) of birds suddenly took wing in his heart; he had always known Takumi had the potential to be great, to surpass his brother. His pulse was a hummingbird, fluttering uselessly inside his rib cage.
The other prince had truly come unto himself in the three years since they had parted. The tragedy lay in the fact that Leo had been absent to watch the metamorphosis take place.
(He could see it; the two of them poring over racks upon racks of weaponry in the armory late at night after the guards had gone to sleep. Leo would offer to brew tea to sooth the ensuing blisters, reminding Takumi that the tannins in the tea would help toughen his skin and it’s going to sting so grit your teeth. Takumi would wince and snarl, clenching his hands and no doubt bemoaning his perceived inferiority. However, as the days went by, he would begin to see improvement little by little and his best friend would be beside him the whole time to say ‘the only one who never believed in you was you,’ and Takumi would smile - )
Leo mourned the lost opportunity.
Back in the present, Takumi continued sweeping the crowd for any young upstarts looking to make a name for themselves in the Hoshidan army. There were always a few foolhardy kids, drunk on misplaced courage and fueled by the encouragement of their peers.
Xander had taken on his share of soldiers at the end of the war. Leo could still remember watching from a distance and his brother took down wave after seemingly endless wave of enlisted boys. The rumors that King Garon’s son was soft still persisted to this day, but they greatly dwindled after Xander’s performance that day; a general who wasn’t afraid to lead from the front was the be feared indeed.
“Milord, it seems we have an audience.”
Niles’ amusement was palpable and at first, Leo couldn’t understand exactly what had his retainer sounding so positively giddy before he noticed.
Takumi was staring from across the field.
(It was probably a good thing he didn’t notice Niles’ coquettish wave at his side, waving each finger individually like a courtesan trying to gain the attention of a passerby.)
“Well?”
Leo’s silver tongue fell silent in his mouth in the face of such...such fire. Takumi must truly hate him and he deserved that hate and so much more for what he’d done.
Hatred, betrayal, disgust; he deserved it all and more.
The legion parted, the gaping maw of the beast beckoning to him. At the center, Takumi glared unblinkingly.
Despite everything, his heart fluttered. Stupid, traitorous thing that it was.
It was with a heavy heart he stepped forward, walking past goggling teens barely old enough to enlist. A few whispered amongst themselves in awe of seeing two princes and former war allies spar.
Once he was within ten paces of the other, Leo bowed his head ever so slightly. “It is good to see you once more, pri-”
“Fight me.” A sword was tossed at Leo’s feet and he frowned in confusion.
“...Excuse me?”
Takumi sneered without a trace of mirth. “That’s funny, I don’t remember you being deaf. Oh, how things can change in the span of a few years.”
By now, their audience had begun muttering in confusion. Weren’t they allies? Weren’t they friends?
The blade was delicately nudged away with his boot. “I didn’t come to fight you.”
“Are you afraid, little prince?” Takumi’s tone was full of vitriol and venom. Every word was carefully calculated to sting. Good, he deserved all this and more.
“There’s a difference between being afraid and being unwilling.”
“Is that so? Very well…” Takumi loosened the ties holding the scabbard at his waist before handing his blade off to a nearby soldier. “Now will you face me?”
Frustration was beginning to set in. “Why are you being so obstinate?”
“Why are you trying to avoid me?” It was almost imperceptible, but Leo caught the tiny wince Takumi made, as though his own words stung him. He had a feeling that last comment wasn’t just with regards to sparring.
‘Ahh…’ Would this bring him some sort of closure? Leo doubted it, but he was through with running away from Takumi. His best friend didn’t deserve it then and he surely didn’t deserve it now.
“Will this make you happy?” Niles was likely the only one to hear him. Shaking his head to dispel such thoughts, Leo sighed in resignation. “If this is truly what you want, far be it from me to deny you any longer, Prince Takumi.”
Surprise briefly flitted across Takumi’s face before he smirked and dropped into a more offensive stance. “There is nothing I want more than to show you how I’ve grown since we last met.”
Leo had scarcely a moment to react before a hand shot forward at his throat.
Hoshidan combat, Takumi had once explained in hushed tones over a chessboard, was about withstanding anything that the opponent could throw. If the body was tough enough, the soul hardened enough, it didn’t matter what an opponent did. Hoshidans faced their opponents head on, he explained with reverence. There was no honor in retreat.
Experiencing Hoshidan hand-to-hand combat firsthand now, Leo understood. Every step Takumi took was forward. Even when Leo managed to land a rather solid kick to his thigh, Takumi didn’t so much as flinch backwards. Rather, it was Leo who had to duck back to avoid a well-aimed elbow to the face.
(He’d once overheard some troops talking about body hardening. ‘You beat yourself,’ one explained as straightforward as though he were discussing the weather, “Day after day, you beat yourself until one day, you stop feeling it. Your body becomes numb to the pain.”
“You’re crazy!” Someone chimed in and Leo couldn’t help but agree with them at the time.)
Under the watch of hundreds of eyes, Prince Leo of Nohr ducked his head and tackled Prince Takumi to the ground. It was undignified and perhaps a bit underhanded, he could admit, but the blood roaring in his ears drowned out the lingering worries of ‘what if word gets out that Nohr sent their prince on a diplomacy mission and the first thing he did was start a physical altercation with the younger prince? Oh, the scandal!’
Leo couldn’t care less about scandal and, judging from the way he was digging a fist into Leo’s diaphragm, neither could Takumi.
“Pull his hair, milord!” A quick glance over confirmed that Niles was sporting a rather large grin, no doubt viewing the whole situation as comical. There were a few astonished gasps, but he remained unphased. Niles truly was unflappable.
Takumi faltered enough at Niles’ taunt for Leo to wrap his legs around his opponent’s midsection. His retainer leered at the new position, but it was hard to focus on anything other than Takumi suddenly bringing his hands to Leo’s hips and squeezing.
His fingers, archer’s fingers, dug in right above his hip bones and Leo’s instincts screamed at him to make it stop. It was tempting to drop his legs, but that would mean surrendering the dominant position and he just couldn’t do that.
Ignoring the pain in his hips, Leo brought an arm up and around his opponent’s neck. He pulled Takumi in close, a mockery of a lover’s embrace, and used the sudden shift in their weight to roll them over.
Takumi hissed as one of his wrists was crushed under their combined body weight. He now lay with his back in the dirt, defiant even in a position of submission.
(It must’ve taken all of Niles’ admittedly limited self-control to refrain from making a lewd comment about their positions. Leo was eternally grateful.)
“Well, general?” Leo made sure to emphasize the title. “Do you surrender?”
Takumi snarled and attempted to jostle Leo off by bucking his hips, ultimately being his downfall. The space he created allowed Leo to shift their positions just enough that he was now straddling Tamuki’s back.
A quick shift brought his left arm straight across the base of Takumi’s neck, while its mate wrapped across his throat to grip his elbow. With his legs wrapped firmly around Takumi’s midsection, Leo lightly tensed the muscles of his right arm. For a moment, Takumi went dreadfully still. The message was delivered loud and clear.
“It looks like I win again,” Leo grinned, subtly shifting his ankles to dig into the meat of Takumi’s thighs. It was undoubtedly painful, but his opponent hardly flinched.
In an absurd way, Leo was proud.
“Burn in hell, filth,” Takumi hissed.
“My, do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” No no no, this wasn’t what was supposed to happen. His usually glib tongue was rapidly escaping him and - “Apologies, I meant did you kiss your mother with that mouth?”
Everything was going from bad to worse at lightening speed and even Niles was frowning in disapproval at this point, but Takumi had always had a talent, a knack, for drawing out the absolute best and worst in him-
One second, he had the Hoshidan prince turned general wrapped in a blood choke. All it would take is one flex of the muscle, one clench of his fist, and Takumi would be unconscious in a matter of seconds. The next…
Rage truly was a miraculous thing.
The whole world seemed to take on a hazy quality as Leo found himself in almost the exact position Takumi had just been in, only the other seemingly had no intention of just stopping at a submission. Paralyzed by shock, Leo could do nothing as dots danced at the ends of his vision. The world turned hazy, like an underdeveloped photograph.
‘He truly intends to…?’
Air whooshed uselessly back into his lungs (Takumi always was a quick study, but it appears the finer points of Nohrian combatives escaped him; the point of a blood choke was the cut off the supply of blood to the brain, not constrict the airways). Niles was in front of him, brandishing a hunting knife the length of his forearm while Takumi thrashed uselessly. Several trainees had stepped forward to restrain their general, sharing nervous looks over his shoulders. (‘Do Hoshidans issue court martials to their troops? Would that even apply in a situation like this?’)
“Prince or no,” Niles cooed in a tone belying his true intention, “the next time you lay another finger on my lord like that, you may find yourself learning to hold your weapon with a few less fingers.”
(“Can he speak to a prince like that?” “Quiet, unless you want him to cut off your tongue along with the general’s fingers!” “Do you think he’d really do it?” “Do you really want to find out?”)
Takumi suddenly deflated, all prior vim and vigor leaving with one great whoosh of a sigh.
Leo took no joy in the grimace of defeat on Takumi’s face. This was so wrong; none of this was meant to happen. They were meant to talk, perhaps less than civilly at first. There would be some initial hostility, transitioning to hostility; they had parted on less than ideal terms, after all. However, Leo had held the utmost faith that they could overcome their past differences and reconcile. Days, weeks, months, Leo was prepared to wait years for Takumi to forgive him because he was worth it.
“I kissed you with this mouth.”
It was spoken quietly in resignation, but to Leo, Takumi may as well have shouted it to the heavens with how it echoed in his ears.
Takumi left, quiet susurrus following in the wake of his departure.
At that moment, Leo truly truly doubted there was anything left to salvage of their relationship at this point.