Work Text:
"Can I ask you what on earth you're doing here?"
".....Fishing on a deserted island," Marikin replied, looking up from his seat on the rock next to the small river. "What on earth are you doing here?"
"Wanting to fish on a deserted island," Fukurou replied.
"...Well this is my island, so take a hike." Marikin turned away and cast his fishing line again.
"You don't own this island..." Fukurou just began getting her own fishing rod ready.
"You're right, no one owns this isolated island - Maybe that's why I expected it to be deserted," Marikin huffed, seemingly discontent with the current situation.
"You're grumpy today." Fukurou cast her line into the river, standing nearby.
"Oh please, I'm fine." Marikin reeled in the fish he caught, letting it join the pile of fish on the grass behind him, immediately and methodically resetting his rod before casting it again. "Never been better."
"You've been at this a while," Fukurou commented, looking at Marikin's fish pile as she caught a fish of her own.
"Good job, you have the observation skills of someone with eyes," Marikin responded flatly, beginning to reel in another catch. "....Fish monster incoming."
"I think anyone with eyes can see that you're not exactly okay right now." Fukurou dismissed her own fishing rod, readying her grimoire in its place as the enemy landed in front of them.
"Like I said, I'm fine, never been better." Marikin dodged the first attack from the enemy, before attacking in retaliation.
"You're lying and you know it." Fukurou landed her electric spell against the enemy.
"You don't know jackshit, Fukurou." Marikin managed to avoid some of the enemy's rapid attacks, but got hit by a few of them.
"You're being stubborn again, Marikin-san." Fukurou cast a heal spell on him, healing away the cuts.
"Again..? Since when was there a last time?" Marikin threw his cards out in front of himself, casting laser spells aimed towards the enemy from them.
"Ohh, I don't know - What about every time you've walked out of the infirmary on your own while you still had really bad injuries??" Fukurou charged her grimoire with magic energy. "Like last time...??"
"How is that being 'stubborn'...!?" Marikin summoned more of his cards as he watched Fukurou only narrowly dive away from the enemy's slash.
"It's 'stubborn' because you were supposed to be resting and recovering from your injuries! In the infirmary room!" Fukurou ducked again to allow Marikin's cards to hit the enemy from behind her.
"That's not being stubborn, that's being practical," Marikin stated, bracing for the enemy's wide magic attack against both of them. "I had things to do, and I was awake."
"You didn't think you could have had someone else take over those tasks for you...!?" Fukurou enveloped the enemy in electric magic, dragging the foe across the ground with that energy.
"I was conscious, so I was fine." Marikin's follow-up attack with his cards finally ended the fight. "I was fine to do those simple tasks that I had already been behind on."
"That's your definition of being 'fine'...!?" Fukurou practically yelled, turning to face Marikin as she forcefully dismissed her grimoire.
"Oh please, those weren't the worst injuries in the world, I was walking them off alright...!!" Marikin exclaimed, kicking the defeated enemy back into the water.
"You couldn't even walk without flinching," Fukurou hissed, storming up to Marikin until she was right in front of him.
"So what?" Marikin grumbled, using his magic to heal both of them back up from the battle.
"So that means you were still in pain, and you should have been resting." Fukurou stepped forward again, making the shortened distance between them uncomfortable and borderline hostile.
"You clearly don't know what I'm capable of. How about you back off and leave me alone?" Marikin barked, glaring her down.
"Are you trying to scare me?" Fukurou almost scoffed. "I'm not afraid of you."
"....Really. You're not afraid of me." Something in Marikin's gaze shifted.
"...No, of course not, why would I be?" Fukurou sounded partially befuddled.
"Sig's afraid of me, though?"
"No he's not..."
"Well usually he isn't, obviously - But if I give him the right glare, say something with enough hostility; The guy will crack like glass, and he'll back down and leave me be. You wanna know why?"
"...Why?"
"Because he knows that I am capable of murdering him." Marikin's glare darkened as he growled, the dissonance of his unchanging default facial expression feeling almost menacing. "He knows that I'd win against him in a fight, and if I really wanted to, I could kill him. So if you would be sensible like him, you'd back off. Right. Now."
"....I am not scared of you, Marikin-san," Fukurou stated calmly.
"...You should be."
A swift leg sweep behind her knees, and in an instant Fukurou was down on the ground, laying in the grass. A magic seal cast while she was stunned, restricting her wrist while preventing any expenditure or usage of her magic energy.
"Fukurou, Fukurou....." Marikin exhaled in an almost taunt-like singsong manner, walking around her body on the grass as she uselessly tried to pull against the restraint. "You're a stellar mage, truly, but your physical strength is laughably abysmal. Take away your magic, and you're as defenseless as a doll."
Fukurou couldn't get up, not with how the magic seal was restraining her movement. "Marikin, what are you doing--"
Blade at her throat, forcing her head back down into the grass. He had knelt down next to her, the handle of the dagger in his grip. Fukurou's breath hitched unconsciously.
"I'm trying to prove a point here," Marikin said, as though it was obvious. "Had I ever wanted to kill you, I'd be able to do it without anything more than a scratch on me." His unnervingly unfaltering facial expression remained, even as he let his blade make contact with her skin. "So if you'd know what's good for you, you'd leave me ALONE when I TELL you to."
.....
"....so this is how you push people away, huh?" Fukurou exhaled, her voice remaining even. "You try to scare them off, so you don't have to talk about your feelings? So you don't have to appear vulnerable in front of others?"
The pressure of the blade against her throat began to increase.
"You try to scare people away so that you don't have to 'talk' to them," Fukurou reiterated, her tone remaining constant. "You'd rather drown in your problems than 'talk' to anyone. So if someone pesters you too much, asking if something's wrong, you intimidate them until they back off. Until they stop asking. You push them away, because you don't want to talk."
"........"
"Well that won't work on me, because I'm not afraid of you, Marikin-san. You're trying to be all scary and intimidating - But I know it's nothing more than an act," Fukurou declared with a coyly dismissive smile.
"Are you denying that I could murder you if I wanted to?" Marikin applied more pressure to her throat, making it harder to breathe. His glare continued to pierce her.
"I'm not. You could very easily kill me if you wanted to." Fukurou's smile remained. "But, you don't want to - In fact, you don't even want to hurt me. You're trying to scare me away, but you don't actually want to cause any real injury to me."
Marikin's glare remained, unchanging. "......."
"You thought I'd panic, in response to having this knife at my throat. Panic - that you hoped for - that would likely have made me blind to the fact. The fact that you've merely been holding the back of that blade towards me. The dull side of the blade that wouldn't even so much as cut me.
...You could hurt me, but you don't want to."
........
Release.
Fukurou sat up from the grass with a forceful inhale, rubbing her wrist that now no longer had the magic seal on it, watching as Marikin methodically walked back to his rock and sat down on it again. The knife he had been holding was now nowhere to be seen, as he rubbed his face with his hand in an exhausted manner.
Fukurou stood up, walking over to him.
"....did sig send you?" Marikin asked exhaustedly, his usual smile absent, face now nothing but fatigued. "...sent you to find me?"
"...Yes."
"You tracked me down via my magic energy signature?"
"Yes."
"Damn it." Marikin hung his head, leaning over his own knees. "...sigkin's a piece of shit..."
"He was concerned about you, Marikin-san. And, seeing how you were isolating yourself here... I became concerned, too," Fukurou stated.
"...i didn't ask for anyone's concern."
"You're right, you didn't. But, we can't help it - We can't help but be concerned about our friend. I'm sorry."
"........"
....Fukurou sat down next to him. "...What's wrong?" she asked softly, carefully.
"...it's stupid," Marikin breathed, refusing to look her in the eyes.
"It's not stupid if it's bothering you."
"......"
"...Marikin-san."
...Marikin stared at the hand that she held out towards him. "....."
Fukurou just smiled, motioning her hand again.
His hand was rough, tense, almost calloused from how long he had been gripping his fishing rod before this, busying himself with fishing so that unwanted thoughts couldn't creep into his head. Fukurou gave his hand a gentle squeeze, and the tension in it began to ease, ever so slightly.
"...You look really tired. Didn't sleep well last night?" Fukurou asked quietly.
Marikin just failed to reply. He was no longer hiding behind his default facial expression of a poker-faced smile, and the exhaustion on his face was now completely visible.
"Haven't been sleeping well the last few nights...?" Fukurou guessed.
"......" Marikin averted his gaze.
"....if you want to talk about it... i'm here," Fukurou covered the back of his palm with her other hand. "...if you don't want to talk about it... i'm still here," she reassured softly, thumb brushing the back of his hand. "...i'm... here for you."
"......"
"...you don't have to act all tough, or act like nothing's wrong... it's okay to be vulnerable, to have moments of weakness. And your friends are here to support you, in those moments. Your friends want to support you, in those moments. So we're... here, for you."
"......."
...Marikin just sighed, gripping the hand that held his. "...d...do you know the, uh...."
...his quiet voice trailed off.
Fukurou sat there with him, patiently, wordlessly, letting him think about what he wanted to say, whether he wanted to say anything or not.
....Marikin exhaled heavily as he turned his face away from her. "....you know that, uh.... that weird... human at Axez's place?"
"Um... I don't think I'm aware of that...?"
"Okay, well there's this weird blonde human crashing at Axez's place now," Marikin said, loosening up slightly, at least in speech. "No idea who she is - Axez won't tell me anything substantial, and she bashes her way out of the house wall and disappears as soon as she sees me. Afraid of clowns, Axez said; That's pretty much the only thing he's told me."
"Eh..."
"Anyway. I first saw that person when I dropped by his house last week. And ever since then, the...." Marikin coughed. "....whenever i sleep, the n..."
....
"...n-- nightmares," Marikin finally continued. "....the nightmares, they got... worse. Worsened."
"The nightmares...?"
"...repeating nightmares. Recurring nightmares. Memories from the past, echoing endlessly." Marikin was keeping his tone steady, but there was some strain in his voice. "....they're... worse, now. worst it's ever been. can't even close my eyes without seeing... things from back then. things from...."
....That last sentence remained unfinished.
Marikin was still facing away from her, but Fukurou could still see the distress and fatigue in his gaze.
Fukurou squeezed his hand tighter. Marikin unconsciously returned the gesture.
"...when's the last time you slept?" Fukurou asked softly.
"...i dunno. days ago, probably," he muttered.
"That's not good...." Fukurou commented quietly.
"...it's fine."
"It's not," she said sternly. "...You need to rest."
"....."
"...How about... you come back home with me to Souhonzan?" Fukurou suggested. "I can make some chamomile tea, we can eat some cookies while drinking that... Maybe watch cat videos on the internet... Does that sound good to you?" Fukurou rubbed the back of the palm she still held with her thumb. "Would you like that...?"
.....
...Marikin gave a stiff but purposeful nod.
"Alright, let's go, then~" Fukurou hummed gently, standing up from the rock they had been sitting on. "Let's go~"
...He let her lead the way, his hand in hers.
"....damn it, this guy is... so stubborn sometimes," Sigkin huffed from the other end of the phone call, having heard what Fukurou told him about what happened. "...Is he asleep at your place right now?"
"Yeah, he is," Fukurou replied, still gently rubbing the top of Marikin's snoring head buried in the pillow. She placed her now-empty cup back down onto the tea table she was still sitting at. "I think the chamomile might've knocked him out for the next few hours."
"That's good, I guess..." Sigkin made a sharp exhale, before he began grumbling, mostly to himself. "...Ugh, he couldn't have just told me this stuff...?? He could've just said he's been having trouble sleeping or something...! But no, he kept insisting that he was fine, even though he very clearly wasn't."
"And by 'insisting', you mean he intimidated you until you backed off, right...?"
"....Is that what he said?"
"Sigkin-san, are you scared of him...?" Fukurou asked with a playful smile in her voice.
"No I'm not..."
.....
"...Okay, well, normally-- Usually I don't even think twice about decking him in the face, alright!?" Sigkin exclaimed in some form of retaliation. "But-- Sometimes - just sometimes - he does that certain kind of glare when he's really pissed off, and I just--"
"'Crack like glass'...?"
"No I do not 'crack like glass', I j-- It makes me pause for a moment, alright...!?" Sigkin groaned wordlessly for a bit. "What the hell has that guy been telling you...? He's a bad influence, Fukurou, don't listen to a damn word he says."
"I think I'm learning more about you, Sigkin-san~"
"Oh shut up."
....Sigkin sighed. "....anyway, just... let him rest for now. I'll see if I can get Venki to give him some days off from work."
"Alright~" Fukurou hummed. "Thank you for looking out for him like this, Sigkin-san."
"...i mean, of course, he's... my... friend. I kinda... owe Marikin a lot, in like.... more ways than one. He's, uh... important, to... me." Sigkin seemed to start coughing up a fit afterwards. "....don't you dare tell him any of that."
"Yes, yes, I understand, you have my word~" Fukurou sang in a carefree tone.
"Fukurou, I'm s-- Don't let him hear any of that--"
"Yes, I promise~"
"That guy would never stop his teasing if you tell him any of this--!"
"Sigkin-san, do you not trust me...?" Fukurou laughed in a lighthearted manner.
"Not with that tone I don't...!!"
Sigkin just grumbled inaudibly to himself. "....i should... go now. Shouldn't leave Koritora and the others waiting too long." he stated. "....Don't leave that guy unattended for the next day or so. See you later."
"Okay, see you~"
*click*
Fukurou put her phone away. "....you have friends that care a lot about you, marikin-san," she whispered softly, to the numa still sleeping on the pillow in her lap. He had dozed off onto her shoulder earlier while they were watching videos on her phone, his empty cup on the tea table now cold. Fukurou just gently stroked his forehead with her thumb, above his closed sleeping eyes. "....are you aware of that, marikin-san...?"
His face seemed to unconsciously relax further into her touch.
Fukurou just smiled, mostly to herself. "...marikin-san..." she cooed, mostly to herself, just happy to see him in such a peacefully placid state; A stark contrast from earlier that day. "...marikin-san... take care of yourself more, okay...? there's a lot of people that care about you.... how many times have i caught you trying to leave the infirmary on your own...? don't do that anymore... please...?"
Fukurou continued her quiet, gentle whisperings to Marikin in his sleep, mostly just for herself, knowing fully well he was asleep and wouldn't hear any of it. Eventually she ran out of things to say, and she went silent.
.....
(...Uie-sama would tease the hell out of me if they found us here like this...!!!) Fukurou suddenly and abruptly thought to herself, realising what kind of scene this would look like to someone else, with-- With Marikin's head in her lap and her just whispering--!? It-- It's not like she wanted to put him in her lap but he literally fell asleep on her and there was just no better way to reposition him--
She could feel her own face overcome with some kind of warmth.
(....i'm going to tell uie-sama to shop for groceries for the next few hours.....) she decided.