Chapter Text
At first, Mika thought it was Klee messing with him –or maybe even Alice– when his notebook started disappearing at random times. He didn’t want to believe it was carelessness or shitty memory about where he places it, because he was a very organized person and didn’t often fall into the mistakes of losing something as precious and valuable as his notebook even if he was tired, or when his brain was a bit foggy from work.
The best answer Mika could think of regarding his current dilemma was that Master Jean had scolded Klee too many times about destroying his papers, so Klee managed to find a way to mess with him in a less destructive sense.
But crouching in front of the child right now, watching her shake her head and flail her hands in front of him, he realized how stupid it was to think she’d enjoy anything that wasn’t destructive. “Klee didn’t do it! Klee would never!”
“Alright, Klee. I believe you.” He reassured her and groaned as he got up from his crouched position. Rubbing the back of his neck and looking around, he muttered to himself. “I really should figure this out soon, though. That notebook has a lot of things in it.”
Klee’s little footsteps as she ran back into her room were just background noise to Mika’s ears as he kept scanning the area, not exactly searching for anything or anyone as he pondered his situation.
He waved at the guards in front of the headquarters when he left and hoped that no one from his division would give him specific tasks to do, as he would find it hard to say no and didn’t want to go through the embarrassment of admitting that he had lost something this important.
Archons, he can’t even imagine the look of disappointment Captain Eula would give him, or the look of confusion from his older brother since this was really odd of him.
But of course, the universe just loved to put him in situations he couldn’t avoid. And now, Grand Master Varka himself had summoned him, asking him to renew the map in the areas close to Wolvendom on account of the increase in abyssal enemies surrounding the woods.
Mika is incapable of saying no. He had a duty to fulfill all that was assigned to him and couldn’t bring himself to disappoint anyone who relied on him.
And that was how he found himself roaming the dangerous forest of Wolvendom with a spare notebook of his to write things down. Of course, there was no way he’d tell Varka that his job was done before he went on a second trip with his actual notebook to double check everything. His temporary notes couldn’t be as reliable as having the real thing with him.
It was night, which was somewhat risky considering how active wolves can be at this time, but he was familiar with this boy named Razor who also stayed awake during these hours, and the wolves seemed too occupied with him to cause Mika any trouble.
Still, he internally cursed his weakness as he resorted to this spare notebook. He really hoped he wasn’t so eager to please everyone. Things would be much easier for him if he knew how to maintain a normal conversation.
As self-deprecating thoughts filled his mind, he closed his eyes and sighed, which diverted his attention from his mission and made him bump into a tree.
Careless, irresponsible, and immature.
Maybe he was wrong to blame anyone but himself, and his notebook isn’t disappearing out of thin air, he’s just dumb.
“Who’s there?!”
The voice startled Mika and he gasped softly, quickly hiding behind the tree when a flashlight pointed in his direction. He rubbed his forehead with one hand, and didn’t dare look back to see who it was. Not that he needed to. The voice clearly belonged to one of his seniors, a man he’d seen conversing multiple times with Captain Eula.
The rest of the knights that were with his senior didn’t sound like anyone he was acquainted to, so most likely from other companies. Despite the familiarity Mika had with his senior, he still chose to not show himself, finding it odd that anyone else was here with him when Varka had told him that going alone would be his “homework” for the day.
“Probably just some wolves.” A different man spoke. “Sit down, you’ve been paranoid enough and you were the one who said Wolvendom would be our best hiding spot.”
Mika heard them all sit back down and was relieved that their attention was shifted away from him.
He didn’t need to linger around for too long before their conversation made their intentions clear, and Mika felt really saddened at finding out one of his seniors he’d looked up to was a traitor, being in cahoots with other knights to help the fatui for a sum of mora.
He couldn’t show himself, he wouldn’t be able to take them on all at once and frankly, he was kind of frozen in place.
Mika stood there, holding his breath and trying his best not to make noise so as to listen to everything they had to say and report it to the grand master. That way, he could at least get something useful out of this trip.
“I updated the…” One of the men started yawning, and the sound of the grass shifting told Mika that the others seemed to be sleepy as well. “...the fatui agent on our whereabouts, and…he said tha…that the-”
The sound of five bodies hitting the floor accompanied by the splash of wine on their belongings made Mika immediately turn around and look in their direction.
His eyes widened and his sadness turned into fear as he slowly approached their still bodies to examine the scene. The first thought that crossed his mind was that the fatui had something to do with this. An organization like theirs could very much use traitors to their benefit before killing them.
Mika brought his spare notebook out to take notes of the situation. He squinted his eyes at the liquid pouring out of the glass but that didn’t help him since the ground had absorbed a lot of it. He got up and searched for a glass that was at least half full so he could inspect it better, so he walked towards another man and squatted, carefully picking the glass up.
Mika set his notebook on the ground and flipped to an empty page, using the same hand to grab a pen from his pocket and pop it open with his mouth. “The colour looks a bit unnatural…” He slurred.
“Want a taste?” The voice behind him appeared out of thin air, and there was no indication of anybody nearing him when he was crouching. Mika would’ve immediately turned his head to check who it was if it weren’t for the blade he felt against his neck.
He barely even felt an arm snake around his shoulder from behind before he noticed something sharp being dangerously close to him and a warm breath against his collarbone when the person spoke.
Mika almost dropped the glass, but thankfully didn’t. It would’ve been bad if he lost the only thing that could give him an idea on what was used to drug these knights. He remained silent, still trying to process the crisis he was in, unable to even think of a way to get out of it.
His captor clicked their tongue in disapproval. “Didn’t recognize me from my voice right away? I’m upset, Mika.”
Mika swallowed a lump in his throat and stared at the dagger, trying to get away from it, but the person he now realized the identity of kept pressing it against him, not hard enough to hurt him but give him a fright.
“V-vice Captain Lohen…?” Mika stuttered even though he was sure of his answer. He’d never spoken to the guy before, just saw him around and heard his voice multiple times. Still, it was hard to believe someone so close to the grand master could potentially be working with the fatui. Mika had seen enough today.
“Came here to check on your buddies?” Lohen teased, resting his cheek on Mika’s shoulder, examining the side of his face and relishing in the way he had scared the young surveyor so bad that he couldn’t stare at him back. “I can’t believe you, out of all people, would betray us like this.”
“N-no!” Mika quickly protested, not noticing the chuckle that left Lohen’s mouth, indicating that the vice captain knew what he was doing. “It’s not like that. I-I was sent here by Grand Master Varka, and I found them here-”
“And you expect me to believe that?” Lohen reached out with his free hand to take the glass from Mika. The latter freaked out and yanked his own hand away, making it clear that he wouldn’t dare try and snatch it from Lohen.
Lohen straightened his back, his head now right next to Mika’s instead of resting on his shoulder like it was before. Mika’s back was touching Lohen’s upper body like the Vice Captain was deliberately trying to weigh him down.
Mika wanted to back away when he saw Lohen taunting him with the glass by getting it close to his lips, but he had him trapped. “V-vice Captain Lohen, I swear I wasn’t doing anything! I really was sent here by the grand master!”
“Intentions aside, isn’t it clear you’re curious about what I used to spike their drinks? No better way of finding out unless you try, right?” Lohen chuckled.
“N-no! I just wanted a sample so I could give it to Sucrose or Albedo to investigate, and-”
“Open wide~” Lohen’s other hand grabbed at Mika’s jaw but quickly let go just as the cartographer was about to clutch his hand. Lohen completely freed Mika and stood up, giggling as he stared down at him.
Mika reached out to rub his neck where the dagger met his skin and exhaled. He wasn’t injured, thankfully, but he also didn’t appreciate the scare.
“You’re too gullible, Mika!” Lohen teased. “Don’t you worry, I’m not working with them, just taking care of business.” He spilled the remaining wine on the ground, which made Mika stand up again and open his mouth to retort. “Albedo made this, no need to take a sample. And don’t fuss over any reports either, I’ll take care of this entire conundrum on my own.” He spoke like he couldn't wait to deal with it.
Mika looked away, cheeks slightly red.
From losing his notebook, to bumping into a tree, to freezing in place when he was near traitors, and to being tormented by the vice captain of the fifth company. He always knew he was an embarrassing person, but Barbatos, what’s gotten into him?
“Thank you, and I’m sorry for the trouble, Vice Captain Lohen.” Mika sighed in defeat, bending over to get his notebook from the ground and dust it off.
“Hmm…” Lohen hummed as Mika tried to hide his face in the empty pages. He approached Mika and waved that damn dagger in front of his face again, making him back away. “Something troubling you?”
“N-no-” His breath hitched when Lohen just kept getting closer and closer until Mika’s back hit a tree, looking behind him for a second before facing Lohen’s sadistic, insane smile.
The vice captain traced Mika’s jaw with the blade, savoring the latter’s clear discomfort as he tried to move away from it, watching Mika’s lips very closely as they trembled. “Hm.” Lohen took a deep breath before speaking. “I am a bit upset, though. Albedo told me this drug is meant to deprive them of air and make them cough a bit before falling, but alas, it makes them have a peaceful nap.”
Mika couldn’t believe his ears. He always knew that the vice captain was a bit strange, and his smile that was always on his face came off as unsettling, but he would’ve never thought that he’d be this bold.
That, and Albedo casually making him some drugs. Then again, Mika guesses that the alchemist is capable of accepting even more absurd requests.
“It’s been very boring lately, you know.” He continued swinging his dagger.
Mika wanted out so bad. He didn’t even mind admitting that he’d lost his notebook to Varka if it meant not going back here until Lohen had cleared all the monsters and traitors he wished to and finally left.
He gulped, not being able to take his eyes away from the dagger that was way too damn close to his face. “Y-you should stop waving that around like thi-”
Lohen threw the dagger into the air before Mika could even finish that last word, catching it from the blade and not the handle.
“That’s dangerous!”
Lohen’s smile dropped quickly, not because he was upset at the sudden bold tone, but because this was the loudest sentence Mika had spoken since he started tormenting him.
Apparently, goodie two shoes Mr.Mika thought juggling one dagger was so bad that he pushed himself off the tree and caught Lohen’s wrist.
Brave.
Very, very brave.
“That’s dangerous.” Mika repeated, more composed. His grip on Lohen’s wrist loosened and he eyed Lohen’s hand to see if the dagger cut through his glove and hurt him. It didn’t, so he sighed in relief (and exhaustion) and leaned back against the tree.
The neutral expression with the raised eyebrow that Lohen gave him made him super insecure, realizing what he had done. “S-sorr- I mean, my apologies…I didn’t mean to overstep!”
Lohen scoffed with a cheeky grin and burst out laughing, aware that that was only going to make Mika feel worse. The laughing didn’t stop for a while. Mika wanted the ground to swallow him. “Oh, you are adorable!” Despite his mockery, Lohen actually put his dagger away this time.
Mika fiddled with his gloves, wanting to take them off so he could pick at his skin. He usually doesn’t let a conversation last this long, always finding a way to get out of social interactions.
If this could be called a conversation at all.
Lohen turned around and walked towards the unconscious men, kicking one so he could see his face properly. “They’ll be like that for a while. Better flee the scene before I frame you, Mika~”
That was not funny. Mika thought, face still downcast in hopes that the ground would actually swallow him and finish the job already.
Lohen stomped on the traitor’s stomach and stretched in place, groaning before opening a small bag of his and pulling out a notebook and a quill. “Let’s see…”
Mika looked up to see what Lohen was doing now. He will admit that his eyes studied his face and its features in the illumination from the fire before they shifted to the notebook in his hand.
Mika had to look twice. Just in case his eyes were deceiving him. “Is that- is that my notebook?”
Oh Barbatos, grant him freedom from the presence of this psycho! Why must it be Lohen? Why?
Lohen looked at Mika over his shoulder, which made him ten times more imposing. It must’ve shown on Mika’s face, otherwise Lohen’s lips wouldn’t form that snarky smile. “You accuse me of stealing?”
He needs to stop falling for it, really. He shook his head really fast. “No! No! It could’ve been an accident, uhm, m-maybe we switched?”
It was happening again. Lohen started approaching him in slow, steady steps, and Mika internally prayed that the Anemo Archon just forms a wind current and give him the opportunity to glide away before the vice captain traps him against anything.
“You accuse me of carelessness? You accuse me of nerdiness?” Lohen swiftly reached a hand out to grab Mika’s chin. Now he didn’t need to have the cartographer against a tree to keep him place, as his touch was perfectly enough. “You think I take notes?”
Lohen wasn’t using the dagger. So it wasn’t teasing. His logic.
“I-I- no! I just…I’ve been looking for it for a while now, and it keeps disappearing and I don’t know what’s going on! I would never accuse you of stealing, Vice Ca-”
“Because it is yours.” Lohen let go and laughed. “You get scared so easily! Come on~!” He started flipping through its pages and showing them to Mika. “You’re really precise with pinpointing danger zones, I couldn’t help but use it. You don’t mind, right?”
Mika didn’t know if he should be grateful that he found it, sad because Lohen taking it like that is mean, or angry. Well, anger was something he could never feel towards people ranked higher than him. Or anyone for that matter. He stared at his precious notebook in Lohen’s hand and whined, closing his eyes. “Is it okay if I have it back, please?”
Lohen put a hand on his hip, closed the notebook and tapped it against his chin. “Hmm, how badly do you need it?”
“Really bad, Vice Captain. I should be using it right now.”
“You know, relying on one notebook is not a good idea.” Lohen gave advice as if it meant anything from a guy like him. “You could lose it.”
Mika didn’t appreciate the pun, he sighed for the hundredth time.
“How come you don’t have a copy? Or are you too busy getting yourself in danger and running into traitors?” Lohen smirked.
“I-I said I was here on a mission…”
“Is that attitude I’m hearing?”
“N-no!”
Lohen giggled at Mika’s constant stuttering and awkwardness, humming delightfully to himself as he pocketed Mika’s notebook, just so he could give him a reason to stick around and watch him tie the unconscious men up.
When he was done, he approached Mika again and it made the latter tense up, even shiver when Lohen got really close to his face. “I’ll give you your notebook back,” He finally decided, and Mika’s eyebrows twitched when it was finally in his hands again. “And I look forward to seeing you around more often.”
The cartographer didn’t have time to process that last part before Lohen was already gone with the traitors, but he could definitely process his bliss for the rest of the night as he managed to actually do the task he was given.
The next day, Mika was able to hand Varka Wolvendom’s newly mapped region and flee before the grand master started praising him.
After a long day of work, one that didn’t feel so horrible because his notebook didn’t grow wings and fly away, he was heading to the tavern to see if Huffman was there and if he needed to take him back home before he got too wasted.
Ignoring whatever conversation Drunk Patton was trying to start, Mika entered the tavern only to bump into someone. “Oh! S-sorry, I didn’t mean…to…”
“Ah! Mika!” Lohen’s face lit up at seeing the surveyor, and Mika didn’t know if he should take that as a good sign or not. “Are you here to drink?” He wasn’t wearing the same suit as yesterday, instead a white button up with a wide opening at the neck and a black vest.
“Vice…Captain…” Mika tried his best to not sound disappointed, worried, and tired. “No, I’m here to pick my brother up.”
Lohen clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes at the mention of the drunkard. “Huffman isn’t here. It’s a good thing you are, though! I can only drink when I have some company with me!” He wrapped his arm around Mika’s shoulder, but at least this time he didn’t have a dagger to his neck.
Mika was easily yanked towards the vice captain. “I-I don’t really like to drink…and I need to take care of my brother, we can’t both be drunk." He paused before speaking again. "You’re not wearing your usual suit.”
Lohen blew a raspberry and pinched Mika’s cheek with his other hand. “Last night’s men didn’t last very long, but I certainly had my fun. Washing clothes can be a pain.”
Mika was getting a bad feeling about the way Lohen spoke so casually about his actions. Really, if this wasn’t a person who is greatly respected and acknowledged by both the grandmasters, there was no way Mika would continue talking to him.
“Vice Captain, if you don’t drink either…” He was practically getting dragged towards a table now. “Then why are you at the tavern? N-Not to intervene or question you or-”
“It’s fun seeing these drunkards fight each other.” Lohen sat Mika down on a chair while he took the table instead. Mika looked up at him, which seemed to be exactly what Lohen wanted. “Now, about that notebook of yours…”
Mika shrunk into his seat at the mention of that topic. It reminded him of yesterday’s encounter that he tried his best to forget when he went to bed the other night.
He averted his gaze from Lohen’s sadistic glint and murmured. “I can’t let you borrow it…”
“What was that?” Lohen actually heard him the first time, but he also wanted to scare him a bit. He leaned down to get closer, giving Mika his ear. “I didn’t hear you.”
“I-I can’t let you borrow it, Vice Captain…I use it pretty much all day.” Mika dared steal a glance at Lohen before regretting it. “Y-you saw how nervous I was when I lost it…”
“Mhm, I did.” He jumped down from the table to sit next to Mika, trapping him in his arm again and resting his chin on his shoulder. “It was cute.”
Mika had no idea what Lohen meant every time he called him “cute” and “adorable” but he was also unwilling to dwell on it too much. This was the second interaction he’d had with the vice captain and he sort of accepted his…abnormality. It’s only because Mika wasn’t horrible with physical touch that he wasn’t as stiff as yesterday when Lohen kept touching him, even though Mika’s mind wandered off to think about what he could possibly want from him.
Lohen was staring at the fight happening across the room with a smirk, one hand mindlessly playing with Mika’s hoodie while the other was spinning a gun. “I wonder how long it’ll be before they murder each other.”
“I-I don’t think they’ll do…” Mika chuckled nervously before his train of thought was cut off when his eyes fixated on Lohen’s other hand. “Vice Captain, why do you have a gun?”
Lohen sighed and followed it with a groan but it didn't last long before the usual smile was back on his face. “God, you have such boring questions.” He continued playing around with the weapon. “And stop calling me ‘Vice Captain’, we had a great time yesterday.” Mika would disagree. “Just ‘Lohen’ is fine.” He used the barrel of the gun to turn Mika’s face towards the drunkards, making the latter tremble. “Who do you think will die first?”
“Vice- I mean, L-Lohen…you need to stop treating weapons like they’re toys, you could hurt someone or yourself.” Mika’s hands were trembling, and Lohen simply loved that.
So, he moved his hand from Mika’s hoodie to his jaw and kept his head in place, then pointed the gun towards one of the men. “Let me test something…”
“Lohen!”
“Relax.” He pretended to pull the trigger.
Mika freaked out, and jumped to grab Lohen’s hand and point the gun to the air instead, pushing Lohen away with his other hand in the process that now their chairs were on the floor.
Lohen giggled, and Mika found nothing funny about the situation. The vice captain took a deep breath and his smile grew even wider. “There it is.”
Mika was confused, he slowly let go of Lohen and let his hands fall to his sides, then the captain got closer and tapped Mika’s chin with the gun. “You actually do something to stop me. Why stick to being polite, then? You’re a very fun person, Mika.”
The blond stayed silent, just now realizing that Lohen officially had eyes on him. Their first encounter yesterday had Mika hoping it was only a one-time thing, but now it was obvious Lohen was not going to leave him alone.
Mika’s silence encouraged him to continue, so he tilted his head to the side, letting his eyes roam all over Mika’s face. “Make me a copy of that notebook, won’t you?”
Is that what this is about? His notebook?
Mika blinked multiple times and gulped. He hated the way Lohen stared at him. He hated his inability to refuse. “I…I…”
“Come on~ you won’t deny one of your superiors now…” Lohen ran the barrel of the gun along Mika’s neck, not breaking eye contact once and enjoying Mika’s struggles with maintaining it.
“I’ll find time.”
“Ah, you’re perfect.” Lohen purred. “You and I could be an incredible team if you stopped being an angel.”
Mika had no idea what he meant by that, especially with how he could not imagine himself doing things the same way Lohen did.
“Huffman is upstairs.” Lohen tapped Mika’s cheek twice. “I just wanted to keep you around for a while.”
Mika would not stop thinking about Lohen that night, or what made him so interesting to him. He also wasn’t sure if he should look forward to or dread the next time they meet.