Work Text:
Sketching comes naturally when it comes to the scenery before him.
The natural stroke of his quill scratching lines on empty parchments, etching trees reaching beyond the outline of his view, and capturing nature’s elegance while retaining the landscape’s simplicity for relevance sake until it fills out the pages of his book. A duty that solidifies his purpose and importance within the knights.
That’s what he tells himself anyway.
Resting his back against the back of the tree, leaves protecting him from the morning glare, Mika lets out a small huff. Back sore from being hunched over his work—papers, ink, and compass altogether—he takes a moment to stretch his arms over his head, humming at the satisfying pop from his shoulder joints.
This area has less camps around, Mika notes astutely, round ocean eyes scanning his surroundings for the umpteenth time. Nothing but local specialties, wild boars and deers, and flinches to be found. The sunkissed greenery extends beyond blades of grass, dandelions, and daisies.
The young surveyor definitely recalled his captain mentioning of the abyss building small bases around here during their reconnaissance to Dornman Pot. Has it already been taken care of? Certainly Eula would’ve informed him if that was the case.
Then again, maybe it’s thanks to…
Amidst his thinking, Mika finds his hands moving on their own. The small, indistinguishable doodle of the knight in mind forming on the convenient empty space of his earlier drafts.
The dead giveaway of adding the beauty mark beneath those detailed (...as detailed as the poorly crammed together drawing can be) eyes burned into his head worsens the realization crashing into him right there and then.
His face instantly flushes red. Hand immediately withdrew the drawing tool away as if he’d touched something he shouldn’t have—as if he’d done something he shouldn’t have. Different arrays of embarrassment colors his face before it settles into a mix of disapproval and shame.
“This is ridiculous…” Mika grumbles. Placing the quill down in exchange for his art piece—his disasterpiece, as he begins to dub more fitting—he inspects his little work.
(There’s a quiet crunch from behind him. Rustling leaves and shuffles of branches a couple of distance away as his ear twitches. The feeling of eyes on him akin to the stare of curious critters watching him work.
Alert. Careful. No sense of malice. Safe.)
His face proportions absolutely still need better work. The definition of being his own harsh critic, unfortunately. His hair isn’t spiky at all. It curves softly before it fluffs out into curls. Has his own subconscious really recalled it this way? Though, with how disproportionate the nose was framed, it might’ve just been his artistic sense to blame for the mistakes. No normal person’s nose would be propped that high up…
And by artistic sense, it’s all on him.
Another observation lands on the excessive exaggeration in his eyes. A bad attempt of separating where the green tone ends and the crimson begins. At least the mole’s placed correctly… Still, it doesn’t change the disappointment of failing to capture his beauty in a similar way he captures the terrain around him.
After all, that kind of beauty is reserved for someone like Lo—
“So this is where my darling surveyor’s been.”
Mika feels a hand comb through his bangs, gently raking back excess strands around his face, before blinking up at familiar jade-crimson eyes. Spiralling, yet soothing in a weird, ethereal sense.
“V— Lohen?” He inquires, meeting his gaze with his doe-eyed ones.
Satisfaction flashes behind his iris along with that coy smirk of his. “Oh? Thought you’d jump outta your boots from that.” The edge of his lips crinkle into something softer, his beauty mark moving alongside the narrow-eyed look sent his way. “Though you should stay more vigilant, y’know? Not exactly the ideal place to let your head wander about with all these new enemy camps.”
“I know that…”
“I know.” Mika feels him gingerly pat his cheek before backing off. The affection gesture returns the color back to his face, amplified immediately from his silent snickering. “Just looking out for my favorite knight when they’re within my perimeter.”
The blond blinks at him. (He notes how his hand still rests atop his head.) “How’d you know that, well, I’d be here?”
“Nothing gets past me when it comes to you.” Lohen’s lopsided grin—dangerously close, dangerously alluring—feels distracting. The light slipping past the leaves and down on his face only adds to the charm his face carries with ease. Invasive. Present.
Never uncomfortable, not with him—not anymore, but the proximity makes his heart race a little too fast. His chest flutters and his breathing becomes a little too much when his thumb brushes right below his eye.
Mika is the one who breaks contact, glancing at a stray buck in the distance.
“You’re close.”
“Does it bother you?”
Mika pauses. “Not really, no.” Never. He silently adds, sparing a tentative look back at Lohen.
Amusement is still evident in that smile of his. Yet it’s softer, fonder. The predatory gleam in his expression melts into something kinder and it makes the butterflies in his stomach flutter. The good kind of nervousness, if that makes sense.
Though nothing ever makes sense between him and Lohen.
He knows that. Lohen does, too.
“Good.” He mumbles. For him to hear or for himself, he doesn’t know. Lohen finally steps back, thoughtful of his quill, inkwell, and scattered drafts on the ground, and allows him space to breathe—to recover from his stammering heart.
A quick swoosh of creamy white flows behind him when he draws his hand away from his face.
Wait—
“Which means you’re not hiding anything from me this time, right?”
Big blue eyes blink down at his empty hand, grasping nothing without noticing, then flicker toward the unfortunate paper that holds his deepest regret waving at him…
…in Lohen’s hand.
“Wait, don’t—!” Alas, Lohen flips the paper over, and Mika feels his heart drop.
Watching the slight shift between his brow and the corner of his lips tilt, drains every ounce of blood from his body. The soft ‘huh’ that escapes him only adds to his list of things to fret about when he returns to his temporary quarters in Dornman Port. The blond only curls into himself further.
Does he try denying it? No, he’d easily see through his blatant excuses. Look at the last time he evaded his questions. Maybe running away wouldn’t be so bad, though he’d likely get caught sooner than later…
In the end, he relents to his fate. “It’s not— I…” Mika scratches the nape of his neck with a sigh. “I-It could’ve been better.” Archons, as if the wince in his voice wasn’t enough.
Lohen examines his disasterpiece with more thoughtfulness than Mika would’ve liked. “Well, it’s an improvement from your last doodle.” His last doodle—?!
He stares at him, mortified. “My last…! So you did— Y-You did run off with…!” His mind muddles where his sentences start and end, words escaping him all the while Lohen stares at him with mirth in his lips, before dropping it with a heavy sigh. “You took my notebook… again.”
“I borrowed it.” That counts as affirmation in his eyes. The lower lids crinkle, narrowed into slits, in a way that reflects his amusement. “You write a lot of interesting things. Draw in an interesting way, too.”
Yes, he’s ready for the world to swallow him whole. Enough shame to provoke a tear or two to swell up if he wanted to. “I got sidetracked.”
“Never took you as the type to,” Lohen beams, tilting his head at him. A quick bubblegum—his own creation from the looks of it—tossed into his mouth as he continues. “Guess I’m quite the distraction for our sweet little surveyor to lose his focus.”
“I never said that.”
“It’s a compliment. I’m a wonderful distraction!” Oh, if he knew how close to the truth his words held.
“You didn’t distract me.” Mika remains firm, cleaning his stuff and placing them into his bag. Enough to give the mint-haired vice captain space. “I finished updating this area earlier. I just…”
Lohen moves closer. Crouched down to his level with his chin resting on his palm. “Got distracted?”
Mika frowns. “Got lost in thought.”
“Still a word for distracted.” His chewing muffles his words a little.
“Lohen…”
“Fine, fine.” Lohen raises his hands in mock surrender before taking another glance at the paper in his hand. The faint pink bubble blows out of his mouth until it pops. “Still, I gotta give credit where it’s due. Much better than your Kaeya one.”
Ah, he just had to bring it up. “Please don’t remind me…”
Again, that smile. The kind that reflects innocence as a mask for his true intentions; the kind that takes his breath away like the first time they met.
It’s as charming as their time together in Varka’s office, waiting for his return—waiting by his side, as he writes away at his reports.
Suddenly, Mika feels his face get scooped into his hands, gently lifted by his leathered gloves to meet Lohen’s questioning gaze. “Now I’m really curious about what goes on in your head.” He whistles. The soft flap of the cause of his situation flutters down on Lohen’s knee. “Losing your head isn’t good for you. First, not sensing anybody sneaking up on you, and now you’re dazing off during our—”
“I-I noticed.” The rustling from earlier, the soft padded steps against crushed leaves, and the familiar lingering stare. “From behind the tree, near the patch of daisies growing next to this tree, I already knew.”
His eyes squint at him, lips pursed. “That I was ready to ambush you.”
“That you wouldn’t hurt me.”
“You’d let your guard down around me.”
“I trusted that it’d be you.” Mika reaches to place both of his hands around Lohen’s wrists, feeling his pulse under his touch. “I’ve never seen you as a threat.”
Lohen hums, lost in thoughts of his own. His thumbs tracing small circles over his cheeks. Eyes trailing between his lips and the page forgotten on his lap. “If I’m no threat, then what do you see me as?”
Mika’s eyes widen, but he doesn’t shy away. Not this time; not like every other time. Not when the question has been a thought that constantly comes to mind when watching him from afar, having him close, and being next to him.
What do I see him as? Stubborn. Incredibly stubborn to the point of worrying Mika’s poor heart out. Courageous when diving into the enemy line with his polearm in hand and his dagger beneath his cloak. Admiration for a man who treats him kinder than most, almost blatantly so, and sends his mind straight into cloud nine.
Yet the expression on his face… One that threatens enemies and comrades alike, crimson glare too eerie yet too stunning, that softens immensely when aimed towards him. He notices, overthinks it more than he should’ve, and resists the urge to hide his embarrassment into his hands at the thoughts that come to mind.
Because to him, Lohen is incredible. Admirable. Heck, almost blinding for a junior such as himself.
To him, he’s—
“—Beautiful.” It comes out quiet. Neither meek nor sheepish, but sincere. Almost certain. As if it’s a fact.
A confession at its purest form.
His lips part without a single rebuttal this time. Dilated eyes that reveal those dim-shaded green rings within them while his hands slide down his face, around his cheek, until firmly planting itself on his shoulders. The gradual blush blooming across his face becomes more prominent until a wide grin breaks out across his lips, head dropping right close to his collar.
A quiet huff escapes from him. “You’re so cute it’s unfair.” Lohen chuckles in defeat, astonished even. The hair behind his neck shivers from his breath tingling against his skin. Fresh, almost spicy, from the candy’s flavor. “You’ll be the death of me one day, lil’ finch.”
Although he buries his face, keeps whatever emotion flashing across hidden into his skin, Mika notices how the tips of his ears flare into that soft red shade. Red like the blush on his cheeks and the beauty swirling in his pupils.
Red as the color that represents his heart’s true feelings.
Mika can’t help the smile from beaming, strangely too giddy to contain. A faint blush mirrored on his face too. “The same could be said for you, Lohen.”