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Valeriy’s current assignment is absolute shit.
Crass language for a man like him, he knows. However, even he is growing tired of following such impassivities like “proper manners” these days.
Waiting and waiting and even more waiting, that’s all every day seems to be now. Snezhnaya is a beautiful, frozen wasteland, wonderfully mundane in its own right, and the only place Valeriy would ever want to call home… yet it’s slowly starting to drive even someone as simple as him nuts.
When one stands on the edge of a cliff, and looks down upon the endless sheets of ice below, it’s as if all eternity lies before them, forever unchanging. He used to find the sight calming, but now it fails to stir up anything within him but dread. Society is no different, and this current energy crisis has morphed from no more than a promise of a few short term losses to a misery permeating every aspect of daily life. The politics surrounding it are even more unforgiving. On the occasions he’s had to stand guard for the Veche, Valeriy swears he’s heard the same tired arguments yelled over and over again so many times that from unwilling memory alone he could barge in there and start spouting them off himself for a change. If he’s lucky, perhaps the audacity of it all might finally start moving things forward.
Nevertheless, despite the stiff, insanity-inducing atmosphere all around him, time never seems to slow to a halt quite more frustratingingly than when Valeriy lays eyes upon his charge.
It’s infuriating.
The man is electric, Valeriy will admit that… but he’s even more brilliant at causing problems. Every minute around him feels like years because of his knack for trouble, and every time Valeriy looks at Mitya, he’s stopped dead in his tracks wondering about what he might try this time around.
Sure, if he knew the full picture on Project Stuzha, he’d probably think there were worse things to be doing. However, keeping an eye on Mitya every day would surely remain in the top three worst jobs, even if the other two were more formal torture exercises than this one.
It’s like he wants to cut down on Valeriy’s lifespan.
For all his brilliance, Mitya can’t seem to think of a way to sit down in one spot for more than an hour unless sufficiently entertained. Meaning, by the grace (or judgment) of his dear Majesty the Tsarista… Valeriy has been assigned to keep an eye on the man and make sure he actually does his job for long enough each day.
A simple enough task in theory, and one a rather simple man like Valeriy didn’t have a problem with at first… but now he’s starting to suspect her Majesty had ulterior motives when assigning this mission to him, considering how unreasonably difficult it’s ended up being.
“Get down from there,” Valeriy scolds drily, watching Mitya clamber up the side of one of the many buildings in Snezhograd with the enthusiasm of an unruly kitten.
Mitya of course ignores him, and when he finally reaches the top of the roof and triumphantly sits down like a brave prince claiming his rightful throne, he glances down at Valeriy mischievously… and sticks his tongue out.
The bastard. Oh how lucky he is that Valeriy really, really tries to be polite.
Sighing, he immediately starts scaling the building himself, and Mitya watches with a rather embarrassing interest for Valeriy as he ascends, looking him in the eye curiously like he’s one of his many experiments when Valeriy finally reaches the top himself.
“Ready to get down now, Mitya?” Valeriy asks sternly, crossing his arms as he sits beside him. Part of Valeriy wants to just pick the other man up and drag him down kicking and screaming, but there’s quite a lot of snow on this roof, and he’d rather not cause more of a scene than he already is currently.
“No,” Mitya replies impishly, grinning back at Valeriy, eying him up and down for a brief second. “I mean… where else am I going to get a view like this?”
“Hmm…” Valeriy mumbles, and he can’t help but take the other’s advice, turning away from Mitya to look around the city from their new vantage point. It’s nice, he’ll admit, and he can see why Mitya might have wanted to climb up here to begin with… it’s a good place to sightsee, and you can practically gaze upon the whole interior of Snezhnograd from this vantage point. For a scientist, it’s bound to get some ideas flowing, and if it wasn’t so disruptive and dangerous to be up here, perhaps Valeriy wouldn’t have a problem with it. Maybe he’ll let them stay for a moment, just take in the view before they move on. The damage has been done already, after all.
Valeriy turns back, ready to offer Mitya a rare moment of mercy… only to find an empty space in his place.
Is his new experiment seeing just how much he can piss Valeriy off?
Groaning, Valeriy slides down from the building and puts his men to search for him while he makes his way to one of Mitya’s favorite hiding places… the Theatre.
Sure enough, the second he walks through its ornate doors, he spots Mitya’s blue hair poking out of one of the VIP boxes way up high as he continues on one of his many diagrams he’s been working on.
“Finally doing your job I see,” Valeriy huffs from behind him as he walks up behind his seat. No shows are running currently, but with Mitya’s clearance level, he had no trouble occupying the empty space anyways. By all means, it’s a rather decent spot to study considering the building is vacant. If it weren’t for his earlier stunt, Valeriy wouldn’t consider dragging him out of here.
“You’re early,” is all Mitya says back in response to Valeriy’s annoyance.
“Early?” Valeriy raises an eyebrow.
“I calculated it would take you twenty minutes to find me, you did it in fifteen, I’m impressed,” he commends earnestly, finally turning back towards him.
Valeriy shivers. “Was that the point of your escape attempt; to see how fast I’d find you this time?” He asks, praying the answer is no as a yes would mean far more headaches in the future.
Mitya smirks. “Well, I am working on adapting Snezhnaya to an entirely new power source… it would stand to reason I’d need to see how well the people adapt too, even someone as stiff as you. I’m pleased to see you surpassed my expectations; that’s good results,” he commends, only mildly sarcastically.
Valeriy bites his cheek to prevent himself from reacting. “Quite a shoddy experiment though, I must say; for you knew I’d find you here eventually. Therefore, it stands to reason I’d know that too, and may check quicker than anticipated. Not unexpected results at all, actually,” he argues back.
Now, it’s Mitya’s turn to look ruffled.
“Wow, that’s, what— three full sentences from you? Am I dreaming? This is a record on your part; I may yet have a breakthrough at this rate!” He cheers, and Valeriy tries not to blush as Mitya’s scarf jumps excitedly as well.
“Don’t get too excited. I’m glad this is sufficient stimulation for you, surely that means you’ll return to your work with ease now,” Valeriy refutes dryly, taking the seat beside Mitya, and eying him to continue his work.
Unfortunately, Mitya seems to be making no moves to write again, fiddling with his pen in hand instead, clearly distracted.
“If my presence is drawing your mind away from your job, then I’m happy to wait outside, so long as you don’t run away again,” Valeriy offers diplomatically, although he only seems to make Mitya’s antsy demeanor even worse, and the scientist turns back towards Valeriy with a frown.
“Quite the contrary, your words have made me realize there’s more value to be had with this kind of testing. I’ve been stuck running to the same places over and over again, and similarly, my mind has been retracing the same path in loops. To fix this, I think a real change of scenery is at hand, no?” Mitya proposes, an excited smile slowly beginning to form on his face.
“…what are you suggesting?” Valeriy sighs exhaustedly.
“A true game of cat and mouse! Hiding and hunting based purely on instinct and skill. Surely, with new variables introduced, new outcomes will be created too, no?” He proposes gleefully.
Valeriy, despite his better judgment, actually stops to consider the idea. For one, it would be nice for their usual games of chase to amount to something useful, and he knows Mitya well enough to realize the scientist isn’t going to get a single thing done until he at least tries to entertain the idea. However, Valeriy can’t help but get a sinking feeling in his chest at the thought, as if something bad will happen if he entertains the offer…
He glances back at Mitya, who’s staring back at him with a real hope in his eyes. This isn’t just another distraction for him.
“Fine. I’ll tell my men they get the day off tomorrow. Wrap up whatever you have today and meet me at the city gate by sunrise tomorrow.” He says sternly.
Mitya cheers and surprisingly goes back to doing his work— but what really shocks Valeriy is the strange, warm feeling that blooms in his chest upon granting the request.
Weird.
***
Upon making sure they both have enough supplies so they don’t die out here for the sake of a rather silly experiment, Valeriy turns around, closes his eyes, and lets Mitya sprint off into the wilderness.
After the agreed upon time elapses, Valeriy turns back and opens his eyes to a seemingly empty landscape, with only icy whites as far as the eye can see. Not even a hint of Mitya’s familiar, deeper blues stands out against the frozen backdrop.
It’s strangely thrilling.
Nowhere he knows to look, nothing he can assume or fall back on… just him, the great outdoors, and however willing he feels to brave them.
Looking further, Valeriy immediately spots a small congregation of bears in the distance. They may be dangerous, but they’re also rather cute, and he can see Mitya hiding there for both of those reasons, so Valeriy quickly runs across the ice to greet them.
Unfortunately, as soon as he’s close enough to make out their adorable yet angry faces, it becomes quite obvious the only human in their company is himself, and even that number may steeply drop to zero if he lingers there a second longer. So, Valeriy graciously bids the bears farewell, praying their similar natures will convince them to let him go this time.
To his delight, the bears are rather forgiving, meaning Valeriy can move onto the next feature of the area that caught his attention; the spikes of prime ice sticking up out of the snow.
It’s a lot further this time, and his brain urgently reminds him he’s in somewhat of a time crunch. To try and speed up how he gets there, Valery tears off some old wood from a nearby dead tree and makes something of a shoddy sled. He places it tentatively on the ice, hoping to slide across faster on it than he would if he attempted to just run again.
However, while not a terrible idea in theory, it doesn’t exactly go to plan, and Valeriy hardly makes it about thirty feet before tripping and faceplanting onto the ice, leaving a nasty mark on his face and scraping up his palms as they catch his fall. To add insult to injury, the sled skids away a little, meaning he’ll also have to retrieve it.
The marks sting, his face especially from the chill, and even his pride feels a little wounded from, as what a lesser man may call “eating shit” like that. Nevertheless, the pain stirs up that old feeling of warmth again inside him, and Valeriy can’t help but crave it a little, even if he feels it’s only his body’s natural response to such an injury.
Shaking off the strange thoughts, he hobbles towards the sled and picks it up back again, continuing on without much issue.
Predictably, much to his chagrin, when he finally arrives at the ice spikes, the only other person present is the disappointed reflection of himself in their frosty, mirrored surfaces.
Valeriy can’t help stare at himself a little, and is unable to help the grimace that forms on his face at the sight of how his left cheek is now turning red from the bruise he acquired. He’s going to have such a fun time explaining that to Mitya for sure.
He looks further, and is slightly startled by another peculiar thing he spots on his face…
…a smile?
That wasn’t fun. It hurt a surprising amount actually, yet here he is, grinning stupidly back at himself with his charge nowhere in sight and nothing more than a few minor injuries to show for his efforts. Maybe he should have let the bears eat him, that would have saved him from the embarrassment that is enjoying this failure somehow.
Pushing aside his misgivings yet again, Valeriy looks towards the last place Mitya could reasonably be hiding… a giant cave, sheltered from the wind and snow.
The major resists the urge to slap himself. Why in Tevyat didn’t he think of looking there first? It's starting to get uncomfortably cold, his clothing and Krystall supply be damned, and by now he’s starting to lose it, just a little bit.
Forgoing the disastrous fanfare of his previous search, Valeriy decided to walk up to the entrance this time… only to find Mitya standing there smugly, waiting for him.
“Looks like you had a fun time,” Mitya teases, eyes widening with an alarming glee upon spotting the bruise on Valeriy’s face, as if it’s a surprise gift from this whole endeavor.
“Hm, it’s less fun now, you hardly even tried, yet I gave you the benefit of the doubt and checked less obvious places first,” Valeriy bites back, earnestly rather annoyed that for all the trouble on his end, Mitya hadn’t really put much effort into hiding from him the whole time.
“I’m truly a creature of habit, I suppose. Now…” Mitya begins, but as he’s talking, Valeriy notices the icicles hanging from the roof of the cave start to shake, and if Mitya doesn’t get out of the way, they’re going to pierce right through him. In fact, all the snow on top of its entrance looks as though it’s going to crash down any minute now.
Before his brain can even think if this is a good idea or not, Valeriy lunges towards him, pushing Mitya out of the way fast enough to get him out of danger…
…but not quickly enough to save himself, as he screams louder than he’s ever before in his life as one of them pierces through the back of his right thigh, with the rest of his legs soon being covered by the cascading snow.
Fortunately, Mitya isn’t stunned for long, and Valeriy gasps as he quickly tugs him forward with all his might, saving Valeriy from being truly buried by the small avalanche. Nevertheless, the damage is already done, and when Mitya quickly lights a backup lantern to take better stock of the situation, Valeriy’s bleeding leg is the first thing he spots illuminated by its warm, dim light.
“Is this change of pace enough for you?” Valeriy scoffs despite himself, groaning in pain as he clutches the upper part of his thigh, right before where the icicle still sticks out of him. Upon further inspection, it’s made of prime ice, so is effectively a frozen blade sticking through him. Thus it would only do more harm than good to take it out now and risk bleeding out in the middle of nowhere, at least without a decent plan.
However, even the searing cold can’t numb how painful the wound is, especially because it went in diagonally, at an angle almost parallel to his leg itself, which practically tore up the entire muscle in the back of his thigh, and he’s lucky he’s well built enough that it didn’t manage to shatter bone.
He looks up at Mitya, who’s strangely quiet for a change, and Valeriy wonders if it’s shock or curiosity that’s causing his eyes to widen so much at the sight of his injury.
“…Let’s go further in,” Mitya finally manages to reply, but he seemingly hasn’t registered the fact that Valeriy isn’t exactly in the position to walk currently, so he just ends up staring at him lying uselessly on the floor as he gets up to head deeper into the cave.
“…oh, right.” Mitya blurts out, causing a strange sort of embarrassment to strike Valeriy at that response, and it almost hurts more than the wound itself, as if he’s nothing more than a big inconvenience to the person he’s been assigned to guard.
Valeriy sighs at the thought. That is really just his job description, isn’t it? Even saving Mitya’s life doesn’t really change that.
Yet, he can’t wallow in self pity for much longer, as Valeriy is dragged out of his miserable thoughts by not only Mitya’s arms, but his scarf as well, carrying him surprisingly easy considering the fact that he’s probably twice the scrawny scientist’s weight.
“What?!” Valeriy can’t help but exclaim upon being hoisted up by Mitya, held in a position mortifyingly similar to a bridal carry.
“What?” Mitya echoes back, feigning confusion despite the clear delight in his voice. “You really think I can make all my devices without a little heavy lifting power? My scarf here is designed to carry one thousand pounds alone. Besides, Stellar Linchpins make their owner stronger anyways,” he explains like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, and if that isn’t humiliating enough, proceeds to carry Valeriy through the cave like it’s nothing. Part of him even starts to wonder why he jumped to save him to begin with if he can clearly at least hold his own weight, although that doesn’t mean he’d have reacted in time. For all Mitya’s brilliance, he can be rather lost in his own mind, which is why Valeriy has been ordered to guard him in the first place.
Either way, Valeriy figures accepting his fate will save him any future regrets, and he’ll admit he’s feeling too out of it to really put up much of a fuss. Meaning, he lets Mitya move him without complaint, focusing on the feeling of moving through the cave to distract himself from the pain in his leg and the new bruises acquired from yet another hard fall. It’s not enough to truly incapacitate him, but Valeriy can’t help but feel himself grow tired anyway at the sensation of being carried so carefully. It’s a strange tenderness he hasn’t experienced in quite a while, and that unique warmness starts to overtake him again.
Soon, his eyelids start to feel heavy, and just as Mitya comes upon an abandoned makeshift camp, the world falls peacefully silent.
***
When Valeriy comes to, the icicle is gone.
“Ugh… how long was I out for? He groans, immediately going to check on his leg. He’s not sure if he should be surprised or relieved when he looks and it’s nowhere to be seen, replaced by a lot of bandages instead. Seems his insistence on bringing emergency supplies came in handy. Rare, good decision making aside, without the numbing cold, the wound certainly hurts a hell of a lot more, and he winces just moving to look at it. Nevertheless, Valeriy realizes if it hadn’t been removed, he’d likely have suffered frostbite in the entire region. Therefore, he’s rather grateful Mitya somehow found a way to patch the wound up without him bleeding out… even if it leaves him feeling rather faint from both the pain and presumed blood loss.
“About six hours,” Mitya supplies helpfully, and Valeriy instantly whips his head around to look at him, finding his charge with a proud yet… embarrassed look on his face at his handiwork? Valeriy blinks and it hits him both where the wound is and what Mitya must have had to do to fix it, and suddenly he’s moving unconsciously again, covering the scientist’s mouth before he can even get another word in.
“Pff, hey! I didn’t mind healing it, really!” Mitya sputters, shoving Valeriy’s hand away, his face turning about as bright red as Valeriy assumes his own cheeks are right now… bruises not included.
“Besides, you’re funny when you’re delirious, so I’d say this was worth it,” Mitya chuckles, which only serves to make Valeriy even more embarrassed.
“I’m not delirious!” Valeriy shouts, even as it immediately becomes obvious that yes, yes he is. He most certainly has a fever right now, and the only thing that prevented him from noticing it is how similarly flustered the whole situation is making him.
“Yes you are, and that’s not even mentioning earlier,” Mitya refutes amusedly.
…earlier?
“Oh, you don’t remember? You didn’t actually pass out completely, you sort of drifted in and out of consciousness for an hour or two while I was resolving the icicle situation, and man, I must say; the wildest things come out of your mouth when you’re sick…” his charge teases, eying him with a sort of curiosity he gives to only his most precious test subjects.
“…do I even want to know?” Valeriy mutters, hoping whatever it was won’t haunt him for the rest of his days on this mortal plane. Although, with this assignment, at this rate even those will mercifully be cut short, considering how much danger he’s been getting into lately.
“We should go back by now, I’m good enough to at least try to walk back to the capital, and we really aren’t far,” Valeriy grunts, attempting to lift himself to his feet. It hurts more than he’d want to admit, and he feels his head spin and vision go blurry for a moment as his blood pressure adjusts to the change, but in a moment he’s relatively upright… with Mitya supporting him, scarf and all.
Who is really the bodyguard here, he starts to wonder.
Mitya laughs for a reason he won’t understand until much later, and slowly but surely, with his help, they start limping out of the cave and back towards Snezhnograd. It takes about an hour of him gritting his teeth and stubbornly ignoring Mitya’s suggestions to let him carry him to return. He only relaxes upon explaining the situation to the nearest fatui, as while he’s only half paying attention at this point, he can tell he’s in safe hands. They immediately bring Valeriy to the closest hotel to rest and promise to find an actual doctor to treat him as soon as possible.
Not that Valeriy really cares about getting healed as soon as possible. By now he’s dead tired, and all he wants to do is go to bed. Therefore, almost as soon as his head hits the pillow, he passes out again without complaint; figuring there’s nothing better to do than to just try and sleep the pain and sickness off. The one thing that keeps him awake a little while longer is the fact that Mitya never leaves, even when he ends up in his comrades’ care, but his tired brain files it away as something to address later as he lets sleep take him away again once more.
Through it all, he never notices just how worried Mitya looks.
***
“Oh, you’re awake again,” Mitya notices calmly as Valeriy stirs from his slumber the next morning, feeling much more rested this time around.
“Doctor said everything would be fine long term, you just need some rest and some time to recover the missing blood in your body. Walking on it did make the injury worse, but nothing that shouldn’t heal in a week or two for a vision user,” he explains before Valeriy can even get a word in.
Nice to know, although that’s not the first thing he was planning on asking. For starters…
“…why are you still here?” Valeriy asks honestly, genuinely confused why Mitya isn’t at his home right now instead of lingering in this random hotel.
“I wanted the doctor to praise my efforts!” Mitya quickly blurts out, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. “And, uh… I’d feel bad leaving,” he manages to squeak out after, voice barely above a whisper.
Valeriy’s not quite sure what to say to that, but what baffles him even more is that in the time he was passed out, Mitya had clearly gotten significant progress done on his work, judging by the stack of drawings on his lap and the ink stains coating his hands.
“You’ve been busy; seems I should get injured more often if it makes you this productive,” Valeriy deadpans, a mischievous grin of his own slowly forming on his face as he watches Mitya shrink, mildly mortified at the implications of that statement.
“No, no, it was just, uh, an enlightening experience, really! Hard not to get any work done while I was waiting for you to wake up anyways…” he stutters back in response.
Valeriy bristles, that familiar warm feeling tugging at his heart again. How strange honestly, that a few words from the other man excite him more than anything else has done in years. Perhaps it's the energy source Mitya has been looking for all this time. Surprising that it would come from someone as ordinary as him… but maybe what makes a miracle is the fact that they come from the most unlikely of places.
“Mitya, I’m not sure this is relevant to your research… but how come sometimes when you do something, there’s this strange, warm spark that flickers inside my chest?” Valeriy inquires curiously, having honestly never experienced such a feeling ever in his life before.
However, instead of being intrigued by a potential new solution, Mitya just sputters like a broken engine instead, uttering nonsense for a moment as he looks Valeriy up and down with genuine shock.
Finally, after what feels like an eternity, Mitya regains his composure, giving Valeriy an even more curious stare than he does for even his finest experiments.
“I, uh… don’t think that would help, sorry…” Mitya pauses, and Valeriy can visibly see a few pieces start clicking together in his mind. “…but maybe? In a weird sort of way? I mean, the principle of it at least…” Mitya looks back at his drawings with a fresh excitement dawning on his face.
“This has actually been super helpful, I never even considered that before!” Mitya exclaims, leaving Valeriy the most confused he’s ever felt in his life, and the scientist immediately turns away from him, scrambling back towards the messy desk at his bedside he was using while Valeriy was asleep.
Well, if what he said gets Mitya back to work…
…then Valeriy supposes he can enjoy his makeshift day off, drifting back to sleep, comforted by the sounds of Mitya’s pen scratching, and the feeling of warmth inside him.
One day, he’ll learn the true name for it.