Work Text:
Mitya was still quietly reliving those nights that turned out to only be minutes. Nights that only he and that blonde traveller now could recall. He still felt that bitter sting in his chest from being held back from making progress on his work, his well earned breakthroughs being ripped away from him, though he couldn't help the sense of pride he felt from being the reason one of Celestisa's shades graced the presence of the theater. It also stung that the people he admired and that he finally got to know past the performances were no longer bound by the shared experience. He knew that they wished to get to know him, if it only be for information or otherwise but Mitya truly admired all of them. Be it on or off stage. Mitya knew he had ample chances to get to know them all once again even if knowing himself he would inadvertently reference events that they wouldn't recall. All of it had been haunting his thoughts for days. Though his mind kept looping back to one specific character from the whole debacle, Alyosha.
The mysterious hunter had been replaced so early on by the shade that it bothered him. Mitya had recognized Alyosha when it came time to take that fateful photo from all the times the boy would duck on stage for scene changes or would appear after shows when both cast and crew showed themselves free of their respective roles. Mitya at first wondered about what it was like working alongside such stunning talent, not even counting the fact that Mitya had seen Vodnaystasia hanging out with the part-timer outside of work hours as well but Mitya could only make guesses at how close all the co-workers were. Mitya on the other hand enjoyed getting to know him over those nights spent in the Leylines limbo or well who he thought was Alyosha. It took him till after he himself had ventured into the snow to realize the switch up. Mitya could forgive himself for not noticing sooner as even Alyosha's longtime friends and coworkers hadn't noticed as they were slowly picked off, though that bothered Mitya. Mitya was kept up by the thought of no one realizing the switch up, leading him to think up, in his opinion, two fairly reasonable possibilities. One they didn't realize the switch because they were not as close as Mitya was led to believe or two that ‘Grim Reaper’ did an exceptional job mimicking the boy.
Mitya would ponder the question whenever his mind would drift from his work. Debating himself which possibility was more likely. He didn't want to doubt the supposed friendships between people he objectively didn't know very well, even if it deeply bothered him that the Shade of Death was not discovered sooner.
Eventually after days of being distracted and earning more ire than he normally did from his higher ups Mitya concluded that he would be able to draw the correct conclusion based off of guess work alone, so being the scientist he was, Mitya decided that he needed to gather some data.
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Mitya realized probably too late that or was actually quite difficult to track down the hunter on a whim since he was often out beyond the city grounds. It was already hard enough to try and placate Valeriy long enough to slip away anywhere especially without the wall of a man following him like a shadow. It was even harder to try and slip out of the city without being hunted down by the Fatui to bring him back to the underground laboratory.
So after a day or so since he first made his vow to himself to learn more about Alyosha, Mitya thought of the perfect plan to slip away from the city. Mitya would act as if he was going to turn in for the night after over 20 straight hours of working then climb out his window and make a break for the trains hopefully without drawing too much attention by dropping the 2 stories from his bedroom window to street level. Though when Mitya put his plan into action his traitor of an accessory was not too pleased especially when Mitya opened up his bedroom window and proceeded to leap out of it. Mitya was determined to find Alyosha even if he had already been awake for almost 2 days straight and he was risking being on the bad side of his objectively very scary employers.
Thankfully the streets had been fairly empty with how late it was and the few people he did run into or recognized him were drunk off their asses and were more than likely to forget their encounter when they regained their senses. It was a similar situation when he boarded the train, though instead of drunkards it was weary travelers and staff that all seemed too exhausted to take note of the somewhat famous scientist.
When Mitya determined that he was in the clear and not going to get dragged back to the city Mitya finally let himself rest through the train ride to Sretomorozsk. Mitya had dug up that the boy had a residence in the village where he would hold up when he was not either in the capital or the tundra. Though Mitya doubted that the hunter would be home, still it was a better bet than aimlessly wandering the ice and snow. Though the long ride was a perfect opportunity to catch up on his much needed sleep.
When Mitya woke up he was not at Sretomorozsk but instead Rankova Zorya, turns out that the trains often did not run to the far off town despite having a rail station present, especially not this late at night, due to Project Stuzha. So now, much to his scarf's silent but violent protests, Mitya started the trek across the everfrozen earth towards the rural town.
Mitya quickly regretted his decision when the winds picked up and the mix of his exhaustion and the fact he spent most of his days held up at his desk finally caught up with him. It was also probably not ideal that he was still in his city clothes and not proper gear for trekking across the frozen earth. One day his lust for answers would kill him… again. However Mitya rarely had regretted the process when he finally got his answers and he doubted this time would be any different. So he continued towards Sretomorozsk despite the cold and the snow, his scarf long since had given up trying to change his mind instead wrapping itself loosely around Mitya's neck instead of returning to its normal position down his back, blocking his neck the cold much more effectively than his dress shirt’s high collar. Mitya could now understand why Alyosha wore such thick furs, as much as the sentient piece of cloth was attempting to keep him warm it really was not as effective as they could’ve hoped. All Mitya wished he could do at this moment walking through the piercing cold was to steal Alyosha's fluffy coat right off the shorter boy's back, but that would require him to find Alyosha first.
Eventually Mitya found a spot to hide from the wind in the relatively flat ice plains though without the wind biting at his skin to keep him awake Mitya once again felt the claws of sleep pulling him under. Even though Mitya knew it was a stupid idea to fall asleep in the middle of nowhere Mitya still gave in with little protest and let his eyes fall closed.
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The sun had already risen by the time Mitya was awoken by a low voice and someone shaking his shoulder, “Mitya? Is that you?”
It took a moment for the scientist to gain his bearings after being woken but when he finally looked up at who had called his name he saw light green hair peeking out of a fluffy hood. A fluffy hood and green hair that Mitya recognized instantly.
Quickly Mitya scrambled to his feet, ignoring the cold feeling in all of his limbs, “Alyosha! Just the man I was looking for!”
The hunter looked confused for a moment before shifting back to his usual unimpressed stare, however Mitya didn’t miss the way that Alyosha filled with his gun nervously.
“What do you mean by that?” Alyosha deadpanned but Mitya was not deterred by the boy's cold exterior. “I just wanted to test a theory and your help would be greatly appreciated.”
“I don't know how my expertise could aid energy research-”
“No no, the theory isn't work related. It's a personal one. I just need to perform some field observations. Do you think I could shadow you for the time being?” Mitya asked leaning forward so he could effectively give Alyosha puppy dog eyes without being blocked by the fluffy edge of the hood.
Alyosha sighed looking no less unimpressed or puzzled but ultimately giving in. “Fine,” the hunter said while pulling his hood further down his face, “Just until I can return you back to the city though.”
“Got it.” Mitya smiled brightly which only resulted in the hunter hideing away in his hood even more, which Mitya was only able to quickly take a mental note of before he was distracted by being booped in the leg by a wet nose.
“Tugarin, leave him be.” Alyosha quickly scolded and gave the dog a quick hand signal that cause the husky to sit back and stare up at Mitya with an extremely serious look to him.
“Ah no no it's fine I brought him something.” Mitya said before whipping out some jerky and handing it to the husky. Resulting in Alyosha being even more confused, confused enough to the point where it was much easier to notice in his relatively subtle facial expressions.
Mitya was quickly pulled away from his wandering thoughts by Tugarin licking his hand of the jerky’s residue. Now though Mitya realized mistake after the hunting dog had eaten through the treat Mitya had brought him, “Oops sorry I should have asked before giving it to him.”
“It's fine…” Alyosha mumbled, sounding almost dazed before clearing his throat and stating, “Come on, if we want to get back to Sneznograd before sundown we need to start walking.” Before Alyosha turned and started leading the way without a further word.
The trio walked in relative silence, Alyosha sometimes gave Tugarin or Mitya a command but otherwise the green haired hunter seemed to move with quiet, practiced ease through the tundra. On the other hand Mitya hadn’t been able to stop his mind from drifting. He thought about how upset Valeriy must have been to have seen that Mitya was not in his apartment or at the theater. The look the taller man must have had on his face as he rushed around the city in search of Mitya was most likely quite entertaining and Mitya was somewhat upset he wouldn’t be able to see it for himself. Sometimes his thoughts would drift to his work, ways to get around the curse of death, possible paths that he could take his research when the restrictions on progress were lifted. Nevertheless it was Alyosha who kept ending up dominating his thoughts. Mitya had to actively hold himself back from bombarding Alyosha with questions and breaking the hunters concentration. Thankfully his scarf was helping him, pinching Mitya whenever he was about to disrupt the hunters focus. Though after probably the fifth time of being pinched Alyosha finally turned to Mitya commented. “Is something the matter?”
Alyosha had removed his hood to reveal his face, leaving Mitya a little breathless and wiping his brain of whatever question had been bothering him only moments before. “What?”
“It keeps pinching you…” Alyosha said while pointing at his scarf, who in turn ended up hiding away and mimicking its resting position after being called out by Alyosha.
“Ah, that!” Mitya twirled around trying to catch a glimpse of his own accessory though it looked a lot more like he was chasing his own tail. Once Mitya gave up on that method he ended up snatching the hand scarf and holding it up for Alyosha to see. “It's preventing me from bothering you too much.” Mitya felt the scarf lightly yank his hair at being called out but it didn't silence him. On the other hand Alyosha in front of him signaled for Tugarin to pause as he looked at Mitya once again rather confused.
“Bothering me?” Alyosha asked tilting his head a bit to emphasize his question in the way his voice and face failed to do.
“I have a bad habit of pestering people by asking them too many questions. You seem to be rather focused so it was preventing me from breaking your focus.” Mitya explained while lightly scratching the side of his face awkwardly. It was rather embarrassing to explain out loud but Mitya was surprisingly not too inclined to dodge the question and his scarf didn’t prevent him from embarrassing himself either.
“It's more distracting seeing you getting attacked by your scarf out of the corner of my eye. Just ask your questions, I'll answer them the best I can if it means that your scarf will stop.” The response surprised Mitya, leaving him standing there in shock for a moment as Alyosha turned away and pulled his hood over his head once more. Mitya could feel his face warming up, though it was hard to tell if it was from the cold or not.
“Well if that's the case…” Mitya tried, being cautious as he asked his next question, “May I try on your cloak?”
Alyosha once again stopped dead in his tracks. “That's… not really the type of question I expected.”
Mitya laughed, “You don't have to but I wanted to know how it feels. It seems rather warm and it's pretty cute.” Mitya leaves out the part where he almost adds ‘on you’ without thinking.
“Fine.” The hunter doesn't face him as he chucks his fluffy coat at Mitya. Mitya knows his own eyes are sparkling with wonder as he feels the soft furs in his hands not even noticing that the hunter wasn’t looking at him as he quickly mumbled, “I'm used to the cold anyways.”
Mitya looks up at the comment just to end up noticing how the red of Alyosha's neck stands out against the beautiful minty green of his hair. Mitya much preferred the green over the pale blonde it had shifted to after the Shade of Death finally showed her hand. Seeing how red the boy looked, MItya could only assume that Alyosha was bluffing and trying not to draw attention to the fact that he was in fact cold. So Mitya blurted out, “Let's trade then. I wouldn't want you to start freezing out here for my sake. Plus it would be rather hard to wear both cloaks at once.” Mitya pulled off his cloak and held it out to Alyosha offering it to the hunter. Though surprisingly the hand attached to the cloak did not protest as Alyosha reluctantly took it from the scientist's hands.
Once Mitya put on the hunters signature cloak he couldn't help but mess with it a bit. Pulling the hood over his head and quickly twirling around feeling the way that the furs wished around him as he spun. While Alyosha stood there watching Mitya mess around, his face still rather red while the cloak's hand acted as a scarf around the shorter boy's neck in the same way it had for Mitya earlier.
“How do I look?” Mitya asked, a piece of himself yearning for the quiet boy's approval.
Now though was a moment to test his theory a bit, to see if he and Alyosha could be friends in a similar way they had been able to in the Leylines. To see how close Renova's replication of Alyosha really was. The hunter had already shown the same intelligence and quiet determination that Mitya had recognized in those nights that Alyosha had no chance of recalling.
Mitya stood there for a second waiting expectantly as Alyosha's eyes raked over him. His cheeks were redder than they were before though it could be chalked up to no longer having a hood to protect his face from the cold. Though Mitya had less of a solid conclusion to why his own face was heating up to the point he felt himself sweating slightly even though he was no longer being berated by the wind.
“It's cute,” Alyosha stated while turning away and signaling for Tugarin to follow him. Making a now flustered Mitya have to catch up to them after his brain finally caught up.
“H-hey wait up!”
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It took a while for Mitya to think of another question to ask the hunter instead of replaying Alyosha saying cute for the five billionth time in his head. It wasn't like he hadn't been called cute before, Mitya was rather short in comparison to many of the Fatui officers and he had many fans in and outside of their ranks. He had gotten somewhat used to the word being used in reference to himself though his reaction to Alyosha calling him in his cloak cute wouldn't leave his head for some unexplained reason.
Eventually Mitya thought of another question that had been bothering him earlier in the day, “I was wondering, you work at the theater though from all that I've heard you're quite the skilled hunter. Is there a reason?”
Alyosha thought for a second, obviously mulling over what answer he wanted to give to a relative stranger. “It's hard to make ends meet with the weather getting so bad. I work part time at the theater to make ends meet. I don't think I could ever go full time though, my place is out here.”
Mitya knew he was being honest, working among the Fatui Mitya had to be good and picking out lies and maneuvering social situations. Though he also knew that Alyosha held distrust towards Mitya's work and the Fatui as a whole. So Mitya couldn’t help but feel a bit flustered at the undeserved honesty. Mitya couldn’t really blame himself when he felt himself smile brightly as he responded, “You do seem rather passionate.”
“What about you Mr. Energy Specialist?” Alyosha teased. He truly was opening up wasn't he, especially if he felt comfortable enough to throw a slight tease his way instead of maintaining his professional attitude. Mitya felt his heart sore higher than Celestia just playing with the idea in his head.
“I was seen as smart for as long as I could remember, took an interest in the different types of energies somewhere along the way, Fatui saw my work and scooped me up.” Mitya explained trying not to give too much about his job away lest his hand scarf lunge at him from Alyosha's back to strangle the scientist once again. It had already been embarrassing enough when it had done so in front of Vodnaystasia he didn't need it happening again.
“Can't say much more than that can you?” Alyosha asked, glancing back at Mitya.
“Not unless you want either my scarf or the Fatui to kill me.” Mitya joked, shooting a teasing smile at Alyosha while trying to lean forward to get a good look at the hunter's freckled face.
Alyosha hummed with a nod before speaking up once more, “Rankova Zorya isn't much further from here, though it doesn't look like we will be able to get back to Sneznograd before the sunsets. So let's hope the Fatui won't kill you for disappearing for a day.”
Mitya laughed, feeling his cheeks flush as he did so.“I pull enough disappearing acts that they hopefully will let me go with a slap on the wrist. Though if I'm not at the next show you work assume that they got me.”
“Well then, I'll be looking out for you from backstage then.” Alyosha said with a smile, his green hair falling into his eyes a bit. Mitya wished he had a Kamera right now to immortalize the pure beauty he was witnessing in front of him though it would seem he would have to just memorize this moment instead.
Mitya would just have to ignore the mini heart attack he just had first though.
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When they finally reached Rankova Zorya Mitya was exhausted. His quick nap in the Tundra was not enough for him to continue running off anymore.
His exhaustion didn’t slip past Alyosha as the hunter looked at him sympathetically. “Next train will be in the morning, we will have to find a place to stay until morning.” Mitya couldn’t help the tired grumble that escaped him as he followed Alyosha into town. Mitya didn’t even question Alyosha as he led them to a small house on the edge of town and knocked on the door without a word.
Inside there was some stomping and cursing until the door swung open with a, “Who's knocking this late at night!” It was an older looking man that didn’t seem all too pleased to be woken up in the middle of the night with some knocking though his attitude changed the moment he recognized Alyosha. “Oh! Alyosha! It's good to see you, boy. I’m guessin’ you need a place to stay for the night?” The old man laughed slightly, all his previous anger gone with the cold wind.
Alyosha nodded politely, “If you wouldn't mind sir. It would just be till the next train to Sneznograd arrives.”
The old man gave the pair of boys a large toothy grin while moving to the side enough for the boys to sneak inside. “You should know I would never turn you down after what you have done for my family. You and your friend can take the guest bedroom.”
“Thank you sir.” Alyosha said with a curt nod before the two of them were led inside by the old man who bidded the two boys a good night after showing them to the room they would be staying in. It was small, there was only one bed in the room and it was rather cold in the room due to the Krystal shortages leaving only important rooms heated.
“Take the bed, you look exhausted.” Alyosha stated while hanging up Mitya's cloak and his own ear muffs on a hook to dry out after being covered in now melting snow, then sticking out his hand asking for his own cloak back. Mitya reluctantly shed the fur cloak and handed it back to Alyosha though he pushed back at the idea of himself alone taking the bed, “You also look exhausted. There isn't a need for both of us to sacrifice sleep, the bed is big enough for you, me, and Tugarin.”
Alyosha’s now unguarded ears flushed at the proposal of sharing a bed, though his mouth stayed sealed shut as Mitya shed his snow soaked outer layers and flopped onto the bed. “Come on, join me. It will be much warmer if all three of us pile in.” Mitya said whilst patting the space next to him. Too tired to care about the implications it may have.
Alyosha sighed and gave into Mitya, slowly and awkwardly he took off his boots and the coat he wore under his fur cloak and crawled into bed with Mitya. Ushering Tugarin up once he and Mitya were both situated underneath the covers.
With all three of them on the bed it began to warm up and Mitya once again felt the exhaustion hit his bones but before he could fall asleep Alyosha spoke up, “May I ask you a question, Mr. Mitya.”
Mitya turned his head to look at Alyosha who was staring at the ceiling and though they were both now rather warm the hunters ears were still flushed. “You can just call me Mitya. You did so earlier. I would much prefer it if you were to continue to be casual with me.”
“Could I ask you a question then Mitya?”
“Of course.” Mitya said with a yawn, though not once looking away from Alyosha.
“You mentioned that you went looking for me to test a theory. May I ask what theory required you to try and hunt me down in the snow fields?" Alyosha sounded both a little upset and confused. Like he couldn’t wrap his head around Mitya’s rather dumb choice to chase a professional into the snow.
“Ah, right. I guess that last part was just some impatience on my end. Though the theory itself is a little embarrassing to say out loud.” Mitya felt himself flushing in embarrassment as Alyosha turned his head towards him and raised an eyebrow. An eyebrow that was only visible because Alyosha had pushed his bangs out of his face allowing Mitya to see Alyosha's freckled face and yellow eyes in their full glory. Which only caused Mitya's face to burn bright red. “Well, uh. Do you remember the ley line incident at the theater that the traveller explained to you all.”
Alyosha was silent for a second, maybe expecting the question to be rhetorical or just seeing if Mitya would continue on without his answer like the hunter was used to being brushed over. However Mitya waited for Alyosha’s answer. “I do, I also remember that they mentioned only you and they could recall the events that took place there.”
Mitya thought about that dissonance in time. The frustration he felt from being held back. The fact that the only reason he remembered what happened is he stained his soul with that mark of death. Though it wasn’t like he could change that now, he would be stuck with that mark so he could only hope it would ultimately be more of a blessing than a curse. “Correct, if you recall you were one of the first that ‘died’ and that the Shade of Death took your place.” Alyosha stayed silent and Mitya continued even though he was exhausted and choking up, “No one noticed until that final confrontation. Not even those who you seemed close with. So I wanted to see if- well either she was a great impersonator or if I misjudged who you were close with.”
Mitya felt guilty now that he was saying it out loud. His emotions were already heightened due to sleep deprivation but he didn’t need to cry in front of Alyosha. This wasn’t something he needed to burden the other boy with, at least not yet. Instead Mitya laid there waiting for a response while holding back the emotions trying to bubble up to the surface.
“Ah.”
That was all Alyosha said but the heavy silence was broken. “That's it really, it was because I got to finally know you and the rest of the troupe in a way I had only dreamed of before though unlike the rest of them you were the only one I could not be sure that was who you really were.” Mitya was rambling, he knew it, he was often the talker and it was worse when he was nervous but he couldn't seem to stop as Alyosha just stared at him from the other side of the bed and Tugarin between them. “I don't exactly know why your not recalling bothered me more than everyone else. Maybe it was the conversations we held or the time we supposedly spent together in those stressful nights but I think I just wanted to know what you were truly like. So I snuck away from my house in the middle of the night intending to see if I could find you and talk with you.”
Mitya finally stopped with nothing more he wanted to say or he really could say, so now he was left quite red and embarrassed with all he wanted to do was bury his face into the blankets and suffocate but Mitya doubted that it would be any less mortifying.
“What I am gathering is that you trekked out into a snowstorm, risking getting in trouble with the Fatui of all groups just so you could get to know me.” Alyosha questioned. Mitya hadn't exactly thought of it like that but Alyosha wasn't exactly wrong… So sheepishly Mitya nodded. Earning a heavy exhausted sigh from Alyosha. “For someone so smart you can be rather stupid. You should have just asked. I could have set some time aside so we could get to know each other, you could have even asked Vodnaystasia to set up a meeting but instead you put yourself in active danger by walking out into a snowstorm unprepared.”
Mitya let himself be scolded, not exactly caring about it instead basking in the fact that Alyosha wanted to hang out with him and get to know him. His brain picked the pieces it wanted to hear out of Alyosha's rant. When the hunter finished talking Mitya spoke up in a sleep deprived daze, “I think I found my answer though. She did a good job, you really are just as wonderful in the real world.”
“Dumbass,” Alyosha mumbled as Mitya finally let his eyes close. “Though you're not too bad yourself Mitya.”
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Mitya couldn't exactly believe what he woke up to, it was rare that his dreams were about anything other than his work so when he woke up with Alyosha's arms wrapped around his torso and the hunter's face buried in his shoulder he struggled to place if it was reality or an unusual dream. It took him pinching himself several times before he believed that it was real. When the realization finally hit him that he did in fact have a cute boy wrapped around him Mitya made sure he only mildly freaked out, containing his flustered shock just enough to not wake Alyosha. Instead he just admired how the morning light brought out the greens in the boy's light colored hair. Mitya even dared to run his fingers though it just to feel how soft it was. Mitya went on like this until Alyosha stirred after what felt like both an eternity and not long enough at the same time.
“Good morning,” Mitya whispered as the hunter opened his eyes. However unlike Mitya Alyosha was composed as he realized he was snuggled up to the scientist. Alyosha yawned, moving from his spot curled up against Mitya's chest to stretch much to the scientist's displeasure. “How long have you been up?”
“Not long,” Mitya answered before asking Alyosha a question, “when do we need to head out for the station?” Mitya had been having a great time even through the terrible weather and his bad decisions and he didn’t want it to end just yet but he knew the Hunter was most likely more than ready to pawn him back off on his employers.
Alyosha stretched as he answered, causing the hem of his shirt to ride up and making it rather hard for Mitya’s mind not to wander. “The next train should be coming around midday. I made sure to check the schedules before I fell asleep last night.”
Mitya looked out the window tearing his eyes away from Alyosha to see that the sun was still close to the horizon. “So we have some time, do you want breakfast? I can pay for it. I brought money with me.”
Alyosha thought about it for a moment, closing and opening his mouth a few times before finally responding. “Sure. I know of a small restaurant in town where we can eat before the train arrives.”
“Sounds great! Let's get ready then!” Mitya exclaimed, sounding overly excited even to himself. Though that didn't stop him from throwing on his now dry layers and pulling Alyosha though the door despite not knowing where they were heading too.
Once Mitya slowed down and let Alyosha lead the way to the small restaurant built out of a derailed passenger car there was barely anyone there. A few townsfolk and some passing travellers dotted the seats but past that it was relatively empty. Alyosha and Mitya were seated and had their orders taken extremely fast, only giving time for the pair to talk to one another as the food was being prepared.
Alyosha had been the one to start the conversion, most of the time the burden of conversion fell on Mitya one way or another. If it was because Mitya often finds himself off of tangents or the people he ended up talking to ended up being not interested or quiet.
“Did you sleep well?” Is all that the hunter asked, a simple standard question but it made Mitya absurdly happy.
“Yes, much better than how I normally sleep.” Mitya was truthful; it had been some of the best sleep he had gotten in years and it was even better since he woke up to Alyosha next to him. Though as vulnerable as Mitya was, he didn’t want to push the other boy away by being too heartfelt too early. So Mitya found himself quickly adding, “Though most things would beat passing out at a desk.”
However instead of Alyohsa laughing or finding what he intended as a humorous joke funny, the hunter just seemed concerned. “You really shouldn't be working so hard that you're falling asleep at your desk. You should really take breaks if that's the case.”
The concerned response was not what Mitya had been expecting. Throwing him off and leaving Mitya floundering around to avoid the comment. “W-well how about you? Did you sleep well?”
Alyosha finally blushed for the first time since yesterday at Mitya’s interest in him even though Mitya could have sworn his face had been at least slightly flushed all morning. “I also slept better than normal.”
“Thats wonderful! I bet it's not always fun sleeping out in the tundra.”
“Not always but it's what I’m used to. It's much easier to see the stars when you're far away from the city lights though.”
The conversation lulled for a moment as Alyosha pretty obviously debated whether or not he wanted to say something or not. While Mitya was more than willing to wait for the quiet boy because for some reason Mitya found himself hanging off of the hunters every word and wanted to reveal in the sound of his voice. Especially compared to listening to the sound of his own voice. Mitya didn’t even realize he had been lost in thought until Alyosha had made up his mind on what he wanted to say and he was broken away from his train of thought.
“It was nice to wake up next to someone again.” Mitya was caught off guard by the heartfelt declaration and he felt the burning warmth in his face begin to creep down his neck. “W-hat do you mean by that?” Mitya squeaked while looking at an equally flustered and confused Alyosha.
Alyosha though hid his reddened face in the collar of his cloak obscuring Mitya's view while Mitya didn’t have such a luxury. Mitya was a hundred percent ready for the conversation to come to a screeching halt and for both of them to eat their meals in awkward silence and to ignore the obviously brewing tension between them. Though Mitya was once again proven wrong by Alyosha, “It was nice to have someone to share a bed with again. It's been a long time since I had anyone who wanted to share a bed with me.”
Alyoshoa was seemingly leaning into the awkwardness of the conversation, preventing all his courage to say what he had said go to waste at the possibility of awkward silence replacing it. Mitya wouldn’t let the opportunity go to waste either so he as well leaned into awkward words instead of silences, not caring about saying the right or wrong thing just saying whatever came to mind. “I agree. It was rather nice being able to wake up in someone's arms again.”
Alyosha looked up at Mitya, his normally soft eyes blazing with a passion before the smaller boy quietly blurted, “I wouldn't mind sharing a bed with you again.”
At that it felt like a floodgate of emotions had opened up between the two of them. Both were now in flustered shock at what had come out of Alyosha’s mouth. Mitya knew his jaw must have hit the floor with how surprised he had been. Alyosha on the other hand looked like he had said something wrong his normal composed look was now barred with worry. “Sorry, did that make you uncomfortable? I just thought… well you had been flirting with me all of yesterday-”
Mitya quickly cut the boy’s apologies off, “No no no. It's alright, I enjoyed waking up next to you and,” Mitya looked away, not able to make eye contact with Alyosha as he whispered, “I guess I would like to be more than friends with you. If that’s alright with you that is.”
“It's more than alright.” Mitya looked back up at Alyosha and was immediately lost in the boy's gentle smile that he could probably study forever. Mitya could be lost in Alyosha’s face later. First Mitya had to clear something up for himself. “Great! Well then, uhm, could we count this as a date then?”
“I would like that.”
Now Mitya could be lost in Alyosha’s face.
⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆
Hours later when their train arrived back in Sneznograd and Mitya was met face to face with the Fatui officers meant to drag him back to his desk the scientist made a split second decision that he predicted had an almost zero chance of regretting, “Seems like I am needed back at work and I wouldn't want to hold you up any longer. Though can I ask you one last question before I go?”
“Of course.” Mitya quickly took the opportunity to shift himself so he and Alyosha were face to face, the smaller boy looking up at him skeptically especially at Mitya’s theatrics.
“Can I kiss you goodbye?” Mitya asked through the anxiety boiling in his veins. It was a gamble but he could hope that he wasn’t misjudging the pace of their relationship and that he wasn’t making Alyosha too uncomfortable. Though all his worries melted away when Alyosha laughed and pulled him down into a quick kiss then pulled Mitya down to whisper hotly in his ear, “Give me a real one later. Now go, I don't need you getting into more trouble due to me.”
Alyosha then spun Mitya around and ushered him in the direction of the stunned Fatui officers in front of him who ended up stumbling over his words and started moving Mitya towards the Armory Palace. Though Mitya was only thinking about how he was going to hunt down Alyosha again as soon as he had a second of free time and kiss that boy silly.
“BYEEE ALYOSHA! I'LL SEE YOU AGAIN SOON!” Mitya shouted while every hand he had free waved to Alyosha as the boy quietly gave a small wave back.