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“Are you sure you don’t want to join me?”
While an unusual request if heard by anyone else, Leo had gotten accustomed to Takumi asking him this question. They were working on being more friendly towards each other, and while they usually just sat in silence, it was sort of a sacred thing to them. That silence. It allows them to be themselves without the need for words, where they could be lost in their own world but still be with another.
It was through this little ritual of theirs that Leo realized that the growing feelings towards his fellow prince were much stronger than those of mere friendship. He didn’t share this with anyone, however, especially his siblings. He knew that if he did, they would try to assist him or simply blurt it out. No, he wanted to ask Takumi in his own way and to do so, he had to stay in the castle to finish his surprise for the other.
“I’d love to, but I really have something here I need to complete,” Leo apologized, “I hope you don’t hold this against me, Prince Takumi. How about we spend the day together when you get back to make up time?”
“Ah,” said Takumi as his eyes averted away, “I understand. I’ll hold you to it, Prince Leo. I’ll, uh, see you later then,”
“I’ll be the first one to greet you.” Patting the long haired prince’s shoulder, Leo turned and waved. “Be careful!”
Things had gone horribly south fast, Takumi recollected. Getting to the bandit base was simple enough and they were easily dispatched. But something told him to run, to get out of there.
He had acknowledged the voice a moment too late.
Just as he was turning around to leave, something hard hit the side of his head. His vision swirled and darkened as he fell to the ground. The last thing the archer saw were booted feet before he blacked out.
That had been a week ago.
Now, Takumi was chained up and stripped of his weapons. His body littered with dried blood, cuts, and bruises. His muscles ached and he was constantly shivering from the cold. One eye remained shut due to the caked blood from his head wound, which throbbed badly. There wasn’t a doubt that at least one of his wounds was infected, especially in his conditions.
He was in a cold, damp, and dark cell. Evidence of previous occupants were bones in the far corner and the occasional dried blood splatter here and there.
His chest felt like it was on fire, Takumi noted. The prince figured that if he could feel that then surely he was still alive. That or he was trapped in Hell, which certainly felt like it.
The only time he saw another human being was when his captors came to add another beating to the list. They didn’t even bother asking him for information, they just went to it. It irked him. They didn’t care for information; for a ransom. That was the first thing he had thought they’d demand once he was in their “care”. That’s what people kidnap royalty for, right? Wrong. These lunatics just wanted a punching bag and Takumi just so happened to be an easy target.
This was exactly why he hated going to Nohr alone; why he wanted Leo with him.
By this point, he was losing faith that he’d be rescued.
Will he see his family again?
Will he see Leo?
He lost track of the time. Had another week gone by? A month? Several? All he remembers is that they had moved him several times and not so gently. At least they started to feed him a bit more often than they originally did. That had to count for something, right?
Voices.
They were getting closer, followed by the sounds of weapons clashing.
Takumi should have called out to whoever was coming, to tell them that he was there but all he could do was curl in on himself as best as his stiff and injured body would allow. Was this his end? He sure hoped so, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could take imprisonment.
“Takumi! Takumi, where are you?”
That voice sounded oddly familiar but his tired mind couldn’t place it with a face. He just wanted to sleep….
“Takumi, damnit! Answer me!”
It was getting closer, he realized, and he knew he had to answer or at least try to. So the archer opened his mouth to do so only for a choked sound to leave him. That was it. His chance of rescue was gone and he was going to die here. He closed his eyes, feeling his consciousness slowly slip away into the blissful darkness that awaited him.
Footsteps stopped in front of his latest cell and a gasp could be heard before a loud, “Takumi!”
The voice was growing softer despite him knowing it was quite the opposite. The sounds of a lock falling to the ground startled him somewhat but not enough to shake off his tiredness. Those footsteps were now in front of the prince and he thought it ironic, that he would once again black out with boots as the last thing in his field of vision.
Hands, careful and gentle and very much unlike the ones he’s grown used to, moved him so that their owner could properly evaluate him. He heard a soft growl before he felt the bindings on his hands and feet seemingly vanish. Takumi cracked his good eye open and tried his very hardest to make out his saviour.
Blond hair…. That he could recognize but he knew several people - mostly Nohrian - with such color and one he had grown to admire. But it couldn’t be him, could it? He had left him back in Hoshido to do whatever it was he needed to finish… It wouldn’t hurt to try….
“L...Le...o?” Takumi whispered in a hoarse voice.
“Yes, it’s me. I’m here, Takumi,” the person replied so relieved and shaken, almost as if they were on the verge of tears. “I’m going to get you out of here, okay? Your family is waiting for you too,”
Those gentle and caring hands lifted him up slowly so his injuries wouldn’t be any more agitated than they already were. Once he was up, the archer let out a small gasp as he was pressed to an armored chest.
“Sakura made lots of flower crowns for you, you know. Said that she wanted you to wear them all when you got back,”
Leo was panicking. Well, internally. Externally, he kept his cool (barely) as he tried to keep Takumi awake. He thought that by sharing what everyone had been up to in his absence would help him.
“Your retainers kept running around, looking for you when they realized that you had a mission. Oboro wouldn’t stop scolding herself for getting herself and Hinata sick for three days straight. They were like hyperactive pups with how they searched for you, itching to get back into training.”
A quiet laugh was his response and Leo took that as a win. He had gotten the other to imagine something positive, which was honestly surprising. This was working, so he simply had to keep it up as he moved as fast as he could to rejoin Xander and the others. As much as he would have loved to come alone, he knew that one missing prince was unsettling enough and didn’t want to cause any more worry than was needed.
“Camilla made a remark, at one point, that she wanted to brush your hair since it looked soft, like a kitten,”
The blonde could already tell that his archer was losing the battle for consciousness and upped his speed. The main room was close now, and he could hear the other soldiers talking and shuffling about as his brother gave orders.
Hold on just a bit longer, Takumi….
“How is he?”
It had been a couple days since Takumi’s rescue and hospitalization. Said prince was covered in bandages, dosed up on all sorts of medicine to prevent infection and heal the ones he had. Leo remained at his side and only moved when his siblings had shown up to check on their brother. He could tell that he was being more obvious with his attraction but that didn’t matter anymore. It shouldn’t have in the first place. How could he have been so stupid? Takumi looked worried - scared, even - to leave for Nohr without him. He declined their sacred request and for what? A stupid charm that he wasn’t even sure if Takumi would like!
So here he sat, on a chair next to his bed, hand held in his. The long haired youth didn’t deserve this. If anyone did, it was Leo. This he had concluded the moment he had laid eyes upon him in that gods awful cell.
“I’m the stupidest person I know,” Leo whispered, leaning his head on the hands that held his crush’s. “I shouldn’t have let you go alone. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,”
He would apologize for the rest of his life, if it meant that Takumi would be alright. Hell, he’d even deal with never professing his affections if it meant he could be healthy.
“You talk too loudly,”
The blonde’s head shot up at the sound of the frail voice. Lo and behold, Takumi was awake, tiny smile gracing his features.
“Ta-Takumi!” gasped the short haired male. “I...You weren’t supposed to wake up for another day!”
“Good morning to you too, Prince Leo.” Chuckled the injured archer. “Now, what did you have to finish?”
Ah, yes of course the prince was curious. It was in his nature. Gently letting go of his hand, Leo reached into his pocket and held out a set of matching bracelets. An eyebrow raised as its owner looked at them and waited for an explanation.
“I have something to confess,” the mage started. “I..I love you. I was hoping to say this under better circumstances but I suppose this will have to do. I charmed these bracelets to warm up when one of us thinks of the other. That person’s bracelet would be the one to warm up and I-I thought it was a nice idea but if you don’t like it then-”
“I love it.”
“-you don’t to - wait, you do?”
“Yes,” he said and to emphasise this, Takumi grabbed one and placed it around his wrist before locking eyes with the blonde. “And I love you too. Now, put that damn bracelet on before I chuck it at you,”
Chuckling, the Nohrian prince complied and then leaned forward to press a soft kiss onto the other’s lips. Just as he was moving back, a bandaged hand gripped the front of his shirt and pulled him back in for another. The blonde blinked a few times before returning the action, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
The duo spent the rest of the day like that, quietly chuckling and exchanging kisses; both completely oblivious to the two sets of siblings watching from the doorway with knowing smiles.