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After the adrenaline from all of the chaos and fighting had worn off, there was one thing every single one of them could agree on:
They were tired.
After the conversation with Ivis, the group had moved to the outskirts of the city where they were less likely to be bothered by any stray citizens who would recognize them. The walk wasn't long, at least not compared with how much they usually traveled.
But Misella was pale, Yuna was slouching as she walked, Aegis kept a hand pressed against one side, and Kanata was wobbly on his feet. Vicious was trying and failing to hide the fact that he looked like he was suffering from the worst hangover known to mankind despite not drinking for the last couple days.
All of them had bruises and scratches marring their skin in various places. Even Vicious had some; the fight had drained his mana to the point that even his inhumanly fast recovery abilities weren't working the way they typically did. It was nothing short of a miracle that none of them had any broken bones. Sprains were a different story. It was daunting to think about how sore they would be once their bodies started recovering properly. And really, they should have prioritized some first aid once they were in a location away from prying eyes.
However, as soon as they found a spot that was safely secluded, they all lost their will to do anything productive.
Able to walk no further, Yuna slumped to her knees with a groan. "I have not been so mercilessly tired since I came down with a horrid case of polwigle flu after I slipped and fell into a pond some years ago during the giant leech incident."
Aegis looked like he had multiple questions about that but wasn't coherent enough to voice them. "Let's stop here for a while," he said, as he took a seat on the grass. "Our first priority should be returning to see how much progress Rita has made on the ship repairs. However, it would be wiser to rest a bit first."
There were no complaints from the rest of the party, and Vicious certainly didn't need any more convincing to plop down on the ground with his back against the nearest tree. None of them had brought their bedrolls along for their trek between towns and the chance that any of them would have had the energy to lay them out in the first place may as well have been zero. Vicious sure didn’t, and the soft grass was good enough and more familiar to him anyway. He breathed in deeply and let the fresh earthy scent of vegetation fill his nose and lungs, then released all the air in a loud sigh. After a few moments, when his eyes peered open, he saw that Kanata was staring right at him. "What'cha lookin’ at? You won't get a break standing there with your eyes wide open."
Kanata blinked, took a few shaky steps toward Vicious, then his legs gave out beneath him. Every single one of his muscles were grateful to not be on his feet anymore, but he pushed them just a little more to crawl the few paces that separated him from Vicious. He slung one exhausted arm around the general location of Vicious's shoulders and buried his face against his chest.
"Whoa, Kanata!" Vicious exclaimed with a teasing lilt that covered up his exhaustion, among other things. "Twice in one day? That's pretty bold~"
Aside from angling his face so that he could talk, Kanata didn't move. "I'm just really glad you're okay," he whispered.
There was a single moment in which Vicious was silent. Kanata couldn't see what kind of face he was making. A single huff of laughter shook his chest. "Heh. A little tussle with a god won't be the end of me."
Kanata raised his head to look Vicious in the eye. Distantly, he realized that he was the only one who had approached Vicious after everything that had happened today. The rest of the party was loosely grouped together with a small but palpable gap between them and Vicious. "I didn't know that," Kanata said simply. "She…Kasque said that you were dead. That she killed you." Kanata's voice shook a bit. The memory was still raw even with Vicious right here in front of him. "And then all of that happened," he said, not knowing how to simply summarize the series of events that had occurred after Vicious's transformation.
Kanata hadn't been scared, at least not for himself. "I didn't know what was going on with you." There were still dried streaks on his face from when tears had escaped out of sheer relief from seeing Vicious return to normal, and now his eyes were shiny again.
A strange feeling settled in Vicious's chest upon seeing that. He rubbed at a shallow cut on the side of his neck where a scab was starting to form to try to distract himself from the unfamiliar sensation. " …'m fine," Vicious mumbled. To be worried about him, the Great Transgressor and scourge of the earth, who had nearly razed an entire city not even an hour ago, Kanata was either an angel or an idiot. And Vicious sincerely doubted there were any angels walking around with a Stain of Guilt branded onto their skin. The so-called bane of mankind wasn’t too keen on the thought of angels anyway, especially not after going toe-to-toe with a god.
Vicious wasn't sure how to process being worried about. Being cared about. So he poked Kanata's cheek instead. "For a guy who cares so much about his looks, you’re making a pretty weird face." Vicious didn't even need to see Kanata’s blush when he could feel the change in temperature beneath his fingertip.
In spite of everything, Kanata still didn't want to look uncool in front of Vicious, so he ducked and hid his face. He hadn't once lessened his grip, but he did adjust so that he was more comfortable. "Can I…can we stay like this for a while? Please?"
Vicious's eyes widened and a gasp didn't quite make it all the way out of his throat. From a short distance away, Misella was giving him an exhausted and scathing glare that indicated she'd gladly set him on fire if it wouldn't end up with Kanata as collateral damage. Vicious ignored her. Go ahead , Vicious thought. Let her burn him to a crisp if she wanted to. He was not moving and he was definitely not making Kanata move. "Alright," he said softly. He rested his chin on top of Kanata's head and moved one hand up to the boy's shoulder blades and the other down to the small of his back. Kanata melted at the reciprocated contact and nuzzled against the small part of cloth where a single button kept Vicious's shirt from draping completely open. His teal eyes fluttered closed.
Vicious snorted. "If I catch ya drooling on me, you're getting a bullet in your ass," he warned, but the threat didn't have its usual edge.
Kanata gave a small, tired laugh and Vicious could feel the smile that accompanied it against his chest. Any remaining tension in Kanata's body immediately dissipated and he pressed as much of himself against Vicious as he physically could. Kanata wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not, but Vicious felt amazingly warm. Cozier than the blankets of Kanata's own bed that he had left behind in Dalchia what felt like a lifetime ago. Now Vicious felt like comfort; like home.
Vicious pressed the side of his jaw into Kanata's hair. This was…nice, Vicious decided. He was pretty sure Kanata had conked out in less than a minute, and Vicious couldn't blame him. It had been a long, taxing day even by Vicious's standards, and he lived for this kind of excitement. Vicious had stamina that was near inexhaustible by normal means, but how Kanata and the rest of their little ragtag group had managed to make it this far after everything that had taken place today was a mystery, albeit an admirable one. So for a while Vicious closed his eyes and just listened to the even sound of Kanata's breathing. The others might have dozed off by now. They might not have. Vicious wasn't particularly concerned either way. Right now there was Kanata, Kanata, Kanata.
And as Vicious's own consciousness drifted into the realm of dreams, his last thought was that he didn't really mind his head being filled with someone like that.